P90X Works!

Doing P90X improved my athletic abilities greatly.  No doubt about it.  I haven't posted while I was doing it because I was so busy between keeping the P90x workouts up as well as training for the Seattle RnR.  But I still feel the P90X fire burning inside as I hit the gym now and would like to share the fire with you too .  As my endeavor with Insanity continues I sprinkle a little weight training on my weekly routine.  I feel more confident after having pushed through P90X when it comes to weight training.  In the privacy of the home and with the feedback through the challenge group I joined in April, I learned to push much harder then I ever have in the past.  I saw myself as just "not the guy that lift heavy" before ... but no more.

For years I did some weigh training, I kept the reps high where I wouldn't have to face the pain and difficulty of hitting heavy.  During the last 4 weeks of P90X I decided to try harder.  I was reading about the workouts of one of the challenge group member and the weights he was pushing and I figured, well why not me?  After 8 weeks of P90X I had realized that I was putting myself in a box. P90X brought me out the box.

This month I am working on my V-taper by incorporating pull-ups/chin-ups/Dumbbell chest presses and dead lift a couple of days a week.  I added also some bicep routine to help maintain my gain in my arms.  I have done this basic workout 3 times so far, each time varying the basic workout a little by adding a different routine at the end, switching the pull-ups around or simply adding some pushups.  My variation today went like this:

warmup 10 min bike
pullups:
Mid/front - Wide/front - Chin-ups/neutral 6x/5x
Lat pull downs 100# x8 (failure) then x7 + hold to failure
Chest -
10 pushups / Decline dumbell presses 30# alternate 8x too easy
10 pushups / Decline dumbell presses 40# alternate 6x
10 military pushups / Decline dumbell 40# alternate failure at 5, swithch to 30# 8x alternate
For the hell of it ... tried one handed pushups after 2 min rest ... did 3 sets of 3 each arm dropping at about 6-10 inches ... on my knees still but it almost feels like my core is able to support full weight ... my arms are not there yet though
Back
Dead lefts 80# barbell 3 reps
Arms
Bicep curls 25# 24- 4 curl & hold P90x still ... although I took a 30s break at 16
For keeps I hit the Hammer strength pulldown machine at the end ...
12 @ 90+0
10 @ 90+20
5 @ 90+40
5 @ 90+20
9 @ 90+0
Cool down - 10 min on bike

total workout took about 50 min :)  ... I felt awesome afterwards!

Goat Flat, Try 1

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote last.  Since my last post I have graduated from P90X, PR Seattle RnR at 4:11 and started Insanity, and committed to Quadzilla 2012 ((in my mind at least lol) .

I ended up taking a couple days off Insanity Saturday and Sunday.  Worked out at the gym with SGF Saturday, and hit the trails Sunday.  I ran 18.5 miles up FR 41 on Green Mountain, east of Granite Falls, WA.  It had been a while since I ran a high elevation change like that so even though the run wasn't technical it was still tough from that aspect.

Run stats at http://www.movescount.com/mymoves/edit/move6258552

First waterfall on the way up ... The green color is astonishing!

The glacier in the background are barely visible in this picture but were a beautiful sight .as I crossed a small creek ...

After crossing the smaller creek, about ten miles in the run I decided this was the end of the road for me.  After a couple of minutes resting and snacking I started the trip back ...

Most of the run was under canopy except the first couple (and last couple) miles of the loop where the road was large and had several spot spot where they were harvesting timber.  Although sad to see trees gone this was a welcome sight as I knew I was close to the car at about 16-17 miles in the run ...

This wasn't my intended destination though.  I was trying to reach Goat FLat,  an alpine meadow that leads ultimately to the Three Finger lookout. It looks like I went up the wrong road, talking to some people I met on the way back.  I had parked at a fork with the road going up to the left and down to the right.

I looked at Google Maps again I can see the fork I stopped.  A couple people I met on the way down mention that there was a lake "down" the other road off the fork.  On Google map  FR41 leads close to Saddle Lake.  The trail head starts about 2-3 miles away from Saddle lake.  I found that little bit of information at this climber's trip report.  Looking through this site I think I could manage the trip up to the meadow then hit the traverse trail to Tin Can Gap to the base of the glacier.

Will update this blog after my attempt to find trail #741 again ... This weekend possibly!

This has everything to do with you!

I woke up with inspiration and time to write.  Training time has taken a toll on my writing but I though this is an important subject to share.  Call it inspiration, call it a light bulb. Whatever it is it went off in my hard when I read the subject line of this email I received from my BeachBody coach: “This has everything to do with you!”.  It was a forward from her coach, about where BeachBody is amongst the many work from home businesses types like Avon.  Not the point.  I read that email and though, that is such a great message!  So this post today will not be about the last marathon I ran or the equipment I used last.  The blog is all about me, but today, the topic is really about you!

I have been working out for so long it seem I have forgotten the process to affect change.  Before even making the changes one must stop the excuses and accept the problem.  For me, that was easy, I stepped on a scale, I was already not happy with my body frame, I had felt for a long time that I let myself slip away as had gotten fatter and fatter by the day.  Food was a comfort, I was fueling my feelings with food rather than my body.  Number 205 on the scale was the trigger.  I recognized that it would only get worse from there and decided I would be easier to try do something now rather than later.

Fast forward to early 2012, Seven years after I made that faithful decision to loose weight, I was, in a way, back into a similar situation.  I was complacent about my nutrition, my performance.  Done my research and I squarely placed myself in a performance box that said: “that’s how fast I can run, this is how long I can run; I suck at pull-ups; nutrition? why I can eat whatever I want because I run”.

Yet, at the highest of my complacency, SGF started her own journey to get healthier.  She question the food we eat, the medications she takes.  In a way she has it much harder than I have ever had.  I was fat, but always been healthy.  I was fat because I let myself get fatter as the years went by not because of a medical condition.  I never questioned why I got fat, I just was and reluctantly accepted it because it’s easier to accept being fat and lazy and make excuse for it.

Not until recently did I realize that I witnessed SGF poking through her cocoon starting a metamorphosis of sorts.  Where she is now and where she was just a few months ago is a huge achievement.  I think, yeah I ran a few marathons ... but running marathon is a continuum for me, not a break from the norm.  Instead, I see a beautiful woman inside the cocoon that has thrown away the status quo, that stood up, that said I can do, and be better.

I started my own metamorphosis of sort 70 days ago when I pick the P90X challenge.  I had to decide if I was going to just “go through” the program, or “do” the program.  I choose the later.  I choose to push hard, follow the program’s format with the  Yoga and the stretching ... most importantly I opened my mind to the possibilities, believed I could run faster, longer, do more pull-ups.  Witnessing SGF transformation, how could I continue to keep myself into a box like I had?  I lived in another set of excuses really, because it’s easier to say can’t eat better, I can’t run faster, I can’t run longer or I will get injured so I shouldn’t.  I walked the “Go Me 10k” with Wendie and witnessed first hand that indeed no one is boxed in, including me !

Today we both are looking brightly at our next endeavors.  For SGF she sheds her cocoon a piece at a time while I break out my box a limitation at a time.  The changes we are going through have everything to do with us.  And that’s the message I want to give to you reader.  It’s a great message.  Wherever you feel stuck in your life, where you think that you can’t change the situation or condition you are at or in, YOU can.  It’s begins with you deciding not to accept status quo.  Status quo goes away once you stop making excuses or justifications.  You have the time to eat healthier, you can find the money to eat healthier, you have the will to work out harder, you have the will to start being a better you.  The mere fact you are reading this and wondering ... shows that you do!  And not only do you have the will to start ... You have the will to see it through!