Day 24 - Kenpo

Have I told you how much I really like the Kenpo? It's a fun blend between kickboxing, boxing, and karate class. You really get a great workout, it's only an hour long, and lot's of cardio and toning exercises.

I'm really digging the P90X experience. As I was working out, I kept admiring the tone and definition in my shoulders. I think right now that's where it's the most noticeable. Oh, I'm also getting this really cool dimple on the side of my stomach. Either side of the fat deposit up front. I think the muscle group is called the "external obliques".


Anyways, I'm starting to see the muscles get more exposed, so that tells me that the fat deposits that were previously hiding my obliques has been severely minimized! BTW - next time you see me, feel free to take a shot at my obliques. They're rock hard, almost steel-like. Only a few friends have actually taken the opportunity to strike me with a full-force punch. I feel like some silly frat boy walking around going, "Hey, wanna hit me as hard as you can? Go for it. Do it!" But on the otherside, it's fun to finally have the strength back in my core to warrant the party trick.

I was talking with some friends last night. It's amazing how different people get different things out of this P90X. They were lamenting about how much they HATE the yoga. I actually like it. Well, as much as you can enjoy a one-and-a-half hour long torture session. But like everything else, I feel like the yoga is giving me more strength, more stamina, and great results with my body. I guess the bottom line is this: P90X can give you whatever you are looking for. I entered the program not knowing where it would take me. I was optimistic about the journey, and thus far am happy with the results.

Except for one thing: my weight. I entered the program because I was stuck around 190lbs. I thought that doing the P90X would get me down to fluctuating between 180-185lbs. But sadly, my weight has fluctuated between 186-192lbs. Uggggg. But there are a few saving graces. My pants are fitting better, so this tells me that I'm losing weight. I look better in the mirror (I find myself flexing quite often at night, when I'm alone :-) I've improved from being able to do 12 pullups to 80. EIGHTY PULLUPS!!! And I've removed a measurable 1/4" of stomach fat. So I know that my higher weight is most likely a result of new muscles. And I can FEEL the strength on my body, in my core. So I know that the higher weight is okay, since I'm actually doing better things for my body now.

That's all. Ciao!

p.s. Speaking of "Ciao", we watched a terrible movie last night. "The American" with George Clooney. Boy was that movie S-L-O-W! I watched 1/3 of the movie in fast forward, to get past the terrible cinematography. People told me that the movie was worth it for the ending. Nope. Sorry. It reminded me of the movie, "The Departed", where everyone dies at the end, which left me wondering, "Why did I waste my time watching this movie?" Yep. That's how I felt last night.

George Clooney - I want 1.5hrs. of my life back, please!

Day 22 - Yoga

W.O.W. It's hard to believe that I started down this journey just 4 weeks ago. Phew!

Since then, I have experienced lots of sweat, sore muscles, weight loss and weight gain, new achievements, reduced fat content, revised diet, and NO SODA POP!

We spent Easter at some good friend's house. They grilled steak and potatoes (isn't that the traditional easter meal?) The steak was awesome! Some good cuts, nice and thick, and perfectly cooked. But I found that I could only eat about 8oz. This made me smile. I was faced with some good, high-quality food, and I couldn't gorge myself. I have been working hard to reduce my stomach size (intake), and I think I'm seeing the results.

I'm still stuck between 185lbs (low end) and 190lbs (high end), but I know that I'm putting on some great muscle. I can see it in the mirror, and I can feel it on my body.

So as I begin my 4th week on the system, I'm in the interim week. So no weight lifting or pullups, it's all about cardio and yoga and stretching and kenpo. I'm a bit disappointed, but I know that they have tailored this program for a reason.

The good news is that yesterday's yoga session went very, very well. Did I tell you that Kathy did yoga with me during the 2nd week, and has refused to join me in it since? That made me feel great, because she's a tough-as-nails aerobic instructor....and I can out-yoga her. So as I plow my way thru the 4th week of yoga, I'm feeling stronger than ever before. I can hold my poses for most of the 1.5hrs. In fact, there was only two poses yesterday that I had to "pause" on. It makes me feel accomplished.

Tonight is cardio (and I'm going to sneak in the AB ripper routine...shhhh, don't tell Tony!) Overall, I'm looking forward to the week and am encouraged by my results thus far.

I think I'll snap my 30-day shots at the end of this week and get them posted. Ciao!

Day 18 - Arms and Legs

W.O.W.

I had two major accomplishments today.

First, I was able to do all 350 situp reps today during the AB routine. Yeah! For those keeping score, that's twice now for me. Unfortunately, that also means that I have set a new pace, and must now challenge myself to always make it thru the grueling 350 reps. I guess the pro's outweigh the con's.

Secondly, and I think this is a HUGE one: I did 80 pullups tonight. Folks, I'm NOT lying here. I did 80 freakin' pullups tonight.

Let me explain. The arms and legs routine has 8 sets of pullups in various conditions. The first week I did 6 pullups per routine, but was only able to make it thru 5 out of the 8 routines (the pullups are interlaced between various leg and cardio routines. So it goes leg reps, then cardio reps, the pullups. Then repeat. 8 times total). Last week I was able to get thru 7 out of the 8 sets, with 2 of the sets I used a small stool to assist me with the pullups.

So I checked my tracker sheet, and last week I did 8 pullups for my first set. When I jumped up there today, I was pretty impressed with how easily 10 reps came for me on the first set. Then the next set, 10 more. And the 3rd set, 10 more. I started thinking...you know, I might be able to do 10 reps for each set.

As I hit the 7th set, I started to wane. But I pushed (or pulled) through it. And finally, for the 8th set, I knew I had to finish strong. When I completed the 10th pullup (aka 80th), I was SOOOOOO stoked! It was such a HUGE milestone for me.

It really shows how mixing up the muscle workouts, aka muscle confusion, can strengthen each muscle group overall. I only do pullups once a week -- but to see that kind of improvement, it is a testimony to the other workouts and routines (like the pushups during yoga) and how my muscles are growing stronger week to week.

I'm kinda bummed. The weight pumping routines (Tuesday and Thursday) will be skipped next week. Oh well, at least I'll have fun with Yoga and Kenpo.

I'm still stuck between 186-189lbs. But my shorts are fitting much, much looser. In fact, I need to start wearing a belt more often. That's a GREAT sign!

Tomorrow is Friday. Woo-hoo! My day off, and my day to spend with Kim. Great things planned! Have fun at work (if you're into that kind of thing!)

Day 16

It's been 16 days since I began my journey. Overall, I feel that I've been 90% successful with this program. I've never missed a day of exercise, and I am finding myself with more strength, more stamina, more endurance, and more focus.

My diet has been okay. I am not following the P90X nutrition system, but have committed to reducing my portions, eliminating my sugar intake and overall snacking. I'm eating fruit for breakfast (I never usually eat breakfast), I'm eating light lunches (salad or Subway 6" sandwich), and I'm trying to limit my dinner meal plus evening snacks. Truth tho, it's tough. I find myself hungrier and hungrier throughout the day. Limiting my snacking is tough. I started at a solid 190lbs, and this a.m. that's where I was. Still. But yesterday I was at 185lbs. THAT was a GOOD day! I guess I didn't do too well with my diet and snacking last night :-( Today I will do better, and I expect to be around the 186lb mark this evening.

Yesterday was a break-through for me. When doing the AB routine, it was the first time I was able to do all 350 reps along with the video. It was very tough, and I nearly stumbled at a few portions. But I did it. I made it through -- WOO HOO!

I've also adjusted my sleeping. I read that if you get 8hrs of sleep a night (as opposed to my usual 6hrs.), that you can burn more calories. It feels better for me. I'm not as tired as I used to be. i.e., I haven't had to take my lunchtime naps since starting this program. That's pretty impressive.

I can feel the change mostly in my shoulders and arms. My tris feel stronger than ever. I'm able to do quite a bit more pushups and pullups than before all this began. And I'm starting to feel the change in my belly. It doesn't feel as "swollen" as when I began. I mentioned before that I have measured 1/8" loss of fat around my mid-section, so that makes me feel better.

Overall, I'm happy with the results after just a few weeks of work. I'm glad that my family is allowing me the 1-hr+ time necessary to do this. And it's been fun to do the 15-min. AB routine with Kathy and the kids.

If I can keep up this pace, and really trim back my late night snacking, I think I'll be in great shape by the end of it all.

Day 14 - Kenpo

Today is Sunday. Normally, this is my "day of rest" for the P90X routine. But yesterday was CRAZY BUSY HECTIC, so I did not have a chance to get in my kenpo routine. Expecting this, I budgeted an hour for Sunday morning to get my workout in.

wow! I do love this kenpo workout.

First things first, my diet has been okay. As I have explained before, I'm not giving up my normal food, just working to reduce the portions. Except for pop. I've given this up cold turkey, two weeks and counting. But this weekend we were out and about, and I may have enjoyed a bit too much of the good food. Friday it was wings and beer. Saturday it was Chipotle. Last night (dinner) it was Sweet Tomatoes, which is an acceptable choice, but since it's an all-you-can-eat buffet, I totally ate TOO MUCH salad and soup. Uggg.

So I start the week off at: 187lbs. :-( I seem to be stuck here at this number. Sure, I know I'm putting on muscle (I can FEEL it), but still, I'd like to trim off a few dress sizes and get my weight down to a steady low 180's number. Perhaps this week??

Today was fun. Jade decided to workout with me. Keep in mind that she is a super-soccer stud and can run laps around her opponents. So it was nice to see her winded and have to take extra breaks while I pushed thru the routine. But I was proud of her....she really worked it hard, sweating a ton and drinking 2 glasses of water.

I do like this kenpo routine. I'm starting to develop an infinity for a few of my favorite routines. Just not sure which ones they are quite yet. But I definitely like this P90X workout system. Two weeks down, and I feel quite accomplished.

I have one more week on this system, then week 4 is a bunch of yoga and stretching routines. Keep on rockin' and rockin!

Have a great week!
a.Z.

Day 10 - Legs, Back, and Abs

First things first -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABE!

My young bride turned 27 today. Yea! (She was 12 when we got married). A big SHOUT OUT to her, and I hope that her day is perfect.

So, I haven't done my exercise yet. Truth is, I'm sitting here with my black coffee catching up on my blog statistics. Today is the Legs and Back and Abs routine. Quite possibly my LEAST FAVORITE out of the six. It's the pullups that do me in. I'm excited to use my newly installed pullup bar, tho.

Usually this would be my Friday routine, but today we're going up to Breck to celebrate Kat's bday. So I switched routines, thinking that the Yoga workout would be easier to do in the condo.

I'm not sure that I'll be able to post an update for you regarding my workout, because of the time constraint. As soon as the kids get home, we're piling into the Durango to head for Summit County. But let's just assume that there was a lot of huffing and puffing, sweating and swearing (not really!) And that I lost 2lbs of water, but recovered with 3lbs of food. My diet was fine, nothing major. We are grilling sliders tonight, which I think is better than burgers, or brats, or steaks, because they are smaller and take longer to eat, so thus I will eat less. Make sense? I'm still hovering at a steady 186lbs. I haven't seen 184lbs since last week, and sometime I still tip the scale at 190lbs. But if I were at the DMV today and they asked my weight, I would answer with confidence: 186lbs.

Okay, onto the real meat of today's blog: my audience. I'm averaging 18 visits a day. Yea! That's about 17 more than I expected. So if you are peeking into my life and enjoying the read, then I thank you, because I appreciate the audience.

But what I can't understand is this: who are you??

According to the blog stats, I have had visitors -- THIS WEEK -- from: Singapore (6 hits), Nigeria (2 hits), Canada (2 hits, Ken and Sus??), Slovenia (2), Ukraine (2), Columbia (1), and Denmark (1). This I find both fascinating and STRANGE!!

Who is viewing this post from Singapore?? And Nigeria?? And Slovenia, or Ukraine, or Columbia, or Denmark??

I think I'm kind of a boring guy. So I find it immensely intriguing that I would have an audience from various parts of the world. Now, I get it -- these viewers may be random persons that have stumbled across my blogspot. But I've got to think that some of these folk know me, and I'm just not aware of which country they are viewing the pages from.

So do me a favor. If you are viewing my blogspot from OUTSIDE of the US, and you know me personally, let me know who you are and where you're viewing from by leaving a quick message at the end of this post. For example, "Hey Aaron, love your post. Good luck with the P90X stuff. Ken, from c-A n-A d-A" (that's my favorite Canada joke, if you haven't heard it before).

Or if you are the executor of the will for my long lost Uncle from Nigeria, then rest assured, the check is in the mail and I can't wait to inherit my fortune -- yee-hah!

:-)
a.Z.

p.s. I had meant to publish this picture yesterday. This is a perfect example of what I am trying to AVOID. I can't believe that some people would actually choose this for their life??




















I mean really......a poodle??

Day 9 - Arms, Shoulders, and ABs

Wow, I'm very much amazed that I've made it to week #2. Actually, this week is so crazy and hectic (can you hear a re-occurring theme yet?), that I've had to switch the routines up.

We're going up to Breckenridge on Thursday to celebrate my bride's 28th b-day. We'll be there through Friday night, which is totally going to screw up my workouts. BUT, I have a plan. If I do the intense pullup routine (legs, back, abs) on Thursday instead of Friday, then I can take our mini laptop up to the mountains and do the Yoga routine while the kids frolic in the pool on Friday. THEN, I think I'll use my "day of rest" for Saturday, since it's a terrible, terrible hectic day, and do my Kenpo on Sunday, which is much less crazy hectic. Phew! I get exhausted just typing about it all! Jeesh.

So I was concerned yesterday about when I was going to be able to get my workout in. I decided to sneak home for the lunch period and work on the first part (1-hr.) Normally, my Tuesday workout would be the cardio (according to the lean program), but because of the crazy switch up on Thurs/Fri/Sat, I decided to get the iron-pumping upper body routine in today, and save the cardio for tomorrow (wed.). Is this all making sense? Sorry, I'm just kinda typing what comes to thought. Like mumbling my thoughts!

So nothing special to report. I did great with my reps. I use my 10lb. weights for everything. Sometimes I think I'm under doing it, especially when the guys on the movie are using 25lbs, and the girls are using the 10lbs. But I just remind myself that I DO NOT WANT TO BULK UP! I'm not going for beefcake here. Rather, I want good, hardened lean muscles. So I go for reps. In fact, when they do 12-16 reps, I'm pushing out 24+. So that makes me feel worthwhile.

Once I had finished my iron-pumping routine, I realized that I could squeeze in my ab workout, but I'd be a few minutes late getting back from lunch. No biggy. So I started. Well, after I got to the crunchy frogs (3rd routine), I realized I didn't quite have it in me to finish the intense ab workout. So I decided to wait.

Which worked out very well for me.

We love to watch the biggest loser as a family. My primary complaint, however, is their need to take a 1-hr. show and draw it out into a 2-hr. episode. It gets so old watching the same clip, over and over, before the commercial, and after the commercial. It's a joke! And the weigh ins are terrible. 40 minutes to narrow down who lost the least amount. Since we no longer have Tevo, it's quite unbearable. But still, we love the show.

Well, last night I pitched an idea to the family. "Would you like to do the AB routine with me during the weigh-ins?" Everyone was on board, except for Kim, who desperately wanted to go to bed :-) So Jade, and Kaleb, and Kathy and I all did the 15-minute ab routine while NBC bored the audience with the same 'ol recipe for weigh-ins. By the time we were done, they were down to the final 2 weigh-ins, which is all that really matters.

I was proud of my family. They did GREAT! Jade is a super athlete, and the AB routine kicked her butt! Kaleb, who is nothing but skin and bones, breezed through the routines with ease. Kathy, who tends to complain about the extra five pounds she has been hiding on her waist for the past half-dozen years, FLEW through the routine. She could have been, dare I say, an INSTRUCTOR! I was very, very impressed with the strength and endurance she displayed throughout this intense 15-min. routine.

It was fun. I'm glad everyone joined me. It made us feel united, and I think we'll continue this Tuesday night tradition.

This a.m. I weighed in at a solid 186.5lbs. I'm okay with this for now.

My tummy is RUMBLING!! It's hungry, but it's a false hunger. I'm still working on reducing the size of the stomach so that my hunger pains can be reduced. Lots of water, and carrot sticks, and almonds for snacks.

Today's meals have looked like such:
Breakfast: coffee (black, always!), and a banana
Mid-morning snack: 8 yogurt covered pretzels and 6 ginger snap cookies (yum! yum!)
Lunch: Subway (I walk there, about 1/2 mile ea. way). spicy Italian with Swiss cheese, lots of veggies, oil and a lot of vinegar. And half of a powerade for a drink.
Afternoon snack: handful of cinn. bears and an apple.

So what do I miss the most? Well, I really miss beer. Not that I've given it up, but I just don't think that it fits into my diet plan right now. It's more for the Sunday "day of rest" timeslot. Also, I miss portions. I miss being able to eat whatever I want, whenever I want. When I did this, I weighed 190lbs. But I had too much fat. I'm not seeing the trade off yet. I feel like I'm hungry WAY MORE, and I've only lost 3lbs. That's hard to deal with. But I'd like to believe that I'm replacing the fat with muscle. Oh, and sugar. I really miss sugar. I miss eating peanut butter cups, and sweet tarts, and a 5lb. bag of cinn. bears, and Diet Dr. Pepper, and Slushies! Not that I can't enjoy these (I had one peanut butter cup last night), but the trade off isn't worth it for me right now.

Keep on rockin'! Right?