It. Is. Finished.

Sorry for the near-blasphemous title. Those are significant words for many reasons, including Laura's reading of them at the Good Friday service in 2009, but for us, as of this day in 2010, we are done...P90X is finished, it has been brought-en, etc!!

It's been a month since we've written and many of you may have been wondering if we've even been working out...don't be fooled by the silence. It's just that the workouts and the dieting (or cheating) becomes so regular that there's not much new to write about. If I had to recap the last 30 days, I'd just say that it's the same old crap, just a different day, a different time of day, or put it off to the next day.

We still maintained a 6-day/week schedule, but between weekend commitments for both of us, we moved a lot of things around. So much so that by the end, Laura had to do 4 yoga sessions in a matter of a week! This meant that I did a lot of yoga by myself in the last couple weeks! We also got rid of 6am a LOOONG time ago! We mostly worked out at 6:30am, but if there was a way to fit it in after work, we went for it every time!

The diet eased up on the carb restriction quite a bit. I was finding that I was more hungry in the last phase than I had been in the first 2, when it was high-protein/low carb. It was a relief to eat more and not have to feel guilty about it. A few things have returned to my diet, but nothing like before we started....I have yet to eat at Panda Express and I think I've eaten Chinese food only once in the last 90 days. Before we started Chinese food was a frequent stop on the Tubby Train for me. Chipotle (chicken burrito bowl) is still a regular in my diet, maybe once a week, but I bail on the chips (which are SO good, and SO bad for you) and go VERY light on the sour cream. Otherwise I stick to my my regular meals: turkey bacon, oatmeal, and a banana for breakfast. Turkey sandwich and apple for lunch, and vegetable soup, string cheese, and chicken/fish for dinner. I snack on rice cakes (not as bad as they sound), turkey jerky, and sometimes tortilla chips/salsa. Of course it can't be like this 7 days a week so I'm making smart decisions when I need to.

Laura and I have gotten pretty comfortable with each other since we started this adventure. From swearing at Tony DB when we hate what he says the next exercise is going to be, belching as loud as we can after a water break, to snapping at each other when the other tries to 'coach'. It's been a fun ride for sure!

So what's next??? WE KEEP GOING! Well, I'm going to Hawaii next week for about 10 days, then when I get back I'm going to KEEP GOING! The results are nice...we've both lost 5 lbs and 3 inches off our waists, but I'd like greater gains in muscle (I've gained 1-inch on my arms and 1-inch on my chest). I'm not sure what Laura would like to see....I have my guesses, but I'll let her tell you.

So yeah, I'm doing it all over again...it won't be before 7am and it probably won't be 6 days a week, but between this p90x "maintenance" and playing volleyball 1-2x a week I think I'll be doing alright. Speaking of volleyball, I have noticed pretty solid improvements in my game. It's hard to know since the level of play is different now, but I'd say I'm getting closer to where I was when I was in college. I'm pretty excited about that, and I hope to cleanup at some tournaments this summer!

Oh, and tonight......gettin' Wex'd!!
-cm

Four Pack

Phase 3!! Less than 5 weeks to go. Props to us – we haven’t missed a workout yet! I am seeing some results, my muscles are showing up a little bit more, like my arms and back are showing some definition. No 6 pack yet, but I can say I have a 4 pack, which is still brand new to me. My stomach has certainly been flatter at other times in my life, that’s for sure, but having a little definition is kindof a fun change. And speaking of my non-flat stomach, let me just segway into the diet commentary.

Uh yeah, screw this diet. I don’t make super horrible decisions, but I make small poor decisions all the time. So my punishment is just – I am not losing weight, and my stomach remains somewhat “paunched”. But thanks to the workouts I’m not gaining any weight either. So on we go. Lent is over now which means I can have beers. So far I’ve had half a Miller High Life – I know, exciting. I’m getting the taste in my mouth because I’m going to be required to drink 32s of High Life on my birthday in June. Yes, the big three-two. I’ve been a “thirty something” something for a year now, but that doesn't mean I’m ok with it. Oh well, when the options are either “get old” or “die”, whaddaya do?

This week I've been slacking about the 6 a.m. time frame and have been getting to Chad’s more like 6:30. He pretty much expects it by now, but we always exchange courtesy texts at like 5:30 a.m., which is crazy to me. Anyone else in my life would be like “what the h?” if I texted at 5:30 a.m. The delayed mornings will change next week though – I’ve just been calling this my version of a “spring break”. I know – working out a half an hour later is pretty lame compared to Disneyland or Panama City, but such is life.

I’m so tired of working my big muscles, especially my legs. I liked today’s workout when it was all about shoulders, biceps and triceps. That is so much easier than lunging and squatting and leap frogging. Plyometrics is every Tuesday – it’s all jump training, and as Tony puts it – “puts the ‘X’ in P90X”. That it does. It’s high impact and fairly extreme. I know it’s good for me, but I’m sick of it, ok?

We did discover some weeks ago that we can do Yoga inside – anytime we get to move the workouts inside out of the cold garage, I consider it a treat. So tomorrow at 6 a.m. won’t be so bad after all. Moving inside, delaying workouts, adjusting schedules – Chad and I are master adapters in order to make sure we conquer this goal. Well, obviously I am not exactly a master adapter when it comes to the diet, but hbwc? In case we haven’t talked lately, that means “how ‘bout who cares?”

I find a couple delights in my mornings though. Every day after the workout we drink a protein shake – I just got a new one from the health food store called “ultimate protein”, and it tastes hecka good. Chad said it smells like candy - heck yeah! I always pound it. Then when I come home to shower & get ready for work, Mike is already gone so I get to park in the middle of the garage. For some reason, I freakin’ love to park in the middle of a garage. And then pretty much every day I stand in the shower until I run out of hot water. Not exactly cost-efficient, but soooooo bueno nonetheless.

Toodles! - L

Halfway!!

HOLLLAAAA!!
It's been a while since I personally have blogged. Meanwhile Laura has taken blogging to a whole new level. If it wasn't going out of style due to the advent of facebook and twitter updates, I'd say she were a blogging pro...instead she might be more of a blogging ho. HA!

We are currently feeling the "halfway blues" of this program. We are tired of the early mornings, and at this point, Laura might be more sick of it than I am, which as you're well aware, is a big deal. When my alarm goes off in the morning, I like to yell out the first word that comes to my mind, without even really thinking about it. Yesterday and today, I yelled out "HATE!" I'm not sure why I do this, and certainly it's not the best part of waking up to be yelling "HATE!" but that's how I feel about 5:30am right now (as I've previously mentioned maybe once or twice). I hit snooze once, then the second time the alarm sounds I reset the alarm for 5:45. Then, I get up, move my car out of the garage, close the garage door and go lay on the couch until I hear Laura pull into the driveway. Normally, when I open the garage door to let her in, we exchange pleasant greetings and casually start the workout. The last week and a half, those pleasant greetings have turned into grunts and we begrudgingly begin the warmup without much more than a word to each other until the next hour is about done. Then, feeling a sense of accomplishment yet again, we return to chipper living as usual, only to repeat this series of events the next day.

Laura and I both had very bad weekends as far as the diet is concerned. Laura spent it up at SilverSpur for GEMS camp eating candy and I had Life Group at Dave & Gina VanKlaveren's house. Last time at Life Group our hostess, Kim Mensonides, did a remarkable job of providing low-cal and low/nonfat options for our dinner. Gina's rule for food that night?? "Bring your favorite snack to share." FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! And what were these "snacks"?? CARB-LOADED PILES OF CALORIES AND FAT! (that tasted soooooooooo good!) Pigs-in-a-Blanket, a Bree & Garlic concoction with olive oil and vinegar, chips and salsa, and worst of all: QUESO! Those were the things I ate (besides the olives on the table), but there were also Totino's Pizza Rolls! There was no chance for survival that night!

The weekend was shot, and we had already planned to hit up El Rosal for our cheat meal on Sunday after church. We still had to do this because we hadn't celebrated the halfway point with each other yet. So of course, we HAD to eat their delicious flour tortilla chips, but we did go easy on the entrees. I had the grilled chicken salad with no dressing and salsa verde and I think Laura split a couple tacos with Mike.

Now it's back to the grind. Each week has its ups and its downs. I'm seeing big gains in my pullups right now and smaller gains in my pushups. The one-handed pushups are still out of my reach. My body just doesn't know how to do them....plus they come late in the workout so my arms are already near exhaustion. My favorite part of the week though is on Thursday afternoons when Laura and I both take a break from work and chill out with some coffee at the Queen Bean downtown. It's kind of our way of rewarding ourselves for making it another week and it's a good time to reboost our energies for the next two days.

We are happy to have made it this far, but we are also glad there is still 6 more weeks left. I don't think either of us would be happy with our results if this were it. As my sister-in-law pointed out to me today, it's only 54 more days until we go to Hawaii. I don't need to be "that guy" on the beach with muscles coming out of his neck (you know who I'm talking about!), but I don't care to be the skinny flabby guy either...and I wanna play volleyball on the beach, and play it well! Thank goodness for Plyo Tuesdays!

-chad

Hello my baby, hello my darlin’

So last Friday morning I woke up sick. Stomach cramps, gas, bone aches, and lots of pain. I literally threw up from the pain that morning. I swear that creature from Spaceballs was chillin’ in my stomach, batting my internal organs around with his little cane!! So all day Friday and all day Saturday I was down for the count. So I missed Friday’s “Legs and Back”, and I missed Saturday’s “Kenpo X”.

After much Pepto Bismol, Theraflu, Nyquil, Gas-X, Ibuprofen, soup, saltines, 7-up, and rest, I was feeling slightly better by Sunday. So I did 2 workouts on Sunday in order to stay on pace. That was brutal. I spit alot, but didn't puke, lol. Then we were back on schedule for “Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps” yesterday and “Plyometrics” today. What this means is I did four P90x workouts in less than 48 hours, and I am freakin’ exhausted! I am so sore and crabby, I even snapped at Chad this morning when he corrected my form (to his credit, my form sucked). Anyway, nothing I can do about the stomach flu, but I’m proud to still be on track with the workouts. Committed, baby!

Man, I sure can’t wait to do corn cob pullups tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. (gag).

- L

I’m crapping you negative

This is what I was going to blog last Thursday – i just forgot to post it. Woops!

Good news - I’m back on the bandwagon with the diet. My cheating has been reduced to sugar free candy, fat free hot cocoa, pico for munching, and of course the original cheat: coffee with real sugar plus half-n-half. I still don’t have the timing down – like, I tend to eat in chunks rather than spread throughout the day, but whatever, freakin’ close enough.

Mike is going strong with the diet too. His modified version is that he doesn’t do the protein shake or the powerbar (because he’s not working out), but he drinks as much beer as he wants, and he has a cheat meal every weekend, which is invariably pizza. He’s lost 16 pounds in 4 weeks! He is a machine!

This week Chad & I got some new videos and some new moves. Monday was “Chest, Shoulders, Triceps” and Wednesday was “Back and Biceps”. Anytime Tony’s videos include the word “Back”, that means there are going to be flippin’ pullups. I still can’t do pullups, especially right after I get done curling 15# weights, but I use a chair for help and do what I can. Tony and his minions have this phrase they keep repeating: “Do your best.....and forget the rest”. What a cheeseball. Besides, easy for them to say – they can do the dang pullups!

Anyway, add to my former feeble attempts at the standard “wide arm pullups”, “close grip pullups”, “switch grip pullups” and “chinups”. Now I can also say that I stink at “towel pullups” and “corn cob pullups”. Towel pullups are crazy! And for the Corn Cob you pull up like normal, then while you’re holding yourself up there, you move side to side and back to front. Then you can come back down and do it all over again. WHAT! I can’t even do the up and down, not to mention all that other BS! Needless to say that was a literal exercise in futility. But I gotta say, it’s kinda fun. The workouts are all mixed up so they go by pretty fast. Plus my biceps are starting to get solid – they don’t stick out too much yet, but they’re firmer.

Unfortunately, the “Ab Ripper X” did not go away after Phase I. We are still ripping our stomachs apart 3 times per week, and we will until the end (minus “Recovery Weeks”). It’s so killer, but I dare say even Ab Ripper is getting easier.

The P90X buzz out there states that we might not see great results at Day 30, but we will start to see them by Day 45, which is right about when we’re going to celebrate the half-way point with a huge cheat meal at a taqueria. Ole!

Laura

Confessions of an intake-aholic

First off, I am a blog slacker. I meant to totally stay on top of this and keep everyone super informed etc etc. FAIL. Truth be told, I have thought of many things to share with you, but I have been full of guilt so I haven’t sat down to write. Well, that ends today. This is going to be a long post – a time of confession and catching up. So settle in, this may take awhile.

So why am I full of guilt? I do all the workouts and even though I can’t do as much as Tony, I hold my own pretty well. I love to work my arms and shoulders, I love Kenpo X, and I am starting to like Yoga even though 90 minutes of Yoga is just too bloody long. I even did a handful of clap pushups today, which was sweet! We have completed Phase I which included 3 weeks of heavy lifting and 1 week of recovery. The term “recovery” is used loosely here, but it was mostly cardio, stretching, and core work so at least we didn’t have to do any friggin pullups.

Again, why the guilt? I am full of guilt because I basically cheat on my diet every day of the week. I eat all the right stuff, but then I eat more on top of it. I eat at the wrong times of the day, and I eat right before bed. Sometimes I eat in the middle of the night if something wakes me up, which happens alot, believe it or not. I think about food all the time. I crave Mexican, Italian, junk food, and a whole slew of carbohydrates. I dream about chips, all kinds of chips, and chips with stuff on them, like salsa, or like nachos. Mmmmm, nachos. Oh sorry, I just had a little daydream about stuffing my face with nachos.

To date I have avoided chips, which is a miracle in itself. I’ve had a few crackers (while wine tasting, I blame the cloudy judgment). There were also isolated instances involving enchiladas for dinner, peanut butter for lunch, and pie for dessert (Brooke!!). But really weird items have turned out to be the biggest issues. Candy is a major culprit. I had 2 Robin Eggs at Lisa’s on Saturday, but amazingly I haven’t consumed one Cadbury creme egg yet, knock on wood. Mike and I finally gave away the Sees Candy Suckers which were tempting us every day and night. Those things are the devil! 80 calories a pop! Then I tried to buy Sugar Free candy, and I have some of that laying around, but yesterday I think I ate 15 atomic fireballs. What!? Those are... um... NOT sugar free.

And hot chocolate has become another issue. I get tired of coffee but I need something warm to drink, so I go for tea and that lasts for one cup. E for effort. Then, I go for the hot cocoa. Happens almost daily. I tried to head that one off at the pass by purchasing fat free hot cocoa, which I brought to work and that’s working so far. I have a couple cups a day and count that as part of my carb, OK whatever. Then oops, last night I found myself eating hot chocolate powder, the real stuff, “rich chocolate” flavor, right out of the tub with a spoon while I watched a special about Led Zeppelin on TV. At that point I had one of those “WTH self?” moments, walked briskly to the kitchen, and threw away the entire tub including whatever was left in it, which was probably like 15 servings of hot cocoa. Oh well! The Dutchie in me tells me I’m being wasteful, but Tony Horton says “Toss the Junk!!!”

What can I say? I’m a grazer! I actually believe deep down in my soul that I will never be able to stop grazing. So instead of grazing on bad stuff, I figured I would buy something that’s OK to graze on. So I went to the taqueria and bought a quart of fresh pico last week. Nothing but tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. The theory goes: this way when I get the munchies, I have a few spoonfuls of pico and bingo, grazing need satisfied. That actually worked like a charm, even though it doesn’t do charming things for my breath! Poor Sug!

Mike is such a solutions kind of guy. I kept yelling at him because I would use a spoon to take a few scoops of cottage cheese or pico (grazing), and the next time I would go to use the spoon (more grazing), it would be in the dishwasher. Now don’t get me wrong, I will NEVER complain about a husband who does dishes! But it’s just inefficient to wash 6 spoons when I could just be using the same one over and over again. (Yes, it is feasible that I could have 6 grazing spells in one night; I am aware it is a sad state of affairs). Anyway it’s not the use-of-the-spoon that bugs Mike; rather, it’s the spoon-on-the-counter that drives him crazy. So Mr. Solutions Person created a little paper pouch for my “munching spoon” and stuck it to the refrigerator. What a punk! But I have to admit it’s really funny, and actually so far has worked great. Except now my pico is almost gone and I must go to the taqueria to get more. The obvious problem with this is the very real chance that I will order a jumbo wet burrito with green sauce while I’m there. Life is so full of challenges.

Basically the bottom line is this: I suck at dieting. Always have, probably always will. I consume large amounts. Like my father before me, “my favorite dish is food”. Every other time in my life when I have tried to diet, I have lasted two weeks, and then I have gorged myself back up to my pre-diet weight. The only time I had success with weight loss (mind you, “success” here means a couple pounds tops) is because of exercise. I even said to Chad in the beginning, “Screw the diet! If I work out 6 days a week that will be good enough!” But my partner was committed, and over time I became a believer that results in this program are maximized by dieting along the way. Ok, fine!

Now that I have been a complete failure at dieting for two weeks in a row, I’m starting to get angry with myself, which means I will be probably be great at dieting for a week or two. (Self-loathing has turned out to be a pretty decent motivator for me, who knew?) Also Chad is so awesome at this diet that I need to get my $hit together if I expect my results to be anything like his. There’s the competitor in me! I knew she was in there somewhere! (underneath all the FAT).

OK, I'm newly resolved, right? I’m going to OWN the diet in Phase 2, right? Yes! I’m ready! Bring it! Then this morning Patsy walks in and hands me two boxes of Girl Scout cookies. WTH! Nevermind the fact that I ordered them out of my own volition and totally brought this upon myself! Nevermind that! Back ye devil!! Frozen thin mints are like little slices of heaven. Ok, honesty time! If I put these thin mints in the freezer, will I be able to avoid them until the end of P90X? Check yes or no! I think I might be better off taking a little stroll over to Graceada Park where I can hand these out to someone who will appreciate them. Versus eating them all myself and sending myself into a fit of self-rage. Stupid diet.

BUT I still say “hooray” for us! Because we have completed 4 weeks (Phase I). We had to adjust the schedule in Week 3 which was a b-yatch. We skipped our coveted day of rest after Week 2 and went right into Week 3 in order to accommodate a commitment in the middle of the week. I was so unbelievably tired that whole week. There was even one day when I bailed on Chad in the morning because I was nauseous, so we ended up having to do the workouts by ourselves at separate times. That wasn’t good because it left room for cheating on reps since there’s no one there watching you (Chad!!). At any rate it was no fun working out alone. Incidentally, that killer Week 3 is also when I started to epic fail on my diet. I would love to blame the schedule change, except that we were back on pace in Week 4, and I was still cheating. Dangit.

And yes, the thought occurred to me “why am I nauseous in the morning, what if I’m .....!?!” Horror of horrors! If you have talked to me lately, you know that I can come up with about 3 pros to having children, and about 4500 cons. It would be just my luck if during the middle of this undertaking, I ended up pregnant and ruined it all! My goal, my body, my lifestyle, everything! Thankfully that question has been answered, and I am not preggers. Whew, that was a close one!

Injury update: plantar foot issue is still there, but not getting worse. I welcome any suggestions about how to deal with it! The problem with the back is almost gone. I’ve had a couple tight quads and hammies along the way, but have been able to treat them with Vitamin I and the miracle gel from the health foods store. That stuff actually has "poison ivy" listed as an ingredient, which is crazy! But it works.

Vice update: I gave up beer for lent, so I have only had 1 beer since we started P90X. I’ve had some wine along the way, and will probably continue to have a glass socially here and there. Red is better than White I guess. Lent ends at Easter (April 4), but I think I’m going to try to stay off beer all the way until the end of the program (early May). That way it will be all the more glorious when we go to P. Wexford’s for our victory feast and enjoy 10 pitchers of yummy Obsidian. OK, that might be a little aggressive... Maybe a pitcher each, haha.

The early mornings are definitely bogus. I stay up too late and never get enough sleep. But P90X is cool. I like the mix of cardio and weight training. Once in a while Tony stops sounding like a tool and starts sounding like a trainer; in those brief instances, I actually kinda like him. And Chad and I are seeing results, albeit minimal at this point. We both lost a few pounds, a couple inches, and we can see a little increased definition. So I’m diggin’ it! If only I could get this ridiculous diet under control. Lucky for me last night one of the GEMS told me I remind her of “Melissa” on The Biggest Loser. I said “Oh, is that one of the trainers?” You can guess the answer. Come to find out, she’s actually a contestant, who got kicked off because she gained a pound. Sorry Melissa, that’s not going to be my fate - I’m getting P90X’d!!

'Til next time! - Laura

It's Official...

I officially HATE 5:30am. Seriously, I want to punch it in the face, and that's not just the protein talking. Did I tell you that in the first couple weeks of p90x I began to develop what Laura and I dubbed "protein rage"? 7 servings of protein a day is what caused it, but by weeks 3 and 4, my body got used to it and it had cooled down considerably. Now, any kind of rage that rears its ugly head is most likely due to the fact that 5:30am NEEDS TO DIE! I go to bed plenty early...I think last night was by 9:30pm again and I'm still so bloody tired in the morning. If I don't achieve the results I'm hoping for at the end of this it will be because I have zero energy to do these crazy one-arm pushups and pushups while clapping hands in between each one!

Today marked the beginning of Phase 2. That means, the diet changes and the workouts change. I now only have to eat 6 servings of protein, 2 servings of dairy (goodbye nonfat plain yogurt!), 3 servings of vegetables (goodbye 8oz of vegetable juice), AND I get to ADD 2 servings of carbs! Hello bread and potatoes!!!!!

Switching to the next phase also means taking body measurements and photos. The photos don't show much after 30 days (and won't be seen much either), but the proof is in the numbers. In the first 30 days I lost 5 pounds, an inch off my waist, an inch off my hips, and gained an inch on my chest. Arms and thighs stayed the same.

The next 4 weeks should be interesting...I've got the diet down, the workouts will come along, but this exhaustion thing is going to make me grumpy, so watch out!!

chad

Recovery Week...

It's been a while since either of us have blogged, but don't let that fool you; we are still very much on track with the program. There are many of our friends out there (more than I can count) who started p90x weeks and months ago who kept the communication level on it pretty high and have since fallen off the radar. We have learned that the less they are talking about it means the less they're actually doing it! Not the case here. Team P90weX is moving full speed ahead and not looking back!

We are now in Week 4: Recovery Week. This is a chance to give our aching muscles (or in my case, neck and back) a chance to recuperate before we begin Phase 2. Yesterday was another 90-minute Yoga session...no new surprises. Today, however, was the first time we tried Core Synergystics. Core WHAT??? Basically it means all your muscles everywhere are doing something at once. If you're not focused, you will reduce these exercises to simply log-rolling back and forth across your yoga mat, and the result is nothing gets worked out at all. I think this was the most fun workout yet! There was some light weights, some cardio (I think I sweat more today than I have yet...could it be that the freezing cold garage is beginning to thaw by 6am now??), some plyo, yoga, pushups, Ab Ripper...basically all of p90x compiled into one 57-minute workout. It was glorious! Even Tony DB (though still a DB) had some good things to say. Tomorrow is "Stretch X", which at this point I can only assume that Tony DB attempts to put us in crazy pretzel-like positions and hold them for 60 seconds at a time while reminding us to not stop breathing. Yeah right!

Some of you might be wondering how my diet is coming along. The answer is "Very well, thanks for noticing." That is not to say that there haven't been moments here and there of a slip, but even in going out to restaurants (excluding lunch on the day of the Almond Blossom Festival), I've found healthy options and made modifications to accommodate this high protein, low carb thing I'm doing during Phase 1. The biggest change in my eating habits, especially where portion sizes are so big, is that I cannot finish my plate. This is a big deal for kids who grew up in houses where "Clean your plate!!" didn't mean rinse it off before you put it in the dishwasher. I grew up in a such a home, and especially in the years since college, one could place a huge plate of food in front of me and I'd wolf the whole thing down in 5-7 minutes flat! Those of you who know me well also understand that my pallet for beer runs deep. In the last month I've had 3-4 beers...total! Yes, they were all within this last week, but beer is technically off the list for this program, and it will stay there.

However, my partner and I are currently plotting a celebratory cheat night for when we finish Day 45. Only a couple more weeks to go!

Enter Vitamin I

OK, the time has come. Yesterday I took my first Vitamin I (aka Ibuprofen). During the Arms & Shoulders workout, doing a move I've done a zillion times (figures), I tweaked something in my back. Of course it's upper back and almost dead center, so I can't reach it. So I tried to get the kink out - I hung on the pullup bar, I stretched every which way I could think of, I made Chad crack my back, I get my coworkers to drill their knuckles into the tight spot, etc etc. Finally I came home from work yesterday and went for the Vitamin I. I've had a few since then, plus Mike puts sports gel on it for me, and it's getting better. Then this afternoon Mike was trying to massage it out and I actually heard some audible popping noises - which really freaked me out by the way - and then everything felt better for a sec, and then it got tender again. Why? Did he fix it, and now it's just sore? Or did he make it worse? I don't know, just hand me the freaking pill bottle. I would like to note that I am only taking 1 at a time, no more than a few per day. So that leaves me plenty of room to upgrade to a heavier dosage if (when) I really hurt myself.

I also have a bum foot which I'm dealing with daily. What happened, you ask? Well, I decided to go for a run on New Years Eve because I like to run before I go to parties where I will inevitably gorge myself on food and spirits and merry making. It had been awhile since I'd been running, and my shoes were 2 years old, and I ran too far, almost 4 miles. This may seem like nothing to some of you (Michelle), but it's like a really long way for me. Anyhoo, I got up the next day for New Years Day football, and my foot hurt like a sonuva...gun. Since then I've been to a couple "good feet" stores and even a bonafide podiatrist, and it turns out my arches are hella high (yes, knew that) and my old shoes weren't supportive enough (doh!) so now my plantar fascia (sp?) tendon is damaged. It flares up sometimes after p90x, but it's not like I've had to get out the Vitamin I for that yet. Plus there's a guy on the Plyometrics (Jump Training) video with a prosthetic leg, so I feel kinda like an ass complaining about my annoying little foot injury if he can jump around on a fake leg.

Pain means progress, right? Sha! Getting old sucks!! But! Lucky for me, I hurt my back yesterday and then today was Yoga. Last week I hated Yoga, but today it was alright. First of all, now I know what Warrior I and Warrior II and Reverse Warrior and Warrior III and a bunch of other poses mean, so I wasn't completely lost. (Warrior III is hard as H, by the way). It just felt good to stretch. Yoga is 90 minutes long and it's a doozy, but I think it will keep growing on me, and I can't wait to be flexy. I freakin' better be flexy before this is over with!!

I am constantly tempted by food. If Chad's Grandma is the devil, then Mom DeVries is her apprentice. We told Mom DV we're on a diet, and we can have meat and veggies and no carbs, which is a little generalized but whatever. We got there for Sunday dinner, and we ate filet mignons (delish), asparagus drizzled with oil, carrots, salad, and a whipped topping dessert made with cool whip, oranges, and cottage cheese. No bread, no potatoes. Mom said "cool whip is nothing" and we pretended she's right and ate it, but we knew deep down that cool whip is all carbs and we were totally cheating! Actually, the meal would've been OK, even in the realm of what's allowed for p90x, except for something I call the "grazing gene", which Mike and I both possess, and which smashes "portion control" into the dirt! I love Mom DV and she always takes care of us, and she & I have since talked about how next time we'll go "buffet style". The plan is that if Mike or I dare to get up for seconds, everyone has full license to give us all kinds of crap and call us fat. It's foolproof!

Speaking of temptation, I also want you to know that I actually made fudge, two 9x13 pans of fudge, for the GEMS Mother Daughter Night. I didn't eat any of it. I sat there while the people around me ate it, and I said no. Like most females, saying no to chocolate is a big deal for me! I have my own little cheats thought - like when I get coffee, which is pretty much every day, I use half-n-half. And real sugar. I figure if I'm dieting and working out 6 days a week, I'm not going to fail at this because of coffee creamer. At least I hope not.

Only 10 hours til our next workout! - Laura

The Devil Went Down to Ripon...and I lost

I’m feeling good! The workouts are becoming familiar this second time through, both in my mind and in my body. This P90X thing is all about muscle confusion, so in 2 weeks, after our bodies have grown completely accustomed to the workout, they will change to throw the muscles back into a land of confusion (Is that a Phil Collins song??).

Anyway, the biggest threat to the P90X challenge is the weekend. I think it might be best to become a recluse on the weekends- go nowhere, see no one! Here’s just one example from last weekend:

My grandparents are great people. I love them very dearly. However, this past Sunday, my sweet 89-year-old grandmother took on the form of the devil! Once a month, our family gets together at their little apartment for “Coffee”. Dutch Reformed people know all about Sunday Coffee at grandma's after church. As a kid, going out to play at grandpa and grandma’s with all my cousins while the adults sat around talking and drinking coffee was probably one of my favorite times of the week...a memory I'll cherish forever. We used to do it quite often, but the schedule for the last 15+ years or so has been that we have “Coffee” on the second Sunday of the month. My grandma is a baker extraordinaire and her cakes and pies always satisfy. So, this past Sunday was Coffee Sunday, and what does Grandma haul out?? Homemade chocolate cake!! *PISSED FISTS!!* Now, before you ask, “Where’s your willpower Chad?” My willpower is very strong! I threw out half a container of Moose Tracks ice cream from my freezer. I threw out the JellyBellys from the candy dish. I even threw out one of the staples to my diet for the past 20 years: tortilla chips and salsa!! This is different. This is Grandma DenOuden! Ask my brother, my grandparents are NOT easy people to say no to and ESPECIALLY not when they’re waving a delicious Duncan Hines chocolate cake in front of your face and you’re starving because the only thing you’ve eaten in the last 4 hours was stale communion bread and gross grape juice!! Add to this the blasted bowl of Cheetos sitting on the coffee table in front of you and you’ve got a recipe for disaster on your hands…or I guess 'on my orange-stained fingers and in my mouth' is more accurate!

Since today marks the beginning of Lent, I find it appropriate to sacrifice even more for P90X than I already have. Yes, Sundays will most likely include some sort of healthy “cheat” meal (after all, the 40 days of Lent do not include the Sundays in between Ash Wednesday and Easter *HAPPY FISTS!*), but meals on Friday nights and Saturdays from here on out will adhere strictly to the rules, that is, whenever possible…barring coffee at the devil’s, I mean, Grandma’s. Then, all bets are off!

chad

Boys Night is Bad for the X-Ing

So, it's Friday. Today was "Legs and Back". Chad already talked about "Yoga X" from Thursday, which is my least fave so far. The Yoga was pretty darn hard, and Tony D. kept reminding me how much I sucked at it. "Your heels should be on the floor" - F. "Your back should be straight" - F. "While you have 3 limbs suspended in the air, reach down and grab your standing leg" - Biff. "Always breathe" - F. I do have to give Tony credit because he has an uncanny way of knowing what I'm doing. He usually starts with "now I don't want to see this..." and then he describes exactly what I'm doing, and then I have to be like "dangit!" and try to fix it, and then it's even harder. Stupid Yoga. It would be cool if I was flexible. At all.

So last night was Boys Night, this long-standing (assanine) tradition where my hubby and his circle of trust get together for beers or mixies, they watch sports or comedy, and pretty much just hang out for a night. No girls allowed. Testosterone abounds. This often happens at my house, which I'm cool with, I have plenty of places I can go. Then when I get home I wrinkle my nose because my house smells like a bachelor pad (somehow magically they accomplish this after only a few hours) and I kick out the last remaining boys because Mike and I have to work the next day. Plus did I mention I'm X-ing the next day? Of course I did. The actual Boys Night event wasn't the problem last night, it was the after-effects. I think I woke up 6 times (not exaggerating) last night because Mike was snoring in my ear. I am lucky and Mike is very good at rolling over if I nudge him or ask him to, and then the snoring stops temporarily. But that doesn't erase the fact that I woke up in the first place! And Boys Night is a crazy night for my dog, Natty, too. They all love her and treat her right, but she eats like crap and she gets all worked up, and then she can't sleep. And when she gets squirrelly during the night, Mike doesn't even notice much less wake up (recall: he has had a few beers and is snoring at this point). And I'm sleeping light anyway because I'm paranoid about not hearing my p90x alarm, so the dog wakes me up. And I get up and let her out, or tend to her, or whatever the H the damn dog needs in the middle of the night. Then of course the actual morning comes WAY too fast.

It's 5 a.m., I cook my breakfast, apparently I make a mess (Mike tells me later), and I manage to get to Chad's by 6. I'm very excited because for the first time since Monday, my triceps don't hurt! For today's nice 'n easy workout (sha!) - "Legs and Back" - all kinds of Lunges, Wall Sits, one-leg Wall Sits, Pull Ups, and plenty more. I am tired, and I get a little woozy and have to put my head between my knees a few times. I shake an angry fist and blame Boys Night!! But we make it through the workout, and that blasted "Ab Ripper X". My triceps hurt again. Grr.

Also last night I went to the grocery store to stock up on my p90x diet. I am not struggling with the food as much as Chad is. I have a breakfast sandwich in the morning, a shake after workout, a powerbar mid morning, and a normal lunch (sandwich, fruit, string cheese). I eat a handful of almonds in the afternoon, and then my dinner is 6 oz of meat, 2 C veggies, and a cup of cottage cheese. If I'm lucky, Mike cooks for us, and the meat is chicken breast - a far cry from Veggie Dogs (gag). So I'm normally OK with food, but last night all I wanted to do was buy chips. And the devil obviously went to Save Mart and put all the awesome chips on awesome sales just to tempt me even more. I stayed strong.

Then today my evil coworkers ordered pizza, glorious fresh meaty greasy pizza, which arrived at the office at 11:30 a.m. so I could smell it for the next 6 hours. I thought maybe if I ate my lame ham sandwich while breathing in the pizza smell, it would taste like pizza - F. I swear as soon as we're done with this workout program, I'm getting on a plane and flying to Chicago, and going directly from the airport to Gino's East where I will sit down and consume an entire deep dish pizza by myself!

Tomorrow is "Kenpo X", which appears to be alot like kickboxing. I'm going to pretend all my punches are aimed at Tony D. And then we're done with Week 1! And we get Sunday off! We're supposed to Stretch, but I already know the outcome of "you should be stretching" - F.

Olympics Time! - Laura

Is it getting easier or am I getting delusional?

We are inching closer and closer to finishing Week 1. And as evidenced this morning, my body isn't inching closer to anything!

Today was Yoga. Yes, it was a complete change of pace from the last three days in that I wasn't sweating in my 47-degree garage this morning. However, no climate, warm or cold, could aid my flexibility or lack thereof. Watching the people on TV contort themselves into positions that would make an S&M freak foam at the mouth was difficult enough. Trying to mirror them was downright painful. Painful and awkward.

Let me take a moment to introduce you to our trainer, Tony Douchebag, or as he's known to the rest of the world, Tony Horton:

Unfortunately, in the yoga workout, it's essential to listen to this guy yammer on and on the whole time because we have no friggin' clue what we're doing. The DVD didn't even have a "turn-off-the-DB" option. Did I mention the yoga workout is a FULL 90 MINUTES?!? The best was at the end when he had us in "lotus" position and was ohm-ing and invited us to ohm right along with him. The music geek in me, of course, had to play around with this and decided to harmonize with the ohms to create a much more soothing and musical sound....except it made me laugh a little too much for it to be a truly peaceful moment...particularly for my partner, I'm sure.

I will say this: waking up at 5:30am is becoming frighteningly easy. It might be because I'm going to bed between 9-10 every night, but regardless, I'm enjoying it so far. I'm also enjoying my morning slices of microwaved turkey bacon. No really. Turkey bacon is not so bad. But let me tell you what is bad: veggie dogs.

These are the ones I got:

Whoever invented these things must be shot...and whoever wrote "Same Great Taste" must be fed three packs of these before being shot himself because he clearly never tried one. I have eaten a total of 6...scratch that...I have choked down a total of 6 "Smart Dogs" (which, in my opinion, should be renamed "You're-a-complete-dumba$$-for-buying-these-and-thinking-they'll-taste-anything-like-hotdogs-Dogs") and I have buried them forever. Not just for Lent, which hasn't even started yet. Forever. Oh, and not literally like in my backyard either, I'm just gonna throw them away. And before any of you say, "You should have known better" or "I told you so", I want to know if you've ever actually had one yourself because "It just sounds gross" doesn't cut it in the health food department CUZ IT ALL SOUNDS GROSS!

Which leads me to my next lunch item:

That's right folks. Nonfat Plain Yogurt. Why not call it what it is..."Rancid Barf in a Bowl". Seriously. Now you're probably asking yourselves, "Chad. Why don't you add some blueberries to it to give it some flavor?" The answer to that question is: I only get ONE fruit serving a day and if you recall, my daily banana (when not consumed before workout and "discarded" during) is eaten at breakfast time. That is, until today. Today I took my banana to work and cut it into many pieces and dumped it into the 8oz of plain nonfat yogurt in a vain attempt to overcome the nasty taste of live cultures changing even the consistency of this product right before my very eyes. Did it help? Only slightly, but just enough for me to do it one more time tomorrow when I empty out that tub at lunch and find something at the store to replace it with that won't have me plugging my nose while swallowing the biggest spoonfuls possible. Maybe next time I'll check the expiration date too. HA!

If I may respond to a couple things Laura wrote in her last blog.

1) Yes, stairs yesterday were extremely difficult. My soreness takes about a day to hit me. Since Tuesday was all that kangaroo business, my legs were about dead yesterday. And since yesterday's workout was arms and shoulders, I, too, am having a hard time putting my hair behind my ears.

2) Laura wasn't making it up. I WAS the one screaming during Ab Ribber X! I'm pretty sure if I hadn't already woken up the neighborhood from the freeweight stuff earlier, my shrieks of pain later should have at least caused one neighbor to call the police on suspicion of torture occurring in my garage. Just call my place 'Gitmo'.... "Gitmo-sweat-in-my-eyes" is more like it.

And one final thought: With drinking a couple liters of water a day and especially after plyometrics on Tuesday and another leg workout coming up tomorrow, I'm thrilled to be a guy!

chad

Good Morning, Lord!

Yeah, right, more like "Good Lord, it's Morning!". Today I was a couple minutes late getting to Chad's (woopsie daisy!), and we did Arms & Shoulders, which I actually kinda liked. Most of the exercises were manageable, and I wasn't wheezing by the end. But just in case you thought this workout might end with a "happily ever after", enter the Ab Ripper X. I literally heard my abs out loud screaming this morning! (or maybe that was Chad, haha). No seriously, it really hurt.

Then today I faced a paradox that I'm sure every P90X-er goes through: Option A. drink lots of water like the program says to for maximum effectiveness or Option B. never drink any water ever again because that means I will have to go to the bathroom, which requires SITTING DOWN. Thank goodness my bathroom at work has one of those handicap bars so I can hold onto something while easing myself on and off the toilet! Are you kidding me!? Will I have no dignity left by the end??

And naturally I'm still struggling with the simple things like tucking my hair behind my ear (hurts my tricep) or using the steering wheel to turn corners (hurts my shoulders). And Chad told me he had to "crawl up" some stairs today. Good times.

Tomorrow we do "Yoga X", which sounds like a nice break, but something tells me it might not be as easy as all that. Ah heck, we'll try it anyway. Nighty night, - Laura

Um, are we done yet?

OK, so I'm trying to get ready for bed b/c I get up at an insane hour now, but I can't because I can't pull my shirt over my head! What! I asked Mike to help but all he does is poke me in the abs and then laughs at me when I cry like a little girl and beg him to stop. Oh, plus I can't sneeze because it hurts my stomach! And I can tell my legs are going to megahurt soon - they don't yet, but I can just tell, dangit! It's like when weather is way off in the distance - it's only a matter of time!

But, I need to give this more than 2 days. So just like last night and the night before, I'm going to go to sleep in my workout clothes, and I'm going to put my alarm clock in the kitchen so I have to walk all the way down the hall to turn it off at 5 a.m. (sorry Mike). Then I'm going to eat breakfast and take a nap until 5:45 when I will roll off the couch, brush my teeth, and drive to Chad's. Sooooo, as long as we don't work any muscles in my arms, neck, back, legs, or abs tomorrow, I should be good to go! Let's see, what does the schedule for tomorrow say? Oh wonderful, "Shoulders and Arms", followed by "Ab Ripper X". Sweet, no problem.... (Translate: $$$HHHIIITTT!!!)

On a positive note, I'm stoked because we made it through the first two workouts. Yes, Chad puked. And yes, I cheated and used a chair for assistance on the pull-ups. And yes, I did a few lady-style pushups. (If you know me and for some odd reason we've talked about push-ups, then you know that I am morally opposed to lady-style pushups, so this was an especially pride-crushing episode for me.) But! The rest of it was do-able. Like, I'm not at 100% and I'm definitely freakin' sore, but I'm pretty sure I can power through this.

I'm going to bed now. It's going to take me 5 minutes to pull the covers up to my chin.
- Laura

Ouch!

I am so sore today. I am sore in places I didn't even know existed. This is no ordinary workout...it's not like going to the gym, doing a circuit and heading home. No. This is a killer. Let me take a moment to recap what the first two days of P90X were like for me:

DAY 1 - Chest & Back
As many of you know, I was a high school and collegiate athlete, and completed the coursework needed for a coaching minor in college. In other words, I am no stranger to nutrition and fitness. Now, somewhere in the course of time, I lost track of how my body works. My partner, Laura, convinced me that I should eat something before starting the workout on Monday, which I NEVER have done in my life because it makes me want to puke while I'm working out. Tony Horton, the P90X trainer guy, whom I will refer to from here on out as "Tony Douchebag" says to eat something at least an hour before working out. Here lies the dilemma: do I want to get up even earlier than I already am just so I can stuff my face with a couple pieces of turkey bacon and a banana? I never needed it before! So yesterday, I second guessed myself and just 30 minutes before our workout began, I ate a banana. Not eggs, not oatmeal, a banana.

Commence workout: unfortunately, watching people on the dvd who have already achieved success in this program is not helpful for me. Why? Because I think I should be able to do it just like they are. So what happens is I don't pace myself and burn out after the first several rounds of various pushup and pull-up exercises. So toward the end, even getting into pushup position ("guy" position, not knees on the ground position) hurts and there ain't no way I'm heading anywhere near the ground without falling on my face. I power through a handful more reps and I'm done, like stick-a-fork-in-me done! I'm feeling a little woozy and Laura's feeling pretty warm, so we crack a door to the garage to get some airflow. We both step outside for a moment to sip and spit some water...no big deal. Just getting ready for the "Ab Ripper X" or as I like to call it: "William Wallace's 'Freedom' Ceremony". 15 minutes of exercises I'm sure only performers in a Cirque Du Soleil show in Vegas can do without feeling like their guts are about to come exploding out of their torsos. We finish the disembowelment exercises and I roll over on my mat onto my stomach and suddenly like a wave, it hit me. I calmly, though probably quickly, walked outside and unleashed the fury of all the water and gatorade I'd consumed during the workout, and yes of course, that blasted banana! I blame that entire episode on that banana. Well, and the complete rubbish I'd been filling my body with for the past several weeks.

Day 2 - Plyometrics
I was actually looking forward to this one. As a volleyball player, jumping and leg exercises have been such a huge part of my life for so long there's a spot saved for them at my dinner table. I started the morning out right: woke up half an hour before the workout started and got my garage ready for Day 2...no banana! Again, the workout started out strong, then Tony Douchebag kept adding more and more tricks he picked up from prison, I'm assuming. There was some serious burn going on. My personal favorite was the swing-your-legs-over-the-chair-for-a-minute exercise. Needless to say, I am very glad Day 2's workout lasted only an hour, but I will say that it is very painful to look up at the TV and see the countdown clock say there's still 39:42 left or even 18:21 remaining! It's just more time for Tony Douchebag to pull out some more of his tricks or say something he learned at the school of douchebaggery.

After getting out of the shower and coming to work, I'm starting to notice now that I'm sore, not only in my legs from today's workout, but also for the first time from yesterday's workout. My body felt really flauw yesterday (it's a Dutch word for "blah"), but I think that was from the upchuck and the protein overload all at once. I'm feeling better today overall, though I really would like to stuff my face with as much crap as I can find around the office. I'll talk more about the diet later. You won't believe what I'm doing to myself. Two words: Veggie Dogs.

chad

What the H?

Ok, this is actually my first blog post. Like, ever. Lame. What can I say, I watched Julie and Julia a couple months ago and I want to blog my experience, because I feel like accomplishing this workout program is going to be just as epic as getting through that ginormous cookbook!! So yes, it's almost "go time" for P90x. It's going to be brutal. 6 days a week for 90 days. 13 weeks. 78 workouts. Go time is 6 a.m. every morning. Each workout is 60 to 90 minutes long. The very first day we do something called the "Ab Ripper". What the h? Why don't they just call it "Jack the Ripper" b/c that's what it's going to do to my abs!! I'm going to die. And - if we want results - evidently we should adhere to a strict nutrition program at the same time. High protein (ok), low fat (ew), and low carbs (just shoot me now). But accountability is key, and I'm tired of being soft, so we're going to conquer this beast! And get ripped!! Yeah!! Tonight we are taking "before" pictures and body measurements. Maybe we'll post the pics.... if they're not too hideous. Workouts start Monday Feb 8, even though I have a bum foot, but that's a story for another day. Nothing a little Vitamin I can't fix. :)

Cheers! Laura

The Final(?) Countdown

I'm sitting in Chicago's Midway Airport after a week of eating a bunch of garbage (Buffalo Wild Wings not once, but twice! Chipotle, Chili's, Jimmy John's, etc.) and drinking several beers while catching up with old friends throughout the week. All the while what's hovering over my head is the fact that in just under 24 hours, Laura and I will be commencing with what will prove to be one of the biggest challenges to my body since playing volleyball in college. Only this will be different. I'm not 22 anymore...shocking, I know. My diet back then was at the mercy of a decent college cafeteria and the metabolism of a horse. Needless to say, neither of those things are true for me anymore. I'm known as many things among my friends and family, but "cook" isn't one of them. The workouts will be a challenge, though I'm confident I'll meet those challenges and succeed. What I'm less confident about is maintaining a healthy diet which appears to be the biggest threat to maximizing results in the next 90 days...and of course continuing the diet and exercise after we're done. The same people who don't call me "cook" also do not call me "morning person". 6am, 5 days a week?? I haven't seen a schedule like that since working those summer jobs for which I was always thankful I was going to college at the end of those three months! But, believe it or not, 6am is going to be the least of my worries! I'm excited though...we're going to have some great stories I'm sure. Check back later for some pics (though probably not "before" pics...well, maybe we'll show you those after we're done)!

chad