Round 6: Day 27: Yoga

Feeling energetic and enthusiastic, I decided to go for a run last night. About halfway through the run, I felt my left calf tweak a bit. I stopped immediately, stretched out, and walked home. At present, I have a minor calf strain, which should work its way out in a few days. In the meantime, I'm trying to walk normally, keep my leg iced, and am stretching it out, trying to maintain a full range of motion. What annoys me is that I did my pre-run stretching and was feeling fantastic up to the point of the tweak. There was no warning sign at all. On the other hand, if I weren't in the kind of shape I'm in, perhaps I would have suffered more. There's got to be a bright side to all of this.

Because of the tweak, I was looking forward to yoga today. I don't usually focus on a specific body part, but today, Downward Dog (especially with the right leg raised in the air) was a huge priority. I could feel the stretch in my calf, never really experienced any pain (just minor discomfort) and was able to make it through the entire workout. I took every opportunity to work on my calf, and by the time the workout ended, I felt like I had a full body massage and was walking with much more ease. To top things off, I went for a walk at lunchtime, to continue stretching and working the affected muscle.

It's a bit of a disappointing end to Recovery Week, but I believe that I'll be OK for Insanity next week, with a couple of days' rest. I'll still be hitting 30-15 hard on Sunday, but pushups don't involve the legs too much, other than for stability, so that workout should be fine.

End of Week 4. Bring on Week 5.

Namaste.

Round 6: Day 26: Insanity: Core Cardio and Balance

I experienced something wacky today: my heart rate monitor went slightly nuts, registering a heart rate far higher than I've ever experienced before, and this, during a workout which is supposed to be much less intense than a standard Insanity workout. Either something's off with my body, or my chest strap battery is becoming suspect. I'll bet it's the latter.

The workout, while scheduled for Recovery Week, is still rather intense. I did sweat bullets (hopefully due to effort, and not outside temperature) and I did suffer during a couple portions of the workout: the hip flexor moves and the shoulder burnouts. There were a couple of moments during the shoulder burnouts that I had to let my arms fall to my sides for a few seconds before gathering up energy to carry on. It's strange to me that something simple, like the arm exercises during the burnout section, are capable of really causing serious shoulder fatigue, whereas during Diamond Delts, I can keep going, like the Energizer Bunny. It goes to show you that if you're working a body part intensively, all you need is that body part, gravity and time. Eventually, if you go long enough and do enough reps, you'll burn out. It's like pushups or pullups: how many can you do? It's only gravity and you. Eventually, gravity wins, because it (thankfully) never quits.

Yoga tomorrow. I can still use more stretching in my hamstrings and hip flexors. Bring It.

Round 6: Day 25: X Stretch

These west coast baseball games kill me. Being an ardent fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, I can't help tuning in to all their games and, since I almost never get to see some clubs play (Colorado, San Diego), I'll stay up late watching and hoping to see the boys play some good ball and hopefully prevail. The downside to this is that I don't get sufficient sleep which, of course, results in my feeling groggy the next day.

So, am I ever glad that this is Recovery Week and that today was X Stretch, a nice, relaxing 60-minute routine which doesn't cause me to break a sweat, raise my heart rate or breathe too hard. I skip the Shoulder Stand to Plough move, as I don't feel that this workout sufficiently limbers me up, and I've experienced a little bit of lower back pain when I previously did this move, so I try to be smart and stay away from what may cause injury. There are a number of exercises which I don't particularly care for (Dreya forearm stretch, for one) but I turn off my mind and do them anyway.

I may have mentioned this before, but I can't stand the music during this workout. I'm a big fan of organ music, but personally, I prefer The Doors to this P90X soundtrack. I'll check to see whether muting the music is an option the next time I do this workout.

I'm experiencing a little bit of tightness in my left hamstring, so I was particularly diligent in the hamstring stretch section of the DVD. I could probably use a massage, or a sauna. Or, I could stretch and do yoga more often. Or all of the above. As Tony says during the introduction, people assume that they're either flexible or they're not. Flexibility can come from practicing stretching. How true.

Round 6: Day 24: Kenpo Cardio Plus

I was walking down the street today and, since it's warm out, most people are wandering about without jackets, so it's an opportunity to see whether people are taking care of their bodies or not. During my stroll, I noticed that there are a ton of smokers hanging out. That's largely due to the restrictive anti-smoking legislation prevalent in Toronto, prohibiting smokers from smoking inside buildings; as a result, they congregate outside, near building entrances, finish their smoke, and head back indoors to work. I noticed some really buff people who smoked, and thought that there is a huge disconnect in the way they treat their bodies: on one hand, they clearly work out; on the other hand, they fill their bodies with crap. I don't really understand that.

End of rant; on to the workout of the day: Kenpo Cardio Plus. I really enjoy this workout, as it serves as a nice cardio break during Recovery Week. I still work up a good sweat (especially working out in my non-air-conditioned house during the early days of summer) but I find that my heart rate never really becomes that elevated. Nevertheless, I did manage to burn off a decent amount of calories, which, I guess, occurred when my body was in the aerobic zone (burning fat). I can't believe how quickly this workout goes by. It seems as if I just start, when all of a sudden, it's over. I must be having fun.

I usually have some physical difficulty with side kicks. My body just doesn't really want to accommodate that motion, no matter how deep I lunge during the warmup. I'm very conscious of some limitation in my hip flexor movement and try to take the Warrior 1 and Crescent Pose positions very deep to open up my hips as much as possible. Effort notwithstanding, I still can't kick that high, nor can I match the speed of the kicks on the DVD. I usually fall behind a few kicks by the time Traci and Mark have completed their round. Either age is creeping up on me, or there's some improvement to be made in form.

The most enjoyable move today was the High Block Burnout, at the end of the workout. By then, I was sweating buckets, and I love doing crunches while standing up. The exercise moves very quickly, and it's a good one, combining core, shoulders and cardio all into one nice move. Well designed.

I'm looking forward to a good stretch tomorrow.

Round 6: Day 23: Interval X Plus

Remind me to read the label on this workout one day. I can never remember whether it's "Interval Plus" or "Interval X Plus", but no matter. It's the interval routine that's included as part of the P90X+ series and, once my nemesis, is now like a tame puppy. Well, perhaps more like a slightly disobedient pet, but you get the idea.

When I first did this routine, about a year ago, it just about killed me. I went through Round 3 without conquering it, and was incapable of completing the workout without having to pause the DVD. That pattern continued until last Round, when, for the first time ever, I was able to work my way through the entire routine, largely thanks to having incorporated the Insanity workouts into the Round. Now, this workout seems perfectly suited for Recovery Week, where it feels like a nice break from Insanity.

I'm now able to cruise through this workout. Even though I'm pushing myself hard and do work up a good sweat, my heart rate never seems to jump off the charts, and I never find myself huffing and puffing, trying to recover. It's just a nice, fairly even pace through both rounds. I try to tax myself (in a good way) and try to elevate my heart rate, but I never seem to come close to what the DVD participants are reaching. That may be a result of my improved cardio-vascular system from the Insanity workouts, or my age, or the quality of my heart rate monitor, or perhaps I'm not Bringing It as much as I think I am, or some combination thereof. At any rate, I did sweat, and I did shed a decent, although not spectacular, number of calories, and I did feel nicely warmed up following the completion of the workout, and I did feel alive, awake, and alert, ready to start my day. I also rode my bicycle into the office following the workout, so there was still ample energy in my legs to get me to my destination.

But I guess that's what Recovery Week is all about. Ease off a bit, relax, enjoy, take a few deep breaths, and let your body mend itself.

I'm looking forward to Kenpo tomorrow, though, for a change of pace.

Round 6: Day 22: Yoga

I played a little tennis with my son following my bike ride home on Friday afternoon. He's in good shape, taking daily phys. ed. classes at school. I, on the other hand, am now struggling to keep up with him. He's fast, but I'm wily. On the other hand, my unforced errors are my downfall. The good news is that I'm getting to the ball; the bad news is I'm failing to put him away. Competitive? You betcha. He's better than I am, so I play to win. It helps keep him sharp and competitive as well.

And so, a day of rest followed the tennis match (which I lost), then a morning of yoga, commencing day 22 and Week 4, Recovery Week.

Tennis made my body a little stiff, noticeable when I tried to bend over, look at my kneecaps and lay my palms flat on the floor. I could barely scrape the top of my mat with my fingertips on the first attempt. A little depressing, but clearly a strong indicator that yoga was required. The subsequent attempts were more successful, also a sign that yoga works for me. By the end of the workout, my nose was on my kneecaps, I was sweating like a pig (you don't want to see my mat following a workout) and I was loose and flexible in all the right places. I can't say enough about how yoga has helped with my physical and mental prowess, and I consider it to be an indispensable element of my workout regimen.

Namaste.