Category Archives: PAP Upper

Ab Ripper, P90X2, PAP Upper

P90X2 Ends Again Or Does It

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Another journey through a beachbody workout comes to an “official” close. That’s right I’m saying that my 2nd time through P90X2 ends again or does it? I decided that I would close out journey 2 today.

I closed out with a great PAP Upper workout where I got through it all and pushed it hard. Then I followed it up with an Ab Ripper X2 set. Still working on the tummy.

Here’s my stats ending this time around:

After Stats on 08/11/12:

Chest: 40”
R. Arm: 11 7/8”
L. Arm: 12”
Waist: 34”
Hips: 37”
R. Thigh: 21 5/8”
L. Thigh: 21 5/8”

Total Inches: 178.125
Weight: 179

I have increased a total of one inch to my body. I’ve added a few pounds but I’m still shy of the 182 that I’d like to be. My other goal of the flat belly is probably a week or two off. What this means is that after taking a break next week, I will fire up phase two of X2 again.

Why?

I found that I lost the most belly during phase two. Which is why I’m going to retreat to that phase for an additional week or two after a week off. Give myself some rest, then pound the workouts to achieve that final goal.

Enjoy yourself and if you’re looking to start getting into better shape join me in a fitness challenge starting in September! Until then, P90X2 ends again or does it really ever end? No. It’s a lifestyle change for the better. Time for some Shakeology and some Poker.

Ab Ripper, P90X2, PAP Upper, X2 Yoga

Look Back At PAP Upper And Look At Yoga X2

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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.

P90X2, PAP Upper

X2 PAP Upper Kicked Ass

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As you can see there is a smile on my face and the reason for that is X2 PAP Upper. And today I totally kicked it’s ass.

Much like yesterday’s PAP Lower, I got all the reps in. Had to pause it a couple of times, but I got it done for the first time where I did every single rep without missing a beat. KICK ASS!

Renegade row and towel pull-ups have been my nemesis with PAP Upper. Not any more. Not today. I got all the reps in for each of them. I did have to pause a few times between sets in the complexes, but I made it happen!

Time for a shakeology. Time to move on with the day. Have a good one.

Ab Ripper, P90X2, PAP Lower, PAP Upper

More PAP Lower And Upper

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I got such a late start to my day yesterday that I didn’t get my post in about my workout yesterday. Combining both days again means more PAP lower and upper in today’s little writeup.

My PAP Lower workout yesterday, for all intensive purposes, rocked. I kicked it in the proverbial ass. I was able to keep up with the kids on the DVD and even get through things faster and harder without pauses. Booyah.

The PAP Upper workout today is a slightly different story. I started strong. However by midway through the first complex I was having difficulty working on keeping up. I had to start pausing the DVD to catch my breath. The bright spot is I only needed to stop the DVD 4 times, twice in complex 1 and twice in complex 2. The other bonus is that I did manage to get more reps in for things like the pull ups and the renegade rows.

I’m still not sure why I find the upper body stuff so much harder. It’s not like I’m not in shape.

Time for me to get on with finishing some musicmixes. A hearty breakfast, a little Shakeology and some time later today on the links swinging sticks. What’s your plan of attack today?

Ab Ripper, P90X2, PAP Lower, PAP Upper

PAP Lower And PAP Upper

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I had a little lull last week. Ended up going out of town and was unable to complete the week. You know what that means? It means I’m adding an additional week to my final phase. Then I kicked in my 2nd week yesterday and ended up not having time to post about it. So today I bring you PAP Lower and PAP Upper as my post today.

Of the two workouts, Lower and Upper, I find that the PAP Lower is much easier to me. I flew through it yesterday, no pauses and able to keep up with cats on the video. The hardest move is the side bridge with the leg lift and I still rocked it.

To add to my regimen of getting that flat belly – I did add X2 Ab Ripper after PAP Lower. The ab workout after something like the PAP stuff is certainly a bit harder. However, I still plowed through it and rocked that too.

On the flip side, PAP Upper is a workout that is still hard as hell for me. I wonder if it’s due to being a musician or something, but for some reason, while I’m pushing myself, I’m still having issues to keep up. In fact the hardest move is the Renegade Row. Good God that one kills me.

Based on this, I find that I’m way more exhausted after the PAP Upper workout. Means I have to spend a little more time after the workout catching my breath and getting on with my day. Speaking of which, it’s time for me to go make some breakfast and a Shakeology. Have a great day!

P90X2, PAP Upper

PAP Upper Ends The First Journey

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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!

P90X2, PAP Upper

PAP Upper Still Tough

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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.

P90X2, PAP Upper

Getting Back To PAP Upper

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Here’s a personal pet peeve of mine. People that go out in public sick. How important do you think you are that you need to go around infecting other people with your problem? I’m now getting back on track after a week of being laid out due to Strep throat. Put me in bed for a few days, came on real quick too. Today I was finally feeling human enough to be getting back to PAP Upper.

While I wasn’t able to really push the workout hard, it did feel real good to be working out again. I did what I could after being out ill for a week. The hardest move in PAP Upper today was the renegade row. I only got about half the reps. Under the circumstances, I can’t complain.

I’m hoping in the next 10 days I’ll get completely back on my game as that will be then of my 90 day journey with my first round of P90X2. At which point I’ll be starting my next fitness challenge. Who among you would like to join me in the fitness challenge? Contact me and we’ll make it happen!

I feel better for having tackled a workout. Even if it was the hardest of all the P90X2 workouts. Gotta pick up where I left off and that was getting back to PAP Upper.

P90X2, PAP Upper

Not A Normal PAP Workout

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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.

P90X2, PAP Upper

PAP Upper Equals Hard

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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!