Workout Summary 9-5-10

Today's workout:

- Jogged around Long Beach Pier for 1 hour; no stopping or walking.

- Worked out for 20 min:

20lbs curls / 3 sets / 10 reps each hand

15 lbs tricep extensions / 3 sets / 10 reps each hand

25 lbs arm lifts / 3 sets / 10 reps each hand

Pushups / 3 sets / 12 reps

Total time: 1 1/2 hrs

Return to Battle!

I'm back. After two months of slacking off... I was like F this. No more mister fat guy. Let's do this forreals.

Just completed Core Synergistics.. doing P90x Lean first, before I go classic this time. Also gonna work level best to follow the diet laid out and above all STAY POSITIVE.

No NEGATIVE thinking :)

- Mister U.

Yoga X

Ah Yoga X, how you work me to the bone. I sweat probably a gallon today trying to hold myself in X-TREME poses thanks to P90x. Wheel pose FTW!! Seriously, that is a godawful pose.

The hardest part is definitely the beginning. You keep doing the Vinyassa where you squeeze your body through your arms and stretch up; then come back to center, pushup and go to a dog pose where your butt is in the air and everything else pointing downards. Finally you do runner's pose, bend one knee and come up stretching your hands up to the sky, then forward, then backwards. You do this like 12 to 15 times, I can't remember but it's superrrrrrrr tedious. You get super tired fast. I would lose balance too a couple times.

After the first 45 min of doing this, the next 45 min is not as hard but still hard. You do more balancing poses, where you stand on one leg then lean forward, backward and up to the sky. Then you get to crazy ass poses where you lift yourself up on your arms and stick your legs out -- the dreaded Crane pose, and then you move to the Wheel pose where you are on all fours upside down. Top it all off with the Yoga Flame move and you're out of breath. Just kidding, you don't do a Yoga Flame move -- this isn't Street Fighter.

Yeah... I sweat a gallon today. I feel really stretched out, but at the end of all of it I feel good. That's 4 days in a row!!! Haven't missed a single workout! I cheated a little though today -- my company had a pizza party, so I had a few slices. But after that I have been pretty good about eating the regular stuff. I probably shouldn't have eaten the pizza slices but it was right there and I felt a small portion wouldn't hurt. I didn't have any sodas or anything else, so I think I'm okay.

Keep going!! On to Back & Legs tomorrow!

- Mister U.

Plyometrics Fun!

God, so mad I skipped Plyo last week. Well as a result, doing Plyo this week was HELL! I never sweat so much in my life. At least I did the whole thing though...super proud of myself.

You do like hundreds of squats and jumping back and forth. Soooo crazy. The first time around I think I didn't try as hard. This time I was going X like.

But all in all great workout. I love it when I come home like super worked out and sweaty; my friend Ernie was commenting today how I was able to leap through Pentland Hills' hills (it's my old Dormitory where he lives now) with the greatest of ease. "Are you getting fit?" he asked. Lol, why yes I am!

I like that feeling... I like the fact I can leap through boundaries and hills with the greatest of ease. Honestly, even tho I'm 27, I feel like I'm 22 or 23 again. People often mistake me for being that young. Even dorm kids think I'm a sophomore or something. They're super surprised when they find out I'm this old man! They're like "NOOO WAYY!! You don't look it!" What's really funny is when I was actually 22, people thought I was 27, because I was so out of shape and looked probably my worst. I had the real freshman 15 at that time.... o_O. Well, I've got my second chance at childhood again :) -- That's the way I look at it.

Hopefully after P90x finishes I can do some hardercore workout stuff. I plan to keep going... I'm loving this workout stuff. Mel, if you're reading this, maybe I'll join you some day on the marathon runs... sounds crazy right now, but I'm up for the challenge.

- Mister U.

Week 3 Chest & Back

It's week 3! I finished Chest & Back today. I was pretty clean about my workout, I made sure my form was good throughout. Only towards the end did I get a little sloppy, especially when I had to do the Diamond Pushups. That's HARD.

I feel like my arms are definitely expanding. I still am struggling to finish reps, especially pullups. I have to use a chair often to finish; but I was reading that it's really common to start out that way in P90x. I still have like 10 weeks to go through before I can start knocking this stuff out of the park.

But I feel good overall. I have way more energy all in all. I also did Ab-X; I didn't skip on it like last week. Ab-X is still a pain though. I definitely need to practice it more...

My body is starting to shed fat. I can tell; my chest looks better and I have definition. But I've only been doing this for 2 weeks, so it's not like I've changed that much. It could all go to the wayside if I stop. Can't stop.

Actually, I want to continue... I want to do more; like run or something. I should read the forums and see if that's okay to do.

As far as eating -- I'm doing good; I bought groceries over the weekend and have stuck to eating lots of good vegetables and protein. Today I ate well too. I ordered some protein bars -- they're on the way so I'll have those soon to snack on mid-day.

Things are going good again! No skipping workouts this week! Everything's going to be super clean, with major focus on form and getting through reps.

- Mister U.

The Week So Far

Not feeling that great with myself. I missed two workouts this week, plus didn't complete Ab Ripper X twice. All because I didn't schedule my time well. Monday and Tuesday, I had to help out my friend Tim with movie shooting. So I only had time to do complete Chest and Back on Monday; I skipped the Ab Ripper X because Tim was getting pissed I hadn't shown up yet.

We ended up working on the movie pretty late. The next day I had work in the morning but thought I'd do Plyometrics before work. Couldn't... I slept in. So when night came, I had barely enough time to complete Plyometrics. I ended up turning off the DVD because Tim started calling again. Worked on the movie til 1:30AM... don't get me wrong, movie production is super fun, and something I enjoy... just I didn't make the time to complete the P90x which sucked.

Wednesday, I worked Shoulders and Arm hardcore. But ended up skipping Ab Ripper X because a friend wanted to hang. We ended up watching a movie that night.. The good part of that night was the friend cleared out some of my junk food - she ate all the chocolates and chips in my pantry :)

Thursday, I was super drained. I didn't have enough energy to do Yoga X. Mentally I couldn't tell myself to continue... I had no willpower. I stopped the DVD 1/3 of the way and fell asleep on my floor. I woke up the next morning really disturbed... compared to last week, where I could do every P90x exercise, I was a disaster this week.

I decided to check my diet today. I think my diet is too little for the program... for P90x, I need at least 2600 calories... at the moment, I measured my last daily food calorie count and it came in like 900 calories... that's way low... no wonder I feel burnt out. I need more food. I'm going to get more groceries this weekend and cook more food.

Today I focused on being in the 'moment' with Tony for Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X. I threw out all my negative thoughts and just did the exercises. Thankfully I was able to complete it, but it was one of the hardest workouts I've ever done. My head was spinning after a ton of pullups and squats. The Ab Ripper X was insanely hard today. But I'm super glad I did it. Yay for strong mental willpower!

Tomorrow I'm going to do Kenpo X early; I have some plans later in the day and don't think I can do it any time after. Sunday, I'll get some groceris and make up for lost exercises. I'll do Yoga X and Plyometrics with Ab Ripper X. That should be hella hard but gorgeous. :) Fun Fun Fun!


- Mister U

Back & Legs - Post Workout Thoughts :)

Yay! I didn't really feel like working out tonight... I was super low energy... thinking about rejection from a girl I asked out. I went home and felt crappy on my bed - eventually falling asleep. I woke up like 2 hours later and my brain was ticking - workout, workout, workout!!! I kept saying why, why, why??

Finally, I just got up and started. Thank god. I hate the noise in my head. I need to stay committed. Initially I was complaining - aww man I got two workouts - Back & Legs and Ab Ripper X. I was like, man it's going to take an hour and a half! But as said before, I cleared the noise and went to work. And now I feel great. I did much better on Ab-X this time, last time I couldn't do anything.. this time I was able to make it through the sets. Next time, I'll bring it!

In other notes, I can probably mix resistance bands with more pullups.. I'm starting to feel myself get better at them. I can't do a whole lot, but I can do some.. which is a good thing. I notice my body is starting to look a little better too. I'm still fat, but I have a little definition around my back and arms, plus around the chest area. I also have been super hungry - A LOT... but staying true to eating small portions and sticking to the plan.

Next week, I'm going to really be hardcore about P90x.. this week was a test week to see if I could survive. I'm going to spend this weekend getting some better groceries too. Also got my shipment of Results and Recovery formula - it tastes like Orange Juice, but it's pretty good.

Overall, I'm not worried about rejection. My mind is trained to use it to make me better. I see rejection as a correction - towards getting to a goal. When you get rejected, you figure out what worked, what didn't and then you work. In my case, my competitors look better than me in terms of body. I gotta step up if I wanna play. That's why I'm in this... I read today on forums for men only - that guys tend to get rejected on average 90% of the time when they ask a girl out. I was like, HOLY SHIZZNT. I didn't think it was that high. But if you think about it, girls get asked out all the time... so they have plenty of options. If you want to improve your chances, don't be average. That's the name of the game. :)

- Mister U

Finished Yoga-X

Just finished my first crash course at Yoga - seriously! I did think it was going to be a breeze and all I'd have to do is stretch. Man... Yoga stuff is hard. I kept losing balance and struggled to hold myself in position for all these crazy poses. The hardest one is the Crane pose.... godawful pose.

But at least I made it! Almost at the end of the tunnel! If I finish this week, I'll have no problem doing this stuff again for Week2,3 and 4! My diet's been pretty good too... I passed on Pizza and tacos and instead made delicious homemade sandwiches and protein shakes. Also ate some fruits... so I'm doing a good job of following the meal plan!

P90x ME! :D

Oh yah, PS. I got a portable DVD player/karaoke machine. I bought this for like $100 instead of spending money buying a weight set - instead I'll take my workout to my apartment complex gym and use the weights there - save myself like $600!

Today's Food & Workout

Muscle Milk x 2

Turkey Sandwich x 2

Diet Coke
EAS 42g Protein Shake
Chicken Sandwich
Water

Finished the Shoulders and Arms video. That was pretty intense. Using the resistance bands instead of lifting weights is no walk in the park. This was the first exercise that I literally sweat buckets on buckets. GOOD STUFF tho. GORGEOUS.

Plyometrics

Wow, Plyometrics sure is a workout. I can already tell my neighbors downstairs are going to hate me for jumping up and down on the carpet like a madman - they already complained about my roommate's movements the other day. I think I'm going to have to invest in a portable DVD player and go to the community gym to practice. I also have like little space in my room to do the entire workout properly.

Still, despite cramped spaces, I was sweating buckets. You do a ton of squats in the workout and water is a must. But as Tony says - and I'm learning to positively reframe in my mind - it's a GORGEOUS thing :)

I survived! Now all I have to do is just make sure my diet gets better - as of today I'm going to really start eating stuff according to the book. Thankfully the kitchen downstairs can make the food I want from scratch.

- Mister U.

The Day After My First Workout 4-13-10

God I feel so sluggish today. Those exercises from last night made my muscles super sore. I've been eating as much as I can all day to keep up my metabolism and stay energetic while at work.

But I still feel like I wanna shut down and sleep. I slept last night like 7 hours, so it's not like I'm lacking in the sleep department... That Ab Ripper X program really worked me... it still hurts. Hopefully my body will start getting used to all this. As Tony says... "It's a GORGEOUS thing". Hopefully I can do 100 pushups in one go like him someday.

Today is Plyometrics. Can't wait to do it. Also gotta buy more food and get some measuring tape. I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. I reassured myself I could do the Basic Fitness test again today... and I still meet all minimum requirements. Just gotta stick with the P90x program and give it my full commitment.

- Mister U.

Meals 4-13-10

Breakfast

----------

EAS Dark Chocolate Shake - 42g Protein

Lunch

-------

Turkey Sandwich:

- 4 slices bread (12g Protein, 42g carbs, 5g Fat, 260 calories)

- 8 slices turkey (52g Protein, 0.5g Fat, 240 cal)

= 64g Protein, 42 carbs, 5.5g Fat, 500 calories

2 Bao (13g Protein, 8g Fat, 46g carbs, 300 cal)

Diet Coke: 0 cal, 35mg sodium, 0g sugar

Total: 77g Protein, 42 carbs, 13.5g Fat, 800 calories

Snack

------

Muscle Milk - 20g Protein, 9g carbs, fat 5g, 160 cal

Dinner

--------

Chicken Sandwich

4 slices bread (12g Protein, 42g carbs, 5g Fat, 260 calories)

2 tsbp mayo (x, y, z)

3 oz pre-cooked chicken slices (a, b, c)

Water

Total Total

----------

139g Protein, 51 carbs, fat 21.5g, 960 calories

Started P90x Today!

Just did Chest & Back - the first DVD... man I sucked! I could barely do everything the group was doing... I did just the minimum amount of reps (8-12) for every set, except pullups which I had to do resistance bands after a while cause I could only do 3 or 4 pullups.

AbX was a nightmare too... I sucked at that!!

Well I'm glad I got started though, because I kept putting it off saying I needed to buy more 'equipment' first before I started. The more I made excuses, the less inclined I felt to do it. Now that I've officially started, I gotta keep going. I've also let pretty much everyone know - so my pride is on the line :) Hopefully I get better fast!

- Mister U

Some Rules & Calculations

From the P90x Diet Manual.. where should I be in terms of setting up my diet & workout plan?

P90x Diet Schedule
-------------------
Phase 1 (Fat Shredder Plan week 1-4)
Phase 2 (Energy Booster Week 5-8)
Phase 3 (Endurance Maximizer Week 9-13)

P90x Hydration Schedule
------------------------
12 oz. water two hours prior to exercise
8-12 oz. water 15 to 30 min prior to exercise
4-8 oz. water every 15 min during exercise

P90x Results and Recovery Forumla
---------------------------------
Have it within 1 hour of your hardest workout.
Save the recovery drink; if you did light workout, wait til you've done a harder workout that day and use it.

Cook meat, poultry and seafood without oil using grilling

Calculations
---------------
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) - Number of calories I need to breathe, pump blood, grow hair, etc.

RMR = Body Weight x 10

My RMR = 185 x 10 = 1850

1850 calories required to be alive

Daily Activity Burn (DAB) - Calories required for daily movement apart from exercise.

RMR x 20% = DAB

1850 x 20% = 370

370 calories required to move around daily

Calories Needed to Exercise for P90x = 600 calories

Total Calories Needed
= RMR + DAB + 600
= 1850 + 370 + 600
-------------------
2820 calories/day

I fall into Nutrition Level 2 of the Diet Plan for P90x (2400 to 2999 calories)

Current Body Fat:

26.5%

Body Fat Target
For Men
Fit: 14-17%
Athlete: 10-13%
Elite Athlete: 4-9%

How Many Pounds of Fat Do I Have?

Total Weight = 185 lbs

Body Fat% = 26.5%

Pounds of fat = (Body Weight x Body Fat Percent)

185lbs x 26.5% = 48.1 lbs of fat

Pounds of lean body mass = Total Weight - Pounds of fat

= 185lbs - 48.1lbs = 136.9lbs of lean body mass

Formula to reach target goal weight:

Goal weight = (Weight of Lean Body Mass / (100 - desired fat percentage)) x 100

Fit range = 14-17%

136.9/(100-17) = 165 lbs @ 17% body fat (GOAL)

Updates

Finished reading most of the P90x material and at this point just getting equipment ready. Looks like it's going to be hell for a while, but I don't care.. I've been wanting this - it's my goal to be in shape.

This weekend just need to get the equipment and groceries. I also need some new shoes. I plan to start my training Monday! Can't wait!

- Mister U

Song of the Moment

This song is a good cardio song :) Wonder if there are remixes available...

Yay! Got my P90x Kit!

I got my P90x kit in the mail today! Just started reading through it, can't wait to get started. Looked at the minimum requirements and it looks like I'm good enough to do this program. In a week or so, I should be full fledged ready to go (once I have all my groceries and equipment). Then in 90 days (end of June, early July) I should be in pretty good shape! Can't wait!

- Mister U

Some Pictures

Here are some pictures of how I look at the moment.. as you can see I hide pretty well but you can tell where the weight is if you look carefully.

Notice the bulge near the right side... wearing black is great for hiding your 'weight'.

Not too proud of this pic either... if only the waist was narrower (my stomach looks like it's on its way to popping out of that vest).

Work It!

Hey guys! This is my personal workout blog. I built it to motivate myself to workout and track my progress. My goals are to work out on a routine basis and get as fit as possible!

Since this is my first post, I'll share with you a little bit about myself...

I'm not as fit as everyone probably thinks I am in my peer group. I weigh about 185lbs right now and am 5'11". I do have a gut and lovehandles which I've been trying to get rid of forever. Luckily I can hide it well by wearing loose shirts and baggy pants. So the effect I give off is I'm 'skinny'.

But.... I can't go to the beach and show off. I can't wear cool fitted shirts or jeans and look good at the club because I'm afraid of people noticing my actual body tone. And I don't really have as good stamina as guy my age should have... my competition in this area kills me.. when I want to sweep a girl off her feet, I almost lose my balance!

My diet isn't anything great either. I try to eat six times a day but fail a lot :).

Want to know what I eat? Here's a quick snapshot..

I usually either have a glass of Muscle Milk (20g protein) or skip breakfast altogether. But usually I'll have that glass.. I'd say at least 90% of the time. 10% I skip.

For lunch, I either eat a chicken burger and tater tots from the cafeteria downstairs, Taco Bell's 89 cent chicken tacos, or make a chicken sandwich for myself - which consists of wheat bread, mayo & chicken slices from Costco (25g protein).

I'll drink another Muscle Milk around 4PM, try to eat an apple (40% of the time I will) or eat oatmeal (20% of the time).

Dinner is usually at 7 and consists of another chicken sandwich that I make with chips and a cheese stick. I have no idea what the protein count is in that. Basically just trying to eat a lot of protein with wheat bread so I have a good balance of fiber and protein.

Occassionally, on Thursdays, Fridays or the weekend, I'll eat out like 2-3 times. I'll eat with friends at some food court, usually eating whatever... pizza slices, burgers, sushi, Indian curry, whatever... it's always different, 'cause I like going out and eating different food. Usually though, when I eat out, I eat chicken based food. I rarely eat beef and will only eat it if there's nothing else to eat; I love fish, but am too poor to buy it and cook it. Well maybe not too poor but just lazy.

I don't really cook. I love cooking but it takes so much time in the kitchen which I never seem to have time for. So I just make a ton of sandwiches - they are easy and take like a couple minutes to prepare - vs spending 20 min in the kitchen to make spaghetti or a fish curry.

For the most part, my diet doesn't make me 'fat'. For the most part I've kept around the same weight for a year. If anything I dropped from being 200lbs to 185lbs using this diet... my diet before sucked. I was eating fast food all the time and drinking a ton of soda. I lived off Carl's Jr. Now I rarely if never eat there. I also changed soda consumption to purely diet sodas. At first I hated diet soda but now I prefer it to real soda... real soda has wayyy too sugary of a taste.

Now that you know about my diet.. what about my workout?

I'm really inconsistent... Some weeks I'll hardcore go to the gym and work out for 2 hours, 3-4 days a week. Other weeks, I'll do nothing... not even cardio. When I'm working out consistently, I love going to the gym.. I can motivate myself to go as often as I can. But when I miss the gym more than 2 times, I start getting lazy. Especially if I have a girlfriend. My last girlfriend took up a lot of my time and I stopped going to the gym. That sucked.

I need to figure out how to balance that.

I am pretty good at running and swimming - those are two of my favorite activities. I just need better running shoes, cause my current ones are not really made for running. I'm also okay at lifting weights but lately have kicked back HARD. I used to bench 220lbs, that was my peak. Now I can barely do 180lbs. I'm good at pushups, can do about 40-50 with breaks in between. Situps are super easy but I feel like I don't get anything accomplished. Squats are hard for me.. used to do a lot around 300lbs in my top days, but now am like down to 220lbs. Again, sometimes I go to the gym and get really awesome, but when I stop.. I just lose everything and my muscles deteriorate. In fact, my roommate told me I'm one of those guys who can bulk up super fast but also lose it super fast - there's some term for it..starts with an 'e'..ecto-something...

----------------

So now that you know some stuff about me, I'm sure the next questions you have are 'where do you want to be in a couple months?', 'what are your goals?', and 'what are you doing with this blog?'

My goal is to lose the gut by 90 days. I want to do cardio 5-6x a week, where I run 3x a week, swim 3x a week - at least for 20-30 min. I want to lift weights for another half hour - but this is usually where I fall apart. I follow a very loose routine and usually don't keep to time. In fact my routine almost always goes over an hour. I feel sore the next day and look 'bigger' but I don't think I get great results with it long term.

My current workout routine looks like this:

Run or swim 20 min.

Stop. Then do the following for another 20 min.

- Bicep Curls @ 30-40lbs, 12 reps, 3 sets

- Tricep Extensions @ 20lbs, 12 reps, 3 sets

- Back Extension @ 135lbs, 12 reps, 3 sets

- Dips @ Body Weight, 10 reps, 2 sets

- Pullups @ Body Weight, 5 reps, 3 sets

- Pushups @ Body Weight, 15 reps, 3 sets

- Ab Crunches @ Body Weight + 5lbs, 10 reps, 3 sets

Usually I get tired by this time and go home...

I want to do my workout plan all over... most of these existing routines came from 'Men's Health' and the book 'A Six Pack in 6 Weeks' by David Zinczenko. The routines are good, but I think I think the plan altogether is extremely messy. I feel like I burn out and don't work all the muscles I want with it. Especially by the time I'm doing pushups, I want to quit and go home. I don't really focus on abs or midsection - which is what I want to work on the most.

So now I'm researching. I want to create a better plan for starters this week. Then fix my diet. And scheduling. I heard some good stuff about P90x, so I'm checking that out as well. I'll be updating again later to put some pictures up, and what ideas I have for changing my plans around.

Hope you enjoy this blog.. my hope is that you are inspired by my progress and that you too are motivated to acheive your workout goals. Feel free to comment at any time and give advice you think will help me to lose weight and stay fit. Hopefully we can help each other meet our goals and feel better about our weight!

- Mister U.