Weight Loss

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OK, Plyometrics completely kicked my butt. And I'm not talking about a kick or two, I'm talking a full-fledged arse whuppin'. The entire lower half of my body is in pain today, and that is considering that I was only able to correctly complete about half the exercises. Since it requires you to keep your heart rate up, you can't really take breaks, and by the midpoint in the video I was so tired, I was only doing the exercises at about half the speed that the instructors were doing them. Overall, yesterday's workout sucked balls.

A few notes in general about the plyometrics. They tell you at the beginning that it is the hardest workout in the P90X program, with the highest calorie burn rate of any of the other DVDs. The exact words were, "This is the "X" in the P90X". Furthermore, they tell you there is no Phase 2 or Phase 3 in the Plyometrics DVD, because once you've gone through this workout, you're going to be dog tired, and not want to do anymore. Suffice it to say, that I concur with that assessment.

My wife did not fare significantly better than I did, although since she is more flexible that me, she was able to go a little longer before crapping out. I do not have high hopes for being able to complete this video any time soon. It wasn't like the first video, where some of the exercises I had difficulty with, but I was at least able to keep going. The goal will be to be able to complete this program by the 90-day mark, although since there isn't a Phase 2 or Phase 3, it's the same workout every two weeks for three months.

Today will be a better day. It's another of the "strength" workouts - shoulders and arms. In looking through the remainder of the DVDs, it does seem that they alternate the type of workouts. Tomorrow is Yoga. Two days later it's Kenpo. The one that scares me is the one labelled "Cardio" as if the Plyometrics wasn't exactly that.

 

I know someone who completed all of the DVDs for P90X and the hardest one were plyometrics, yoga and Ab Ripper X. The others he said were not as bad. I do Ab Ripper 100 and it is not as fast or as many reps as Ab Ripper X. I'm looking forward to moving to Ab Ripper 200 but I'm waiting for my wife as I don't want her to feel left behind in our goal of chaning our lifestyle.

 

I second the sentiment of plyometrics. I do yoga tomorrow. I was actually cautiously optimistic about yoga. I know it's not just stretching and things like that. I was hoping that my physical strength would be enough to get me through it.

As for Ab Ripper, Tony can bring it on! I don't care how fast he wants to go, or how many he wants to do, I will own that DVD. My current ab workout consists of 200 situps on a decline bench with a 25-pound weight on my chest, 150 leg raises, and 200 abdominal cruches. I'll have Tony crying by the end of that DVD. (Well, maybe not. Let's just say I will be as confident in being able to complete all the exercises in that video as I was confident in getting through the chest and back workouts.)

 

200 situps with extra weight in one set ?

 

Tony's Ab routine not only requires strength but also flexibility and balance as you are using your legs for a few of the routines.

 

No, it's 4 sets of 50 reps, with a pause of a minute or two between sets. I do them on a decline bench (so my butt is higher than my head) to maximize the effectiveness of the situps. On a flat bench with no weight on my chest, I think I could do 200 situps in a row.

Well yeah - so does mine. The 150 leg raises (as the name implies) requires you to raise your legs. Leg raises are tough. Try them sometime and you'll see. You lie down on the ground and keep your legs straight and together. Lift your feet about 12-18 inches off the ground. The trick is you don't let the heels of your feet touch the ground when you go back down. If you do, it's like getting a mini-break after each rep. You want to bring your feet down so that your heels are about an inch from the ground, and then lift your legs again. I was only able to do about 10 of them when I started, but I'm now up to 50 reps to a set. I suppose if you wanted to up the difficulty of the reps you could use ankle weights, but I don't use them.

I was not thrilled with the arms and shoulders workout yesterday. It was just a "meh" type workout. I was able to get through the whole thing without issue, and like the chest workout it seemed to be a lot more reps with less weight.

The other thing I didn't like about it is that I would ideally use three different sets of dumbbells to get through that workout. I ended up using a 25 lb dumbbells for most of it, but there were some sets I could have used 30 lbs, and some sets where I would have rather had 20 lbs. The issue is that I don't have six adjustable dumbbells (I have four), which is what I'd need to have all three weights available. Since I'm not inclined to have to continually stop and change my weights, I suppose the best solution would be to make a 25 lb set and a 30 lb set, and just adjust the 30 down to a 20 when I need to (since I use 25 lbs the most often).

Finally, I have to get used to not lifting a bar. Generally speaking you can lift more with a bar than you can with dumbbells, because the bar is self-balancing. When I do a military press with a bar, I use 115 lbs. When I do them with dumbbells, I use 35 lb dumbbells. This situation became evident during the video when we did rows. I also do rows in my shoulder workouts, but I use a bar. Tony uses dumbbells, and I could not do as much weight with dumbbells.

Anyway, my arms and shoulders aren't sore today, so maybe I should have done more yesterday. However, my legs are STILL stiff from the Plyometrics workout on Tuesday. That workout was most unpleasant. Tony brings the pain again today, when I do Yoga. I've never done Yoga before - I predict... pain.

 

I predict that you will tell us tomorrow how much pain you are in. Good luck.

 

Still, very impressing. When I exercised at home I did sets of same length, since it was one of the few exercises I could do. At the gym I've gotten sort of lazy. Now it's usually 3-4 sets of 10-20 reps twice a week, but with extra weight or with a power wheel etc.

I agree - leg raises performed like this are killer. Some people do them in a dip rack, but for me this version works better, as it's one of the few exercises where the lower abs really take a hit. Making a short stop while the feet are in the peak position or while lowering/raising legs adds more difficulty. Works also with situps and crunches.

 

I don't think any of my equipment would allow me to do leg lifts with resistance. There also is little point in me going perpendicular to the ground without resistance, as the higher you lift your legs the easier it gets. In fact, even ankle weights wouldn't help much in going perpendicular - the bottom part would still be the most difficult. However, with resistance is a whole other story. If you could get resistance all the way from parallel to perpendicular to the ground, that sounds like a killer ab workout.

I'm the same way. I know I have abs in there - I work out my stomach a ton, I know they're there. They are just well hidden. I'm 5'9" and I weight 195 lbs, but it's a muscluar 195 lbs. Most people don't even consider me to be overweight. However, the last time I had visible abs I weighed 175 lbs, and getting down to that weight will prove very challenging. However, my stomach muscles are probably better developed now, and so I may not have to go down that far. Perhaps a far more attainable goal of 185 lbs would make the abs visible.

I did like one of the bicep exercises in the DVD last night - in fact, I think I would likely include it in my workouts if and when I stop P90X. They are called "static curls". What you do is you get a dumbbell in each hand. In the one hand you hold the weight parallel to the floor with the palm up, while you do four regular curls with the other hand. On the fourth curl, you don't go all the way down, but you hold it at the midway point, parallel to the ground. You then do four curls with the hand that was previously being held parallel. You do the rotation three times, so 12 curls with each arm. The muscle strain is actually much greater on the hand that you are holding parallel to the ground than the one doing the curls. And by the time you get to reps 9-12, they really burn.

 

No, no, what you don't understand is that fat is bullet-proof. The way it connects with other fat cells makes it possible for it to wrap around a bullet, effectively catching the bullet and preventing it from getting to the precious muscle underneath. At least that's what I tell myself when I eat cake.

 

My abs went undercover about 20 pounds ago. If I'll lose 10 pounds the upper blocks come slightly visible, but the lower ones - no way. For me waist is the first place which starts to accumulate fat, which means it's also the last stronghold of lard when dieting. I can't honestly say that I wouldn't want to have a six pack, but it's not a top priority either. I'm not the kind of guy who walks around without a shirt .

 

I'm in such bad shap that if I can at least my ribs, which I believe I did this morning; it is a move in the right direction.

When I started I was 292lbs and lost 13lbs as of 3/28/2010. My goal is to get my weight between 255-260 by the end of may. If I get it lower than that fantastic. By the end of August (which would be day 180 for me) I would like to be down to about 225 or so. My goal is to be under 200 by the end of this year. I'm 5'11" and from what I have estimated my athetic weight is around 190lbs, when my abs would start showing.

 

Don't get discouraged now, but losing over 90 pounds in a less than year is a tough job. It's possible, but not necessarily recommendable - but I assume you're aware of the risks.

I can tell from my own experience that the pace of weight loss is going to be a lot slower at some point. Especially when a person starts to approach his "ideal" weight, there's no way anyone can still lose 2 pounds week safely. A 300-pound body consumes a lot more than a 220-pound, even if the latter has attained some muscle. The last 20 pounds will take a lot longer to shake off than the first 20.

The main point, if any, is that healthy weight loss takes it time. Pound per week is IMO a healthy pace when you're nearer the 200 than the 300-pound mark. However, your first goal of 260 pounds at the end of May seems like totally doable. Good luck !

 

That seems about right. I'm 5'9", and I expect to be able to see abs when I'm in the 175-180 lb range.

As for yoga, perhaps it was because I was expecting the worst, or perhaps it was because I had very low expectations going in, but after completing the session, I didn't think it was that bad. With the exception of the Crane position, I was able to do all the yoga exercises, as well as all the balance positions. The Crane position requires you to get into a squat with your hands on the ground and elbows bent, and then lean forward so that your knees are on your elbows with your feet in the air. They said before they did it that it was an advanced position, and if you cannot do it, not to worry. That didn't stop me from tying, but I was unable to balance it correctly (but I was strong enough to support my body weight with just my hands). At the very least, I didn't think yoga was as bad as plyometrics, and this is coming from someone who has never done yoga before.

Some caveats: Was I able to do all the yoga exercises with the perfect form as Tony in the video? No. Was I able to maintain my balance on all the one-legged positions for the full 30 seconds without occassionally putting my foot down and readjusting? Of course not. Was I able to stretch as far as the group of people in the video were stretching? Hell no. But like I said, this was my first time.

It's hard to get the form down at first, because a lot of the positions require you to have your head up, down, or in the case of the twist positions, facing behind you. The difficulty with that is obvious - if you don't know how to do the positions, you need to look at the TV, and the TV isn't on the ceiling, in the floor, or behind you. Tony states what the position is before he does it, so I'm hoping that after I do it a few times, I will be familiar enough with the positions that just hearing him tell me the position that I'll know what to do without looking at the TV. I already know a bunch of the positions that were repeated frequently, like Upward Dog, Downward Dog, Runner position, and Warrior 1, 2, and 3.

I suppose this is a convoluted way of saying that I think there is a rather steep learning curve for Yoga. If you don't know the position, you cannot do it without looking at the TV, and for some positions, looking at the TV prevents you from maintaining proper form. I'm not saying that the video was easy - I cannot believe how much of a sweat I worked up doing it. What I am saying is I think this is a workout where I can improve greatly, even with just one or two more viewings.

Tonight is back and legs, so I'm confident I can rock that out.

 

I don't know if this goes without saying, but doing them in such a manner that you keep your shoulders at least a couple inches off the ground the whole time takes it to another level, both in balance and effort. Though, I suppose this may limit the range of motion in the workout... possibly

 

OK, since I wrote on Friday morning I have completed two more workouts. On Friday I did Legs and Back, and on Saturday I did Kenpo. We'll take them in order.

The Back exercises were similar to the ones done on Monday. It wasn't as strenuous of a back workout as Monday, but there were eight sets of pull-ups (or in my case pull-downs). As for the legs, it was actually a very good leg workout. I wasn't expecting it to be, because they don't use much of anything in the way of weights. My thinking was how am I going to get a workout of quads, calves, hamstrings, etc., holding a couple of dumbbells? The answer is so simple that I cannot believe I never thought of this in all the years I've been working out - you raise one of your legs in the air when you do the exercise. A one-legged squat while holding two 25-lb dumbbells is plenty enough weight. Same thing for the wall squats, if you hold one of your legs in the air as you do them. So I felt the leg workout was quite satisfactory - especially considering I'm not looking to get huge legs anyway.

On Saturday we did Kenpo, and I put Kenpo in the same category as I do Yoga. I was able to get through the entire exercise with minimal breaks, however, the flexibility in my legs sucks. I got no problem doing all the punches, but the kicks are another manner. My kicks - especially the side kicks and back kicks (I'm a little better on the front ones) are about mid-thigh in height. They were supposed to be at least stomach level, and preferably chest level. It will come in time I hope - again this was my first time ever doing Kenpo, so I cannot expect perfection the first go-through.

After finishing the Kenpo workout, I felt that if I ever had to defend myself in a fight using Kenpo, that I'd feel like Jan Jansen from Baldur's Gate II, and that my battle cry before throwing a kick would be, "Your knees are mine!"

So I have my first weigh in tonight. When I started last week, I had a start weight of 197.6 pounds - that was wearing just my workout clothes, and no shoes. I find it strange that they tell you to weight yourself every week - I would have assumed you'd go two weeks, as that's how long it takes to complete all the workouts once.

Anyway, I do not recall off hand what's on the agenda for tonight's workout. As Day 6 was Kenpo, I'm assuming that the next one is going to be more of a strength training workout, as the workout seems to alternate between weight training and more aerobic type exercises. I know four of the six workouts this week include chest, core muscles, abs, and aerobics. I don't recall the other two, and I have no idea what's on the agenda for tonight.

 

I've completed week 5. 8 more weeks to go before I hit my 90th day.

On day 89 I have my annual physical. The last time the doctore saw me I was about 295lbs. My goal is to be as close to 250lbs come May 28th. I know it will take time to get there but it is well worth it.

I feel a bit weaker this morning due to a lack of sleep and being on the road for Easter Sunday.

 

At my first weigh-in, I lost 2.2 pounds. Yesterday was by far the least strenuous day of the program. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it wasn't a workout - I didn't break a sweat. It was all stretching, for nearly an hour. The reasoning presented was that so many of the other workouts require you to be flexible (most notably Yoga, Kenpo, and Plyometrics, although nearly every workout is easier if you're more flexible) that devoting one workout to improving flexibility is essential.

While I did not find the workout to be strenous (although it was certainly uncomfortable at times), I must admit that I need flexibility exercises. (I cannot, for example, reach my toes when I bend over without bending my knees.) On top of my extermely limited knowledge of things like Yoga and Kenpo, I'm also not nearly flexible enough to do a lot of the moves correctly. So last night I just did the best I could - and listened to Tony's advice. He said don't try to be a hero with your stretches. You should stretch to the point where it becomes somewhat uncomfortable, but not to the point where you think if you go any further you'll hurt yourself.

Tonight is Core Synergistics - I'm not sure what that is. I've heard of core muscles before (they're the ones on your torso), and I'm assuming the synergistic part means getting them to work together somehow, but I really don't know specifically what type of exercises I'll be doing.

 

I'm glad your sticking to it and it sounds like a program for me to move up to once I get through Power90 and Power90 Master series.

I'm just hoping I can stay motivated long enough to make it to day 90. I have not been motivated at all the last few days. I'm hoping to find it soon enough as I don't want to go back to my old self.

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I found my motivation this moring. I found out it was due to the foods I was eating. Going forward I really need to pay attention to what I put into my body. I did for the first 4 week but for the last 10 days I did not. Now I'm going to once again as food does make a difference.

---------- Added 23 hours, 59 minutes and 50 seconds later... ----------

I can't believe I did both Sweat and Sculpt video last night when I got home. I never sweated so much in my life, but I felt fantastic afterwards. I'm looking forward to tonight workout which will be the same as last night.