Cardio day today after class.  Did Cardio X, but instead of the yoga warmup, which I find useless, I did some ab work – crunches, side twists, ins and outs, knee ups, and stiff arm pulldowns.  I love the rest of the variety of this workout – kenpo, plyo, and core.  Always work up a nice sweat in a short (45 minute) workout.

Till tomorrow-

Dave

Started off very sluggish….but seemed to get a second wind today.  Alternated push ups and bench press today – the one complete I have about the Chest portion of this is that the first exercise (negatives) take so much out of you that it’s tough to go hard on chest the rest of the way.  Love the shoulder portion – really good mix of exercises, always get a good pump.

Must say, I am looking forward to my recovery week next week though.

Till tomorrow-

Dave

Got home today at around 6:00pm and worked out from 9-10pm.  Did my favorite workout, back and biceps, alternating between lat pulldowns and shrugs.  Added the red band to my dumbbells for extra resistance on curls and it worked nicely.  In a good flop sweat – good workout.

Wasn’t motivated to do Ab Ripper tonight, but did 80 crunches and 100 side twists to at least give them a little work.  Off to bed.

Till tomorrow-

Dave

Worked today and then went to school until 9:30, got home around 10:00pm, so I was a bit tired.  Didn’t feel up to Plyo, so subbed Cardio X today, and worked up a nice sweat.  It blends a little yoga, plyo, kenpo, and core so I like it as it keeps it interesting.  Plus, it’s a bit shorter than the others, so its a good workout in a pinch to get your cardio in.

Satisfied…..

Till tomorrow

-Dave

I iced my lower back last night and it loosened up a bit…it’s been locked up for a few days since the bike ride.  Felt better, so I decided to work out hard today.

Did Chest-Shoulder-Triceps, and went very heavy.  On pushups, in addition to the full ones, I added 10 pulses (strong range) to the end, so I was over 20 on every chest exercise.  On shoulders and triceps, I added the purple band (heaviest I’ve found) to all shoulder presses and tricep pushdowns.  Had one heck of a pump.  Great workout – really pushed it today.

Drank a protein shake and then proceeded to the X Stretch, because I really needed it.  My lower back is still a little twingy, but I think I have now loosened all the kinks out.

Tomorrow I start my new job, and I doubt I can get up at 4:30am.  So, I’m going to go to work from 8-5, go to class from 6:30pm-10:30pm, and then workout when I get home.  I’m more of a night owl anyway, and hey, what better recoevery from a workout than sleep?  Plyo tomorrow.  Yikees.

Till tomorrow-

Dave

I took yetserday off – back hurt from biking, and just generally tired.  I think you have to be real careful to be intense with P90X, but not overtrain.  So, to make up a bit for the missed workout, I did 3 sets of each bodypart today to make sure I got some work in.  I broke it down, 1 set 12 reps, 2nd set 8 reps, and the 3rd set I went very heavy with strong range partials in the 20 rep range (Power Factor training).  I did Shoulder Presses, followed by Shrugs, then Tricep Pushdowns, Dumbbell Curls, Bench Press, Lat Pulldowns (close, underhand), Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, Pullovers, Side Twists, and Crunches.  Have a headache today, but plowed through.

X Stretch tomorrow, which should feel good.  Probably need to squeeze some running as well.  Start my new job Monday, so it will definitely start getting tougher, since I go to class 3 nights a week, to keep up this pace.  I will probably have to start working out at 5am…which I’ve never been proficient at (I like sleep).  Gonna try my best….and forget the rest!

-Dave

Body is actually very sore, and lower back is bothering me from bike ride yesterday, so taking a day off to heal a bit.

Was gonna go jogging today, but decided to hop on the bike and take a ride with my kids.  The one problem is that I don’t have a bike, so I used my wife’s (no jokes please).  It probably hadn’t been ridden in a year, and the back brakes rub.  I am not handy and do not know how to repair them, so aside from taking them off, there wasn’t much to do about it.  So, me and my 2 boys took off for a ride.

We went for a leisurely hour (my boys are only 7 and 5), and probably covered about 5 miles.  Would have been easy, except I was riding with a consistent squeaking and drag from my back tire, and the seat was slanted slightly upwards, which needless to say is not real comfortable for a man.  I must have been quite a sight on the bike paths today – man on a woman’s bike, squeaking, and standing (rather than sitting) on the bike most of the time.

Back to the weights tomorrow.

-Dave

Back and Biceps…my favorite.  I tried to “up” the intensity today by concentrating more on lowering the weight for 2 seconds…more methodical up as well….more time under tension.  It is certainly much more difficult to do it that way.  Since I am limited at home to one set of dumbbells and can’t increase the weight, I figured I would try this strategy to grow.  I thought it worked well.

Did Ab Ripper afterwards, and was joined by my 2 sons, who are 7 and 5.  That made it more fun!  Kept to my strategy…last time, I did 10 reps, today I did 11 on all exercises….did 22 on Mason Twists.  I’m just gonna keep upping the reps slowly until I can do 25.

Till tomorrow-

Dave

Nice and muggy here in Chicagoland today…..always fun to run in.  Stepped it up a bit today, although nothing earth shattering.  Even had my 7 and 5 year old boys along with me.

The total workout lasted around 50 minutes, and I broke it down like this:

3 minute jog, 2 minute walk, 3 minute jog, 2 minute walk, 3 minute jog, 2 minute walk, 3 minute jog, and than a leisurely half hour walk.  It was fun, and I wore my kids out!  My wife will be pleased.

I wouldn’t say I was strong on this, and certainly didn’t run very fast, but am slowly building up my aerobic base.

Back to the weights tomorrow!

-Dave