Day 45: am: cardio x; pm: back+biceps, ab ripper

Good day! did cardio x first thing in the morning. felt good. saw the orthopedic surgeon who didn't say a whole lot about my ankle... ate well, and was all set to do back and biceps after work around 9, but had to wait for my girlfriend to get home. we finally started around 10:30 and powered through, i upped the weight and had a good tough workout. strained my neck a little yet again! how am i doing this??? also, i noticed for the first time that i'm slightly cheating on some of the ab ripper exercises by resting my feet on the floor between reps (on obliques, and hip raises). fighting to get better....

Day 44: am: plyo; pm: chest/sh/tri, ab ripper

Did plyo x this morning after getting up super late. Tried to push it, but my heart rate is not averaging as high as it used to. Worked late, watched a bit of tv, and finally got around to doing chest around 11pm. I was feeling pretty bad, sick to my stomach and a headache, but i took some advil and tums and sucked it up. This workout felt particularly hard tonight. By the end, through ab ripper and afterward, my arms were shaking (still shaking a bit now). Ab ripper was also really tough, i really felt it in my hip flexors; barely made it through some of the moves tonight. Crunchy frog is the only one i can't do the full 25 reps for now (although i still have to cheat a bit by leaning or bending on a few moves). Phew. Hopefully this week will get easier.

Day 43: delayed flight...

was supposed to get back into town at 9pm tonight and do the workout, but thanks to bad weather my flight was delayed and i didn't get home until after midnight. just didn't have the energy to do the workout so i made up for it today (day 44)

Day 42: rest

rest day-- on vacation for the weekend. not a great day for food... knocked some hush puppies back with a couple of beers.

Day 41: kenpo x

Woke up late this morning but had to start kenpo, as i'm leaving for a weekend trip tonight. Kenpo was good as usual, although i felt like i had less energy this time. Week 6 is done!

Day 40: legs & back, ab ripper

Woke up late today and didn't get a chance to do cardio x this morning-- disappointing! i was late for physical therapy so i ran over there. Got a good 15min on the bike as well as a tough leg workout at PT this morning, as well as some stim and ice. Had a clif builder bar for breakfast-- pretty tasty and more protein than regular clif bars. Nice salad with some grilled shrimp and chicken, and fruit for lunch; clif bar, nuts, and tea for a snack. Had dinner at work: seafood soup and more fruit for dinner. Watched the red sox get hammered by the yankees, and then we finally started the workout around 11pm. I don't like working out so late at night, but that's the price you pay for getting up late and working late. Felt sluggish during the workout and i snuck a little recovery drink in my water half way through. During ab ripper I actually threw up a little bit too. Yum. Pullups are slowly getting better!

Day 39: yoga x

Went to the hip surgeon today and got the "all clear." He said there was a slight tear in the labrum but that he didn't think it warranted surgery given that it doesn't usually bother me. Afterward went to footy practice. Did a little bit of running, which was good, but turned my ankle a bit and had to stop. Came home, watched the red sox lose, ate my salad, and really felt like going to bed. Somehow we managed to hit play around 11pm. Yoga felt tougher than usual for me today-- perhaps because i usually do it before footy practice? Warrior one felt very hard on one side, and my legs didn't feel as strong as usual. It always seems to last forever. 1am now and off to bed...

Day 38: cardio x, back + bicep, ab ripper

Woke up and did cardio x this morning. Great way to kick off the day-- it's a fun 45min workout. Ran over to PT and worked out again there. At PT i usually do squats, balance lunges, "skaters", calf raises, toe raises, one leg presses, and stretching, and then get a 15-20 min session with the therapist who does massage and tries to work on range of motion. Worked a full day, and stopped by GNC on the way home from work. Picked up a multi-vitamin and some Endurox R4. I'm going to try the R4 as a cheaper alternative to the p90x recovery drink. It has L-glutamine, which i like, but no creatine; it also has more calories and sugar than the p90x recovery drink or Accelerade, which i was also considering. It tastes good-- as good as the p90x drink i think-- less creamy and a bit more tangy. Started back&biceps around 11pm (ouch). Got through it, but it was awkward because my black band had only one handle, as i broke the other handle last week. Luckily a new band is coming next week. Ab ripper was good again but i was dead afterward.

Day 37: plyo

My favorite, plyo x. Too lazy to get up early enough so had to do it this evening after work. I upped the ante this week and did the second round of knee-tucks at full speed with along with "Dom" in the video. Ouch. Ankle was a tad sore but not bad. Good day for food, had the "usual": protein shake for breakfast; salad with chicken for lunch; clif bar and nuts; recovery drink after workout; chicken and veggies for dinner.

Day 36: cardio; chest/shoulders/tri; ab ripper

Started off this sunday morning with cardio x. First time doing this one, it was great! it's the shortest workout, only about 45min, and flies by. I liked the variety-- yoga, kenpo, core, plyo all in one. Nice. A bit of excitement when I jumped up and knocked off our ceiling light fixture in the living room during the basketball jump. Oops. I think some wires got ripped out because now the light switch doesn't work. I started looking at it but don't know much at all about wiring...

Went out to sunday brunch with some friends, had a very healthy omelet and fruit. Bummed around, did some shopping, and then we did chest/shoulders/tri around 9pm. Man, what a hard workout. My arms were seriously shaking after this one was over. I even threw up in my mouth a bit at the end. Did much better on one-armed pushups but didn't get as much weight on some of the shoulder routines. Did ab ripper right away afterward, as usual-- i did the full set of scissors for the first time, yeah! Top leg isn't straight and doesn't go very far but i managed to do it. Bring it!

tweaked my neck a bit again at some point tonight... so painful. i'll try to get them to work on it at physical therapy this week.

Day 35: rest

Rest day. Ok day for food actually-- went out with the boys and only had one beer. So sore!! it feels like week 1 just finished. bring on week 6...

Day 34: kenpo x

Got home from work and jumped into kenpo x tonight around 9pm. Love it! Really kicked up the intensity and got my heart rate going. Is the marine in the video missing a tooth?! Good day for food too. Week 5 done!

Day 33: legs & back, ab ripper

Legs and back today, another favorite of mine. Didn't get going until 11pm again-- need to snap out of this bad habit! A cousin of mine was in town so we went out to dinner with her, first time eating out in a while-- what a change from when we used to eat out almost daily. Had some fish and clay pot rice/chicken at a southeastern asian place, which was pretty good. So we pushed play at 11, both not really that into it, but had a pretty good workout. Still need to get stronger at pullups! Legs are starting to feel pretty good though-- i actually had a double-leg workout today as i had pt for my ankle this morning, where i usually do calf raises, squats, lunges, presses, etc.

In other news, i got a letter today with the mri report... my left hip labrum is torn... nice.

Day 32: yoga x

Went to footy practice this evening but it was cut short due to a huge thunderstorm. Got home soaked from the rain. I wanted to jump right into yoga but ended up waiting 3 hours or so for Mary to be ready-- we started around 10:45 and didn't finish until after midnight... was not too happy but made it through. My upward and downward dogs are getting better. Not bad for food today.

Day 31: back and biceps, ab ripper

Another new workout today, back and biceps. This was a tough one. I'm still disappointed with how few pullups i can do-- i think i need to use a chair to get in more reps. Also, the bands are still a bit awkward and hard to get the tension right. I broke one of the bands today! the handle popped off when i was doing curls. hopefully they will replace it. i tried hard but was a little disappointed with the overall effort. Ab ripper was good-- i did all reps of the first three moves for the first time today. Good day for food too. Also did PT today, got in some good cardio on the bike and a good leg workout too.

Day 30: plyo x

Woke up and did plyo x first thing in the morning today. Love plyo-- my favorite workout. Heart rate averaged in the 150s and maxed out at 185 for the workout, i think the highest of all the times i've done it. Totally drenched in sweat afterwards but felt great. Good day for food, salad with fish for both lunch and dinner, clif bar and nuts for a snack.

Day 29: chest, shoulders, triceps & ab ripper

New workout today! Didn't get home from camping until around 7 and was exhausted from hiking all day. Had a protein shake, watched a bit of tv, and then on to the workout. This was a very tough one! Feel slightly better with pushups but still have a very long road ahead. One-armed pushups, even on my knees, are killer and i could not go down very far at all. The bands were a bit awkward still on some of the tricep exercises, and my left tricep is pretty sore. The pushups where you stand in a v and go down head-first were also extremely hard for me. I got through it all though, can't wait to get better at this over the next few weeks-- bring it. On another note, i'm glad they finally put an asian guy in one of the videos.

Day 28: rest

Rest day. Went camping this weekend! Ended up doing a 2 hr hike into the campsite. Haven't been camping in forever. Today there was another 2hr hike out with all the gear. Good stuff.

Day 27: yoga x

Wasn't feeling it today either... woke up super late and worked late, got home and begrudgingly got going. Made it through, i can feel my flexibility getting ever so slightly better, although i still have a loooooooong way to go, and i still suck at most of this stuff. The half-moon, twisting half-moon sequences are killer, i can't come close to doing all of those. I still find the ab sequence very tough as well. Ankle and hip felt ok. Not bad for food today. Done with month 1, yeah!

Day 26: core synergistics

Woke up late today and ran into physical therapy at 9:30. Ankle was pretty sore from practice yesterday but felt ok for the most part after icing at at the end of pt. Hip joint feels mostly ok but my left hip flexor is pretty sore too. Late day at work, didn't get home until around 9pm. Really wasn't feeling it today-- had a horrible headache and was vegging after dinner. Managed to finally hit play around 11:30pm still with a bad headache and not much energy. Somehow got through core tonight although my effort was lacking at times. Food was ok but ate a bit too much for dinner. I think i might need to start adding some carbs back to my diet.

Day 25: stretch

Today was stretch day. I didn't do the stretch dvd but instead went to footy practice. It was a tough practice, lots of sprints at the end that I did for the first time this year. Probably wasn't the best idea, my ankle was very sore during and after practice. Hip felt ok though. My foot was also sore, i think from doing kenpo barefoot yesterday. Another solid day for eating too.

Day 24: kenpo x

Kenpo again this morning. Woke up fairly early to do it. Good workout again. Noticed i was getting a little distracted at times but the heart rate monitor kept reminding me to "bring it." Afterwards went straight up to HSS for the MRI on my hip. Got to listen to james taylor and take a bit of a nap while in the machine. Ate pretty well today.

Day 23: core synergistics

Exciting day as we did a new workout, core synergistics.  Got up and did it first thing in the morning again-- it's my new favorite time to workout as i can "get it over with" and not be thinking about my workout for the rest of the day.  It also motivates me to get up.  Anyway, core synergistics: great routine!   I loved the mix of everything.  Unfortunately my living room is not nearly big enough for two people to do the "rolling" exercises (banana+superman roll on the floor) but we did our best, rolling and knocking into the couch, fireplace, and each other (a 10x12 room with furniture is not recommended for this!)   As it was the first time it took me a while to get the right form for some of the sets and I felt I wasn't able to perform my best-- a bit disappointing but i'm excited to do this one again later this week.  I really liked a lot of the moves: the burpee-style pushups, sit-up/get-up, plank run were all really good-- similar to things i've done before, but hard!    Good day for food after a huge lapse this weekend when I drank a LOT on friday and saturday night.  I get an A for food today.   Bedtime now!

Day 22: yoga x

Week 3 starts!  yoga x today felt a little bit better than last time, but my lack of flexibility still makes me sad.  if i can get to 0 on sit-and-reach by the end of this i'll be pretty amazed.  went to a beer garden in the afternoon and actually didn't drink any beer, amazingly.

Day 21: rest

yesterday was rest day.  didn't do anything but drink a lot on friday night and saturday night.  yeah.

Day 20: kenpo x

Did kenpo x this morning. I like doing the cardio workouts in the morning-- helps to wake me up. Really tried to raise the intensity this morning. Week 3 is done! On to "recovery week." Had some sushi for lunch... yum.

Day 19: legs & back, ab ripper

Got up early to do legs & back before going to physical therapy today. I think i was half asleep through most of it and did not have as much energy as usual. Today I started doing pullups without using my feet between each rep-- tough! After i maxed out on each set i rested and did some more using feet. Still can't do very many pullups but slowly improving. Somehow i managed to pull a neck muscle during the workout this morning, it was so painful throughout the whole day. Hopefully it loosens up soon. Good day for food again, go me.

Day 18: yoga x

Yoga X today. Man, i am still terrible at yoga-- i hope it gets easier because this is not my thing. "Warrior 3" is especially hard for me and my legs kept losing circulation and falling asleep during that segment. Still very sore today. Interesting that i've been more sore this week than ever. After yoga i went straight to football practice in long island city, which was pretty good today. Ankles are both still very dodgy but my hip is feeling ok for the most part. Good day with food too-- protein shake in the morning, chef salad for lunch, clif bar, recovery drink, dinner was chicken and veggies.

Day 17: arms and shoulders, ab ripper

Really sore today all over! I actually got up at a decent hour and made it to physical therapy by 9. Ankle is still hurting but maybe a bit better, hard to say. Soreness in my hip from the injection is pretty much gone now. Did the workout around 7pm. It's not the most exhausting workout by any means but it is really tough. Getting a little bit better with the bands but still struggling with form sometimes. I can really feel it in my left shoulder-- i had it operated on 18 months ago and it doesn't feel the same as the right one. Had a healthy day with food too. Here comes yoga tomorrow...

Day 16: plyo

Plyo again today. Did it first thing in the morning after getting up-- i think that's the best time for it. Very tough again but i can get through all of it. Really trying to push it more now, getting a lot of height on jumps. Good day eating today-- recovery drink, protein shake for breakfast; salad for lunch; clif bar and a few almonds for a snack; grilled chicken and zucchini for dinner!

Day 15: chest and back, ab ripper

Yesterday was day 15, start of week 3. I used my new pushup stands for the first time. Pushups with the stands are definitely harder. I tried to have good form and full range of motion and wasn't able to do nearly as many as last week-- a little frustrating. I can feel myself slowly getting better at pullups and ab ripper though. Didn't have as much energy today though.

Day 14: rest

Just rested today, no stretch.

Day 13: kenpo x

We woke up at 7:30am to do kenpo x this morning (that's super early for me). It was a drag getting out of bed but I felt great and awake afterward. My hip is still sore from the injection so I didn't kick very high, but did the whole thing otherwise. Fun workout-- one of my favs. Great way to start the day. After that it was straight to physical therapy for my ankle and then into work. Week 2 is done!

Day 12: legs & back, ab ripper

Legs and back day! My hip is still really sore today from the injection yesterday. Actually, my right hip is pretty sore as well-- i think it was from going really high when swinging legs over a barstool on plyo x this week. I did legs exercises best I could, avoiding going too far in lunges to keep my hip from moving past the comfort zone. Definitely can feel myself getting better at pullups and abs. Ab ripper still destroys me but i am making progress! Did all 50 mason twists for the first time today. Pretty good day food-wise-- clif bar for breakfast; chef salad for lunch (with a little bite of fatty bbq pork-- couldn't resist); another clif bar for a snack; chicken, zucchini, and a half-cup of wild rice for dinner; half a recovery drink after legs & back (which we finished up at 11:30pm!).

Day 11: yoga x (not really)

I was in for a surprise today (well, yesterday now). I went to a hip orthopedist to get my left hip checked out, which i injured at the same time as my left ankle last year. I was expecting him just to order an MRI and tell me to come back. He did order an MRI, but he also injected my hip with a bunch of stuff-- i think an anti-inflammatory and some sort of steroid. He wants to see how much pain relief the injection gives over the next month, but i'm supposed to rest for the next couple days and not move my hip very far-- no yoga. I did about 20 minutes of it but then stopped. It's pretty sore after the injection. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to do yoga because it's my worst one. Hopefully I can do legs tomorrow. I ate too much for dinner, ugh.

Day 10: arms and shoulders, ab ripper

Had a protein shake in the morning, chef salad for lunch, clif bar for a snack, and came home from work around 6pm to work out. Arms and shoulders is tough but I find it probably the least intense of the week-- i don't feel nearly as wiped or sweaty after this one. The bands are still awkward for me but we have 6 bands now, and it helped having some different levels of resistance. I find the flies especially hard and my shoulders were burning. Left tricep and neck are still pretty sore too. Ab ripper always destroys me but i am slowly getting a few more reps in on the harder moves. We had turkey burgers for dinner that were pretty disgusting, think i'll stick to grilled chicken and veggies from now on. I don't mind not having much variety. Not looking forward to yoga tomorrow. Good night!

Day 9: plyo x

Plyo x again! My p90x recovery drink came in the mail today and i also grabbed an on-sale timex heart rate monitor this weekend so i was excited to try them both out. Plyo was really good again. Left ankle and knee were a bit sore still, so i skipped the "hot foot" on the left side, but did everything else. I love the feeling of being drenched in sweat head to toe at the end. I'm not sure what my heart rate is supposed to be but it was in the 160s and 170s for most of the workout. Wearing the chest strap didn't bother me at all, and I was definitely more conscious of how hard I was working with the monitor on. I had the p90x recovery drink afterwards, it was tasty. Love plyo x. Back to eating well again today after I slipped up a bit over the weekend in that department; had a protein bar for breakfast and a chef salad for lunch. Looking forward to a nice dinner of grilled chicken and sauteed zucchini and peppers again tonight (i've had this three times or so in the last week, love it-- mary sautes the veggies with some garlic).

Day 8: chest and back, ab ripper x

Week 1 is done! that feels good. yesterday was day 8, chest and back again. i still put my feet down between each pullup; it's a bit hard not too as the pullup bar sits kind of low in the door, but i'm not yet strong enough to do lots of pullups with knees folded, if that makes sense. the second round was really tough! i think this is the hardest workout of the week for me. ab ripper still destroys me, although i can do a few more reps of some of the moves than i could last week. i'm absolutely terrible at scissors; i need to hold my upper leg on each move. pretty dead at the end of today.

Day 7: stretch

Today was rest or stretch X. i did the stretch program which felt pretty good. i am so tight, flexibility is my weakest point. it's pretty pathetic. last night was downhill with dinner as we were at my cousin's house; i had some chicken pot pie and half a cupcake among other things... oops. happy fourth.

Day 6: kenpo x

Yesterday was kenpo x. We did it first thing in the morning as we were off to connecticut for the july 4 weekend. Kenpo was fun and went by really quickly. i thought it was definitely the easiest workout of the week. my legs and glutes are super sore now... i'm really starting to feel it.

Day 5: legs & back, ab ripper x

Feeling pretty sore today, especially in my neck, legs, and hips. Had some scrambled egg whites for breakfast; cheated and had two yellowtail handrolls for lunch in addition to a little salad and chicken. I looooooove sushi. Clif bar for a snack and was home right at 5:30pm to work out.

Legs & back: loved this workout. I've been doing squats and lunges pretty consistently for about the last month and it really helped me during this. Even so my quads were really shaking at the end of some exercises. I went sans-chair for pullups and I can definitely feel myself getting a little better already, I surprised myself a bit. Still need to put my feet on the ground between pullups but I am getting better. Great workout but I still suck at ab ripper. Damn you crunchy frog and scissors.

Afterwards I went straight away to physical therapy for my ankle. Getting up the stairs was a challenge in itself, and then I had to do one-leg squats at pt! Good day though, feeling a bit sore, a bit tired, but good. Nice grilled chicken and veggies for dinner again.

Day 4: yoga x

On day 4 now. had my protein shake this morning which was huge and quite good. Salad for lunch again and a luna bar for a snack (i know they are for girls, but hey, they are free at work) and I was home around 4 for yoga x. Holy smokes, i am TERRIBLE at yoga. I am so inflexible. I can't even bend 90 degrees at the waist. It felt pretty good but it was definitely tough, and I was struggling through a lot of the moves-- pretty frustrating. I doubled up and went to footy (australian rules football) practice straight after. I'm starting to get pretty sore in the legs and hips tonight. Ankle is still hurting as well.

Day 3: arms and shoulders, ab ripper x

Ankle is still a bit sore from yesterday. Had my 7-egg white scramble this morning and a chef salad for lunch, and came home around 4pm to work out. The workout was tough. The resistance bands were a bit awkward, they were slipping and rubbing a bit but seemed to work ok. We only have two colors of bands right now but we ordered a 6-pack of bands that should be here soon. I still really suck at ab ripper; I can do all 25 reps of a few moves but only about 10 reps or so of some others. I was a bit skeptical of the p90x recovery drink but decided to order the stuff today; I drank some chocolate milk as my recovery drink instead today, which I've heard works pretty well. Excited again for tomorrow.

Day 2: plyometrics

Plyometrics was awesome. I was a bit worried because my ankle is still bad from surgery in December; i'm supposed to be resting it and not running for a while as there is still pain in the ankle and achilles. My ankle seemed to hold up ok, although it was throbbing a bit afterwards. I think the one-leg jumping was probably too much. To my surprise I was able to keep up with just about the whole thing. Was soaked in sweat by the end of it but I felt great. My girlfriend Mary is doing p90x with me, and two of us doing plyo in a 10x12 living room was really tight, but we managed to make it work (bumping into each other a bit).

Day 1: chest and back, ab ripper x

I did day 1 of p90x last night. Was very excited to finally get started. Going out until 7am the night before probably wasn't the best idea but whatever. I'm not great at pushups or pullups right now-- I could get around 10-15 reps of clean pushups but needed to use a chair to help with pullups. I suck at diamond pushups. Ab ripper x also kicked my butt and i could only do all the reps on a few of the moves. I was dying at the end of it. Can't wait for day 2 today.