Posts Tagged ‘equipment’

Day 60-Something

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

We took Day 56 measurements, weight, and pics a few days ago. I’d like to post something about them here, but we still haven’t transferred from our cameras and doctored them enough to impress the masses. Just kidding…we wouldn’t doctor them, other than to remove some skin blemishes or something!

My new yoga mat arrived, and I think it will prove to be a good investment. It doesn’t slip around on the floor, and it’s actually long enough for me to do my various poses without making a choice between having my hands or feet touching the floor. Two cheers for good yoga mats! Unfortunately it still gets slippery when wet (cue Bon Jovi), so I’m just going to have to suck it up and dry the thing off from time to time throughout my workouts — that or quit sweating, which might have worse repercussions. That was an expensive mat, but I noticed Beachbody (makers of P90X) sells one for a reasonable price. We paid the same price for a crap mat from Bed, Bath and Beyond, so theirs is probably better and accessible for those on a tighter budget.

Finally, I also went insane and bought a 30 Day Supply of Shakeology. Call it curiosity. I’ve only had one shake so far, but am about to prepare another. It’s nice to have that as a meal replacement, and it’s an interesting drink…seems kine of like a magic potion with a strange after-taste. I’m not really sure how I’d tell it’s worth the hefty price-tag though. If I gain the ability to levitate or read minds, I’ll let you know.

Recovery Week Reflection

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

So I’m midway through my eighth week of P90X, and this is a recovery week.

Some observations:

  • Nutrition is the easiest thing to slip for me. That’s because it takes as much or more planning than the workouts. I’ve slipped with my nutrition the past couple of weeks, and I’m going to get that back on track for the final phase that starts next week. I’m not eating tons of fried food or crap processed food or anything, but mostly I’m slipping on pre-preparing all my meals and snacks, so I might just get two or three meals a day instead of all the good calories I need.
  • I may bite the bullet and try out Beachbody’s new “Shakeology” replacement drink. It’s expensive as hell for a supplement or replacement drink (around $130 (*GASP*, *SHRIEK*) after shipping and handling for 30 days) but not so crazy when I consider that I used to buy $2 or more of sodas a day. I don’t drink sodas now, and this drink is apparently incredibly nutritious. Plus breakfast has been the part of my nutrition plan that has slipped the most. If I do buy the drink, Beachbody should go ahead and put me on the payroll for how much profit I’m raking in for them!
  • Frankly, setting aside an hour and a half a day for workouts and even more time in preparing lunches and suppers is about all I can do. I was great at getting up in time to fix breakfast as well, but I’d be more than happy to not have to think about that and substitute that with an uber-healthy shake instead. I would probably only use this shake during training periods with programs like P90X or (possibly in the future) Insanity.  And mostly I’m just curious as this drink is just insanely nutrient rich compared to anything I could put together myself, so I’d like to see if it makes a noticeable difference in performance and even mood throughout the day, which have both overall improved since starting the program anyway.
  • In the future I’ll detail out more about the things I have learned and what has and hasn’t worked for me. Every/body is different, so what works for me might not work for you and vice versa, but I think I can tease out some things that might help people struggling to jump into such a lifestyle shift avoid some of the hassles I’ve subjected myself to.
  • Yet another investment I’m considering making is getting a GOOD yoga mat. The wife and I just grabbed what we saw at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $30, and while it has gotten the job done, it’s really a piece of crap.  First of all, it’s a little too light-weight, so it slips around. It’s too small for me, so I have to make the choice of having my head touching beyond the mat or having my feet touch beyond the mat on certain routines. Not good. Finally, the thing gets way too slippery when I sweat. I would think a good mat is much more sweat resistant.

With all that said, for those on a budget, getting started with cheaper equipment and supplements might be the best (and sometimes only possible) thing. P90X really wasn’t designed to destroy your wallet; it was designed to SAVE you money in the long run. However, I’m finding that I have a perfectionist tendency when it comes to workouts, and I want to maximize my experience by giving myself the best equipment and supplements I can reasonably afford. I skimped on the mat, and my dumbbells don’t really add happiness to my life. For now I will probably stick with them, but in the future I might invest more in that sort of equipment.

12 Days In

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Wife here…

I just finished my workout for today – the second installment of the Legs & Back routine. Its amazing how quickly your body responds to this system from everything from Chest & Back to Ab Ripper X. When I first started I could only do about 1/2 of the Ab Ripper sequence – now I can do all of the moves except for the V-Rollups the entire 25 reps. Its only been 12 days! Amazing!

Last week, I could only do 1/2 of the leg exercises before my right quad and ham would give-out. This week I did 3/4 of them. I see improvement! I also lost 3lbs last week – not really on purpose.

The nutrition part is difficult because I don’t seem to eat enough calories. To be honest – that might be the hardest part of the entire program.

Just to help you out – we’ve found a really awesome, free worksheet a guy named Damon did and posted the link on the right. Many people construct elaborate excel sheets and then require you to purchase them – not worth it. This one rocks – definitely check it out!

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EDIT by Husband: 05/19/2009: The link to the spreadsheet my wife mentions has stopped working, so we updated the link to one that does work. Here’s a review of the aforementioned spreadsheet.

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FYI – purchase the adjustable dumbbells that my husband talked about earlier. Your body will adjust to the exercises so quickly that making sure you “feel the burn” that Tony requires means spending a ton of money on additional weights. If you have limited space like we do, the adjustable dumbbells make the best sense – space and practicality-wise. They are a little more expensive on the front end – but if you’re committed to doing this stuff – then you know its only a drop in the bucket when it comes to changing your lifestyle!

Week 2 of P90X and the Forming of Equipment Lust

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Husband here:

So I can officially say, the second week of P90X has started off a lot easier than the first week. We are both tracking our reps and weight pretty closely where applicable, and I learned to pace myself on Chest and Back so I would have enough energy to give the last 30 minutes of the workout my full glory. My muscle endurance was better than last week, for sure, but I still have a lot of work left.

What I am realizing, however, is that I’m going to need some more weights if I want to get serious on the few exercises that require them. Most of P90X is about body resistance, cardio, ab workouts, mobility, and endurance, so on and so forth — in fact, needing so little equipment to get started and even to maintain the program (and even travel!) is a large part of its appeal — it’s really an elegant system.  Before starting P90X I was probably using $50,000 worth of gym equipment at Gold’s Gym, but now I’m using about $100 worth of equipment in my own home and having my butt handed to me.

Still, a few of the chest, back, shoulder and arm exercises do benefit from extra weight. For some people just looking to trim fat and tone up, the resistance bands may be enough. However, I’m guessing most guys who want to bulk up some will start getting into the 25lb+ weight range with dumbbells before too long if they haven’t already transcended wussy manhood. I bought an adjustable set of dumbbells, and they will scale up, however, in my dreams I would buy this set of PowerBlocks:

PowerBlock Personal Adjustable 5 to 45-Pounds per Dumbbell Set

These Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells look like a dream as well:

Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells

Generally the idea is to save space and make switching out weights super easy. However, you have to break the bank to do so unless you can get lucky on eBay or Craig’s List.

Anyway, week two is off to a great start. Tomorrow is Shoulders and arms, which is a little easier. However, Yoga X looms too close in the horizon, and I’m already trying to brace myself.