The Fitness Ninja

Oooh boy.  Still going strong.  I can see the end to this hybrid program so I don’t want to stop now… and boy on some days do I want to stop, feeling stretched so thin between the baby, work and just keeping things maintained around the home.  I can see now why so many people let exercise slide by once they have a family.  It just feels like too much to stay on top of.

But enough of my belly-aching.

In any case, I was able to stay on track all throughout last week.  I finished strong with the Angie on Wednesday and Plyometric Cardio Circuit along with ARX on Thursday.  I actually split my time during the Angie and multi-tasked between working out and cleaning all three bathrooms in the house.  I’m a champ! Hahaha!  (Don’t worry, though, I made sure to disinfect the handles of all the equipment I used too).  And yesterday, I finally had a true rest day doing nothing.  It was glorious as it feels like forever since I’ve had one that wasn’t forced on me due to sickness or something else.  Felt good.  All I focused on was eating right (which I did… then dutifully recorded it on SparkPeople).

Today, I knocked Chest, Shoulders and Triceps out of the way early in the morning along with Cardio Abs.  Feels good to do it in the morning so I don’t have to worry or think about it for the rest of the day.  Wish I had the gumption and discipline to ALWAYS do it in the morning.

In Eli news… we finally got the little guy to a pediatrician.  And boy, are we glad we did.  Apparently, the eczema medications given to him by our family doctor were the wrong ones as they weren’t meant for babies.  My wife was furious when she learned this.  Needless to say we are looking for a new family doctor.  The pediatrician also prescribed a new bathing / cream regimen for the baby along with scheduling an ultrasound in order to check up on a soft spot on top of Eli’s head.  On top of this, the city hospital called and arranged his final hearing test to determine the degree of his deafness in one ear and, hopefully, what can be done about it.  What sucks is that the appointment is in Toronto during the upcoming G20 summit.  UGH!! All those agitated protesters and police… there’s no way I’m letting my wife and son go down there alone so I’ve requested the day off from work to accompany them.  Hopefully, it’s a smooth trip.

What freaks me out is this thing that the Toronto Police have acquired:

Friggin’ sound cannon.  Capable of causing hearing loss in order to deter violent protestors.

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I got to keep a positive outlook.  Things could be so much worse (they could be better too… but I take solace in the fact that we’re doing everything we can to help him).

Alright, peace out.

Very short entry today.  Just saying that instead of doing my Modified Angie, I opted instead to do the Cardio Power and Resistance that I was supposed to do yesterday.  This means the only workout I actually missed was the Angie… and I can tack that on at the end of the program.  I just didn’t want to work the chest and back muscles two days in a row (as C&B is what is on tap for tomorrow).  I did, however, also do Cardio Abs.  I figure working the abs two days in a row won’t be so bad.

Calories for today 1805… and that’s with me going out for Japanese tonight.  Man, I am really learning to love this SparkPeople calorie tracker site.

In other news, check this video out.  I’m part of the P90x fan page on Facebook and this was posted there.  Very inspiring.  I hope when the time comes that Eli will want to work out with me.  It’s a great way to bond I think.

Whew! Finally, my cough and cold have broken.  I’m mending well and I’m just phlegmy now as opposed to being totally stuffed up and hacking up a lung.  WOOT!  However, Southern Ontario is in the grip of some really hot days (approached 34 Celsius in some parts near where I live) and the humidity is just killing me.  Still, I did finish Back & Biceps along with Cardio Abs today around 9:30 PM.  Took much longer than usual as after about 4 exercises I had to take a half hour break because the baby was fussing and needed more attention than just sitting in his car seat with some toys while I work out in front of him (the wife was busting her butt on the treadmill).  I took the baby into our cooler finished basement and he stopped fussing.  Once the wife was done, she took him off my hands and I sweated my way through the rest of the routine.

Oh… one more thing.  I started an account with SparkPeople.  My wife started one a few days ago as she is really serious about losing the pregnancy weight.  She even made a friendly bet with one of her closest high school chums (who also just recently gave birth to a baby) as to who can lose the most weight by a given date.  They exercise and plan meals together and do weekly weigh ins so it’s all healthy.  I’m really proud of her for taking the initiative to do all this.

But as I was saying… I started an account and am tracking my calories again.  I have to buckle down and really get some of this fat shredded off.  NO POINT IN BUSTING MY BUTT WITH EXERCISES THEN EATING AWAY THE GAINS!!

So for today… calories consumed: 1660 (my total allotment is 1800 according to my nutrition plan on SparkPeople)

Alright… so I have officially skipped my first hybrid workout.  I was not able to do my Plyometric Cardio Circuit today.  I did, however, squeeze in Cardio Abs AND, more importantly I ran the 8km home last night which I can consider my sub-in for the missed Insanity workout.  I figure that should be good enough. Interestingly, I think I should start timing my runs a little more precisely and measure my times versus specific checkpoints on my route home.

For instance, last night I hit the 5km mark at 25 minutes (give or take several seconds).  I don’t know if that’s any good but I know that I did have to stop twice at 2 red lights so I may have been able to shave a minute off of that.  I got to the 7.2 km mark at 39 minutes I think.  Again, I have to get more precise and I should probably chart this so I know if I am improving or not.  Of course, there are a lot of factors that could affect my pace which are totally out of my control.  For instance, during much of yesterday’s run I was running into a pretty fierce headwind so I’m sure that also affected my time.

The reason I’m gonna focus on running a bit more intensely is due to the fact I have started reading Danny Dreyer’s ChiRunning book.  It’s opening my eyes to all these new running techniques which, according to the book, should not only improve my pace but also make running easier and safer from injury.  I could use that as after the run home last night, my calves and inner shins are a bit sore.  However, I do foresee me learning from the book to be a slow process as it’s taken me forever to stop the simple act of heel striking and even now the mid-foot stride is something I have to consciously focus on for the first little bit of a run in order to get “the hang of it”.

In nutrition news, I kinda caved today and for the first time in a while I had more than one granola bar (3 actually) as I was so hungry late into my afternoon shift.  Also had a handful of regular Triscuits (which is slowly becoming my favourite salty snack… who’d have thought 100% whole wheat fiber crackers could taste so good!).

Alrighty… have a good Friday night!  Can’t believe Phase 2 is already done!  Recovery week 2 here I come!!

Edit:  Felt so guilty about not doing Plyometric  Circuit… I did it at 9:15 PM… really killed it. Got a very good sweat on…  finished at 10! Woot!!!

Phew! That was the last full routine for this round of Insanity.  Max Cardio Conditioning and Cardio Abs paired together like that are absolute killer.  Just when you think you’re done, you realize you have 15 more minutes of core work to do.

I’m glad I was able to get through this system in much the same way that I was glad to get through P90x.  It’s a hell of an accomplishment.  I know the old me a year ago would have died having attempted to do something this cardio intense.  It just brings into focus how far I’ve come… and yet how far I have yet to go still.  This might sound pessimistic, but I’m pretty sure that when I weigh myself tomorrow I will almost surely have gained weight.  I’m not panicking or fretting about this but it is odd considering how hard a cardio system Insanity is that I would actually gain weight on it.  I chalk that up really to lapses in my nutrition as always.

Interestingly, though, Fitbomb has put up a really good article here about the greater importance nutrition plays (versus that of exercise) if you are trying to either lose weight or stay trim.  I want to get down to a (seemingly impossible) 10% bodyfat rating and I know I won’t be able to get there if I don’t buckle down and just eat right.  I have to really get back on track and refocus my efforts come this next hybrid round.  Ironically, exercise might cause you to actually gain weight because hard workouts tend to stimulates hunger tremendously.  Not only that, but the “afterburn” (increased metabolic boost)  often touted as continuing to melt calories long after a workout is done may, in fact, be a lie. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!  All these year’s Men’s Health has lied to me (this afterburn thing is something they are always flogging when pushing their weight training routines).

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Breakfast:  2 Pandesal and a 2 filet of sole (from last night’s dinner), watered juice.
Snack 1: Granola bar.
Lunch: Teriyaki salmon, cup of cooked white rice, cup of bean sprouts, cup of salad and miso soup.
Snack 2: Mix of Shreddies, raisins, almonds, granola bar.
Dinner: Roasted potatoes, 3 chicken legs, corn, watered juice.
Snack 3: Oatmeal cookie.

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SUNDAY

Man, I haven’t missed a day of blogging in a long while.  So, what prevented me from logging in yesterday?  A few small things that compounded into one busy day.  The night prior was one of no sleep as the baby was up all night it seems doing his best to work out his poops.  Despite all that we do with his formula, he seems to continue having difficulty going to the washroom.  We’re not going to panic about it as we read that this is normal with some babies, but we will bring it up again come his next checkup in a week or two.  Well, on top of that, it was also a Sunday so it was chore cleaning day.  I spent the better part of the morning (something like 3-4 hours) just cleaning my ass off, vacuuming, puttering, doing the garbage and recycling, cleaning kitty litter, blah, blah, blah… all the fun things in life.  I do this every week because I am a clean freak.  My mom I think was the one who made me this way as she was always on top of me and my siblings to keep stuff in order (plus chores were how we earned our weekly pittance [aka allowance]).  I can’t function in a mess and so before anything else I have to have a clean house at the start of the week so that the rest of the week has some semblance of order.  It drives me absolutely NUTS if the house isn’t cleaned on the weekend… I could be on my deathbed and I WILL VACUUM on a Sunday… it’s a neurosis.

I think both these things combined made my Max Interval Plyo session yesterday absolutely brutal.  That was probably the hardest session I’ve had in the two months I’ve been doing Insanity.  I was already gassed maybe 1/3 of the way in and I needed to take a couple of seconds break basically every set.  It was horrible but I just plowed through.  I didn’t even do the cool down as I was in a rush to go over to my mother’s place for a special dinner.  Her nephew (a 50 year old guy) came from the Philippines and is hoping to start a life here in Canada the way my family did 28 years ago.  It was an introductory dinner of sorts.  He seems very nice but shy as his handle on English isn’t very good (he understands better than he speaks I think).  I could just imagine how scary and lonely it must be for him despite the fact that my mom is here to help him.  The rest of his family is in the Philippines and he’s now got the monumental task of trying to land a job and working to get them over here.  I’m sure he’s willing to work his ass off cause that’s what it’s going to take to get them here.  In any case, as you are probably aware going to my mom’s house is the kiss of death for any semblance of nutritional balance. And, as expected, I kinda blew my good eating habits Sunday evening.

Oh yeah, another thing that distracted me on Sunday was the Canada / USA gold men’s medal hockey game.  I’m not a fan of hockey but seeing as it’s the national religion up here in Canada, and I’m a good Canuck, I figured I better watch and root for the home team.  It was a pretty awesome, nail-biter of a game being decided in overtime. I’m just glad we won (would have been a bloody day of mourning today if we didn’t) and set the record for the most gold medals won by any nation in the history of the winter Olympics.  Something to be proud of for sure.

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So Sunday’s food intake looked like this:

Breakfast:  2 pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter, watered juice.

Snack 1:  Granola bar, cup of Shreddies.

Lunch: Scrambled eggs (2 eggs), two pieces of whole wheat toast with a pat of margarine, 2 pieces of turkey bacon.

Snack 2: Ice cream with granola.

Dinner: Oh boy…. Filipino goodness… rice with torta and sinegang.

Snack 3:  Here’s the real damage… there were a lot of special snacks that my cousin brought from the Philippines and I had a butt load of them.  I don’t even want to know the caloric value of them.  I had polvoron (this is like a bon-bon made of compressed sugar and powdered milk… sounds odd for sure but soooo tasty… I had like 10 of them I think … gaaaah) and hopia (this is a small thick cookie made of red bean paste with a crusty outer shell… thankfully I only had 1 which translates in 100 cal.).

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MONDAY

Today was much lower key.  The wife and I spent most of my time at the mall with the baby.  Just window shopping mainly.  Upon getting home around 7, I tackled Max Cardio Conditioning and Cardio Abs.  It was pretty good.  I wasn’t as tired as I was on Sunday (which is weird as the baby still kept my wife and I up for most of the night, and I spent an hour this morning cleaning all the washrooms) so I got through it pretty well.  It doesn’t hurt that I find the moves for this routine much easier than the other DVDs and that, despite the fact that there is no scheduled break for 30 minutes, Shaun T. does include nice, easy recovery sets to help you lower your heart rate.

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Breakfast:  Two pancakes with a pat of margarine, light drizzle of syrup, watered juice (approx 300).

Snack 1:  Granola bar (110).

Lunch: 3 Taco Bell soft tacos Fresco style (510 cal.), diet Coke.

Snack 2: Bubble Tease Bebop with tapioca pearls (I don’t know the caloric value of this drink but I did see the clerk make it… it’s basically a cup of frozen fruit [pineapple, mango, orange and half a banana] and half a cup of juice with ice cubes all blended then half a cup of tapioca pearls [the tapioca is probably the least healthy portion of the drink]).

Dinner: Lunchable kit (350), watered juice.

Snack 3: Granola with yogurt (135).

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Y’know having considered how horrible my meals were yesterday (especially with regards to dinner and dessert), it brought to mind a recent Men’s Health article I read in the February issue of the magazine.  It was written by the editor and, without re-typing the entire script, he basically made the analogy between having a strong sense of economic well-being and planning for retirement and one’s workout / nutrition plan.  Basically, a person has to look at their nutrition and exercise regimen as a daily investment that will pay dividends in the future.  I realize how cheesy it sounds now that I’ve typed it out… but… thinking along the same lines of this analogy… whenever I cheat at my nutrition, don’t I damage my the future earnings potential of whatever gains my workout routines have netted me?  I mean, I’d never think to ransack my RRSP for some immediate pleasure, so why do I feel the need to keep doing it over and over again when it comes to eating?

It really boggles my mind as I *know* generally what a good nutritional move is versus a bad one.  And, like saving money for the future or a rainy day fund, it all boils down to discipline.  Immediate gains (scrumptuous tasting snacks) versus long term goals (the possiblity of reaching a sub 10% body fat count in the future [also looking great come summer]).

So, with all this in mind, I am reaffirming a vow to eat cleanly until the end of this Insanity program.  That’s basically 2 weeks.  I’m making it a fairly short term goal as I acknowledge that it will be easier to meet (and once met, I can make a new short term goal… rinse and repeat ad nauseum).  What this means is sticking to healthy choices (i.e. no fish and chips, pizza, fries) and limiting myself to single servings of food.

K… now that all that is out of the way… I got through Max Cardio Conditioning at 4:30 this afternoon followed by a session of Cardio Abs.  Got through it fine.  Still taking breaks for a couple of seconds during some of the sets.  I think I might be able to get through the Max dvds without breaks when I go through it for a second round (or during a P90x / Insanity hybrid program).  Speaking of which, I really only have 2 more weeks left of this program.  Thus, I really have to get my butt in gear in planning my next program (more than likely it will be the aforementioned hybrid… seems to be the most popular choice for people who have done both Beachbody sets).

Hmm… now there’s something to do this weekend. Or maybe not… friends are coming over and I hope to do some gaming… haven’t done that in a while.  Alright… peace out!

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Breakfast: Oatmeal with crushed almonds, watered juice.

Snack 1: Granola bar. (170 cal.)

Lunch: Lunchable kit. (350 cal.)

Snack 2: None.

Dinner: Rice with beef, potatoe, carrot stew.

Snack 3: Granola and yogurt (135 cal.)

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Before I finish recovery week tomorrow, I figure I would do Cardio Abs one more time again along with Core Cardio & Recovery.  Both routines put together basically amounts to an hour’s worth of work.  I’m amazed at how short Insanity workouts are and yet how tiring they can be… I feel like compared to P90x, there is literally little to no wasted time in Insanity.  No chit chat, no joking around, no jotting down results or switching pieces of gear.  It’s just balls out WORK till you dronw in your own sweat.  I love that about it.  I know that after the workout is done that I’ve given my all and burned a butt load of calories.

In other news, last night again was a fitful night.  I spent the better part of yesterday morning helping my wife setting up a special monitor / walkie-talkie thing for the baby so he can sleep in his crib in the other room yet we can listen to him.  Thing is this monitor also has an added sensory pad to lay under the crib mattress.  If there is a period of 20 seconds where there is no movement whatsoever (i.e. no breathing) from the baby, an alarm sounds off.  It was one of the few things we did not get second hand or cut corners on.  I figure it’s worth the investment as a safety blanket and will come in useful again when we have another kid.  Thing is though, we’re still working out the kinks and technicalities of the system so it would sound off whenever we lifted Eli out of the crib to change him and forget to shut off the alarm.  Disconcerting to say the least to hear it go off every couple of minutes.

Ugh… I’m so sleepy.  I’m gonna go get a rare treat of ice cream and maybe add frozen berries or granola to it.  Then to watch The Wire and then sleep.  Peace.

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Breakfast:  Oatmeal with 2 tbsp. of crushed almonds, watered down juice.

Snack 1:  Granola bar, 6 Hershey kisses.

Lunch: Half an apple, granola bar, Michelinas frozen dinner (340 cal.)

Snack 2: 6 Hershey kisses, 3 pineapple slices.

Dinner:  Pork chop, brown rice, corn niblets, watered down juice.

Snack 3: 1/2 cup ice cream with granola.

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Like the title says, on top of Core Cardio & Balance, I decided to tack on Cardio Abs as well making the full workout today almost an hour long.  There was a reason for this.  That being I had a pretty big lunch at my favourite Japanese restaurant (Makimono) so I felt I needed to do something extra to compensate.

Which brings me to my next point… today I tried something different.  I attempted to photograph everything I ate.  A friend of mine is doing the same on her blog and so I thought I would attempt it for one day to see if it would be worth it.  I had some mixed results as during lunch I did not have my camera so I used my phone (actually my mother’s … I’m just borrowing it for the moment… don’t ask).  However (and this is the frustrating part), I don’t have the connection to link the phone to the PC.  AARGH! So I’ll have to either delay putting those pics up or hunt around the net for them.

I guess the main reason I did this was to chronicle the foods I eat.  I tend to eat the same thing over and over again (meaning I rarely ever deviate away from peanut butter toast or oatmeal for breakfast) so … yeah… now you know what my nutrition is about.

Breakfast:

Watered down juice… which basically means this – filling a tiny bit of a cup with juice and then pouring in a lot of water.

–>

In the morning, I also take 1 of each of the following:

First snack was a chocolate chip granola bar.

This particlar bar I eat is 110 calories.

Lunch was teriyaki chicken, cup of cooked rice (I think… maybe not even), and a mound of bean sprouts.  But… here’s the bad part.  My wife ordered a bento boxed lunch with tempura and I had 4 pieces of her tempura (brocoli, eggplant, zuccini and a jumbo shrimp).  I’ll update with pics later.

For the second snack, we were at the mall and I had a GLORIOUS small low fat chocolate frozen yogurt with raspberries from Yogun Fruz. Man I love this stuff … and only 110 calories to boot!

Dinner was a home made cold platter consisting of 5 turkey slices, a couple of slices of old cheddar and 6 Triscuits.  This was something I saw posted in Men’s Health and they called the combo a “grown up lunchable”.  It was terrific.  Light yet filling.  I plan on taking the same kit to dinner for work tomorrow. I should have added some pickles now that I think about it.

Lastly, dessert was the awesome combo of a yogurt cup and 1/4 cup of granola.

Man, that was a lot of work.  No way I’m gonna do that for every meal.  Next time I’m just gonna list it again.  Peace out!

Alrighty… first post on the new site! Welcome if you’re a new reader and welcome if you’ve been reading a while! Welcome, welcome, welcome!

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I have to re-state my accountability to myself and my fitness plan for this year.  I’ve been doing ok so far over the past month with Insanity but I’ve found over the past few days my nutrition has been really off again.  For instance, last night my wife had a bunch of her girlfriends over to watch the season premier of Lost (I will never understand that show… seems like all sorts of crazy shit happens for no reason).  Well, the girls also brought home dinner.  I haven’t had fries in forever and last night I caved and had some with roasted chicken and macaroni salad.  All very rich and fattening.  I should have opted for brown rice or whole wheat bread instead but … it looked so damn good.  To top it off, they also purchased lava cakes and vanilla ice cream.  That stuff is my kryptonite!

So, in response, I’ve been thinking of re-implementing my previous plan of documenting what I eat during the day.  I did it throughout P90x and although it can be a pain in a butt trying to recall everything you ate at the end of the day, it does make one consider everything you put into your mouth because you know you’ll have to account for it in the blog at a later time (at least that’s the theory behind it).  Also, knowing I only have 6 slots to fill up, I hope to break up my eating schedule over the day so that I don’t go nuts at any 1 time with the food.  Meaning… no snacking in between the 6 designated periods.  A friend of mine is also doing the same thing at her blog here.  However, she’s taking pictures.  I can’t be bothered to go that far because that’s just 1 more step to add to the whole process (and I couldn’t see myself hooking up the camera to the laptop every time I blog).

As for my workout, today was pretty good.  I did Pure Cardio Circuit followed by the 16 minutes of core work in Cardio Abs.  In total, it clocks in at under an hour.  Still less than what P90x asked of you on a weight training day with ARX (generally 75 min. of work).  I’m getting better at Pure Cardio. I only took 1 thirty second break during the ski set.  This is my last week before moving onto recovery next week then onto the Max Circuits.  Man, I really dread that knowing how gassed the regular workouts get me.

As for my grease the groove system, today was a pretty poor showing with only 15 reps.  It sucks but I am so tired from getting up at all hours of the night to care for the baby that I really, really lack the motivation to put on the 15 pound backpack and start doing chins / pull ups.  It’s friggin’ draining.  Not to mention that the wide-front pull ups cause my shoulders to ache.  Maybe this weekend I’ll rig a system where I can hang the weights off a belt.  Might lessen the strain.

Got the baby his new plastic cover for his diapers.  Poor guy keeps peeing out of his pampers.  Just got to roll with it.  Making sure to lather him up with cream so he doesn’t get a rash.  Big shout out to Jim from More Moo, Less Milk for the advice.  Really appreciate it man!

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Breakfast:  Oatmeal with 2 tbsp. of ground almonds.  Cup of very watered down juice.

Snack 1:  Fiber One granola bar (150 cal.)

Lunch: Apple and Michelina’s frozen dinner (390 cal.)

Snack 2: Granola bar (100 cal.) 2 piece of chocolate (100 cal.) 4 pieces of Valentine’s candy.

Dinner: Leftover chicken (no skin) with past sidekick.

Snack 3: ¼ cup granola with non-fat yogurt (150 cal.)