Workout Log

I'm not sure how this will work but I'm going to try to update my workout log here.

Pushups
Date	Step	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
3/4	2 - Incline Pushups	40	40	40
3/7	2 - Incline Pushups	30	30	30
3/11	2 - Incline Pushups	40	40	40
3/14	2 - Incline Pushups	40	40	40
3/25	3 - Kneeling Pushups	30	30	30
3/28	3 - Kneeling Pushups	30	30	30
4/1	3 - Kneeling Pushups	30	30	30

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Leg Raise
Date	Step	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
3/5	1 - Knee Tucks	40	40	40
3/7	2 - Flat Knee Raises	30	30	30
3/11	2 - Flat Knee Raises	35	35	35
3/14	2 - Flat Knee Raises	40	40	40
3/25	3 - Flat Bent Leg Raises	30	30	30
3/28	3 - Flat Bent Leg Raises	30	30	30
4/1	3 - Flat Bent Leg Raises	30	30	30

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Squat
Date	Step	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
3/5	2 - Jackknife Squats	40	40	40
3/10	2 - Jackknife Squats	40	40	40
3/12	2 - Jackknife Squats	40	40	40
3/16	2 - Jackknife Squats	40	40	40
3/26	2 - Jackknife Squats	40	40	40
3/29	2 - Jackknife Squats	40	40	40
4/2	2 - Jackknife Squats	40	40	40

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Pullups
Date	Step	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
3/5	2 - Horizontal Pulls	20	20	20
3/10	2 - Horizontal Pulls	20	20	20
3/12	2 - Horizontal Pulls	25	25	20
3/16	2 - Horizontal Pulls	30	25	25
3/25	5 - Full PullUps	12	10	-
3/26	2 - Horizontal Pulls	25	25	25
3/29	2 - Horizontal Pulls	30	30	30
4/2	2 - Horizontal Pulls	30	30	30

Start of Spring

Hopefully winter is behind us and spring is here, right now the temperatures aren't showing it but the sun is shining and there is no snow, so I take that as a good sign.  Since it has been two weeks or so since the last update I figured I'd bring you up to speed with what I have been doing.

If you have been reading this you will know that I love baseball and play as much as I can, which still isn't enough... All the workouts I do, I do for my personal benefit as well as to improve my game. Also the wife likes the improving body and that is always an added plus!!

Well I have been trying to include the elliptical into my workouts to improve my cardio and have been steadily improving. Every time I hop on, which I try to do at least three times a week, if not more, I have been doing anywhere from two to two and a half miles. This week I plan to do at least two miles everyday.

As for my Convict Conditioning progressions, I have improved to step three on the pushups and leg lifts. I'm still on step two for the squats and pullups. I have met the requirements on all four exercises to move to the next level however I'm making sure to go slowly and to be able to hit each progression level to my liking before moving on.

Pushup Progression:

I mentioned that I'm on step three, which is the kneeling pushups. I have been able to do 3 sets of 30 every time without too much effort. However, I'm staying at this step for a little longer as I work to make sure my elbows stay in close to the body as I do each of the 120 pushups. I'm not too far away from moving to the next level here.

Leg Lift Progression:

I'm on step three here as well. I was able to do 3 sets of 30 the first time I tried but I'm trying to improve the form and get a lift the lower body vertically off the ground at the end of each lift. It is still difficult to do so I will stay at this level for the next couple of weeks.

Squats Progression:

I'm still on level two as I was working on making sure to be able to get deeper into the squat and get my butt closer to my heels. I'm getting better each time as I have been able to get the 3 set of 40 for quite awhile but I'm still not as close to my heels as I think I need to be to be able to move on. So I will keep working at that and stay here a little more. This will allow me to get deeper and loosen the muscles, tendons and ligaments to afford me the flexibility to reach my goal. It will also continue to strengthen my legs.

Pullup Progression:

I was finally able to hit the progression standard of 3x30 last time out but it wasn't easy. And in this mornings workout I was able to match the standard with a little bit more ease. I'm still going to stay at step two for at least another week if not two. I would like to be able to bust out the 3 sets of 30 with less effort.

So that's where I stand on this 2nd of April. I'm improving and getting stronger the numbers and ease of the workouts are showing me that. I'm also able to see slight improvements in the way my body is looking. A few things that I need to improve upon is the food that I'm eating and make sure that it is healthy and not just junk. That is often the toughest part for me as I often eat out for lunch. I don't always eat a ton of stuff but it's just not healthy stuff. So if I can work on actually packing my lunches I will be doing a lot better!

Well until next update, keep working on improving yourself. And make today better than yesterday!

Welcome Back to Me

It has been quite awhile that I've posted anything! Well I haven't back off on my training, I've gone through P90X a couple more times, and performed much better on both my softball teams and my vintage base ball team. The hard work definitely paid off. I even had my first over-the-fence home run in softball last summer! That was quite a thrill and highlight!

I also got married this winter and I couldn't be happier! My wife and I have gotten up many an early morning to workout together. During the last round of P90X my wife and I both sort of cooled to the idea of the program, not because it wasn't working, but more in just that it wasn't as much fun as it started out as. I think some of it was that I had been through it a few other times and it was almost getting routine. My numbers were still improving so it wasn't physically not working it was a mental thing.

I started looking at some other ways of staying in shape and improving my strength, at the same time not spending lots of money on equipment. I was researching body weight exercises and came across a few books, Convict Conditioning, You Are Your Own Gym, and Naked Warrior. They all discuss own to improve your strength with only using your own body weight to get stronger, as the strongmen of old times did before all the fancy weight machines.

Sole E35 Elliptical Machine

Well, these books will be great for my training but my wife wasn't nearly as interested in that sort of training for her! So we had to look elsewhere. Before we were married she would go to the YMCA and train on an elliptical machine and had great success with it! So we ordered one and got it setup this past weekend.

The wife has used it a few times as have I. It's the first time I have ever used one and I'm enjoying it. My goal from it is just to help with improving my cardio. Wednesday I did a mile, yesterday improved to one and a half miles and today was just shy of three miles in forty five minutes. I did take a couple of breaks but I know that will improve as I continue to use the elliptical machine.

As for my strength training, I'm going through the progressions that are laid out in the Convict Conditioning book. There are six areas of the body that are focused upon and there are ten types of exercises for each area. The types of exercises are pushups, pullups, squats, leg lifts, shoulder stands and bridging. As I read the book and saw the steps I know that I could jump to certain progressions since I've been able to do, for example, 3 sets of 20 pushups. But I want to start at the beginning and gain the strength needed for the final step as well as condition my tendons and ligaments for the more strenuous steps.

I am currently on step two of four of them, the book suggests to get to step six before starting bridging and the shoulder stands, so that is what I'm doing. I'm taking my time progressing through them to make sure I have proper form as well as so when I jump to the next step I will be able to continue without much strain.

I have been doing pushups and leg lifts on Mondays and Thursdays and squats and pullups on Tuesdays and Fridays with weekends and Wednesdays as my rest days. Once I get to step six on each I will then either move each exercise to its own day or add shoulder stands and bridges to Wednesdays and Saturdays. These exercises aren't always easy but they also don't usually take long to complete three sets. And if I move each exercise to it's own day then it shouldn't take me more than 15-20 minutes per day to complete which I can always find that much time to workout!

Well that should have caught you up to where I am now. I hope to do a better job of adding to this blog here in the future. Hope you keep reading and continue in your improvement in your struggle against yourself!

P90X2 - Finished!

Well it has been a while since I've updated this blog. However, rest assured, just because I haven't updated doesn't mean I had slacked on my workouts! In fact I finished P90X2 on the 31st of March! I have gained just over 10 pounds of muscle with it and I feel great! One of the reasons why I went through the program was to improve my baseball game. Well so far I noticed a big difference in my power hitting, and I have gained a couple of steps in my speed. However the thing that I am really excited about improving was my arm strength. I know feel that I have the arm that I had when I was much younger. I have now played 2 softball games and had a couple of practices of both softball and with my vintage base ball team and feel that I am much better than I was last year.

Now you might be wondering, now that I am finished with P90X2 what I'll be doing next. I have moved to improve the one area that I didn't feel that I got enough of in P90X2, conditioning. So I have started Insanity and have been at it for just over a week. It hasn't been easy but that's fine with me. The harder I work the better I'll get. Even within this weeks worth of the program I have noticed I can play longer. I play in the outfield have last night I was running all over but still felt like I could keep going even when the game was finished. I can't wait to see how I look and feel when I finish up.

Until the next time I update keep pushing play!

P90X2 Day #24 - Rest or Recovery and Mobility

I first started this blog to write my thoughts after each workout. Well as you can see that hasn't happened. I either haven't gotten in the habit of blogging or just don't have the time do update this. However, rest assured I have not stopped working out! I will be finishing the first phase this Saturday and starting the second phase this Sunday. I have decided to try to move on without have the recovery week. I have decided this for a couple reasons. 1.) I can't wait to get into the muscle building phase. I have already seen visual improvements in my muscles and can't wait to see more. 2.) I don't feel all that broken down. I think a vast majority of that is the supplements I've been taking that have help me recover quicker than when I did P90X without them. 3.) I really don't want to do yoga that many times in one week. (This is a week excuse, but I'm just being honest.)

As for the workouts and my progression, I started seeing improvements in the numbers between weeks two and three. From week one and two there wasn't that much improvement, if any. Some of this has to do with just learning all the moves in week one and concentrating more on the moves and form over the actual numbers. In week three I pushed myself much harder and in week four, even harder. And by doing that I have been able to increase all the numbers (at least all the max rep exercises) at a good clip from week three to week four. I am kinda apprehensive on how difficult the next phase will be but I'm also looking forward to it since that is what I loved about P90X, the strengthening. I'll try to include a chart on my numbers in a couple of days (I've said that before, I know) but it will help show you and myself the improvements through the four weeks of the foundational phase.

Thanks for reading, keep pushing play and doing your best!

P90X2 Day #11 - X2 Total Body + X2 Ab Ripper

I love this workout! It is tough, but the muscle pump I feel when finished is awesome! My numbers increased on many of the exercises as I pushed myself harder. Even from the first round to the second I pushed myself to beat the last. I was expecting a little more soreness from doing Plyocide yesterday but I didn't feel it or at least not as much as I expected. I was tight on time again so I didn't do Ab Ripper but I also paused on a few exercises that I shouldn't need to do next time. That should give me the time needed for Ab Ripper.

I still need to get the nutritional side of this down. I need to eat more! Last night I was starving only a couple of hours after dinner so I made myself some scrambled eggs with various veggies and feta cheese and a side of grapes. I also planned today to have more food throughout the day.

Well until next time keep pushing play and doing your best!

P90X2 Day #10 - Plyocide

I haven't keep this blog up to date with daily postings like I was hoping to but I do plan to keep you informed throughout this journey. This past weekend I got another cold however I was still able to do the workouts without too much problem. I did switch a couple of days, a workout day and a rest day so I haven't missed a workout yet! Yesterday was supposed to be the Plyocide workout but since I woke up feeling some of the lingering effects of the cold I switched to the rest day and did Plyocide today instead of resting. It will make tomorrow's X2 Total Body workout a little tougher probably but I will still fight through the soreness and knock that one out.

As for today's notes on the workout. I still find it amazing on how much one can improve in just one week. I was able to get almost all the way through, yes there were still more breaks than the kids and some exercises I didn't get all the way through but for the most part I did and did better than last week. And truly that is all I can ask of myself, give everything that I can and do better than I did yesterday. If I keep doing that then I will continue to improve and reach my ultimate goal!

I'm still not too keen on the working out in the morning, but it is the only time that I'm willing to set aside to do it, and thanks to N.O.-Explode 2.0 I am actually able to feel the energy that I need to get started and last through the workout! That's all for today, keep pushing play and doing your best!