Day 29 - 31 - Phase 2 and time to build

Well now that Phase 1 is complete and the cobwebs are out of the body, we're into building.  The first two days of phase 2 have been good, but we did notice the slight dip in strength on the first day back to push-ups, and what's with Tony springing his body into the air on those clapping ones?  I think we both stopped  in awe of that!

Back to Ab Ripper X as well, it is getting marginally easier but man is that thing hard.  But i guess doing 339 ab exercises in 17 minutes will always be hard.

On the relationship front, we are both really enjoying our evenings together and we are actually starting to plan what is the next program we'll do.  Insanity has come up so we'll see if we follow through and get that program going in the fall.  Needless to say, the 60-90 minutes a day together has really grown on us and is starting to fly by so I guess we're having a good time.

One final point, hats off to my spouse for her motivation last night.  I was in a pretty down mood and did not want to do the abs after the intense bicep/back work, to the point of saying to her I was not going to do it.  But by the time Tony cam back and started the first 25 ab exercises, she had me roped in and motivated.  

So thanks Sweet Pea!  I wouldn't have completed yesterday with your being there and coaxing me on to work my flabby gut!

And thanks to you for showing up!

Days 26 - 28 - It's P90X Yoga My Brother.

So our first Friday in town and we decided to take our rest day and head out for great dinner with our oldest, a really enjoyable and relaxing start to the weekend.

And while it was nice to switch up the rest day, our 5th yoga session last night was tough.  Maybe because we are pushing ourselves harder or maybe because we had too good of time Friday night.  Either way it was not the easiest of sessions, with both of us feeling the stretches, balancing and one-legged posses a lot more than I thought we would.  Question:  Does anyone else find those one-legged posses really difficult??

We are both definitely finding we are stronger, but are still waiting on the weight loss.  Can't say we have stayed on the diet per se, but we are eating healthy.  But the weight is not being shed.  We are being patient and can feel our bodies getting into great shape (quote by our oldest during Core Synergistics 'Mom, you are looking really good'  now there is motivation!).  If anyone has some tips/advice here on how to dump the gut but still eat enough to not be starving, would welcome it.


On to week 5 now and Phase 2.  Can't believe we've now done over 30 hours together, the workout is now so routine and comfortable (at least before/after, maybe not during).  It's part of our routine now and even our girls are used to Mom and Dad working out every night in the basement.

Well, let's see what Phase 2  brings and thanks for showing up.

Days 21- 25

Ok, so you can see how busy things have gotten with life and P90X, I've missed my duties in keeping up with this blog for the week.

Well, we're back and it's week 4, which for those who know is a slower week, not going to say rest week with Core, Yoga and Kenpo there isn't much rest, but with Stretching tonight and no arms, shoulders, back or legs all week it does give us a bit of a break.

The past few nights have been great as we both start to actually understand all the moves for Kenpo and can put real effort into it.  We are both becoming pretty good with the punches and kicks and have managed not to mame one another with it (our basement is not that big, yielding some close calls).  I tell you, with this Kenpo, you have to wonder if a P90X Fight Club will start up!

We were speaking last night about how we are starting to see some couples drift apart or go through mid-life crises (yes, we are at that age).  The question came up as to why were not feeling that happen.  We both think that we continue to do things together and like each others company.  This program and our commitment is a great example of it.  As i've mentioned, spending over 7 hours a week together, in addition to our regular routine, is quite astounding.  So if your looking for something to do together and are willing to commit, I tell you this is one great way to go.

So, on to Core tomorrow and another Yoga on Saturday then it's into week 5 when i understand the intensity picks up!  Bring It Tony!

Thanks for Showing Up.

Day 20 - Real People - Really Us

Kenpo on Saturday night, the end of week 3 and boy did we ever sweat it out.  As Tony says, 'Real sweat, real people'.  This got me thinking, this is really us (my wife and I) showing up together every night, being ourselves, letting it all out, in our house.  And that is the big thing, it feels real, grounded and right.  We are taking care of ourselves and being ourselves.

So, Kenpo (or Ken-Pow! as I like to call it), felt good and we actually started to get the moves down, or at least understand what we were supposed to do.  I mean, come on, those 4-move combos aren't tiring but they sure are confusing the first time you do them .  I'm surprised that we didn't hit either ourselves or each other (not that we wanted to hit each other) but throwing around a lot of side kicks in the same room together can get dangerous!  We made it through the whole session with no injuries and thankfully the time flew by.

Now onto week 4 tonight, and the start of a new 1-week routine.

Thanks for showing up!

Day 19 - Quality over Quantity

As I mentioned yesterday, last night was the mad dash north after work, followed by Legs and Back.  The first thing I hear Tony say is ‘today is about quality over quantity’, well that’s good as both of us are exhausted and I’m in a bit of a mood that draws more than one glare from my wife.

So, slipping the disc into the player we start at 9pm, after a 2 hour drive north and trying to get the kids to get to bed.  We’re in the middle of wall squats, legs quivering from either being tired or still asleep from the drive, not sure which.  We’re getting into a zone with Tony when he says ‘Crimp my hair Mom!’, guess that was our oldest daughter, not Tony!

Finally get the girls to bed and we push our way through, trying to focus on form and quality.  Chair and single leg wall squats go well, 80/20 and speed skater not so well as our balance is off and we’re both having to re-gain it.  Today is day 6 for week 3 and also end of ski race season, thank god.  We’re looking forward to the day off tomorrow and hopefully our energy returns Monday.

On the personal side, we’re both enjoying being with each other each night, despite my mood last night and being exhausted.  High-fiving at the end and being proud of each other.  So Tony, we’re getting both time together and a lot of it, over 7 hours a week.   It’s not quality over quantity, but quality AND quantity, for our relationship.

Day 18 - Quick Update

You'll notice the new picture for our blog.  After chatting with a friend over lunch the decision was made to focus the blog on not only our working out but on how its (positively) affecting our relationship.  I like the humour of this silhouette, even though we never get in any arguments :-), think it brings more what the blog is about, the journey of us.

So Show Up tomorrow's and our post will let you know how our crazy Friday night goes, both for the workout and what happens with us!

Day 18 - This Cobbler doesn't need foot spray

Yoga last night, 3rd time through it and really like it.  Not sure why I have not done yoga before, it feels really great on this old body and other than the ab work at the end (why can't we do that first to get it over with??) I really look forward to it.

Two poses stick out in my mind for no particular reason: The Cobbler and The Ploughman.  In his usual way Tony cracks a joke about needing foot spray for the Cobbler.  Well Tony, this boy needs no foot spray as my gut and inflexibility stop me from getting close enough to my stinky feet to worry about it!  And while I couldn't touch my feet to the floor over my head during the Ploughman, that pose felt really good!  I don't think I have stretched my back that much since those football days (funny enough this was a pose we had to do in football, but we'd never call it 'The Ploughman' for obvious reasons of juvenile behaviour that would accompany it).  

So, overall a great session again last night with my lovely lady friend, and I must say that spending about 1.5 hours every night doing exercises with my wife is worth the effort right there!

On to our Friday night session tonight.  This is such a fun one as we have to get home from work, pack for the weekend, get some sort of edible substance into our kids mouths, drive 2 hours (weather permitting) to get up north for the weekend skiing.  Unpack, maybe have to clean up the dog vomit in the car and get 'Bringing It'.  Not complaining (ok maybe a little) but makes for a long Friday night :-).

Over 200 visits now so thanks for Showing Up.

Day 17 - Runners don't do upper body!

Shoulders, Arms and Abs last night and being a runner, this old upper body sure needs the work-out, I don't think I've done that much upper body (over the past 2 1/2 weeks) in my life before.  Feels good though and can feel the difference in my strength.

Felt great to give the legs a break, and after back to back days of back (intended repetition) it got a nice break as well.

The Flab-buster X felt good as well, we almost did the full reps, definitely over 300 of them completed.  2 weeks ago we both thought Ab-Ripper X was insane and impossible.  Now, well, I can see us getting all 339 exercises done soon.

Yoga tonight, which despite being long and extreme, will be somewhat relaxing :-).

BTW, the blog is at almost 200 views, so thanks for showing up!

Day 16 - Plyometrics or was that training from high school?

In our basement with my wife last night jumping through imaginary tires, over non-existant rivers and doing the Heisman and suddenly I had a flash back to high school football practice and realized that we're doing similar training with Tony's workout to what we had to do back in high school.  But we're now significantly older, have less time and more responsibilities...and this poor old body doesn't stretch, bend and recover like it did back then!

Even still, this workout got the sweat flying and went through a lot of water, I can feel the twitch muscles really getting fired up, not to mention the burn in the thighs on those jump/squat/turn moves.  If at the end of the 90 days i'm even in half the shape i was in high school, it'll be the best shape i've been in a long time, and if i weight the same weight i did back then, well that would be the icing!  And i feel like i'm on that road so here's hoping.

How about that for motivation, to be the same weight and shape you were in back in high school sporty days?  Works for me.  But if that's not enough, then how about the guy in the plyometrics group on the DVD that did all those moves with an artificial leg?  As Tony said if he's doing it on one real leg, then NO EXCUSES from the rest of us!  Good point Tony.

Thanks for Showing Up.

Days 9 - 15

Ok, so despite NOT Showing Up on my blog, we have been showing up for the workouts :-)  I'll keep on top of it better now that all the extra days of skiing for our girls race teams are done!

So here's the skinny, I'm getting more motivated with every work out.  Neither of us can believe how quickly the strength comes.  Now that we are into week 3, as we repeat the workouts we are amazed at what we are able to do.  Well done Tony, your program is working!  Although the weight hasn't changed by a single ounce, but given the progress in strength, as long as the flabby abbies tighten up I'm beginning to not care about the weight.

On Sunday I really thought I wouldn't be able to Show Up.  I had our 'Men's Day' on Friday at our ski club, meaning Thursday's workout was missed (something to do with eating big steaks, playing poker and drinking wine with the boys) and I wanted to make it up on Sunday.  My wife and I snow-shoe a lot and we thought we should do a 5k each Saturday and Sunday (up the hill) so we and the dog could get some (more) exercise.  So after that, skiing and then driving home, laundry, prepping for an early Monday morning client meeting it was after 9:30pm by the time I started with the workout.  Not my brightest move of the week :-).  Even though I didn't 'BRING IT', I still showed up and limped through it and glad I did after it was over, although happy thoughts and words were NOT coming out of my mouth during it!

Last night, Day 15, was great.  We both flew through the push-ups and pull-ups, even those lovely Diamond Push-ups :-)  Finishing off with the Flab Buster X (aka Ab Ripper X) we can almost do all 349 (or whatever that insane number of exercises is).

So, beginning of week 3 and we are Bringing It more than ever!  I'll keep up the chatter so if you are out there, keep coming back.

Thanks for Showing Up!

Day 8 - Day 7 was rest Day :-)

Beginning of the new week and here in Ontario Canada, it's family day so we got to start the week easy, without having to go to work and able to just ski and then do our Day 8 (or Day 1, Week 2).

Starting all over again, and tracking our progress we both actually saw improvement in our push-up and pull-up reps.  We impressed ourselves and did not feel tired after.  Contrary to the first week we also did Ab-Ripper X right after.  I should still call it Flab-Ripper X as i can't keep up at all and with no weight loss, still feel fat!

Overall felt good, and just as motivated as I was at the beginning, but would like to see the waist line and weight both go down.  We'll see.  i'm still at 180 lbs.

Talk tomorrow and thanks for showing up.

Day 6 - End of the First with a kick and a punch!

Well, end of the first week and we made it!  We both feel really good and are happy with how we made it through, managing to get all the work-outs in.

The Kenpo was good, although do we ever feel uncoordinated!  Neither of us have done boxing or any other sport that required the punching/kicking combinations so needless to say we were looking at each other with that WTF look on some of the combination moves.  I know the next time we'll get better at it.

We both weighed ourselves and although i know we aren't to expect weight-loss right away, we were both a little miffed that we didn't loose a single pound between the 2 of us.

My goal is 10 lbs (stretch goal to 15) so hopefully this will start to happen.

So, 1 week down and looking forward to the next week!

Tx for Showing UP!

Day 5 - Now That's Some Kind of Yoga!

So I did the yoga last night (remember had to switch up the order as my wife and i were in different places on Day 4) and as someone who has never done yoga before, that was an exhausting 90 minutes, but absolutely loved it!

The first 20 minutes or so I was cruising with Tony and the crew, thinking this is good and as my wife said in her comment on Day 4, this shouldn't be too bad.  But Tony just doesn't stop, no breaks, just one move to the next and by the end of the first half the sweat was dripping off me and i was ready for the stretching yoga, i'll tell you that.

As with my misconception of my ab strength, my flexibility is also a long way from good :-)

Now onto day 6 and on a positive note, I am feeling more fit already and am more motivated as each day passes.

Showing up more than ever!

C U tomorrow.

Day 4 - My Abs are Weak!

My wife and i were in different locations last night so we split the DVD's up.  i had the Legs & Back, with Ab-ripper X (she got the Yoga).

So had a great Legs & Back workout, my legs are already quite strong so really liked it.  Got busy on the pull ups as well.  My upper body is weak, but with some chair help i was happy with what i did.  It's a really good workout and Tony would be proud (i think :-)).

Now, after the good workout, i was ready for the Abs.  16 minutes, how hard could it be?  Well, for someone who hasn't done ab work in a long time it was bad!  I thought from my running and biking that i had decent core strength so had the mis-impression i'd be ok with the ab work.  Holy cow!  349 exercises later and i did not bring it!  i stayed through the whole workout, tried my best, but i need a telescope to see how far i've got to go with my abs!

2 more workouts to rest day.  not that i'm dying but a day off will be nice!

That's all for today, got to go out and enjoy the unseasonably warm sunny weather.

Thanks for showing up!

Day 3 - A late night

Ok, as i mentioned we are skiers and this week we have our daughters at a 2 day ski camp.  This means we had to get them up to the hill for Thursday morning which in turn means we drove up Wednesday night.  So, we started our 3rd work-out at 10pm Wednesday night, finishing at 11:15.  The work-out was great and we brought it!  But working out that late, well sleep didn't come until 1am and needless to say the 7 hours minimum sleep did not happen :-)

Anyway, still a great work-out and still loving the P90X!

Short one today but wanted to Show Up!

Day 2 - Our First Plyometrics

Ok, we do a lot of snow-shoeing and skiing so our legs are pretty strong, but we felt the burn last night and to say I'm stiff this morning is more than accurate!

Great work-out, the sweat showed up with us as we powered through the plyometrics.  As skiers, really appreciated and enjoyed a lot of the exercises, especially the one with the imaginary 'poles' and the lunges.  

Nutrition is a little tough to follow as we don't have a lot of time for preparing and cooking.  We both work and have 2 girls to get to school and extra-cirricular programs, so add in the hour for the work out and walking the dog, there's not much left. We are trying the menu option, dinners and breakfasts are ok but lunches are the toughest but we're trying to substitute close to them.  I found the 7 quick lunches for 7 days so hopefully that will help.

I really like the approach this program takes with doing what pace suites you, while pushing yourself, and focusing on nutrition as well.  We both have goals of getting in shape and losing weight and after only 2 days can see how our goals will be within reach.

On to day 3 now and we're showing up and excited.

My Inspiration

The little note from my youngest.  This will keep me going for 90 days...and then some!

Day 1 - We Showed Up

So, my wife and i have decided to get into better shape and P90X is what we've chosen :-)

We'll keep track of how we are doing in this blog, more for our own sake than the expectation that anyone out there will read it!  If you are going to follow us, hope you enjoy our ramblings, about the program and how its helped us get into shape mentally and physically.

For those who don't know, P90X is a pretty extreme 90 day program (hence the name :-) ) that has you working out for about 1 hour a day, 6 days a week for 90 days, and gives you a nutrition book to follow as well to ensure you get the right fuel into your body.  It comes in a series of DVD's, you only need a few weights and a chin-up bar.  We've invested about $200 for the DVD's and equipment (i had some free-weights already).  All in all a pretty inexpensive way to get into shape in 3 months

Day 1
So, we've done our fitness test and the first session of the program.  We 'showed up' and we 'brought it' :-)  The first day is chest and back, a little tough but really good.  Feeling a little stiff today but ready for the next session tonight.

We discussed that the hardest thing will be the commitment to doing it every night, its sooooo hard to find 1 hour every single night (the seventh night is supposed to be some stretching) with 2 girls to help do homework, get to swim and dance lessons and go up skiing every weekend which requires a 2 hour drive.  We're committed but are ready to have to support each other on this.

The best part of day 1 was the note that my wife and i each got from our youngest daughter telling us how proud she was of us for doing this!  i'll scan and upload it tonight, but wow, if that's not motivation i'm not sure what would motivate me!

That's it for day 1, short and sweet.  talk to you (myself?) tomorrow.

Thanks for Showing Up!