P90X: Day17: Shoulders and Arms

I had a setback today. I was so tired when I woke up that I couldn't work out. I was also wiped at work, and after dragging myself home and eating supper, I went to sleep at 8:30. I wasn't sick, just completely without energy. I think I should review my nutrition and my sleep cycle.

P90X: Day 10: Shoulders and Arms

Like the last few workouts, today saw some incremental improvements over last week's workout. One of the most important aspects of this program, and any personal exercise program, is to write down results. If you don't, you'll only be guessing about what you did and what you should be doing. Not only do I check my previous efforts, I also make notes to myself about the future. Lift more! Watch form! Information is a valuable key to success.

Today, I lifted heavier on some exercises. I'm still a bit tentative on Crouching Cohen Curls for some reason (probably because I don't really like them) but I made a note to lift heavier next time.

I'm starting to get back into the rhythm of this program. I like the demands it makes of me, I like the discipline required to stick with it, and I like the energy I'm starting to feel. It's all good.

P90X: Day 3: Shoulders and Arms

A big difference between my homemade workouts and P90X is timing. I tend to take much longer breaks between sets than what is offered on the P90X DVDs. This makes a resistance workout more like a cardio workout, when rest time between sets is reduced. That's a big benefit of the program.

I'm starting to develop a better attitude towards working out. I'm more intense when I follow along with Tony and the kids. Sure, I'm still working out alone, but I get more competitive with myself when I watch the DVD, and I don't want to pause to take a break. If Daniel Haas can do it, so can I.

I'm starting to feel the familiar aches resulting from the effort necessary to do these workouts, and realize the genius behind the program design, when yoga is scheduled for mid-week. It's definitely necessary to stretch out my body after all the lifting, pushing, pulling and jumping of the past few days. I'm in decent shape, but could always benefit from stretching.

Round 6: Day 40: Shoulders and Arms

It took a long time to get moving this morning. I awoke at the customary 6:15AM (even though it's Canada Day, fitness doesn't take a holiday) and lounged around for almost an hour before getting in the proper frame of mind to exercise. It seems that my mind wanted to take a day off, and needed convincing. It just goes to show you that much of exercising is dealing successfully with the mental aspect. Once you've gained the ability to control your mind, the rest just seems to flow.

Once I got my mind straightened out, the workout moved really quickly. I needed to pause the DVD a couple of times just to adjust the weight of my dumbbells. I noticed that just prior to several exercises, there's an edit in the tape, because at times, Joe is writing something down, or looking for his weights, when all of a sudden he' s standing up ready to do the exercise. I think there's a bit of judicious editing here and there to keep the workout under the mental barrier of 60 minutes. Working out for longer than 60 minutes seems to be too much; less than 60 minutes seems manageable. These BeachBody people really know what they're doing.

I was able to increase the weight on a couple of exercises but, on others, I decreased my weight for the second round. I just found that on some exercises, I really struggled with what I was lifting, so eased up a bit when I had the opportunity. I don't want to sacrifice form for numbers. Also, strangely enough, the tip of the day (don't forget to breathe) really came in handy today. I actually found myself holding my breath a couple of times when I was struggling to get the weights up (shoulder flys, bicep curls). Breathing helped me not only maintain my lifting rhythm, but also seemed to increase my strength.

I'm going to keep up with my workout schedule, but I'll be taking to the road over the next few days, so I won't be posting daily. I'll be bringing resistance bands and power stands with me, as well as a yoga mat and my case of DVDs, so even though I'll be away from home, I'm planning on being a workout road warrior. I'll try to summarize what I did upon my return.

Bring It!

Round 6: Day 12: Shoulders and Arms

Some days you crush the workout; some days the workout crushes you. I got beaten up today by this workout. Not completely humiliated, just humbled a bit. It seems that I'm still playing a bit of catch-up in the numbers department, as I wasn't able to quite match the numbers I put up the last time I did this workout, in the third week of April. It wasn't for lack of willpower or lack of trying. I was busting my gut on each exercise. My arms are still sore as I write this, and I'm sure that there'll be more pain tomorrow.

Having griped about that, I must say that the workout was terrific. I was able to increase my weight on a couple of exercises. On others, I felt like I was really struggling with the weight the first time through, so at the second opportunity, I decreased my weight, but increased my reps. It was a little disappointing having to do that, but I was concerned about not only preventing injury, but also ensuring that I derived benefit from the exercise. I'd rather do 12 reps at a lighter weight, than squeeze out 6 at a heavier weight. The discrepancy between the number of reps was just too great to justify using a heavier weight today. Hopefully, next time I'll be up to handling the heavier weight. That's the funny thing about working out: you just have to take it day to day. It's all based on how you feel at the time.

On the other hand, I'm looking forward to giving my arms and shoulders a break, and getting back to cardio tomorrow.

Round 5: Day 75: Shoulders and Arms

I've made a subtle adjustment to my nutrition by eating non-fat, non-sweetened, plain probiotic yogurt for breakfast instead of millet cereal in soy milk. That cuts down a little bit on my soy consumption and eliminates some grain from my diet. I've read The Primal Blueprint and have been somewhat convinced by its arguments, so cutting down on grains is a goal I'm working on. It's been difficult to do that, as my wife prepares our meals and she can't really get her head around eliminating grains. Also, the kids can be picky eaters, and it's tough to convince them to eat something other than those soothing carbohydrates. As always, I seem to be the poster boy for alternative nutrition in our family. I'll try to lead by quietly setting an example.

I'm really pushing myself now that the end of this Round is in sight. I try to spend a few minutes studying the workout sheet prior to each workout, to examine what I've done in the past, to consider what the day's objectives are, and to establish goals for the workout. Do I want to match what I've done in the past? Should I increase the weight? Looking over the sheet is a good way to see trends in your workouts. Have things been flat for a number of weeks? Is it time to push yourself harder? Today's review led me to believe that I could be doing heavier weights, so I set that as an objective and specifically targeted several exercises where I felt improvements should be attempted. I say "attempted" because I don't know whether I'll achieve success. Attempting is the key. If you attempt, but struggle and fail, you'll eventually succeed, because ultimately, success lies in the struggle.

Also, I'm of the opinion that your mind causes more failure than your body. Get your mind right, and your body will usually obey. Today's workout demonstrated all of the above. I set out to exceed what I had done in previous workouts, I got myself into a good frame of mind, and I pushed myself like crazy. The last three reps were extremely tough, but mostly, I succeeded in improving. The result was really satisfying, and I now know that I can bring this workout to yet another level. It will take a few more workouts before I hit 10-12 reps again, but it's nice to know that it's still possible to break through a plateau and keep challenging myself. Now, if I can only bring the same mindset to Insanity.

Round 5: Day 61: Shoulders and Arms

I've been doing this workout for almost a year and a half, and it still feels fresh and enjoyable. As with the other P90X workouts, it is progressive, in the sense that one can always increase weight or repetitions or both, thus maintaining the challenge in the workout. My approach has been to keep moving the goalposts: when I'm consistently lifting the same weight for several workouts, try increasing the weight. Alternatively, if I find I'm capable of achieving 12 repetitions for a few workouts, I'll increase the weight and decrease the repetitions to between 8 and 10. I believe that this approach encourages muscle confusion and helps to avoid plateaus.

Today's workout saw some modest gains in both repetitions and in weight increases. Also, I've been noticing that my left arm and shoulder are keeping up with my right side. That is a nice improvement in just nine weeks. Also, further to the opening paragraph, I've noticed that my numbers in this workout have been relatively static for the past few workouts, so I've made some notes to increase weights or repetitions. I felt stronger today than usual during this workout, perhaps due to the increase in resistance training this Round. Perhaps that's due to the Just Arms and Diamond Delts routines paying dividends in this workout. At any rate, it seems to me that my shoulders and deltoids have slightly increased in size. I wouldn't say that I'm about to race out and purchase some tank tops, but I am please with my modest gains.

Also, my weight is a bit down, and I think my waist size is decreasing a bit, although I haven't taken measurements in a long time. I'm wearing size 31 pants today, which would have been unheard of a year ago. My BMI says I'm overweight(!), but as I've added muscle and lost fat, I really don't pay any attention to BMI. I'll take the loose clothing test over BMI any day.

Round 5: Day 40: Shoulders and Arms

This is one of those workouts which will reveal your weaknesses and, unfortunately, mine is still my left arm and left shoulder. I'm seeing some improvement in both those areas, as I'm starting to manage both arms repeating the same numbers of reps with the same weight; however, as I reach my last rep, my left arm is completely toast, whilst my right arm might be capable of squeezing out one or two more reps. The gap is definitely narrowing, which is a positive sign.

I had little spare time this morning, so I blasted through the workout non-stop, with a couple of exceptions when I fell behind due to changing my weights. As a result, I'm feeling slightly more fatigued than I'm used to with this routine. I don't think I've gone non-stop in quite some time, the last time being when I was using resistance bands, so the pace of the workout increased its intensity somewhat. I wouldn't say that it's a calorie-burner as Tony suggests in the preamble, but it does move rather briskly.

This is still an enjoyable workout. I've been appreciating the difference between this workout, which is circuit training, and other workouts which run straight through a series of exercises. It's nice to run through three exercises, to gauge my effort, success and failure, and then immediately have another opportunity to improve.

During the past two weeks, I've been challenged by doing three resistance workouts each week instead of two, and I think that, even though it's been a short period of time, it's been a positive change to the workout schedule. Having said that, though, I'm really looking forward to yoga tomorrow. I could use a good stretch.

Round 5: Day 3: Shoulders & Arms

Day 3, and I'm already not feeling well. This is due to a really poor sleep I had last night: tossing and turning all night, with nasal congestion thrown in on top. When I woke up this morning, I had congestion coupled with a scratchy throat. Do I listen to my body? No way. I gamely put on my shorts and T-shirt and head down for a brutal Shoulders & Arms workout. I was thinking about this workout for much of the day yesterday, and was really excited about attacking it with vigour and a huge amount of intensity. I was so disappointed to have woken up today feeling poorly, which more than likely meant that I would try to survive the workout, rather than crush it.

In spite of less-than-perfect health, I did approach the workout as intensely as I could. Although it's not always recommended to focus on numbers, I tend to do that during my workouts, as the only way I have to measure progress is to compare the current workout with the previous one. Numbers are my primary source of information for that comparison. I'm not making too many notes about how I felt; occasionally I make notes about form; typically it's just a weight and a repetition note. I'm very competitive with myself. I like to see progress. This means matching last workout's number at a minimum, and hopefully, improving on that number. To that end, I lifted weights in earnest. On one exercise, Deep Swimmer's Press, I felt a slight neck tweak during the repeat round. Nothing major, just some slight discomfort. I'm looking forward to yoga to straighten that out and soothe my muscles.

In general, the workout went rather well, in spite of my health. I managed to equal my numbers of Round 4 and, in some cases, make modest improvements. I don't know what's in store for me tomorrow, but today I'm taking precautions to boost my immune system and I'm planning on plenty of rest and sleep tonight in the hope that tomorrow, all will be back to normal. We'll see, and hope.

Round 4: Day 80: Shoulders and Arms

Day 80. The end of this Round is in sight, which is sufficient incentive to keep going to completion. I was mildly concerned yesterday that I was coming down with a cold, having experienced some congestion and sneezing, coupled with my entire family being under the weather with colds and stomach flu. I prescribed myself extra rest last night, and awoke this morning feeling energized and refreshed, and ready to take on Shoulders and Arms.

I love this workout, especially using dumbbells. Briefly surveying my numbers from the last time (you see, it really does pay to write everything down! Information is knowledge, knowledge leads to better results) I decided to modify my strategy and pursue heavier weights, rather than increased repetitions. I made a note that on any exercise where I exceeded 10 reps, I would increase the weight. My objective was to achieve 8-10 reps on all weightlifting exercises, and try to sustain that each time the exercise was repeated. This resulted in an increase in weight on virtually every exercise. Sometimes, the weight felt a bit too heavy towards the end of the exercise (straight arm shoulder flys) and I lightened my load during the repeat of that exercise in order to ensure that I could complete the requisite number of repetitions.

The result was that I had an arm and shoulder burn like never before, and my body was really pumped up. I'll pursue this strategy again in the future, and look for further opportunities to increase my weight.

Round 4: Day 47: Shoulders and Arms

What a fantastic workout this is. I had forgotten how much I enjoy this because I believe I've only done it once this Round and will only see it again one more time before the Round is over. I enjoyed it so much, that I'm seriously considering revamping the workout schedule to make sure that it gets included more frequently.

The difference: free weights. I've only ever done this workout using resistance bands. The resistance bands were great, and I not only got a good burn and satisfactory results, but it's really a different ballgame using dumbbells. Again, my weaknesses were illuminated, specifically, my left arm and left shoulder. I started out a bit in the dark, unsure of what weight I should be selecting. The design of this workout (3 exercises; repeat; 3 more exercises; repeat, and so on) was good, because I could estimate a weight to use for a particular exercise, then try it, evaluate, and adjust the weight upwards or downwards for the repeat exercise. Basically, there was a process of information gathering to be done, because I had never used dumbbells for this workout before.

When using resistance bands, I typically used a fairly heavy band for each exercise, and attempted to maximize the number of repetitions. That usually placed me in the 12-15 range, or sometimes even higher, for repetitions. Today, I took a different tack: increase the weights, and keep the repetitions in the 8-12 range. If I felt that I was capable of doing more repetitions, I increased the weight for the repeat exercise, and wrote in the appropriate number in the adjacent column to remind me that, next time, I should start out with a higher weight level.

It was an interesting experience to see the difference between dumbbells and resistance bands. It was really satisfying hearing the light clanging of the dumbbell plates as I hoisted them over my head or curled them up to my face. OK, I felt like a minor bad-ass. But hey, I'm 49, and in the best shape of my life. I'm entitled to a little enjoyment after all this hard work. I'm really worn out now and can still feel the unbelievable pump I got from the workout. It's really exciting to know that I've just opened the door to further improvements. Today's workout completely justified my purchasing the adjustable dumbbells. Now, let's see what this old body is capable of.

Round 4: Day 3: Shoulders and Arms

Resistance is not futile. That's what's been missing from the P90X+ workouts. There's certainly some resistance training in both Upper Plus and Total Body Plus, but not like the pounding your shoulders, triceps and biceps get from the 1-hour long Shoulders and Arms P90X workout. Similar to Sunday, when this workout was over, I could barely lift my arms to wash my face.

When I work up this morning, I was still sore from Sunday's workout. My shoulders and arms were still stiff and pained, and I was still experiencing abdominal pain (muscular, not food or disease related) from the appropriately-named Killer Abs routine.

I liked returning to this workout and enjoyed the good, old-fashioned, push and pull exercises. Nothing too fancy, everything is pretty basic. I noticed some areas of improvement, using my final Round 2 numbers as benchmarks. Upper Plus has improved some of my shoulder strength, as straight arm flies were no problem. I increased the intensity of the curls by standing on the resistance bands with two feet (instead of one, as demonstrated by Daniel Haas). I used the blue band for the curls instead of the black band, as the black band handles are starting to chip and deteriorate, and, using 2 feet on the band, I slowed down the exercises, focussed on form, maintained my elbows in a static position, and tried to achieve an isometric hold at the top of the movement when the band is at its point of greatest resistance. This approach led to a nice burn, especially during the repeat round. Now, I just have to work out some of the kinks in my neck.

Later: Abs

P90X+: Round 3: Day 52: Shoulders & Arms / Ab Ripper

Oooh, it was tough waking up today. I was up around 5:30AM, concerned that I had to complete my workout early, shower, and attend an early morning meeting out of town. There's motivation for you.

I haven't done this workout in months, and was really looking forward to it. Similar to Chest and Back (earlier this week), I was slightly nervous that I would have difficulty with the workout, as I hadn't done it recently. Again, there weren't any serious problems. I never had to pause the disc, and I enjoyed the extra time Tony gives you to write down your results. I used the Round 2 numbers as a benchmark, and managed to match all of them. I increased the difficulty level in the curls by standing on the resistance band with both feet, rather than on one foot, as Daniel Haas demonstrates. That puts added tension into the band by stretching it out farther, before the curling action starts. That's something I remembered Tim doing in the Back and Biceps workout.

Tonight, I'm really going to try to get to Ab Ripper X.

P90X: Round 2: Day 73: Shoulders and Arms / Ab Ripper X

Shoulders and Arms

Reset day 73, Shoulders and Arms. I felt really relaxed today, because I only used my worksheet as a reference, as I had already completed it last week. It's much less stressful when you don't fill out the worksheet (I know, how do you know how you did if you don't write it down?). There's a little extra time between exercises to prepare for the next exercise, and overall, I find the flow of the workout is smoother.

But without the pressure to improve numerically, there's the opportunity to really focus on form, and that's what happened today. I'd have to say that this was a really satisfying workout. I'll learn from this experience to relax a bit more and stop dogmatically focussing on numbers.

This brings me back to where I was interrupted last week in the workout schedule. Starting this afternoon with ARX, I'll be logging my information on the worksheets again, and completing Week 11.

Ab Ripper X

I got down to ARX immediately upon returning home from work. All's well, I'm happy to say. I really focussed on tightening my abs during leg climbs. Also, extra intensity on VF rollups. I thought that perhaps my form had been sagging on that exercise, hence the extra attention to it. Turns out that my form had been pretty good all along. It never hurts, however, to double check yourself every now and then. Familiarity with the program can lead to errors. It's always a good idea to glance over at the TV occasionally to make sure that everything is where it should be. I certainly don't want to court an injury.

Favourite move today: leg climbs.

Toughest move today: backward bicycles.

Tony line of the day: "Heh, heh, heh. They're working hard...I know you are!"

P90X: Round 2: Day 73: Shoulders and Arms

I feel like I've sustained a minor injury: my left ankle is a bit tender when I walk. I can't specifically recall injuring it. Thinking back to Plyo yesterday, I don't recall turning an ankle during any of the exercises, and I felt no pain following the workout. It was only last night when I was walking around after dinner that I felt a bit of pain. My intention is to keep up with the workouts and monitor the situation. If some Yoga poses become painful, I'll modify. If some leg exercises are too difficult, I'll modify. It may be that I end up taking a few days off to recover, and then repeat this week. We'll see.

Shoulders and Arms is an interesting workout. It tends to focus on my weak spot: shoulders. The exercises cycle between shoulders, biceps and triceps. Looking at the worksheet, it appears that shoulders are the body part which give me the most difficulty. My right shoulder probably has an old rotator cuff injury: it sort of pops out with a double clicking sound (no pain involved, just an unpleasant sound). My left shoulder seems fine. Oddly, my right shoulder seems to be slightly stronger than my left. On some of the exercises, I can push out a couple more reps with the right side. I'm striving for symmetry.

The exercises went well. Conscious of the fact that this would (hopefully) be my last day for this workout, I increased my resistance band level whenever possible and/or increased the number of reps. I was successful in this endeavour in most of the exercises.

Favourite move today: side-tri-rises. I always feel strong in this exercise and pushed out 30 each side, each time.

Toughest move today: deep swimmer's presses. I actually did fewer reps this week than last time. Perhaps increasing the alternating shoulder presses drained some energy from me when it came time for this exercise.

Tony line of the day: "What's the tip of the day? (holds his breath) I forgot!"

Later: Ab Ripper X

P90X: Round 2: Day 59: Shoulders and Arms

I really enjoy the workout schedule this week. I find the Chest and Back / Shoulders and Arms workouts to be more enjoyable than the Phase 2 substitutes. I'm not sure whether it's because these are less challenging, or that they give me more satisfying results. I suppose that it's natural that people will gravitate to the workouts that they find easier and tend to dislike those that they find harder. Human nature.

Like Chest and Back earlier this week, I was able to push up the numbers and/or the resistance level on many exercises today, and was pretty much able to match those numbers during the repeat exercises. I had a certain intensity during the repeat exercises; after all, this is Phase 3, and there's not much opportunity to revisit these workouts again (I'm planning to do P90X+ for the next Round, so I won't see these workouts again for some time). I don't want to leave these workouts feeling that I could have done more, so I was motivated to leave it all out on the floor today.

The workout went well and I collapsed at the end after the last round of side-tri-rises, unable to do more. That felt really good. Even the cool-down was tough. I found it hard to raise my hands over my head to stretch out my shoulders. Then I knew it had been a good workout.

Favourite move today: side-tri-rises. 30 each side, both times.

Toughest move today: Lying-down tricep extensions. This would be an easier move for me if it came earlier in the workout, but as it comes near the end, my triceps are pretty toasty by the time I get to them. I squeeze out a bunch during the first round, then barely try to keep up during the 2nd. Triceps on fire, here.

Tony line of the day: "We all want to be Daniel Haases." (warmup)

Later: Ab Ripper X

P90X Round 2, Day 17: Shoulders and Arms

This is a tough workout. For the last few weeks, I've been trying to improve over the numbers posted in P90X Round 1. Recently, I've tried changing resistance bands (increasing the tension), which resulted in fewer repetitions but more intensity, especially during the last few moves of each exercise. Today, I stuck with that approach, but my numbers seemed to hold steady from last week, only improving in a few exercises. It's almost as though I've hit a bit of a wall on this workout, as though my body is incapable of doing more.

There will be good days and there will be bad days. "Do your best and forget the rest". That was my motto today. Not to say that the workout was bad; I'm just competitive with myself to see some improvement week after week. Sometimes that's in very small increments, say, even a couple of reps more than last week. Today, that was difficult to achieve.

Favourite move today: side tri rises: 27 each side, both rounds. I love this exercise. At the end, all I can do is collapse on the floor.

Hardest move today: flip-grip twist tricep kickbacks. I find this very tough using the bands. When the bands get to maximum extension, it's really difficult to maintain an isometric hold with arms fully extended. I increased the difficulty by making a loop in the band on the floor and stepping on the loop. I must be crazy.

Tony line of the day: "Use the weight of your head. Mine weighs 600 lbs. Ain't a damn thing inside." (warm-up)

Later today: Ab Ripper X

P90X Round 2, Day 10: Shoulders and Arms

First off, apologies to everyone who works out early. When I said that I work out early, that meant that I'm at it by 6:15 or 6:30AM. Having visited the P90X Facebook site, I find myself humbled by those who REALLY work out early: at 4:30AM. I'm starting to feel like a slacker.

Shoulders and Arms was terrific today. I decided to make the workout more difficult by changing resistance bands for every exercise. Repetitions decreased, although sometimes by only 1 or 2, and I really felt challenged on the last 3 reps of each exercise. Now, I'll challenge myself next time around to increase the reps using the stiffer bands.

Favourite moves today: chair dips (25 each time, using 2 chairs, but no leg raise); side-tri-rises (25 each side, both times).

Hardest move today: Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks. I find it difficult to maintain form on this exercise, keeping the elbows in one location and really isolating the triceps. It's also a particularly difficult move using bands, I find. The tension on the band when my arms are outstretched is significant and it's hard to maintain a few seconds of isometric hold at maximum extension.

Favourite Tony line: (during Lying-down Tricep Extensions) Tip of the Day: Don't smash your face!

Later: Ab Ripper X

P90X Round 2, Day 3: Shoulders & Arms

Doing this exercise at 6:00AM is not easy. I even found the warmup to be tiring, but eventually got in the mood. I really like most of these exercises and didn't have too much difficulty matching my results from a few weeks ago. I even increased the resistance level on a few.

This is one of the workouts where I feel that it would be more beneficial to be using free weights rather than resistance bands. On some of the exercises, such as In & Out Bicep Curls, the black plastic component which restrains the end of the resistance band bangs against my wrist, creating some discomfort. The exercise is tough enough without having to endure some additional pain due to equipment design.

Favourite exercise today: Side Tri-Rises. I was able to do 22 per side on the first round, 25 per side on the second. My shoulders and triceps felt really great today.

Most difficult: Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks. The triceps weren't the only thing getting kicked today. I used a red band and had a lot of difficulty keeping my elbows high and steady while my arms rotated back. I also found Lying Down Tricep Extensions a bit tough. My form was off on the last few extensions, which resulted in more of a shoulder press than a tricep extension. I'll have to concentrate on form a bit more.

Later today: Ab Ripper X