Chicken Calendar and other thoughts

When I thought about doing P90X a few months ago I wanted to write out the routines on a calendar so I could cross them off as I completed them. Basic behavior modification. I asked my wife to pick up a calendar for me and when she asked what I wanted on it I told her “whatever is fine.” And so I have an “Extraordinary Chickens” calendar upon which I track my progress.

It now has 7 X’s on it 🙂

I made it through the first week of P90X and did pretty well. I’m still getting used to eating differently. I generally eat lots of carbs and not enough protein in any given week. I’m good with veggies and fruit though (thanks to my wife). In order to really have enough energy to do this program I need more protein. I don’t do any of the supplements or drinks. For one, they’re expensive, and for two, I’m not trying to build myself up to be this awesome bodybuilder or anything. Yes, I know I’m missing out and my body is probably missing out, but I take my multivitamin and now a glucosamine supplement (recommended by a friend since I’m having knee trouble this week). My nutrition and vitamin intake are in the spirit of the program and for now that is good enough for me.

My biggest hurdles so far in the program are yoga and abs. Abs are just plain brutal. I’m doing 12-15 reps for each exercise (instead of the 25) and it’s all I can do for now. As for yoga, I’m just not all that flexible and I have a belly, which gets in the way and has more than once caused me to fall over. Plyo isn’t the monster I thought it was. I can mostly keep up and I try to push myself a bit more each time. I’m getting better at pull ups and, honestly, I’m doing mostly adjusted versions of many of the exercises at the moment to get some benefit and learn the routines. It does me no good to do 3/4 a pull up without a chair when I can do 5-10 with a chair (and I always try to do at least one without the chair each time). That’s my best right now and I’m not sad about it.

Kempo X is probably my new favorite thing. I enjoyed the punches and kicks when I did P90 back in the day and this is a high pace version of that. I’m still learning form, but I can keep up intensity, which is something I can’t do on any of the other programs.

In other news, Fantasy Football starts up soon. I’ve tinkered around a bit this weekend and plan to read up on the guys this year during the week. I’m hoping to find enough people (read: people I know) to start my own league this year. I’m sure I can cobble together 7-9 people to make it happen. Updates on that progress later.

I finish my internship in <1 month. After that I will be finishing my dissertation and hopefully finding a job. I’m applying to a lot of places this weekend and next week. I hate not having a plan and feeling like I have little control over what happens to Maggie and the cats and me for the next 3-4 months. All I know is that by the end of the year I will be graduated. There’s also a small chance that we’ll all be homeless. Now accepting donations.

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Out of Shape

Well, I can’t really say that I’m out of shape–I’m a nice round shape actually. But I’m going to do something about it starting this week. I have several toys to help me with this. Here’s the plan.

1. I got me some apps. I got a fitness tracker app for keeping track of my P90 progress and a Couch to 10k (C210k) app. Both are ~90 days, 12-13 weeks. The former will prolly help me more with P90X once I get fit enough to pass the introductory test (it’s sad, really). I say that because the exercises are already programmed in (for the most part) but the exercises I’m gonna be doing (from P90M) are prolly not programmed in, so I’ll have do do that myself.

2. I got me some new kicks. Vibrams are apparently really hard to come by. If you find the ones you want in your size, buy them. You’re prolly not gonna find them in your color though. The guys at the running stores (plural) I visited said the manufacturers are way behind on production due to the ridiculous demand. The Komodos (see below) are only sold in stores, not online. Also, they didn’t have my color 😦 Still, I wore them for a little while today and they felt great. I don’t think they’ll work very well as all-day-long shoes, but for 1-2 hours they’ll be fine. Everyone said to take them a bit slow when you first start out exercising with them so your feet can adjust. I can attest to that after walking on them for several hours. Still, I like how sensitive my feet are to the ground while wearing them. I walked across cobblestone and could feel the subtle differences in each stone.

Man I have hairy legs.

3. I got me a running partner. Sort of. John wants to run, even though no one will be chasing him, and he thinks the C210k might just do the trick. I see it as running for noobs. It takes the guesswork out of trying to get into running and challenges you quickly. Plus, the app I have is both idiot proof and allows me to listen to my iPhone/Pod. Also, come on. Couch to 10k. It is an exercise program that has the word “couch” in it. I can’t think of a more clear starting point. Anyway, running with a buddy is a bit more motivating, but even without a buddy, I got lots of books on tape. Dresden Files FTW. I’m on book 3 of 12 and book 13 comes out in July. I got some catching up to do (fyi, I am rereading them).

So here’s the plan. Pretty simple. I’m gonna do the P90M program, which is a step up from the P90 program I finished months ago, without the cardio. This program is very unorganized (the other P90 programs have excel files to track progress for crying out loud) and I had to track down a recommended schedule. The result is that I’m going to alternate Sculpt 5-6, Upper Middle Lower, Core Cardio, and (stab me) Plyometrics so as to challenge myself like the other programs do (3 weeks heavy, 1 week light, last month hell). I’ll do three of these videos each week alternating days with C210k. I’m thinking MWF weight training and TThSa C210K.

I am currently 225lbs. Yup, you read that right. When I finished this up last time I was 204lbs. Backsliding with a deficit of 21lbs. For shame. I can do 3/4 of a pull up (the P90X intro expects men to be able to do at least 3) and my pushups fail around 20 or so. I have no idea about my other measurements or my heart rate. I don’t feel the need to get bogged down in details until I’m actually doing P90X.

Tomorrow starts the suck. Be prepared for updates with me whining about how much I ache. It’s gonna happen.

EDIT: Wow. I must have been in a mood. I wrote “I got” a lot in this post. Whatever. I’m excited and a bit silly. No judging.

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Goings On

I am well on my way to collecting data for my dissertation. I have acquired IRB approval at Spalding and I’m awaiting approval at 4 other universities. Funny, the one in North Carolina is much more on their game than the local ones in Louisville. I have printed all of the documents I need and will be stuffing packets this week. I also need to purchase a couple of things, including a locking document box (which are harder to find than you might think) and an external hard drive (multipurpose since I need to back up my compy anyway). Other than that, I need to track down participants and get to it.

Friday is Match Day. I will know then where I will be for internship (or if I need to freak out a whole bunch). I’ll be glad to have an answer either way. I’m tired of waiting. I’m growing impatient for my future. I’d like to be able to say with some certainty where I will be in a year.

I have started to consider my health again. This time last year (give or take a month) I began exploring P90 and doing Sparkpeople. I’ve left the latter in the dust, but I have strong intentions to restart the former. I am 225 lbs–the heaviest I’ve ever been. Internship interviewing and all of the stress from these past few months have led to more stress eating and a tendency to want to sit and veg at the end of the day. I turn 29 in 10 days and I’d like to be healthier on for my 30th birthday than I will be on my 29th. Part of that means eating healthier and part of that means exercising regularly. I plan to jump start this process sometime in the next couple of weeks by kicking my own ass with P90X. I also intend to begin paying more attention to what I consume. Portion size is a problem as is eating when I’m not really hungry. I plan to reduce the number of times I eat fast food and how frequently I eat greasy/fried foods in general. I hardly ever drink soda anymore and I have been increasing my water intake, so I do have something to show for myself. I’d like to get back down to between 165 lbs and 175 lbs. Online BMI calculators are telling me 160-176 for a medium frame and 129-169 (BMI 19-25) for my ideal body weight. Honestly, once I’m down past 200 I’ll be happy.

Let’s see, what else? I get to visit Maggie in a couple weeks for a couple weeks. My spring break and hers bunch up against each other, so it’ll make for a nice mid semester vacation. It won’t be all play though. I will be gathering data for my dissertation at her school while I’m there. I should be visiting her from around the 7th to the 19th of March. Really looking forward to it, I must say.

That’s all for now.

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P90 Master Series

I started P90M a little early. I wanted to start it at the beginning of the week and at the beginning of the month, so I cut off the last few days of P90 to start early. Honestly, I was really tired of doing the same 2 routines for 6 weeks and I’m looking forward to more variety in P90M. Sadly, the first 3 weeks are still the same 2 routines (new to me though!). I’ve done both routines once and they’re going to take a bit of getting used to. There is slightly more yoga in this one and a lot more leg exercises (or at least more intense to me). I’m not expected to do thousands of pushups, but the ones I’m expected to do are (obviously) harder.

One thing that I really like about P90M is that I start the system (common in P90X) of setting small goals verbally during the workout. It is stressed to do what I can and not try to keep up with the video, which is good because I can’t keep up. Setting a goal of 8-12 or 10-15 or whatever varies a lot with these new workouts and I realize I’ve been doing more reps with fewer weights, which isn’t what I wanted (though it is easier in my opinion). The videos do a great job of telling me about how many reps are expected so I can set my own goals. This sort of system works for me. I do, however, need to buy a few things for this new workout. I need more weights because 10s aren’t doing it for me and I only have 1x 15lb. Also, I may get 2x 3lb weights for the shoulder exercises because the 5lb weights are brutal (right now I’m using canned goods instead of weights).

Abs are still killing me. I’ve actually skipped them a couple times, which isn’t helping my case. I’ve started altering when I do them and rarely do them directly after my workouts (usually because I’m really tired already). I’ve done them about 1hr before bed on a couple of occasions and this seems to be fine. Still working on setting up a routine that works for me, which has changed since Summer has changed my schedule.

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Vacation

My vacation was quite relaxing. I spent a week in North Carolina visiting my wife and Carl & Courtney. While most of the week was low key and included hanging out, watching movies, and playing Wii with my brothers-in-law, I also got to see Maggie perform and went adventuring. Really, though, it is the adventuring I wanna write about.

On Thursday the four of us went on a zipline tour using a groupon. It was a lot of fun zooming across a shallow valley and down a hill on a zipline, lemmie tell you. I was sad that they wanted to charge $30 for the 2,000 foot zipline from the top of the hill to the bottom. I’d have paid $20, but $30 was a bit steep (no pun intended) in my opinion.

Following the zipline, the girls hung out in Boone, NC, pampered themselves and met a bunch of people at a local bar. They had a lot of fun so I hear. Carl and I, on the other hand, went for a hike. A 7 mile round trip hike up Grandfather Mountain that was advertised to take about 3.5 hours buy took us about 5.5 hours. It was a very strenuous hike up about a mile or 1.5 miles up the mountain that included inclines mostly between 30 and 45 degrees, though at one point we were climbing almost straight up for about 0.5 a mile. The view at the top was worth it. Prolly one of the best scenic views I’ve seen in my life. Too bad my phone/camera was dead at the time. I’m hoping Carl will post the camera pics on Facebook.

Anyway, after I dropped our remaining water bottle down the hill from the summit (leaving us without water for the trip down) we began our race down the mountain against the sunset. I was surprised at how quickly we did it, though the last mile was pretty much in the dark. Our knees and ankles were aching pretty badly (and still are today) but we were highly motivated to get back having not only encountered bear poo on the trail, but hearing it growl at us from somewhere off the trail… The girls asked us what took so long and told us they thought we “got et by a bear.” Ha ha ha. Funny story about that….

I did a little math the next day and figured out that the hiking trip burned about 4,000 calories. According to P90, I burned just over a pound of fat on that hike. Yikes.

So, overall a great vacation. I feel quite a bit refreshed. Now back to my usual week with a busy schedule ahead of me.

EDIT: Added a few pics:

Before the Zipline

Woohoo!

Little Waterfall

I like this pic

The 7 mile hike, grueling as it was, was totally worth it

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Resistance

This week is going to be a make me or break me week. I have a presentation on Wed, a final on Thurs, and a couple more sections due on my dissertation asap. I have stepped up my workouts and am pretty much broke, so I’m not eating healthy. I start up my practicum again on Thursday, but it is out at Zorn, which is in Louisville…not within walking distance. Whatmore? My car died. Well, it won’t start, but I’m not sure about the 100 things that could be the problem, so in my mind, since I can’t afford anything and it can’t get me anywhere, it may as well be dead to me.

I got over the hump in my dissertation and I’m winding my way through another section. After this one I w,ill have two that deal specifically with the measures I am using, so they will be simple but tedious to write. I will have 2/3 of what I’m working on done by the end of the week, but my goal is to finish it all.

I ordered resistance bands, which came in the mail today. They are not the bands I ordered; they are a bait and switch. I thought I was paying $30 for a set of $60 bands (you know, nothing is full price on Amazon), but the bands I got are $45 bands. Granted, I still paid only 66% for them, but if I wanted the bands I got I would have ordered them in the first place. They work fine, but I’m (hopefully) sending them back. Yet another thing on my plate.

New House and Chuck tonight, which is exciting, but I’ll have to wait until everything is done this week to watch them. I’m an instant gratification kind of guy when it comes to my shows. I don’t know how I’ve gone almost 90 days without watching the Netflix of Dexter sitting by the tv.

This is my last week of graduate school classes…presumably ever. I have practicum supervision and dissertation (and later internship) left to complete, but they don’t count as classes. At any rate, I don’t have to buy any more text books, which is very nice.

As for P90, I am kicking my butt. I’ve been adding reps and challenging myself and I find myself exhausted, almost to the point of not being able to stand, when I complete the workouts–especially cardio and abs. I worked it out. I’ve done about 2500 crunches since I began P90. I am able to complete the cardio workout without stopping for breaks, but I can’t do all of the exercises for the full duration. The run lunges and crosshops are what get me every time. I will do them as intensely as the video, but I can only do one full rep and later a half a rep (total of 30 + 15 sec, 45 sec) of each. I continue to move and I will either run in place or do the alternative move (respectively) to keep up with the video, but it is all I can do not to sit down and rest. I’m proud of myself for that at least, even if my calves feel like 100 lb stones on fire when I’m finished.

I am taking things one day at a time and allowing for mental health time throughout the day, which has included napping, watching 30 min of tv, playing on the internet, and eating a snack. I will make it to May!

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Phase Two

I start phase two of P90 this week. That means I’m halfway through. Cardio hasn’t really changed, there’s just more of it. I’m expected to do 200 crunches now instead of 100, which I will continue to work my way up to (I’m at 150 now). Strength training, however, is kind of a whole new monster. I’m doing pretty much the exact same workout, but adding a few new exercises. Everything is 8-20 reps now instead of 8-15 and I’ve been pretty consistently managing 15 reps. No, where strength training becomes a monster for me is pushups. We’ve added incline pushups where you put your legs in a chair. Additionally, I was surprised with “max pushups” and “max squats” at the end of the workout where I was expected to basically do as many as I could. Squats weren’t that difficult and I stopped at 30 because I was just plain exhausted from the workout. I surprised myself by doing 25 pushups at the end. Those last 5 really sucked. For me, 25 is an accomplishment. My goal right now is to maintain that number and perhaps next week I’ll see about adding more. I figure I will begin to do them to failure in May, mostly because 25 is pretty much my failure number now.

I am moving at a constant pace on my dissertation. I am nearly finished with the lengthiest section and from there things will progress much more quickly. I’m so tired of reading research articles to support my discussion. I think I have about 12 pages of references and I’m constantly questioning my APA style regarding references.

Following my current section (a description of the coming out process and the various factors that affect this overall experience) I will discuss Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory as a means for conceptualization of both the coming out experience and gay male development. The final section of my first chapter will discuss the three measures I will be using to assess the process (Rorschach, Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Coming Out Questionnaire) and my hypotheses on what I believe each of these measures will predict. Then I have Chapter 2, which discusses my methods. While not specifically written, this section is formulaic and I know what goes where, so it will go more smoothly than the sections before it. Plenty of writing to keep me busy this week, that’s for sure.

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Progress

I maxed out all my reps tonight except for pushups. That’s 15 on everything, 5 of each lunge, and 12 of each squat progression. Two words: Jello Arms. Who would think 3 more reps would make that much of a difference. The important thing for me is that I survived and didn’t fudge/cheat. Everything was difficult, but I finished. I think I’m going to do this once a week (1 of 3 strength training sessions) and see how I manage. I’m all about baby steps but I’m not afraid to challenge myself. I intend to up my pushups by 1 per week from here on out as well. I’ll get there, but I’ll do it my way.

I’m making progress on my dissertation. The rewritten proposal will be finished by the end of the month. That is a lot of work. I am finishing up the section about the effects of the coming out process and will work on the Bronfenbrenner section over the weekend. After that I tackle the Rorschach and the Methods section. It sounds like a lot,  but I have a plan for it and I’m staying on track most of the way.

Maggie bought Changes and I’m using it as a motivational goal. I won’t get to read it until she is finished with it, which won’t take any time as soon as she sits down to devour…I mean, read it. I am still working my way through White Like Me and will be finished sometime tomorrow. A six page paper later and 95% of  my responsibilities for the semester (excluding dissertation) will be completed. Time to shower and read a couple more chapters before bed.

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We’re havin’ some fun

I laugh every time I hear Tony Horton say this in the videos.

I am gearing up for the second phase of P90. This week is my last week in the first phase so to prepare for next week I have started upping my reps a bit and generally began “trying harder.” I’ve gone from doing 8 reps on most of the exercises when I began to 12-15 reps on all of them now with the distinct exception of push ups, which continue to kick my ass. I can do about 10 before my shoulders feel like they’re going to give out, and the 7-7-7s (7 wide, 7 close, and 7 standard push ups in a row) just about kill me. I feel like I am doing them incorrectly, but every time I check myself against the video for form I find that I’m doing it right. I could go back to the push ups on my knees, but honestly things are just going to get harder from here. I figure if I can maintain my 10 push ups and slowly improve them to 15, I’ll consider that a success. We all have our weak areas. Apparently this one is one of mine.

Crunches and ab exercises are another matter. I have a love-hate relationship with the “ab ripper” videos that consist of 10 exercises X 10 reps (100 crunches in ~5 min). During the exercise I hate the world. It is hard and my belly keeps getting in the way. After the exercises I feel extremely accomplished…that is, after I spend the next couple of minutes recovering and turning over to stretch. I’ve been increasing my reps here too over the past two weeks adding 1-2 extra each time. Starting out is 10 x 10; right now I’m up to 10 x 15 (150 crunches). Next week the bar is raised to 10 x 20. Ouch.

While life has been generally stressful and my exercise routine has occasionally been interrupted, I have yet to miss an exercise. I have completed all of the routines in P90 up to this point, though for about a week and a half I played catch up a bit and did strength training and cardio (and abs) on the same day. I am officially back on track as of today having done cardio yesterday on my off day. Despite the stress, my workouts have kept me grounded. They keep me to a routine and hold me accountable. Finding time for them in the day can be a challenge, but they are a part of my schedule. If only I could be as consistent with my sleep schedule.

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Seven Pounds and Other Losses

I have lost seven pounds. And no, I don’t need any help finding them. I will just consider them gone and stop looking.

I passed my first 30 days of P90. It was a rocky start, but I’ve been pretty consistent and the scale tells me I’m doing just fine. As busy as I have been it has been hard to find time for the workouts and/or be motivated to do them after a full day of stuff. I will occasionally do them in the morning, but I’m not a morning person and would rather sleep in. I climbed 3 flights of stairs the other day and realized that I wasn’t winded like I usually am. Ok, maybe a little, but it was definitely an improvement.

I made omelettes tonight. Ham and cheese with some green veggies. I have only really watched people make omelettes before. I have on occasion participated in the making of omelettes, but this was my first solo omelette endeavor. It wasn’t half bad. Given the frequency with which we have most of the ingredients for these, I see more omelettes in my future. I’m looking forward to experimenting with them a bit as well. I’m open to suggestions!

Finally, I am sad about Butler (now onto the subject of basketball). I had hoped they would beat Duke and it looked good. I didn’t mind them going as far as they did after winning over Murray State. I figured, if they’re good enough to beat Murray, they better go all the way. They nearly did. Sadly, Duke ruined yet another March Madness experience for me. I don’t care for Duke, being a UK fan and still bitter about game ending long shots. For a brief moment I’d hoped the last shot had gone in if only to serve as poetic justice for Duke. Oh well. Better luck next year.

On to baseball. I need  some teams to cheer for. I’ve watched the sports seasons roll this year and participated in some degree in each thusfar. And so, I need a couple of teams to cheer for in each league. I may not watch the games, but I’ve enjoyed the spirit of sports this year and having a team to cheer for. Some of my teams have surprised me and some came very close to triumph. As for baseball, I’m not truly invested in any team. The Cubbies perhaps, but definitely definitely not the Yanks.

My horse this year for the Derby is going to be Dublin. I really want to see Make Music For Me go far as well. That’s my underdog. Sadly, Liz isn’t throwing her usual Millionaire party this year–she’s actually going to the Derby. Loser. I’ll go one year. This one prolly won’t be it though.

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