He's Back....

Dahhhh, da da da da da da dahhhhhhh, da dah

Don't you just love Thin Lizzy!  I mean an Irish Hard rock band from the 70's with a black guy as lead singer?  You can't make it up!  

First of all, thanks for all the emails wondering when my blog would get updated.  I really didn't think people were reading it, let alone checking it on a daily basis for updates!  Thanks, but the hard part about a blog and doing it daily is writing about working out gets boring...really boring.  I've got to change it up a bit, which is what I'm doing today.

Second of all, not to be racist, but I didn't know Ireland even had black people let alone when you look at the music landscape of the 70's, to have a minority as your lead singer was really revolutionary.  Outside of the master himself, Jimmy Hendrix, and Parliament with George Clinton, rock music was dominated by white musicians and especially white lead singers.

Look at some of the top bands from the era and you have a predominantly pale skinned.

Aerosmith, AC/DC, Bad Company, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Guess Who, Jethro Tull, KISS, Moody Blues, etc.  On top of that, you put a black lead singer out there who jams and sounds white is awesome.  "Black" music during the 70's was going towards two and a half genres, Motown, Disco, and early forms of Rap/Hip Hop.

If I were to play you this and then this classic 99.9% of you would say the black lead singer was for KC and the Sunshine and not Thin Lizzy.  Amazing!  Not that blacks couldn't rock out, but taking all things into consideration about the era and landscape of the music industry and it's pretty amazing.

Another topic I'd like to talk about is the Discovery Channel.  The Discovery Channel is the best television you can watch with HBO's original programing coming in a distant second now that The Wire is over.  There are so many awesome, informative, educational shows on the Discovery Channel I can't stop complimenting it.

Deadliest Catch, Man Vs. Wild, Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Survivorman, Planet Earth, The Alaska Experiment, etc.  The list is endless and they're all awesome shows.  So Dan and I had a brief discussion about two of my favorite shows, The Deadliest Catch and The Alaska Experiment.  As cool as it would be to say you were a crap fisherman, we both admitted there's not a chance in the world we could be a greenhorn on the Cornelia Marie or Northwestern.  1) I get sea sick in the bath tub and couldn't handle 25 foot swells, and 2) Dan can't go more than 2 hours without a meal.  The simple fact those guys will grind at times for 40 hours a shot is crazy.  I don't care how much money you make in that short of time, we couldn't do it.  Our hats go off to them.

For those of you who haven't stumbled upon The Alaska Experiment, the premise is they took 4 groups of people and stuck them in the middle of Alaska for the winter and said survive.  They have medical specialists taking in their vitals and making sure they're not near death, but other than that, they are in 3 thin wood cabins and 1 canvas tent.  They have to gather food for the winter, wood, water and while battling bears, wolves, and the elements.  Roughing it at it's best and I would LOVE to be a part of it.

Many people would probably say I'd be the first one to be dead, which Dan leaned towards, but I really think I would do as good if not better than the schmucks they have up there.  There's a couple that's been dating for a few months (he's a contractor and she's an adventure racer, whatever that is), a dad with his 2 lazy overweight daughters, a three-some of computer techies and a real estate person, and another group that I can't remember what they do.  Basically normal everyday people with little camping skills.

Now I'm not saying I'm Grizzly Adams, but I really think I'd do well on the show and like roughing it for that long.  This show sucked me in for 2 reasons.  1) to see how each group is approaching survival and what they're doing, and 2) I like to laugh at how dumb they are.  Some of their decisions made by these people, only idiots would make.  There's really too many to list, but I'm saying out of their top 50 dumbest things to do in that situation, 45 of them I wouldn't of considered.  

Basically when it comes to survival and using common sense to stay alive, I feel I'm in the Top 1% in the nation (The new poll came out Sunday and I was still in the Top 15 in the country).  I can suck it up with the best of them while keeping my wits.  Example, you're in Alaska for the winter reliant on some peanut butter, potatoes, and a few other food to get you through the first few weeks and the dad and his lazy fat daughters are eating like it's the last supper.  Ya-hello, don't assume you're going to catch salmon and shoot a moose every time you go hunting or fishing!!!  Then there's the group who couldn't figure out how to can fish so they only had like 12 jars of salmon.  They were also so genius instead of using polls and bait to fish, they thought it would be to use their hands.  Then there was the 3-some party who to celebrate their shooting of a goat, which would give them enough meat for most of the winter, decided to hike 40 miles to another group to say "hi", grossly misjudging the amount of time it would take and they had a 8 day hike back to camp without any food!!!  Honestly, nobody deserves to die, except child abusers and rapists, but some people beg for death with some of the decisions they make in life.  Not just on the show, but in life in general.  Like the guy dodging 6 lanes of freeway traffic today on The 60 in Mesa.  Something fell out of his truck that he had to have and he was dodging 6 lanes of traffic going 75 mph like he was frogger.  Or bomb squad guys, you're just asking for it.

Anyway, after my 2 day lifting layoff, my shoulder seems to be in good shape and I'm back to lifting starting on Tuesday.  After a few straight days of stretching, kenpo, yoga, and cardio, I'm ready to get started again with the lifting and actually looking forward to it.

I've compromised the 90 days of P90X, but to a certain extent, it's hard to devote 7 days a week to this.  My schedule just isn't conducive to it and I don't even do much.  However, I was able to keep working out and I've lost a few more pounds.  Last weigh in I was at 182,  so 2 more pounds I've shed for a total of 14 in 2 and a half weeks.  Not bad.  The only thing that's weird is it's hard to see where I've lost it.  I still have a little Buddha, but I guess so far I've just gotten lean and lost a lot of water weight, but 14 pounds of water weight isn't possible, so I must be losing somewhere.

Back at it tomorrow... 

Day 14 and Day 15

To sum up the past two days click here...

Sunday (Day 14) was a rest day, but I actually did some light lifting and stretching.  I was feeling good about my 77 on the golf course the day before so I was ready to do a little outside the P90X workout schedule.  So that's what I did.

Monday (Day 15) didn't go so well.  Today for the first time in these two and half weeks I decided to up my weight on some dumbbell work.  This was also the first time I didn't bother to do the complete "warmup" before working out.  So as I proceeded to start I felt a nice "pop" in my left shoulder. When I say "pop," the dumbbell pretty much fell immediately on the floor.  Not good times...

So I waited for awhile to see if it was just a tweak or if I really did something.  I cut the weight in half and tried to lift a 20 pounder and it fell on my foot.  So my arm is stiff as my back right now as I type this and it looks like I may have done something to postpone P90X for a few days. If I was a pitcher, I think I'd be day-to-day for right now, but I could be looking at a stint on the 15-day DL with at least a minor league rehab start.  That means I'm looking at a week full of cardio.  YES!

Day 13 - Hi-ya!

This morning was one day where I was at least able to stay on schedule.  Kenpo was today, this morning really as I had a tee time for 11:30.

I did some research on kenpo last night and found out it's kinda a hybrid of martial arts. Naturally, it derives from one American's interpretation of a bunch of styles.  Definitely not hard core martial arts, but kinda a introduction.  

ANYWAY, Dan didn't want to participate today and I knew I'd be too tired to do it later in the day so I woke up at 7, ate breakfast, and did kenpo by myself.  Today was a breeze and I dominated it, until I tweaked a hammy on a back kick that I executed wrong because I was getting tired.  Stupid back kick, nobody uses them anyway.  If I'm in a fight with against 2 other people...wait, if I'm ever in a fight at this point in my life it's a free for all at the Blue Goose and there's going to be about 5 or 6 of my buddies there.  It's not ever going to be 2 against 1.  I doubt I'd succumb to an 2 attackers at this point in my life either.

But the real reason I'm writing tonight.  Last time I golfed was a few weeks ago and boy was it brutal.  For some reason I couldn't execute anything.  Today i was hoping just to shoot under 90 in the 100 degree heat with Jarod and Dan.  Well I shot 77!  The big thing is I had more flexibility and was able to finish my swing.  

(Side note:  As I'm typing this I'm watching Evan Almighty.  Awful.)

My point is I can make an honest assessment and say even thought I hate the Yoga and some of the other things, it's helping a great deal.  Now I had a buddy ask me about the program and I will say this.  It's tough to commit to 60-90 minutes a day, 7 days a week.  I'm almost through 2 weeks and I'm already compromising the workout.  However I definitely think it's something I'll be able to continue as I go back to Minnesota this summer.  I may not look like they do in the DVD, but I should be able to continue with the majority of it through the full 90 days. 

Day 12 - More Blunders

Day 12 was going to be cardio since I've put that off.  You'd think that with 7 days and 7 programs it'd be easy to stay on schedule.  But the lesson to be learned here, is as always, I'm an idiot.

We were off so regardless of the schedule we hadn't done cardio yet so cardio it was going to be.  I chose to ride bike for a paltry 3.5 miles and then do the elliptical for 20 minutes, or was it 15?  I think it was just over 15 and then did a light ab workout.  I don't understand why it's so hard to stay on a 7 day schedule but it is.

I also have nothing else to write so this is it.  I figure you can tell what my eating routine is by now.  It's probably better if I post either a recipe or write about when I cheat.

Day 11 - Yoga X

To get you in the mood...

Ya, didn't work really well for me either.  Here's the thing about 90 minutes of Yoga...it sucks! Yoga isn't all that fun when you suck at it.  I'm getting more flexible, but I still can't do a lot of it and I'm too impatient to bare down and stick with it, which is obviously what I should do.  Now that I'm seeing results all I really want to do is continue working my arms and abs.

Speaking of abs, Dan and I made it through about 1/2 the Yoga DVD before I gave up on the balancing crap and Dan just got flat out bored.  So we did ab ripper today.  My biggest problem area is my stomach and love handles or as the ladies like to call it, "The Buddha".  

The Buddha is really my friend and has been by my side, front really, for quite some time and I've grown pretty attached to him.  I guess you could say he's really attached to me, but I've neglected him for awhile and he just doesn't want to go away.  I can't blame him, I'm a pretty good host, like to have a good time and keep it real.  But, if I really want him to go I'm going to have to do some intense work in that area.

On a positive note, I managed to avoid Micky D's pre and post 10:30 for their free food.  I felt like crap and a little guilty after eating In N'Out last night and realized The Buddha isn't going anywhere as long as I stay on that road Thanks Terra for your voice constantly going off in my head).  Although I have caught her in the act before so she's not all innocent!!!  

I realized I need to add some new pictures to the blog so look for that soon.  Also, I don't know how I failed to link the P90X site, but here it is for those want to read more on it.

Free Food Thursday

Here's my PSA for the day.

Free food on Thursday the 15th.  Good news for all the Beckerites.

At Micky D's purchase any medium or large drink between 7am and 10:30am and get a free southern style Chicken Biscuit.  From 10:30am to 7pm get a free southern style chicken sandwich.

Obviously the key is to get there at 10:28 and get the biscuit with an OJ, and then hit the drive thru and get a soda and chicken sandwich.  You've got breakfast and lunch rapped up right there!

Also, for those next to a Dunkin Doughnuts, one free small 16 oz iced coffee per person with from 10am to 10pm with any purchase.

Happy Day!!!

Day 10 - Bi's, Tri's, and Shoulders

I was soooooo hoping David Archuleta would lose just for crying on his homecoming visit (I want to slap that stupid perma-grin on his face!  I hope when he loses next week his dad rushes the stage and beats him with a cane!  Not really, but you know what I mean).  If David Cook doesn't win, for the second year in a row it's rigged...just like the NBA playoffs.

"The first week's the toughest, no doubt about it.  They march you in naked as the day your were born, muscles burning, lungs burning, and half blind because you have close your eyes because of the pain, and when they put you in that weight room, when those doors slam home, that's when you know it's for real."

It took me that first week to realize it was for real and I was actually making a commitment to something other than reality T.V. and keeping up my Facebook page.  Having skipped yesterday because of errands and ineptitude at the bank I was ready to go today.

A lot of curls and presses today, but it went great and I had a very good day.  The soreness is pretty much gone, but it's enough muscle fatigue to remind you that you're doing something.  In other words, I'm no longer scared for my golf tournament Monday and that I won't be able to swing a club because I'm so stiff.  The yoga and stretching is helping, I can tell, especially in my neck and shoulders, they're getting looser.  I may even be able to get my golf club shaft perpendicular to the ground next week!

Dan and I realized a few things today.  I just realized also that Dan and I sound like a gay couple on this blog.  For those of you who don't know, Dan is my assistant basketball coach and professional bodybuilder.  For those who have never met Dan, he reminds me of this guy.  In all reality, Dan's a great guy, we're not gay, and he's not a bodybuilder.

What I realized today was why douche's like to look at themselves in a mirror when they lift. While Dan was commenting on how funny his head looked in the mirror, I caught myself glancing at myself and (insert Ron Burgandy voice here) being quite impressed with myself because I do a thousand curls everyday.  You've had to have seen Anchorman (fast forward to 5:40 mark) to know what I'm talking about.  I saw veins I've never seen before and I actually caught a brief glimpse of something called muscle definition in my shoulders.  I had to look that up, but I'm pretty sure that's what it's called.  Dan also said I close my eyes when I lift and when I'm getting tired they're completely closed...I told him my eyes weren't closed, it was just that I'm Asian and he was looking at me in a mirror.

A second thing I noticed today was either I put too much deodorant on or the deodorant I wear really works.  I prefer to use the stick kind, but when I do curls and keep my elbows in, my armpits stick to my sides and it chafes bad.  It's like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together under my arms.  It may sound insignificant, but it's my biggest obstacle right now, that and doing close grip pullups.

Anyway, tomorrow is definitely a cardio day.  I really have to push it.  Only a few weeks until the end of the month and my love handles aren't going away.  Also, I totally caved in tonight and on the way home from the mall I stopped here, probably my favorite establishments (Terra and Jarod probably won't even have to click on the link).  Ooops.

Day 9 - Cardio

Sorry I'm late with my Day 9 post.  I got a few emails todays asking where it was.  I didn't know people were actually reading this and I also got a little flak for it not being as humorous as my early posts.  I'll work on that.

Today I ran and ran and ran and ran some more.  Honestly I was supposed to do a cardio workout today instead of the plyo workout so I did some running.

I ran to the bank...

I ran to the Walmart...

and finally I ran home to catch the final performances for American Idol...

The bank took about two hours because I have to take this stupid class for school.  Blaaah!

Tomorrow I'll be back in the flow, I promise.

Day 8

Remember when I said I wasn't real good at reading directions first and have a tendency to jump into things?  Well, seems I found another little mistake with P90X and need to figure out a solution soon.

Dan had told me Day 7 was a day of rest.  Honestly, after a grueling week my body needed it, but as I was reading the book to plan my week out, I realized I was supposed to be doing a core workout, which is something I really need.   However, Dan couldn't find the DVD after I asked him about it so we started over with the pushup/pullup workout from Day 1.  Good times!

A little something to get you in the mood...

Incubus is one of best bands in the world and Dig is probably my favorite song.  Speaking of good music, the Dave Matthews Band is highly overrated, yet deeply underrated as well.  I listen to DMB almost everyday and the songs you hear on the radio are probably their worst songs (overrated), just like Incubus.  I've added some links to some of both groups songs that most people have probably never heard unless they're a die hard fan, which I admit I am.  I have a man crush on both Dave and Brandon!  Both bands are 1000 times better live than they are on any CD and I suggest you catch them anytime you can.

Anyway, if you remember Day 1 wasn't that great for me.  I struggled mightily to get through the workout and everything I had read was coming true.  What everyone who has been through the program also said was the program is much easier as you get into it and it definitely was. The first week I wasn't sure if I wanted to put myself through this for 90 days, but today despite being a little tired, I was ready to go.

I struggled this past week with keeping form, especially when I was gassed and got sloppy.  This week is off to a much better start.  I kept my goals for number of reps the same as Day 1, but concentrated on form and breathing.  Although I still can't do many pullups to save my life, things went a lot better today and my form was also better.  There's still 2 things I can't hardly do from this workout, the close-grip pullup is brutal half way through as is the submarine pushup at the end.  But, I hit all my other numbers, which I was satisfied with and I'm not nearly as sore as last week.

Food intake

Breakfast - Yogurt

Lunch - left over Bulgogi

Snack - Kashi bar and post workout protein shake

Dinner - 2 PBJ

I can tell I'm back on whey with a little bit of creatine in it.  After 1 week I can tell I'm retaining the water my muscles need to build and recover and help reduce fatigue.  I'm slightly bloated, but that weight is easy to lose.  I also weighed myself today and was down to 185, which means I lost another 3 lbs over the course of the last part of last week.  Remember I started at 196 and am at 185, which for all you math majors, I've dropped 11 pounds in 2 weeks.  Not bad.  If I can drop another 11 over the next 2 weeks I'll be thrilled.

Day 6 - Asian Day!

Kenpo day.

Kenpo is an American born martial arts system characterized by the use of quick moves in rapid-fire succession.  It is part karate and part kung fu (think Bruce Lee) with roots in Japanese Kosho-Ryu.  It also has aspects of Jui-Jitsu, but for our purposes it focuses on leg, knee, and hand strikes as a cardio workout.

Having some background in martial arts, today was easy, but also a very good cardio workout. My technique is a little rusty and I didn't like the speed of Kenpo compared to something like Muay Thai as you tend to get more sloppy, but it jacked my heart rate and I got a great sweat in. Good enough that I fell asleep after a big dinner for about 1.5 hours.

I had yogurt for breakfast and cheated with 2 soft tacos from Taco Bell for lunch, but had a pretty good old school dinner called Bulgogi (bull-go-guy), which is a Korean beef stir fry with pear sauce.  I haven't had this in quite some time, but it was very good and turned out better than I thought even though we had no garlic.

Recipe (Serves 4) 

2 lbs of lean beef (I used chuck, which was fatty, but get a good chunk of meat, grill steaks work well also)

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup of sugar

12 garlic cloves

1/2 to 3/4 of onion

Asian pear (or just over 1 can of pears)

1/2 cup water

1 tbs of honey

Sesame Oil

Sesame seeds

black pepper

Step 1 - Freeze beef for about 2 hours.  Then cut beef into as thin of strips as you can cutting across the grain of the meat.  If you freeze it, it's easier to cut!

Step 2 - Making the sauce.  Take soy sacue, sugar, garlic cloves, onion, pear(s), and water and grind it up in a processor or blender for about 30 seconds.  Add honey and blend for another 30 seconds.  It should kinda a nasty yellowish-brown color.

Step 3 - Take your beef strips and lightly coat with sesame oil.  Coat the meat with black pepper and sesame seeds and then pour sauce over beef and leave to marinate for at least 3 hours.  Over night works the best so the meat can soak up the sauce.

Step 4 - In a wok or deep fry pan you are going to fry basic stir fry veggies.  You can cheat and buy a big bag, or buy fresh and chop it up.  I like to include...

Carrots

red peppers

peas

green beans in pods

water chestnuts

Fry veggies at about 350 degrees and get them good and warm and take them out.   Then crank up the wok to about 425 and cook up your marinated beef strips (strips should be about bite size). Make sure you've started your rice at this point also.  I use Jasmine Rice, it's authentic Asian white rice and is the best rice you can buy IMO.  Jasmine takes about 30 minutes to make and your veggies and meat are going to take about the same.  It's a sticky rice so don't be worried you messed up and it's in a big clumpy ball.  I'll make 3 cups worth of rice, which means you need 4.5 cups of water to 3 cups rice if you use Jasmine (It's 1 cup to 1.5 cups ratio).

Once the beef is about done (20 minutes or so) add your veggies back in.  You may have some sauce left over (especially if you don't marinate over night) and you may want to put a little of that in there to coat everything.  Or, if you saved your pear juice add some of that too.

Make a rice bed and put stir fry over and enjoy your Bulgogi.  In Korea they will replace the beef with dog sometime and it tastes exactly the same.  Most of you reading this won't want to chop up your dog so stick with the beef.  Trust me, it's easy to make and very flavorful. 

Like Jesus, P90X lets you rest on Day 7.  Looking forward to that, but after my first week I'm pretty happy with the results so far. 

Day 5

I said early I've some what modified P90X because I do not want to add any size to my already freakishly large legs.  I have a hard enough time buying jeans the way it is.

So today was take 2 of the ab ripper in place of the leg workout.  The good part about the ab ripper is that it is only 17 minutes long and after trying to do 90 minutes of yoga yesterday this was over in no time.  The other benefit today was there was nobody laughing at my futility today, which allowed me to do almost all of the exercises with the exception of 1 or 2.  My reps though definitely went up today, but I'm still gassed towards the end and really struggle on a few.

One aspect I really like about this program is the rest you get.  You work your balls off doing the workout, but they give you at least 3 days off before you target them again.  In a short 5 days I can already tell I've gotten leaner, especially in my arms and back.  Hopefully I don't hit a plateau, but  P90X is supposedly plateau proof.

Breakfast - Cereal

Lunch - Spaghetti w/turkey meat

Protein shake

Dinner - ? (maybe a sub)

I already drink about 150-175 oz. of water a day, but today for some reason I noticed I'm cramping a little bit.  Not sure if it's the supplements or I just need to increase water consumption, which is tough when I'm already drinking that much.

Not much to report today, took a day off from work for mental health purposes and laid in the sun for about an hour, pulled some weeds (never ending in the desert), and took a long afternoon nap.

Kenpo mixed martial arts manana.

  

Stats

I figured out how to post pictures directly in the blog, so hopefully they show up.  I also took 9 measurements that I was concentrating on and without further adieu here they are.

(Side note: After much deliberation I decided to publish my stats and pics.  I was actually self conscious of the fact that the few people who read this will be drooling over their monitors looking at me and doing the unimaginable.  Also, I'm posting Dan's stats too.  He doesn't know it yet, but I'm posting them to inflate my ego!)

Matty's Stats

Waist (where I wear my pants):  37.5"  (interesting because I wear 34 jeans)

Gut:  39.5"

Left Bicep:  14.75"

Right Bicep:  14.5"

Left Calf:  16"

Right Calf: 16.5"

Left Thigh:  23.75"

Right Thigh:  23.5"

Chest:  43.75"

Neck:  17.5"

I am mostly satisfied with those numbers although at my peak, both my calves were over 19". Also my neck was 19" last Christmas so I'm happy it's going down.  I'm really surprised at my pictures because for my size I think I have a very big chest.  There's definitely a wedge thing going as it heads towards my gut.  

OK, don't say anything, but here's Dan's stats...

Waist:  35"

Gut:  35"

Left Bicep:  13"

Right Bicep:  13.25"

Left Calf:  14.75"

Right Calf:  15.5"

Left Thigh:  21.5"

Right Thigh:  21.5"

Chest:  38"

Neck:  15.5"

Day 4 - Yoga X

Yoga day, yay!!!

Who would've thought that Yoga X doesn't mean Yoga 10, rather, Extreme Yoga!!!

To get you in the mood for this post, go ahead and click here.  I can sum today up best saying I sat a good 1/3 of the exercises out today.  I feel great now that it's over, kinda like I just got a massage, but seriously I have zero flexibility and doing things like Frog stretches, tables, wheels, warrior 3's, and other stuff just doesn't work well for someone who's as tight as a piano string.  I did manage to dominate the this though, and this one, and this one too.  Anything to do with balance or twisting and it was a train wreck.

They say your body is made up of 70%, mine is made up of 70% lactic acid.  I looked like I had a bad case of Parkinson's or MS I was trembling and shaking so bad.  Trying to get in a table, or wheel?  Not good times.

One thing I've come to realize in the past few weeks is as I've gotten older, I tend to sweat a bunch more than I didi when I was younger.  I completely soaked my shirt today stretching, but after wards I felt very good.  Definitely got a lot of soreness out.

Breakfast - Yogurt concoction w/added protein

Lunch - Today was bad as I had mexican.  Spanish rice, refried beans, chicken, lettuce, sour cream, gauc, etc.  and a chocolate chip cookie.  

Protein Shake

Dinner - AWSOME white rice with a little turkey gravy and lemon pepper chicken.

One thing I've noticed since I changed my diet is I crave sugar.  I haven't had a Mountain Dew in about 10 years, but the other day I had one and it was amazing.  Today with lunch I also had a Welch's Grape soda AND i diet Pepsi.  Today was a cheater day!

Day 3

I felt pretty good today.  The tightness in my arms and back was starting to go away and it was nothing a good stretch couldn't help.  I really got in the mood once I walked into the gym and heard this.  Nothing quite like some classic PJ to get you started.

Dan vowed to get serious today with things now that he's over his "illness".  Today was bi's/tri's/back, essentially an hour straight of curls and fly's.  I started off like a champ with 20 lbs dumbbells and made it pretty much all the way to my goals of 10-12 reps per set for the first half of the DVD.  Then I hit the wall, and had to go down to 15's and even some 10's.  There were some exercises I haven't even heard of before so it took awhile to get used to the motions. Also, in what seems to be an ongoing theme, my lack of flexibility hampered a few exercises.  It was like Day 1, where you ended up doing each exercise twice and overall I was fairly pleased with my day.   I still tapered off quite quickly towards the end, but evidently you're supposed to.

2 sets of the following exercises...

Alternating Shoulder Press

In & Out Burger, I mean In & Out Bicep Curls

Two Arm Triceps Kickbacks

Deep Swimmer's Press  (Sucks)

Full Supination Concentration Curl

Chair Dip

Upright Row

Static Arm Curl

Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickback

Seated Two Angle Shoulder Fly

Crouching Cohen Curl

Lying Down Tricep Extension (couldn't do these because I was gassed and I'm not sure my arms are long enough...ya that's it, my arm's aren't long enough!)

Food Intake Today

16 oz of my yogurt concoction

Spaghetti w/turkey meat and sauce

Kashi Bar

2 PB&J sandwhiches

Muscle Milk

Maybe a bowl of cereal

I got my Day 1 pictures finally taken and if I can figure out how to post them, I'll get them up for your "amusement."  A couple things I'm worried about with this is I'm going to be in Vegas over Memorial weekend for Jarod's bachelor party so I'm doubting I'll get a workout in unless it's cardio.  2, I can still hardly shoot a basketball from outside 6 feet because my arms are sore. I have a golf tournament May 20 and I'm a little concerned about not being able to swing a club or that my muscles are so fatigued I hook the piss out of everything.   

Today I debated what supplements to start using again.  So far I'm using X-Rated Whey Protein for after workouts (I may add a scoop to my yogurt concoction too).  I thought about taking Creatine or something called NO-Xplode, which is nitrick oxide creatine, but after talking to my buddy Hanson I decided to add and try something called CLA.  Hanson uses it and so does my cousin Troy, who's a chiropractor also said CLA wouldn't be a bad supplement to add (actually he uses a form of CLA).  To read more about CLA you can go here, but basically it looks to me to do two things...it helps speed up your metabolism (it's used for people with thyroid problems) and it reduces body fat, specifically in the abdominal region.  Good times!

I feel good, I'm starting to get past that initial "working out sucks" phase and am really looking forward to the Yoga tomorrow.  It's not really a day off, but it should help with the soreness and also with my flexibility or lack there off.  As for my pictures, I was pleasantly surprised with a) how much weight I've already dropped and b) I actually have some definition in my shoulders and traps.  Dan even gave me a compliment on my shoulders and it wasn't even in a gay way.  Only thing I'm disappointed in was somehow I have some back zits.  Who gets back zits in their 30's?

May 6 - Day 2

I used to like to watch WWE wrestling and the such and for those who watch wrestling can now insert you best Jim Ross voice here...

"Good gaaawd!  That's the Undertaker's music!"  

Yes, the Undertaker can come and take me, because I'm literally getting my ass kicked by this and it's Day 2.

Day 2 as I said was supposed to be plyo's, but because of old battle wounds, I'm skipping plyo's to focus on regular cardio.  BUT, since I skipped the ab ripper workout yesterday I decided to do that today  aaaaaaaand got completely destroyed (you only need to watch the first 18 seconds, but this is what I felt like today).

(I hope to never go to hell, but this could be what it's like.)

I'm not good at reading things before I do them, usually I'll just start things.  I also overestimate my overall fitness level.  Well, I probably should've read the part on the ab ripper program that states you need to be flexible.  I'm about as flexible as a 2 x 4 and struggled to not only keep up with the DVD, but struggled to do some of the sets because of my lack of flexibility.  Good times!

So...Mistake 1 was not reading the directions and learning you have to be flexible to a certain degree to do the workout.

Mistake 2, I talked my buddy Dan (his brother's DVD's) into doing the workout with me. Needless to say we laughed at my misfortunes more than we were able to do the workout. HOWEVER, this ab ripper thing is ridiculous!  It's seriously one of the most difficult things I've ever tried, not to mention Dan made a really good point.  He asked me when the last time I really made an attempt to lift was and I couldn't think of anything more recent than 1999.  Not good times.

The Ab ripper workout is basically about 15 gut wrenching ab things you have to do in about 17 minutes.  1 set of 25 for each exercise is all and it sounds easy until you contort your body into some of these positions and then try to crunch or reach or whatever.  I was able to get up to 13 in one of the sets and will sheepishly admit most of the exercises I was able to do less than 5.  

Got home and despite my futility in the ab ripper workout, I struggled to get out of my car.  I maybe did less than 75 various types of situps and my stomach feels like I just went 12 rounds with Tyson.  Time for dinner and get ready for an arm and back workout tomorrow that I'm completely terrified of, because if I wake up tomorrow like I did today, it's gonna be ugly!

Dinner tonight...

Whole wheat organic pasta with organic roasted garlic sauce with 1 pound of ground turkey meat.

Stats

Forgot to mention a few things.  I'm going to try to put a picture up of my before and after (don't laught) for you to enjoy...I mean look at to see if P90X really works.  So far, I can almost guarantee it works if you stick to the program.

I started at about 196 lbs 2 weeks ago and just by changing my diet and starting with simple cardio I've dropped 8 lbs pretty easily.

So at the start of the program I'm officially saying I'm 188.  More stats to come.

Also, My goal is around 170 give or take a few, which is what I graduated high school and college at.

Day 1

So I'm a day behind in posting my blog about P90X, but for those that know me, being late and/or by a day or two is nothing out of the ordinary.

First, a little background on me and why I decided on P90X.  I'm 31 years old and for a lack of a better term, "out of shape".  As a kid playing sports in high school and college I was very fit and "in shape".  Throughout my entire high school career I was under 2% body fat with a very high metabolism.  Now... (insert Borat voice here) not so much!

I am currently residing in lovely Phoenix, Arizona where "healthy living" and being "in shape" are definitely trendy.  I had roommates for awhile who were some very good friends from Minnesota where we all used to live.  Jarod, was formerly a TE for the Minnesota Gophers and one of the finest cut blockers every to roam the sidelines of the Metrodome, and his fiance Terra is a fitness freak and was on the Duramed Future's Tour for a few years (1 step below the LPGA for all you non women's golf enthusiasts).  Anyway, Jarod and Terra have always known me as being "out-of-shape".  We'll call that Bjorks 1.0.  Bjorks 1.0 wasn't/isn't much in to exercise, working out, eating right, etc.  Bjorks 1.0 did it once to try and impress a girl and...well...that didn't work out so well, but he lost over 20 pounds in the process only to gain it all back because of his job.

(Side note:  I worked in DI athletics and part of the perks was something called training table. Training table was free food at a variety of restaurants every day.  It is designed to keep the student-athletes "healthy" by eating "well" instead of being in charge of their own meals and eating stuff like frozen pizza, Raman Noodles, etc.  It's great for student-athletes, but not so much for middle-aged people who don't burn any calories off, aka me!  But, who's going to turn down $15 of free restaurant food everyday?  Not me!)

So Terra and Jarod were once again trying one of their numerous diets/workout plans/bets between the two of them to help them get fit and trim for their July wedding.  Understandable. Jarod also tried to sell me on the fact he wanted to see how good of shape he could get himself into post football.  Jarod's in shape, but he's no longer needing to be 255 lbs. and in shape.  Of course I laughed and scoffed at him, but actually got to thinking about when the last time I was "in shape".  

Well, one of my favorite websites in the world (www.cappingthegame.com) was also having a lot of chatter about something called P90X.  At first, because of the usual suspects talking about it, I thought P90X was a new strain of pot, a new alcoholic beverage, a porn site, etc. Then I caught it on DirecTV and saw it's an interesting workout plan based on dieting and exercises you can pretty much do with a set of dumbbells or resistance bands.  I read on and decided I had to do some pre-gaming before I attempted to commit myself to P90X.

Step 1 - Changed up diet (as much as my system could handle).  No more...wait, I'm not going to lie, REDUCED frozen pizza intake (my vice) and in general no more stuffing myself at every meal.  Also no skipping breakfast.

Step 2 - Start stretching and cardio routine again.  I just need to get back in to the swing of things really.  Also, I suffered what I thought was a Jones Fracture in my left foot this winter (the 2 bones on the outside of your foot that form you little toe start to split), but it turned out I have some pretty nasty bone spurs and had torn 2 ligaments out there so I was really out of shape.  

A big part of P90X is dieting.  However, I have a food problem and have a hard time dieting the way they tell you to and pretty much made up my own diet.  It's not perfect, nor do I have any scientific evidence to back it up, but it is better than Totino's frozen pizza.  My meals the last 2 weeks have basically been as followed...

Breakfast - Granola bar (either Nature's Valley or my new favorite Kaishi).  OR, a nice little concoction of about 12 oz. of Organic vanilla yogurt with a handful of raspberry's and blueberry's mixed with Kaishi granola and then eat the granola bar around 9:30.

Lunch - I buy those rectangle boxes of Organic spinach and make 2 salads out of that.  Each salad consists of...

1/2 Organic Tomato

4 oz of Organic carrot spears

A handful of seasoned croutons

Newman's Original Tuscan dressing (probably too much)

And sometimes I'll cut up about 4 oz's of turkey and chicken just to get some meet.

Dinner - Almost anything I want.  Although I lean towards 2 PB&J sandwiches and a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios  OR Kaishi w/the strawberry's OR Honey Bunches of Oats w/strawberry's.

But I'll still make spaghetti with turkey meat, tator tot hotdish, eat a foot long sub, etc. whenever I want.

Most importantly I've tried to reduce the amount of fat in my diet as well as my caloric intake.

(I promise this will be the longest blog ever, because I'm trying to get you up to speed with the last month.)

So Day 1 of P90X is here.  I've got about 30 days before I head back to Minnesota for the summer and really want to trim down for my return as most people in Becker are best associated with Bjorks 1.0, but they've seen a brief glimpse of Bjorks 2.0. I had lost all that weight right before I moved and got a lot of compliments, but the Vegas had set the line at me gaining those 25 lbs back with an over/under being 2.5 months back in 2005 (which completely went waaaaaaaaaaay under btw).

Day 1 of P90X is "Chest and Back".  Prety much all some form of pullups and pushups, pretty much my forte...NOT!  My friend Dan, who I'm borrowing the DVD's from said it sucks.  Much of what I had read up to this point also said it sucks.  Horror stories of being so sore you can't lift your arms above your head and stuff like that.  Good times.

Naturally the first thing they tell you is to set a number in your head and try to hit it, but be realistic because you have to go through the routine twice.  The jackasses on the DVD are naturally ripped and cut beyond belief and are throwing out numbers like 30 per set and saying their little slogan "Bring It!"  I brought it alright, I knew I could do more, but I set me goal for the first time through at 10 per set. 

(Side note: You start by doing a 2 minute warmup and let's just say I was a little winded heading into the first set.)

I did the 10 pushups no problem and was feeling pretty good about myself.  Then it was on to the first round of pullups and the wheels fell off faster than Al Pacino's performance in 88 Minutes.  I haven't tried to do a pullup since I was trying to get the Presidential Physical Fitness patch in like 5th grade so I had no idea how many I could do.  I made it to 6 before I had to move on to the next drill (keep in mind you have to keep up with the DVD, it's about speed and confusing the muscles.)  At this point, I felt like a puss as the freaks on the DVD where yelling 25's and 30's.  Needless to say I was glad I was the only one in the gym working out.

Next I managed to do the following all in the set amount of time.

10 military pushups

10 reverse grip pullups

8 wide fly pushups

3 close gripped pullups

15 declined pushups (no problem)

20 heavy pants w/20 lbs dumbbells

6 diamond pushups

15 lawnmower's w/20 lbs dumbbells

2 dive bomber push ups (at this point I couldn't feel my arms nor could I even move my back like I was supposed to)

10 back fly's w/20 lbs dumbbelss (more on this later)

The second time through you can basically cut those numbers in half with the exception of the regular pushups and dumbbell work except I couldn't do 1 back fly at this point.  I realized I was doing it wrong the first time and will probably have to go to a smaller weight for back fly's and increase weight for the heavy pants and lawnmowers.

At this point I think Red can sum up my performance and my future performances best (insert Morgan Freeman voice here for those who live under a rock and never have seen the Shawshank Redemption)...

"I wish I could tell you that Matty fought the good fight, and P90X let him be.  I wish I could tell you that - but P90X is no fairy-tale world.  He never said who did it, but we all knew. Things are going to go like that for awhile - P90X consists of routine, and then more routine. Every so often, Matty will show up with fresh bruises.  P90X kept at him - sometimes he was able to fight through it, sometimes not.  And that's how it will go for Matty - that is his routine. I do believe that first workout was the worst for him, and I also believe that if things go continue to go that way, P90X will get the best of him."

The horror stories are true.  I had to make a phone call to my friend Derek at USC on the way home and could barely lift my arm to hold my phone up.  I got home, called and cussed out Dan for giving me the DVD's and promptly fell asleep at about 8:30, or 3 hours before I normally go to bed.  On top of that, I was too sore to attempt the ab ripper that I was supposed to do on Day 1 (Off to a blazing start!)

Today is Day 2, which is supposed to be plyo's, but because my foot has been hurting and I'm not sure my knees can handle the plyo's, we're modifying the workout.  So I'm 2 days into it and already cutting corners.  Good times!

P90X and the Shawshank Redemtion

My first blog and my first real attempt to get back into decent shape!  This blog will attempt to be a 90-day journal of my experience with P90X and the quest for the ultimate swimsuit body!

I've titled it P90X and the Shawshank Redemption because I feel a little bit like I'm going to prison and tSR is probably my favorite movie of all time and I get a chance to write again, something I miss a great deal.  

So, read on friends and wish me good luck.  Forgive me if these early blogs suck, but I haven't written anything worth-while in a few years.