P90X Mailbag

Before we get to today's question I wanted to remind everyone again to Vote of Jocelyn for the Beachbody Million Dollar Body Game she has a one-in-for chance for the $250,000 Grand Prize!
Okay, here is a question I get over and over again:

Q: I am starting P90X but I don't know if I can stick to the nutrition plan ... How important is the nutrition plan?

A: The simple answer is VERY IMPORTANT. According to the P90X Fitness and Nutrition Guides your diet is just as important as doing the workouts. If you want to "Get Ripped in 90 Days!" than you need to follow the program as close as humanly possible. You may play around with the calories or ratios and this is fine, but you have to eat as clean as possible.

I will be the first to admit that when I first started reading the nutrition guide it was overwhelming. I always was someone who just ate whatever I wanted, when ever I wanted. I don't even think I really understood what the effects of proteins, carbs and fats had on your body and never really cared. So, this was like learning a whole new language. The funny thing is that once you start it becomes easy. I no longer consider how I eat now as "A Diet", it is pretty much just how I eat.

Really the bottom line is that in order to do P90X and get the results you see in the infomercials you need to commit yourself 100% to the program. This means both the workouts and nutrition. If you only "sorta" commit, then you are not going to finish the program. Suck it up and follow the nutrition guide.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 44: Plyometrics

Another day, another ass kicking!

Plyo day is always one of my favorite days of the week. It is by far the hardest workout on all the P90X DVDs. It is non-stop cardio and Tony Horton just makes you bring it. I was completely exhausted after the workout today. I mean I was like as worn down as I was after day 2 of P90X! But after a shower and the awesomely delicious P90X recovery drink I felt great.

I started out my morning with a vanilla protein shake. Unfortunately for me it ended up on the floor when my two pugs knocked it off the coffee table and went to town on it -- little bastards!

I had already cleaned out the blender and decided to have whole grain english muffins with peanut butter instead. I had my mid-morning Protein bar and then a huge chicken sandwich on wheat. I followed that up with another 250 calorie protein bar for a snack and then Annie and I went out to dinner. I had a grilled BBQ chicken breast with a sweat potato and mixed veggies -- it was very good. With the BBQ sauce I estimated that it was about 700-800 calories.

One thing I don't think I have talked about too much is the beverages I have been drinking. Well, it is pretty simple: water, water, water and more water! Seriously, you have to drink tons of water on this program. They talk about it in the P90X fitness guide and say to drink 8 plus glasses a day. I bet I am averaging 10-12 glasses a day! Just to mix it up I will toss some Propel or Crystal Light into the water. This is the little singles packets and they taste very good. I never was much of a soda drinker so this hasn't been all that difficult for me. But I do like my beer and I have had maybe four beers since I started this program. If you can drink light beer in moderation each one is only around 100 calories and 5 carbs, but make it a 6-pack and you are blowing up the nutrition part of the program --which is why when I have decided to have a beverage it is vodka mixed with either sugar free red bull or tonic water. Very low on calories! And since my body is so hydrated I actually feel very good the next morning -- which is nice!

Tomorrow is biceps and shoulders -- glory muscles day -- I will probably do this workout around 7pm.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 42: Kenpo X

Well, I did not get up early before the convention to do Kenpo -- I was out with my co-workers very late and needed the extra sleep!

I then went to the show and stood around for 8 hours and my feet and ankles were killing me. I left at around 5:30 and headed straight back to Houston. I got home around 9pm and went straight upstairs and did the Kenpo workout. I was tired as hell and it was not my best workout ever but I got through it and I feel good right now!

I was able to have a protein shake for breakfast. I had protein bars today for both of my snacks. Found a chef salad that I had for lunch and on the drive home I stopped and picked up a wheat and turkey sub for dinner. I was definitely under my calories today. I am drinking my recovery drink right now and I estimate I had about 1800-2000 today.

Tomorrow I get to jump back into kicking the crap out of my arms and shoulders ---I am really looking forward to it!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 41: Legs and Back

Hey y'all,

Did the Legs and Back workout in the hotel room today! I hooked the door attachment for pullups up to the closet and I must say it did a pretty good job! Now the pullups were not as intense as when I do them on the pullup bar but I really tried to focus on my form and added a bunch more reps to get the burn.

The squat and lunges were another challenge. We are stay at the Sheraton Gunther at the Riverwalk in San Antonio and the hotel is 99 years old (and supposedly haunted!!!). The rooms aren't tiny but they also are not made for someone to be doing P90X leg and back workout in! But I made it work and felt like i got a pretty good workout in.

I had somewhat of a crappy day nutrition wise. We went downstairs to the buffet for breakfast. i had skim milk and wheat toast and a couple of slices of turkey. But I needed more calories and had a pancake and a regular sausage. Pretty high in fat. I had a protein bar around 11 and had grilled chicken with carrots and corn for lunch (it was shit). I had another protein bar around 5pm and we are going to an Italian joint for dinner. I plan on having either tilapia, salmon or maybe a grilled chicken with some veggies -- no pasta. I might have a bud light -- very long day.

Kenpo tomorrow morning and Ryan is going to join it again. I am leaving around 6pm to drive back to Houston and I am done traveling for a few months!!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 40: Rest Day/Ab Ripper X

Okay, so I needed to do something this morning and decided it would be good to not miss Ab Ripper X.

I figure I can do the Back and Legs exercise tomorrow morning. We don't have to be at the convention until 9am so I will have ample time to get this in. I have all my resistance bands with me and will be trying out the door attachment to do the pullup portion of the workout!

Anyways, my buddy Ryan did the ABX with me today. We hooked up the laptop in the hotel room and brought the hell out of it. Ryan liked ABX so much he took the DVD and burned it to his hard drive for future use! Yes, the members of Metallica would be disappointed by this act of piracy!

I have to admit that doing the ABX by itself was much easier than after an hour workout. I pretty much nailed everything today -- even that bitch fifer scissors! By doing the ABX today I still keep the schedule for it and save a little time tomorrow morning doing back and legs.

So far today I was able to really stick to the diet. I had a protein shake for breakfast (I brought my blender!), a protein bar for a snack, a grilled Chicken kabob for lunch with a little rice, another protein bar for the midday snack and we are headed off to a Mexican Restaurant for dinner. I will have to be really careful here with the chips and dip and beer .... I am going to order water, I am going to order water... (if I keep saying it hopefully it will happen).

I will let you know how the door attachment works tomorrow!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 39: Yoga X

Going to be a short post today. I am in San Antonio for a convention until Saturday so it will be short due to my lack of time to post.

I did my yoga workout at around 6am today. I tried to clear my mind and focus on each move and pose. I did okay - not great. I still do not enjoy yoga.

I had an awesome lean beef scrambler this morning with a wheat English muffin and glass of milk. Stopped at Chili's for lunch and had the weight watchers grilled garlic chicken with a couple of red potatoes and broccoli. It was really good. I had a protein bar driving to San Anton and then we went out to an Italian place for dinner. It was the worlds slowest service but the Grilled Salmon I had was excellent!

I don't want to do this but tomorrow I am going to take it as a rest day. I will do the scheduled legs and back on Friday and push Kenpo back to Saturday. Tomorrow is a really early day and I just do not have time to get the workout in. Friday and Saturday are a little more flexible so this should work.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 38: Back and Biceps - Ab Ripper X

I have now been doing P90X for 38 glorious days and throughout this entire blog I have not mentioned my committed daily workout partners: Ernie (right) and Bailey (left)!

They have been with me since the beginning and everyday they relax on the couch and intensely watch me with a,"What the hell is he doing?" expression on their faces!

The reason I mentioned my pugs today was that during Ab Ripper X when I was lying on my back doing fifer scissors Ernie decided it would be fun to jump directly from the couch to my stomach. Ernie is a 32 lb pug! It was much more fun for him than me. I really think he was just trying to encourage me on my workout because I was grunting away on the damn fifer scissors when he came to my rescue!

Anyways, good workout today. This was only the 2nd time that I did the Back and Biceps exercise and it is turning into on of my favorite. I increased most of my reps on the bands today and also tried to use the greens (40lbs) instead of the reds (30lbs) on most of the biceps exercises. I also just destroyed it on the pullup bar today! My shoulder feels great since I started using the Icy Hot and I was really able to bring it. Even the damn corn cobb pull-ups weren't too bad - I did 8 reps. And on the final Pullups Tony has us Max Out on any type of grip. I did wide grip because those give me the most burn but my form is very good. I was able to do 14 wide grips on the last exercise and it felt great.

did okay with the nutrition program today except I went out of order a little. I had the protein shake with a wheat english muffin for breakfast and then a midday snack around 10am. I was in a procedure with a Doctor from 10-12:30 and had to hustle to get to my next appointment. So, instead of of missing lunch I ate a couple of pieces of turkey jerky and another protein bar in the car around 1pm. I finished up a couple of more appointments and actually had the turkey sandwich on wheat at around 4:30 that would have been my lunch! I came home, worked out and then had a big old Turkey, Ham, Cheese, and fat free ranch Chef Salad with carrots and an apple for dinner while slamming the delicious P90X recovery drink.

Tomorrow is Yoga. I am leaving for San Antonio around lunch time so I plan on doing the Yoga around 6am. I am going to bring all my tubs of shakes and drinks, my mat and my bands and we will see how this sucker works in a hotel room! I received my door attachments to make my bands usable for doing pullups! The directions attached made zero sense and I am going to have to go online and figure out how to make it work. My buddy Ryan, who I work with, is going to do the workouts with me on Thurs, Fri and Sat to see how he like the P90X. He has been working out and eating right for the last couple of months so he is ready to Bring It!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 37: Plyometrics

When I was in my twenties I could stay up all night long and roll through the next day with zero effects from the lack of sleep. Well, now that I am in my 30's that is no longer the case. Yesterday I had a below average workout with below average effort because of lack of sleep. Last night I got a solid 7 hours of sleep and Plyometrics today was awesome!

I had a protein shake for breakfast. A protein bar for a snack (side note: I switched to a protein bar that has 20G of Protein and 12G of carbs, I needed to keep the carb/protein balance and this helped). A huge chef salad for lunch. Another protein bar for midday snack. And 96% beef tacos on the low carb shells for Dinner. Along with the recovery drink I had about 2500-2700 calories today and I needed them all for the Plyo workout!

I got home from work and immediately slammed some SuperPump 250. It got me going and I was able to BRING THE HELL OUT OF IT! I focused on really trying to jump today. The guy in the DVD who is in the far back - his name is Dominique. Is a human frog and damn near jumps out of the video during this entire workout. I decided to try and follow him instead of Tony. I was able to achieve his frog-like ability but I jumped higher and longer than ever before. I did double time on the knee jumps (which is the hardest move on Plyo) for the entire 30 seconds both times through!

Also, I stopped by a Walgreens this morning and bought some Icy Hot to try on my shoulder. I actually took off my shirt and tie in the car and rubbed it on my shoulder immediately because I was aching. I then had an appointment a couple of minutes after that and all the assistants in the office keep asking me if I had bengay on me. They all found it funny - I found it awesome. It has been probably 10 years since I have used Icy Hot and it is REALLY helping my banged up left shoulder. I have it on now and it just feels great. I had been putting ice on the shoulder for the last couple of weeks and have very little relief other than the 10 or so minutes my shoulder was just numb from the cold. Anyways, I am just hoping this helps with the pain and I can continue on Bringing it like I have been!

Tomorrow is the Back and Biceps day and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday I will be in San Antonio at a convention for work. I ordered the door attachment to allow my resistance bands to perform pullup type exercises! I ordered this like 3 weeks ago and it is still not here. According to the tracking number it will be here tomorrow. My one and only complaint with Beachbodies/P90X is that their shipping is tediously slow. I am pretty sure the communication between the P90X website and shipping department at Beachbodies is executed using carrier pigeons.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 36: Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps + Ab Ripper X

It is good to be home! I spent most of today flying but when I got home it was P90X time.

Over the weekend I was able to stick pretty close to the diet. However, I did have a grilled hotdog on Friday night at around 2am - And it was glorious!

Today I brought protein bars for the planes and bottled water for my snacks. I had a chicken and broccili at an asian place for lunch and had grilled chicken fajatis with low carb shells for dinner. I was a little under the calories for the day but still maintained less than 20% fat.

Todays workout was pretty tough for me. I was exhausted but had to get it in. The one armed push-ups at the end almost killed me. And my left shoulder is still hurting like hell. I try not to think about it during the workouts but afterwards it just aches. I have been icing it but that doesn't seem to be doing anything. I might try some icy hot tomorrow.

Anyways, Plyo is the Monday workout and I always look forward to this ass kicker. It sort of sets the tone for the entire week!

Thanks for Reading,

Jef

P90X Day 35: Rest Day

It is part of the Program!

Start back Sunday with week 6!

P90X Day 34: KENPO X

Greetings from Baltimore!

I am at Mike's house today. We just finished up the Kenpo workout and we Brought the hell out of IT!! It was cool having a workout partner for Kenpo.

Started out the morning taking a pre-workout stimulant drink called NaNo Vapor. It seemed to me to be the equivalent to injecting 3 cups of coffee directly into your veins! So, needless to say I was WIRED for the workout. I think it may be even more potent than the SuperPump 250 I usually take.

Then we jumped right into Kenpo and kicked the crap out of it. Kenpo is still my absolute favorite workout on the P90X. I works pretty much every muscle in your body while providing an extremely aggressive cardio workout. So you sweat and strain!

We are driving down to the Jersey Shore in about an hour and are staying at a beach house. Mike and I are bringing all the necessary P90X nutrition products to get through the weekend: Protein shakes, chicken, turkey, turkey jerky, protein bars, bottled water, wheat bread and muffins ...etc. We are ready to go.

I will be back in Houston Sunday evening to start week 6.

Tomorrow is Rest Day!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90x Day 33: Legs/Back/Ab Ripper X

Got up at 5am today to squeeze in my Legs and Back workout!

This is one of my favorite routines of P90X. You basically just do rep after rep on the pull-up bar. When I forst started P90X it hurt to do just one pullup now I am able to rip out 15+ on most of them. And it feels great.

Sorry for the short post - I am traveling right now!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 32 - Yoga X

Hey all,

Sorry for the late post. Had a long day so I am a little short on time.

Today was Yoga. Not my favorite but I got home from work and went upstairs and hit play! 92 minutes later and I was done with the Yoga. I used a Yoga block today to help me maintain some balance. It did help and I would recommend to anyone starting out wit Yoga. I had my butt kicked by the yoga belly seven again. It is a pretty intense core workout that occurs with about 20 minutes to go on the DVD. I look forward to this every time I have to do the Yoga X.

I had a Chocolate Protein Shake and Banana for breakfast this morning. I had another early morning so I had to have the drink in the car! I also had my mid morning Protein bar snack in the car. And my turkey and ham chef salad for lunch in the car. Then I had my afternoon snack - cheese stick and protein bar - in the car!! Luckily, I was able to make it home in time for dinner and we had the beef and broccoli stir fry that is in the P90X nutrition guide. It was pretty good!

Back around Day 4 I strained a muscle in my left shoulder. It has been nagging me ever since and the last couple of days it has been just killing me. I have been putting it on ice the last couple of nights and it seems to be helping. The funny thing is that when I warm up and stretch I don't even notice the shoulder during the workout - so i am going to keep pushing play!

Tomorrow is Back, Legs, and ABX .... this is one of my favorites!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

P90X Day 30: Plyometrics

Day 30 is here and gone!

This is a nice milestone to reach in the P90X program. I am exactly 1/3 of the way there! 33.3%! 30 days down, 60 to go!

Today was good because I am now able to add 2 more servings of Carbs to my diet! The breakdown is no 40% protein, 40% Carbs, and 20% Fat. I started out with a protein shake with skim milk and a whole wheat english muffin (Yeah Carbs!). I got stuck in a surgical procedure today and missed my midmoring snack. I had a whole wheat turkey and lowfat cheese sandwich and some carrots for lunch, a protein bar and a cheese stick for midday snack, and chicken fajitas cooked in sesame ginger sauce (only 25 cals) with two low carb (4G) tortilla shells with cheese and fat free ranch dressing and a few apple slices for dessert!

The Plyo workout was as intense as ever. I had some SuperPump before to get me in the right state of mind and was able to really BRING IT! I missed not doing Plyo during Week 4 and I am glad it is back in the P90X rotation. It is by far the most exhausting, sweat inducing workout in the whole P90X set. It kicks my ass everytime, it is a good ass kicking though! I had two deliciously awesome P90x Recovery Drinks after my workout. I was really exhausted and I missed my morning snack so I needed the calories anyways (220 cals per serving).

On Thursday evening I am flying up to Mike's in Baltimore. A buddy is getting married and we are going to the bachelor party on Friday. We are planning on doing the Thursday workout in his basement that evening and then Kenpo early Friday morning. It should be fun to do the workouts with a buddy! The real test is going to be the diet. We are planning on drinking Vodka with sugar free Red Bull. Mike says that Red Bull is only like 10 calories. I am usually a beer drinker (even though I am not really missing it during the last 30 days!) and the last time Mike and I were together with Red Bull and Vodka was in Vegas and let's just say it got very, very ugly! Hopefully we will not have a repeat of Vegas!

Anyways, I am sure you are all wonder where the heck my 30 Day Pics are? Well, I am going to do a seperate 30 day recap post with the pics. For those of you who cannot wait they are posted on the BlogSpot Gadgets on the Right >>>>>

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff