The Fitness Ninja

So today my wife took our baby to the audiologist to get his hearing test done.  Turns out he’s got hearing loss in his left ear.  We don’t know if he is completely deaf or if it’s just partial loss but they hope to have another test done in 2 weeks to gauge his level of hearing.

My wife was understandably upset by it.  So was I as we kept praying and hoping that the initial tests done when he was an infant in NICU at the hospital were just anomalies or incorrect.  Turns out they weren’t.  However, I’m not as upset as I thought I would be.  See, my line of work has me dealing with interesting families all the time.  And by interesting I mean families that have had extensive histories of physical / sexual abuse, are impoverished, are currently or formerly facing serious drug / alcohol addiction problems or have mental / psychological issues.  And in all these cases, I work with parents trying to rebuild their relationships with their kids.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Eli’s hearing loss, although tragic in its own right, is far from the end of his world.  There are so many other terrible things that could have been.  Both his mom and I love him more than anything in this world.  We’re healthy, employed (hope that remains true for me even after the layoffs at work this month!), have some small savings, a roof over our heads, food and no addiction / abuse issues, and an even wider security / support net in the form of his grandparents and aunt uncle.  He’s already one up on a lot of other kids out there because of all this.  Plus, he does have good hearing in his right ear so there’s that working for him as well.

There’s a lot to be thankful for.  As long as I have blood being pumped through my body, I will make sure he wants for none of the essentials.  I just hope that if there is surgery or other accoutrements needed in order to help him hear in his left ear that we can afford it.  That stuff can get expensive fast.

Thank God we live in Canada with our socialized medicine!!  Still, gotta keep saving up.

By the way, this is one of my favourite kids’ stories… along with this one.  I just thought you should know that.

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In other exercise and health related news, MY FEET ARE KILLING ME!  Man, that run yesterday was great but it gave me some wicked blisters all over my right foot.  It was kinda bubbly and pealing (ew gross!) so I just decided to remove it, let it dry, add some polysporin then bandage it.  I had it that way for most of ttoday then washed it out with soap this afternoon and let it dry out again.  It causes a wicked stinging sensation.  Wish it didn’t happen as it kinda throws a monkey wrench in my hybrid schedule.  I might skip tomorrow’s Insanity workout if it still hurts and just have my rest day.  Then I’ll resume Friday (this is, of course, contingent on the fact that it is healed by then).

As for my workout tonight, I completed the modified Angie after a nice 2 hour nap (I was exhausted from work and the baby).  Not only did I finish it, but I did it in approx. 50 minutes.  Much faster than last week.  I’m thinking I might use the GymBoss timer app on my Ipod to help move me along during the routine.  Since I don’t have Tony to watch and gauge when I should be moving from one set to the next, I tend to dawdle sometimes when I get tired.  At most, I think I should be transitioning immediately from one set of exercises to the next then allowing a 1 minute break in between circuits.  If I can do that, I should be flying through the routine.

After the Angie, I did Cardio Abs.  It was not my best performance due to the blisters.  The high knee runs and jump knee tucks had to be done very tenderly.  Thankfully, that is a short portion of the dvd and then it just goes into the C-sit phase and plank work.  Got through it alive and that’s all that matters!

So looking forward to the end of work tomorrow when the family and I head to Rochester to visit my dad. It’s gonna be a beautiful Easter weekend with some great people and maybe even a bit of shopping.  Our in-laws have agreed to house sit so someone can look after our cat so no worries there!

Peace out world!

“Making the decision to have a child – it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.” -Elizabeth Stone-

That’s what it feels like when you get into a good running rythm.  Feels like you’re flying.  Or high.  Or both.  Tonight was perfect for running home as the weather was cool but not cold and there was no headwind so I just clipped along with minimal effort it seemed.   This morning I also did Core Cardio and Balance.  I love that this workout is only 37 minutes long and yet it still feels like it’s giving you a half decent sweat on.  I would rank it up there with Cardio X in terms of intensity; tiring but not balls out exhausting.   I just hope all this exercise doesn’t cause my legs to seize up halfway through the night like it does sometimes after a run (this happens despite a cool down period and dousing the legs in cold water to cut down on inflamation) or that I get so sore I have serious troubles tackling the squats and lunges in the modified Angie tomorrow.

Other than that, there’s nothing else much to really report today.  I was hoping to help a friend with her foray into Wordpress (she’s trying to make a switch from Blogger) but work got in the way.  Check it out here.  I don’t understand how she can photograph all her meals then blog it.  I tried it once and it was just WAAAY too much work.  But it seems to work for her in terms of keeping tabs on her nutrition (she is a nutrition nut!).

Huh… who would have thought food could be as addicting as cocaine.  Check out the additional link from that post about how to beat cravings… very interesting tips indeed.  These were pages referred to me by Fitbomb.  Awesome fitness blog.  Go check it out.

NOW!

So yeah… my life flashed before my eyes.  Late last week, while my internet decided to die on me, my mom’s 17 year old television also took a turn for the worse and crapped out on her.  Today, after a night of no sleep due to the baby and horrible indigestion (all that rich food I’ve been eating the last couple of days have finally caught up to me and decided to revolt in my bowels), I decided to help my mom purchase a TV from Costco and install it along with a new shelving unit. Everything went well up until we got to her place and had to remove her old TV from the living room and haul it down a small flight of stairs to the garage where it will be picked up tomorrow for disposal.

This thing is a BEAST.  I don’t know how many people still remember rear projection TVs from the early 90s but they were mostrosities.  The TV is almost as tall as me (granted that’s not too high … I’m 5′4″ and the TV was probably close to 5 x 5 x 2 feet) and it weighs I’d guess about 200 lbs or more.  I guess space was easy to come by in the early 90s because this thing wasted a ton of it (the bottom half of the tv is all wood with some small speakers).  We were trying to slowly move it down the small flight of steps and my cousin who was holding it near the top end kinda slipped a bit and the thing slide down towards me.  I thought I would have to jump out of the way but it thankfully stopped itself when its bottom edge landed with a thud on the concrete floor.  In retrospect, I should have just jumped out of the way and let it crash but instead I stood there and just caught the top part and stabilized it after it thudded down.  I’d hate to think what would have happened if my foot (or any part of my body) were caught under the edge that smacked into the floor (*shudder*).

In any case, I’m ok.  No injuries thankfully so that means I can continue working out.  I completed Shoulders & Arms along with ARX around 8:15 tonight.  In total it was about 55 minutes for both videos and I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever done a P90x workout which included the bonus ab routine.  Static arm curls are the most brutal part of the whole regimen and I had to tone it down a bit during my second run through bumping the 30 pounders to 20s because I was getting a twinge of pain in my left elbow.  Have to listen to those aches as ignoring them can just cause them to last even longer.

Weather wise this week is looking to be awesome.  Tomorrow night’s forecast calls for 7 degrees celsius and no rain.  Perfect for running home.  I really need to do that as all the bad eating this past week needs to be accounted for.  Hopefully the run doesn’t strain my legs too much for the modified Angie on Wednesday.  The weekend weather looks to be just as good and that’s terrific as I’ll be in Rochester visiting my dad along with the rest of my family.  With the Canadian dollar at parity with the US greenback, the wife and I hope to pick a few key things up for ourselves and the baby.  I’m considering hunting around for some kettlebells as I’m seriously considering doing KB training after this last hybrid round.

Alright peace out!

So yeah… my internet is finallly fixed after several days without it. WHEW!!!!

Things like that drive me absolutely NUTS especially when I can’t troubleshoot it myself.  What really gets to me is that tech problems just spring out of the woodwork.  Everything was fine up until about Thursday afternoon then BAM no service!  I think the modem might have crapped out as all the lines seem to be fine and we still had phone and television signals throughout the house.  Terrible thing was Tech couldn’t be here till Sunday! It just goes to show … you don’t know how dependent (or in my case “addicted”) you are to a form of technology or service until it’s gone.  I try to remember what life was like before EVERYTHING was connected and easily accessible on the web and, truth be told, it’s hard to recall such times.  I do remember being younger and watching more TV and playing more stand-alone offline games in that era, that’s for sure.

In any case, on Thursday I did Pure Cardio.  Again, I find I enjoy Insanity much more now that it’s not something I have to do everyday.  The rest period between sessions does a lot to take the ache, stress and soreness out of each workout.  As well, having gone through the system completely once through and knowing what to expect, I find I can cope better with each routine (the added stamina doesn’t hurt either).  For instance, although the Max workouts still get me gassed part way through, I can do Pure Cardio now without taking any “significant” breaks (I take approx. 10 seconds or so near the last 10 minutes in order to get a 2^nd wind).  And I remember a time when that workout got me completely face-planting into the floor just 20 minutes into it.

Friday was a rest day.  I was debating whether or not to run home.  It was beautiful and sunny but the temperature killed my spirits as it dipped to -7 degrees Celsius outside (that’s with the windchill).  In retrospect I should have run home regardless of the temperature as Friday was a horrible eating day.  I don’t record what I eat on a daily basis anymore as I’ve been pretty sensible so far (and to be honest it is such a chore trying to remember everything), but I do remember actually buying a Coffee Crisp chocolate bar (260 cal.) as I haven’t bought one of those I think in a year.  On top of that, someone in the office brought 2 bite cupcakes in to share and I had like 4.  GAAAAH!! Someone is always bringing that stuff in and leaving it on the table and OF COURSE I HAVE TO EAT IT!!  JEBUS!

To make matters even worse, Friday night my best friend from high school and his wife and kids came over for dinner.  We just decided to order pizza and some wings.  He and I split a pound of wings plus like a whole large pizza to ourselves.  It was just like in high school.  We caught up with our lives, talked a lot of tech and video games then just chilled and played video games with his kids downstairs in the basement.  I really wish he lived closer as we share a lot of hobbies in common (well, ok, mainly gaming) but with work and all he’s opted to live in the city.  I’ve known the guy since grade 9 (my wife’s known him since grade 3 I think), he was the best man at my wedding and we’ve gone like a whole year at a time without any communication because of where our lives have taken us.  But… when we see each other, we pick up where we left off and chill out like it was just yesterday (some of my fondest memories growing up were when he would sleep over and me, my brother and him would just rent 1 or 2 games from Rogers video and game literally ALL night, sleep for a few hours, then game some more).  I remember a song telling me once that it’s important to stay true to a few close friends from your past along with your family as they’ll be a reminder always of where you came from.  I’m glad I’ve been able to live true to that regarding this guy and my siblings.

(On a side note, I could also see myself working out regularly with my brother and my friend if only they lived closer.  I usually hate working out with other people but I feel comfortable enough with these 2 and one other friend from work to make that exception.  Alas, schedules and geography necessitate that I plod along in my basement alone [which is also totally fine with me]).

Saturday morning both my wife and I actually worked out at the same time! That’s actually quite interesting as having a small baby usually forces us to workout at different times of the day when at least one of us can look after Eli. Well, knowing I had to do Chest & Back on Saturday, I decided to attempt to do the routine WITHOUT the dvd.  Shocking I know!  I just used my tracking sheet instead and did one set after another while Eli was content to nap in his little swing.  It took much longer than it usually does because he woke up at one point and needed to be fed but I eventually got through everything.  All told I probably spent one and half hours on P90x plus the 15 minute cardio abs routine afterwards.  What I take away from this is that I don’t necessarily need Tony’s prompting anymore if I need to multi-task with baby duty and exercise at the same time.  However, I do have to be careful not to allow myself too long a break in between sets as that would decrease the difficulty of the workout.

Saturday night had me attending my nephew’s birthday party (which is where I wrote that last entry).  Again, my detrimental eating habit reared its ugly head.  I was able to stave off munching on any chips but instead had an extra slice of chocolate cake!  And it was pretty sizeable too.  I had 2 hamburgers as well.  Didn’t feel too bad about that as I know I need more protein.  I also did not have any mayo and just loaded the burgers with vegetables.  On the side I had a small half cup serving of pasta salad (not the creamy kind).

And today, Sunday, saw me doing Max Interval Plyo.  It was a barn burner but I got through it intact. My great eating sin for today was having 2 leftover slices of pizza for lunch.  Thank God it’s all gone now and hopefully my nutrition for the rest of the week is much ‘cleaner’.

Alright! Peace out!

Yeah, I haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth.  Damn internet is down at my house.  Provider said the earliest they can send a tech person out is tomorrow so… yeah.  It sucks BIG TIME!  I’m still carrying on with the hybrid program and will catch up on the blogging once my connection is back up!

Sorry this is so short! I’m typing this at a birthday party for my nephew on his computer. HAHAHAHAHA! So sad….

Jebus… getting through the modified Angie was pretty damn tough.  It took me about 57 minutes to do all 400 reps and I had to drop the knee lifts when doing the bar work during the last 40 reps (without the dip belt).  Especially hard were the first 40 reps of leg work where I was carrying a 50 and 40 pound dumbells in each hand.  Since Insanity uses no weights, today was the first time I’ve done any form of lower body work that had me using dumbells.  Definitely feels very different from just using body work.  During the lifting portion of the squats and lunges it feels like I’m moving through cement that’s hardening. I just do my best to focus on form and make sure that nothing buckles the wrong way or I don’t roll anything. *shrug* I just got to get used to it again despite how slow going or difficult it may seem.

Hahaha… sometimes when a move is especially tough, the thought flies through my head “Why am I doing this to myself?”  It quickly leaves though.  I know why I do it… it’s because I’ve set up  a plan to get healthy, stay healthy and become stronger / faster.  And when I set out a plan, I generally do my best to stick with it.  It’s a wicked compulsion in my personality.  Plus, I genuinely enjoy the process (even if I can’t admit it to myself during the process) and I like the results of my work.

Alright, I’m dead tired and my arms and chest and… well EVERYTHING is pretty sore.  Even my abs.  Adding ARX on top of this routine is killer.  I’ll see how long I can keep it up.  When both the Angie and Arx are totalled together it amounts to about 1h 15 minutes.  Way too long for my liking as this is basically the same amount of time I spent on each workout when doing classic P90x.  Looking back on it, I can’t believe how much time I dedicated to P90x during that first round.  Definitely, if they every make a part 2 to that set, they have to streamline it a bit more a la Insanity.  40-45 minutes seems about right for a workout.

One last thing… this is a JPEG version of the modified Angie workout I’m using.  Figured it might be easier to use than the text version.

Alrighty…peace!

Oh man, did my abbreviated Yoga X today.  That’s the first time in like 3 months that I’ve done any yoga and I could totally feel out of practice.  It’s not like riding a bike.  You can lose whatever balance you’ve developed if you don’t put it to use every now and again.  And boy does my balance suck! Just trying basic things like triangle poses sent me tumbling all over the place.  Throughout the whole warrior 3 stance sequence I kept having to put my extended leg down as I was teetering on the edge of collapes.

Ah well! It does feel good to be doing yoga again. Especially now as things are getting stressful at work.  Aargh.  See, the field I am in gets government funding but this year as we are in a huge deficit, the government has basically suspended our funding until those in power balance the books. Well, a key method of ’saving’ is simply cutting staff and services.  That’s where I come in (or out rather).  There’s a chance come end of this month that I could be laid off with a bunch of other people from work.  It’s depressing as hell when I think about it.  My wife and I are trying to save as much as we can so that in the worst case scenario that I am let go, we won’t have to go into panic / survival mode immediately and I can have a bit of time to look for new work.  Geez, I hope it doesn’t come to that.  I’ve already been laid off once from teaching work.  It sucks.  It makes you feel worthless and dejected.  You bust your butt and feel like… on top of not getting recognized for it, you’re gonna get let go simply because … I dunno, “you’re not important enough to be held on to”.  It’s hard not to get jaded and bitter or cynical in such an environment.

I shouldn’t focus on it.  I just got home from work an hour ago and I really should do my best to wash it off.  I have a wonderful family.  It should put things in perspective how blessed I really am. Like I’ve said… I’ve been let go before.  It feels like utter shit but I survived.  Knowing there are other lives depending on me to get food on the table… well, that’s even more motivation this time around to get something.  I’ll get something.  This kid will not want for any of life’s neccessities.

Alright, peace out! Tomorrow, the dreaded Angie! Looking forward to it!

And not just me either.  The baby is sore too.  He went to the doctor today to get his first immunization shots.  2 in the leg.  He’s been howling like crazy all day from it.  Hopefully, he doesn’t get a small fever from getting the needles (the doctor told us that it sometimes happened).

As for me… yeah I’m sore too.  I love the fact that I’m back to lifting weights but as I haven’t lifted consistently in so long I’ve kinda forgotten how different it feels to be tired from weight training as opposed to cardio.  I feel less dragged down by this kind of training and just more muscle-fatigued.  When I did Insanity or run for a long period of time, it’s weird in the sense that my head feels like it’s gotten ‘weak’ or light-headed.  But when “pumping iron” I mostly just feel it in my arms and pectoral muslces.  There’s not that same deep fatigue that you can feel in the bones.  Does that make any sense? Probably not.

Tackling shoulders and arms today, I attempted to use 30 pound dumbells for all the shoulder and bicep work (20s for triceps and 10s for any straight arm moves).  It was so intense especially during the congdon and static arm curls.  I had to keep stopping every two reps or so for maybe 20 seconds just to shake it out and get a second wind as my arms were dead.  The key goal was to get a minimum of  8 good reps and thankfully I was able to meet it.

Man, I’m glad tomorrow is a Yoga day.  I haven’t done that in over two months and am really looking forward to it (especially now that I’ve condensed it to under an hour as opposed to 90 minutes).  These muscles need some stretching… (especially as these modified versions of P90x have me skipping all the warm ups and cool downs).

Peace! Have a good night!

Wow… what a difference not doing Insanity everyday makes.  Althoug Max Interval Circuit still burned me down today (re: I was drowning in my own sweat), I felt I was able to give more than I usually do… like I felt “fresher” for some weird reason.  I chalk it up to the fact that not having to do Insanity day in, day out (especially the Max series) allows your legs to recuperate from all that high impact movement.  Good thing too as that run home form work Thursday night really did a number on my legs.  I could feel the stiffness in the muscles all throughout Thursday night and Friday (I can still actually feel some slight stiffness today).  It got so bad that I felt something in my knee knot up in the middle of Thursday night and I let out an audible yelp of pain.  Scared my wife I’m sure.  But then like the loving woman she is, she massaged my knee then promptly fell back asleep.

Speaking of sleep, I didn’t get much last night as I did all the baby’s evening feedings (from 10 PM to 5:00 AM).  I figure the wife could use a bit of a rest.  She’s walking / running away on the treadmill downstairs as I write this.  She kinda ditched Slim in 6 for now as she thinks she will get faster results from a more strenuous cardio program.  She said she might go back so Sin6 later.  I don’t blame her as I previewed it and that first workout looks boring.  It doesn’t really matter either.  I’m just glad and proud she’s taking the initiative to workout and get fit again.

Alrighty, peace!