Legs and Back/I'm a hardgainer.

Today's workout went well. I'm now pushing as much as Tony and working as hard as I can to get unassisted pullups and chinups. I was also very good with ab ripper--got to 50 mason twists without stopping. I probably had more in me, but not many more!

Anyway, I posted my day 30 pics in the Scrawny to Brawny thread in the P90X forums and they're telling me that I'm still not eating enough. I'll be checking the scale after a while on 2800-2900 calories and see if I still need to go up. They also said I need to cut back on the cardio but I'm sticking with it for now. I'll modify the program but not until I've completed it like it's intended for the first 90 days.

Everyone keeps calling me a hardgainer. Many people in that thread said they hesitate to call ANYONE a hardgainer but I'd be it. I guess I'm pretty scrawny then, eh?

Anyway, below is the nutrition.

Yoga day/Intake woes

Well, today was Yoga day. My balance was good today so I managed to do Warrior 3 without any serious problems. I'm still struggling on the half-moons, but those are RIDICULOUSLY HARD, so I'm not concerned--I'll get them eventually. I also have trouble with crane, but I read that keeping on is the only way to do it. No surprise there.

I'm having a tiny bit of trouble--I think I save too much intake for the evening! I find myself constantly having to eat carrots, a serving of whey, a cup of oatmeal, a condiment, a dairy, and a protein bar AFTER dinner! I have to figure out how to spread that out better throughout the day. Any suggestions?

Intake below.

Day 30 pics and comparison

Click:


A few spares:

Back and Biceps!

Today's workout felt awesome. My arms were on fire after the workout!

I found CLIF bars at BJs on our huge grocery run today. 20 bucks for 18! It was a STEAL. I got a variety pack with half chocolate and half chocolate mint. Booyah :D

On another note, I lost a pound. I'm adding a protein because it seems to get me closer to 40/40/20 percent split of protein/carbs/fat, respectively. I'm near 2900 cals! WHEW.

Anyway, I'm way to tired to stay up posting. Here's my nutrition for you.

Plyo/I LOVE CARBS

Good lord, I need to get to sleep. So tired! Couple things first, though:

I LOVE PLYO.

Man, I sweat like crazy on this workout but it really makes you feel fantastic. I guess that's how you know something is working.

PS: 3 carbs a day now? HECK YEAH. Eating my OATZ now.

PPS: Day 30 pics tomorrow, I'll post them here so you can see them

Chest, Shoulders, Tris, Ab Ripper/CHEAT WEEKEND RESULTS

Back! The infamous cheat weekend wasn't THAT bad. I'm back on track now that I don't have Italian grandmothers to please!

First time doing Chest, Shoulders, Tris. TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH. I was a little hard on myself at the time but I know I'll do better. One step at a time.

Which things were the hardest? The one-handed pushups (I did wide knees), the pushups where you move your feet and hands side to side, and some of the weight things. I had sloppy form here and there even when I was trying to fix it.

Oh well, can't always be perfect and chugging along. The cheat foods and poor sleep certainly didn't help.

A note: I'm waiting til day 30 (Tuesday) to take photos. Expect them then :D

ONE MORE THING! I'm in PHASE 2 starting today! 3 carbs, 3 veggies, 1 fruit, 1 fat, 1 double snack, 1 recovery drink, 1 protein bar, and 6 proteins. Now my body will have the carbs it needs to burn burn burn!

Below is the food for the infamous cheat weekend. I had to improvise here and there because we went out and some sauces and dressings were unidentifiable. BEHOLD:

Yoga/Time to go!

Today's Yoga was good. Tom's already here, no time to chat!

I'll see you folks in a few days and post my nutrition when I get back!

Core Synergistics/Getting packed

Today was a teacher in-service day. I saw Karen Kennedy, my undergraduate choral director, who was running one of the sessions. We also had some sessions to increase cultural proficiency--I went to the Latin music session and we sang songs that were from Central America, the Andes, and the Caribbean. It was pretty cool :)

Anyway, Core Syn was today. Once again, I'm TOTALLY wiped out! It's definitely hard work. Thankfully I get to have my leftover pesto tonight. That'll certainly hit the spot!

Gotta get packed for this weekend. It's going to be a warm one!

X Stretch/To recovery drink or to not recovery drink?

Well, today was X Stretch, a 60 minute video of nothing but stretching. It felt like HEAVEN.

I was trying to decide what to do nutritionally for today. I didn't break a sweat at all so I feel like taking a recovery drink on a day like today was probably ridiculous since I didn't burn as much. After some thought I've decided to skip it for today. The calorie count will be down a bit but I'm not too worried--it's still 2400 calories!

We made the P90X pesto again. Holy CRAP that stuff is good! I love it to death. I have to modify it because I don't have lemon juice or wine around usually. I typically just do all chicken broth and a splash of white wine vinegar to keep the acidity up for a nice green color and that does the trick.

More core synergistics tomorrow. I'll totally rock it!

Kenpo X/ Sweat machine

Intensity = sweat. I'm a sweat MACHINE during this workout.

I've heard a few discouraging things from internet friends recently but I'm not letting it get me down. I know I'm seeing good results right now so I'm as encouraged as ever!

Tomorrow is a Stretch X day. CAN'T WAIT for that one!

Everyone doing P90X complains about the recovery week being hard as crap. Recovery week is definitely feels less intense for me, but then again, I'm a cardio machine. I can cardio my brains out--the lifting is what gets to me. I think it's the opposite for most people.

Anyway, I'm terrified about this weekend. I'm visiting Tom's folks and I'm going to have many a cheat meal. I'm bringing a ton of whey and egg substitute and cans of chicken breast and veggies and wheat berry bread as a clean eating survival kit in between the onslaught of delicious Italian food spreads. Cheating is inevitable, but this is the big cheat weekend I planned for. Moderation is the key!

Core Synergistics

Holy CRAP that was a workout!

I couldn't believe how wiped I was! There was a ton of really fun stuff even though it was exhausting. The chaturanga running and iso wasn't really something I could manage--I'm okay with chaturanga when I keep moving through a vinyasa, but to freeze in that position so close to the ground is not something my arms can currently support.

The rest of it was AWESOME though. Holy GOD, when I was doing Leaning Crescent Lunges with 10 pounds I thought my arms and abs were going to fall OFF. The Lunge-Kickback-Curl-Press was an awesome compound movement. I'm a new fan of the SUPERMAN BANANA as well! Woo hoo!

I definitely felt WIPED after this workout... so wiped that I'm considering entering phase 2 nutrition for 3 daily carb servings even though it's technically supposed to start next week. I'm thinking that since I'm a skinny guy trying to bulk I should be having the carbs anyway. Oh well, I'm putting off my decision until tomorrow.

We roasted potatoes tonight which was awesome. It was a tad salty though so it won't be too regular. I already get PLENTY of sodium from my 1 cup of cottage cheese daily.

Day 21 pics!/Hello recovery week.

Well, it's that time again. Here are the photos for day 21 of P90X. I did a closeup of my back this time because WOW! There's a LOT going on back there.

Today's Yoga was AWESOME. I felt much more relaxed and my body's angles seemed more natural. I think I'm definitely improving which is good. I still struggle with warrior3 and the half moons but hopefully they'll come in time.

BURGER NIGHT! We use a little worcestershire and onion to make them awesome! I pan fry them so they'll probably get to sit on a paper towel before they go on my whole wheat english muffins.

Until tomorrow...

Saturday: rest day!

Well, I rested a LOT on rest day. I actually took in a few less calories than usual but that's okay considering I didn't do ANYTHING. They had made all kinds of food this weekend and I managed to avoid most of it. I did eat about a cup of that "puppy chow" stuff (sometimes called "muddy buddies"; it's crispix tossed with melted butter, chocolate, peanut butter, and dusted heavily with powdered sugar) and surprisingly myfitnesspal had an entry for it, so it's listed there! I still came in with very decent macros so I'm totally not worried--I decided that since it was pretty much straight carbs with a little protein from the peanut butter, I'd just have it instead of the recovery drink which is exactly that--straight carbs with a little protein. It's the exception and not the norm, so no sweat.

Traveling around with all my supplements and eggbeaters is sucky, by the way. It's much easier to stay at home when you eat this way.

Anyway, recovery week is starting tomorrow. Yoga over and over! Hopefully I'll get better with those right angle poses and warrior 3! Also, I'll be doing day 21 pics and weighing in. I do anticipate a few pounds--some sneak peaks lead me to believe that I'm actually at 139-140. Woo hoo!

Kenpo/Weekend plans

After Kenpo today, I finish week three. Next week (week 4) is the recovery week, full of core synergistics, yoga, and stretching. I'm also probably going to go to level 2, phase 2 with the nutrition plan soon. Yay more carbs! Chicken is much improved over rice or pasta or on toast.

Tomorrow is a rest day and I'll be away from the computer. I'll probably still manage to make a post, however--you know me!

Yesterday's DC gathering was great. I'll be going out of town next weekend to visit Tom's family some more which should also be good! I'm looking forward to it.

Legs and back/ANOTHER cheat meal?!

Hey, didn't post last night because it was so busy!

Legs and back was yesterday and I brought the intensity so now my gluts are sore as ever! I got through ALL 50 mason twists yesterday which was awesome.

Last night was dinner out with Tom's folks. We went to Nooshi, yet ANOTHER asian restaurant with no brown rice. I went as conservatively as I could but still managed to have some chicken that tasted fatty, 1 cup steamed rice, 1 cup mixed vegetables, 1 tuna roll piece, and 1 tamago nigiri piece. All in all I was still pretty much on target, calorie-wise, so not too bad, and hardly a cheat. That's a good thing considering I'm going to a party tonight and next weekend I'm with Tom's Italian family all weekend where I'll inevitably lose the clean eating here and there. I'll be bringing my eggbeaters, whey, oats, and canned chicken with me just in case!

Yoga X/Not much to report.

So tomorrow will be crazy--a cheat dinner with Tom's folks who are coming down to DC. His little sister is checking out some colleges in this area and we haven't seen his family in a while so it'll be awesome.

Friday? Shenanigans! Ben is coming down from Massachusetts so we'll be having a blast down in DC.

Today? Nothing. Just some Yoga. :)

I did have a LOT of trouble today with the Warrior 3/half moon/half moon twist stuff. I just can't pull through. I know those are THE most advanced moves but I'd like to at least be able to stand on my leg without DYING partway through. Oh well... keep pushing play.

Shoulders, arms, and abs, oh my!

Good god I love the arm workout. It kills you but the pump is highly encouraging. :) I'm feeling good and making my low gi whole wheat carb and lean protein as we speak!

More good news: I managed to gain 1 more pound. 136 now. Woo hoo!

I'm going to keep this higher-calorie diet and see what happens. Hopefully nothing but goodness, but we'll see.

That's all for now.

What a busy day!

Plyo X today--I totally rocked it. Good god today was busy! At least I got it all done.

1) ALL quarter 3 grades, due tomorrow (Took 4.5 hours with no breaks)
2) Plyo X
3) Mow the lawn (WHY GOD WHY)
4) Wash car
5) Buy gas (Poor poor poor)
6) Balance budget (Reminder: poor poor poor)
7) Rehearsal
8) Go to bed as soon as I return from rehearsal to get ready for school after quite possibly the most boring and tedious Spring Break in history (BAH)

Tomorrow is Arms and Shoulders... yay! I like it because it makes you feel hardcore.

I managed to get 2600 calories of clean eating in today. Woo hoo!

Until tomorrow...

Day 14 pics!

Chest and back and abripper were today. Another day in the books!

I HAVE PECS NOW although they're difficult to photograph when you're as white as it gets. Also my arms and back are shaping up VERY nicely! As predicted, the abs area is still flabby, but I hear that's the last area to tighten up. It's only day 14, so no need to rush.

Anyway, check it out. I even took a close-up of my pec for you. A nice bit of skin on Easter--woo, I'm blasphemous.



I have a bit of cheating for Easter Dinner tonight (steak, and maybe a little dessert), but I'll try to post the nutritionals as close as I can get it. I'm aiming for as little cheating as possible.

Happy Eastover, all!

Kenpo X/Easter woes

Kenpo was today and I sweat like a BEAST! Definitely sewat more today than last week, which is good--I was working harder overall, I think.

I'm eating at level 2 today--the food lineup for today was on last night's post. Already had a protein shake with my extra dairy and two proteins. I'll be taking that pre-workout as often as I can to take care of all the extra stuff I need in addition to my daily regimen which already seems to work well for me energy-wise.

I've been performing every. single. day. for the past several days due to easter church services. I'm so tired of driving all over creation and being stuck at home with nothing to do! It's ruining time I could be spending with Tom or other friends. Oh well, another Spring Break down. :\

Have a good one.

I'm about to move to level 2.

As many of you are aware, I'm not getting enough calories to be gaining weight. Based off of a discussion with my coach as well as my desire to continue following P90X as closely as possible, I'm going to stop randomly modifying my diet with almonds and actually move up a level to level 2, phase 1. As long as I can afford it, I'm going to stay on level 2 for the remainder of P90X.

A day on level 2, phase 1 is:
7 portions protein
3 portions dairy
1 portion fruit
4 portions vegetable
1 portion fat
1 portion carb
1 "double" snack
1 protein bar
1 recovery drink
2 servings condiments

Here's what tomorrow will look like as far as intake.



The extra whey in the snack category is going to be in a shake with a banana and milk.

This will put me between 2400 and 2700 calories a day. Wish me luck, guys. I haven't eaten like this (as far as number of calories in a day) in a really long time.

Legs, Back, Abs/CLIF bars

Today's workout went well. Ab ripper especially gets better and better. I'm making 1 modification--bend the legs during those oblique v-ups. I found that I can do 25 reps without dying that way. I think over time I'll keep extending the leg til it works out.

Legs and back is such a great workout! I especially love the sneaky lunges--you feel quite a burn there. I'm still shaky but pulling through with the wall squats. On all the exercises to add weight, I held 15s, which seemed fine, but maybe I should push myself a little harder and try 20s next time.

I haven't had my homemade protein bars even though I made them a week ago. I'm having trouble NOT eating my CLIF bars. They're SO GOOD--I look forward to eating one every day. I like the texture and how portable they are. I'm afraid that these homemade bars will melt away and stick to my teeth, and that's not what I'm looking for. I may just make an allowance and pay more for this one thing since it's such an effective reward for my P90X efforts.

Time for another church gig. Gotta keep that money rolling in! Ciao, friends.

Yoga day.

Not much to report today.

Yoga was pretty awesome as usual. I'm still struggling with the moves right near the end of the first 45-minute segment where you do various movements while your feet are in runner's stance for a LONG TIME. Especially when you grab underneath your legs! I fall out of it every time. Hopefully I'll improve here, though. YOGA BELLY 7 IS STILL THE DEVIL.

Anyway, I love it and it's so nice to have it as part of my week now!

Getting stronger!

I love the Arms/Shoulders/Abs day and this is only my second time.

When I can look down at my arm and see a bulge after working my butt off, that's INSTANT motivation to keep at it! I pushed more weight today than last time so I'm happy! One thing I had issues with was the one where you curl while you're crouched and your butt is on the wall, though. I didn't have trouble last week, but this week it was hard to keep form. Oh well.

I can notice than my left arm is definitely weaker than my right. curls and lifts on my right arm do seem much easier.

I ROCKED AB RIPPER TODAY. Today's the first day I really mastered that Roll-Up/V-Up Combo and got all 25. Great to see some progress.

Woooooo Plyo!

Plyo was today. MAN this thing works you! I love it. Really does burn in the legs during this exercise.

I'm glad to be working out again!

Today I'm making this rice made by H. T. Traders. IT's a blend of wild and brown basmati rice with rye and wheat berries mixed in. The nutrition info posted on myfitnesspal is all wacked out so I have no idea how to record it. I thought the 1 cup brown basmati was more accurate than what they had listed for HT Traders so that's up instead. Unfortunately, the package only lists the stats for 1/4c dry rice.

If you know how to change that information into 1 cup cooked, by all means, help a brother out!

Anyway, nothing too exciting. Spring Break really just turned into a time to veg in front of the computer and watch hulu. I need to get out tomorrow for sure!

Sick! Rest day today.

Well, I've actually felt way better today, but I was quite sick yesterday night.

So I woke up, second day with a sore throat. Got dressed, went to a church gig to sing (poorly), then came home and had lunch. I got all the way through my workouts and did better than last week! Anyway, that's where it started to go downhill.

We went out grocery shopping and I felt like my energy was being sapped. I was burning up. I got water from the vending machine in Costco and when we got home I did manage to make P90X pesto (which is DELICIOUS) for dinner. Anyway, I really felt like a fever was happening. I made a doctor's appointment at a nighttime clinic.

Turns out I have an ear infection and at that point I had a fever of 102.

Good news and bad news? Good news is it'll go away fast so I'll be good for Tuesday. Bad news is it's only the SECOND week and I have to skip a day.

No worries though. After chatting with several people, I've decided to count today as my rest day for the week and work through my typical Saturday rest day. Kenpo surprisingly felt like the lowest impact cardio workout of the three so I'm not worried about recovering effectively on that day.

Back to it tomorrow, and I'm going full force!

Back to it.

Chest and back today. Everything was more even but I find that Ab Ripper is hardest on the Chest and Back day. Oh well, we got through it.

In:
breakfast: 3/4c eggbeaters, 1 medium apple
snack: 1 cup cottage cheese
lunch: Spinach salad with 1 cup broccoli, carrots, celery and 3 ounces pork tenderloin, 1/3 c whey
snack 2: recovery drink/CLIF builder bar
dinner: 1 cup whole wheat pasta, 2 tablespoons P90X pesto with 3 oz chicken, 1 cup peas, 1/3 c whey in 8 oz milk

Yesterday I did have thai food. I was hoping they'd have brown rice but alas, no. Fortunately I was clean 100% of last week and 100% today, so no stress.

Keep bringing it!

Day 6 Kenpo, Rest Day, YAY END OF WEEK/Day 7 photos

Hey kids:

I finished off the week on Friday with Kenpo which was awesome when I got really into it. I was already pivoting into the punches and kicks because of my previous martial arts training so everything felt nice and strong.

Rest day we were walking ALL over DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival. I wanted to do X Stretch but alas, we were stuck in traffic in this monumental accident involving many cars that had us waiting for a few hours before we could move again. I didn't come home til 1:45am!

Anyway, I took some Day 7 pics with the help of my lovely associate Tom! You'll notice that I've got more pump on one side. I discovered today during Chest and Back that I was doing resistance bands pullups sideways so one side saw MORE results! I fixed the problem and we're nice and lined up with the door now.

Surprised though to see the results! Check it out.

Day 5: Legs/Back/Abs and nutrition checkup

Whew. This workout was good. I felt quite a burn on each leg, especially during the ONE LEG WALL SQUATS >.<

I'm really glad that this workout I did 100% resistance band pullups. I feel like it'll be necessary to do that for a while to get the strength I need to real-deal pullups. I wonder when I should try real deal pullups? I was thinking of doing the door training thing where every time I pass a certain door with the pullup bar in it, I attempt a pullup. I probably won't try that til I'm a couple weeks in, though :)

Nutrition-wise, I'm still 100% following the plan. As per my coach's suggestion, I'm taking string cheese out of the snack portion and trying celery with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter in its place. I also got 2 1/2 pounds of ultra ultra ultra lean ham and turkey from the deli counter.

I'm going to attempt to make some homemade protein bars this weekend when my sister comes over. We'll see how they turn out!

I can't WAIT til I can reduce the amount of protein servings. Today is the second time I've needed 2 servings of whey to reach the goal. I'm baking chicken by the BUSLOAD and I'm still using whey. I know I should be okay, but I just feel better about real food. Oh well.

Anyway, Kenpo X tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect--I'm thinking it's more intense than Yoga, less intense than Plyo. Either way I'm punching and kicking. We'll see!

in:
breakfast: 3/4 c eggbeaters, 1 banana
snack 1: 1 c cottage cheese
lunch: 3 oz baked chicken, 1/3 c whey, 1 cup raw carrots, 1 light string cheese
snack 2: protein bar/recovery drink
dinner: 1 whole wheat english muffin, 3 oz fat free ham slices, 1 cup cooked green beans, 1 tsp mustard, 1/3 c whey
snack 3: throat coat tea, 1 tbsp peanut butter, celery

out: legs and abs, abripperx

Day 4: Yoga

Well, as predicted, Yoga was NECESSARY to life. A looooot of stretching in the later parts and some calming and balancing moves too. Hard parts? The beginning. Holy crap, my legs and gluts were about to burst OPEN, but I stuck with it as much as I could. The hardest part was the Yoga Belly 7, though. I had a TON of trouble and kept collapsing. I can NOT keep my legs straight for those things!

Oh well. I can't WAIT to get better with Yoga and flexibility in general.

Food:
Breakfast: 3/4 c eggbeaters, 1 banana
snack 1: 1 cup cottage cheese
Lunch: 2 3 oz burger (no bun), 1 cup raw carrots, 1 string cheese
snack 2: protein bar/recovery drink
Dinner: 3 oz chicken, 1/3 cup whey, 1 cup mashed potatoes (made with low sodium chicken broth), 1 cup cooked vegetables
evening: 1 cup milk