4-29-16 HY: P90X2 - X2 Balance + Power + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

4-29-16 HY: P90X2 - X2 Balance + Power + ChaLEAN Extreme - Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

Today is a National holiday, but I had to work.  And the day off will be moved to next week so I can have the whole week off for a holiday called "Golden Week" here in Japan.  But since it was a holiday, I came home a little earlier than usual.  Actually, I was planning to take today off because I planned to go out for shopping with my girls and then eat an early dinner, but that didn't work out because my daughter was dead tired from the practice session of her new club, Field Hockey.  When she got home she went right to sleep and didn't wake up until past 5pm effectively putting any hope of shopping to rest.  So, I decided to go ahead and keep my regular schedule and workout.

I thought Balance + Power was an easy routine, but it was not.  The three circuits got progressively difficult and then the bonus round was a killer topper.  Rep counts were relatively low, but I was moaning and groaning on the last few reps.  All the moves started off easily, but got difficult real quick.  And on most of the balance moves, I had trouble keeping my balance and tapped out several times.  This also seemed like a total body workout because I got the burn from my feet to my shoulders and arms.  All that one-legged balance work is tougher than one might think.  But in each circuit, there was one move that particulary wasted me.  In the first circuit, it was the "Sphinx to Plank Roll Up".  The very first move, "Sphinx to Plank Plyo Bounce" was more fun and easier. But without that bounce, my core was howling.  I could only manage 8 reps.  In the second circuit, DEFINITELY, "Glute Bridge Roll Out" The first 10 reps were easy, but my hammys started to feel it in the second 10 and I was close to cramping on the last 4 or so reps.  Then my hammys felt rather tender for long after.  The third circuit, Well, ALL the moves were extreme killers, except the last move.  At one point I felt my heart pounding in my chest and my HR had jumped to 180bpm.  But went back to normal soon after.  In the bonus round, DEFINITELY, the last two moves, "Dumbbell Super Burpee" and "Plank Ball Crunch".  Bringing the dumbbells up for the press, three times on each side, maybe more, I had to tap out.  I saw using the same weight as Tony was, and I was dying.  I barely made the last rep of the final move.  Great sweat, Great workout.

I had already gotten a good core workout from a lot of these balance move, but I felt I should dig a little deeper, so I went with Extreme Core Circuit.  Man, did I ever feel the burn today.  Still used the 1kg hand weights.  Nice way to finish off the week.

Right after I finished, my daughter came and started to ask me if I was done.  I thought she was going to ask me to play badminton, but I was mistaken.  She actually asked me to fix her friend's bike.  So, not wanting to let her faith in me down, I went out to take a look.  The chain had gotten wedged between the frame and sprocket.  So I had to yank and jerk it out.  But I fixed it.  Hope my daughter was proud.

I got back and did my Splits and Flow.  Splits were good, getting low, feeling pain, but not in my knee so it was all in the right places.  Then the Flow was right on point.  Great way to close out the week.

In the end, I torched 961kcals.  Too bad I couldn't hit a grand.  Happy Off Day!!

4-28-16 HY: Tennis + Splits + TCF.

4-28-16 HY: Tennis + Splits + TCF.

TENNIS DAY!!! But first a story about last night.  I have two night classes, one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. Last night, I was running to catch the signal to cross the street when suddenly I had a pain hit my knee.  Not quite sure what happened, but it sort of felt like a pinched nerve.  I got to the room and shook it out and did a little rubbing it and it felt better.  I was hoping it wouldn't affect tennis today. At first I didn't think we would be able to play, but things worked out so all was well.  Also, my partner plays with a 20 year old discount sporting store racket, so I let him use one of my reserve rackets and so he did.  His returns were noticeably more punchy, with a lot more zing to them.  It took me a little while to get used to the new level of play.  But in doing so, I had to raise my level of play as well.  While we were playing my knee started to act up again, the same type of pain as last night.  I sort of ran and took some weight off of it and squatted to stretch it out.  I think, though, as the level of play got more intense, the adrenaline rush became more intense and the pain disappeared, thank goodness.  We had another knock-down drag out match.  It took him a little long to get control of the racket, so I was able to take the first set 6-1.  But the second set was more competitive.  He was firing on all cylinders and blasting shots back like crazy.  It was all even at 3-3 when I unconsciously shifted into another gear and tore through the next three games taking the set 6-3.  We were only able to play a few games in a third set, but MAN, WAS THAT FUN!!!  After the match, I had torched a nice 900+kcals.

I had night class this evening, so I did my splits after class.  I added a few new ballistic stretches to loosen up more before the big push, so I'm also upgrading my stretch sequence to push even more.  I was a little afraid that my knee would be an issue, but it actually felt pretty good, and no pain at all.  Going for that goal!  The Flow was choice!

4-27-16 HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + T25 - Gamma: Rip'T Up + Splits + TCF.

4-27-16 HY: P90X3 - Cold Start + T25 - Gamma: Rip'T Up + Splits + TCF.

ShakeO to start my day!  Gassing up for the workout.  Also started with Cold Start to give myself as much of an advantage as possible for the workout today.  I had forgotten what this routine was like.  I got a rude awakening to say the least.

It started off okay, but once I got into the meat of the routine, I was fried.  On some of the weighted moves I chose a heavy weight, on some I chose a little light weight, but keeping up with Shaun T's pace for a lot of the weighted moves was near impossible, but I did my best.  Then, the introduction of a lot of new move combinations was a bit difficult.  I had to rewind to catch the move then started over again.  But the most difficult thing was Shaun T's speed of transition between moves.  He went so fast, so by the time I caught my breath and was doing the next move, time was already about half done, so I had to rewind and start with a full line of time.  The one bright spot was the Push Ups. I was very happy that I was able to keep up with Shaun T for all the push up moves at his pace.  I kind of surprised myself.  There were several moves that a guy in the back went to the pull up bar.  So I did also.  I averaged between 8-10 reps. This routine winded me so many times I can't even count.  I was so far from a Straight 25 I won't even say anything about that.  But here is the weird thing.  I didn't really get a big pump, but I got a hugely major burn.  I can't explain it in the context of the scope of the routine.  On most of the weighted moves and body weight moves I was dying and almost cramping at times, but my muscles just weren't reacting accordingly.  I mean, I got a little pump, but nothing compared to what I get with the heavy weights.  I guess that is it right there.  But with heavy weights, I burn out with fewer reps, but here, the high rep count, I though, would still give me a good pump. Lesson learned.  By the end of the routine, with all the rewinding and extra breaks, I had added about 15 minutes to the 25 minutes.  I have to get that number down.  This is my new nemesis.  But I think I have to go back and try Alpha: Total Body Circuit to get that to Straight 25 level.

Moving into the Splits was a good cool down because I was breathing hard and sweating like crazy.  Again, was able to push it low and long.  And the Flow was premium.

In the end, I torched a solid 755kcals.  Nice way to start my day.

4-26-16 HY: Badminton + P90X2 - X2 Total Body + X2 Ab Ripper + Splits + TCF.

4-26-16 HY: Badminton + P90X2 -  X2 Total Body + X2 Ab Ripper + Splits + TCF.

Well, I got home at a good time to start my workout.  Luckily the rain had stopped and my daughter was home and the lilting request came, "Daddy, do you want to play badminton?" Oh, YEAH! So we played for close to an hour and a half.  It was really fun and the time went by really fast.  If the sun had stayed up longer we would have played longer.  I put my HRM on before we started playing so that served as my preliminary warm up.

I got started on my regular workout a lot later than I had wanted, but even then, no shortcuts. Full on workout today with X2.  I'm just sticking with the schedule for routine order so up today was X2 Total Body.  The routine is deceptively long, but when you factor out the warm up, it is only about 40 minutes long.  Only two rounds so I couldn't do the Body Beast thing with the weights so I stuck with the same weights on most of the moves because Tony does only one side in the first round and the other in the second round.  But the moves that has both sides in both rounds, I upped the weights a bit in the second round, but I kept the rep count both at 12reps.  The most brutal move was move 04/16.  The Switch Lunge Press.  It is odd because in the first round, one rep consisted of the front and back lunges, so it is like a double move.  But in the second round, each lunge was a rep.  So I had to pause the DVD and do the double move to keep even.  But the second round just about killed me.  I had to take a few mid-set breaks.  In fact, there were a lot of moves that really winded me and I needed a little extra recovery time because I was doubled over heaving to catch my breath.  Mule Kick Burpee is one of those moves.  I thought I could do like 10 to 12, but I ended up only doing 6/7, and I was dying big time.  That Crunchy Lever Pull-Up was also a killler.  I only pulled off 8/8 reps.  The Push-Up Side Arm Balance on medicine balls move, I had to modify because I don't have two medicine balls.  So instead of med balls, I used my foam roller.  And even though the balance issue is only forward and back, that need to keep that balance actually made the move a whole lot more intense and really forced me to activate my chest muscles a lot more.  The One Arm Chest Press was tough.  The right arm was fine, but on the left arm, in order to stabilize on the ball, I was flexing muscles in my back that I didn't know were necessary for that type of move.  Almost to the point of cramping.  But it was alright.  I had a lot of balance problems with the Warrior 3 move and 1/2 Chair move.  I hope that improves as time goes on.  Great workout. 

My core got a serious workout so I was planning not to do a core routine, but the X2 Ab Ripper started so quickly, I felt guilty for not doing it, so I just went ahead and did it. KILLER ROUTINE!!! I had to modify a few reps at the end on some of the tougher moves.  But it felt good to get that in.  Glad I did it.

Splits were great.  I had that low feeling and I pushed it lower than ever today.  Feels like I'll get full splits soon! And the Flow was spot on! Smooth and Clean.

In the end, I torched a big 1300+kcals.  Love these big burn days!

4-25-16 HY: T25 - Gamma: Speed 3.0 + Splits + TCF.

4-25-16 HY: T25 - Gamma: Speed 3.0 + Splits + TCF.

I wanted to get a good sleep and then wake up early and hammer out a good workout.  Just as I was going to bed, my son calls from Tokyo and wants to talk.  Since I haven't talked to him in a few days, we talk and I end up getting to bed a lot later than I had wanted.  But it was worth it, for sure!

I got up a lot later than I was planning, but that gave me a chance to sort of warm up some by just getting ready for the day.  I wasn't feeling that tight when I got started so I decided to not do Cold Start from P90X3 and jump right into the workout.  Oh, the past few times I did a morning workout, I did it before having breakfast.  Today, I had a ShakeO first and then did my daily routine.  I figured I would feel good being fueled up.  Two things, I think I do better on an empty stomach, and two, I KNOW I do better with Cold Start, especially for morning workouts.  I did feel light footed to begin with, but there were a couple troughs during the routine that didn't make me feel good.  I felt... off.  I don't know how else to explain it.  I was doing all the moves, but right at the beginning of Round 2 I was like feeling a bit light headed and dry-mouth-thirsty at the same time.  The light-headedness wasn't so bad that I felt I needed to stop, and it went away after a bit, but it was different.  But near the end of Level 1 of Round 2, I got a second wind and I felt more normal.  The good news is that I did a Straight 25.  There was just a little bit of an arch issue, but not that much.  I think this is my favorite of the "Speed" series.  I liked the fact that there was a good mix of standing moves and the on-the-ground moves.  It was almost like a really good full body workout.  Great routine all the way around.

Yesterday was an intense  core routine, so I didn't really feel the need to do an ab routine, so I went straight for the Splits.  I had that good feeling today, so I pushed it when I could, and when I had to.  Got low, passed my mark.  The Flow was also Smooth and Clean, just the way I like and expect it.

In the end, I torched 700+kcals.  Felt good to get things done in the morning and free up my evenings.

4-24-16 HY: P90X2- X2 Core + Splits + TCF + Fight.

4-24-16 HY: P90X2- X2 Core + Splits + TCF + Fight.

Yesterday was a true rest day, in that it was my Sabbath, plus, I had to give the sermon at my church so after it was finished, I was very relieved.  I usually don't take a nap after church, but yesterday, I felt like the pressure valve had been opened and I took a 2 hour nap.  My wife said I was sleeping so deeply, but not snoring.  I probably would have gone out to play badminton with my daughter, but unfortunately it was raining so no go.  Total rest.

Well, I finished all the resistance routines in Supreme 90 Day so now, I'm moving on to P90X2. Over the next few weeks, that program will be my main program with the other supplemental programs to support my goals.

Today, was also raining, so the outside projects I had planned didn't get done, so they will have to wait for the next sunny weekend. So my main exercise was my regular workout. As I said in my last entry, I was also considering ChaLEAN Extreme as my next program.  But with the number of routines and the length of said routines, ChaLEAN Extreme will serve me better later in the year.  So, I went with X2.

I was intending to go with just the resistance routines and keep doing T25 for my cardio, but I will try to work in the X2 Cardio routines where I can.  Today was sort of a middle of the road routine.  X2 Core is a good routine and has elements of both resistance and cardio, but after doing it, I felt really worked in the core and other areas upper and lower.  The routine is just under an hour, but I had forgotten how long the warm up was.  It went by quite fast.  I had to stop to watch and learn some moves so that got me some extra time.  But the first half is definitely not as intense as the second half.  The Swiss Ball Burpees and the Med. Ball Burpees, the other strength and core moves had me doubled over several times during the routine.  I got a great burn on my core.  That is why I didn't do a supplement ab routine today. I did all the required reps so the worksheet is pretty normal.  In fact, I'm not really sure why there's a worksheet for this routine.  I guess for the real beginner who can't get the required number or reps to keep track.  Below is my worksheet.

The Splits were good. I had that feeling of going down low so I went low and pushed it.  The Flow was Smooth and clean.

I had a fight session with my daughter and we made some videos of the fight.  So fun!

In the end, I torched 700+kcals.  Had a good day.

4-22-16 HY: Supreme 90 Day- Total Body + Splits + TCF.

4-22-16 HY: Supreme 90 Day- Total Body + Splits + TCF.

Today, I planned to get home early enough to get a full workout in before sunset. Well, I did get all the necessary elements in for a minimum workout, but I didn't have time for a full workout.  I would have but a series of short minor events took place eating 1 minute here and a minute there.  I ended up being about 15 minutes short of begin able to do a full workout.  The only thing I wasn't able to fit in was a core routine.  But the main routine had abs at the beginning so that sustained the core work for now.

SO, today is the final resistance routine from Supreme 90 Day.  I don't know if I'll go through it again, but I'm thinking to use it the week after next because I'll be on a short vacation then and I'll have the time.  But I think I might do either ChaLEAN Extreme or P90X2 again, mixed with T25.  I'm thinking of maybe moving up to Insanity once I finish Gamma. But as far as today's workout is concerned, this Total Body was tough, but as far as "Total Body" routines go, I'd probably have to rate it the lowest of all the other programs I have that have a "Total Body" routine.  The main reason is this.  It was too lower body oriented.  Lots of squats, lunges, sumo squats, etc.  It was like a legs, chest and a little shoulders.  Almost no arms and no calves.  But take away the "Total Body" label and it was a tough routine.  Push ups and Clap Push ups in the same circuit. WHY? That was tough.  The team did only 10 Clappers, but I did 15.  But in the other circuits I was feeling good.  I do really like the fact that there were a lot of cardio moves incorporated into the program which is one reason why I like this routine.  The cardio jump move at the end of the last three circuits really added something to the burn. On the final circuit, there is a move called Broad Jump.  First set, I jumped, turned around, then jumped again.  But on the final set, I did a series of 2-3 consecutive jumps.  That little variation made things a lot more interesting.

I enjoyed the routine, but I took a lot of time switching weighted plates from dumbbell to dumbbell.   But this is probably one of the fastest times I got through a routine without too long breaks.  I did get a big pump and burn from it.  Felt it was a great way to end the week.

The Splits were good and low.  Got that feeling again, so I tried to lean into each position.  The Flow was also very good.

In the end, I torched a solid 1100+kcals.  I got to a much needed off day.  Take an off day with me!