Power90 - Week 4

I can't believe it's only been 4 weeks. It feels like forever. I can recite almost every line from both videos now, including Tony's attempts at snarky comments. We missed one day last week because I was sick and I felt really guilty about it. I can tell that I'm still making progress because I've been able to bump up the weights on pretty much all of the exercises. Bicep curls with 8 pound dumbbells sounds weak, but when you consider that I've never been able to use much more than 4 it's a sign of obvious progress.

I still want to shake my fist and curse at him (actually, I do shake my fist and curse at him) when he reminds us that it's time to max out on our push-ups. I try until I can't even bend my arms anymore and then I try some more. Still mostly girly push-ups though, but that's ok for now. The workout buddy system is a big help. We're able to motivate and push each other and correct each other's form. We're still planning to start P90X on March 1 and I'm really looking forward to the change. Definitely not ready yet, though!

Power90 - Week 3

We're up to level 3-4 on both sculpting and cardio now. I thought I was going to die by the end of the new cardio routine when we put it in on Sunday - it's amazing how much extra pain a measly 4 minutes and 30 seconds can cause. I have pain in arm muscled that I never knew even existed!

My progress for this week included a few successful inverted push-ups. Go me!



I'm sticking to my original plan of not worrying about losing weight. Charlie, on the other hand, was very proud to tell me that he's lost four pounds so far. My own personal concern is that I can get to the point where my butt stops jumping when the rest of me does.

The only real issue I'm having with the program is that the "X-work" bothers my knee. It's a lot of jumping around. I know I'm going to get it a lot worse with the plyometrics that go with the P90X.

If you're interested in the Power90 and P90X programs, or any kind of fitness at all, check out the blog of my friend/co-worker/trainer at Coach Lynn Fitness. She is one seriously in-shape lady.

Power90 - Week 2

We've officially entered Week 2 of the Power90. It feels like a lot longer than that since we started doing Tony's other videos a few weeks earlier, but for the sake of the program we'll leave it at that.

Week 2. After running through the Level 1-2 Sculpting session we decided that we were good with bumping things up to Level 3-4 now, rather than waiting for the halfway point in the program. Holy hell, I don't think my triceps and chest muscles will ever forgive me. The first part of all four circuits is push-ups. 8-20 reps using various arm positions. I'm not even close to being able to complete them all, even in the modified position. Yes, that's right. As I said before, I'm a sissy and I do weakling push-ups with my legs bent. That brings me to my first note of progress, though - last night I actually did SIX push-ups with my legs straight out! SIX REAL PUSH-UPS! That's double the number I was able to do last week! I'm thoroughly impressed with myself, and it's certainly nice to have some kind of measurable progress going.

I'm not going to hop on the scale or whip out the measuring tape until we've been at it for a full month. I don't think that minuscule losses really matter all that much to me, so we'll just see where we net out. Even if I don't end up losing much in inches, as long as I can tell that my strength is increasing then I'm good with that. The goal here is health, not scary olsen-twins thinness.

Out with Jillian...

In with Tony Horton and the Power90.



I finally got to the point where I couldn't stand to listen to or look at Jillian anymore. My co-worker Lynn did the P90X a while back and loved it. She's actually just starting up as a coach for the program. I always teased her about it, but in the back of my mind I thought it might be something to try after my lactating days were over.

So here we are! C and I are doing it together, which can only help us to stay on track. I need that late-evening motivation when all I want to do it sit on the couch and watch TV. We decided to start with the Power90 rather than going straight for the P90X - figured if we jumped into something that was outside of our ability range then we'd be less likely to stick with it.

2 weeks ago we started circuiting through Tony's Power Half Hour series, and then last night we began the Power90 in earnest. I don't know that we'll go the full 90 days, we might jump over to P90X sooner than that. So far the sculpting on the first set of disks is way too easy. We're going to swap that part out for the Power Half Hour disks.

I'm not looking for (or expecting) any huge bodily transformation. I'm relatively happy with my shape and size, but certain parts could stand to be a little firmer. I've also resigned myself to the fact that my stomach will never be exactly as it was pre-baby no matter how many crunches I do.

Oh! And my first AW! Last night I successfully did THREE real push-ups! I've forever been a knees-bent push-up kind of girl, and I'm very proud of myself!

Shred Discovery

I found out last night that there's an option to turn off Jillian! That totally made my day.



I'm not nearly as sore today as I was on Tuesday. I've also decided to pick up an old Weight Watchers habit and track my food. I realized yesterday that my willpower has pretty much disappeared. I think I need as much accountability as I can get, especially with the holiday season right around the corner. I'm not interested in denying myself holiday treats, so the focus will be more on moderation. I don't think I have to worry about alcoholic beverages this year, I certainly can't drink like I used to. No peppermint schnapps in hot chocolate for me!

(And no, I'm not pregnant. Why is it that when women talk about not drinking the only assumption is that she's pregnant?)

Day One

In the interest of having somewhere to be held accountable, I'm jumping back on the Shred bandwagon. I started it again last night and I'm paying for my weeks of couch-dwelling in today's aftermath. Ouch!

Jillian is so annoying. While the shred is certainly better than nothing, it's definitely not "replacing hours of phoning it in at the gym." I'm going to pull out some old Rage CDs for tomorrow's round.

I Feel Blobby

I know I don't really have any right to complain, seeing as how I'm actually below my pre-pregnancy weight by a few pounds, but I've been feeling rather "blobby" lately. While the number on the scale isn't anything shocking, it seems that the distribution of fat on my body has been radically altered. I'm having serious butt issues.

I know that I need to do something about it. I had been running 3-4x / week for a few months, but then when it started getting dark earlier I stopped because running alone when it's dark creeps me out. I live in a stereotypical suburban subdivision, but I just feel so exposed running through the streets after sunset. Maybe I need to get over that.

I don't want to get up and exercise in the mornings, because I get up at 5:30 as it is. I don't want to exercise in the early evening, because I want to play with Baby C. After he goes to bed at 7:30, my motivation to change, get all sweaty, and then shower again before bed is pretty much non-existent, and it's just too easy to sit on the couch and spend some quality time with my husband. We don't get to do that often enough as it is.

I really need to get going, maybe tonight will be the night.