I don’t have time to write much, today, so I’m making a lazy-man’s post. This is awesome:

Bullgrit

Yeah, I know. I haven’t been updating here much lately. It’s because of my P90X regimen.

No, I’m not being paid a dime to talk about the workout.* It’s just a major part of my life for these three months. Between maintaining the proper diet every day, every meal, every snack, and working out every day for 1.5 hours, P90X is as much a part of my every day as my family and work. At least for these three months.

Before I started this routine, once we got the boys to bed at night, I’d go to my office and write/work as I needed and wanted. Now, though, once we get the boys to bed at night, I change into my workout clothes and put in the workout DVD. A sweaty hour and a half later, I’m getting into the shower, exhausted. Out of the shower, I’m ready to fall into bed. That’s usually around or after 10:00. And our mornings start at around 6:00.

So there just really isn’t time for me to sit at my computer and write up a blog post. I miss the writing. And I have a backlog of things I want to write about — a long, long backlog. I have so many stories and ideas floating around in my head, it drives me crazy at times.

I’m just starting week 11 (of 13). Last week got really screwed up because I was sick a couple days. I was really ill on Tuesday, so much so that I was home in bed the entire day with flu-like symptoms. I, of course, missed my workout that night.

Wednesday, I was not sick as a dog, but was still not well. I went to work for the afternoon, but I was tired and still a little achy. I skipped my workout that night, too.

Thursday, I felt close to normal, though not 100%. I was eating normal again, and I tried to workout that night. But I just couldn’t get through the whole routine. I completely ran out of steam. It wasn’t like being tired from the exercise, it was just no energy at all — like a terrible case of lethargy. I felt bad mentally and emotionally for not being able to get back into the workout like I should.

Friday night, I tried again. Happily, I was able to complete the workout that time. Saturday night is the “rest” day for the regimen, but I debated skipping the rest and trying to do something to make up for the misses earlier in the week. But I ended up resting anyway.

Sunday night, last night, started my new weekly pattern, so I was determined to get back into it. I did the scheduled workout, and though it was hard — probably as hard as the first week I started P90X — I did manage to complete all the exercises, including Ab Ripper X.

I feel like I’m back in the routine now, and I’m raring to go again. (Tonight is Plyometrics.) But man, being sick and missing a few days really did a number on my energy and routine. I didn’t gain back any weight, (eating almost nothing for the day I was really sick probably helped, there), and my muscles don’t look like I lost anything for my down time. So maybe that stumble in my 90 days didn’t hurt my goal too much.

Though I’m enjoying the workouts, and I’m loving the results, I will be glad to reach the end of the 90 days so I can go into maintenance mode — I can workout just 3-4 nights a week. That’ll let me have some evenings free again to write and play, again.

* Edit: After I wrote this, I realized this isn’t exactly true — that is, I’m not making a dime directly talking about P90X. The ads on the sides of this page are generated by GoogleAds, based on text in my posts. So if someone clicks on those ads, technically I will be “paid a dime” for talking about it.

Bullgrit

We got a new bicycle for Calfgrit5; he’d outgrown his first bike. I was putting the bike together, with CG5’s “help,” when he started spinning one of the wheels. As the wheel spun, he started to put his finger into the spokes.

“No,” I said, “don’t do that.”

He stopped. But then a few seconds later, he started to do it again.

“No!” I said. “You could really hurt your finger.”

“How?” he asked.

“Your finger,” I explained, “will get caught in the spokes, and broken.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t really getting the concept. His mother broke her toe a while back, and from his point of view, it was nothing really bad.

I said, “Go out into the yard and find a stick to bring to me.”

He ran out into the yard, and after a minute, came back with a long, thin stick.

“Watch what happens,” I said.

I spun the wheel real fast, then slowly lowered the stick down into the spokes near the fork. Crunch! The stick snapped. A piece went flying off, and another piece dangled from the main length.

“See?” I said.

His face scrunched up in horror, and he burst out in tears. He bawled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked with concern.

He cried out, “Now I’m going to have a nightmare.”

His mother came into the garage and noticed her baby crying. When she asked what happened, CG5 said, “Daddy told me I’m going to break my finger. And he showed me with the stick. Now I’m going to have a nightmare.”

He was truly upset. I had no idea the demonstration would affect him so. But, after he calmed down, he didn’t try sticking his finger into a spinning wheel again. And that night he apparently didn’t have a nightmare. So maybe it wasn’t a horrible thing to show a child, after all.

Bullgrit

I’ve completed phase 2 of the P90X regimen — 8 weeks down, 5 weeks to go. I feel great. The workouts are still very hard, extreme. But I absolutely love them. And they’re working.

Although the physical changes seem to come slowly, and subtly, because I see myself every day, they do come. I’m becoming more fit, more tone, more firm all over, and I’ve lost 12 pounds.

I still dislike the Yoga routine, for the same reason I’ve disliked it from the beginning: I can’t see the TV during many of the moves because I have to twist and turn away from it. When one move twists me away from being able to see the TV, I’ll usually unwind from the move, adjust my stance so I’m back looking at the TV, but then the next move turns me away again. Yoga X is 90 minutes — the longest single routine in the system — and I pretty much stay aggravated during the whole thing. That’s counter-productive for Yoga.

Plyometrics (jump training) is the absolute hardest routine — jump up, jump to the side, jump around, jump, jump, jump. But I like it. There is no doubt I’ve burned some calories and built some ability after going through that series of exercises.

Ab Ripper X — oh lordy. It’s hard, too. But when I can see how flat my stomach is now, (no six-pack, yet), and my whole core just feels solid and strong, it’s great.

So far, my diet is the weakest area of my P90X experience. I can do really well for 2 or 3 or 4 days, but then I have a bad day, (or two). I eat something I shouldn’t, or more than I should, and I feel like I’ve let myself down. I’d be so far ahead of where I am right now if only I could get my diet down solid.

And then there is the one thing that drives me crazy. My face is round. It’s just the normal shape of my head. I have cheeks, (with dimples), and apparently no amount of weight loss and muscle building seems to affect my face. I can just see me in another five weeks: I’ll have a firm, tone body with muscle definition, but I’ll probably still have the damn cherubic face. Does anyone do liposuction for cheeks?

Bullgrit