Simplify P90X: Day 11

Do you get energy from other people or do they drain you?

For me, it’s the latter situation. Although I love hanging out with friends, I am pretty wiped after our events. Add in kayaking and I’m so beat that all I wanted to do was sleep.

It’s always necessary to listen to your body and do what feels right. After an awesome and fun workout yesterday, my body needed more food and less exercising. So I took another rest day and stocked up on protein and tasty food to take care of my body.

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!

Simplify P90X: Day 10

Today was kayaking day!

Took it easy yesterday with a few jumping jacks and pushups to get myself in shape. But today, I got to spend the day outside on the water, seeing some wildlife and getting quite an arm workout too. So fun and way better than doing P90X in my living room alone. 😛

Kayaking with friends and communing with nature…can’t be beat!

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!

Simplify P90X: Day 8

I’ve been sick for the past few days so I haven’t been working out.

So, it’s time to show a little food!

Sometimes, I feel like most workout programs have a food diet that is just…weird. Bars, shakes, and bland cardboard meals seem like what they offer instead of “real food.” It might work for some people, but I love variety and pretty meals.

Here’s a little bit of what I’ve been eating lately.

Japanese chicken curry with carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and steamed rice (homemade)

Chinese beef noodle soup with bok choy, carrots, onions (homemade)

Indian roti with 4 Thai curry sauces (at Thai Lemongrass)

Thai green papaya salad (at Thai Lemongrass)

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!

Simplify P90X: Day 5

Today should be Shoulder and Arms given my switched schedule.

But as it turns out, it’s going to be my rest day.

My body isn’t used to working this hard and it started to fail. The muscle soreness got pretty high and I was in quite a bit of pain after pushing myself through the past 4 days of exercising. On top of that, I got food poisoning which really knocked out the option of working out today. So, I just stocked up on fluids and light meals to get me through the day of rest. Sometimes, you just have to listen to your body and let nature take its course.

Hopefully, I’ll feel better soon.

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!

Simplify P90X: Day 4

Another cardio day. According to the schedule, I should be doing yoga.

But it’s a “hangout with friends” day and we’re spending the afternoon rock climbing at the gym instead! Exercising is way more fun with friends since it keeps you accountable and there’s a healthy level of competition trying to best your bestie! Most people assume that rock climbing requires a lot of strength, especially upper body strength, but it’s not true. You need strong legs, a good ability to balance on your toes, and an ease in shifting your weight around. Having strong hands is a plus, but it’s not necessary, it only seems like it because the fear of falling is greater than your confidence at first. But once you get the hang of it, it’s super fun and it’s like a more challenging way of “climbing up a ladder.” If you’ve never been rock climbing, you should do it at least a handful of times, it’s awesome!

If you’ve been following along the past couple days, you might have noticed that I don’t follow the P90X schedule very strictly. I think of it more like guidelines than strict rules to follow since it has to fit into your lifestyle to be effective. I used to think that I had to exactly what the program dictates, but that’s baloney. The whole point is to keep moving, stay active, and be healthy…the superficial stuff will come naturally. Have fun, be with friends, and eat well…but know that you gotta put in the time to get the results you want.

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!

Simplify P90X: Day 3

After working my upper body quite hard the past 2 days, it’s time to work on the legs. Instead of Shoulders and Arms, it’s a Legs and Back day.

I was volunteering last night and I got a huge bruise at the top of my right foot that made some of the leg exercises a bit painful, so I had to modify it. To break down the Legs and Back session, it’s an alternation of a few exercises: lunges, squats, pull-ups, and calf-raises.

2 rounds, 6 sets with 15-20 repetitions for each exercise.

I love lunges way more than I love squats and I have improve my form for each of these exercises but at least it makes me feel like I’m doing something right. I could definitely feel the burn in my legs as I was going through the exercises but not enough to pull something. I can tell how much my body can handle and if it gets a little too tight, I do the opposite exercise to balance out my muscles so they have a chance to rest. For example, I can’t do too many calf raises or they start to seize up, so I do “plies” which are kind of like squats to relieve the tension in my calves and give it a break. It’s always useful to know your body’s limits so you don’t hurt yourself when you work out.

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!

Simplify P90X: Day 2

It’s supposed to be Plyometrics day, but I somehow misplaced that DVD, along with Kenpo.

Instead, I did Yoga.

After a pretty tough workout yesterday, My arms, shoulders, and core felt tight and a little sore. Once I got started on yoga, I started to feel all the stretches, activating and relieving the pain simultaneously. That’s when I realized how important stretches are in addition to doing various exercises. When your muscles get tight, you need stretches to loosen them up and make them limber again.

Yoga was tough, but I managed a little over the half hour mark before I had to call it quits. I was straining through the plank poses, especially since I really maxed out my pushup abilities yesterday. But all the stretches from upward dog, downward dog, etc…it took away a lot of the tightness and soreness I felt. After the session, I felt a lot more limber and energized.

Another session down.

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!

Simplify P90X: Day 1

It’s that time of year again, time to work off all that winter gristle and grime.

Maybe for most people, January is a time to make new habits and changes, but for me, it’s always been spring. As spring approaches, I’m motivated to blog again and track my exercise habits. I’ve done most of the P90X program and it’s solid. But I need to adapt it for my current lifestyle and make it work for me. So I’m simplifying the P90X program down its basic exercises that you can do almost anywhere. Sure I love Tony’s jokes and motivations, but sometimes, I don’t want to watch the DVD every time I work out.

Day 1: Chest and Back is all about pushups and pull-ups. 2 rounds, 6 sets, 15 reps for each exercise, alternating between pushups and pull-ups.

As the first exercise the program, I could have pushed myself harder, but I wanted to make it through the entire workout. Next time, I could probably do more reps and for the weighted exercises (heavy pants, lawnmowers, back flys) I could have used 15 lb. or even 20 lb. weights. It’s a good first workout.

Until tomorrow, show up and work hard!