Exercise...To the extreme

I rock a mic like a vandal. Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle.

What a dumb song.

Quick one tonight.  I didn't get a chance to work out this morning.  We had errands to run and swim class this afternoon.  The classes were a half hour behind schedule.  When out class finally started, no one had shown up for the next class so we just kept going until the next one.  Bonus!

When we got home, I had tried to convince myself that the swim class was a good enough workout for today.  But considering my daughter is only 15 months old and we don't really do a lot of actual swimming, I decided to suck it up and just do a workout tonight.

This last week I've been doing p90x.  It's a good and very challenging program, but I feel like it just isn't giving me the workout I really want.  The weights are good, and i push myself with the weight level, but I was a good workout.  So, in all my infinite wisdom I decided that I will switch it up tonight and start Insanity.

Now, if you're unfamiliar with Insanity...it is a pure cardio program.  High intensity, long interval training.  It incorporates some muscle toning routines...like pushups and stuff.  But there are no weights.  Here is a promo video of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W-aNTrq_a4

It truly does kick your butt. It's such a good workout though, and exactly what I wanted.  I'll admit that I took more breaks than they did, but I pushed through and did what I could.  I remember the first time we did this one, and I seriously felt like I was going to puke half way through it...and we had already finished p90x.  Tonight I felt the same.  I know I wasn't pushing as hard as the first time though.

I think I am going to stick with Insanity for this week.  I might switch the two programs weekly.  Do weights one week, do intense cardio the next.  I think that will be a good break up in the intensity while also switching up the muscles.

That's all for tonight.  Go Seahawks!

p90x update - Day 3 and 4

So I started p90x on Tuesday.  So far it's been 2 days of weights and one day of cardio.  Tomorrow is yoga.  I hate yoga.  I don't have the attention span for it.  I barely have the attention span to read my email.  And, this workout is 90 minutes long.  I remember from the last time that we didn't like it, but we struggled through it.  I'll still do it though.

I do feel like I'm not getting enough of a workout with it though.  The weights are fine, and it's really hard.  But sometimes I feel like if I'm not dripping with sweat then I'm not doing enough.  Lifting weights just doesn't generate that much.  I will keep at it though, but I'm contemplating switching over to the Insanity program and just doing cardio.

Today was our Microsoft company meeting at the Key Arena.  It was scheduled to go from 10-4.  So I spend the last week planning out my bus route to and from and the best options that I could find.  I've been told that I'm slightly O.C.D. about stuff like that.  haha.  So of course, the meeting runs an hour long.  I didn't plan for the meeting to go an hour long, so I don't know when the next buses run.  I do know that my regular bus runs every half hour between 4 and 5:30, plus one extra at 5:15.  I also know all the stops it makes.

Steve Ballmer wraps up and I make a bee-line to the door.  I had been looking on my phone for the best route to get from the Key Arena to 2nd Ave and Bell St.  It doesn't look that far away.  (Famous last words).  My normal walk from my office to the bus stop is about 6 blocks.  This is more, but it doesn't look like much more.

I leave the Key Arena at 5:04pm and the schedule online for my bus says it will be at 2nd and Pike at 5:17pm.  Pike street is 7 blocks away from Bell street, and if there is no traffic or lights it take about 3.5 minutes to get there.  I estimate the bus will be at 2nd and Bell by 5:15pm.

I get to the monorail station at 5:06pm and realize the only way I will get there is by running.  I definitely wore the wrong pants for this, but at least I don't have a bag to carry today.  So I run.  Less than 10 minutes to get there.  This is MUCH further than I had anticipated.  The combination of nice pants, dress shoes and a sweater is not a good one for running.

As you can see in the picture below, it is not close.  I know where the first stop is for the bus, at 7th and Bell street.  Due to construction, they have to make a detour off of Bell st and go down Wall street to 2nd, then up to Bell.  By the time I run through 3 don't walk signs I make it to 2nd and Wall and I see the bus coming.  It's 5:15pm.  I dig out whatever I have left and try to run more.  Somehow I manage to make it to the bus stop and as I turn around the bus is pulling over to pick us up.

 

 

 

As I'm standing there ready to puke all over the sidewalk like the crackie that I just ran past, the driver opens the door with a smile.  I somehow manage to ooze my way up the steps.  In all my wheezing and coughing, she probably thought I was dying from some Ebola virus.  No one sat next to me, which isn't surprising since I was shivering from the cold but in an all out sweat. 

 

I am not in shape to be running like that.  I am glad that I managed to catch the bus.  But I really need to keep at my exercises.  And as much as felt like Mr. Freeze stabbing me in the lungs, I loved it.  It was a good workout and really amps me up to keep at it.

That's all for now.  I don't think I'll be doing daily posts, but I'll check in often.

p90x redux.

I was thinking about the last time that actually exercised.  My daughter is 15 months old now, and I stopped exercising after my wife was pregnant.  It's been about 2 years since I actually did any sort of physical work.  Unless you count running about a mile to the bus stop to catch the bus, and then trying to convince myself to not vomit the whole way home or die from hyperventilation.  Oh there was another time about a year ago that can only be classified as a brisk walk, which resulted in cramps by the time I got to the bus, and stabbing cold pains in my chest.

I am out of shape.  No doubt about it.  The first time I did p90x, I saw pretty good results.  After we completed that program, we moved to Insanity.  Two very different programs, but I feel p90x is a good stepping boulder to getting back into exercise.  In fact, you can see my original posts somewhere on this blog.  So tomorrow morning I start it up again.

My vitals are about the same as the first time.  ~190 pounds depending on how much ice cream I've eaten in the last n hours.  Being 5'8" ish, most scales say my ideal weight should be 160.  I don't think that is where I want to be, but my goal out of this is to lose 25 pounds.

My diet has already changed mostly due to gluten allergies.  But I am going further and really doing a better diet.  No slipping or cheats (once I finish all the 'bad' foods that I currently have).  But there are a lot of things that I can give up now.  Soda, which I don't really drink now anyway.  Coffee, various snacks, etc.

I don't know if I will post every day again like I did.  My previous posts were done as more of a review on the actual program.  But I will probably have some random things to say about it, so i'll post them here.  Unless anyone is interested in some details on the program.  Let me know and i'll write it up.

I took pictures but I'm not going to post them yet.  I'll probably do a before/after when I'm done.  Plus, I take stupid pictures.