Tag Archives: P90X

Chest Back & Balance And Abs In Phase Two Redux

Today I’m back in the workout saddle. I’m heading back to Chest Back & Balance and Abs in phase two redux. Why? Well, I’m still working on my ultimate goal.

What is my ultimate goal? A flat belly.

The lowest 1/3 of my 6-pack still has about a 1/2″ of remnant fat on it. Not that I was ever actually fat. But for some reason, that’s where it’s accumulated on my person. Since I started P90X a little over a year ago, my initial goal was to get into better shape. I’ve met that goal.

Now that I’m in great shape, my goal is more of a sculpting the body type of thing. The one area that is lacking happens to be the one area that is finally getting erased. Even with the much needed week off, it was still dwindling.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I noticed the biggest change in my midsection during phase two. Which is why I’ve decided to add in a few more weeks of it. That should get me the result I’m looking for.

The workout itself was good to get back in with. However, I noticed that my arms have lost a little something in a few areas. There were some moves where I got less reps. In others I got more reps. So it was a bit of a trade. What I did notice was my arms feeling super tired halfway through. I was pushing it. Hard.

Could be a need to start doing more arm workouts as well. I don’t know if it’s a tall thing, or if my arms are just weak overall. But I’m now setting a new goal of wanting to get a bit more arm strength.

Breakfast has been had. Shakeology has been drunk. It’s time to get on with my day. Join me tomorrow for the next workout recap. Better yet, join me in getting more fit for yourself! Isn’t it time you worked out your chest back & balance and abs in phase two redux? You know you wanna.

Does PAP Lower Work

Closing in on week four of phase three. Midway through the week and it’s another workout by beachbody. One question I’m asked is: Does PAP Lower work? The simple answer: Yes.

Lots of people have heard of P90X. Not as many are familiar with P90X2, so when I get asked, what’s the difference? My first instinct is to mention the focus around the core. Some of the workouts are harder than P90X. Some are not. The one thing I know is that I’m using less weight and a lot more balance.

In a way, I’d likely PAP Lower to be similar to Plyo style. Though I find Plyocide to be much harder. Where PAP Lower excels is in core. The exercises and moves are much more core oriented.

I also find that I sweat way more during PAP workouts than I do Plyo workouts. Not sure why considering my earlier statement.

One thing others have noticed is that I appear taller. I’ve been called freakishly strong. I’ve had comments about my core and how stable I appear. All things that have not been said until after doing the beachbody workouts. Reality is – this stuff works! It’s not overnight success. It’s a lifestyle change that takes time. But some of those changes appear within weeks of starting.

While I’m now starting to add extra reps into PAP Lower in order to keep pushing myself, I can say that the answer to Does PAP Lower work, is yes. With that, I’m off to have a full on breakfast with a shakeology. <– get you some of that, it’s great stuff. Keep up with the workouts and share your results with me.

Yoga X2 And Ab Ripper X2

Another day and another beachbody workout done. The workout today was Yoga X2 and Ab Ripper X2. I had a great time with it. Got all the way through it, no problems.

I’m stretching further in some moves like the wrap around. I’m palming the floor still, which is great considering my height.

The additional portion of the workout today was the Ab Ripper X2 workout. I’m still trying to get that belly completely flat. It’s so close.

Have a great day. Hope you’re working out too. Chime in if you’re doing P90X or P90X2 and how you’re coming along with it. Get some Shakeology and hit up Yoga X2 and Ab Ripper X2 while you’re at it.

Two Weeks Of Rest

It’s a little weird this morning to not get up and immediately be thinking, time to workout. I know my body needs a little time off and thus I’m taking two weeks of rest. I’m starting back up on the May 14th.

I’m gathering people who are interested in doing a 90 day fitness challenge. Nothing helps you more than having a little core group of people where you can share your experience, be held responsible for letting people know you worked out and have support when you’re in need of answers.

May 14th is the start of my next fitness challenge. Join me and a select group of people to get into better shape, lose weight, and have a great time! Contact me to join up asap.

PAP Upper Ends The First Journey

Oh oh oh it’s magic. To steal a line from an old hit, I’m feeling pretty good. Another chapter of accomplishing something is coming to a close. I’m happy to say, or rather write, that with today, PAP Upper ends the first journey through P90X2.

I started off really strong, made it through the first round of the first complex kickin ass. The rest of the first complex had me backing off on reps with Renegade Row and the Plank Med Ball moves. Those in combination are the hardest thing I’ve encountered in the entire Beachbody workouts I’ve done.

In the second complex I was able to keep up with everything but the max pull-ups. I’ve never been good at pull-ups. Technically when I started all this a year ago with P90X, I probably could do 1 full pull-up. I did a lot of the pull-up modifications. In X2 I felt I was hindering my ability to do more pull-ups with the modifications so I stopped and pushed – actually pulled – myself to do them as they should be. Now at the end of X2 I can roughly 7 pull-ups in a round. That’s a big improvement for a tall guy.

Overall I’m ready for a short break before I start up my next fitness challenge. I’d like to encourage you to join me. You’ll be happy you did. I’ll push you, you can push me. Seriously join me for a May 14th start date on the next Fitness Challenge I’ve got coming up. Join NRG!

I want to take a moment and look back on the journey and the previous year. Here’s what I’ve got…

Some stats in P90X2:

Beginning stats on 01/31/12:

Chest:        39.5”
Arm:    11 1/8”
Arm:    11 1/2”
Waist:        34 3/4”
Hips:        37”
R. Thigh:    21 1/4”
Thigh:    21 1/4”

Total Inches:    176.125”
Weight:     172

After stats on 04/26/12:

Chest:        39 7/8”
Arm:    11 3/8”
Arm:    11 3/4”
Waist:        34 1/4”
Hips:        37 1/8”
R. Thigh:    21 3/8”
Thigh:    21 3/8”

Total Inches:    179.125”
Weight:     174

I wish I had stats from a year ago when I started doing the P90X workouts. Alas, I don’t. Only the pictures. Yet if you look at the numbers with the last 90 days, there’s an overall 3 inch increase in size. That’s fairly impressive. Weight wise I’m still a bit shy of the 182 lbs that I’d like to be. I attribute that to exercise, I eat well and I cook a lot.

With that in mind, I did say that I would post a before and after pic. Mind you, I’m not that vain with taking tons of pictures. However, with X2, I did take more. Personally I know there’s been change. Yet for some reason, the pics don’t seem to show as much as I would think they would.

Be aware that I posted the after pic on the left and the before on the right. Other things to note, I was 195 lbs in the pic on the right. I’m 174 in the pic on the left. I’ve lost just over 20 lbs in the year. Actually lost more and started gaining some back. In doing some research about my body size, I’m actually pretty darn close to the weight I should be for my bone size and my height – slightly under.

My overall goals with getting into better shape and flattening the little bubble belly you can see in right side, have been achieved. This is a major goal that I wanted. I was always active and thought I was in good shape. Now I know I’m in good shape.

I have to thank my friends that I knew were doing P90X. Especially Thai Ly. It wasn’t until I saw his transformation that I really decided to give it a go. I’m really happy I did. While my transformation isn’t as eye popping, it’s still there. I enjoyed it so much I became a coach. I really want to help others meet their fitness goals, eat better and be healthier too.

Thanks to my exploration of cooking for better eating. Friends have told me I inspire them to eat better. Thanks to Thai Ly, Jason Scheff, and Tony Horton for motivating me to do a workout beyond being active. Thanks to a desire of wanting to stay away from hospitals and OTC drugs and heal naturally. All of this has combined to inspire me to create this site.

Stay tuned!

PAP Upper Still Tough

Nearing the finish line. Into the final week of this whole X2 journey. While it’s not fun to have to take a week off due to outside forces, there’s nothing that can be done about it and all I can do is move on. What have I found as I get back up to speed with X2? I find that PAP Upper is still tough.

Overall I’m doing better with the workout. The absolute hardest move is still the renegade row. I don’t know if it’s my lengthy body or if it’s the fact that I’m primarily a guitar player and don’t need huge arms, but I find it stupid hard. I tried going to 15 lbs per arm and only got 8 reps. Next round I went to 10 lbs and still found I couldn’t get full reps.

Beyond the renegade row, I find the med ball sphinx plank hold to be difficult. I made it the first round. 2nd round I fell 5 seconds short. 3rd round 15 seconds short. 4th round I fell 20 seconds short. That’s not fun when I really feel like I’m pushing it as hard and as long with good form as I can. As soon as the form goes south and I can’t get back to it, I have to drop.

The rest of the workout has been something I can hang with. Those two moves provide the most trouble out of all the P90X and P90X2 workouts I’ve done.

Tomorrow is Yoga X2 then another two PAP workouts and one more Yoga day. At that point it will be the final photos and thoughts.

Come the 30th I’ll be starting a fitness Challenge and starting it all over again. Join me! I’ve got 2 spots left for the April 30th group. I’m pretty sure I’ll stick with P90X2 for a 2nd journey before I start mixing and matching between X2 and X. I’m hoping by the end of the week that I won’t find PAP Upper still tough. One can dream.

Not A Normal PAP Workout

Despite the holiday yesterday, I ended up not posting about the PAP Lower workout that I did. That is a good workout but not overly difficult. I’m able to keep up with that one. Today was PAP Upper. I’m coming to the conclusion that upper is not a normal PAP workout.

Seriously I’m finding that the PAP Upper is the hardest of all the workouts in both P90X and P90X2. Even harder than Plyocide. And Plyocide is a workout that I’ve not only thrown up to and bonked out in.

I know I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in, yet I’m still huffing puffing and really pushing hard to get through PAP Upper and even in the 2nd half of this first week I’m still not able to keep up. That bothers me. The fact that I had to press pause a couple of times and I still couldn’t do all the reps, ugh.

Despite the mental drain of not being able to keep up, I power forward. I pushed myself on a couple of the moves to hold out longer as much as I could. I mean really hold out. More than I’ve ever pushed myself. That’s super hard to do.

Nearing the end of the first week of Phase three, I can see how this phase might be easy to burn out in. I have two more weeks to go with it. Then at the end of the month I’m starting a BeachBody Challenge. Contact me if you’d like to join up with it. There’s prizes and that’s something that can make what is not a normal PAP workout all worthwhile.

Ah Yoga X2

Today was week two of phase two and with it came yoga. Sometimes I really enjoy it. Sometimes not so much. I’m here to say that today I enjoyed it. So ah yoga X2. Made me feel good.

I was a little stiff to start, but after the first 15 minutes or so I was really opening up. That’s kind of a first for me. I usually don’t open up if I’m stiff going in at the start. I see that as a plus for me.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, yoga X2 is nice in that it’s barely an hour. That makes it more doable compared to the yoga in P90X. Thank you Beachbody. I’m off to a great start today and I believe it has to do with that workout.

Ah yoga X2, I did it. How about you?

Base Back And Ab Ripper

What a trip. GDC is pretty damn wild. It’s like NAMM on steriods for tech. Lots of stuff to see. Amazing tech going on in games and in movement tracking. I could only imagine what it could do for P90X, P90X2 and other Beachbody workouts. Especially if you were looking to perfect your movement. I saw a device yesterday that watches you in real time and can tell where you are in 3D with a single camera. Great for sports related type things. Which is something I see in the back back and ab ripper workout.

There’s a pull maneuver called Kip Chip Up. The idea is to keep the legs completely still while doing chin ups. I have a hard enough time doing them as is. To keep the legs still doesn’t make it easier. Damn them.

Intertwined each pullup move with some plyo movements. It’s like two workouts in one. Wow. It moves right along.

I like it.

Ab Ripper is steadily getting better.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s workout. The next step in the X2 journey.

Where are you in your workout journey? Join me!

X2 Shoulders Arms And Abs

Ok. On the road with extremely minimal equipment. Extremely minimal = none. Means that I am doing moves way modified. I wasn’t really anticipating getting any workouts in this week. Instead I’ve decided it’s worth the effort to go through and do them sans weight and other gear. Fortunately my sister does have a stability ball so I can at least make use of that. Despite the lack of gear I did get through X2 shoulders arms and abs today.

First off, my Diamond coach is in this video. Jason Scheff is my upline Diamond coach. So to see him in a video is pretty cool. Video wise, this video seems to be the most spontaneous and relaxed from a technical standpoint. This gives the work a good sense of having fun while working out. Way to go Tony Horton and Jason Scheff!

Even though I had no weights or bands with me, I worked the resistance as best I could and did the moves. Wanna know something? I’m actually feeling that in my shoulders and upper arms. I can’t wait until next week when I’m back to being able to use actual weights with these exercises.

There’s a couple of new moves in this that are not from P90X. Particularly the one I felt the most was the Y-T move. He even states there’s no need to use weights and especially not heavy weight here. I think he’s on to something.

Either way, I’m looking to get into the next couple of workouts in the next couple of days even though I don’t have gear with me. Not that I didn’t attempt to pack my foam roller. I did. Anyway, I’m writing to acknowledge that doing the moves sans weight will still produce some effect for ya. That’s some serious modification to X2 shoulders arms and abs. If you can’t do that, then you need some major motivation.