What happened!?

I'm sure people are wondering if I've abandoned the blog, or forgotten about it, or given up on my workouts.

Here is what has happened in the past week and a half:
Thursday the 16th to December 25th were days in which I succumbed to the holiday season.  Thursday night and the following Monday night I did some partying, and took part in mostly unhealthy nutrition practices.  The rest of the week I kept my nutrition decent but lost motivation to keep with my workouts.  I also allowed myself to enjoy my Christmas with free eating habits (Prime rib, sweets, soda, wine, etc.)

Guess what?  I have found my motivation again.  Today I picked up a couple extra hours at work, got home and got a little food into me, drank 64oz of water and relaxed for about 2 hours to let everything settle.  I decided to do a complete restart of Phase II to make up for my week and a half of lax nutrition and exercise.

I would like to make this post a quick overview of my previous progress, and a photo of me today.  I know that in my first post I explained my success through the first 90 days of the program (which was more like 116 or so days, because I extended phases due to missing workouts and illness).  I figure it would be good to show some proof of the progress and where I'm at today.  Below are Day 1 versus Day 90 photos from my first round of the program.



 





Below is a couple of photos I took after doing my workout today.    
My skin has tightened up a lot and my clothing is feeling looser on a regular basis.  Something important that anyone who is working on their health and fitness and is worried about their progress should learn:  Progress is not found only on the scale, but in the way you feel and how your clothing fits.  Do not be discouraged if the scale isn't changing because a persons weight fluctuates so much that it often isn't an accurate reading of progress unless there is a drastic loss/gain (10 lbs is not drastic, that alone can be water weight).
It's hard sometimes to get motivated to start working out again, but once you start you feel good, and it makes you want to come back for more.  If you fall off track after keeping at it for a couple of weeks, you start missing it a little bit, and don't feel quite right without it, and that's why it's so important to start up and give yourself a chance to adjust.
So, what's next for me?  For Christmas I got the P90X Plus DVDs, and a new heart-rate monitor (Polar FT40).  I'll be trying to incorporate one of the cardio DVDs in each week to spice up the routine a little bit, and the HRM will help me better keep stable in a good fat burning zone or my cardiovascular strength based on what I feel like improving that day.
I have one final suggestion for anyone who doesn't want to spend a lot of money on a home fitness DVD set (P90X, Insanity, P90), but want to get in shape, and learn what they can do at their fitness level and how to eat healthy.  Tony Horton's, "Bring It", (http://www.amazon.com/Bring-Revolutionary-Fitness-Levels-Builds/dp/1605293083)  I pre-ordered this as soon as it came up, because I wanted to see what Tony Horton's grand idea is for fitness and health, and it's literally all about keeping things simple, and working hard towards your goals.
In his book you'll get a basic fitness test where you can figure out what level you're at, and from there you are pointed on to a customized workout plan and nutrition plan that will help you meet your goals.  This book is a great jump start for people to start living a more fit and healthy life, because eating healthy and regular exercise isn't something that stops when you meet your goals - it's something that benefits you to continue on with throughout the rest of your life or you'll lose everything you've gained.

Core Synergistics and Abdominal Muscle Functions

Core Synergistics was my 2nd workout of the day yesterday, and I'm really sore as compared to my Core Synergistics workout earlier in the week.  A person's "Core" is made up of all the muscles that support your trunk, so your whole body that isn't a limb, or as copied from wikipedia:
"The major muscles of the core reside in the area of the belly and the mid and lower back (not the shoulders), and peripherally include the hips, the shoulders and the neck."

The 1 hour Core synergistics routine focuses on having a person slightly flex all of their trunk muscles while doing movements.  The plank position is used a lot (Position of being extended flat out before doing a pushup) because you tighten your glutes, lower back and abdominal muscles to hold a straight and strong position.


So what is the importance of core strength?
The importance of keeping your core muscles strong is to prevent injury.  All of these muscles help support your spine, which is very delicate due to all the functions it provides.  If you learn to tighten the muscles when doing simple every day lifts, you reduce the chance of back injuries because all of your muscles are supporting each other and keep the spine from hyper-extending.

Other positives for core strength:
With sports and other athletic events, your body needs to be strong to be competitive, for example a pitcher, or a batter at the plate wanting to hit the ball really hard.  When you learn to swing a bat correctly, you learn to twist your body as you swing it, because it generates more force, and the same thing when throwing a baseball.
The amount of strength in the core of your body allows you to load a ton of power behind regular movements that you normally think of being simply based on limb strength.

Runners strengthen their core so that when they run, they let the torso twist in combination with their steps to generate a stronger push off with each foot, and it also helps increase their stride length.  Any sport that you swing in, be it tennis, baseball, hockey, mixed martial arts, all will receive extra bonuses of strength and power because of a strong core.  (MMA fighters gain power in their punches and kicks because of their core strength  allowing more force through twisting their body.)

Why I felt this important to bring up:
A lot of people have no idea what the function of the abdominal muscles are for, as well as the understanding of the importance of strengthening all the muscles in your trunk.
Many people think of abdominal muscles as a cosmetic attribute, not an anatomically important function.



Last night I had to stop the core workout with about 10 minutes left because my previously injured lower-left abdominal muscle was acting up again.  Fortunately I think I stopped before I re-injured it for a long period of time and I should be good to go as soon as Monday comes around.

Stress and Exercise

Before I get deep into my thoughts and understandings over the subject of stress and exercise, I'd like to announce that I picked up my first set of adjustable dumbbells today.

I picked up a set of Powerblocks (http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3903097&cid=CSE:GoogleProductSearch), the 5lbs-50lbs classic set.  These things are super convenient for $299 and I also bought the stand (~$67) for easier quick-weight selection, as well as a bit of relief on my back from lowering to the floor to pick them up.  I simply slide a bar into the weight selection I want on each dumbbell, and lift the weight off the stand/ground.
They aren't as pretty as the Bowflex SelectTechs, but the ones (SelectTechs) in the store were broken, unlike the Powerblocks.  I'm pretty excited for next week to start up so I can get back to some heavy resistance and test these out, I especially am excited to be able to do strip-sets without having to pause my DVD while I fumble around with the weights.
Now currently the weight only goes to 50lbs (Increments of 5lbs) per dumbbell, but there are a couple of upgrade kits I can buy when I am ready that will increase the weight up to 100, and I think 130 or 120 was the final upgrade kit for them.  They also have a 10 year warranty that I don't feel I'll need to use with them.

Now on to the topic of stress, how you feel, and how to feel better...

Most people tend to tense up muscles in their body when they are stressed out, particularly around their shoulders and back.  You never really notice that you do it, it's similar to when you are in pain you might tighten your fists, or grind your teeth, or tighten up your shoulders, your body does this reactively.
Its not healthy when your muscles do not get a chance to loosen up and relax, it causes pain and in general is just not good for your muscles to be so tight.
The easiest way to alleviate this pain is to get your blood pumping and move your body.  Do some light cardio on a treadmill or go for a jog, or just do some jumping jacks.  When you exercise and your heart starts to move that blood faster, endorphin chemicals (Happy chemicals!) are released and they bring up your mood and help your muscles relax.

For a lot of people it sounds silly, because they might tend to be the people who are often stressed and don't get much exercise in their weekly agenda.  If you 4-6 days of just cardio a week, you'll find that your mood will become more positive on a regular basis, and probably will feel much less tense around the shoulders and back.  This might be a good time to build a new habit and make 45 minutes of time for exercise into your regular daily routine.

The other people, the ones who do have a regular fitness schedule tied in with their daily lives, sometimes you just cant stay motivated.  Stress is like a blanket of suffocation sometimes, you don't feel like doing anything, you don't want to workout you just want to sit and relax (honestly, how often does that sitting and relaxing NOT turn into a pool of stressful thoughts and worry?).
My first suggestion to overcome this is just try to find some kind of motivation to ATTEMPT to start a workout.  Often times once you start it, you feel like you might as well keep going and eventually your finished and feeling better.
My second suggestion, find a friend.  Get a workout buddy, give them a call and let them know you just cant get the motivation to move.  Having a workout partner makes it harder to fall off track, because you share the same accountability and they see you 'giving up' and want you to keep trying.

Basically, feeling stressed breaks your motivation to get moving, but getting some exercise will break down that stress.  Think of it like a headache and Tylenol - You know that if you take it, you still need a good 30 minutes of suffering before it kicks in, but eventually it'll relieve that headache from you - same thing with exercise, you gotta suffer for a few minutes until your body gets into it, and you'll feel good by the end.

Yoga X and being a Coach

Last night I decided to make up the Yoga X I missed on Monday, and will move onto Kenpo or core tonight.  I'm beginning to appreciate Yoga a little more each time I do it.  I get very relaxed, even through all the pain you get with the first 50 minutes of the workout.
I'm  improving a lot on flexibility, and my form in a lot of the poses is getting much better and less shaky.
I've got one more round of Yoga X for the week, and I'm actually looking forward to it now, just hoping time doesn't become an issue for the day I need to do it.

Hopefully by Monday I'll be picking up my new set of Dumbbells, which are an adjustable set of Powerblocks.  I'm picking up a 5-50lb set, and eventually if I need to I will buy the upgrade pack to bring it up to 100lbs.

On another note, I've managed to get a friend to start doing P90X.  If he keeps with it, which I think he will, he seems to be going pretty strong already 3 days in, he'll kind of be my poster-boy of a guy who doesn't need to lose a lot of weight, but is looking to get a healthier and toned body.  Best part about it, is once his girlfriend finishes up this semester of school, she's gonna start up, though she hasn't decided if she'll do the whole thing (I think a little motivation from a few weeks of results will keep her going).  She seemed pretty excited, and like him, she really is only looking to firm up and just generally have a healthier better functioning body - which exercise and proper nutrition will do for you.

I'm a coach and sell products but I'm not trying to sell a product, but first and foremost I'm trying to focus people on their health, letting them sample what the product can do for their health, then they can make a decision if they like the results.
I work in a deli which serves hot food, as well as over-processed meats, I see a ton of people daily that I would like to help, and I reach out to as many as I can, so even if my business doesn't grow overnight, maybe some day I'll get a phone call or a message from someone I reached out to, when the timing is right for them to realize it's time for them to live healthier, and or help others.

Self Improvement

I'm making this a short post, because nobody can explain how to go about improving everything in your life.  Remember my last post of lists?  Jack LaLanne has a nice list for you

Recovery Week

Yesterday was the beginning of my recovery week, and my scheduled workout was to be Yoga...  Didn't do it.

Today's scheduled workout was Core Synergistics, did it, and felt good about it, and because of that I'm back on the bandwagon, will likely do my best to pick up Yoga again on the day which would normally be "rest" day.

The recovery week always catches me off guard in terms of how I feel/how my body reacts.  I'll do a short overview on what the recovery week is and does.
Recovery week is the 4th week of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the program.  During that week the workouts are these:  Yoga, Core Synergistics, Kenpo, X Stretch, Core Synergistics, Yoga, Stretch/rest.  None of these workouts will make you sore the following day.  Yoga is a lot of balance and stretching and cardiovascular work, Core Synergistics is cardiovascular and "core" (Muscles supporting spine) work, Kenpo is just cardio.

The idea of recovery week is to let your body completely heal, but still burn some calories and lightly work all of the muscles to help them force more repairing cells to the tissue (They get lazy when the muscle isn't used much).  During my regular workout weeks, my bodyweight fluctuates almost 10lbs regularily, but when recovery week comes around, my weight flat out drops and stays there.  It's weird, and amazing what the body does when it's at it's optimal rate of restoration/rest, it almost feels like the changes are happening overnight steadily throughout the whole recovery week.

A lot of people wont notice changes or have any changes after those first 3 weeks of hard dedicated workouts, be discouraged and quit before that recovery week hits, and when it does it is amazing.

For me, this recovery week has dropped me down to 185 when hydrated in the morning hours (always check myself in the morning and at night, fluctuation is usually only a couple of pounds).  Even without having a goal of losing a lot of weight, I'm still dropping (and I need to, I've got this skinfat that hangs off my belly and back that needs to go away).

The TRUE double-doubles starts up on Monday, because I'll be incorporating 3 days of cardio X into the schedule, on top of my double resistance days - but i haven't decided if I should throw the cardio X day son my yoga/kenpo/plyo days or not.  That'll be my next experiment.

Keep motivated everyone =)

Motivation and Time

One of the biggest excuses a lot of people make to rationalize their lack of exercise is time.  You can talk to someone and talk about working out and if they're not on the bandwagon, they often reply along the lines of "I would love to get back in shape, but I just don't have the time."

In theory that seems true for a lot of people, but in reality a lot of the people that say they don't have time to do one thing or another are not putting aside time to do those activities.  This is where motivation plays a part, and it is really hard to motivate some people to get fit, or eat healthy, especially when we have the quick fixes and fast food surrounding us.
Today in this world everyone has a mindset that if something cannot be finished quickly, then it isn't worth a bother, too much growing up with all the convenience of fast food, instant cross-world communication, instant *put product here*.

If you really want to see how much time of the day you actually have to be productive, make a list.  Lists are important, and I'm starting to learn the power of them every day, because a list builds a plan (It's weird for me to suggest a list, I'm a natural born procrastinator who does things on the fly most of the time but real life is taking its toll).
Let me give you a simple example of a list to start with, something that calculates out my average day, lets start with the most important time to your health in a 24-hour period.

1. 8 hours of sleep
2. 8 hour job (You get a lunch break, pack a couple of turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread.)
3. 2 hours total commute (includes to and from, currently totally at 18 hours accounted for)
4. Laundry?  Dishes?  Sit around and watch TV?  We've got 6 hours left over, lets add some stuff that fits in the above time-frames.
5. 1 hour to eat+cook home cooked breakfast (Trying to stay away from quick fixes in this list, lets consume up some time)
6. 1 hour to eat + cook dinner, if it's a baked good, there is time for other productivity in there during downtime.
7. How about spending 1 hour doing some cardio or simple strength training at home, or out for an hour walk, or kick it up to a jog?
8. Use your last 3 hours to relax, make a list for the next days adventures.

So maybe my schedule looks nothing like yours, I'd love for you to tell me that you do not have enough time to get in 30-45 minutes of exercise a day 4-6 days a week and show me a list of your average daily schedule to back it up.

People aren't motivated, I myself used the excuse of time as a reason to not exercise, but when seeing my sisters life and schedule, and that she had time to get her workouts in, I decided that there is something wrong with my perception of time.

I needed to figure out why I didn't have an hour a day(6 days a week) to spend making myself healthier, but my sister who has 4 children to take care of and a full time CPA job with only minimal time for her husband to take over the kids (Full time night manager at his own job) could find time to get an hour in.  If she can find the time to do an hour, damned if I couldn't.

Find motivation and make room for a healthy lifestyle, you have the time.

Now to move on to my accountability for the past couple of days:

Friday was supposed to be legs and back for me, I wasn't motivated and was exhausted (I can make a million excuses, none of them make me feel better for skipping a workout).  I told myself I'd do it Saturday and do Kenpo X with it - I skipped out on both and I'm unimpressed with myself, but I'm ready and fired up for this week.  This is my rest and recovery week, which means I get a couple days of Yoga, some Core Synergistics and I believe some more Kenpo.  Hopefully by this coming Monday I can afford a set of Powerblocks (adjustable dumbbells), because I lended out all of my weights to a friend who I've convinced to try P90X out himself.

Time to push play with Yoga.  =)