Day 21: Another Stretch: The Rangers Win!

The Stretch was great today. I really love the "Rollers." I could do those all day. That and the Cat Stretch and the Child's Pose. Money!

If anyone happened to miss this friendly exchange between two hockey players doing the "X", check it out here and the follow up here! In a nutshell, one of my readers, "habs" (Chris) is an Original Six fan of the Montral Canadiens (or the "Habs", short for Les Habitants for those outside hockey circles!) was sorry to hear that I was a Ranger fan and suggested a "bet" of an extra Ab-Ripper. My Rangers weren't exactly dominating at this point and the Canadiens are one of the hottest teams int he league, chasing down first place in the East. But this is a matter of team pride, and I gulped down my reservations and accepted the challenge. The game was today, so besides Super Bowl Sunday, I had a hockey game to be excited for. Or to dread the results of (A national broadcast as well, where my beloved Blueshirts have made embarrassments of themselves lately.

True to form, the rangers fell behind 0-3 on the strength of Montral's brilliant Power Play. I started looking for the DVD's, figuring if it continued this way I should just end my misery and pop in the Ab Ripper X now. Shockingly, the Rangers (sensing my distress) stormed back and scored 5 unanswered goals to secure the victory. Chris, a true sportsman, had already signed on and told me he was doing the extra session. I wish I could say that out of solidarity I joined him, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything beyond the X Stretch. I'll do my week in review next post, but thanks again to Chris (habs) for the comments on my blog!

Day 20: Kenpo Kicks Butt Again!

I still can't do the $%&@ "Star Blocks!"

There are two problems.

1. I don't have enough room to move as far forward as the exercise calls for.
2. Tony does not explain it slow enough for a coordination challenged guy like me (I never thought I was challenged this way until this video!).

Part of the problem lies with the video editor. Just when Tony is looking at you head on and you are trying to get ready to follow him, they cut quickly to a smiling guy checking his heart rate monitor. By the time it cuts back, Tony has already started the drill and I am completely lost, never to recover despite numerous pause and rewinds.

All it would have taken was Tony to walk through the blocks slowly before starting the exercise. Not bad that in the 7 videos (+ Ab Ripper) this is the first real mistake I have found, and I am sure I am probably in the minority.

Other than that, it was a good workout. I did get interrupted during the last 15 minutes and my heart rate went down, so I am not sure if it was as effective as it could have been.

More tomorrow, with my 3 Week Review!

Day 19: He's got Legs! And he knows how to use them! (Sort of)

This was harder than the past two weeks I've done this. My legs were a little more tired and I was breathing pretty hard. I had to push the pause button a few times, but I did see some improvements:

I did 16 & 15 Reverse Grip Pull Ups! (This is huge for me! Up from 13/13 and 10/10 Previously)
I did 11 & 10 Wide Grip Pull Ups! (Up from 8/7 and 6/5)
I did 9 & 5 Closed Grip Pull Ups (Up from 7/7)
And I actually did 6 Switch Grip Pull Ups. I don't know how I did them, but I managed to do two and then switch grips and go again. I couldn't do any the past two weeks (I could do two and then fell when I tried to switch).

So this is progress.

I also was able to do most of the Fiefer Scissors in Ab Ripper.

This was all good news.

Now the bad: I feel better, stronger (we can rebuild him!), but I still don't feel I look any better. I don't think I am eating correctly at all. There is too much dang preparation. I think I might try just doing a bunch of meal replacement bars. I bought a bunch of Bell Peppers for $1 each on sale and I haven't used them. I just figured out that I can cut them up and freeze them, so that will help, but I just hate planning meals.

I've forced myself to eat many times a day as opposed to once, but I still have the abdominal flab. I've even dropped my Dr Pepper intake from 3-6 a day to 2-5 a WEEK. I want to look better after 30 days and I only have 9 days left. My weight has fluctuated from as low as 179 to as high as 184.

At least my rangers won tonight! More tomorrow!

Day 18: Yoga, Bare(ly)

Hey, Boo Boo!

This is definitely a brutal workout. I do feel more flexible and I'm glad I have done it, but I dread the 90 minute timer. It never seems to go down. Actually, I don't mind the second half. All those Downward Dogs and Chatanooga (or something liek that, I can never make out what Tony is saying!) wear on me. I do a killer Warrior Two pose. I actually survived the Pretzel Pose (It's not really called that, but it should be!) and I can almost use a yoga block to add to my stretching past my foot.

I can't believe I am almost at the recovery week. Time is flying by. (Except when I am watching the dang timer!)

I'm still eating healthy. I really want some Doritos, but I am being a good boy!

Update again tomorrow!

Day 17: Back and Arms and back again!

This is a great workout. It isn't as tiring to your whole body like the chest and arms workout. Maybe my arms are getting stronger (or more likely, I don't have enough weight and need to seriously consider going into debt to buy some dumbbells!) but I really felt like I did a good job with this workout.

The "MyGym" was indispensible this time around. I really only used the stand alone bands during the Bonus Round (which I did much better at this time!). I felt the burn, though. I felt it big time. There were a few exercises that were a little difficlut with the "MyGym" and I wonder if I am doing them correctly.

I ate well again. I had a few too many almonds for my snack, but other than that I maintained my discipline.

Tomorrow is the toughest workout: Yoga. see you then!

Day 16: Plyo's Revenge

I did well, but it still kicked my butt. I only had to hit the pause button about 12 times. Seriously, I love my remote!

I couldn't keep up as well as last week, where I seemed to have some kind of Energizer Bunny adreniline rush, but I made it through okay.

My meals today (Let me know what you think!)

Breakfast:
1 Multivitamin
3 strips of Extra Lean Turkey Bacon (20 calories each)
1 glass OJ
1 Muscle Milk Protein Shake w/ 2 Cups of 1% Milk

Lunch:
Peanut Butter Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread

Dinner:
Beef Round Steak (Seasoned) 7 OZ
1 Dr Pepper (My first in 3 days)
1 Multivitamin

Snacks:
4 Pieces of Homemade Turkey Jerky
2 Low Fat Mozzerella Sticks
1 Handful of Almonds
1 Fat Free Soda

Not that impressive, I know, but still pretty healthy!

Day 15: Why I hate Mondays!

I suck at push ups. I'm not much better at Pull Ups. Ab Ripper is deadly.

Seriously. This is my least favorite workout. I procrastinated today because I knew I would struggle. I never thought of not doing it, but the fact that I did this workout at 8:00 PM tells me that I wasn't mentally up for it. Last week I was energized for each days workout after the first one, so I hope I get the energy "bump" again this week.

I know I worked hard and I definitely showed up and brought it, but it is demoralizing to only do 6 or 7 pull ups, and my push-ups are slow and pathetic. I did a little better with the diamond push-ups and the Dive Bomber Push Ups, but the military style killed me. My arms still feel weak and I have a feeling I'm not getting enough resistance with the bands.

I'm doing a lot of reps with the bands, but maybe I need to figure out a way to do more weight with less reps so I can build more muscle.

I'll talk about food again this week, but lets say that I feel a little guilty about having half a rack of ribs on Saturday (and about 4 leftover ribs on Sunday) but I still have eaten healthier than I ever have before. I'm on a lot of Protein bars and the Muscle Milk tastes great. I have no idea if it is helping me at all since I have nothing to compare it to.

Anyway, Just another Manic Monday. Wish it were Sunday. More later!

Here's a quick YouTube Vid:

(Unavailable at this time!)