Round 2: Day 80 - ARX, Legs & Back, 8 min Core Ab (2x)

For some reason my left wrist feels hurt. Maybe I twisted a bit yesterday with CST. Glad today was leg workout so gave my left wrist a rest. I did 8 min Core Ab twice so that made it about 16 mins core-abs exercises. Unlike typical ab exercises, this workout incorporated some yoga isometric poses such as plank holds, side plank holds and side leg rises.

Round 2: Day 73 - Yoga X & Day 74 - ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

Day 73 - Yoga X
Felt good to do Yoga again, though I was slacking off on my Chaturanga in the beginning. But at least I could hold Half Moon poses a bit longer than before.

Day 74 - ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs
I've been having hard time to go to sleep at night, thanks to this hot and humid weather. Plus, since opening the window means a light sleeper like me get more distracted by the noises from outside, especially when the train passes by. I live nearby a railroad tracks. Good thing I still managed to drag my asses off the bed and did the workout, and not ditching ChaLean again.

Also I noticed Tony promoted Beachbody.com in Legs & Back a lot more often compared to his other videos. Been noticing for a while but I keep forgetting to write it on the post.

Round 2: Day 66 - ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

Lately it's pretty tough to get up and workout in the early morning. Could it be I start to get burn out from morning workouts? Blah..I won't get it get to me. It's the last phase, and I want to push myself even harder.

I decided to do Legs & Back today so I have ample of time for my legs to recover before the beach run this coming Saturday. L&B is always tough as usual but I do have my favorite: 3 way lunges (which was introduced by Dreeeeyaah according to Tony).
Single leg wall squat is very deadly to me. I could only manage to hold halfway..anyone could hold the full minute?

My chest and arms are still sore from CST from Sunday.

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 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 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 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 3: Day 18 - ARX, P90X Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

Technically today supposedly my rest day but I decided to switch it to tomorrow. Why? I don't want to have resistance day back to back and I don't want to put Legs and Back exercise a bit too close to my weekend jogging. Gotta give my legs break before pounding them again.

ARX went well, I could complete most reps, but still struggle a bit at left side Oblique V ups. I got a hang on Legs and Back but Exaggerate Balanced Lunge still my weakness. I am still doing regular lunge instead and even that I still had hard time balancing myself, let alone using the chair. I moved back even further for my pull up movements with resistance bands.

I also started to do regular push ups on ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs, instead doing it on my knees, with the exception of triceps push ups. But overall, today workout was pretty good.

Round 2: Day 12 - P90X ARX, Legs & Back, ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs

Seems like my ab muscles started to remember the ARX moves and I wasn't as struggling as earlier, but ChaLean Extreme I've Got Abs Obliques moves still burned my oblique, not to mention the push up sequences.

Legs & Back was fine, I still struggled to do the Exaggerate Balanced Lunge and any other thing that needs to stand on one leg. No worries, I can still work on my form more. Wall squats are still challenging, especially the single leg wall squat. Almost complete the whole minute....almost....

Not sure what to do tomorrow...maybe some type of cardio, not interval. I injured my right foot last time I did....

Round 2: Day 5: P90X Legs & Back, Abs

It's good to get up early in the morning and do workout again (yesterday I ended up NOT doing any workout. It's pretty clear that early morning workout works the best. It doesn't get in any of my schedule). Unfortunately at the same time I was a bit restless last night. I woke up a couple of times (12:30 am, 2:30 am, 3:30 am then finally 4:30 am when my cellphone went off). At first I was debating whether I could survive this workout, given my stiff knees every time I stand up a bit too long. However, I managed to crank up a bunch of reps. I could even hold on to single leg wall squat a bit more than half way. Wow, I was amazed.

I tried another ab workout from Perfect Abs by Meghan White. There are 8 ab moves but I only picked one of them and did the rest on my own combinations from Abs Ripper X. Meghan did a lot of regular crunches, added with some other moves in between. But in general, they were just crunches. I am not sure if I did my crunches right but for some reason in addition to the burn on my upper abs, I felt discomfort on my back neck as well. Even though I kept focusing to lift with my abs, I still felt that strain behind my neck.

Tomorrow is supposedly cardio workout but I haven't decided what should I do. P90X Cardio X or some other cardio workout? We'll see.

P90X Lean Phase 2: Day 47 - Legs & Back, Abs

Legs & Back was great, despite I didn't get enough sleep last night (went to bed around 10:30 pm and got up around 11:30 pm because of some noises). Single leg wall squat was tough, but I managed to stay at least 5 seconds. Regular wall squat was ok, I was able to stay as long as Tony and his gangs.

Lately, I've been feeling sleepy during noon time, not sure if I didn't get enough sleep or I didn't have enough food intake. After the workout, I had the usual "recovery drink/meal" (not pictured) - 1 glass of almond milk with 1 tsp cocoa powder and 2 tsp of flaxseed meal and 1 medium banana.

Speaking of food, I decided to bring more small meals for me to eat throughout my day. So here they are:

• 2 slices of whole wheat bread (I made this last night, turned out great! Even parents love it!) with peanut butter
• 1 chinese pineapple cake (small cube box)
• 2 medium bananas
• Baked sweet potato slices, boiled broccoli, chicken meats, couple slices of potatoes
• 1 chinese pastry -not sure what exactly it is
• 2 peeled oranges & 8 oz. blueberries

All fit nicely in my little lunch bag :)

P90X Lean Phase 2: Day 40 - Legs & Back, Abs

I started to get a hang on Legs & Back, and I could even do single leg squat even though I didn't hold it as long as Tony and his gangs. I switched my band to a blue one to get more resistance.

After L&B, I experimented to mix up the Abs sequence instead following the usual order. Boy I could feel it more, especially I decided to keep my shoes on. All these times, I always do Abs bare feet. So the shoes are a nice addition to get more resistance. However, I didn't complete the whole 25 rep on some of the moves.

Breakfast is the usual almond milk with cocoa powder and a banana. I added a teaspoon of flaxseed meal to the almond milk and it was pretty good. I might consider adding more to get that rich fiber into my diet.

P90X Lean Phase 2: Day 33 - Legs & Back, Abs

I think I started to get a hang on Legs & Back, but still stumbled a lot when doing the balanced lunge and the 3 direction lunges when you have to do the kick after coming out from the lunge (dunno the exact name, sorry). The resistance band is pretty useful as a substitute from the pull ups. However, maybe I didn't pick the right band or I did it wrong...no way I can do 20 reps while Sophia girl could only do 15 reps max.
I don't have any high chin bar on the ceiling, so I just wrapped the band around the handrails of the stairs.

Abs was good...I could at least complete most of the reps without problem.

P90X Lean Phase 1: Day 19 - Legs & Back, Abs

Ok, I had to drag my ass off from my bed this morning because I'm not quite fond of this Legs & Back workout. Anything to do with a lot of squatting is a nightmare for both of my knees. So, some of the moves I didn't even bother to do it at their pace.

Abs was quite a challenge after I did Legs & Back, plus I was super hungry that I nearly crashed. Doing morning workout in empty stomach sometimes can be very exhausting, but I like the convenience of not getting into any of my other daytime schedule.

I used to do workout in the evening 1-2 hours after the dinner. But the downside of it, I tend to get sloppy and lazy to keep up with it. Then I tried to switch it to the evening before dinner/after come back from work. It worked fine but the timing wasn't working for me. I ended up having late dinner and have to wait a little later to go to sleep. So early morning workout works for me.

P90X Lean Phase 1: Day 12 - Legs & Back, Abs

I hate speed squatting!!!! Since my knees are still a bit stiff and sore from yesterday's Yoga Bound Warrior pose (forgot what Tony called it in the video), I didn't push myself too much doing the squatting in this workout. Single leg wall squat, speed squatting (again I forgot what Tony called it) are the WORST for my knees to take right now. So I decided not to bend too much. Sneaky lunge was pretty interesting and I'm surprised that I could hold my form pretty good without losing balance. As for the pull up chin bar I just lifting my 2 big bottle water in front of me and did the movement as if I had a resistance band. Even though I didn't participate in some of the workouts, I still managed to break some pretty good sweat. I could even feel it dripped over my face.

Ab Ripper X after the Legs & Back was still challenging. However, I could complete more reps than last week.