Day 59 - Power Blocks!

Today was a good workout day, a not-so-good diet day. I went to a lunchtime conference where there was pizza and salad being served. I had a piece of BBQ chicken pizza (thinking that this was better for me than pepperoni or works) and a giant salad, fruit and water. Not so bad I guess, but this is the first time in over 59 days that I've had a piece of pizza! That's wild. Before this, Chris and I would order or make a pizza at least once a week!

As far as the workout goes, I did Shoulders & Arms. I like this workout because once it's over, there's so much blood flow to my arms and shoulders that I look HUGE! I don't want to ever look that muscle-y, but it's fun to see how much bigger my arms get when I work them out.

It's hard to believe I'm in Phase 3! I literally don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I'm done with P90X. Obviously I won't stop working out, but it's hard to say how often I will (likely 3-4x a week) or what I'll be doing (Yoga? Dance? Insanity?). I'm just enjoying this program and I'm making the most of it while it lasts. I'm even considering doing it over again, just minus the super-strict diet. Time will tell..

Oh yeah, and Chris got some Power Blocks! He found a used set on Kijiji (which is good because they're very expensive). Power Blocks are dumbbells with adjustable weights, so you can have a set of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 lb weights with only one pair of dumbbells. They're huge space savers, which is great in a tiny little apartment like ours. Chris is loving them! I'll stick with my 5, 8 and 10 lb sets, thanks. :)

The Power Blocks!

Day 17 - I can do 2 chin-ups!

It is very late, so this will be a short entry. Sorry!

I just finished Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper. I love the stiff feeling my muscles get with weight training - likely a result of the increased blood flow to the muscles, but it feels great. The one exercise I can't do well is the lying down triceps extension. I can tell it's working at first, but my elbows get sore and painful long before my muscles get tired. I compensated by switching to a lighter weight and doing them a little faster, but it's still a little discouraging.

But, on a positive note, I can officially do TWO reverse-grip chin-ups!! Someday, I would love to grab onto a chin-up bar and just give 'er, doing 5, 10, even 20. Maybe 20 is a little ambitious, but just imagine how good it would feel to pump out 20 chin-ups. What a high I would get from that!

And on that note, I must head to bed. Yoga tomorrow evening - bring it!

I bet she can only do 1!

Day 10 - 9% done! (That makes it sound pitiful..)

As a result of school, I'm still ridiculously stressed out. Today though, instead of not wanting to work out, I REALLY wanted to work out. I think I learned from my mistakes yesterday.

And so, I worked out. Our programs aligned again, so Chris and I did Arms & Shoulders and Ab Ripper together. This is a really great workout. They'll do three exercises in a row, for example, curls, shoulder flys and tricep kickbacks, then they do those three over again. I like this because I know what's coming so I can be ready, and also because I know how many reps I did the first time, and I can try to match that number the second time. Plus, there were no exercises in Arms & Shoulders that I couldn't do - yippee!

The diet was good today as well, I still haven't faltered with that one. I made Island Pork Tenderloin for supper again, because it's absolutely delicious. We had it with mixed sauteed veggies, and Chris had a salad too. Really great supper. I used to think we ate pretty well, but at night time, we would snack and munch on junk. That's been the biggest change, but like I've said before, I never go to bed hungry. In fact, I can't even sleep if I'm hungry, so I really can't go to bed hungry. I've been known to get up and get something to eat before I could fall asleep.

Speaking of sleep, I have to get to bed. Another early morning tomorrow. We have a social event that we're going to tomorrow night, which will be my first time "breaking" the diet. I'm going to have a few hors-d'oeuvres, but I'm certainly not going to use it as an excuse to pig out! There will also be (free) wine, which means I'll be helping myself to a glass or two. I'm not worried in the least, because I want these results more than I want that glass of wine. I'm still extremely motivated, and one little night out certainly won't deter me!

Yes, please!

Day 3

I was just formally introduced to the Ab Ripper workout, and I have to say, I loved it. It was extremely hard, and there were definitely areas that need improvement, but that will come. When I first started going to the gym back in January, I couldn't do a sit-up (with unweighted feet) to save my life. Now I can do 25! So, I'm not letting myself get disappointed because I know that progress will come.

One exercise, the oblique V's, I absolutely couldn't do. In place of those, I did side planks for the same amount of time which was still very challenging for me. For some reason, I find planks really tough, and I've never been able to hold them very long. It'll be interesting to see how that changes, as well.

Before Ab Ripper, we did Shoulders and Arms. It was great, but I really need to get 7.5lb weights. For the bicep exercises the 10lb was fine, but for triceps and shoulders I had to use my 5's which weren't enough. So, note to self.

My inner thighs and glutes were very, very sore today. So sore that I couldn't walk at my normal speed, sitting down was torture, and I was walking like I had a stick up my ass. Nice!

As far as the diet goes, so far so good (I typed food there by accident and laughed.. I'm getting tired!). We've had three days now of breakfasts consisting of chicken bacon and egg whites, so tomorrow we're switching it up and trying soy sausage muffins (soy sausage patties on whole wheat English muffins with skim mozza). Chris also noticed these veggie sausages that boasted 170 calories, 6 grams of fat and 20 (!!) grams of protein per sausage. We both love sausage, but since your classic sausage has almost 300 calories, over 20 grams of fat and half the protein, we always skip on it because it's really not worth it. I'm clearly obsessed with these sausages, so they better not disappoint! We'll be trying them in the next few days.

Another early morning tomorrow. Goodnight!

Mmmmm!