Round 4: Day 31: Just Arms / Ab Ripper X

Just Arms

I purchased a set of PowerBlocks the other day, and today was the first opportunity I had to use them. This was also the inauguration of the Just Arms DVD from the One on One with Tony Horton series, so I was twice as pumped for this workout.

I don't think that you can really successfully do this workout using resistance bands. It might technically be possible, but you'd have to be pretty creative in positioning the bands for some of the exercises. It really helped to have a set of dumbbells. An adjustable bench would have been a bonus, but I managed to get by without using one. Tony advises that it's possible to use a chair in lieu of a bench, and that's what I did.

The structure of this workout is a little strange. It starts with a series of exercises, all of which are repeated; however, the last 5 exercises are not. I don't know whether this is due to poor time management, or Tony becoming fatigued, bad planning, or a combination of those, but it seemed to me that something was a bit off. At any rate, the focus of the workout is exclusively on the arms: biceps, forearms and triceps. Nothing else is exercised: not chest, shoulders or deltoids. And, it is a fabulous workout.

It's been years since I worked out with weights. I don't think I've done any weightlifting for over 20 years. All of the muscular gains I've achieved over the last year have been achieved using resistance bands and, in limited situations, a pair of 10 lb dumbbells. It was interesting, informative and humbling to use heavier dumbbells today, to see exactly what my body was capable of lifting and to realize that parts of my body aren't as strong as I thought they were (I'm talking to you, left arm!).

Tony starts out with simple curls, using 55 lbs in each hand. That's more than the entire stack of my PowerBlocks. I started with 30 lbs, and found that manageable. Each exercise broke new ground, because I wasn't sure which weight to use, so there was a lot of trial and error going on in weight selection, along with a bit of pausing the DVD to view form and to listen to instruction. Next time, this workout will go faster and smoother. I'd also like to try doubling up on the last 5 exercises so that they match the format of the initial exercises.

It was a reasonably good start today, and I at least managed to establish a benchmark for future workouts and for other workouts where similar exercises are done. I definitely think that dumbbells will make a big difference for me, and I'm really looking forward to incorporating them more fully into my overall fitness routine. I can still feel a bit of soreness in my arms and some overall tiredness. It feels great.

Ab Ripper X

My arms were still sore when I settled in to do ARX after work. I'm not looking forward to seeing what they'll feel like tomorrow, but I'm already thankful in advance that tomorrow is Yoga.

I did ARX in a different setting today. Normally, I work out in my little space in the basement, but upon my return home from the office, my son was occupying my space, and I was advised, in no uncertain terms, that my presence was not wanted. He was in the midst of playing a computer game and, if you know anything about teenage children, did not want to be displaced. So, I grabbed my discs and my mat and headed into another room where, thankfully, we have another DVD player.

It feels a little strange doing a workout in a different place. I had the volume down low, because recently, I've been doing ARX to my iTunes music. I'm just no longer in the mood to hear the chatter during this workout. My wife had the radio volume turned up, so I was reasonably distracted; she was also cooking, so there was an olefactory distraction in addition to an auditory one. And, dinner smelled great.

I had pretty good energy during the workout; nothing posed any particular difficulty for me. I'm getting used to ARX all over again, and enjoying it. Rotating this workout with Killer Abs seems to be just enough to keep things reasonably fresh, for now. I heard that there's a new One on One workout, Butt and Belly, which might be worth investigating as well. For now, I'm going to stick with my ab sandwich: Killer Abs twice a week, with ARX thrown in the middle.

Round 4: Day 30: Cardio Intervals

Yesterday officially kicked off Phase 2 of Round 4, and I had my son take the traditional 30 day photos. These weren't as impressive to me as those taken 30 days ago; perhaps the difference is that the official photographer was standing farther away from his impressive subject, making the subject appear smaller and less developed than in true life. No matter. The next photo shoot will take subject distance into account which will, no doubt, lead to more pleasing results.

I've now done Cardio Intervals three times, and I think you get out of it what you put into it. It's not a bad workout, but it doesn't really kick my butt. It's certainly not Plyometrics nor Intervals X Plus. It's just a decent, fairly light cardio routine. I tried really hard to be extra intense today, but still managed to work up only a mild sweat and never really found myself huffing and puffing. Perhaps I should be pairing this routine with Medicine Ball Core Cardio, to find that little extra burn. On the other hand, I wasn't particularly in the mood for exercising this morning, as it is Monday morning, and my body was asking for a bit of extra sleep. However, as it is the start of Phase 2, I think it's time for a serious program review, and, judging from my posts over the last 30 days, some revisions are in order. This week, I'll make the necessary adjustments and try to push myself a little bit harder and see whether I can obtain some improved results.

Yesterday, I took the plunge and purchased a set of PowerBlocks, model Sport 5.0. They range from 5-50 lbs in 5 lb increments. I've seen them in stores before, but had forgotten how large the full 50 lb set is. They're really rather sizeable. However, per the ads, when I placed the 10 lb stack beside my 10 lb dumbbell, the solid dumbbell was, in fact, larger than the PowerBlock stack. That was impressive. I'm looking forward to using the new dumbbells in the appropriate exercises. There will be a bit of a learning curve, because I'm not sure which weights are the equivalents of the resistance bands I've been using to date, but that will likely occur only once; after that, I'll be using the new weights as a revised benchmark for future reference.

Round 4: Day 29: 30-15 / Killer Abs

30-15

After Recovery Week, I was really looking forward to this workout. I had really enjoyed it the first day of Round 4 and was looking forward to repeating it. But today, it was really tough for me. I increased the number of pull-ups using the black resistance band from 20 to 22, but doubt that doing that had much impact on my ability to do push-ups. The first few rounds of push-ups were fine. By the time I got to the second round of military push-ups, my strength was starting to flag a bit, and I became a bit concerned that this was shaping up to be a long and arduous workout.

I managed to dig deep, took mid-set breaks, and kept up with the pace of 30 push-ups each round. It was difficult, and once I had to actually take a break (diamond push-ups) after 20, then completed the set with an additional 10. The last push-ups, the chataranga staggered hand style, are killers, coming at the end of the set. I only managed to squeak out 20 in each of the last 2 rounds.

I love this workout. It's really challenging and enjoyable. I got an enormous pump from doing it, and it really tired me out.

Killer Abs

The first half of the workout, the Power 90 Abs, is very tough for me, especially the oblique crunches. I feel them all up and down the sides of my body and they usually leave my body sore for the next day. I actually find this workout more difficult than ARX, even though it's shorter. Perhaps it's also due to the fact that I've done ARX so many times, compared to Power 90 Abs.

I took a small break between the two workouts, watched the NFL score updates, then launched into the ARX portion of the disc. This went smoother and easier than the first half, which wasn't surprising. This week, I'm going to increase the frequency of Killer Abs, doing it twice a week instead of once, with ARX sandwiched between.

Round 4: Day 27: Yoga

I was looking forward to Yoga today to deal with the week's aches and pains. Actually, I was surprised how many aches and pains I had this week, especially near the end of the week. This is supposed to be Recovery Week, after all. Perhaps it's a sign that I've been working hard during Phase 1 of this Round; perhaps I'm just aging; perhaps it's just been a bit of an off-week. Who knows. What I do know is that Yoga was the perfect tonic to deal with my minor pain issues. I really took my time, focussed, and pressed deep into my poses today. Things felt pretty good from the first vinyasa. That's usually a telltale sign. If the first vinyasa is really uncomfortable, or hard to hold, it usually means a long, tough workout. If I feel strong (with a minimal amount of popping and cracking), then the workout usually flows smoothly and well. Today, the latter ensued.

I'm still concentrating on form; I guess I always will. I've been making minor adjustments since my live yoga class last week, and have been feeling some additional stretch in my legs, hips and groin during the Crescent and Warrior poses. I've been finding that clasping my hands and pointing my index fingers skyward during Crescent and Warrior 1 helps to work out the kinks in my shoulders. Also, concentrating on the upward arm and hand position during Right Angle pose really works out the strains in my shoulders.

I'm still really enjoying yoga and wouldn't consider missing this workout. It's definitely an essential part of my program. Namaste.

End of Recovery Week and end of Phase 1. Looking forward to pounding the weights again as Phase 2 commences.

Round 4: Day 26: Medicine Ball Core Cardio

Today was the first time for this workout. I don't have any medicine balls, but did investigate purchasing one or two. They're expensive: about $29 for a 4 lb ball and $36 for a 6 lb ball. Due to cost, I decided to forego purchasing the balls. A few weeks ago, I dropped into a local sports store and found dumbbells covered with some kind of soft coating. They were much less expensive than the medicine balls and I was going to purchase one or two (at a cost of about $4.50), but couldn't find the appropriate weights. Recently, my next-door neighbour left a milk carton full of steel plate weights at the curbside for trash pick-up. I dipped in and picked out a couple of 5 and 3 lb weights. Instant medicine balls.

The steel plates aren't the ideal shape for this workout (the coated dumbbells would have been fine; medicine ball ideal) but they are certainly an acceptable substitute. The workout starts with a fairly brief warmup; actually, a bit too brief for my liking. I should remember to do some extra lunges and warrior 1 poses to open up my hips and stretch out my legs a bit more. Also, I could benefit from some shoulder stretches, side stretches and shoulder rolls. A modified combination of upper and lower body stretching would suffice.

The workout consists of 4 moves done in rapid successions without pause, then repeated, followed by a brief break. Then, another 4 moves, repeat, and break. There are (I believe) 4 sets of these moves. Tony accidentally missed repeating one of the moves, and repeated the first set 3 times. I'm not really sure what was going on with that, as he is usually rather organized about a workout sequence and keeps a list of moves in front of him. Perhaps he was just a bit tired, or had an off-day.

Most of the exercises involve using a weight; one exercise has you jumping over a medicine ball, Heisman-style. I used the 5 lb weight for all exercises. I could probably increase that to 10 lbs on most of the exercises. After a while, the weight feels a bit heavy, even though it's light. It's the result of keeping it up in the air or swinging it around for so long. The workout didn't feel particularly strenuous in that it didn't have me huffing and puffing, or bending over reaching for my knees, but I did work up a really good sweat and felt limber and good afterwards.

I was surprised that the workout was over quickly and I didn't feel gassed. This is one of the few times that I felt that the workout wasn't challenging enough. For a moment, I contemplated starting the disc from the beginning and doing the entire workout twice; alternatively, I think that an increase in weight will help to adjust the intensity of the workout.

This workout might still have a place in this modified program, but I'll either have to do it twice, increase the weight, or do the workout in combination with another workout. As it stands, it's not really sufficient on its own, even in a Recovery Week.

Round 4: Day 25: X Stretch

I woke up this morning with a slight ache in the middle of my back. I can't think of what might caused it, as this week has been Recovery Week, and there's no strenuous lifting involved in the workouts. Perhaps it was just that I slept in a strange position. At any rate, I felt that X Stretch would work out the kinks and leave me feeling vigorous and refreshed.

I'm not really a huge fan of this workout. It's long, slow paced, and not challenging. I suppose it does exactly what it's designed to do: focus on each individual part of the body and stretch it out. It's hard to make that particularly interesting. One thing I really don't care for is the music accompanying this workout. It's largely organ music (which I actually like, just not the tunes or the way they are rendered here), or perhaps it's specifically the organ music to which I take exception; at other times, it's music from the Yoga X workout copied and pasted over a stretching exercise. Sometimes, I'm reminded of the music played when I was a kid skating outdoors at the rink on a weekend in the mid-1960s. The gist is that the music is not inspirational or relaxing or even particularly appropriate for the activity being undertaken. Someone on the P90X Facebook site once mentioned that the music seems lifted from a porn film. Nicely put.

The stretches are fine. I'm not really a fan of Shoulder Stand; I felt a slight tweak in my back when rolling out of it. I don't have any problem with this move during Yoga, but during X Stretch, I find it difficult, likely because my body isn't sufficiently stretched in the right directions prior to undertaking the move. I'll be more conscious of that in the future.

Overally, a decent workout. I did feel pretty mellow when showering after the workout; however, as I write this, my back is still sore in the same spot as when I woke up. Hopefully, a good night's rest will take care of that.

Round 4: Day 24: Super Cardio

This workout is starting to catch on with me. The warm-up is great, approximately 11 minutes long, which is just what my body needed this morning. I wasn't particularly in the mood for a cardio workout today, and it's nice to see that Tony occasionally feels similarly, as he notes on this disc. Later, I realize that he's done a 3 hour Sunday workout, which is why he's a bit bagged. All of a sudden, I no longer felt so smug.

The workout, consisting of three rounds of three moves each, is 2/3 of an intense workout. The first two rounds eventually got to me. If the third round consisted of anything other than Kenpo, I'm sure that we'd be making a call to 911. I'm happy that the Kenpo round comes last; on the other hand, because I find it so easy, it's a disappointing way to finish what would otherwise be a butt-kicking workout. So, it's a love-hate relationship. I'm happy for the break, but I wish I could work harder. I know, I could turn off the dvd at the end of the second round and insert my own destroy-your-body moves, then catch up with Tony for the cool-down. But that would require motivation, which is scarce at 6:15AM. And, this is Recovery Week. I still ended up with jelly legs and tingly butt, which is a sure sign that I've been a busy boy. So far, I still think this workout has a place in this program, so I'm sticking with it.