• Weight: 204 lbs.

In case, you haven’t followed my other P90X entries… for ease of tracking my progress, each bullet point represents the 2-digit date of the activity followed by a “:” and the 2-digit number indicating my progress within the 90-day course for P90X (i.e. – 27:01 indicates September 27th, day 1 of P90X).

November 2010 – Week 7

• 08:43   Rest, chiropractor appt.
• 09:44   Rest  
• 10:45   Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
• 11:46   Bujinkan Training
• 12:47   Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X
• 13:48  
• 14:49   Rest

EDIT 8/5/2011:  And…  here is where I crashed out of my 2nd attempt at completing the full 90 days of P90X.  I went through at least two months of bad bouts with my migraines after this. Not only did the increase in migraines and physical pain derail my fitness routine, but my Bujinkan training was also derailed for a several months.

After several months of trying to get into a new routine, I have decided to try 10-minute trainer to develop a routine that is effective and that I can continue beyond 60 days without physically crashing.  I hope to find a routine that I can continue indefinitely towards longstanding health and wellness.

• Weight: 204 lbs.

Progress Day 1 – Day 39:

• Total weight lost: 15 lbs. 
• Total inches lost: 16″

Very exciting! I can’t wait for even more progress over the final 2/3rds of the P90X program. Highlights of total inches lost are -4.5″ from my waist, -3″ from my hips, and -3.5″ from my thigh circumfrence.  Definitely noticeable in how my clothes fit, and how I feel and move.

In case, you haven’t followed my other P90X entries… for ease of tracking my progress, each bullet point represents the 2-digit date of the activity followed by a “:” and the 2-digit number indicating my progress within the 90-day course for P90X (i.e. – 27:01 indicates September 27th, day 1 of P90X).

November 2010 – Week 6

• 01:36   Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
• 02:37   Rest
• 03:38   Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X (morning) / Bujinkan Training (evening)
• 04:39   Bujinkan Training
• 05:40   Rest
• 06:41   Rest
• 07:42   Rest 

This week had a little of the “best laid plans…” syndrome.  With a quick trip home to Ohio Friday – Sunday, although I took my laptop and P90X workouts, I wasn’t able to make time to do them on Saturday or Sunday. Which leaves Monday to ramp back up again (which I will… measuring this week gave me all sorts of motivation to keep going!).  I think the highlight of my weekend was when one of my childhood friends asked me if I had aged at all since high school. (We hadn’t seen each other for ~10 years or so.) It made me feel like I’m really making progress and I am still very happy about the progress I’ve made during the first 1/3rd of P90X even if I’m less happy that I don’t hit 6/6 workouts each week. I’m going to keep pushing as 6/6 is my goal… supplemented with Bujinkan Trainings, of course.

Yay for more hard work next week, and the payoff that will follow!  Here’s hoping the timezone change helps me get up in the mornings without throwing my schedule further offline… 

• Weight: 209 lbs.

In case, you haven’t followed my other P90X entries… for ease of tracking my progress, each bullet point represents the 2-digit date of the activity followed by a “:” and the 2-digit number indicating my progress within the 90-day course for P90X (i.e. – 27:01 indicates September 27th, day 1 of P90X).

October 2010 – Week 5

• 25:29   Migraine
• 26:30   Sore ankle
• 27:31   Sore ankle
• 28:32   Bujinkan Training
• 29:33   Migraine
• 30:34   Rest, chiropractor appt.
• 31:35   Rest

And… after a week of consistently getting up by 4:30, it was nearly impossible for me to get up early this week.  I missed work due to Monday’s migraine, and while I was setting up the living room for P90X that night since I was going to try to workout despite the pain, I tripped over one of our area rugs and over-stretched my bad right ankle. I spent the next two days alternately wearing a brace and icing, then taking the brace off and carefully stretching and moving the ankle to help it feel better faster.

Thursday, since I failed to get up early enough to workout in the morning, I missed P90X, too. And… it was all kind of a wash from there. Next week I’ll be hitting it hard again after taking the time this week for my body to recover. I slept in extra on Sunday to try to recuperate from the exhaustion I’ve been feeling, and went to bed early so I’d have no excuse on week 6 not to wake up and bring it.

Due to the timing of everything, I didn’t measure on day 30. I will measure Friday of next week, so the results of inches lost my first month will be posted in next week’s update. Look forward to it! (I know I do! I am definitely stronger and leaner now than when I started, and it’s only been 35ish days!)

• Weight: 206 lbs.

In case, you haven’t followed my other P90X entries… for ease of tracking my progress, each bullet point represents the 2-digit date of the activity followed by a “:” and the 2-digit number indicating my progress within the 90-day course for P90X (i.e. – 27:01 indicates September 27th, day 1 of P90X).

October 2010 – Week 4

• 18:22   Yoga X
• 19:23   Sick, Ab Ripper X
• 20:24   Migraine, Kenpo X modified to Bujinkan Basics
• 21:25   Bujinkan Training
• 22:26   Core Synergystics
• 23:27   Rest, chiropractor appt.
• 24:28   Rest

The roughest thing for me this week, and perhaps for the past 2 weeks… is trying to keep my diet in line while feeling sick (sinus congestion, headache, overall fatigue, dizziness). I find myself going for long periods of time drinking water and tea and not eating because I don’t feel well; then, when I do eat I end up having too many carbs (even the good kinds) because I haven’t eaten for so long.  My goal is to reestablish regular meals even if I don’t feel any better by the end of this week. And I restocked on Airborne and cough syrup to get me through the week along with saline nose spray. I know if I go to the doctor I’ll end up with an antibiotic… and with the viral nasties that have been spinning around my office this month the *last* thing I want right now is to completely wipe out my immune system and end up with something worse.

On a positive note, with my husband’s help I’ve still been working out as much as I can every day. I haven’t been pushing myself to the extreme in each workout, but I have been working out as hard as I can without going too far into dizziness, etc. I’m hoping in another week, between the medicine, eating healthy, and continuing with P90X I can “sweat out” whatever is causing my sinus woes. Also, icing my shoulder after the Yoga workout, along with biofreeze in the mornings after P90X when my shoulder/collarbone is tender has really been helping me manage my pain as my right side grows stronger. I am still surprised by how much stronger one side of my body is than the other, and how it flips between right and left depending which muscle groups we’re working on. I look forward to using P90X in my efforts to rebalance and strengthen both sides so they become more equal.

You’ll notice I did try the Kenpo workout this week, and I ad libbed basic Bujinkan self-training for many of the segments and kept my cardio up. I will be going back through the Kenpo workout noting down each segment and time over the weekend to directly map the basic training elements I wish to focus on while Tony talks in the background. Once I have it mapped, I’ll make a seperate post delineating how my husband and I are doing it. Since there are two of us, I’m excited that we can incorporate some waza training like Koku and Renyo from Gyokko Ryu.

A closing happy thought for this week… I am waking up by 4:30 AM consistently now (whether I want to or not), so as long as I continue to get to bed early it’s becoming much easier to wake up. Hooray!

• Weight: 207 lbs.

My weight stayed relatively consistent this week. I was expecting very little change, so I wasn’t surprised. I figure the contributing factors are: 3 days of rest instead of 1, weighing myself with clothes (since we had company last week and our scale is in a public place), and putting on some muscle as I am noticing improvements in number of reps, amount of weight, and my overall stamina throughout the workouts.

In case, you haven’t followed my other P90X entries… for ease of tracking my progress, each bullet point represents the 2-digit date of the activity followed by a “:” and the 2-digit number indicating my progress within the 90-day course for P90X (i.e. – 27:01 indicates September 27th, day 1 of P90X).

October 2010 – Week 3

• 11:15   Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X
• 12:16   Plyometrics
• 13:17   Sick
• 14:18   Yoga X
• 15:19   Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X
• 16:20   Rest, chiropractor appt.
• 17:21   Rest

Having a workout buddy is a LIFESAVER.  Especially as we work to transition our P90X time to mornings before work so we have evenings free to relax or go to Bujinkan training. Mornings are rough for me as I don’t sleep well. I’m definitely a night owl on the spectrum of sleep habits. My husband, who is my workout buddy, is a great help pushing me out of bed on mornings I’d rather sleep in an extra hour. His support as I try to get to bed earlier has also been helpful, especially on days I can tell he would prefer I stay up longer with him. I am really jealous of all the people in the world that can lay down in bed and fall asleep within 5 minutes…  *dreams*. Maybe someday I’ll acquire that skill… until then, earlier to bed for me with the hopes I fall asleep in 30 minutes (and not an hour!) at a reasonable time to wake up by 4:30 AM. I can do it!

I’ve felt this week like I have either a mild headcold or a nasty sinus infection, which has really affected my overall energy. I missed work on Wednesday and didn’t work out so I could rest and try to recover. Thursday, after Yoga X, my right shoulder reminded me how weak it has become since my collarbone break in 1998.  Friday, I modified the “back” portion of the workout to accomodate the sharp shoulder pain from certain ranges of motion. I did low number, careful, 2-feet-on-the-chair reps of the pull-up variations the first round through. For the second round of the pull-ups, I switched to red bands and did higher reps at a careful, slow speed. Saturday, my chiropractor helped alleviate much of the shoulder pain, and gave me instructions to ice my shoulder immediately after subsequent yoga workouts until it’s much stronger and can handle them without joint pain.

Despite the shoulder pain, I’m still very excited to see my strength increasing and can’t wait to see how next week goes with the change of P90X modules.

• Weight: 208 lbs.

That’s an 11 lb drop from Week 1… yay!  A testament (to me) to how important it is to implement a good, healthy diet along with my fitness routine. *so happy*

In case, you haven’t followed my other P90X entries… for ease of tracking my progress, each bullet point represents the 2-digit date of the activity followed by a “:” and the 2-digit number indicating my progress within the 90-day course for P90X (i.e. – 27:01 indicates September 27th, day 1 of P90X).

October 2010 – Week 2

• 04:08   Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X
• 05:09   Plyometrics
• 06:10   Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X
• 07:11   Migraine
• 08:12   Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X
• 09:13   Rest, chiropractor appt.
• 10:14   Rest

All the little indicators that change has begun are so HAPPY!  Like putting on the long-sleeve t-shirt my husband bought me in Japan in early September, and realizing the top of the sleeves is loose and it is also loose around my tummy now… Like putting on my tighter fit jeans and noticing the tush has some sag because they’re starting to fit loosely… Like my belt easily going to the 3rd hole without me having to think about sucking in my stomach to get it there…  small victories that scream “your body is changing! hurrah!” even if I can’t visually see a big difference just yet.  Certainly is motivating to keep on going, amidst muscle fatigue and general tiredness, and a whole lot of lazy trying to sneak in. 

My other find of the week, not surprising, is that it’s incredibly difficult to stick the routine when the week is not routine. We had a good friend come stay with us this weekend. I was planning to do Yoga on Saturday to make up for missing Thursday (I had to leave work early with a migraine, and didn’t get to work out). However, with a friend sleeping on the sofa, not wanting to wake him up at 7 am on a Saturday after being up past 2 am… meant Saturday was a no-go. By the time people were up we had errands to run, other friends to go visit, and found ourselves getting back home around 2 am again without having had a chance to “bring it”. And, Sunday was somewhat the same.  Which reminds me I need to make time to clean out our storage room so that we can fit a fouton or something amidst the boxes so in the future our friends sleep somewhere other than the living room!

Goal for next week… hit all the workouts to be back on track, and shift the workout time to be morning each day before work so evenings are less hectic.  Looking forward to it!

Starting Stats…

• Weight: 219 lbs.
• Waist: Size 14

If you followed any of my previous P90X journaling, you’ll notice I’m about 15 pounds heavier starting this time as the rough summer severely limited my ability to workout and my eating habits slipped since it is easier for my body to handle simple carbs when the migraines are strong than to eat other foods. It’s all going to come off now though! My husband and I were able to sit down and build a routine that will work for us each week, allowing time for workouts, training, and grocery shopping to make sure we eat right. I’m very excited!

In case, you haven’t followed my other P90X entries… for ease of tracking my progress, each bullet point represents the 2-digit date of the activity followed by a “:” and the 2-digit number indicating my progress within the 90-day course for P90X (i.e. – 27:01 indicates September 27th, day 1 of P90X).

September/October 2010 – Week 1

• 27:01   Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X
• 28:02   Plyometrics
• 29:03   Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X (morning) / Bujinkan Training (evening)
• 30:04   Yoga (start to 40 min remaining)
• 01:05   Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X
• 02:06   Gym – Lap Swimming
• 03:07   Rest Day

This week, as my husband and I realigned our lifestyle to our health and fitness goals, I realized several things…

First, recovery drinks are AMAZING! I can feel them cutting my soreness within 10 minutes of drinking one after a hard P90X workout and I am certain I am doing so well sticking to the schedule each day because the P90X recovery drinks are doing what Tony says they do. They level of pain between workouts is much less this time, and the only difference I can attribute to the change is the addition of the recovery drinks to my training regimen.

Second, knowing you can do something makes a big difference!  During my first attempt at P90X, I became strong enough to do “real push-ups”, or push-ups from plank for the first time ever. Despite falling off my fitness routine, and losing much of the strength I had gained this past year, I found I was able to still do push-ups in the proper position, then switch to my knees for depth of the form during the Chest & Back workout. It was wonderful to actually have my chest sore the next day. That was something I couldn’t do until late my first round with P90X because my arms previously were too weak for me to get any good depth to work the appropriate muscles. Hooray for being able to do the exercises more correctly this time around!

Third, Vibrams… I love my Vibrams. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Check them out  here: http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/. When I started P90X last year, I did the plyometrics workout once in my best, newest cross-trainer sneakers. I did all of the exercises in their modified versions because I have bad knees and ankles and would prefer not to land back in physical therapy for them. Once the workout was over and my muscles and  joints cooled, I limped for a week and swore to supplement some other form of cardio for plyo during the remainder of the 90 days because walking, generally, is a good thing to be able to do. About 7 months ago, my husband bought himself a pair of Vibrams to help rehab his ankle (on the broken leg side) while running at the gym. He found in his running shoes his ankle would start hurting after a very short time. The Vibrams solved his problem. By helping him run more naturally, he was able to build his running back up, and with the Vibrams start improving his ankle’s range of motion. After he had them about two weeks, he took me to buy a pair. I’ve always loved being barefoot, and try to wear as little on my feet as I can most of the time. Immediately, I noticed my balance improved significantly when I wear my Vibrams. Let’s face it -  I am a certified klutz. For example~ not many people can break their pinky toe so deep it counts as a foot fracture, just by walking through a doorway in their own home. My balance has always been bad and the first reason I love my Vibrams is because when I wear them my balance is better. Running is easier. And now… I CAN PLYO, BABY! I did all of my P90X workouts this week wearing my Vibrams and I’m so very excited for more because they let me stay aware of my balance, knees and ankles so that I can still workout with intensity, modified when needed to respond to my injuries, and I was able to do the full plyometrics workout and still walk without limping the following week.  I’m sold. Vibrams for workouts for life. <3

Finally, anyone who knows the classic P90X workout will noticed I didn’t do Kenpo X on the 6th day. I won’t ever do Kenpo. I’ve heard it’s fantastic and I’m sure it is; but since I train in Japanese budo taijutsu I want to be sure any punching and kicking I practice repeatedly follow the basic instruction of my art so I don’t train myself into more bad habits than I already have. So on Kenpo days I’ll be going to the gym to swim, run, and practice my Bujinkan basics in the boxing room instead.

Here’s looking forward to more fun/pain next week! Feel that body change! Hurrah!

October/November 2009 – Week 7

• 26: 43   Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps
• 27: 44   chiropractor appt.

…and this is where I fell off the train during my first P90X initiative. My husband broke his leg, and all the rest is history as our lifestyle changed for several weeks to accommodate the rest and recovery time he needed to heal, and all the challenges associated with limited mobility… and the months that ensued before his injury healed completely.

October 2009 – Week 6

• 19: 36   Sick, rested
• 20: 37   Sick, rested. chiropractor appt.
• 21: 38   Sick, rested
• 22: 39   Bujinkan Training – 2 hours
• 23: 40   Rested
• 24: 41   Bujinkan Training – 2 hours
• 25: 42   Rested

This past week was really rough. With extreme exhaustion, and overall not feeling well, I focused on trying to get extra rest and feeling better with limited exertion. Next week, getting back to daily exercise and training.

October 2009 – Week 5

• 12: 29   Migraine. Rested to recover.
• 13: 30   Plyometrics. chiropractor appt.
• 14: 31   Bujinkan Training – 1.5 hours
• 15: 32   Back & Biceps
• 16: 33   Yoga X
• 17: 34   40-minute walk (in rain, with hills)
• 18: 35   Bujinkan Training w/ Paul Masse – 4.0 hours

Business trips make for long weeks, especially over the weekend with 6 am flights home… although the early flight home  so I could make the Paul Masse seminar – totally worth it. Note to self for Plio (however it’s spelled…), get a knee brace. Super workout, but wow… owie for the entire week after. Sorry knees.