Day 78 - Stuffed peppers mmmmm

Our last Chest, Shoulders and Triceps exercise was today! Chris says it's his favourite, and it's definitely one of mine. I'm sad that we won't do it again! Ab Ripper was particularly awesome, with both myself and Chris doing ALL of Fifer Scissors with no breaks! That exercise is brutal, and we finally conquered it! Ab Ripper is slowly, slowly getting easier. Yippee!

A few days ago we found a delicious looking recipe in one of my Women's Health magazines for stuffed red peppers. Chris was determined to make them, so he did! And they were delicious! Red peppers stuffed with lean ground turkey, rice, raisins, green olives and garlic. YUM!!

Mmmmm so tasty!

Day 64 - CST, baby!

Chest, Shoulders & Triceps has got to be one of my favourite workouts. I love how many pushups I can do. I just tried to do as many as possible and I got 14; mind you, that's after this CST workout. On weigh-in day I did 20 pushups. I can't wait until I can do more!

I love the tricep workouts too, and the weird burn I get from them. No other way to explain it but weird! I think I love this workout because I feel like a total hulk grunting and grimacing and watching my muscles swell. It sounds weird, but I love feeling like a man in this respect!

Our diet changed a few days ago, and it's been... meh. The nutrition guide advises that you can either stay in Phase Three diet or go back to Phase Two, whichever feels best. I definitely liked Phase Two better, but I'm sticking it out because I want to complete this program as it was designed.

On another note, I subscribe to Women's Health magazine and I often check their website for advice and stories. They have these 12 powerfoods that are good ab foods, but you have to submit your email in order to access it. Lame! So I'm posting it for all to see. It's not rocket science, but it's still pretty neat.

Click for full size!

Day 63 - Sighhh

Unfortunately, due to inevitable, anticipated familial conflict, I skipped my Kenpo workout tonight. Stress usually motivates me to do better. This time it sucked out my life force and I retreated to the couch.

Tomorrow is Chest, Shoulders & Triceps and Ab Ripper. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Day 44 - A Plyo day

So I did end up doing Plyo tonight instead of Cardio! I'm happy about that because Plyo is definitely a harder workout, and I felt really great afterward. You know it's a good one when you're wiping off your face between every single exercise! I pass on the ones where 180-degree spinning is involved, because last time I tried those, I felt nauseous. Chris does them, so I do other random exercises so my heart rate doesn't go down. Seems to work pretty well for me.

We went to see A Christmas Carol in IMAX 3D today. It was really good!! Starting P90X, I thought going to the movies would be difficult because I'm a theatre popcorn addict. We would always get the full meal deal: huge popcorn, huge pop, bag of candy. I can't imagine how much fat and sugar would be in all that. Anyway, starting out I was scared because I thought I would cave and get some popcorn, but we've found ways around that. I pop a bag of low-fat popcorn at home and take two Ziploc baggies of it with me, with a protein bar and a bottle of water. It's perfect, it's just enough snack, and it's not super bad for me! Win win!

Tomorrow marks the HALFWAY POINT - very exciting! Chest, Shoulders & Triceps and Ab Ripper to celebrate! Hooray!!

Day 31 - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

Today was my first Chest, Shoulders and Triceps workout. I love the triceps workouts.. I hate the push ups. Why oh why are there so many push ups?! Clearly my shoulders and arms are too weak if I'm still finding push ups hard. So, despite hating push ups, I'm happy that they're included because it only means that I'll get better at them! I really like the triceps kickback workouts. I'm impressed with Tony's creativity - he takes one move and turns it into four or five moves, which keeps in interesting. This is key! There's nothing worse than pushing yourself through a workout that you hate doing. Breaking up a brutal triceps workout into five shorter, different workouts was brilliant.

We had chicken breasts and boiled squash for supper tonight, and if you know me, you know I LOVE squash. Chris cooked it, god love him, and it was very tasty. We're always on the lookout for meal ideas, so if you have any, post a comment for me! I'd love to hear some suggestions.

Otherwise, that's it for me - I have an early early morning tomorrow. Story of my life!

Day 28 - Measurements!

I just finished my X Stretch workout, and Chris and I went through our measurements and a few exercises from the Fit Test. Not much change overall as far as numbers are concerned, but I feel - and look - a hundred times better. The biggest change was in my flexibility. So, without further ado, the numbers:

Weight:
124 lb
123 lb

Chest:
32"
31"

Waist:
27"
27"

Hips:
34"
33.5"

Right thigh:
19"
19"

Left thigh:
18"
19"

Right arm:
10.5"
10.5"

Left arm:
11"
10.5"

Pushups:
7
11

Wide-grip pull-ups:
1/2
3/4 (these did not get easier)

Toe touch:
-5" (5" away from touching toes)
+2" (2" past toes)

The number on top is from 28 days ago, the number below, from today. I had a SEVEN INCH INCREASE in my toe touch! That is major major, because I was never flexible, not even as a child. To see such an increase in my flexibility is so motivating! As far as the other numbers are concerned: not much change, like I said, but the photos should show a change. I'll post those side-by-side in the next few days.

So, that's it. The first measurement day is done, hooray! On to Phase Two - Land of Chest, Shoulders and Triceps and two servings of carbs! :)