Ten days in and I feel fabulous. Yesterday I wasn't able to get my workout in until 11:30 at night. Being chest and arms, it was the longer workout of a full hour plus 15 minutes for abs. I was thankful it was a strengthening workout rather than the previous day's plyometrics because I was pretty exhausted. But I put in a decent effort (my elbow was bothering me and I was being mindful, but otherwise I was doing my best) and Ab Ripper X was the easiest yet. I made it though all 50 mason ball twists, and the scissor kicks went by really quickly. I can feel my body strengthening, even if I'm not losing weight like my teammates. I think it is because I have an athletic body that would much rather build muscle than burn fat, which is fine by me.
Food has been difficult but I've also been doing my best to keep with the dietary restrictions. Im interested to see how I dare when I'm in NJ for the weekend at the writers retreat. I won't be doing the videos but I plan on relaxing and doing a lot of yoga, maybe some trail running of weights in ye gym of there is time (there is always time). Wish me luck!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Week one - check!
Week one is done, dude! (That was a Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter is Dead reference, movie buffs). I just finished up Kempo X, which at least slightly satiates me craving for boxing lessons. It made me remember that my shoulders were kind of messed up for a while, which is a reason I stopped vinyasa power yoga - all the downward dogs were killing me - but the soreness was manageable and I did some of the shoulder stretches we'd done in the shoulders exercise to help curb any damage. I am not sure which exercise I like most - it's between Plyometrics because it's so brutal and goes so fast, Legs and Back because it's so dynamic and well paced, and Kempo X because of the aforementioned reasons and because it's so damn fun (really!).
E. is downstairs now finishing up his workout. He claims to be sore and hate the whole thing, but after the first admittedly very sore days, I have mainly felt strong and sturdy and overall just plain awake. I love these workouts, even when I am exhausted. I'm also differently goal oriented, looking forward to smaller increments of satisfaction, which is easier to see.
The diet has been challenging for both of us, but doable. I feel sometimes like I'm cheating, even though I'm allowed a certain number of snacks per day, but it's hard for me to eat when there's so little at my disposal and the food I do have is expensive anyway and I don't want it to go to waste. E. has been sticking strictly to the diet and has been doing a great job, though he claims it's been very hard and he is always hungry. I'm pretty hungry too but I also generally eat less than E. does so I don't need a lot now. After meals, when my body is conditioned to have something sweet (like ice cream), I eat a date or have some decaf chai with almond milk. See, not totally cheating, but debatably not totally legit.
I'm also doing this largely for strength training, and also to tone my sick bod. The last time I did P90X, people (fellow athletes) were all, "damn did you see her arms?! that chick's back is cu-ut!" I mean, maybe in not so many words, but really - I was pretty defined, muscle wise. Not in my abs, but in my legs, back, and arms. My abs were definitely super strong, though, and are still fairly strong, under all this fluff and soft, but it was nice to feel like I could lift anything, hit anything, ride my bike up any hill without getting winded. I've lost a lot of that strength and am really looking forward to that strength. I already feel it coming back, in the way my back holds me up, but I know there's a lot more in store for me if I keep it up and do my best (and forget the rest, right?).
I rode my bike to work yesterday and there was a party for my old boss on the South Side, which is close to my work in the Strip District, but only if you go over a huge hill. I was planning when I rode to work to allot myself enough time to take the long way all the way down to the point and around the bend, taking bike paths the whole way, but was feeling spritely after closing (and was also running late because the last client took a bit of time), and decided to go all the way up Polish Hill, up through the Hill District, and down across the Birmingham Bridge. It was a great ride on a gorgeous night, and I'm glad I chose the more physically demanding route. I'd previously been a bit afraid to ride my bike that way, which is more or less the way I drive to work, and doing it on a single speed with knobby tires was a good look into how fit I am already getting, how great my cardio is, and also a good barometer to see how much more fit I can afford to become.
Anyway, I'm glad we took photos this time around. I hope I am able to see changes in my body. Last time I felt them and had a feeling I looked different, but couldn't really see them until I started getting soft again. The photos might be motivation for us both to keep going - both with the food plan and with the workouts. I feel really positive at the end of week 1 (tomorrow is rest of stretch, so nothing really to write home about) and hope E. and I can both keep this up without fighting about it. I look forward to when we are able to work out together and support/challenge each other to be psychos (ala Eric in the Legs workout).
E. is downstairs now finishing up his workout. He claims to be sore and hate the whole thing, but after the first admittedly very sore days, I have mainly felt strong and sturdy and overall just plain awake. I love these workouts, even when I am exhausted. I'm also differently goal oriented, looking forward to smaller increments of satisfaction, which is easier to see.
The diet has been challenging for both of us, but doable. I feel sometimes like I'm cheating, even though I'm allowed a certain number of snacks per day, but it's hard for me to eat when there's so little at my disposal and the food I do have is expensive anyway and I don't want it to go to waste. E. has been sticking strictly to the diet and has been doing a great job, though he claims it's been very hard and he is always hungry. I'm pretty hungry too but I also generally eat less than E. does so I don't need a lot now. After meals, when my body is conditioned to have something sweet (like ice cream), I eat a date or have some decaf chai with almond milk. See, not totally cheating, but debatably not totally legit.
I'm also doing this largely for strength training, and also to tone my sick bod. The last time I did P90X, people (fellow athletes) were all, "damn did you see her arms?! that chick's back is cu-ut!" I mean, maybe in not so many words, but really - I was pretty defined, muscle wise. Not in my abs, but in my legs, back, and arms. My abs were definitely super strong, though, and are still fairly strong, under all this fluff and soft, but it was nice to feel like I could lift anything, hit anything, ride my bike up any hill without getting winded. I've lost a lot of that strength and am really looking forward to that strength. I already feel it coming back, in the way my back holds me up, but I know there's a lot more in store for me if I keep it up and do my best (and forget the rest, right?).
I rode my bike to work yesterday and there was a party for my old boss on the South Side, which is close to my work in the Strip District, but only if you go over a huge hill. I was planning when I rode to work to allot myself enough time to take the long way all the way down to the point and around the bend, taking bike paths the whole way, but was feeling spritely after closing (and was also running late because the last client took a bit of time), and decided to go all the way up Polish Hill, up through the Hill District, and down across the Birmingham Bridge. It was a great ride on a gorgeous night, and I'm glad I chose the more physically demanding route. I'd previously been a bit afraid to ride my bike that way, which is more or less the way I drive to work, and doing it on a single speed with knobby tires was a good look into how fit I am already getting, how great my cardio is, and also a good barometer to see how much more fit I can afford to become.
Anyway, I'm glad we took photos this time around. I hope I am able to see changes in my body. Last time I felt them and had a feeling I looked different, but couldn't really see them until I started getting soft again. The photos might be motivation for us both to keep going - both with the food plan and with the workouts. I feel really positive at the end of week 1 (tomorrow is rest of stretch, so nothing really to write home about) and hope E. and I can both keep this up without fighting about it. I look forward to when we are able to work out together and support/challenge each other to be psychos (ala Eric in the Legs workout).
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Day 1: Chest & Back & Ab Ripper X
My alarm didn't go off today. It's still set and will probably go off on Wednesday, when it's additionally set to go off every week. No matter, I woke up at 7:50 (thanks to E's biological clock) and was in my shorts in front of the dvd by 8 a.m., in the shower by 9, and picked up my friends on time (or on time enough) to go to our work retreat. I went for a swim and sat in the hot tub (like I said, it was a retreat), and during the pot luck I stayed on track. I only ate the food I brought (which, okay, was quinoa salad, a gluten free lower fat cinnamon bun, and half an egg white omelet - not the most nor least healthy) and snacked on sliced red bell peppers and baby carrots sparingly. I ate three (...or so...) chocolate covered raisins when I came back from the retreat (and finally ate that omelet I couldn't shove down earlier). Then came home to a wonderful chicken salad w/ Tony Horton brand salad dressing that Evan made. Then he left to pick up more energy bars and I finished up my Ab Ripper X.
So now I'm in the stage of the first week where I am hungry all the time and have a hard time consuming all my needed calories without just eating a damn Snickers pizza. Perhaps a Reeses lasagna, says E.
But my exercise was hard but not unconquerable. My push ups and pull ups are weak and in poor form and lacking in, well, existence (I mean, I did them, just not as many as I used to be able to do; I used to be able to not keep up with the videos, but put in my efforts for as long as they were or longer). My abs workout was strong and fulfilling, and I finished the mason twists including the bonus round. It sucked, clearly, but it was also awesome. I love Ab Ripper X. It makes me feel alive.
So now I'm in the stage of the first week where I am hungry all the time and have a hard time consuming all my needed calories without just eating a damn Snickers pizza. Perhaps a Reeses lasagna, says E.
But my exercise was hard but not unconquerable. My push ups and pull ups are weak and in poor form and lacking in, well, existence (I mean, I did them, just not as many as I used to be able to do; I used to be able to not keep up with the videos, but put in my efforts for as long as they were or longer). My abs workout was strong and fulfilling, and I finished the mason twists including the bonus round. It sucked, clearly, but it was also awesome. I love Ab Ripper X. It makes me feel alive.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
P90X, round 2.
I've been running wild with writing projects and music projects and have been incredibly fortunate and excited in that realm, and meanwhile cautious and catlike regarding fitness. After my numerous falls and awakened injuries spurred on by futile feats of strength, I've taken care to keep this creaky body of mine out of harm's way. I started back on the Bikram bandwagon and am making a true effort to eat foods that don't kill me (though it's really hard, to be honest - even days I think I've eaten within my allergy parameters - which is admittedly all guess work - I have sharp pains in my side, hives on my hand, and swollen glands), and feel pretty decent, all in all. A bit flabby, a bit less strong probably, and my face went from round to narrow and is back near round again (which is all fine, for the record), but my cardio is still great and my mood has been way up.
So when I got an email from my old CrossFit gym marketing a team-based challenge for the beginning of the year, I was really excited and thought I would enlist E. to partner up with me to start the year in shape. But that same week, a cyclist friend of mine told me she was starting up a P90X challenge team, also starting off the year in a muscled frenzy.
E. and I just took our "before" pictures, and oh man. Now I'm depressed (not really, don't worry, Mom). It took some math skills (sadly) to figure out that I did P90X 2 years ago. (If you read this blog at all, or really if you have anything else to do with your life, I recommend skipping over the remainder of this paragraph because I'm just recapping how clumsy I am, and it's...not interesting). Then I had a major bike crash where I fell on my butt and couldn't really move for a while. Then I did a lot of yoga, then crashed my bike again and fell hard on my elbows. I did yoga a little bit again after the swelling went down but a lot of the poses hurt my knees (oh yeah there was another bike crash in there at some point as well, where I slipped on the ice and landed on my knee for like the millionth time). I threw out my back a few times, residual from the Big Crash probably, in between trying to start running and picking up CrossFit and Bikram.
What I'm saying is, I feel I have a Get Out Of Jail Free card when it comes to being a bit softer than I was 2 years ago. I still weigh the same, it's just....shifted. Into a new substance. So when I saw the photos I was surpised that the images reflected weren't of the taut bod of 2010, but of a tired, happy, average-bodied 30-year-old who doesn't work out as much as she used to.
I'm excited to start P90X again, to try to follow the nutritional plan, and to have E along with me to work out with and cook food with. But just like the past few years, I am hoping to keep on track with what my body is telling me and not try to push it past what it really wants and needs. That's how I ended up in so much trouble after the Big Crash, when I insisted on getting back in the game just a few days after getting knocked out, and threw everything out of alignment. Working out should be something that relieves stress and makes our bodies happy to be alive. And I am certainly feeling that.
So when I got an email from my old CrossFit gym marketing a team-based challenge for the beginning of the year, I was really excited and thought I would enlist E. to partner up with me to start the year in shape. But that same week, a cyclist friend of mine told me she was starting up a P90X challenge team, also starting off the year in a muscled frenzy.
E. and I just took our "before" pictures, and oh man. Now I'm depressed (not really, don't worry, Mom). It took some math skills (sadly) to figure out that I did P90X 2 years ago. (If you read this blog at all, or really if you have anything else to do with your life, I recommend skipping over the remainder of this paragraph because I'm just recapping how clumsy I am, and it's...not interesting). Then I had a major bike crash where I fell on my butt and couldn't really move for a while. Then I did a lot of yoga, then crashed my bike again and fell hard on my elbows. I did yoga a little bit again after the swelling went down but a lot of the poses hurt my knees (oh yeah there was another bike crash in there at some point as well, where I slipped on the ice and landed on my knee for like the millionth time). I threw out my back a few times, residual from the Big Crash probably, in between trying to start running and picking up CrossFit and Bikram.
What I'm saying is, I feel I have a Get Out Of Jail Free card when it comes to being a bit softer than I was 2 years ago. I still weigh the same, it's just....shifted. Into a new substance. So when I saw the photos I was surpised that the images reflected weren't of the taut bod of 2010, but of a tired, happy, average-bodied 30-year-old who doesn't work out as much as she used to.
I'm excited to start P90X again, to try to follow the nutritional plan, and to have E along with me to work out with and cook food with. But just like the past few years, I am hoping to keep on track with what my body is telling me and not try to push it past what it really wants and needs. That's how I ended up in so much trouble after the Big Crash, when I insisted on getting back in the game just a few days after getting knocked out, and threw everything out of alignment. Working out should be something that relieves stress and makes our bodies happy to be alive. And I am certainly feeling that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)