Day 4 part 1

Ok, I know this is yoga day but I woke up this morning and thought... I wanna do yoga before I go to bed... then I thought.. Well what am I gunna do with the 3 hours I have before work... *light bulb over head* CARDIO X!! So I threw that baby in.

Familiar warm up at start then it went into a mini yoga rutine so I had somthing to look forward too. Then the mini Kempo section, I'll have to say this was a cake walk for me sadly, I went for years 3 times a week doing these exact combinations, but I made me a little happy to know that I could do it all better and faster than Tony while keeping good form. Then the mini Plyo section got my sweat going but I still didn't feel like it was doing its job... then came... wacky jacks... and OMG we got half way through that and I was sweating like a pig and breathing heavy lol. Good stuff. I'll be back this evening with Yoga updates.

Day 4 part 2

Yoga. I'm going to have to say that was the sweatiest work out I've had by far. I've watched yoga in yoga gyms, and I've watched it at main steam gyms. What ever Yoga X is, it's sure in the hell not what I'm used to seeing but man I love it. And you guys are right, Crane stance is hard. I found myself doing like 20 summersalts by the time it got to the end of that section. And I'll have to thank martial arts for my balance and flexibilty. Hats off you all you middle age guys doing this stuff you guys are extreme! (Insert explosions and fire works here followed by a big mega concert with the rock band of your choice)

*** <--Explosions
...<--guys playing music from really far away

Hey Guys! Day 5 done!

Today was legs and back – WOW, all those pull-ups (I have to use a chair) and my legs are still singing!

Tomorrow morning is Kenpo and then we leave for Disney over the weekend. Luckily Saturday is my rest/stretch day and then we’ll be home late Sunday evening, when my plan is to start on week 2!!!

So, I’ll probably be MIA until Sunday or Monday, keep up the great work everyone.

Have fun in Disney land! Err your in Florida.. so I guess world? either way.

Day 5 back and legs

Ok I still suck at pull ups but I have get 1 more per set compared to day 1. so instead of 2 each set its like 3 and the sets after where I could only do one it was 2. I ended up finishing with bands again and I made sure I pretty much burnt out each time this time around. walked back as far as I could but still barly be able to pull them in to do a mock pull up. Hurts... But for the leg exercises I only dwindled on the endurnce types, like wall squats and one legged wall squats. Heh I wasn't squating 400lbs at the gym for no reason was I? I need heavy dumb bells for calve raises. I had a 50 in each arm and kept up. I felt it but it didn't have that P90X burn/pain I felt with all the other work outs except for the part where my forearms started screaming from holding on so long.. Think I'll throw on my weight vest next time I do legs to increase the intensity cept for the really deep lunges. Either way though this was still one of the best overall leg work outs I've had in a while.

I ran out of time this morning and had to do ab ripper after work instead of right after legs and back. So I was kinda cold going into it but it kicked my butt again. Though I do feel like it was a little easier and kept up at least to half was through all the moves except heels to the sky. I need yoga pants...

Day 6 Kempo X!

I'm going to have to say this was pretty fun. I love martial arts and my muscles have been scuplted around these kinda moves. I had to improvise a bit with deeper stances and higher kicks and keeping my hands chambered at cheat level flexing at all times.

If you wanna make the kempo more practical in real life here is a few tips on delivering smoother and more powerful strikes:

with the ball/front kicks throw the kick with you heel against your butt and throw the kick at the end of the motion then bring your heel back to your butt before you bring your thigh back in.

with all strikes and blocks stay relaxed through the motion till the very end and then flex, throwing stiff punches is bad. Save your energy and strength for the impact.

with blocks twist you forearm into the block at the end when you flex, you'll develop stronger forearms and it will turn all you blocks into strikes. Nothing is worse than throwing a punch and someone throwing a block that throws your shoulder out of place.

Tony uses alot of these techniques in his moves but doesn't explain them hope this helps intensify you Kenpo X experience!

Good pointers - Thanks!

I started Week 3 on Saturday and while the motivation to bring it is still here, the workouts seem to be getting harder. Especially the weight ones. I am getting better at Plyo, Yoga, and Kempo (I have a Judo background), but the 'worksheet' workouts actually seem harder this week. It is odd, because week 1 to week 2, I saw a large increase in the amount of reps and sometimes weight. But not this week.

The good news?? With shoulders and Arms in the books, I only have Legs and Back on Wednesday and then the "recovery" week will be upon me!

Question for the group?? Is this normal to regress in the last week of the phase a bit? I feel great, have lost approx 5 lbs from my start weight, but I probably have put on some muscle weight as well (not tons). Muscle tone is definitely improved some as well.

Thanks for the input all!!

my theory is that you where just learning everything the first week, then on the second week you put in your all cause you where now familiar with the moves, then came the 3rd week and you kicked your butt the 2nd week and didn't recover as well as you did from the 1st week. Just a theory.

Probably some truth to that. I can say that the first week, there was a bit of 'sandbagging' to ensure that I could get through the workout, then the 2nd week, I worked out to my Maximum potential as I knew what to expect.

It is just feeling like I am working out with a bowling ball attached to my ankle when I am doing the weights.

I am looking forward to yoga tomorrow for sure. Not so much on the back/legs on Wed. I think next week will be a good week to recover and gather myself before the weights kick in again.