Attention all forum participants who started the program on or around June 2nd!! (Or anyone else that wants to hop on board and join the party )

Let's use this thread as a group logsheet to report in regularly, keep each other motivated, and press forward on our journey to SPARTA!!

BRING IT!!

Well, my fiance and I just finished our first official workout: Chest & Back w/ AbRipper X. Ahhhh, to feel like putty again--it feels GREAT!! Got a really good workout too, but man, that workout really highlighted how much room for improvement we have

Although I can do a few pullups regular, I ended up doing all of mine using a chair for assistance. I wanted to have my reps up in the higher range throughout the workout, rather than maybe doing a good amount the first set, then quickly only being able to do one or two. Pushups I did the first round all in proper form, but a few of the styles I had to drop to my knees for the second round.

AbRipperX was rough, especially because my hip flexors are really struggling right now. My fiance (who for now on I'll refer to by the forum name of "Denu"--hopefully she'll register and start posting herself) did much better than me throughout the whole abs routine. It will be interesting to see who gets the most sore where in the next few days.

How'd everyone else do?

Monday I hopped on board and did the chest/back routine and first half went ok - did everything unassisted and with decent number of reps, but second round my pushup numbers dropped to about half and I needed the chair for pullups. I used the chair and did negatives on those and then finished off some reps on the bands - just to try to get as much out of it as I could.

A day later - my chest is ripped apart...so totally sore all over!

Today, though, too was my first in plyo x and it was great! I'm doing my workouts in the early morning and was a bit sleepy during the warmup, but in no time my blood was flowing and heart rate was up. I was actually surprised with how well I could keep up. Made it through, sweating like a hog, and was feeling great by the end of it all!

Great to all be in this together and encouraging and giving tips to each other. I know that everyone else's info and perspectives really help me in the exercises and with what I'm eating too! Keep it up and keep it going!

I will say just five words about day 2's plyo workout:

The BEAST is aptly named.

That is all.

well said

I started on June 2 too. The first day was a tough workout and Plyo wse intense but made it to day 3. I agree the morning is the best time to do the workouts....I was alittle groggy too but woke up pretty quick. The ab routine I did separately later in the day. I guess this should be oK. It's also day 3 for healthy eating which is alot easier with my wife's help as she is great at doing the meal planning. It is great reading about others journey on here and knowing I'm not alone....We are all in this together!

I would love to have the body that some of the pictures show But if I can lose 20 pounds and get my body back in shape I will be pleased.(Hopefully will see the big difference playing hockey in my mens league)

Check you later

Day one was pretty intense for my wife and me. We are both sore as hell but starting to feel better. I didn't do any assisted pullups but dropped down to around 5 reps the second set. I'll probably use the chair after failure to pump out some next time.

I did abs in the evening too since I didn't want to get up any earlier. I don't think I would have been able to much right after anyway. That's another badass routine.

Plyo kicked my ass. I can't imagine keeping up with them all the through. I am going to be psyched the first time I do it. By the way, doing Plyo first thing in the morning and then going to a job at a desk all day is not good for keeping loose. I have to remember to get up and around more.

Shoulders and arms this morning wasn't as bad for me because I'm more used to weights. I felt much better afterward than the previous 2 days. I have to figure out a better system though. Too much switching weights and I have plates and handles instead of dumbbells.

Chest and arms went pretty well for me. Overall I think I took things a little bit too light on the weights, as most of my sets were in the 14-16 rep range. But it was my first time through the routine and I really wasn't sure what to expect. Good thing I was writing stuff down though--now next week I'll really know what I need to do to get the reps in the 8-10 range.

My fiance "Denu" wasn't able to do the workout since she left to go out of town for the rest of the week. And actually, in light of that I'm thinking that we'll go ahead and just redo week one. This has been a learning week for me, a chance to guage where I'm at and what I need to do to really bring it. And for her it's been, well, a vacation

We probably should have waited until June 9th to start, but I guess I was just way to excited to get things going. Oh well--an extra week in phase one isn't going to hurt anything, right?!

Thursday's Yoga session reminded me of something I've always known about myself: Not so flexible! To be completely honest though, being able to do that routine with good form and not constantly worrying about falling over is one of my major goals. I've always thought that being flexible and able to do proper yoga would be very fulfilling, and I'm really glad it is part of the program.

I must say though, that nothing ruins the calm tranquility right after a good yoga workout quite like a bunch of people screaming about how they're going to help you get in shape

Legs and back went pretty well tonight. I had to attend a birthday function earlier in the evening, so I got started with the workout a little bit late and hadn't kept to my nutrition plan for the day. I felt a bit better on the ab ripper though. Still had to take lots of breaks, but felt like I was hanging in there better.

Really looking forward to Kenpo tomorrow!

Yup! Kenpo was definitely a fun one for me. I've always liked martial arts stuff, did a little as a kid, took a few classes while in college, etc. Sure did make my arms and shoulders feel like silly putty. The nice thing about being this out of shape is that I know I have only one direction to go at this point--up!

Gensfan wrote:

QUOTE:
The ab routine I did separately later in the day. I guess this should be oK.

it's definitely ok

i do my Abs in the morning then when i do the regular resistance workout in the afternoon, but i think i'm going to reverse that starting next week (6/9/08)

it is recommended that you do your ab workout after your regular workout because the ab muscles, unlike your back and chest are a composite of small muscles. so if you choose to do both workout at the same time, you should do Ab ripper last, this will prevent you from weakening your posture do the abs muscles fatigue.

After my chest and back workout tonight I had a hard time taking my shirt off. A little bit later I unloaded the dishwasher, and was pleasantly surprised that I didn't drop anything I was putting on the higher shelves.

Amazing how feeling half dead makes you feel so much more alive

Hi

I started this date as well. I am from the uk. Although always been fit ( I am a Firefighter in the uk and last year I ran the marathon des sable in morroco) I have always been porky. My mum is currently on a waiting list to have a stomach bypass op so its in my genes!

Finding the program tough!Can only do one pull up probably due to my weight. I am 210 pound.So I am jumping up, holding and then slowly coming down or doing assisted pull ups. Is this a good idea? I have zero flexibility so am finding the yoga hard but we will get there.

Has anyone else substituted the kenpo for a run? I thought about doing this due to time constraints.

JOHN

Good job on making the pull ups work for you.
negative pull ups is what you're describing and yes it is effective, you could also use the chair on your way up and come down slowly.

if you're not feeling the Kenpo workout, you can indeed substitute it for a cardio, you just have to be intense.

Just completed the Plyometrics and even after a week I can feel the difference. I don't ache like i did last Tuesday (after the chest and back workout) which is another good thing.I have no doubt in my mind that I am gonna complete this thing.

Me too! My wife and I were actually surprised this morning at how much of difference we felt after only a week.

Week 2, Day 4 - Yoga

I've been real faithful in getting up nice and early to pound out my workouts starting at 4:30am, but today was rough and yoga didn't help. Other workouts get me awake and all pumped and into it about 5 minutes into the routine, but today was tough. I had no interest in yoga. I pushed through it and did as much as I could for about an hour, then just let it go.

Any thoughts on substituting yoga for something else? Maybe doing the cardio x in its place? I feel like I need more action and variety - this just had me very bored today. Wasn't so bad last week, but maybe because I was tired today or because the moves aren't so new to me anymore?

Thoughts on this?

jon--what time do you do your workouts on Saturdays? If yoga in the early morning doesn't work for you, maybe you could swap it with Kenpo X, and do the yoga a little later in the day on Saturday. But if yoga is a no-go regardless of time of day, Cardio X is probably the next best thing. It still has a good amount of yoga in it, but mixes it up with other stuff that should help keep your attention during those early mornings.

And actually, yoga has proven a bit problematic for me and my fiance as well. We've been doing 9pm workouts, but with our schedule it's a bit rough to do an hour and a half workout on weeknights and get to sleep at a reasonable time. Add in the fact that she was out of town for most of our first week, and this week (week 2) she hasn't quite gotten back into it.

So we're actually going to be starting over with Day 1 Week 1, starting today. Part of the reason is so that now Yoga will be on Sunday, which will be a lot easier to schedule in. It will also reduce the number of Ab Rippers we do on weeknights, which also make the workouts longer. Right after the workout is really the only time we would ever be able to do abs.

I must add though that a big part of the reason for the change is that now, with our Rest Day on Wednesday, my fiance will be able to watch the couples episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" lol

I did the yoga today and was not looking forward to it but I actually enjoyed it. I certainly did more than I did last week and feel stronger.