LovnLife4NSR’s Mind

Alright, can someone please tell me where the past month went. We have only a couple of days left in Phase 1 and it seems like we only started this last week. The last week in Phase 1 is all about recovery and ab workouts. No real weight lifting or anything like that. Mostly cardio, yoga and stretching.

The only new program in this is Core Synergestics. Thats a cool program. My wife likes it a lot. My favorite is polymetrics, but this is a very close second. The Core mainly focuses on you making you whole body and core strong. Having done YogaX the night before then doing Core my abs were really pissed off at me. They are sore. Heck, even coughing hurts. I need a workout like the Core because my core is my weakest part.

I’m still a huge fan of YogaX. This program kicks my ass because it requires my full focus to maintaining balance, patience and strength. It’s a slow moving program and I’ve always been a go-go kind of person. So, this requires me to totally focus to complete each exercise. The YogaX ab part kicks my butt and I love that. When this section is usually done I found myself laying in the fetus position grasping for air. I like that kind of pain cause I know I pushed myself.

I think the one exercise program I don’t like is the XStretch. We do it every rest day, but I’m not too gun-ho about it. I easly get distracted. I’ve never been a huge fan of stretching, but I know it’s a important part in growth and fat loss. So, I still do it…….even if I am stomping my feet and acting like a 2 year-old. I’m hoping my attitude wil just go away and stretching will just be a part of my every day routine.

As for nutrition goes, not a whole lot has changed. We have stuck to our "bible" and thats a good feeling knowing our dedication. I’m a little nervous about starting the next phase of nutrition because there is more carbs in it. But I’ll put all my faith into the P90X program and the "bible" and I’ll do it. My wife made these health bars that are killer. They are oatlmeal and raisin bars. She added two scoopes of protien powder to the bars. They taste yummy and they are only 108 calories, 12 grams of protien, 17 grams of carbs and 2 grams of fat. One thing we did notice about the diet change is that we have become fart-bombing fools. Man, some of the foods make us so gassy. Has anyone else experienced this unpleasant change? We think it is the turkey (burgers, jerky, ect.) and the protien bars. Yeah, ther are some nights we bring a whole new meaning to Ripper in AbRipperX (Yes, we are simple people who enjoy a good Dick & Fart joke).

Latley, I have been bringing a lot of work and personal garbage to my workouts. I have had a lot of stupid shit go down lately and I can’t seem to tune it out by the time I get to working out. It’s really pissing me off because alls I want to do is completely focus on the program and give it my total dedication. I’m trying to shed it out my head. If anyone has tips or suggestions, please throw them my way. My wife just got a book that helps you focus on your own life and not worry about outside forces that you can’t control. I need that.

My wieght has stayed the same, 153. Thats fine with me. I more concerned about losing the fat weight. So, if my weight stays the same because Im’ gaining muscle and losing fat thats cool with me. I’ll be posting my 30-day progress pics on Wednesday. I’m excited and nervous about it. I know I have made changes, but I can’t wait to compare it to my old pics. I’m interested to see how much has and hasn’t changed.

The other night I was doing my new nightly routine and thats flexing in front of the mirror. Yup, I’m shallow like that-lol. My wife was in the shower and she was watching me. She starting laughing and told me to get in the shower. I walked up to the shower and started flexing for her. She laughed and said, "Get in!" Now, what I said to her was a real eye-opening moment for me. I said, "It’s fun! It’s nice to look in the mirror and NOT be disgusted with myself." I’ve never viewed myself in a positive way whenever I have looked at myself in the mirror. This is a great feeling knowing that my life and health have taken a turn for the better. What can I say? It feels great feeling….well, great! I hope there are others out there that experiencing the same thing I am. You shouldn’t have to feel or think crappy about yourself. Well, gotta go- For those who took time out of their lives to read about mine-THANK YOU SO MUCH! Stay strong!

Alright, we only have two days left of week 3. Man, it is flying by. On Saturday, we were suppose to do our YogaX, but we decided to do one of the bonus cardios instead. I think our energy levels have really gone up and we both have talked about doing more cardio on our rest day. Hey, this is good: were actually pushing ourselves to do more workouts. We are going to do the YogaX on our Rest/Stretch day. The workout program wasn’t too bad. Each workout was a minute long and every 20 seconds you had to kick it up a notch. Yeah, that got a good sweat going. We both slept bad on Saturday night and we were really lagging yesterday. We did our Leg/Back workout that night. We were missing that extra push we normally have and it showed. We both increased our weights and reps, but you could tell we were just "getting through it." We were just bonked out. We did it though and that is better then nothing. Oh-yeah, my calves are still on fire! When I was doing that calf exercise I could feel the burn all the way up to my butt. Nice! My wife says her calves feel so dead today, but damn ,they are starting to look sexy!

AB RipperX: We did this after the Leg/Back workout. Considering half the exercises require some leg motion the Ab Ripper is always the hardest after the Leg/Back Workout. On top of just lagging, our legs were also sore from the previous nights cardio. We got through the Ab Ripper, but we didn’t push ourselves like we usually do. Hey, I can do the crunchy frogs and not fall over- wooooo-hooooo! I can also do the twists (at the end of the workout) without stopping. I hang with Tony and the gang the whole time. My core is my weakest body part, so I’m stoked it is gett ing much stronger.

Nutrition: Want to know how dedicated we are to this diet? Saturday was my wife’s 30th birthday and do you think we went hog wild on bad food, cake or booze? Nope! She wanted a pie that consisted of low-fat yogurt and mixed berries. We made it, froze it and then had some after our cardio. It was yummy. One thing I have never talked about is our water consumption. I think this a very important part to the dieting. Now, I own a bottled water delivery company (In fact, I’m working on the website right now-I got writers block. If you have suggestions on how a salesman could attratch you to buy bottled water-just drop me a line. I ‘m always up for suggestions and tips. Don’t worry I won’t solicate you. LOL.) and so, I have always been proadvocate of water drinking. Before I started P90X I used to drink about half a gallon of water on a daily basis. Now, I drink a gallon or more. The crazy part is my body uses all that water. I don’t make a ton of trips the bathroom. P90X recommends you drink 6 to 8 12 oz. glasses each day. They also suggest this: 12 oz of water two hours prior to exercise, 8-12 oz of water 15 to 30 minutes before exercise and 4-8 oz of water during exercise. Drink your water folks! It’s important in aiding your body in losing fat. Plus, it helps your local water delivery company pay their bills .

Alright, gotta get back to work, damnit! For those who took time out of their lives to read about mine-THANK YOU SO MUCH! Have a great day and seriously, if you have a good sales tips let me know.

Alright, week three is here and we are just rolling through this. Last night was Chest/Back and Ab RipperX. We really worked it in the Chest/Back routine. During routine one I would set a number (All these numbers were higher than last time) and I pushed for 5 more reps after. When it was time for routine two I set for that number + the five again. Once I hit it I pushed myself after that to failure. Man, I was dead tired afterwards. It hurt to lift my arms to take off my shirt. I’m truely surprised as to how well my chest is reacting and developing by just doing push-ups. I know weights are the true source to real muscle gains, but I’m pretty stoked with the gains my chest has made- a lot more than I thought it would.

The diet is going well. We are sticking to it with total dedication. My weight has stuck around the 153-155 area. Not too concerned. Just as long as I keep losing the fat weight. We have really gotten to like the new diet. We adjusted fast and we’re not even close to being sick of it. I have battled and won one of my biggest no-no’s when it comes to eating: Late night snacking! I used to be so bad at it and at first , it was tough. I loovvvvvvveeeeee my ghetto-cup full of milk, apple and either a bag of popcorn or handfuls of peanuts. Now I don’t have those cravings anymore. Wooo-hoooo, thank you will power.

We have been so good with the exercises and dieting, but there is one place I have been dropping the ball. Keeping track of my weights and reps. I need to do that because last night I wasn’t using heavy enough weights. I know somethng is better then nothing, but I could have made better gains with my back if I had the right weights. So, make sure you do that! Your body adjusts fast and you need to keep track of it.

OK now, here is a small problem that I have been trying to figure out how to handle. Since I have started this my body has changed very well. The fat is just shredding off. I’m getting skinny all around and thats good. I’ve always carried my fat in my stomach and face. My legs and arms have always been skinny. Even though they are gaining muscle they are still skinny because of the weight lose. Thats OK because I know that just takes time to build. I rambling because thats not my problem. My problem is I’m worried that I’m liking myself too much! Does that seem odd? What I mean is, last night, 35 minutes after our Chest/Back routine and 10 minutes after the AbRipperX I took off my shirt and looked in the mirror. What I saw I hadn’t seen in over a decade. My chest had a good pump, but the biggest thing I noticed was my abs. They had good detail and were solid. I was so stoked with what I saw. I still have fat on my stomach and on my sides, so I still have a long ways to go, but damn I was impressed! I got excited and starting thinking about one of my goals: I want to be confident and take a profile picture of me and my ripped body. I’m no where near that goal yet, but I want to be in the future. These changes I have made are for life! I’m not going back to being fat or lazy. I love the new me and when the times comes I want to strut my stuff, just like everyone else does on bodyspace that has worked and earned it. So, does that make me conceeded or cocky? Because thats what I started feeling like after I started envisioning my future profile pic. It made me feel guilty because I’ve never thought like that before. I’ve always considered myself low-key and humble. All of this is new to me and I’m not sure if I’m taking the right approach to it. Is it ok to be this proud of myself that I must show it off? Or should I just be humble and keep my proud accoplishments within myself (and with my wife of course). I have no clue! Any suggestions? For those who took time out of their lives to read about mine-THANK YOU SO MUCH! Stay strong!

Alright, my body is taking a butt-kicking between the new P90X exercise and diet program. Great thing, not even a week completed and I’m already seeing results. I can see changes to my body and I’ve already lost several pounds. Excellent!

Day 2: Polymetrics (58:36), This is a fun cardio. You do alot of jumping, squats and sport-like moves. By the time I got Rock-Star Hop I could barely get my legs off the ground. The sports moves are fun. I can’t throw a left-handed pitch for the life of me. I look some dork who was injected with a muscle relaxer and I can only move half my body. The next morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed and walk to the kitchen. My legs were pretty dead. Great workout.

Day 3: Abs (16:07-done in a.m.),Shoulders & Arms (59:53 done in p.m.), The ab workout is a killer workout. I needed to stretch because my legs were sore and the first handful of ab exercises require you to use your legs. I thnk my ab exercises took a step-back because I couldn’t push through the exercises. I had to stop because my legs were on fire. That will change over time, I hope. This was a nice arm and shoulder lifting program. I needed to go heavier on the weights when I’m performing the bicep exercises. I hit everyting else just right. My shoulders are sore. My triceps were sore, but they are better.

Day 4: Yoga (92:24), Alls I have to say is I’m now a huge fan of yoga. This program kicked my ass. It requires so much energy and focus to execute and maintain all those poses. I couldn’t believe how much I sweated through this workout. It wasn’t as much as the polymetrics, but it was more then I expected. When  got done with this program I just went outside, kicked it in a lounge chair and let the day float by. I was tired!

Day 5: Legs & Back(58:56), Abs (16:07), I was nervous rolling into this workout because my legs were already sore from all the cardio. This program is good for working those legs. The calf exercise is a good workout. I think it was three minutes long. By the time I got to the type of calf raises my calves were really pissed off. I can feel it today. When I sat down at the computer my legs and calves cried in relief. The back exercises contained all pull-up type exercises. This time I did the bar. Got my butt kicked. I think I will use the bar for the chest/back day and bands for the leg/back day. Change it up a little bit.

Day 6: kenpo (55:46), We will be doing this tonight. This cardio workout requires alot of punching and kicking like exercises. It looks like fun. Hope it kicks my butt and keeps me entertained.

Day 7: stretch (57:32), This is considered your off day. I’m looking forward to doing the stretch program because I suck at stretching. I have always ignored it. So, I’m pretty stoked to be actually doing it. I need to start stretching in the morning on the days we workout in the evening.

Nutrition: I could go on and on about this. I think I will write a different blog about this, some other time.My wife calls their nutrition book the bible. We have keep charts of our calorie intake and the required servings. We have been dead-on with it. Most of the time we are 50 calories lower than their daily calorie intake. When you make the meals they look huge on your plate. But after you eat them, you feel good and not all fat and miserable.

We are already seeing changes and progress with this exercise program. I already see muscle definitions, as does my wife. My stomach is less doughy (as my son calls it) and my wife says her butt’s jiggle time has dropped a lot! There are days when we have felt great and there are days we have felt tired. It’s a good tired. Not like a hang-over tired or a spun-out kind of tired. I have been sleeping great. One night I nailed down 9 hours of sleep and followed it up with a two hour nap. It’s been years since I have slept that much. Well, gotta go. If you took time out of your life to read about mine- THANK YOU SO MUCH. Have a great day, week and 4th of July! Stay strong!

Just finished the first day of P90X last night.We did the chest/back workout.It was pretty tough.My arms are sore and my shoulders are stiff. You rotate exercises. Chest first and back second.There are two rounds of it.The second round is the same exercises, but you have to do them for longer. By the time I got to the diamond push-ups my arms were weak and I could feel my dinner in the back of my throat. Excellent! I love being pushed like that. I got a pretty good pump in my chest from all the different exercises. That shocked me a little. I didn’t use the pull-up bar. Instead I used the resistant bands. I’ll work up to the bar soon. I was just getting a feel for the program. You can keep notes of how many push-ups you do. I don’t care about the numbers right now. I just want to finish it. I paused a couple of times during the various push-up routines. My goal is to complete each push-up exercise and never pause during the given time. After that, maybe I’ll count. I need to use the notesheet to log my weight usage. I could have gone heavy on some of the back exercises.

The diet/nutrition book is pretty cool. The book they give you is real easy to follow. It pretty much holds your hand through the 3 months you train. I’m in Level 2 of the Phase 1 based upon my weight. Actually, it’s not far off from what I eat now. The only difference is I’m actually exercising and lifting weights. Hence, I’ll be burning more calories than I did before. So, we’ll see how I react to that. We can’t afford to eat fish every other night, but thanks to this book it’s easy to figure the nutrional value for a substitue dinner. Thats means a lot of chicken for me. Oh-boy.

Two things we did last night that kind of hurt us was this: 1)We paused for 10 minutes during the workout to put our daughter to sleep.So, we were well rested and not as winded. I think if we were able to go through none stop we could burned more calories because we would have had to push ourselves harder. No biggie. 2)When we got done with the chest/back exercise we had to put our son to sleep (he worked out with us-he knocked out 18 push-ups and he is 4!). When we put him to sleep we drank our recovery drink and didn’t realise we were suppose to do the ab workout too. Considering we were pretty nauseated just from the first program we weren’t up to doing the ab workout after we just downed a shake. We were bummed, but we’ll attack it tomorrow.

In all, I really like this program. It’s hard, but it’s fun too!I’m gonna keep track of my progress, but I don’t have time to log it every day. I will get to it though. Oh-yeah, don’t buy their supplemental packages. Just google their nutritional value and buy stuff thats the same, but less expensive. You already have to invest good money into the food part and some exercise products. Do your homework and save money! Make sure you take your before pictures and do your measurments!Stay strong!

With the cost of gas and everything else rising my wife and I have noticed that people are starting to eat less healthy food and more processed food. Processed food is way more cheaper and a lot of people are struggling because of all the price inceases. Does anyone here in bodyspace seem to be struggling with the price increases? We struggle with our bills, but we’ll cut costs elsewhere to help eat and live a healthier lifestyle. We don’t want our kids eating crappy food. Obesity is already one of the major leading causes of death in America. Now it’s only getting tougher to fight with everything rising in costs. So, my wife and I are constantly researching on how to save money and reduce costs. I thought I would share some ways we have helped save money and adjust to rising prices.

My wife read this article that suggested you make a list of the items you needed and when you receive your Sunday & Wednseday saving ads you shop at the store(s) that have those items on sale. It may not be the same name brand you always buy, but it is the product/food that you need. My wife has been doing this for a couple of months now and she said that are bill went down from $300.00 to $210.00 (on average). We haven’t reduced our shopping list. We just go and purchase the product thats on sale. Thats a pretty big jump in cost reduction. We only buy things that are on sale. IF we have to go to two stores get all the items we need then we do it. You have to stick with the sales prices. Oh-yeah, use coupons. On avrage, my wife cuts cost between $10.00-$15.00 each time she uses coupons along with the sale prices. Hey that helps put 2 to 3 gallons more in your tank!

As for gas costs, we tried to find the less expensive places. For us, thats Safeway and Costco gas. We also make A LOT less trips to run errands. We usually only do errands on days we work. Thats helped a little. The nice thing with shopping at Safeway we usually get some discount off our next gas purchase. Another little bonus. I have also read articles about how gas stations are willing to give discounts off their gas prices if you pay in gas. Another article I read is that it’s best to buy gas in the morning because your tank isn’t hot and gas expands when it is hot. When gas is cold it’s more dense and you get more bang for your buck when you buy gas.

Electricity costs are on the rise as well. I think P.G. & E. will increase their costs by 14% over the next 6 to 8 months. Yikes. As if my $200.00 wasn’t enough. So, some things that might help: Unplug electric items when your not using them. Coffe pots, phone chargers, computers, ect. Even if these items aren’t running they still pull a small charge if they are plugeed in. That adss up. Air dry clothes. Thats right, get all old-school country style with airring out your clothes. Do your gym clothes really need to be fluff dried and smell all spring-like? Most electric companies offer tips on how to reduce your bill and offer rewards for cutting back on your bill. Either check out their websites or give your provider a call.

One way my wife and I are trying to save money and finds ways to adjust to rising costs is by not being stuck buying things we can make ourselves. What I mean is we grow most of our produce. We have six chickens (hey, go easy labeling us hillbillies now) and they produce 5-6 eggs a day. We don’t have to buy eggs or egg beaters and those are becoming pretty costly products. We just got the idea this year to raise our own produce. So, we are a little behind. Starting this fall, we plan on preparing to do a full blown produce garden for next year. Even with all the start-up costs and maintenance we have reduced our overall costs by 50%. After seeing how much we have saved my wife wants to raise livestock. We talked to a friend of ours and they said they save up to 50% off their costs by having a rancher raise their meat for them. Now raising organic meat is another story. Thats costly. We learned the hard way on that one.

So, here are some of the ways that have helped us a lot. We would love feed back or even more ideas that could help us. For those who took time out of their lives to read my blog….THANK YOU. Have a good one.