P90X... geeez

Ok, so me and Jill got the P90X workout series from some friends at NWeds. For those of you unfamiliar with P90X, it's a acclaimed workout series that uses 'muscle confusion' to constantly be throwing something new at your body; this keeps plateau's at bay as well as muscle memory forming to impede progress... and it keeps the workouts interesting. Just like all 'as seen on TV' sort of informercial deals; there's always that tinge of  'these results are staged / photoshopped etc'... but we decided to give this a go, because there's a torrent of information about it online... from real people with Real results. 

So about me... I'm not in bad shape, I'm not in super great shape either. I've worked out in the past and decently kept my weight down. I use to run alot and do some stuff with weights; so I wouldn't consider myself too much of a workout - noob, or extremely out of shape... Body Fat wise, I don't know where I'm at (I suspect it's higher than I'd like) and weight wise I'm at 176 ( float between 165 and 180).  To keep you from having to go find a online BMI Calc... that's a BMI of 23.9.  In the two or so weeks that we've been pre-dieting.. I've dropped from 185 to what I'm at now, and that was with 'lighter' exercise and a semi-strict diet.

I'm taking "before" pictures tonight... and I'll be trying to document my progress here; and maybe if my 30 day pictures are up to par, I'll post the Day #1 pictures later ;) But me and Jill are going to really stick to this and record our results...

Diet - The meal plan is like that with any other diet... Minimize "bad" carbs (I'm trying to completely cut out all refined sugar) while intaking as much protein and water as possible. Eat 6 times a day to keep your metabolism up, and make sure to consume enough pre-workout calories so that you don't crash during the workout. My average day is going to look something like this:

Breakfast - Two pieces of sugarfree,  homemade bread (Jill makes this)

Mid Morning - Fruit (banana or apple) or Lite Protein Shake

Lunch - Grilled Chicken Salad from CFA w/lite Italian dressing or another shake 

Mid Afternoon / Pre workout - Fruit or Almonds / Peanuts

Post Workout - Protein Shake

Dinner - Grilled Chicken with some type of Vegtable

That should be roughly 1200-1300 calories per day, about 100g of protien or more, and less than 10g of sugar. 

Ok.. so given I'm not super out of shape or anything; I did the Back & Biceps video last night with the Ab Ripper X 15 min routine afterwards.  Kicked. My. Butt. Its not like working out at a gym, where you can take 3-5 minute breaks between exercises... it's a constantly moving, continuous motion routine where every exercise is utilzing (to some extent) both your biceps and back muscles... and I'll be honest; I wasn't able to finish every exercise (finish = the number of reps they were doing). I was shooting for 8-10 reps of each exercise, but sometimes could only do 5... I had no idea that there were so many different bicep exercises. Afterwards, with the Ab Ripper video... I had a really hard time with it, because so many of the exercises rely on building your hip flexors; which unfortunatly, i have almost 0 strength in (primarily because of the hip surguries), so many of the exercises I was only able to do 8-12 reps (instead of the 25) cause my hip would be hurting. 

Anyways... so there's all that. I'm going to be giving this the proverbial 110% (even though thats not possible) everyday for 90 days, and then post up my results. I'm going to try and use the blog and Jill for accountability (who doesn't need help there; skipping a day is way to easy) to make sure that I exercise everyday thru 90 days as well as eat right. 

For More information on P90X: http://www.dennishardy.com/