Round 2: Day 60 - ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

I tried to do extra reps per Carl's suggestion in order to be more intense and in some ways it worked. By the time I got to Leg Climb and Mason Twist, I couldn't do extra rep anymore. I intended to do Mason's Twist to 60, but by the time Tony stopped counting, my legs just dropped and I couldn't do more. Instead I did cobra and a brief child pose then moved on to Legs & Back. Tough as usual, but I enjoyed it in some ways. I still don't quite get the 80-20 Debby Sieber's Speed Squat tho.

I almost wanted to skip ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs due to certain circumstances, but I was like screw it and just got it over with! And I did. I felt "guilty" if I sabotaged my own workout schedule, especially I am in the last phase. No cutting corners here!

Tomorrow will be another resistance day, Shoulders and Arms and more abs. I know it's not advisable to do resistance workout back to back, but the idea of having Friday as my rest day appeals me more.

Round 2: Day 59 - Yoga X

What can I say more about Yoga X? It's a hit and miss for me. One time I could be really good at it and one time I could be so wiped out. And today is one of the day: Yoga X wiped me out. I couldn't do some of the poses correctly, fell off from Half Moon Pose and even Crescent pose. Also doing lots of Vinyasa with sore shoulders from all push ups from yesterday wasn't fun either. Despite all of those, I was still sweating a lot for the first 46 minutes.

Round 2: Day 58 - ARX, Chest & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

Guess what? This is Phase III and I gotta bring it! Wow, this second round flew by so fast and now I'm already in the last phase. I decided to go back to regular Ab Ripper X instead doing the reverse. Gotta keep my abs muscle confused, right? Also today is the first day of resistance workout and after a whole week without them, I struggled quite a lot in some ways. I even struggled with ARX, almost lost it at Mason's Twist...ugh! However, I pushed myself to do at least 20 reps of the push ups, first 10 on toes and last 10 on knees. I did manage cranking out 20 reps of standard push from the toes at the first round, but had to break it down to toes and knees on second round.

I wore my HRM, and total calories burn of today's workout is 156 calories.

Round 2: Day 57 - Beach jog

After I wrote my post yesterday, my Garmin arrived in the afternoon! So excited over it, I decided to put use it for this morning beach jog.

Here what I got:

So apparently my heart rate only hovering within 150-160 range. Not even sure if I'm in my target zone or not. Btw, if our heart rate is high when we're exercising does that mean a good thing or bad? For example, our heart rate is not that high but you burn lots of calories versus higher heart rate and burning the same amount of calories. This matter still confuses me.

Also when I was jogging, I saw this middle age man, jogged at similar pace or even faster than me. I couldn't really pass him but I wasn't that far behind him either. Man, I gotta increased my endurance more.

Round 2: Day 56 - Synchronized jog/run with the music

This morning I decided to just have a nice slow jog through all 5-6 miles without stopping. However, despite my left knee was acting up I actually did a mini interval jog and run in between! I didn't do it by timing but more by my music. I usually started to run when the singer sang the chorus and jog when they sang the verse. I did this for 2-3 songs. I felt the difference in my heartbeat by mixing up the run and the jog. Too bad my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor hasn't arrived yet, otherwise I'd be able to know if I'm always in my zone or under. For sure I won't be over my zone.

Round 2: Day 55 - Rest

As I suspected my core and back are sore now from Kenpo yesterday. It's in a good way though. When you really pushed and moved your punched by driving your hips/core, it's a good core exercise as well...can't agree more. Besides like Tony said, core strength is essential to hold your posture and balance.

Yesterday, my core was still a bit sore from Core syn and to top it off, I pushed harder in Yoga Belly 7.

Anyway, I enjoyed my extra sleep this morning for sure.

Round 2: Day 54 - Kenpo X

The last time I did this workout was Phase I Recovery Week. Despite haven't done this for a while, I still remembered all the moves and I felt I got better keeping my balance while doing the kicks. I still didn't quite get the Back kick though. For some reason I couldn't really do it right by itself but was doing fine if it was combined with other sequence (Like Knee and Back Kick sequence, or Three Direction Kicks).

The good thing for memorizing all Kenpo X move was I didn't have to see the jiggly Wesley Idol. No matter how many times I've seen it, I still can't accept that he is on the video. It doesn't matter if he's the creator. Actions speak louder than words.

Round 2: Day 53 - Yoga X

I enjoyed the yoga this morning, even did most of the chaturanga push ups as much as possible. I think I only took 3 times breaks for the push ups. Not bad. The weather wasn't as warm in the morning but I already started broke some sweats during Warrior 1 and continued dripping until Half Moon.Despite it's 90 minutes long I still prefer Yoga X over Fountain of Youth Yoga.

Speaking of which, my midsection was a bit sore from yesterday's Core. I guess I did work hard enough. Just like Pete said in his post, Core Synergistic can be too easy if you didn't push yourself hard enough. But if you did, it can kick your ass core pretty well.

Round 2: Day 52 - Core Synergistics

Still not quite loving it yet but it gave me a good sweat. Couple times I had to wipe my face because the sweat just kept getting into my eyes. Not to mention I could even see my sweat drips on my tiled floor and the mat. Kinda gross, I know. Not to mention I almost slipped on my own sweat when doing the jumps.

Btw, how to do banana correctly? Are the legs supposedly only 1 inch above the floor? I had to raise my legs a bit higher, otherwise my back will start to curve in. The correct way to do banana is not to curve your back while raising your legs, right?

Tomorrow I might wanna do Yoga X - the full version one. Kinda miss it.

Round 2: Day 51 - Fountain of Youth Yoga

I didn't feel like doing a long workout today.

I didn't feel like doing 90 minutes Yoga.

So I popped in One on One's with Tony Horton Fountain of Youth Yoga.

A nice 46 minutes of yoga, a streamline version of P90X Yoga X. Still broke some sweat. I feel good now.

Round 2: Day 50 - Dragging Beach Run

Ugh, today was a complete opposite from yesterday. I felt like I dragged my legs all the way through the route and eventually I had to break the run and did brisk walking halfway. Nevertheless, still worked out a good sweats and better than snoozing through the morning and didn't do any workouts, right?

Recovery week begins today and before I know it, next week will be the last phase of my second round of P90X.

Round 2: Day 49 - Beach Run

Love the beach run today. It was overcast, not too windy, not too cold and nobody was around until we ran on the way back.

Warm up (light walking): 0.5 miles
Run: 5.2 miles
Cool down: 1.9 miles
Total mileage: 7.6 miles

I'll be pretty much try to keep up with this distance an work more on my running speed. So far I might say I am not really running but more jogging? Heck, I don't even know what's really the difference. Does running mean I have to be fast? Anyway, more beach run tomorrow.

Round 2: Day 48 - Rest day

Enjoying it with extra hour of sleep. Not much to report.

Round 2 : Day 47 - Reverse ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

I definitely need to go back to regular ARX. My ab muscles remembering all the reverse moves already, darn it. Legs & Back went pretty well...I've got company this morning for my workout, which was my neighbors who were watching the World Cup..haha. I could even hear them yelled "Goallll"- looks like Korea scored a goal?

Can't believe I'm already halfway this second round and next week will be recover week. I'll be taking my rest day tomorrow.

Round 2: Day 46 - Yoga X

Just because I overslept this morning, doesn't mean today will be my rest day. Nope! I conquered my "evening-workout-laziness" and did Yoga X after I got home from work. Evening workout wasn't that bad actually, given I am way more flexible than in the morning. But I still couldn't justify to have dinner at 8pm and not to mention I have to go to sleep no later than 10 pm, else I will oversleep again tomorrow...*sigh*

Round 2: Day 45 - Reverse ARX, Back & Biceps, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

This morning workout was quite good. I've been able to do more reps with a bit heavier weight, max. 12 lbs though. At least I didn't use any 5 lbs for today at all. I'm thinking to switch back to regular Ab Ripper X for the third phase since I don't feel it anymore. Gotta keep my ab muscles into confusion again.

I also be able to do all ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs push ups from my toes!! Kept telling myself to start doing push ups from my toes as much as possible. No more dilly dally push ups from the knees.

Round 2: Day 43 & Day 44 - Reverse ARX, Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs & Running in the Neighborhood

It was quite busy day yesterday so I didn't get a chance to post. Yesterday we didn't go to the beach because we got home late the night before. Thus, I did P90X Reverse ARX, Chest, Shoulders, Triceps and concluded with ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs. I pushed myself really really hard on the push ups, tried my best to do most of them from the toe until I couldn't get up anymore and continued on my knees until I really couldn't get up. I should push myself harder, yesterday wasn't hard enough. Couple of times I just sat there, watching Tony and his gangs cranking up their push ups.

So this morning, I decided to go for a run around the neighborhood area.
Total time: 1 hour
Total distance: 5.4 miles (18 laps) - including 1 lap warm up, 1 lap cool down

It was nice to see how the sky changed from dark to light and saw what time people usually leave to work. I saw some of my neighbors left their house around 5-5:30 am. That was super early to go to work. I was aiming for 20 laps for a total 6 miles but it was already 6 am and I needed sometime to shower, had breakfast and left to work.

I think I got a little better in running. My right foot wasn't hurting anymore, less pain on my knees either. The only time I started to feel my knees was the time I sped up my pace. But that wasn't my goal for now. My goal for now is to build up my endurance, keep running in consistent pace and just go with the flow without out of breath.

Round 2: Day 42 - Resistance Running

My butt and glute were a bit sore from yesterday's Legs & Back, but didn't stop me from my weekend beach run. It was a bit more windy this morning on one way, and I definitely felt more resistance. Unfortunately, my mileage this time wasn't as good as last week. I had to take a couple breaks in between run by doing brisk walking. My knees were acting up a bit, but not that bad actually.

The good thing? It was overcast and we got there early enough (before 6 am) so the beach trail was clear! On the way back, we started to see some people just started their run/jog/walk.

More run tomorrow!

Round 2: Day 41 - Reverse ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

I set up my alarm to be a bit earlier (4 am) but in the end I didn't get up from the bed until 4:25 am. Regardless at least I could start up my workout before 5 am so finished everything at 6:15 am instead of 6:30 am. That gave me extra time to shower, had some breakfast then went to work.

I'm thinking to switch ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs prior the main workout and ARX after the main workout. But maybe I'll do that at Phase 3.

I conquered my fear of the snapped band and did the pull ups movement using the black band. Felt more resistance, but I still hold myself not to back up too much, otherwise this might snap on me too. The other one snapped last week when I did Reverse Grip Chin ups for Legs & Back.

Round 2: Day 40 - Rest Day

And I am enjoying my extra sleep until 6:00 am.....back to the grind tomorrow!

Round 2: Day 39 - Reverse ARX, Back & Biceps, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

I was super tempted to make today a rest day because I got to sleep in until 7:30 am!! I took a day off from work today for some special occasion. After went out for lunch, some shopping with K, got back home and I felt like I should just crank out my workout. The beginning was super tough, especially I was still a bit dizzy from a glass of martini I had for lunch..hahahaa...but after a while the alcohol was actually wore off and I got to crank up a decent workout. Phew! And tomorrow will be the actual rest day, and I'll get to sleep in again......until 6 am.

Round 2: Day 38 - Yoga X Halfway

I woke up a bit late today, only managed to do the first 46 minutes of Yoga X, up to the balance pose. At least it was better than sleep in right? The plan was to continue the last half of Yoga X after I got home but as usual, I'm not the type of person who like to workout in the evening. After 8 hours stuck in the office, I just don't want to commit another 40-50 minutes workout before having dinner.

Anyway, I'm debating whether I should take my rest day tomorrow or not.

Round 2: Day 37 - Reverse ARX, Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

I was sweating crazy just from doing Reverse ARX, probably because of my stuffy living room. The weather is getting warmer now, but I usually keep the windows closed at night. Don't want to encourage someone to break in, right?

Anyway, the good thing about doing the Abs before doing the actual workout, I'll get sweaty and warm up so I could cut down doing the workout warm up, and just jumped right to the arm warm ups and ballistic stretches. As usual Chest, Shoulders and Triceps (CST) is always tough and remember I broke my blue resistance bands last time? It might be a sign I should start using dumbbells for all weight lifting exercises. For CST I mostly used 5lbs dumbbells for all triceps stuff and shoulder flys, cause those are so tough! I could even barely get to 10 reps in a good solid form. Hmph, gotta work more!

I still have 2 other resistance bands (red being the lightest and black being the heaviest), but I'd save that for doing the pull up stuff. I'm still debating whether to get a free standing pull up bar or not because I just don't like how it will sit in my living room like that.

ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs is getting easier to do, just need to incorporate the weights into some of the moves with the exception the push ups. Try to do more slow motion push ups and 3 sets of triceps, standard and wide push ups after Tony bashed you with these in CST already.

Btw, what's the cameraman of ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs thinking for shooting on this angle???

Round 2: Day 36 - Running around in circle

I didn't go for the beach run this morning because K was too tired from helping his brother sanding and painting the cabinets. Heck, I still got up the usual time (4:30 am) and ran around the compound area...for a total 15 laps and 3 laps of cool down walk. 1 lap is about 0.3 miles..yeah it was that SMALL! Anyway, still got some sweats and good amount of cardio.

Round 2: Day 35 - Run...Run..Run...

Morning beach run was great! I felt like I could just keep running nonstop, even after I reached to the point where I usually slowed down and stretched. It was a little windy on one direction, so I had a bit of resistance running against the cool wind. I felt like I wasn't sweating at all but once I turned around, I felt all the heat in my jacket. This morning was such a perfect weather, not too cold, even though it was overcast.

Round 2: Day 34- Reverse ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

I got a better hang on doing Reverse ARX today, perhaps this is a sign for me to switch back to the regular ARX to surprise my abs muscles. Legs & Back was a challenging workout as usual, too challenging that even my resistance bands couldn't handle it. It SNAPPED on me when I got to the 3rd part of the pull up moves.
Dang, maybe it's time for me to invest on a real pull up bar. I don't like the Iron Gym one, because it'll damage my door frame and I don't like to poke any holes on my ceiling nor the walls. A free standing pull up bar would be nice....even nicer if it's very compact. ChaLean's I've Got Abs was quite some fun...I actually kinda enjoyed doing the Oblique and the push ups, even though I am still a sucker..haha.

Round 2: Day 33 - Yoga X

"Working on triangle pose everyone's sweating like hell....what does that tell you?" as what Tony said when we got to this pose and that was exactly what happened to me. I usually don't start breaking sweat until Side Angle pose but this morning I already drenched by the time I got to the Triangle pose. Not sure what I did wrong, I felt a little tight on my right neck..maybe I twisted a bit when doing some poses..o well.

I love my Yoga this morning.

Round 2: Day 32: Reverse ARX, Back & Biceps, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

I had a good amount of energy this morning, compared to Monday where I almost crashed after finishing Reverse ARX. The workout lasted a bit longer because I had to pause the video a couple of times to finish up my reps and to adjust my dumbbells.

I used mostly 10lbs dumbbells for most of the moves, but gosh, I just realized how weak my arms are!! I could barely finish 8 reps for some of the curls....boo...had to move down to 8lbs again. I could feel my biceps started to get sore by the end of the day.

Anyway...finally, DAY 30 PICTURES!!

Regular

Flex

I would say I accomplished a bit more compare to my first round. I wish I did 3 different views for my first round picture instead of just front view. Oh well, gotta keep pushing myself harder!!!

Round 2: Day 31 - OFF

I was thinking to do a short morning jog/run around my compound, but I preferred to catch extra sleep. Can't believe that I'm already 1/3 of the second round of P90X. Time flew by so fast! Will find sometime to do the pics. Btw my CST are sore from yesterday's CST...in a good way.