Day 37 (Weekly recap)

Last week went pretty well, though I did have to do things a little out of order. I had two callbacks on Tuesday (Plyometrics) and planned on fitting the workout in between them, but the first ran long, and only gave me about an hour break. I had volleyball at night, watched game 6 of the NBA playoffs, and spent some QT with the GF, so I had to use it as my rest day. Moving things around is not so easy because the workouts are set up to give you time to rest your muscles before pounding them again. I decided to postpone plyometrics to Thursday (Yoga X day) and do Yoga X on Sunday (my normal day of rest/stretch). This wasn't the best idea because plyo is really intense on the legs, and friday is Legs and Back, so I basically worked my legs two days in a row. Normally I would get Wednesday and Thursday to recover from Tuesday's plyo workout, and my legs are ready(ish) to go by Friday. Not the case this week, and I really felt it. There was a fair amount of straining and burning early, and I had to use less intensity on most of the moves. Its really a testament to how well the program is set up because not a day is wasted. Your body needs the exact number of days to recover, and during those days, you are working other big muscle groups, or doing some sort of cardio.

Also new this week was Biceps and Back. These exercises are really draining and I had trouble keeping up after only a few sets. Its basically like non-stop biceps because the pull-up bar requires biceps strength as well. I was able to do 13 unassissted pull-ups in the first set, which is pretty impressive considering I could only do 8 when I started. Unfortunately, midway through this workout, my arms were so tired that I really couldn't even do one without the chair. I wish there was more variation to the exercise because once my biceps are fatigued, I'm useless on the bar. I'd like to get better at the corn-on-the-cobb (specific pull-up where you move side to side while at the top), but I don't think I'll have the endurance, even after a few weeks.

I skipped Kenpo in place of volleyball this Saturday, but I think I'm going to include it again next week. Volleyball doesn't give me as good of a cardio workout any more, so I think I should do both if I want to keep improving my results.

Did Yoga X with the GF on Sunday night, which was actually kind of nice. She can't do all the moves completely through, but performs most of it, and its good that we can do it together.

Chest, shoulders, and Triceps was awesome again this week. I worked really hard pushing to failure every time, and increasing my weights a bit to max out at 8-10. Its such a thorough upper body workout and afterwards I just feel really pumped up. I was late for work however, and had to postpone ab ripper x until the next day.

I really didn't feel up for Plyo today, but did it anyway. I just didn't feel focused, and repeatedly had to remind myself to push harder and do the moves more intensly. I don't think I ate enough food as I had breakfast at around 10 am, and then a snack at 2 and started working out at 3:30. It was my friend's birthday the night before, so I celebrated with him having two drinks, so that could have contributed to my lethargy as well. I did the entire thing, plus ab ripper x, and then went to volleyball in the evening, so I think I'm good on the PT for the day.

As far as the diet goes, I was just okay this week. I've been eating far more fruits than I should (like 3-4 portions per day, where the allottment is only 1 per day), but I get hungry, and that's what i feel like snacking on, or rounding out my meals with.

I also drank a little more alcohol than in previous weeks which is definitely not on the diet plan. Had a glass of wine on Tuesday, a few beers and a shot on Thursday while watching the final Laker game, a few drinks on Saturday with freinds in Manhattan beach, and two drinks last night for my buddy's birthday. None of it was excessive, but added together its a bunch of extra calories for the week. It definitely could have slowed my metabolism down and affected my workout today.

Next week I will post more photos, and also give a breakdown of how much money I've spent on equiptment and supplements, so that those who are interested can see what the true costs are of completing p90x. 37 down, 53 to go...