The Fitness Ninja

Well, today was the first “free” day I’ve had since finishing the P90x / Insanity hybrid program.  So… to celebrate I did my favourite workout: Core Synergistics.  Got a good sweat on but skipped the cool down stretches.  Took some update pictures of me at 139 after the hybrid.  To be completely honest, I’m disappointed in how little my gains were.  I think the past three months have been more about maintenance than anything else (although, I do notice it’s a bit easier to lift the 30 lb dumbells / 20 lb dip belt now more than it was a the start which means I have gotten a bit stronger).

My goals were to hopefully get a bit bigger and more defined.  I would have prefered the latter more than the former.  In reality I got very little of either one.  To make matters worse, I KNOW WHY the gains are so little: it’s because of my lack of discipline with regards to my nutrition.  You cannot exercise your way to a 6-pack.  The abs are built in the kitchen.  This probably sounds all shallow and such because there is more to exercise and nutrition than looking good.  I know this.  But the vain side of me wants that end result in addition to being fit / healthy.

Hahaha…  the character Lester Burnham from American Beauty said it best when asked what he wanted from learning how to exercise: “I just want to look good naked.”

So here they are:

C’est la vie.  The good thing about fitness is that it’s a life long journey.  Although everything I’ve done is in 3 month blocks (with the exception of classic Insanity), I don’t plan on stopping my workouts just because this hybrid program is done.  And really, that’s the next goal — figuring out where to go from here.  I’ve said it before in previous posts but I really have to think long and hard about what my options are next as I’m getting bored with P90x / Insanity.  And boredom is a big reason why some people stumble in their fitness so I have to be extra vigilant in fighting it off.

I also hope to get a quick mini review up of the hybrid I just did some time this week so keep an eye out for that.

Oh…. one more thing.  This is a picture of Eli at his baptism this past week.  That little boy is my world.

Woohoo! This is one of the best times of any 3 month program – the final recovery week.  I can see the end in sight and it feels good.  By all accounts I should be finished Friday evening if everything goes according to plan (no rest day that day as I need to catch up on a Modified Angie).

So far everything seems good.  After work yesterday afternoon I tackled Cardio Recovery and today I did Cardio Synergistics.  I really don’t know why I didn’t arrange to do that routine more during this round of workouts as it is, hands-down, my favorite P90x routine.  It’s so well rounded and yet so basic.  Very little equipment use but it works basically everything including cardio AND provides a great sweat-on (those plank to chataranga runs are still killer… but I can do them now without stopping once during the sequence).

Where I failed today was the nutrition side of things as my wife and I decided to take in a film: The A-Team.  It was my intention to bring my own snacks to the movie as then I could control the calories but we were in a rush and all I put in my pocket was a roll of flavored Mentos (not bad at 140 calories per 14 piece roll).  However, upon arriving at the theater we were told that we could either get a free ticket or a free snack combo because we had acquired enough points on our special SCENE membership card.  The most economical choice is to always choose the combo as these cost 16 bucks (YIKES!) while the ticket is only 9.50.  That is the logical choice, not the healthy one.  Still, being suckers for a bargain we took it and got a medium popcorn and a large diet Coke to split between me and the wife.

To top it all off, we went over to my mom’s for dinner and were spoiled by her terrific home cooking.  All told I think my calorie intake for the day was 2500 or so … a whopping 700 points over my allotted 1850.  NUTS!!  Maybe I can do two runs home this week to make up for it? Hopefully, the weather is good enough for such an endeavor.

As for the movie itself, IT WAS ROCKING.  I had low expectations and was surprised when the movie turned out to be a terrific summer blockbuster with a half-decent storyline to boot (it was predictable but not altogether brainless).  It was, as my wife put it, the quintessential “guy flick” with a ton of explosions, car chases and even a bit of “bromance”.  She enjoyed it because according to her Bradley Cooper is a “dream”.

Yeah, I gotta admit … that guy got into wicked shape for the part.  In one scene he takes off his shirt and he is quite defined in the abs / upper body.

Still, my “ideal” male body type is Daniel Craig in Casino Royale.

Those shoulders are great.

Not that I’ll ever have either body… but that won’t stop me from working out and focusing on my own physique.

Alright… enough with the man-love.  Peace out and have a great evening!

Alright… the good news: I’ve been able to keep up with all my workouts thus far this second recovery week.  Cardio Recovery was a cake walk on Saturday, Core Syn was done late last night and almost caused me to throw up (more on that in a bit) and I just finished Max Recovery today.

Now the bad news: I gorged myself yesterday on tons of delicious food… AARGH!!  See, we had 3 families come over yesterday to have a Mother’s Day celebration at our place.  My wife made a butt load of ribs from Costco, my mother brought over lasagna and garlic bread, and the in-laws brought a table full of desserts (there were something like 2 cakes, 2 pies, 2 loads of cookies and 3 bags of chips / nachos / salsa).  The beginning of the day wasn’t bad as I prepared my own meager meals (toast with peanut butter, granola with yogurt).  But after lunch when everyone had gotten here, all my willpower basically left the building.  I had like 4 ribs and 2 squares of lasagna and sampled like 3 of the desserts.  I was so full by the end of the evening I thought I was going to burst.  Not good!  I should have paid better attention to my satiety levels.  Thing is when it’s a party that kind of rationale thinking for me sometimes goes out the window.

By the time everyone had left at 9 (it started at like 2 PM), I was pretty icky feeling.  BUT… I knew I would feel worse if I didn’t do Core Syn.  So I dragged my butt into the basement and cranked it out.  I felt pretty damn nauseous through it but the bucket of sweat that came from my pores was also, strangely, felt kind of cleansing.  I actually contemplated trying to force myself to hurl as that might have made my bloated self feel better.  But alas I did not!

Today was a little bit better but I faltered again after going to see Iron Man 2.  Shared a bag of popcorn (no topping) with the wife along with some Twizzlers (nibs actually).  I love comics so I’m biased towards a film like this.  It was pretty awesome as far as summer blockbusters go.  The story’s decent and the effects were pretty tight.  Stay until the very end of the credits if you go see it as there is an “Easter Egg” to be seen.

To be expected I think after all the rich food eaten this weekend, I was a little nauseous even after seeing the film.  Had a very simple dinner of toast with a little peanut butter and water.  Waited a bit then did Max Recovery upon getting home.  Maybe it was just me but again I found Shaun T. kinda unbearable during this routine for some reason.  There’s something about the constant repetition of his commands that can drive you nuts after a while.

In other news, I’m getting scared regarding the situation at work.  I know now that my hours will be cut but to what extent is still up in the air.  More than likely I’ll be reduced to 2 shifts.  There’s no way we can function on me earning that little but the job searching is a bit bleak at the moment.  During quiet moments of the day, when I look at my son and wife, it really brings home all the responsibility I have towards them.  Thankfully, the money I’ve been saving for my computer can be a small little nest egg.  If I save some more I can cover about an extra month’s worth of mortgage payments.  Not a lot in the long term but at least it’s something.  Trying not to think about it too much.

Oh one last thing: I have set a running goal for myself!  After reading a few websites, and armed with the knowledge of Danny Dreyer’s ChiRunning book (haven’t finished it yet), what I hope to do is work towards running a 5k in under 20 minutes.  That means shaving 5 whole minutes off of my current time! It will be tough, but if I work on it 1-2 times a week, I hope by November to be able to do it.  Every time I run I will try and incorporate a new lesson or adage from the book and over time my form and pace should improve (that’s the hope anyways!).

Alrighty! Peace out!

As the title says, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.  I’ve just had a super busy weekend.  I’ve still kept up on all the Recovery week routines (forcing myself to do them late in the evening around 9 PM if needed).

Sunday was pretty awesome as my wife, Eli and I decided to go do some window shopping in the city close to where my brother lives (he’s at the intersection of Yonge and Eglinton … very nice shopping area).  The weather was beautiful and we met up for dinner at South St. Burgers.  It’s a deluxe burger joint.  I’ve been having a lot of burgers I find lately… probably due to the fact that summer is almost upon us and grilling season is nigh.  I made sure not to have any fries nor cheese or bacon on the burger (all the joints offer these two topping to up the price).  I did have like 3 or 4 small onion rings though.

Catching up with my brother was nice.  As I said in my previous post, all our friends seem to be moving into the baby making phase of their lives.  My brother has just gotten married this past January and now he’s working towards getting his wife landed status here in Canada as she is currently living in Japan.  Hope she gets here soon as it’s hard not living with your spouse.  My parents did that for years as my dad works in the states and long distance relationships are TOUGH.  However, if the love is strong anything can be seen through.  Sounds cheesy but it’s true.  Basically, I think the key thing we agreed on during dinner is that the ultimate dream in life is not so much to get rich (although a bit of extra money is always nice).  The ultimate dream would be to thoroughly love your job so you can get up every morning and look forward to what you do in life. That’s a very hard thing to achieve.  Most people accept a path and stick to it because it offers security, plodding along and putting up with work because it’s a neccesity.  Although, I think it’s possible to learn to love your work if you can get your head around it.  I felt that way about teaching (before I got laid off from the board) and I’ve come to feel that way about my current work.  Gotta learn to see the upside to it as it’s what I’ve got to work with right now.  Also, in a related vein, contrary to popular belief money is not the most important commodity in life (it often appears that way because so much is tied to it), but rather health and time are.  If your health goes down, no amount of money in the world can make you happy and time is a finite resource.  You can never work enough to gain more of it in your life so you gotta make the most of what you got.  All in all, it was a pretty thought-provoking conversation.

Anyway upon getting home, I did Core Syn on Sunday night. Man, I forgot how awesome Core Syn was.  Of all the P90x dvds, that one seems the most comprehensive.  You basically work every part of your body (despite the fact that the titles suggests you focus on ‘core’) on top of including some cardio to boot.  I didn’t heavy up the weights for Core Syn, opting instead to use just 2 five pound dumbells whenever weights were required.  It was strenuous but not balls out so.  Good thing as it’s RECOVERY WEEK.

Yesterday, I tackled Max Recovery. That one is tough.  47 minutes of ‘deep’ muscle work.  Those slowed down push ups plus the staggered push ups near the end where you pyramind up from 4 to 16 on on side then back again on the other are KILLER.  My shoulders are just screaming after that routine.  Hehehe… Max “recovery” my butt.

Today is Cardio X, which I will promptly do after writing this post then, as the weather seems awesome today, I plan on my 8 km run home tonight from work.  Hopefully, I don’t get the same blister problem I got last time.

Alright, peace out!

Edit: I just found this short film narrated by the late Carl Sagan.

“Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”

Another day, another destiny.

Well, here I am nearing the tail end of P90x and am glad for it.  I felt horrible last night lying in bed.  The congestion in my sinuses made me feel like my head was going to blow up and cave in at the same time.  It got so bad I had to take a cold compress and just lay it on top of my forehead and sinuses for some relief.  Took meds then just tried to sleep best as I could.  Morning rolled around and as it’s Wednesday, that meant an early shift at work.  Dragged my butt out into this freezing weather and just kept blowing my nose as often as possible throughout the day to relieve the pressure.  As for the wife, she went for another ultrasound.  The baby grew several more ounces to 4 pounds and so they are going to let things take their course.

When I got home, I took a nap to relieve the tiredness.  I was seriously contemplating not pushing play today because I felt so crappy for most of the morning and afternoon. But… I figured… just 1 more day.  Let’s do it… LET’S DO THIS!!!  Got myself pumped and just went at it.  I figure after tomorrow I’ll have a few days to totally recuperate without any exercise whatsoever.  What the phrase?  “I can rest when I’m dead.”

I’m glad I did it.  There is nothing like Core Syn to get you sweating.  I’ve said it before but it bears repeating — This is my favourite routine in all of P90x just because of the total body conditioning.    More importantly, I think the strain of the exercise loosened up my sinuses and it felt like I could breathe easier afterwards.  In any case, I followed the workout with a chicken pasta dinner then a long hot shower, as hot as I could bear it so that the bathroom was basically like a sauna.  That also helped the cold.

Food for today: Breakfast was oatmeal and cup of juice.  Bought a mix of shreddies, almonds and raisins to work and had like 6 cookies while there.  Lunch was macaroni and cheese light Michelinas (290).  Had a granola bar (150) then pasta with alfredo sauce and chicken for dinner.  For dessert had tapioca pudding and granola bar (220)

Spent another 3 hours at the hospital today.  Wife had a stress test and ultrasound.  Everything went well and the baby is still in her so… yeah.  I hope he can stay in there until at least January… but his safety is first.  So if he decides to come sooner, so be it.

My eating was pretty good today until I met my mom.  She came with us to the hospital.  Ugh… I love her to death but I honestly think part of the reason why I have such bad eating habits is due to her.  I know, I know.  It’s ultimately up to me as to what I put in my mouth but man… she always has snacks and treats with her.  (Growing up in our house… there were always a tonne of snacks everywhere… interestingly, my brother and sister can eat whatever they basically want and stay super slim… I blow up just looking at food the wrong way).   Like today, for instance.  Right there in the middle of the hospital waiting room she started whipping out Lindt chocolate balls.  I was like “WTH??” I, having no will power at this time of year, ate 3.  My wife and I went then went to my mom’s place afterwards for lunch. We had eaten nothing thus far (except a small bowl of oatmeal and cup of juice for breakfast) and so when we arrived there around 1:30 we were famished.  She had leftovers from Christmas (fish, rice and turkey soup) but worst of all… my mom had these specialty chocolate covered cookies available and I ate a tonne of them.  UGH.

We got home around 4.  I rested for a bit (still not sleeping well and I think my cold is acting up again… getting me congested and headachy) then tackled core synergistics.  I got a terrific sweat-on and loved to be moving about after a eating so much today.

Of all the non-weight training routines, this is probably my favourite.  It’s a real shame you only see it a grand total of 6 times during a standard run of P90x (twice during each recovery week).  Why do I like it so much? It’s because core syn is all encompassing.  It works out almost every single part of your body in some form or another.  Like cardio X, it takes portions from other routines and amalgamates them into one while adding a whole bunch of other moves you don’t see anywhere else.  As such, core syn incorporates some dumbbell work with bodyweight exercises and pairs cardio drills with isometric and anaerobic moves.  And some of the moves are just killer in ways you wouldn’t expect.  I’m still shocked at how hard plank to chataranga runs are despite how easy they look when someone else is doing them… after all, it’s just running in place while in a plank right?  Killer! It’s great! I am always drenched in sweat after this dvd.  Next time I do P90x, I will definitely find more reasons to put this routine amongst the regular weekly workouts.

For dinner I had a small bowl of mac n’ cheese with 1 hotdog.  No dessert.

Just finished core synergistics again.  I can’t say it enough… that one is a burner.  The whole body is just worked and you’ll be dripping in sweat if you go all out (I actually pooped out again in the middle of plank-chataranga run).  Thinking ahead to my second round of P90x, I think I might sub out all the kenpo X routines for core synergistics.  It would provide a better, more thorough workout.  I might also switch out yoga x for Tony Horton’s fountain of youth yoga from his One-on-One series (I can’t wait to swap out that 1 and half hour beast for something else… love everything about yoga except for the length! TOO DAMN LONG!).

Food for today: oatmeal, 2 cups of juice, 3 granola bars (300 cal.), lunch was a Michelina’s frozen dinner (280 calories), mix of Shreddies, raisins, and almonds, 4 twizzlers (150 cal.) bag of chips (230 cal.), 6 pieces of chocolate (est. 210 cal.), dinner was pork chop with gravy and mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.

Looking at that list… I think I’m going to be doing an extra run this week on top of Yoga X tomorrow.

Man… felt the burn on this one.  Those plank to chataranga runs are killer.  I think of all the P90x routines, this one is the best “whole body” workout.  Everything seems to get worked and there aren’t too many breaks between the sets.  It’s funny, but sometimes I find myself sweating loads more when doing isometric exercises rather than “moving” ones.  Tomorrow, my wife and I go back to the clinic for a check up on the baby and her safety.  I pray everything is ok.  In addition to working out, I cleaned the entire house and went on the roof to clean the sunroof glass.  That must account for a few calories burned as it took a few hours and tired me out.  At least, I hope so.  Every bit counts.

Eating today was a bit better: Breakfast was 2 pieces of French toast with tbsp of syrup, lunch was 2 pandesal with margerine and 4 slices of cheddar cheese, dinner was roast beef, steamed mixed vegetables, roasted potatoes and gravy.  Also had a chocolate bar (280 cal.), 2 cups of juice, 1 can of diet Dr. Pepper.

Man… almost didn’t do the workout today.  The run last night… was something I underestimated.  Since I haven’t been running for the past little while, I was especially stiff throughout the night and today at work.   As a result, I had a very hard time falling asleep last night (despite taking the time to run cold water over my legs prior to sleeping to help ease the tension and then taking a hot shower).  I was so tired this morning it was a huge struggle to get out of bed.  To make matters worse, a friend of mine has been going through some tough times and so I decided to take him out for lunch to a local Indian-Thai restaurant today.  So my eating was off… my food intake for today was:

Oatmeal, 2 cups of juice, 2 granola bars, 2 cups of yogurt, piece of toast with PB&J, for lunch we had Hakka noodles, fried spicy pork, steamed rice then dessert was a small coffee-crisp McFlurry from McDonalds.

When I got home, I decided to take a nap.  I basically just conked out for 2 hours.  I just know that something like that is going to throw my sleeping off for tonight.  Waking up super groggy, I hauled my butt out of bed and did core synergistics.  I don’t know what was up with me today, but I was sweating BUCKETS….like it was just dripping off of me to the point where I had a hard time seeing the TV.  And again that Plank run to chataranga run just gets me GASSED.  I am so drained by that thing that I know I must look like a pathetic little tadpole wriggling on the basement carpet.  Still I got through it, felt the burn (even upped the weights I was using from two days ago) and that’s all that matters.

I leave you with this thought…

For realz.

Just did core synergistics for the first time.  Without knowing what to expect, I got quite winded at times during the workout.  I guess what I like best about this routine was that it really mixed up a lot of elements from all the other dvds (plyo, yoga, chest work, etc.) giving a full body workout.  I also really liked finally getting to do planks.  Prior to doing P90x, I used to do planks all the time as part of my own workout routine 3 times a week so I’m kinda used to doing them.  When I started doing this 90 day adventure, I kept asking myself “Does Tony Horton not believe in planks?” Well, I guess now I know where he stuck them … in synergistics.  That plank / push up run to chataranga run is brutal btw.

In addition to working out, I did some light work in the garden for an hour and took a walk for about an hour.  Feels strange not to be hitting the weights this week.

As for today, food-wise it was ok.  What I ate:

-oatmeal (I combined 2 packets and added some raisins – 300 cal. for breakfast), cup of juice, 11 Swedish berries (140 cal.), a chicken wrap for lunch, 1/4 cup of macarony salad (the salad that came with my lunch was literally just 16 pieces of macaroni!), Starbucks small non-fat hot chocolate, low fat banana bread slice (I wish I could get a definitive answer on the caloric value of this stuff… looking it up on the internet, depending on the source, you get values ranging from 190 calories to 400 for the hot chocolate… kinda frustrating), for dinner a caesar salad (light dressing and croutons added), pudding cup, half a bag of light popcorn.