All right I am on day 23 core synergistics and decided to join and begin posting.

Little about me 28yrs Indian slightly over weight(187lb) 6 ft
Goal: lose abdominal fat and get toned abs(I have a fatty liver it seems)
Diet: I am on about 50 gms protien a day and fruits mostly with rice and other whole grains/veggies

I took some before and after pics on day 18 and didnt see much visual change though my strength has improved.

looking forward to kenpo tomorrow.

Hi,
I believe if you try to cut don your intake of Rice (white rice) esp at night. You will see difference. Cut down excess carbs.
That will help you.

Thanks abhinav, yup I am on red rice instead of white.

Daily update:
Anyway core synergistics was something sore in all unusual places.

Day 26 Core synergistics:
Today I could engage and exercises felt great I was sweating crazy. 2 more days to my first pic time hope I see the large changes I am feeling.

good, I am anxious to see the results.

Allright at the end of phase I today is xstretch.
Took photos and compared, see some improvement in the back/handles area but nothing major in the front/tummy. I guess its going to take the two more phases for more improvement.
Starting the Chest Shoul tri routine tomorrow fully recovered( Dont know if core syn is really recovery )

You can definitely tell your sides/stomach/back got smaller. That's pretty impressive for 28 days. I'm on day 44, and I've noticed more improvement from days 30-44 than 1-30. The best is still yet to come.

Thanks for the comment redsfan21. Good to know 30-44 is going to be more visible. I watched tomorrows vid already to get mentally prepared. I guess plyo pushups are going to be hard but may be will do it on knees for now. Amazing how Tony generates a wave like motion and gets off the floor completely.

Day 29:
Phase II day 1: Chest Shoulders and Triceps.
Really enjoyed the workout today, In fact found I was constantly underestimating the weight and needed to increase them. I guess after last weeks recovery I have come out stronger and ready to charge.
Most notable was ab ripper X improvement as I was able to touch toes without any grabs in the last but one move. Did 50 mason twists easily.
In all a good confidence boosting workout today.
Looking forward to Plyo tomorrow should be fun

Day 30:
After last nights chest shoulder and tri workout woke up today feeling very sore. I guess the muscle confusion/recovery ideas work

In week 2 and 3 I didnt feel as sore doing the Chest&Back exercises.
Today's Plyo will be fun Iguess in this sore state

I agree. I just finished up week 3 of phase 2 and I was sore after every CST workout. You're right, this muscle confusion stuff really works

Day 30:
Plyometrics:
Wow I never thought I would say this but plyometrics has almost become easy, I am able to keep pace with Tony and the "kids".
Only reason I take a few more breaks is to be careful of my knee after reading about people busting knees etc.

Now I am almost worried plyo may become too easy (I am showing off a little bit I guess)
One more major improvement I see is in my flexibility. I have always been hyper flexible due to doing Yoga off and on from childhood. But today I was doing the glute stretch with the straight leg and pulled in my knee completely to my chest and only felt a subtle stretch. I guess I need to find new ways of stretching now.(I am at risk of making even the gorgeous Shauna look inflexible ok ok enough of tooting my own horn I guess. Just too pumped from the workout)

Day 31:
Thought would split Ab ripper X(ARX) and Back and Bicep work outs and do ARX first.
Was able to give more energy to ARX, infact was able to put my hands out for in and outs. I also could do wide leg situps more easily havent reached 25 yet though.(began from 10 in week 1 now in week 5 can do 20).
One exercise I havent been able to figure out proper form for is the oblique V ups.I cant seem to collapse head to heel in the horizontal plane. So I do it in the sideward plane with a straight leg. My obliques seem decently engaged. In fact today saw the abdominal fat kinda move to one side to get out of the obliques way.(Ha ha may be I am imagining this but it felt that way).

Anyway will do back and biceps in the night. As I dont have a place for pullups I have been using the band based methods. But I plan to go to a park to checkout how many real pull ups I can do before the workout. Before I began this I couldnt even do 1 pull up. I want to see if thats the same still.

Wow!!! another event today couldnt believe it when I saw it.

Some background:
For the past 4-5 years since I began measuring cholesterol,triglycerides and liver enzymes, they have always been abnormal. cholesterol has been around 240, triglycerides around 290-300 and liver enzymes recently around 90.

I had seen a liver doctor last month and given blood for tests. Today the results came in and my cholesterol was down 50 points to 176(Normal)
and triglycerides down 184 points to 106(Normal).

Lifestyle changes
The 30 days before the test had seen major life style changes
a) 30 days of low fat home cooked indian vegetarian food (before I would eat lunch out 3-4 times a week)

b) 18 days of exercise split as follows
1) 5days of cardio before discovering p90x
2) 10 days of p90X
3) 3 days of wilderness back packing (18 miles)just before the test

I have done diet strength training etc before but never have the results been this dramatic.
I have to think that p90X has a big part in all this and that too only 10 days or it. I plan to repeat this after completing the 90 days.

Day 32:
Got out of bed and went to the mirror. I have become highly narcissistic. I guess eager to see how another workout had changed my body. (Talk of high expectations )

Anyway after 2 days of phase 2 upper body workouts my upper body was looking slightly toned and thought I would flex and post pics.
I have also taken a pic sucking my stomach in as I feel new core strength to see how things may be in 90 days.I hope I reach there.
Today is yogaX and I dont sweat as much as they do but that could be because I dont do the chaturanga dandasanas as good as they do(havent figured out how to do it without paining my elbows, hopefully will do it today)

all right here is the pic

Day32:Yoga X
Finally felt comfortable and happy doing yogaX.(After 5 sessions)
I guess I was never happy with my smoothness. For me yoga has always meant no jerky movements. Never having had experience in moving asanas specially warrior 1 2 etc based ones Previous sessions had been jerky. As a result I couldnt concentrate on my breath and without the synchronization did not get the complete benefits. Also worked up a good sweat for the first time which also is potentially due to holding asanas, breathing right and having smoothness. Saw more flexibility today could touch head to knee in "downward dog with leg raise".Havent gotten bakasana(crane)yet but I am seeing progress towards it. It has always been my childhood dream to do an asana called mayurasana which is a hand stand. I wish with the strength, balance and flexibility gains I can do it soon. Finally figured out the chaturanga and did it smoothly with minimum elbow pain.I think shoulder and bicep strength improvements played a big role in this. In all a great workout. Looking forward to legs and back tomorrow.

I had previously used 12.5 lb for most of the weight based routines in the legs&back. After 3 rounds in phase I, I decided to test out strength increase and was able to increase the weight to 20 lb and was able to match the reps of Tony&kids. I am quite happy with this progress. Also with wall squats was able to go real low and raise leg to a decent height in the single leg wall squats. There is a lot of room for getting more height in the single leg wall squat, but I am sure it will come with time. As I was working out after only a cup of tea in the morning felt totally drained of energy towards the end and began sipping my protien drink. Began Ab ripper X but after 2 exercises was debating whether to continue or do it later in the evening. Pushed through crunchy frogs and got to wide leg situps. Usually I have been able to do 20 straight but today had to split it as 5reps x4 times. Well decided to finish the 6 more exercises of Ab ripper X later in the evening when I had more energy in me.I have noticed in the P90X workouts that when I work the legs I feel a lot more tired than when I work upperbody.(may be the size of the leg muscles being larger has something to do with this).
Anyway off I got to lunch of
1 bowl of fruit(orange, fruit,pineapple)
1 finger millet dosa (crepe like dish)
1.5 cup cooked red rice
2 cups yogurt
2 papads
little indian pickle

As I stood in the horse stance fighting invisible enemies, I reflected on myself. Something was different today. Then I realized I had completed the entire workout without a single break. KenpoX, the most fun of all the p90X workouts was over and I was standing in a deluge of my own sweat. I have sweat in Kenpo before but never this much as today. This is most likely because my kicks were way higher almost at chest level,if not neck. I also did lot more jumping jacks and didnt push pause. I was reading online somewhere that 1 hour of martial arts burns close to 800 calories,I can actually believe that after todays Kenpo workout.In fact I go into a sort of trance like state in Kenpo which makes me forget looking at the clock and imagine of myself as some Kenpo guru.

When I began today my hamstrings and calves were totally wound up. I had to infact do extra stretches just to get them ready. Yesterday's legs and back routine had really worked the legs well it seems.This morning I checked my weight as well but dont see any change, but the bulging leg muscles have clearly something to do with this . Infact before I could pinch my skin in the leg, now thats hard.
Cant wait for tuesday to be here soon enough for another rocking chest shoulder and tricep workout. I have bought pushup stands for $7 from walmart as my wrists had begun hurting.

I woke up feeling great today, legs are still a little wobbly after the last two days of legs and Kenpo workouts. Decided to benchmark my progress in the last 15 days 18-35.
I see some encouraging results, the tape measure shows an inch of max waist diameter reduction. I can visually say which is day 18 and which is day 35 .
One thing I notice though is that the overall shape/side profile is maintained as is. But I guess this just further just reiterates that you cant choose where you lose fat from. My body type seems to lose most from face, legs, rear and then hopefully tummy(this is still to be seen).
I guess I will do xstretch in the evening.