Round 6 - Week 9

This is a Classic Phase 1 Week

MONDAY - July 26, 2010 - Chest and Back
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By far, my least favorite workout. It absolutely kills me every time, and I dread knowing it's coming up in the schedule. I'm just not a pushup guy. I can take bits and pieces of pushups in workouts, but when it's concentrated like Chest and Back, I quiver. The first time I did this workout in May 2008, I think I may have done 30 total pushups. In Round 4, I did 257 total in my last workout of that round doing them off the floor. In Rounds 5 and 6, I've been using the Power Stands, and it makes a big difference. Going deeper makes them a lot harder. Today I did 203 total, which is the most I've done with the Power Stands. I feel I should be doing more, but I'm pushing myself to fatigue on each exercise. I've been doing real pullups in the last two rounds, whereas I used a Total Gym in Round 1, and the bands in Rounds 2-4. I think doing the real pullups are tiring me out a bit more, and I'm sure that's affecting my pushup numbers. Let's see if I can get back up to the 257 while also doing real pullups. I used 40 lb weights on all the back exercises, and did 33 pullups throughout. Again, I think that should be more, but I max-repped all of them. (Burned 573 calories today. Burned 647 in week 3. My heart rate monitor strap kept sliding down today, so I'm wondering if it wasn't getting a real reading the entire time. Not a big thing.)

TUESDAY - July 27, 2010 - Plyometrics
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Was looking forward to doing Plyo today after Chest and Back yesterday. The workout went good. Last week my heart rate was in the 150's a lot, and I noticed today it wasn't as high. I still burned 610 calories, which is about average for my Plyo workouts.

I'm trying to eat a lot better this week, as last week I was feeling really sluggish. At work today was cake, ice cream sandwiches, and pizza that others had brought in to share. They also ordered the delicious Wegman's subs I love, but I passed on all of it. Instead, I ate a chicken taco, and bunch of almonds. Maybe a bit too many almonds, as they made me a little tired, but it's a start back in the right direction.

WEDNESDAY - July 28, 2010 - Shoulders and Arms
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My shoulders are still sore from Monday's Chest and Back. The last time I remember them being that sore two days after the workout was Round 1, Week 1.

I like the Shoulders and Arms workout. It's pretty basic, and I'm starting to realize I might want to start using heavier weights, as I'm at 12 reps on most of the bicep moves with 30 lbs or 25 lbs, depending on the exercise. I'm using 15 lbs pretty easily on most of the tricep moves, except the Lying Down Tricep Extensions where I'm doing 12 reps at 25 lbs. I'm at 28 reps on each side of the Side-Tri-Rises. They struggle with them on the video, but they seem easy to me. (Burned 598 calories - about average for this routine.)

THURSDAY - July 29, 2010 - Yoga X
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"Focus on the present moment!" - Unfortunately, the "present moment" was having my heart rate monitor strap constantly slide down my chest to my stomach whenever I was doing an Upward Dog, then hang down off my body whenever I did a Downward Dog. That was my "focus" for the first thirty five minutes or so. After stopping, and unsuccessfully trying to fix it, I finished the workout. Very fustrating that I can't keep my concentration. I've done Yoga X well over 100 times, and I keep promising myself I'm going to "focus on the present moment" and experience the "ride" Tony talks about, but I keep getting sidetracked. It's something I'm going to keep working on, as I think this can be an amazing and very relaxing experience. I'm strenghtening my body, but now I've got to strengthen up my mind. That part seems to get lost in the shuffle. The vinyasas and poses were very unfocused, but I did hold my Warrior 3, Half-Moon, and balance postures fine, so that's a positive. The monitor said I burned 478 calories, but I'm guessing that's artificially low because of the loose strap. All I can do is learn from this experience, and not fall into the same traps next time.

FRIDAY - July 30, 2010 - Legs and Back
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I handled all the leg routines with no problems, as usual. I even increased the weight on the Calf Raises to 30 lbs. On the pullup side, I only did 77, as compared to the 81 I did two weeks ago. The difference was in the last set of Switch Grips, where I did 17, which was 4 less than last time. I just ran out of gas. I burned 511 calories per the heart rate monitor, but I'm still having problems with the strap, so it might have actually been a bit higher. I usually burn around 550 on this routine.

I'm still eating relatively clean for the week. I had an ice cream sandwich at work on Thursday, but other than that, no junk. I almost caved today and ordered two cheeseburgers from McD's when someone was going there, but one of the girls in the office thankfully talked me out of it.

SATURDAY - July 31, 2010 - Kenpo X
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Not much to say. A pretty average Kenpo workout. I burned 478 calories, which is a bit below average, but it seemed about right.

SUNDAY - August 1, 2010 - Weigh In and Ab Ripper X
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WEIGH IN: Weight = 175.3; Body Fat = 22.4%

Almost a two pound decrease, which is good, because I ate really well this week. Except for a few weak moments, I wasn't even really craving the junk.

AB RIPPER X: Did OK. 407 total moves, 86 were Mason Twists. (Burned 125 calories.)