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