December Vegas Trip - Part 4

While this part of the trip doesn't really fit chronologically in the post order, it fills in a bit of a back story. The last post talked about our dinner at Cut. Now I'd like to tell you about how we paid for that dinner and how the excitement continued after dinner.

A few hours before dinner, we had decided to hang out around some of the casinos and play a bit to kill some time. I wasn't having the best of luck, but I wasn't getting my butt kicked either. I was really only playing Pai Gow, 3 Card Poker and Let it Ride. I watched Kaitlyn play Roulette and slots quite a bit too. I have a rule with Pai Gow. If I lose 2 hands in a row, I get up from the table. Pai Gow is a very easy game to just sit for 10 hours and not lose much. On the other hand, it's also easy to sit for 10 minutes and lose $100. It's a game of pushes and losses, and an occasional win that you have to pay commission on. So when I lose 2 in a row, I call it quits for a while, otherwise you'll lose it all.

We had decided to stop by Harrah's and play there for a bit. I lost my 2 in a row at Pai Gow. In fact, I had only played 3 hands total. Push, loss, loss. It was horrible. So I watched Kaitlyn play let it ride for a bit and then I found an open 3 Card poker table for $5. I don't usually like playing at tables that have a lot of people, because the way they deal the cards can mess up other players hands depending on where you sit. Even though it's a $5 table, it can end up costing $15 per hand because you play the ante and the 'play' bet, and you can also play the optional 3 card bonus bet for another $5 (which I was). So pretty much $10 a hand if I decide to fold, $15 if I play.

Anyway, I was hitting a couple pairs and I think I hit 2 pairs once on the 5 card hand. I wasn't up much, maybe $40 or so. I had been playing for about 15 or 20 minutes. I looked down at my next hand and saw a 3 of hearts. I immediately began to write this hand off as a loss, because in order to really win you need to have jacks or better. Next card was a 4 of hearts. OOoooo, now this could be interesting. Last card. Sometimes I like to look a little slower. Adds to the excitement. So I slowly peek at the final card. It's red. My hope starts to grow a little. I peek a little more, and I can immediately see that it's a 5. So I at least have a straight which pays 6:1 on the ante bet and even money on the 3 card bonus hand.

The only thing that I don't know yet is if it's a heart or a diamond. I slide the card a little more, and a smile immediately appears on my face. The dealer looks at me like I'm a goon. It's a heart! I've got a straight flush. in my 3 card hand. HOLLLLLAAA!!!!! That's 40:1 on my ante bet and 5:1 on the 3 card bonus. $230 total on the one hand. Since Kaitlyn happens to be at the table next to me still playing Let it Ride, she hears the commotion and looks over and I let her know. The gals that were playing with her finish their hand and come over and sit with me. I play one more hand and it's crap and so I tip the dealer and get up and leave the table. Thank you very much, I'm gonna enjoy a nice dinner tonight on you.

And that's how Harrah's paid for our lovely dinner at one of the best steak houses in Las Vegas, and allowed me to try Waygu beef for the first time.

After dinner, we went for a walk. A few weeks ago, I had found a stuffed plush of the Bumble from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Well after doing some research, I found out that it was part of a set. So now, I had been trying to find a Yukon Cornelius one and found out that they were only available at CVS. And there are none in Washington...or even in the Pacific Northwest. Well, there is on in Vegas, so now we were walking to see if they had one. They did not, so that walk kinda sucked. But we figured that it was too early to head to bed and since it was our last night we still wanted to play.

We headed to the Margaritaville Casino next to Flamingo. We had gone there the day before and the dealers were really fun and the atmosphere was great. Kaitlyn decided to try out Roulette and so I went to the Let it Ride table next to hers. It was empty and was $5. Let it Ride is a game that you put down 3 bets and you get 3 cards and the dealer gets 2 face down cards. The object is to make the best 5 card hand. You get to look at your cards and decide if you want to pull back one of your bets. Then the dealer turns over a card and you get to decide again if you want to pull back the second. If you do, you tuck the cards and the dealer turns over the last card. It's kinda confusing, especially to try and write about it.

This game can cost you up to $21 per hand at a $5 table. The 3 $5 bets mentioned above. A $5 3 card bonus bet and a $1 bonus bet (for 5 all 5 cards).

I had been doing pretty good, winging a few hands. I was probably up about $50. I had got a few decent hands that outweighed the bad ones. And then I got a great one. I got dealt 3 of a kind. In all the times that I have been playing this game, this was the first time that I have ever got a 3 of a kind. I let that ride so I was playing all 3 hands and was guaranteed a win. I don't remember what she turned over, but the dealer was excited and we were hoping she had a pair or perhaps the 4th card to give me a four of a kind. In the end, it didn't improve on the 5 card hand. So on my $1 bet it paid me $4. Yah yah, it's not a whole lot. But on each of my 3 $5 bets, it paid 3:1. $15 each on those. The big money was on the 3 card bonus bet. 30:1. $150. Not quite as good as the 3 card poker hand, but I'll take it.

We continued on and I had a vibe and the dealer kept saying that another big hand was coming. I was on such a run, it seemed like every hand I had at least a pair. I can't remember how many times we almost hit a big hand. I'd have 2 pair and we'd be one off on a full house. And then it happened again. Another 3 of a kind. This was only about 10 hands later. It didn't take long before the guys upstairs sent in a new dealer. She said thanks, I had probably gave her $40 or so in tips. I wasn't sure if she was coming back or not. I played 1 hand with the new dealer and then got up and left. I was up $450 from just that table. I watched Kaitlyn play roulette for a little while longer and was keeping an eye on that table to see if my dealer came back. They had removed her from the table completely, because when the next dealer change came it was a different person. Oh well, I'll take my winnings home then.

We kept playing for a little while longer getting some more $1 Jameson on the rocks. Eventually we called it a night. We had to leave for the airport at 11:30 the next day, so there wouldn't be any time to play in the morning.

All in all, it was a fun trip. I hadn't been this lucky in a while, so it was nice to hit some big hands. But, I think the best part was still the Michael Jackson show. I'm so glad that we decided to go. That's all for my trip report.

December Vegas trip - Part 3

So let's see, after the Michael Jackson show, we decided to walk around for the rest of the night. We stopped at the new Margaritaville Casino that is shoved in between Flamingo and the Margartiaville restaurant. This was actually a pretty cool place, and it would later turn out to be the place that we spent most of our time actually playing. More on that later.

Let's move to Monday. We woke up a bit later and needed to go eat. We headed to The Grand Lux cafe in Palazzo. We had been there before and it was great. I forgot how big the portions were. We had been in time for the lunch menu, but i was feeling hungry and thought I could tackle anything. I finally decided on the Chicken Parmesan. Kaitlyn got a chicken carbonara and a salad. The waitress convinced me that I only needed the lunch size, and thank goodness that she did. This piece of chicken was at least 12" long by 8" wide. And accompanied with some pasta. I did not finish it. I barely finished half of it. I guess my appetite isn't what it used to be. Plus we were going to have a really nice dinner later, so I guess I didn't need to be eating too much. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out around in various casinos. Nothing exciting happened. I'd lose 2 hands of Pai Gow and get up for a while and walk around.

Fast forward to dinner.

Every time we're in Vegas, we try to visit a nice steak house. I think so far, we've done 5 out of the top 10 steak houses. Our initial reservation was for Delmonico at the venetian. Kaitlyn though really REALLY wanted to try this chocolate souffle at another place, so we changed our reservation to Cut which is at the Palazzo. Plus, we had tried Delmonico before, and while it was absolutely fantastic, we like trying new places. And...chocolate souffle apparently.

We show up and this place is your typical high end steak house. I'm watching the people showing up and the guys are wearing suits and the ladies are in their nice dresses. I take a gander at myself and my awesome Old Navy jeans and costco polo and figure, eh, whatever. regardless, this place is really nice. We are led back to our table and out of nowhere three other people come and pull out our chairs and are already unfolding our napkins into our laps. At one point, when we went in to the restroom to wash up, someone came over super quick and snatched up her napkin and brought out a fresh one.

the waiter brought out an iPad for us to make our drink selections. I had to ask them for a good wine pairing, and he didn't make me feel too stupid when I told him that I hadn't actually picked out my steak yet. They brought us over a tray of bread selections that we could choose from. the pretzel bread...amazing. And they had this focaccia onion bread that was fantastic too.

Then our waiter brought out giant slabs of beef to show us the difference between the 100% Australian waygu beef and the American Waygu hybrid beef, and the Rib Eye, filet and NY Strip. Kaitlyn already knew what she wanted and ordered the 8oz Prime Filet. I went back and forth with trying the American Waygu beef or just sticking with Prime. But I figured that because of my really good luck at 3 card poker earlier (story to come later), that I would splurge. And I've never had Waygu beef anyway. But I decided to go with the 9oz American Waygu Rib Eye. (The Australian one was nearly 2/3 more expensive. I'm not splurging that much). Plus, this one would be 100% gluten free, which is good for me. We ordered both as medium. Kaitlyn joked that she was going to order hers 'blue'. I asked if that was when they just walk a cow to your table and you just start poking at it with your fork.

We finally pick out a nice wine to go with it, Cune Crianza Rioja. 2006 Tempranillo. Which is fantastic and if I can find some I will be stocking up. We're hanging out and taking in the ambiance of this really nice restaurant. I'll admit, when we first came in I was instantly expecting the typical high end restaurant. Where the staff doesn't really seem to care about you and everyone is all snooty. But then suddenly I hear something. It's kinda faint so I really have to listen. And then I hear it. "But Gollum at the evil wall crept up and slipped away with her". Holy Crap! they are playing Zeppelin here. Awesome. So throughout the night, they are playing all these classic rock songs. steely Dan, Zeppelin, Tom Petty. It was awesome.

And then you start to notice the staff. there were always at least two people at our table. And our water glasses were never empty. They were so attentive and they were always just standing at their position scanning the room in anticipation for when people were finished or needed something.

Oh yah, the steaks. It is actually quite amazing to eat a steak like that. I've never had anything higher than a Prime steak, and even then has been on special occasions. It's quite amazing at how tender and easy it was to cut. It was actually starting to rival the tenderness of Kaitlyn's filet. And I've never seen that with a rib eye. It was delicious, and since Kaitlyn wasn't able to finish her filet, I got to have a side by side comparison. Cost value, I'd probably still regularly go with a filet, but this was a nice little treat. I'll just have to try really hard to not compare all future rib eye's to this one.

We also ordered a side of some mashed potatoes which were really good as well. After getting through the meat, it was time for dessert. I was torn between a couple, but kept going back to a banana cream pie that they had listed. But then they made my decision easy, as Kaitlyn had told them that we were celebrating my birthday (we're a little early, but it's okay). And they brought out a slice of the banana cream pie. While we waiting for Kaitlyn's souffle to do whatever it is that souffles do that make them impossible to make, we at my dessert. It was fantastic. Even Kaitlyn loved it, and she doesn't really like banana stuff. Once her souffle came out, the waiter prepared it for us. They poured the chocolate sauce over it and the whipped cream. chocolate overload. My goodness. I seriously was only able to eat about 1 spoon. I don't know how she did it, but she ate about 2/3 of it.

It was an amazing experience at this place. Much better than some of the other steak houses down there. It's no wonder that it is regularly rated #1.

More later about how Harrah's paid for this dinner for us.

December Vegas trip - Part 2

The Michael Jackson Immortal tour - by Cirque du Soleil.

We decided a couple days before leaving that we were going to go see the Michael Jackson Immortal cirque du Soleil show at Mandalay Bay. When we were searching for tickets, we found some in the 100 level initially. These tickets were over $100 each so we decided to look in the next lowest price tier (around $70). We found some in section 210 so we decided to go with that. We've been to other shows in the past (Viva Elvis and Terry Fator) and sat in the near back and the seats weren't terrible. We figured these couldn't be that bad.

I am a huge MJ fan. He is the one concert that I had never been able to see in person, and I will always be sad about that. So at least being able to see this, makes me feel a little better. We missed it when it came to Seattle, and this show will only be in Vegas for about 5 weeks.

We got to Mandalay bay a few hours before the show to go pick up our tickets at will call. Figured we would just hang out at that end of the strip until the show. We did some people watching, which I usually love. But people watching at that end of the strip isn't nearly as fun as around O'Sheas or Planet Hollywood. But anyway, we hang out and play a few slot machines and wait until about 6:15 and head back to the event center. There were so many people heading to the show...it was nuts.

The will call line was easily 100 deep, so I was glad we came earlier and already got our tickets We heard over through the metal detectors and decide to get in line for some snacks. Shock Top on tap and a 32oz glass later, we found our way to the seats. Amazing seats. Granted, you aren't going to see the costume detail or facial expressions of the performers, but the overhead view of the entire stage makes up for it. When we saw the Beatles Love show, we were in row 3. Amazing seats, but you kind of miss some of the higher acrobatics.

In terms of Cirque shows, this isn't the best...by far. Beatles Love is the best I've seen. I'd even have to rate the Viva Elvis show better than this one. Again, only in terms of it being a cirque show. But I'd be hard pressed to really classify this as a cirque show. It was more of a tribute show I think. Yes, they had some of the crazy Cirque performers and they were amazing. But a lot of the dancing was MJ dancing. It definitely was to pay homage the amazing performances that Michael Jackson produced.

When we went to the Beatles show, it was all the dancing and performances done to Beatles music; where the Beatles were actually singing the songs. when we went to the Elvis show, it was the performers that were singing the Elvis songs. That show would have been leaps and bounds better had they had actual Elvis tracks playing instead of the performers singing. So I was a little weary about this show, and really hoping that it was MJ songs being performed by him. And that it was.

They had a few songs from the Jackson 5 days, and some of his earlier songs. But all the hits were done. And I'll tell you what, it was really hard to not cry at a couple of the songs. Heal the World...forget about it. I cried. The way this show was put on, it really forces you to listen to the songs. Everyone knows his songs, but not everyone really listens to the words and message he was trying to portray through his music. When there are some performers out there and video clips playing, you really just absorb everything and the true song comes out. And some times, it's just too much. At one point, I looked over and Kaitlyn had lost it. Even glancing around at the rest of the crowd you could see people wiping at their eyes.

There would be zero hesitation on my part if I had the opportunity to see this show again. And I would tell anyone who is even slightly intrigued or inspired by his music to see this show if you have a chance. This was 100% completely worth the money.

This was quite possibly my favorite part of this trip (and I had some very good luck at the tables too, but more on that later). I know he has always been the 'weird' one in the music industry. but hey...all the great ones are, right? But all that aside, you can't deny the amazing artist that he was. And really listening to his songs, all he ever wanted was to make the world a better place. Say what you will about the man, but there will never be another Michael Jackson.

December Vegas trip

Kaitlyn and I took a little trip to Vegas this last weekend. Here's a little review of what we did.

Kaitlyn had a comped room at Bally's for us, and we were able to find relatively cheap airfare, so the trip was going to be pretty cheap for us. We flew in Saturday morning. We just kinda walked around most of the day and later met up with some friends for dinner at Holsteins at the Cosmo. They have some amazing burgers. I had the Rising Sun burger. Kobe beef with a teriyaki glaze and some deep fried avocado. It is amazing. I don't usually rave about burgers, but this one was quite amazing. There was also a burger that had a giant chunk of brisket on it.

After dinner, we walked around a bit more and ended up at Bellagio to check out their Christmas display. It was pretty nice. A giant tree and all their displays are made out of fresh flowers. They really do a nice job with it. Nothing much more that night.

The next day, we got up and went to Bellagio at a place called Jasmine for their fountains brunch. It's a buffet place that is situated right in front of the fountains. So that was pretty cool to watch while we eat. The buffet is more expensive than your typical buffet, but the service was far better. And the food wasn't all that bad either. Typical brunch food, and they had a pho type of station, although having the broth just being chicken soup doesn't count as pho. The cuisine was Cantonese inspired, and there was a rolling cart that had fresh roast duck. Fresh omelet station and a bunch of other stuff. All in all, it was good, but I don't think I would go back. For the price, I'd rather just go to a regular buffet.

The rest of the day was spent just walking around and playing while we waited for the main attraction of the evening.

The Michael Jackson Immortal tour...

BEER!!!!

So I've started something new. Every Thursday, my wife has been playing volleyball after work. Because I am kinda limited on the hours that I can work (being an hourly employee rather than a salary), I have to kill a few hours before she's done. A couple weeks ago, I went up to Bothell and hung out up there until she was done. So tonight, I decided to go to the Tap House Grill in Bellevue and hang out. Well, they have a membership program that you can sign up for. It's just a little loyalty club type of thing.

Well, Tap House is known for boasting their 160 beers on tap. Part of their little club thing is that if you can try 160 distinct beers, then you can end up with a plaque at their bar. They give you a loyalty card, and when you pay the bill it will keep track of the beers you tried and stuff like that. Plus you get a bunch of other perks depending on how much you spend and the frequency that you go to the bar.

Anyway, tonight I started on my journey quest to 160 beers. And now, I shall talk about them.

For my first beer I decided to go off of their rotational list. I figured there were quite a few on there that I would like to try and since they are likely seasonal I should probably try them first. First up was a beer called Leavenworth Oktoberfest. It's a beer made by a local company called Fish Brewing Company out of Olympia. I have had Oktoberfest style beers before, and I generally enjoy their flavor. This particular one is a American Amber / Red Ale beer, which don't really make it a true Oktoberfest beer. Amber/Red ales are generally a very balanced beer that focus on the malts and are classified as a red ale simply because they cannot be classified as a dark ale. Whereas true Oktoberfest (or Märzen) are typically on the darker and much more full bodied, often resulting in a higher alcohol content.

Regardless, this particular beer was very good. It was a very smooth and light bodied beer and had a very nice flavor to it. It has a 5.5% abv, which puts it right in line with most typical ales. I would have no problem ordering it again. It's a very enjoyable beer, not too light but it isn't going to knock you on your ass either.

My second choice they were out of and now I can't remember what it was. So I went with one called Sound Dubble Entendre. This was absolutley amazing. It blew my mind. This beer is from another local brewery called Sound Brewery based out of Poulsbo. This beer is a Belgium style dubble. These are very rich in malty flavors and often have minor hints of fruits. They are also very mild in the hops area. When this came out, I immediately thought it was a stout. It is a very dark beer. It's an 8% abv beer as well, which means you're probably not going to chug it.

Sound Brewery Dubble Entendre.


The first sip of this was crazy. Totally not what I expected. It's a very light beer for being so dark. It has the characteristics of an amber ale, but with the ABV of a stout. And i could definitely feel the effects of this one. Because of its darkness, it has a hint of sweet caramel flavor to it. I'm not typically a fan of dark stout style beers, but this was a surprisingly good beer. Again, at 8% you're not really going all night with this one. But it's worth getting at least one.

Final beer of the night was simply Stella. Stella is a light pale lager, typically at 5% ABV. There's not really much to say about Stella. It's a light beer with good flavor. It's more of a malt beer than hops (which seems to be the trend tonight). This is a good beer if you want a lighter beer without it being a lite beer (IE: Bud Light, Miller Lite, Etc.).

Well, that is my report for tonight. At most, I'll probably be there once a week. But perhaps we'll make a special occasion visit with some friends or something like that. They have great food too, so I have no problem eating there as well. So until next time, that's my beer report.

Insanity update

Once again, I am slacking on the blog updates. It's been a hectic last few weeks. We were in Vegas back in June, so we only did a partial week...only Monday and Tuesday. That was technically supposed to be the first week of part 2. We figured we would go to Vegas and then come back and pick up again with the first week of part 2. Only got a couple days into that one and then it was 4th of July weekend. We didn't really do much of the workouts that week either. So now, we're into the 3rd attempt of the first week of round 2. We're doing it though.

We did the first day on Monday (4th of July). And now we're back on schedule. But man, yesterday was crazy. The workout itself was only about 45 minutes including warm up and cool down. But it was literally 30 minutes of straight cardio workouts. There is usually a water break or something after each 3 minute interval. But not this one. Granted, you stop when you need to and get some water, but you have to hurry and get back into it or you'll miss the whole exercise.

We made it through...barely. This was one crazy workout. I think next week we have to do it twice. We'll see how that goes. So anyway, we're back on track now. Even though the workout was nuts, I still feel great after completing it.

Start of week 6

Holy Crap.

Last week I was wondering how the 6th week could be tougher than the previous month. For those who haven't followed along, the first 4 weeks were the workout, then week 5 was the "rest" week. So today we're technically starting the 2nd month of the workout.

Anyway, like I said...the first month was intense and I couldn't figure out how it would get tougher or cause me to work harder. I was already working hard every day and pushing myself as much as I could. I've noticed an improvement in a lot of the exercises and my ability to keep up more and do the moves better.

Today, I found out. First, the workout was just over an hour long...including warmup and cool down. The previous workouts were right around 40 minutes. The warmup was a bit different in the moves that we do, but we still do 3 iterations of it. The normal workout exercises were a lot tougher than the first month. It was just more of it too. Tomorrow is the Plyo day and I've heard that day is the toughest out of all of them.

So we'll see how this goes. But wow, it is intense. I can see why people say that month 2 is when the results really show up. Let's hope so! :)

Insanity Update

It's been a long time since I've posted an update. We have still been doing the workout, but I just started to forget about writing. So here it is, a long over due post.

We are in the middle of week 5. This week is called the recovery week, and we do the same workout everyday. Let me tell you, it is no recovery workout. Granted, I'm not sweating as much as I do during the normal workouts. But I'm still exuding a lot of sweat. This one works a lot of your core though, and I can actually start to feel my core getting tighter. I know that sounds weird, but it's true.

There are no washboard abs or anything like that yet. I think my stomach is getting a bit smaller, but I still doubt that 1 pass through this program will yield me those results. I'm still *kinda* following the meal plan. I don't think that I am eating 2500 calories a day anymore. I've cut back from 5 meals to 4. And I seem to be eating less at each meal. The difference is that I'm not full all day long. Doing the 5 meals a day is tough because by the 3rd meal I am really full and don't want to eat the 4th meal. But I have to to make sure I have enough energy to burn off during the workout. So now I am doing just the simple 4 meals. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner.

Breakfast is usually simple. Oatmeal, cereal, etc. Although I'll admit that lately I've been skipping breakfast all together. Bad, I know. But it's hard to do sometimes at work when I get in and get busy. Lunch usually consists of a wrap or sandwich of some kind. The wraps I've been using are these tortilla type of things...but made out of whole stone ground wheat. Really good for you. I use a wedge of laughing cow cheese for the 'sauce' instead of mustard/mayo. I get some deli meat sliced every week on Mondays and use that throughout the week. I also try to use a piece of lettuce, some tomato slices and this week I've been using an avocado too. Roll that up and you've got a great lunch that fills you up. It works out to be something like 300 calories.

We have been slacking a bit on the weekends. But we're definitely eating less than we're supposed to. Last Sunday, the only thing I ate was 1/2 bag of cheese nips at 5pm. Then I had dinner at my parent's house. Weekends we usually splurge a bit and are a little more relaxed in what we eat. But overall, I think we're still eating pretty healthy. Next weekend though, that'll be a different story. Going to Vegas for a friend's wedding and...well...it's Vegas.

So to counter the missed workouts (we'll be missing 4 workout days), we're going to start the week and do as much as we can. We'll miss Thursday - Monday (Sunday is the rest day). So we'll do Monday - Wednesday and call it good. Then when we come back on Tuesday, we'll just pick up and repeat the week again starting with Tuesday. that way we won't miss any of the workouts.

Next week starts the 'Max' workouts. We're not sure what they are yet, but if the previous 4 weeks are any indication, we're in for one hell of a workout. Especially since the workouts are called the same thing except with Max in front of them. So we'll see how that goes next week. So with the repeating of week 6, we're set to finish the first cycle sometime near the last week of July.

I'll tell you, after doing p90x and now this one I much prefer the Insanity workout. I am more of a cardio workout person. Granted I do kinda miss doing the weights exercises. So I think after we finish this pass, we're going to make our own program combining the two. We'll probably use a couple of the weights days from p90x, and then fill in the week with the cardio disks from Insanity. It's going to be a lot of work, but I think we both really enjoy the Insanity workout better.

I probably won't update every day like I used to. But with this one there isn't a lot to update about. It's just all cardio. But I'll try to do one at least once a week.

End of week 1

Since we all survived the rapture, I guess I'll continue with writing. :)

Today wrapped up week 1. It actually went by pretty quick. Today was the same workout that we did on Tuesday. But I think I sweat a lot more today. I think as we progress, we'll be able to push harder on these workouts.

I feel like I don't have as much to write about with this program. It's all cardio stuff so there really isn't anything to explain like there was with p90x.

Well, we have tomorrow off and will be back Monday. :)

Insanity - Pure Cardio

Tonight was the Pure Cardio workout. Holy crap. This total length is about 35 minutes. After the 10-15 minute warmup, it was pretty much 20 minutes straight. No breaks unless you take them on your own. Which I did. There wasn't any crazy moves or anything like that...but it was just non stop and really worked you out. Definitely a good workout though.

I'm finding that there isn't as much to write about as there was with p90x. There really isn't any 'gains' like there were in the last one. I'm not moving up in weights or anything like that. All I can really do is just push myself as hard as I can to keep doing the moves. On the ones that aren't muscle intensive (like sitting in a squat for 60 seconds), I really try to dig deeper and stick it out. But there are some where my legs are just on fire and actually start to cramp up. I try really hard to get past the muscle pain, but when they start to cramp, that's when I take a break.

Tomorrow we will complete our first week. This one is only 8 weeks long, so it'll probably go pretty quick.

Insanity - Recovery

Today was the recovery workout. Kinda like the yoga day in p90x, it was just a lighter version. Doing mostly stretches and stuff. I was still sweating a lot though. Not much to report on this one. Tomorrow kicks back up to a "normal" workout. haha.

Day 3, with nutrition information.

Today was officially day 3 of the insanity workout, although it was only the second huge workout. Oh man, today was just as tough. There was a little more 'strength' workouts involved today..including some pushups and stuff. I really wish I could describe the workouts more...but it's tough to really explain just how intense they are.

I'm hoping that the results in 60 days will show it. I definitely see the need to eat more. Here's a typical meal for me during the day.

Breakfast - oatmeal with raisins and an orange.
Morning snack - fruit cup and yogurt, string cheese, Snack crackers with assorted lunch meat.
Lunch - sandwich or wrap including lunch meat, lettuce, tomato, cucumber. an apple and some mixed nuts.
afternoon snack - fruit cup, string cheese, english muffin with peanut butter and banana
dinner - Picante chicken, peas and carrots and a salad.

All that combined is A LOT of food, but it keeps me around 2500 calories. I am a little concerned that it is too high to get the results I want...but it was actually calculated out to 2800. So I decided to drop own a bit to see how it goes. I am going to monitor my energy level during the workouts and adjust my calorie intake as needed. Overall my daily numbers are in good shape. 69g of fat (85% recommended daily allowance), 206mg cholesterol (55%). My sodium is high at 4444mg, but I drink enough water to balance that out...I average at least 130oz of water a day. Carbs is at 336g (90%). I could try to lower this value, as this is where the stomach area is effected most. Fiber is high at 53g (170%), but not a big deal. Protein is at 155g (248%) but i need that. My sugars are at 188g, but almost all of it is from the fruit.

We'll see how this goes. Like I said, I worry that I'm eating too much and won't be able to lose the stomach area that I want to do. But, I think I can adjust what I eat and cut down on the carbs which again comes mostly from the fruit and breads.

Till next time.

First full day of Insanity

Today was the first full day of Insanity. And I'll say, it is quite a fitting name. The disk is about 45 minutes long. You jump right into the warm up which again isn't your typical warmup. You're really moving quick and before it's over, you're sweating buckets. And there is no break in between the different moves in the warmup. Just one after another for about 3.5 minutes. And just when it is over, he throws a wrench in and does it all over again! Except faster this time. And wouldn't you know it...we finish that one and ONE MORE TIME! Ugh. I just remembered trying to focus on my breathing and remembering that I won't be able to keep up with the people on the disk.

It was a crazy workout. While shorter than the p90x plyo workout, I really do feel that it is far more intense. The p90x plyo one is a really good workout, but this is on a totally different level. It's just one after the other and max reps as fast as you can. Non-stop.

The meal plan has been going pretty good so far. The hardest part is planning out the meals. But, it's working so far. Bottom line is that I am really excited about moving forward. Till tomorrow!

Workout - The end of p90x..The start of Insanity

A couple weeks ago we finished the p90x program. We took last week off from working out to prepare for the next program. More on that in a bit, but I want to finish off the p90x part. I got away from blogging about it at the end, but we did finish it and there were some great results. There was some definite muscle gain in my upper body and for sure some weight loss. Here are some before and after numbers. Using our scale that has a supposed body fat calculator, the before number was 21.5% body fat. After 90 days, it said 19.7% body fat. Now, whether or not it is 100% accurate doesn't really matter to me. What matters is that there was a drop in the number and that makes me feel good. My weight is holding steady at the low 170's. This morning I was at 172. My waist and hips each dropped from a 38 to a 36.

Muscle gain visually was there, but when you look at the numbers it doesn't seem like it. My chest went from 40 to 41. Biceps went from 13.5 to 14.5. So no matter what, there was some gain. So thats good. And we didn't do the diet plan at all. We pretty much at whatever we wanted, however it wasn't crazy. We still ate pretty healthy...but definitely splurged whenever we wanted.

Now, onto the next program. We have been talking about doing the Insanity program for a while, so we finally got it. For those of you that might not know what it is, it's made by the same group (Beachbody) but has a different instructor. Where p90x did a nice blend of everything, this one is pure cardio.

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/extreme/insanity.do

This program is only 60 days long. Tonight was day one which was just the fit test. This was pretty much just a small video of 8 workouts. Max intervals for a minute. Do as many as you can. We plugged in the disk and the timer said 25 minutes. We thought...oh this won't be to tough. uhhh...WRONG!

The warm up was killer. It's more than just a typical warmup. If you're used to the p90x warmup...this warmup is more like the plyo workout itself. It's hard to even explain just how intense this workout is. When you think about it...8 workouts. 1 minute each. Bah...easy. By the end of the 3rd or 4th one...i seriously felt nauseous. I've never felt like that before, to the point of all I had to do was bend over and let it go.

This workout is hard. Even after completing p90x, I still don't feel like I had the endurance needed to do this. I do think that making it through definitely helped, but it by no means made it easy. But, I am really excited to see the progress. We do the fit test every 2 weeks, so we'll really be able to see the gains.

Oh! Also, we're doing the nutrition plan this time. You'll notice I called it nutrition plan instead of diet plan. This is why we took that week off, to really try and plan for it. I have to average between 2200 and 2800 calories a day. The higher end will maintain my weight, and the lower I go the more weight I could lose. So I am staying around 2500 a day for now to see how it goes. I need to make sure I have the energy to do these workouts, so i'll have to adjust as necessary.

So here's to the next 60 days. We've only got one planned 'outage' at the end of June where we are going to miss 4 days of the workout. We'll probably just do most of it, and then start that week over when we get back from our trip. But we'll worry about that when the time comes. Stay tuned for results.

p90x - pull up update

I wasn't planning on posting an update tonight, but then during the workout something exciting happened. Tonight was back and biceps, and involved doing a lot of pulls ups and curls. Well, one of the pull ups that we had to do was the corn cob pulls ups. In the past, I haven't been able to do them without the help of a chair. Well tonight, I was able to do 4...and with pretty good form. For those that don't know what these are, they are regular pull ups. When you're at the top, you move your body side to side, and then front to back...then you go down. I was really excited that I am now able to do these with somewhat of ease. Still nothing close to the 10 or so that they are doing in the film, but hey...whatever. haha.

So anyway, just wanted to mention that. Only a few more days left in this week.

We're actually considering doing Insanity next.

http://www.extremefitnessresults.com/insanity-workout.html

GASP!

p90x update - week 12

I swear we didn't quit! I just have been really slacking on writing updates.

So, we started our final week today. (There is a rest week next week). We're had to start a day later, because we were busy on Monday night. So tonight we did Chest & shoulders again. I know that there has been a vast improvement since we first started. However, I feel like the weight I can do has gone down. It's been a while since we did these, especially the shoulders. That seems to be my weak point.

I am struggling with the weights days now. I'm ready to swap those out for maybe a cardio day or something. I'm thinking of building my own program that we can do 5 days a week (having weekends off). I'm thinking one week of full cardio work. And then the next week alternating days of weights and cardio. And then alternating those weeks with each other. But I don't know yet.

I guess I don't really have much of an update. We're winding down on the program. I suppose there is technically 2 weeks left, the normal week and the rest week. I'm glad that we were able to stick it out through the entire program with very little modification to the workouts. We changed a few of the days around yoga, but that was pretty much it.

So stay tuned for the final results. I'm kinda excited to see the difference in all the other numbers outside of my weight. :)

p90x update

I haven't been posting as much lately. We haven't quit. :) Actually, every time we talk about changing one of the disks or something, we end up not actually doing it and sticking with the program.

So, we're on week 10 now. This last weekend, we were busy on Saturday so we skipped it. But we did the cardio x workout on Sunday to make up for it. This week has been tough, as my knees have really been bothering me and for some reason I feel like I'm not doing as much. For example, my weight amount has been the same, however my reps have gone down. And I today, I did less pull ups than I have before. I don't know, maybe it's just this week. But something feels off. I power through it though and finish it up.

We're a little over 2 months away from our Vegas trip. I've decided to try to change my diet a bit and try to work on trimming down my core area. So we'll see how that all goes. :)

No major update. We're still at it and haven't gave up or anything.

p90x - Started week 9, day 60 pics.

I haven't updated in a while. I think my previous workout post I was talking about us swapping out kenpo. Well, we kept it in the rotation. When it comes down to it, this program was built this way for a reason. I feel like we could probably do plyo everyday if we wanted to, but that's not the way they design the program. So. We're going to stick with this way, at least through the entire first pass. We'll still probably continue to swap out the first yoga disk during the rest week for cardio, but the rest will stay.

Now, We've started week 9 (Phase 3). This is basically going to be a repeat of the entire program. Week 9 and 11 is basically week 1 (Phase 1). Week 10 and 12 will be week 5 Phase 2). I for sure can see the difference in the amount and quality in my pull ups and push ups. That kind of put a smile on my face because it just shows that this is really working.

Tonight was plyo, and like always it did not disappoint. I love this workout and always look forward to it. I do feel like I have gotten better at the jumping parts and stuff like that, however when I stop and look back...I'm still not even close to what they are doing in the videos. This will forever be a workout that we will always have room for improvement.

Onto the pictures. Today was day 60. I'll post my progress from 0/30/60 just to kind of see the progress. Hopefully it will be noticeable. :) (BTW - don't mind the sweat on day 60 pics. we took them after the plyo workout).

Front standing view, non-flex

Day 0


Day 30


Day 60



Front Standing View - Arms flexed

Day 0


Day 30


Day 60




Side Profile View

Day 0


Day 30


Day 60




Back view - Flexed

Day 0


Day 30


Day 60

MacBook Pro

Today I purchased a MacBook Pro. Now, I don't normally go out and buy myself crazy extravagant things. And when it comes to computers, I've always been one to build my own. You can get far better value out of a PC if you build your own. The problem with that now is that the PCs are so big. The last one I built I did so with the intention of gaming. And I did do gaming on it. But now-a-days, not so much. So here I have this giant tower of a PC that run amazingly well. (I installed Vista on this when it first came out and didn't have a single issue with it).

For the last few years, I've been doing C# programming. Nothing crazy, just learning and creating a few programs of my own. I am hoping that I can use that to really get into a career that I like...programming. However, there isn't anything I have to show for it. Save for a few little programs that I've done on my own, but big deal. Those aren't selling or anything. I need something to show for my experience. This is where the Mac is going to come into play.

I've been transitioning from C# over to Objective C. Objective C is the language that is used to develop iPhone/Ipod/Ipad apps. You can see where I am going with this. :) I really started thinking about what is really going to help my career advance. I know I want to be in development, but what can I do to really help achieve that? Since I don't have the formal job experience, I need to have something to show for.

I've found very quickly that Objective C is not that much different than .NET C#. In fact, the fundamentals and theories behind all programming is the same. It's really just learning the different syntaxes and stuff like that. So I've been reading books and getting familiar with the language. I've come to the point now where I need to do it. I've been holding out on purchasing one of these for a while, until I felt I really needed to in order to take that next step. The step has been taken.

So now, I am diving head first into Apple app development. I can't really use any Windows platform tools to do this, for obvious reasons. Is this a pricy thing to do just to start creating apps? Absolutely. But, there was more behind this decision than just creating apps. As I said, I was looking for ways to further my career. I was pretty much down to two options. 1) Go back to school or 2) just jump right in. After weighing the cost/risk for each of them, this route overall seemed better.

There will take a lot of determination and focus on my part to make this happen, but having the support of my wife makes it feel so much easier. I love her so much for supporting me with this.

Keep an eye out. I'm going to be spending the first few weeks just really getting familiar with the layout of the computer and xCode, but i'll be having some apps out soon. I'll need some people to give me feedback. :)

Oh, the specs. I got the 17" 2.2 ghz model. No upgrades yet. I'll be doing that soon. Better HD. More ram. But otherwise, the base 17".

p90x - Kenpo

Today was kenpo for the rest week. It was okay. I don't think I'm going to last on a couple of the disks. Its not that I have lost motivation in the whole program. Quite opposite in fact. I find that I just am not getting a good enough workout when I do the Kenpo program.

I am thinking that we will probably swap it out for Cardio X. The Cardio X program gives me so much more of a workout. And...we've already committed to doing this program well after the 90 days are up. As much as I would like to say, here is where we're at after 90 days. I still can, but we're not stopping at 90 days. We're just going to keep going. And at this point, I just want to keep doing the workouts that will give me the best results.

Unfortunately, this is also going to apply to yoga. We may try to keep it in, or swap it out bi-weekly for Cardio X or Core Synergistics. I, personally, just need something more from my workouts than the yoga offers.

So thats the update for tonight. This is no longer p90x. It's more like pAlwaysX. haha. This has just become our new workout program, not just simply a 3 month thing. So we're going to tailer it to what we like and what will benefit us the most.

p90x - core

Today was core synergistics. This is a fantastic workout, especially for something that they are considering a rest week. haha. I was trying to think about the first time we did the rest week and remember what we did and how we did it. I guess that's why I have this blog, right?

I feel like i improved on the pushup running one. The plank/chattychonga run, where you're running in place in both of those positions. I was able to do 2 out of the 3 sets in the lower running stance, and all 3 in the upper stance. This takes a lot of shoulder strength too, and is a very difficult move. But being able to do it makes me feel really good. In fact, being able to do that one move makes me happy about this whole thing. Seeing the progress of being able to do something like that now. Great stuff.

The hardest part with this particular workout is remembering to keep your core tight and flexed. Otherwise you're not doing the correct moves. I caught myself a few times where I didn't have it flexed, so I would just slow down and make the correction.

Pictures are coming soon. I have no idea what day we're at now, but day 60 is approaching fast. :)

p90x - Start of week 8

We are officially more than 50% done with the program. Today we started week 8, which is the rest week again. Today was supposed to be yoga, but we swapped it out for cardio x instead. I don't think I can handle 2 days of yoga in 1 week.

It started out slow, doing yoga first. Just as I was starting to think...I don't remember this one going so slow last time...the tempo picked up. And man it picked up fast. For sure I was able to do more and do it better than the first time around. But holy crap this one kicks your butt. Good workout tonight. It's a good workout that goes by quickly, and you feel really good at the end.

Kinda crazy that already 2 months have passed. It goes quick. I weighed myself over the weekend and was at 173. So that's good. :)

p90x - update

I realized last night that I haven't blogged pretty much at all this week about our progress. We're on the last 'workout' week of phase 2. Next week is the resting week, which will bring back the core work and stuff like that. It's been fine this week. Nothing really changing. Still doing all the workouts and modifying where I need to.

Sorry for the boring update. I guess this week is the official half way week, since it is a 13 week program. I am very interested in seeing the day 60 pictures. Sometimes it's just hard to tell if you can't see it for yourself. For the 3rd straight day, I've been under 175 pounds. Even if it's just by a pound or two. :)

p90x - Pylo

So we're into week 7. Tonight was plyo again. There is nothing really new to report on. It's still an amazing workout and I feel great after its over. This week, I tried to do a little more. I tried doing more of the jumping stuff. My knees are still a little sore, but it has gotten better.

One new thing this week is that my wife let me wear her HRM. This is the first time that I have worn it since we started, so it was going to be nice to find out where I'm at. My numbers tonight were 641 calories burned. Average HR was 160. Max was 181. Total measured exercise time was just under 45 minutes. I didn't start the watch until after the warm up.

So that's all for now.

p90x - Start of week 7

We did it! We're half way through the program. I forgot to write about this weekend. Pretty much the same as the previous week. This one kills my shoulders. While the improvement from week 5 to week 7 is not as noticeable as week 1 to week 3, this second phase is much harder than the first phase. But, there is actually an improvement. The reps that I can do and the weight have both increased.

Not much else to report on. This is our final week of phase 2 before we do the rest week. I can't believe its already been 6 weeks since we started. It's going fast!

p90x - yoga. Oh...Yoga.

I think I've figured it out. Yoga is definitely not something for people with ADD. Now, I've never actually been clinically diagnosed with ADD, but it's there. haha. But I think that's it. I just don't have the attention to make it through. Especially when all the moves are pretty much the same thing, just getting there is slightly different. If I force myself to focus, I do fine. But I lose that focus really quickly. And that is horrible for yoga. With all the other workouts, we're doing something different within a minute or so. With yoga, it's the same cycle of chattanooga and the dog stuff and then the war poses.

I try. I really do try to stay focused and do it. And when I do, I really do get a good workout. I just lose focus so quickly. It's not my fault!! haha.

So, we only did half of the workout tonight. But it was the good half. The first half is all the war stuff and squats. The rest are all the crazy moves that only the pros can do. So at least we do that. I'm trying really hard to not swap out the yoga disk for the cardio disk, but I think it's coming. I'm trying to really make sure we make it through the first pass without subbing out a workout. And while the yoga day is almost like a rest day, I still feel like I want more of a workout. I just haven't got into it yet.

The good news is, we've almost completed week 6. And I can actually see some improvement in some of the moves. Like when you're in the downer dog and you have to bring a foot up to your hands. When we first started, I couldn't do that move. Now, I find that I can bring my foot all the way up on the first try. And all the warrior poses, I feel I can actually do them correctly now. So at least there is that. :)

p90x - Back and biceps

Not too much to write about tonight...it was back & biceps again. All the weight exercises I increased either my weight or my reps. But, I am in awe still at the number of pull ups these people can do. I struggle to get 5 with good form and no assistance. And those corn cob ones...forget about it. I did 3 tonight and thats with using a chair for assistance.

Like I said, I don't really have much else to write about tonight. It's a short post. It was still a good workout though. :)

P90x - plyo!

Plyo!!!!!!!

Man I love this workout. I haven't worked this hard on a workout...I think ever. We're on week 6. 6 times I've done this workout and each time it gets better. At this point, I don't even wear a shirt because I'm already sweating by then time the warmup is over.

So today, I was again plaited by my knee issues. They were definitely sore again today. Even with that, I got an amazing workout. I had to modify the jumping/switching parts, changing them into a step move. And the jumping ones, I had to brace my landings by trying to absorb more. Which means that I didn't do as many reps as I have done in the past. So in that regard, I kinda feel like I was a bit more of a failure tonight. I feel like I could have...or should have done more. But, bottom line is that I for sure feel like I got an amazing workout.

So that's all for tonight. Excuse any grammar or spelling errors. I am trying out out new iPad 2 and the typing isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

p90x - Chest, shoulders and triceps

WEEK 6!!!!

It's hard to believe that we're almost half way through the entire program. Time goes pretty quick. Tonight was Chest, shoulders and triceps again. I saw improvement across the board, but it is still really tough. But seeing the improvement in reps and weight, makes me feel great that we're progressing. I definitely feel like there is muscle improvement in the last two weeks, in my arms and shoulders.

I think that on Saturday we are going to try swapping out kenpo. We both feel that we need something a little more on Saturdays. We tried swapping kenpo with yoga and that didn't work out so well. So I think we're going to try cardio x instead. I know we're deviating from the plan, but that's okay. :)

Not too much else to post about tonight.

p90x - legs and back

Tonight was legs and back night. I've had good success with this day in the past, but tonight was really tough. I've had knee and ankle problems for pretty much my entire walking life. I have little cartilage in my ankles, and what I do have is very weak and littered with scar tissue. In high school, I started having tearing issues in my achilles tendon when I was doing track. I've done rehab to try and strengthen the ankles. I've done Graston Therapy to help break up my scar tissue in my knees and ankles. It has all helped a little, but I will always have problems.

Tonight was one of those nights where everything just flares up. So I really had to be careful and modify. There were some of the squats that I just skipped because the movements just wouldn't happen. And...my balance was ridiculous tonight. I couldn't balance for anything. I knew right away when I started feeling that tingling and warming sensation in my ankles that it was going to be a rough night.

I did all the pullups tonight. And I did squats whenever I could. But instead of doing the 25 reps that they were doing, I might have just done 5. It was rough though. Even still now...a few hours later, my knees are on fire. It's nothing out of the ordinary though, and all will be fine tomorrow. But it takes a lot out of me and I really feel like I didn't get that good of a workout. But at the same time, at least it was just legs and back. Nothing against this particular workout, but this one is one of the lower priority ones. But I do think that this will help with my strengthening. Maybe it is time to start my rehab program again.

p90x - yoga

I've always thought that I do really well managing my stress. I've never been one for conflict and I don't let the little things get to me. But, I have my days like everyone else. On those days, I find my peace when I see my wife. I see her and everything else doesn't matter and instantly goes away. My day is better. I give her a big hug and it all floats away. I have the most important thing to me in my arms, and that's what matters.

I start out with that because today was one of those days. It was a stressful day and on top of that traffic was so bad that it was taking about 1.5 hours to go about 8 miles. We were able to take back roads and avoid most of the traffic, so that made it better. But before she picked me up, I was thinking...lets put this yoga thing to the test. Can this stuff really make me calm down and feel relaxed?

Tonight was yoga. And I will admit, this was the first night where I actually felt like I was enjoying it. I felt calmer and had a little more patience. Granted, some of that calmness may have come from seeing my wife, but I really did try to concentrate on the yoga. The funny thing is, I started to get a little goofy with it and I was actually doing the moves better. haha. For instance, when we were in the warrior sequences I was making warrior noises. 'AhhWaaah' 'Keeeyah' At one point I think I was starting to sound like Bruce Lee. But then I started to notice that my form was actually really good. I was low in my squats and my hand placements were really good.

Now, there are A LOT of moves that I just can't do. Most of the ones where you have to stand on one leg for 8 minutes while doing all these other moves. But, they even said that they are advanced moves, so I don't feel quite as bad for not doing them. And the others were where I needed to straighten my legs. I don't know what it is about that, but I just can't straighten my legs like that.

So, we stopped with about 20 minutes left. We did all the main yoga stuff, but then it was getting into just stretches. Normally I think we would have finished but because we were both really hungry and it was getting later than normal (because of the traffic, we got home late). So we decided to call it a night from yoga for that. I can't do the crane and stuff like that anyway, so I was just sitting there.

But I still feel like we got a good workout in. We did all the big beginning stuff. Now, I don't doubt the mental and spiritual healing powers of yoga. I think if you have a committed mind, it is a very powerful exercise. Maybe that will come for me, but I don't quite feel like I am at that point yet. For me, it's still just a workout. But, we don't give up. :)

I gotta say though, so far I've not found anything that can match the healing powers of my wife. Having that connection with her is all I need to calm my mind and make my day complete.

p90x - back and biceps

Tonight was Back and Biceps. Holy crap, this was one heck of a workout. I tried to max out my weight, and tried to stick to 25# if I could. But there were a few exercises that I had to stick with 20#, especially near the end. There were A LOT of biceps moves. I can definitely feel the soreness coming already.

Oh, and the pull ups. I am by no means able to do the amount that they are able to in the films. And I'm pretty sure that my form is horrible, so I probably think I'm doing more than I really am. But there was one today called corn cob pull ups. You pull yourself up, and while still holding yourself up you pull your body to the right, then all the way to the left, then back to center. Then, go back away from the bar, then back to the bar, then down. I did 2. Barely. And with a chair. And then I look at the video and these guys are on 8 or 9 reps. Holy crap.

Anyway, I feel worn out tonight but in a good way. It was a good workout. Oh, and we also did ab ripper again. I feel like I am improving in this, but there is always room for more. Tomorrow is yoga. I'm trying to stay motivated for it, but it's tough. We'll see how it goes. :)

p90x - Plyometrics

Holy crap, I love this workout. Yes I said it, I love it. It is an intense workout and FANTASTIC! After feeling like a slacker last night, it is nice to get the intense workout feeling back. I am familiar with the workout so I knew where I was able to really step up. I lasted 15 minutes before I had to take off my shirt because I was too sweaty. lol.

I still have to modify some of the exercises, especially the jumping ones. There are some jump squats that because my knees are still a little weak, I don't want to jump too much and do more damage. That's not to say that I don't jump at all though. I do as much as I can and then continue with a step move until it's over. I usually try to do the jump move again for the last 5 seconds or so. I'm just always trying to do more, and there isn't a single exercise in this workout that I feel like I am doing the max that I can. There is no way that I am at more than 75% compared to what the instructors do. So I always know that this will be a workout that I will do, even if we complete the program and I just want to workout one day.

Like I said, I love this workout. :) Not a whole lot else to report on. This one will always be one that I improve on, and I love the idea of that.

Oh yah...we took Day 30 pictures tonight before the workout. Not a lot of visual changes yet. A little more definition in the arms area, and I feel like my stomach has gone down a little. I'm hoping that the 60 days will give me a little more visual change. So anyway, here we go.

Front view flexed.

Day 0



Day 30






Front view normal.

Day 0



Day 30






Side view

Day 0



Day 30

p90x - start of week 5

We did it! We made it through phase 1! We felt good finishing week 3 and made it through the 'rest' week feeling great. And then...SQUASH! Right when you think you're doing great it starts all over. That's the nature of the program though I suppose. Today was chest, shoulders and triceps. Now, we did a lot of chest and shoulder moves in the first phase. Or so I thought. Today was pretty much all pushups and triceps. There were some shoulder moves in there that we've seen before, and they are still hard. But tonight brought all new crazy exercises.

For example. There was one called floor flys. Imagine if you will a standard pushup. Under one hand, you have a piece of cardboard or something that will cause a slippery surface. From here, you slide your hand out to the side like controlling it like you're doing a push up. When you get down, you push yourself back up. But you keep your hand on the cardboard and slide your way back up. I did 2. That takes A LOT of strength and coordination and concentration to do these properly. It's going to take a while to get that one.

There were plenty of other tricep moves that were intense. I think I stuck at 10 pounds tonight for all the tricep moves. While 10# might be just a tad too light, 20# is just way too much and especially at the end of the workout I just fail trying to lift it. 15# would probably be ideal, but I don't have those. But...next week I am going to start out with 20# and do what I can and then switch to 10 if I need to.

Tomorrow brings 30 day pictures. I realize that I never posted day 0 pictures, but I'll have a comparison tomorrow. I don't think there will be much of a visual difference, but I can definitely feel it. I am down around 8-9 pounds, and I'm up to notch 4 on the belt instead of 3. :) So we'll just keep going!

p90x - Core work

Tonight was Core Synergistics again. That is one heck of a workout. We really worked hard today. I really tried hard to make sure that my stomach was flexed as much as possible. There are a few moves where that is hard to make happen. There was one move I remember that was plank to Chattahoochee running. So you stay in a pushup position and make a running motion. Then you have to get down in that Chimichanga pose and do the same run. The whole time, nothing is touching the floor except your feet and hands. That one is HARD, but I was able to do a few. Makes me feel good.

Nothing else really to report. It was a really good workout. There was a point where Kaitlyn had to take a phone call for work, so I kept going. When she came back, I rewound it and did it again. So there were a few parts that I did twice. It's okay though, it was worth it. :)

p90x - x stretch

Today was x stretch. Honestly...it was a much needed break. I have been really tired the last couple days. BUT. I was almost bored. I actually found myself wanting to skip it and put in something else. No sweating. No increased heart rate. It was just stretching. It definitely felt good and was needed, but I just felt like I was slacking.

There isn't really anything to write about tonight. It was kind of an uneventful night for the workouts. But, tomorrow brings back core synergistics, so that will make up for the slacking tonight. haha.

p90x - day Kenpo

I've totally lost track of what the days are now, so I'm just going to start putting the workouts that we did. Tonight was Kenpo. Nothing new here. We've done this workout already, so we knew what was going on. I've noticed a small increase in hip/knee pain, so I am trying to be careful with some of the kicks. But the punches and stuff, we really try to increase the intensity. It's still a great workout and definitely works up a sweat.

Aside from that, we've been having a discussion about the diet plan. We haven't been following it at all, and I'm wondering if that is really going to play a major factor. I know that in order to get the 'cut' definition and the 6-pack abs, the diet is going be 95% of it. I want those results, but I'm starting to wonder if our current diet just isn't going to be enough. As I've said before, we generally eat pretty healthy. For instance, tonight was a chicken breast, green beans and some risotto. For lunch I had a sandwich, an orange and a piece of string cheese. Unfortunately, I forgot to eat breakfast because I got busy at work. But usually I eat some granola.

Occasionally we'll eat something that might be processed...or might not be totally 'healthy' for us, but I think the good well outweighs the bad. I know that the diet plan is extreme. But, I'm thinking that we'll complete this first series without changing our eating...and see what results we get. I think we've both already decided that we're going to do at least a 2nd pass at this. We've got some trips planned that happen to fall shortly after the 1st pass, and shortly after the 2nd pass. So, if after this first time through I don't feel like I got enough of the results that I want...I will consider really changing my diet. I'll have to follow some other people's blog and see what they are doing for food. The hardest part for us is going to be planning it out for the week. But we'll tackle that when we come to it.

Core Synergistics

I am going to stop saying rest week. Tonight was hard, no doubt about it. In fact, tonight is the first time that I actually feel exhausted. For instance, the first time we did Plyo I definitely felt tired and had a great workout. But tonight I feel like I just don't have the energy to do anything. At the same time, I know we had a great workout.

So, tonight was the Core Synergistics workout. This is pretty much all core work...focusing from the hips to the chest. Being that this was the first time going through this workout, there were a few places that I struggled because we didn't know the moves or because they were just really hard. I did try really hard to make sure my core was engaged. That's going to help more, kinda like how I try to squeeze my butt when we do squats.

So anyway, the workout was hard. Some of the moves from yesterday...like Superman Banana. I don't think that will ever get easier. Oh, and the Dreya Roll. OMG, that is a difficult move. I just do not have the core strength to pop myself back up. I guess that's why we're doing this, right? Even when using my hands to help get myself back up, I just couldn't pop up like they were doing. So that is going to be a good place to improve.

I can definitely feel my core being a little sore already, which at least means I was flexing where I needed to. So that's good. The workouts for the rest of the week, we've already seen them so we at least will know the workouts. We do this workout again on Friday, so we'll see where I can improve.

Start of week 4 - Rest week.

Or so they say.

Today we started week 4. It was supposed to be Yoga, but we decided to switch it out for Cardio X. Neither of us have fully come around to yoga yet, and since it calls for yoga twice this week we figured we would substitute for one of the days. On our schedule, it would fall on Monday or Saturday. We decided to switch tonight so that we didn't have to spend 1.5 hours after work doing this. That way on Saturday, we can give the full attention.

So, we start up the disk. And the first 20 minutes are yoga. lol. I was starting to think that we should have just done the regular yoga disk. After doing 9000 warrior poses and upside down dogs and chattybang push-up things, it quickly changed. We were suddenly thrown into Kenpo. There were about 5 or 6 sets of moves that were used in the regular Kenpo workout. So at least we knew them already and could get through them. I went at a slightly faster pace then they were going, which resulted in me doing 1 or 2 extra moves. I really wanted to make sure I was increasing my intensity, especially since this was going to be our rest week and since the first 20 minutes wasn't really giving me a workout yet. I thought this was supposed to be Cardio X!

As quick as we started Kenpo, it was over. Into Plyometrics. Again, the moves were taken fro the regular Plyo workout. I already knew where I could increase, and I did. I was quickly starting to think that I maybe should have taken it a little easier on Kenpo. This was the highest my HR was the whole workout. When we were finished with the plyo part, I was quickly trying to take my pulse. I was at about a 45 count in 15 seconds...I think. I lost count because it was going quick.

Did I mention that we haven't had a break yet? Usually in the workouts there will be a quick break to stretch or get some water. Of course we can always pause it if we want, but we try really hard to only break when the queues come up. Aside from a quick pause due to something in my shoe stabbing my toe, we didn't break at all. After Plyo was a group of random stuff that we haven't encountered before. I have a feeling they will show up on the Core Synergistics disk tomorrow. It was definitely core work. Running squats. You basically run in place while in a squat. Then there was this...roll...thing. You stand straight and bend at your knees and fall backwards and roll up onto your shoulders. Your feet come up and you try to touch your toes. Then you roll back up into a standing position. This was HARD. It is amazing how much strength you need to stand yourself back up without using your hands. Even using my hands I could barely stand back up.

Then finally. The Superman Banana. It is as ridiculous as it sounds, but wow what a workout. You lie on your stomach and raise your arms and legs, so essentially just your abdomen is touching the ground. Then, without using your hands or legs, you just roll over. Keeping your legs and arms off the ground the whole time. Now you're on your back with your legs and arms up. Oh, time to roll over again...of course, without using your hands or legs. Do this for a minute at random intervals. And thus ends Cardio X. I take back every thing I said or doubted in this disk. It is a GREAT workout. Highly recommend. Would use again. A++++++++++++++. (oh wait, wrong site).

All in all, a great workout. Tomorrow bring Core Synergistics...I think. I've yet to do this one so far, so it'll be a new learning curve. But I must say...I am actually excited to see what it'll bring for us.

End of week 3

I was so bad about writing last week. So I am going to cram 4 days of workouts here.

So Wednesday was Shoulders and Arms. This is the last week we are doing these routines, so I was trying to make sure to really...well...bring it. I increased my weight as much as I could. Since I forgot to write about it that night (and same goes for all the workouts), I've kinda forgot all the cool stuff that I might have done.

Thursday was yoga. I gotta say, this is going to be a tough one for me. Not so much because of the actual workout, but because I apparently have zero balance. So I fall...a lot. I really try to not let it bother me. This week I really tried to focus on doing the moves correctly, but man...these are hard.

Friday was Chest and Back. Again like all the other weights workouts, I just really tried to push myself to use bigger weights. Saturday was Kenpo. This one is strange. It's a good workout, but it is one of the few that when it is done, I feel like I didn't do enough, but I also don't feel like I could have done more.

Next week starts the 'rest' week. I think that just means there is no weights. The week calls for 2 rounds of yoga, two of this core synergistics (not sure what is involved there). Since yoga will fall on Monday and Saturday, we're going to swap the Monday yoga with the Cardio X. Yoga is 1.5 hours long, and we get home around 6:30 on the weekdays. So we'd rather spend the full time on Saturday doing the yoga. So hopefully it will be a good move.

I'll try to be better about writing this week.

p90x - Day....16?

I've lost track of what day it is. Yesterday was week 3 day 2. Plyometrics. Again. To keep in form with Monday, I really tried to do well in all the moves. Quality over quantity. I made sure to emphasize the stretches in the squats.

I haven't worked out this hard in a long time. At about half way I had to take my shirt off because it was just sticking to me. Also at one point, I felt like I was going to puke. But I worked through it. I still had to modify some of the squats. Especially the jumping ones like the jack squats or the Mary Catherines. (Superstar!) But where I modified I made sure that I was at least working harder. Instead of jumping around and doing the squats, I stepped into in but made sure my form was great and that I was flexing the muscles that I needed to. Just because you modify something to be 'easier' doesn't mean that it has to be less of a workout. In fact, I was going crazy at the standing military march. This exercise is basically walking in place, alternating raising the opposite foot and hand, as a military person might exaggeratedly march. Super low impact, but when you concentrate on the movement it really gets your heart going.

I wasn't wearing a HRM, so I am not 100% sure what my number were. At the end of the whole workout, I took a standing heart rate. I was at 60 beats in 20 seconds. ~180 bpm. And the last 4 exercises aren't even as high of an impact or as high in cardio as some of the other ones. I am pretty sure that my max was over 200. Not really sure if that is a good thing or not, but I survived. All in all, it was a great workout. Being able to looks back at the first day I did this and now, I can definitely see an improvement. Even though there isn't really any visible changes in my body, I can feel that I am trying harder and doing more now than I was. And that just increases my desire to do more.

As I have done even before starting this, I weight myself every morning. Before starting, I was regularly between 180 and 185. I would fluctuate a pound here and there, but I was always in that range. For the last week, I have been under 180 every time I have weighed myself. This morning I was at 175. I'm not doing this to lose weight, but that will be one of the results of doing this. I actually expect to come out of this right around my current weight, as I would expect to put on more muscle as my weight limit increases on some of these exercises.

I feel great. Not just because of the workout, but because of the accomplishment of knowing that we're actually completing the workouts. And we've gone this far. I must say, having someone to do this with makes it a lot better. Especially when both people have the same drive and determination to do everything they can with this and make it worth it.

p90x - Start of week 3

I forgot to post about the end of week 2. kenpo. For some reason I felt like I didn't work as hard on Saturday. It kinda got me down because I feel like I failed that day. My heart rate was lower than the week before. I guess that just means i need to step it up next time. Sunday was our rest day.

Today was Chest and Back and Ab ripper. When looking at my reps this week, they were lower than the previous two weeks. However, I think this is because I was really trying to concentrate on my form. Just because I write down 15 pull-ups, doesn't really mean that I did 15 GOOD pull-ups. So almost across the board on my pull-ups and push-ups, they were lower than previously. But, I feel good about it. I definitely feel it in my shoulders, and we going until I failed (which on average was around 8 reps). On the couple of exercises that required weights, I doubled up. Since the highest I have right now is 20, i held a 20 and a 10 in one hand. Luckily the exercise was only one arm at a time.

Ab ripper is still amazing. Looking back at the first week, I notice that the pain in my lower back on the first few moves has lessened. Which is good. For some reason today, my hips were really hurting. Which is odd because there aren't really any movements that require my hips. I think it might have come from the push-ups though, since I was really working on my form I might have stressed on my hips a little too much. Hopefully I'll see an improvement there. We don't do this chest and back routine until week 9 again, so that is where we'll really see if there is any improvement.

p90x - Day 11 and 12

Day 11 brought yoga. I'm still not sold on this. It's okay though, I'll come around. I still do it. I'm pretty sure we're going to split up week 4, when it calls for yoga twice that week. We're going to swap it out. I think I figured out why though. It starts out strong, and you really do get a good sweat. Then it goes into the balance moves. And you start to cool down. Finally is...what I call the mind moves. More stretching. So at this point there is limited sweating.

I think that I still feel like in order for it to be considered a workout, I need to sweat. And when I don't, I feel like I am not working hard enough and then I get bored and want to stop. I think I just need to work on realizing the whole point of yoga. I think it will be fine.

Tonight was legs and back. This workout seemed much harder than last week. I think we stepped up this week. I was really trying to focus on doing the squats better and do the pullups better. Near the end I felt myself slipping a lot, but I really tried to fight for better form. Then it was ab ripper again. We do this three times a week. It is actually starting to get a bit easier, in that I feel like I can do all moves with the people. Don't get me wrong, it's still really difficult. But now I am trying to concentrate on engaging my stomach and putting more on my abs to do the work. Hopefully it continues to get better. Tomorrow is Kenpo again. Should be good.

p90x - day 9 & 10

I forgot to write about Plyometrics last night. Holy crap, that is a killer. I do feel like I worked harder this week than last, so that's good. But man, that is one intense workout. I tried to concentrate on doing better squats and lunges, two things that have been my downfall in the past. It's an awesome feeling though when we finish it, which makes it totally worth it.

Tonight was shoulders and arms again. Remember the 20# weights I got last weekend? It was time to use them. And oh my goodness I was ambitious. I tried to stick with the 20# weights for as much as I could. I had to go back to 10# for some of the shoulder lifts. But otherwise I really tried to stick with the 20#. I was failing somewhere around 10 reps, so I feel like I improved. Last week I was able to be in the 15 range for a lot of them without really feeling pressed.

I am hoping that the 20# will at least last me another couple of weeks, but I have a feeling that it will quickly become too little for some of these workouts. That's when I'll have to decide to move up again. Time to keep checking yard sales and clearance stores. (Like where I found my 20# weight for $20).

It was a good workout night tonight. Tomorrow is yoga, so I'm hoping that it will be nice to do some stretching a bit, but it definitely won't be a resting night.

p90x - Start of week 2

We started week 2 last night. Pullups and pushups again. I moved up to 20# for the shoulder exercises. Comparing my numbers from last week, there are a few that I did less, and a few that I did more.

AB ripper was crazy again. I definitely feel sore.

I don't really have a lot to say about it this time. We'll just keep on going. :)

p90x - Day 5 and 6 (and 7)

I totally forgot to write about this weekend.

So Friday night was another weights day. Legs and Back, and then ab ripper. A LOT of squats. holy crap. My knees are still pretty weak, so I had to modify the workouts a lot. This is really going to be my hardest part to improve on. I have to break the idea in my head that I can't do that exercise because of my knees. So that will be my challenge through this.

Saturday was Kenpo. That was fun, and quite the workout. I enjoyed that. It's basically kickboxing. I am not very good with some of the kicks, so that will be my improvement area for that workout.

Sunday was rest day. But I went out and got a set of 20# weights. I found one on clearance for $20, but had to buy another one at full price. That puts our weight sets at 5#, 10#, and 20#. Monday starts the whole thing over again, so we'll see if there is any improvement.

p90x Day 4 - Yoga!

I have always thought that yoga was a waste of time and only done by hippies.

Oooooohhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

So, today's workout was yoga. I'm not totally sold on it yet, however I was often surprised at just how hard some of these poses are. There were some times where I was sweating more than I was during the Plyometrics day. And then other times where I felt bored. The whole workout was about 90 minutes which when it started seemed like WAY too long for a bunch of stretches. But it actually went relatively quick.

There is a lot of balance involved in yoga that I didn't realize was needed. There were some poses that I just couldn't maintain. Either I just lost my balance, or because I couldn't hold the pose for that long. Some of the stretches really felt good though. The thing with this is that I can't quite see where the improvement will be. With the other exercises, I can see where I can improve the weights or do more reps. But with yoga...what do I do? Stretch straighter? Stretch longer?

There was a couple poses though that are quite impressive that they were able to hold that long. Like the crane. You've probably seen it. You put your hand on the ground and tuck your knees at your elbows, and then lift your feet off the ground. That one takes a lot more strength I think. And the bridge. I can actually do it without any problems, but I can't hold it for that long because my wrists fail after about 10 seconds. These guys were holding it for like 30 or 40 seconds. Crazy.

Anyway, That's yoga. It's tough to not stop the video at the boring parts. Luckily as soon as it starts getting boring, they throw in a new part that takes more energy. Overall, it was a good calming workout.

p90x Day 3

Day 3! Tonight was shoulders and arms, and ab ripper. I used 10# weights for the whole thing. 10# was a perfect amount for the shoulder and triceps exercises. But it wasn't enough for the bicep workouts. I will probably go buy some 15# for the next time it comes around. Eventually I'll probably need to just buy a whole set, but a little at a time. I struggled most with the shoulder stuff. Flys, etc. That takes some work. Triceps I did okay. Biceps I breezed through so i tried to modify them a bit. I would try to go a little slower and flex at the end. Or I did more if I could.

Ab ripper is a crazy workout. I couldn't do all 25 reps for any of the workouts. Some of them are just hard, others were easy but i just ran out of gas. There are a few the require you to raise your legs, and I don't know if I am just doing it wrong or if I just have a weak back, but my lower back was on fire during these ones. I think I just need to strengthen that area, so hopefully it'll get better.

That's all for tonight.

p90x day 2

Today was day 2. Plyometrics. All I can say is oh my gosh. Lets start with results from yesterday. My upper back is a bit sore from some of the workouts. If I move certain ways, then I can feel different parts of my body that are sore. That said, I've been in FAR worse pain before when it comes to working out. This pain is manageable, which really only tells me that I can press harder.

So as I said today was Ploymetrics. The p90x plyometrics is basically an hour of squats and jumps and stuff...and then occasionally the guy comes out of the TV and kicks you in the balls. This one was definitely tough. We made it through, but half way I was already getting that 'I'm gonna vomit soon' feeling, but I was able to push through it. I definitely had to modify most of the workouts. I still have caution about knee problems that I've had in the past, so I didn't want to press too hard too early.

But I can for sure see where the improvement is available in these workouts. It is going to be very easy to be able to increase the intensity. Even something as simple as raising your arms over your head during some of workouts makes it tougher. So I'm excited to be able to do that. As I said, it was mostly squats tonight, and I modified them to some extent. There were some that involved some jumping, and I modified those by stepping into the squats instead of jumping. I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to do those the way they were intended.

Again though, it feels so good to be working out again.

P90x Day 1

My wife and I decided to finally start p90x this week. I decided tonight to write about our progress.

So here are my beginning stats. Weight is 180. Body fat percentage (taken from the scale that supposedly can calculate it) is 21.5%. Chest is 40". Waist is 38". Hips are 38.5". Right and left Thigh each 23.25". Right arm (measured at bicep, flexed) 13.75". Left arm (measured same as right) 13.5".

So the first day is Chest & back, and then ab-ripper. Chest and back is basically an hour of push-ups and pull ups. There was a few "rowing" type moves that involved the weights as well, mostly used for the back. Ab ripper...ugh. That is an intense workout, and it's only 15 minutes long. They said there are ~340 individual moves that work your abs in that 15 minutes.

All in all, it's a great workout. I'm excited to be working out again, and I am really hoping that this will give us some great results. From what I've heard, it really will. Even without doing the diet. We decided to not really follow the diet plan. We're both not really going for weight loss, more for toning up. That's not to say I'm going to just eat ice cream every night. We're already eating relatively healthy, so there won't be too much in the change of diet.

I'll try to update this each day with the workout results.