P90X Day 4

Today was P90X day 4--Yoga

I never done yoga before, I remember my friend Dan telling me when he did this it was the most he ever sweated and that it is tough.  That was always in the back of my mind.

Boy, was he right.  This was tough, even though you are doing yoga, it uses muscules that you haven't used in a long time.  It was enjoyable but hard, I was unable to complete the whole disc, but I know in time I will be able to. 

A lot of these exercises are a lot harder than you think, however if you keep at it and work hard, eventually I will be able to get through the whole exercise.  I did good though and is pleased, I look forward that in a week I will be doing it again. 

Tomorrow I will be doing legs and back.  In the morning I am going for a three mile run and then playing some basketball at the Mundelein Rec Center.  So when I get home in the late afternoon/evening I will be doing the legs and back.

So far P90X has been great and tough.  I look forward to each day to the new exercises and getting stronger.

P90X Day 3

Today was day three of P90X and it consists of shoulder and arms. 

Most of the exercises you just use a dumbell.  I used a 15 pound dumbbell.  This was a decent weight, however for some of the exercises I wished I had a little heavier, I would have been able to do more weight.  However, for a lot of the exercises the 15 pound worked great.

The exercises were broken up into five different groups.  Each group had three different exercises, that you did twice.  So a total of 6.  With all the groups together there was a total of 30.  I felt good doing the exercises, I could feel the burn.  As well, some of the exercises were tough and I pushed my way through them.

After all of this I did the Ab ripper X.  I only was able to get through half of this.  I could feel it in my stomach as well as in other parts of my body.

Overall, I liked this work out today.  Tomorrow I do yoga, and I hear it it tough.

P90X Day 2 -- plyometrics

Today was day 2 of P90X.  When I woke up in the morning, I was sore.  I could feel my arms feeling sore, it probably was because I was using muscles I haven't used for a while.  Feeling sore to me is great, it knows that the work that I am putting in is working and will get me results.

For day two of P90X is plyometrics.  Plyometrics are drills designed to connect strength with speed to produce power. Also known as "jump training," this technique emerged in Eastern Europe in the early 1970s. Coined by American track coach Fred Wilt, the term derives from the Latin plyo + metrics, or "measurable increases." Plyometric training relates to any activity that requires speed and strength, as it improves your ability to run faster, jump higher, and maneuver in multi directional sports. If your game involves a court, field, track, mat, pool, ring, rink, or mountain, Plyometrics can help

I truly feel that this training will help with my legs, jumping, and speed.  It is a tough workout and a lot to get through.

So I started the workout.  Most of the work outs are 30 seconds, but usually the fourth work out is 60 seconds.  You do the four work-outs, do them again and get a break.  After that, you usually add something to each work out to make it tougher and work you out more.  It is very tiring and exhausting. 

I loved this work out.  However, it was very hard.  I know over time and going through the process I will get better and be able to do them faster and do them more.  Towards the end of the work out, I was tired and was not able to maximize my work out.  It was getting really hard, I was exhausted.

Shortly after the work out, I had my protein shake and sat on the couch.  I was sleeping with in 10 minutes.  It was a great work out that made me exhausted.  I know that it will get better in time, and I know this work out is for real and will help me get stronger and faster.

I look forward to day 3, I will be doing shoulder and arms!

P90X Day 1

I have a few Friends who have done P90X and I have talked with others about it.  There are countless testimonials of it online.  It is an at home workout and also it guides you with proper nutrition.  Both parts will need to be completed to be able to get the best results. 

The first part the work out I did today.  There are a total of 12 discs and you rotate the discs, there is a guide that will let you know what discs to use on what days.  It switches up during the 90 days, because it wants to confuse your muscles and build more muscle. 

Today I did disc 1, this disc is chest and back.  These exercises mainly consist of different types of push-ups, pull-ups and a couple of dumbbell exercises.  There is a total of 12 exercises and your are supposed to do them twice.  You follow the people on the disc as they do the same exercises. 

I knew it was going to be tough, and boy was I right.  I actually did the 12 exercises one, not twice.  This was because most of these exercises I have not done in a long time, and my muscles were exhausted.  I know, continuing with P90X, everyday I am going to get stronger and I will be able to do it twice.  The work out felt great, my muscles got a good work out and I can definitely feel the burn.  I am disappointed that I didn't do the first round twice, but I know in time I will.  I also know, that by documenting my reps in each exercise, I will see my reps improve. 

As well with the work out, another very important component of P90X is nutrition.  You need to eat the right foods and keep hydrated.  This part will be hard as well.  I like all different types of foods, even if they may not be the best for me.  I need to be disaplined, I know there will be times where I will eat some foods that I should not.  However, I will keep those as special treats and work out extra leading up to eating the food. 

You are supposed to eat frequently throughout the day and a lot of food with protien in it.  Day 1 was good, I ate healthy food through out the day and I never really was hungry and I was satisfied.

I am going to stick with P90X for the 90 days and I know by the end of it I will see results.  I expect to lose some weight as well as gain muscle. 

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It is almost the new year, and with the new year are always resolutions.  One of the most common is to exercise more, eat better, etc.  Mine is just like it, however since I currently exercise, mainly run, it isn't really a resolution, except I am going to try some newer things. 

I am going to start P90X on December 30th.  I am going to continue my running on my own, but hopefully start more muscle building and eating a little bit better.  I am not going to lie to myself and say I am only going to eat healthy.  However, I am going to do my best to eat healthier, drink less pop, juices, etc. 

I plan on sticking to the diet, but I will induldge from time to time.  I am excited to start, I figured it would be better to start after the Holiday's just because of all of the temptations.  I have the P90X cds already, some dumbells, push-up bars, and now just have to get a pull up bar.

I plan on posting almost daily, just about the work out as well as how the nutrition is going.  This will start on the 30th and continue till April. 

Below is a quick two mile run I did at the Mundelein Rec Center today. 

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1 mile run

I've woke up early Monday morning and I knew I wasn't feeling good.  It turned out to be the flu.  I finally started feeling better on Tuesday afternoon.  Once I felt better, I decided it would be good to go for a short run at the rec center.  This will allow me to get any other bad toxins out of my system.

So I went up to the Mundelein rec center and did a quick one mile run.  You can click the link at the bottom of the page to see.  I will run at the rec center during the winter because they have a nice track that goes around.  It roughly takes 13 laps for one mile. 

The rec center is different to run at then outside.  It is a track, but it all level and at a controlled temperature.  While you run outside there are more variables when you run.  I prefer to run outside, but during the winter I will run inside. 

I have also ordered P90X and expect to get it in the mail in the next couple of days.  So I will begin to do more postings for both running and the P90X.  I am excited to get started.  I have been taking it easy of late, so it is time to start doing some more exercising.



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Ragnar Relay Tennessee 2012...Before the race

I just finished my third Ragnar Relay!  The first two I did were Madison, WI to Chicago, IL.  The one I completed this past weekend was Chattanooga TN, to Nashville TN.  I loved both courses, but both our completely different races!

So what is a Ragnar Relay.  In summary it is a relay race that consist of either 6 or 12 people per team doing 36 legs (a leg is a individual run before you hand off to the next runner).  Generally each leg is of different length and variety of difficulty.  Some may be as little as 2 miles to as long as 11 or 12 miles.  Once you finish your leg you will hand it off to your teammate and they will run the next one.  You do this for the next 24-35 hours.  The whole time you are struggling for sleep, a good meal, feeling clean, and so much more.  It is truly something you may not grasp till you actually do it.  Most teams are split up into two different vans, with 6 people in each van.  Even though you are one team working towards one goal, you feel like you are two separate teams.  The team that you are in the van with, is the team that you will be with the majority of the time and the one you get to know real well. 

Our team had a total of 12 people.  A good majority of the people are part of Cross Fit Windy City.  I knew two people going into the race, but felt like I knew them all.  There is a lot of time in the vans, to talk about each other lives and learn about each other.

I met with 5 other people in Chicago around 1:45 pm and we left on our journey to Chattanooga, Tn.   I met up with Kendra, Dole, Meagles, Peaches, and Matt to drive down.  We listen to great music, good conversation, and joke the way down.  It took about 10 hours to get there.  We stoped a few time a long the way.  We ate at Montana's Mikes, and a few gas stations.  We finally got the Fairfield in around 12:30 at night, checked in and went to bed.

At this time, I met half of my team.  I really only knew two people, however I met them all soon.  By the end of the race, it felt like we were life long friends.   

We woke up the next day, ate some breakfast and went to the start line.  Before, we left, Meagles and Tennessee presented with the shirts that had designed for us.  Look below, they are great.  You could not ask for a better shirt.

Our team name is Southern Discomfort, which does us justice.  We were in the south and the whole race we are pretty much in discomfort.

We went to the race line and took a team photo.  Which is below, it just does not include Peaches and Emily.  They had some work to get done beforehand, and met us just after this picture was taken.

 
From left to right is brock, dole, kenda, dave, brian, same, meagles, blake, me and Tenessee.  So, our start time was at 10:30 am Eastern.  Sam started us off, and got us off to a great start.  I will continue with our runs on the next post.  The Ragnar was great againa and I will get into more detail soon.



Ragnar Relay Tennessee 2012, Leg 1 by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details