Tag Archives: tony horton

Look Back At PAP Upper And Look At Yoga X2

Yesterday I forgot to post the fact that I did my workout. Today I’ll be updating with a look back at PAP upper and look at yoga X2. Must mean I’m getting a little busy or something…

I didn’t fully complete PAP Upper yesterday. It wasn’t for a lack of being able to do the complexes. Instead it had more to do with a time constraint. I got 3/4 of the workout down. All of complex one and half of complex two. Still a good workout. I was keeping up with it this time as well. So I’m finally getting PAP Upper to be a workout that doesn’t kick my ass.

Today was Yoga X2. Still able to palm the floor and do some of the wrapping moves where before I could not. I’m pretty sure it means I’m becoming more flexible. One of the wrap moves involves my right shoulder. Before my first journey through the P90X2 workout by beachbody, I had issues from an injury. I always thought at some point I’d have it scoped to fix it. Not any more. I have a wider range of mobility than I thought possible and no pain. The joint has fixed itself thanks to the workout of P90X2. Thank you Tony Horton and Beachbody!

I’m still adding the X2 Ab Ripper workout in three days a week during this phase three. The goal is that I will hit a flat belly very soon. Might not be in the time frame I was hoping for, but it’s nearly completion.

Off to have a complete breakfast with a Shakeology. Then it’s music makin time. Make sure you’re on a journey. Even better if you’re able to look back at PAP Upper and look at yoga X2 and say they same thing I’m saying: Thanks for helping fix my body through workouts and exercise.

Shoulders Arms And Abs Happy When I’m With You

Late morning start. But then again, I’m a musician – what do you expect? Here’s the funny. My coach and my upline coach are also musicians. Today my workout was my upline coach’s workout in P90X2. Jason Scheff. That’s the Shoulders Arms and Abs Happy When I’m With You workout. I added the title after it because of two reasons.

Reason one. Jason actually says this to Tony in the video. Reason two. It’s the title of a song I wrote a couple of summers ago and is in a movie.

Despite the not so great Plyocide workout a couple of days ago, I’m back on a roll with the program. I increased weight over my first journey stats. That’s a big deal. Shows me I’m getting stronger still. Love it!

Add to that, the fact that I have a proper sized stability ball too, makes some of the moves hard. Better still, I’m getting more out of them. Bonus.

I’m feeling awesome. Especially since I got through the workout with flying colors and smashing the abs too. Plus in case you missed it, the title I gave earlier is a song that can be purchased. I’m saying Shoulders Arms and Abs Happy When I’m With You. That’s right, I’m up. Join me for a fitness challenge!

p.s. time for a Shakeology.

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!

The Palm In Yoga

This morning’s workout was all about the stretch, relax and do those strange poses. One thing I’m starting to dig about the whole Yoga concept is that I’m finally getting to a point where I can bend over. Not that I couldn’t before, however, for me right now it’s all about the palm in yoga. Meaning I want to be able to palm the floor.

When beginning the X2 journey I couldn’t really do much more than get my fingers to the floor. Easy enough. But getting the palms down there too, yikes that was tough. I imagine that it’s a combination of the yoga and the foam rolling. I’d bet that the foam rolling is helping more than I can tell.

Another noticeable thing today was more sweat. Yup, since I was pushing moves further I was sweating more. Another accomplishment is my longest crane hold yet. A tough move for balance and somehow I was able to finally hold it about 1/2 of the time length Tony calls out for. That’s improvement.

There’s three more workouts left in this journey then it’s on to the next Challenge! I’m excited, I’m seeing results. I’m in better shape than ever. I really think the next round will push me over the edge when I get it completed. Get in shape with me! You’ll be glad you did. Pretty soon you’ll be happy about the palm in yoga too.

PAP Upper Equals Hard

What does today mark for me? It marks the day that I have now seen all of the P90X2 videos. Day two of the 3rd phase in the X2 journey has commenced and been finished. To put it mildly I will say that PAP Upper equals hard. I’m not sure it’s due to the impromptu workout my arms got yesterday or if it really is that hard, but PAP Upper is the one workout so far that really worked my arms to fail.

Now mind you, I know that Plyocide was probably that one workout that pushed me to the point of bonk. Today I didn’t bonk, but I found points in the workout where I literally could not keep up. Unlike yesterday where it was more of me learning the routine. Today it was learning the routine, but also sheer difficulty.

The Plyo Med Ball Sphinx thing is probably on par with being the most difficult move like yesterday’s Side Bridge move. I know I’m shape, but good God they are hard to hold. I imagine in 2 weeks from now I will be able to hold these moves without issue.

Time for a kick ass organic meal and nice healthy fruit smoothie shake. Then it’s into the studio to be crafting more music. Oh, and I’m awaiting word from Apple as to why my iCloud account is not sending info to the outside world.

If you haven’t made it this far into the P90X2 journey, you’ve got something great to look forward to. Something that will push you like you won’t believe.  I was diggin deep into my mind to hold moves as long as I possibly could. Even for being in shape PAP Upper equals hard as workouts go. Where are you at in your fitness journey? Join me in mine!

Enter Phase Three With PAP Lower

I almost didn’t get to starting the next phase of the P90X2 journey today. When I got up from a late night of working on music, I was sequestered to help remodel my Grandma’s bathroom. After a day of sanding and painting walls and ceiling I was pretty wiped out. A little nap and I decided it was worth getting to the workout and push it. Thus I enter phase three with PAP Lower today.

Tony Horton started out saying that I wouldn’t be able to keep up the first time through. For the first 30 minutes of the workout I was wondering what he was talking about it. The first half I found to be quite easy even though I was learning the moves. Don’t get me wrong, I was getting a workout, though not as tough as I was hoping.

The 2nd half was a different story. The moves were a little harder. Plus I think my day was catching up to me. So while I did all the moves, I was a few reps short here and there. Overall a good workout. I was sweating more than I normally do. Yet, I don’t feel overworked. I’ll push it a little harder next time.

Now it’s time for a pasta dinner so that I can restock the energy. Oooh, I forgot to mention that I had a bowl of my own homemade granola this morning. I’ll have to post the recipe in the next day or two. It was very tasty and a great way to kick off my day. Not to mention a great start to enter phase three with PAP Lower.

The Journey continues…

Final Base Back And Abs Of Phase Two

Today marks the end of my 2nd phase in the P90X2 journey. I inserted an extra day due to a chance yesterday for a free day of skiing. One can never pass up a free day of skiing, especially when it’s an awesome spring day. As I say, a day spent skiing is a great day. Besides, Tony Horton is a skier and I’m sure he’d understand. As I mentioned at the beginning this is the final base back and abs of phase two.

Things I noticed. I got more reps on the pull ups. Most I’ve done unassisted. While I was an ardent follower of the “assist” method in P90X, I found that while I could do a lot of reps, I couldn’t manage to do a lot of pullups at all unassisted. Maybe it’s harder for a taller person to really do pullups. However, I’m finally working up numbers past 5 reps. That’s great for me. Being that I previously couldn’t do more than 3. Thus that’s a big 50% jump in reps for me.

For the plyo portions I was keeping up. Only had one moment where I had to pause the DVD as I was winded and needed to catch my breath, but I’m pushing it hard too. Despite a slightly weak start in this phase, I’m now feeling ready to take my recovery week then start phase three.

There were a couple of moves in the ab ripper where I lost momentum, or the ability to complete the move due to exertion. Beyond that I completed the rest of it. Hardest one right now is still Abernome and also Phelon. Ooof. But I keep my mind at it and continue to push.

Wrapping up the final base back and abs of phase two leaves me feeling great. Time to eat, and conduct the rest of my day. What have you accomplished today?

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.

Always Look At The Plyocide Of Life

Day two of the second phase of the X2 journey. It’s more of the plyometric style of workout. I got much further through it as I was going this time. Keeping up with the peeps like Roberto, Traci, and Tony. Still having to pause once in a while, but I’m nearly on par with them now. Kinda makes me think it’s good to always look at the plyocide of life.

The fact that I’m pushing a little harder makes me feel good about it. But it was a little slow getting started today. Mostly due to the upper body workout from yesterday. Whew. I’m feeling Chest Back and Balance today. My oh my.

Onward and forward. I need to get my breakfast gig on. I think I’m going to be making some egg cups this morning. Power breakfast. Then it’s on to the ski hill for some X2 Skiing. Two workouts in a day.

Come on and join the journey! Then you’ll always look at the plyocide of life and get a kick out of it.

X2 Yoga Bear

Ah. Day two of the recovery week. I’m feeling like a yogi. Or maybe an X2 yoga bear. It’s all good. Though I’m wondering if I ought to cut the week short and jump into phase two.

Maybe I’m just antsy to move into working out. Not that yoga isn’t a bit of work. It is. But a week of it might be a bit much of it for me. Jury is still out on that.

Meantime I need to think about replenishing my shakeology reserves. Love that stuff.