It's been a while, but I have some time to check in and to finally hold myself accountable for sticking with it
After wrapping up X2 in June, I took about a week off and then jumped back into Insanity for roughly two weeks. My knees started acting up again so I stopped and went to the doctor's. Everything appeared fine but decided to take it easy for a while. With taking it easy and the 4th of July holiday, my diet gradually slipped back into nothingness. Ended up gaining roughly 10 pounds in the following month taking me back up to 205.
Frustrated and uncomfortable and after lurking around in here and reading of everyone's' progress, I got motivated again to get back into the swing of things. So as of July 23rd or so, I have started a P90X/X2/Insanity hybrid. I'm about 3 weeks in and it goes something like this:
- Day 1 - Chest & Back
- Day 2 - Plyometrics (or Pure Cardio)
- Day 3 - Shoulders & Arms
- Day 4 - Pure Cardio (or Plyometrics)
- Day 5 - Back & Legs
- Day 6 or 7 (depending on what's going on during the weekend) - X2 Yoga
- Day 7 or 6 - X2 Recovery & Mobility
So far it's been going great. I've been tracking my caloric intake again (hitting a net around 1800) and increasing my protein intake. I'm still using Optimum 100% Natural Gold Whey (Vanilla) and I'm still making homemade protein bars (my wife has now started having them for breakfast!).
In a more recent post, I mentioned that I built a standing desk, here's the results:
I wanted to keep it simple and I can always take it home and add on to it, but thus far it's been working out great. I have a foot mat and a stool for breaks and it couldn't be better. I sure got a lot of puzzled looks and questions, but everyone really dug it.
Getting back to my routine, I knew that if I wanted to do X routines again, I needed to step up to actual pull-up bars and dumbells. While bands helped me get resistance, I never felt like I got enough pump out of them. So I ended up getting a pull-up tower and a
50LB adjustable dumbbell that has been working out great for the the chest, shoulder and arm exercises. I need to get another dumbbell, as I have had to do one arm at a time, making things more balance orientated.
You may have noticed that I haven't included any Ab routines and that's because I have been supplementing with
this 8-10 minute routine during lunch. I feel a better burn and more engaged doing these moves that I have in Ab Ripper X or X2. 8 moves, 40 times, short breaks. It's a nice. The bad thing is that I've been hooked to it and have been doing it everyday. I know it's not good to do it everyday as you need to let your muscles recover and build, but I've never felt tighter in my abs so it's hard to stop
I'm going to skip it today and do Pure Cardio during my lunch hour.
I'm contemplating what to do for my Phase 2 of this hybrid routine, but I think I'm going to do mainly do X2 Phase 2 workouts with X2 Yoga and Pure Cardio in there to supplement it.
I'm down to 200 thus far, but feel like I have put on a little muscle, more so than I've felt before with doing X2 or X with bands and no pull-up bar.
Everyone's progress and commitment has been really inspirational and motivating, so keep it up!
A year of workouts 6-7 days per week, spending money on 5 workout programs, related equipment and supplements is a pretty huge commitment and I'm not surprised to see a lot of the group fall by the wayside, but it has virtually disintegrated about half-way through, and that is pretty disappointing.
I think the biggest challenge for any type of exercise routine is not diet or doing the exercises, but maintaining the commitment as you go through it and after you are done. Understandably, things happen that require your time and attention and that commitment may end, but the most encouraging thing is to get back in the swing of things and continue when you can. I know it's disappointing to see others lose that commitment, I, as many others are am sure, are guilty of this, but for every person that stops, another starts. There will always be people trying to push through and having P90X-GAF is huge in terms of support, I know it certainly has helped me!
