Round 2, Days 10/11/12 Workouts

I’m a little behind on my journal but am keeping on schedule with my workouts.  On Monday, I worked on Shoulders and Arms.  I actually did the bonus round this time but in doing the bonus round, I seriously wonked myself out so I didn’t do the Ab Ripper video.  It’s a fine line that I walk between pushing myself and pushing myself too far.  I’m still trying to find that balance.  In striking that balance I took yesterday off but did my Yoga this morning and met up at Allan/Tom’s tonight to try out Tony Horton’s One on One: Cardio Intervals.  It’s only about 40 minutes long but you start to sweat about 10 seconds into the workout and it doesn’t let up until a few minutes after the workout is done.  My abs will definitely be sore tomorrow and I’ll be sleeping like a log tonight.  So far, I’ve only tried 2 of the One on One series: this one and the yoga.  They were both awesome.  I’m thinking about purchasing the One on One Yoga because the 90 minutes of the P90X yoga is sometimes hard to get in in one day.  I’ve heard of folks splitting the 90 minute workout into 2-45 minute sessions.  I enjoy the yoga but waking up at 5am to get in done before work was not so fun.  Oh well, tomorrow: Legs and Back… OH YEAH!

Monday’s Workout
Day: 10
Program: P90X
Workout: Shoulders & Arms
Length: 1 hour
Time: Evening
Place: Home
Buddies: N/A

Today’s Workout
Day: 11
Program: P90X
Workout: Yoga
Length: 1.5 hour
Time: Early morning
Place: Home
Buddies: N/A

Today’s Workout
Day: 12
Program: Tony Horton’s One on One
Workout: Cardio Intervals
Length: 40 minutes
Time: Evening
Place: Allan/Tom’s
Buddies: Allan, Tom, Michelle, and Kim

Next Workout: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

Holiday Shopping for Your Local EcoWarrior

I LOVE the holidays! December has always been my favorite month (HELLO… it’s got the birthday AND Christmas and now Hanukkah as well- that’s the trifecta of awesomeness).  I love December because I have always enjoyed the gift giving.  December has also always been awkward for me because I’m not really good at the whole “asking for gifts” aspect of the gift giving holiday.  I LOVE giving gifts.  I’m just not as good with the receiving end of it   Every November (sometime after my Dad’s birthday) I get the calls from my Mom and sister… “Soooooooooooooooooooo, what do you want for your birthday? And while we’re at it, think on what you want for Christmas?” I actually feel bad for them because I am completely unhelpful (COMPLETELY unhelpful). I’m not trying to be unhelpful; I just feel bad asking for presents.  Is this just me?  I thought I was bad to shop for and then I met and now shop for my husband.  I mean seriously, what do you buy a man that doesn’t want anything because he doesn’t want to create waste or impact the environment too adversely?  For those of you who knew me growing up and thought I was an eco-geek, y’all need to meet Steve!

Steve and I were actually talking about this the other day.  His birthday was just a few ago and his family turned to me for help.  I tried to help but Steve was as helpful as I am to my family.  That in minds, we knew our folks were going to ask us what we want for our birthdays/Hanukkah/Christmas.  So we were discussing, “what do we tell them”? Why make it harder on our family?  So you know me, I scoured the internet and actually found some interesting websites.  I shared them with Steve and he agreed these were pretty good lists. So if you have hard-to-shop-for Eco Warriors this season here are some helpful sites and suggestions to help you out this holiday season. GOOD LUCK! ENJOY!

The Environmental Defense Fund has some of the best suggestions. Fair Trade Chocolate is the only thing Steve actually asked for this year.  In the past I’ve gotten presents for Steve that’s fallen under the “intangible section” according to the EDF. Tickets to concerts, donations to environmental organizations, etc.  One year his grandmother got him a year’s membership to the State parks.  It was a good excuse for us to get out and hike regularly.

The Treehugger’s Holiday Guide has good suggestions by category if you like to actually wrap something and give it to them, a bit more “tangible”.  The cool thing about their guide is that it has categories for your eco-warriors that also happen to be techies, foodies, fashionistas, etc.  It’s also on the EDF’s list of good websites.

Top 25 Environmental Gift Ideas by: Shannon Kilkenny is a few years old but is still actually a very good list!

Global Stewards has a good page listing websites that sell Fair Trade Products. 

So, if you have an EcoWarrior you are trying to celebrate the holidays with… I’m sorry… I know, I know, we don’t make it easy for you but hopefully this will help a little

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Round 2, Days 7/8/9 Workout

Whoo hoo!  All caught up and back on schedule. I am seriously sore from about my neck down to my ankles Haha. It feels good but at the same times it’s made laughing, sneezing, standing, sitting, etc. very interesting.  It feels good to know that I’m using my muscles but at the same time I am realizing how much I lost by taking such a long break in between my two rounds.  I’ll get back.  I know I will.

Technically, Day 7 was a rest day but I got plenty of that earlier this week.  But I did another 2 days worth of workouts today to get all caught up.  In lieu of Cardio X, I did the Intervals + workout.  It is some crazy major cardio.  It’s one of my favorite cardios 2nd to Kenpo Cardio +.  I also premiered Abs/Core + which is on the same video instead of Core Synergistics.  Unfortunately,  I do not have a pull up bar (yet) but I still wanted to try out the video.  Instead of doing the bar exercises, I substituted one of my “favorite” moves from the previous set.  At some point I’m sure I’ll get the bar but for now I’m going to work with what I have.

Today’s Workout
Day: 7/8/9
Program: P90X
Workout: Intervals Plus, Abs/Core Plus
Length: 1 hour and 5 minutes
Time: Evening
Place: Home
Buddies: N/A

Next Workout: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

Round 2, Days 5 and 6 Workout

Thanks the heavens that our leftovers are almost done.  I think we’ll be able to finish them up today because they are reeking havoc on my fitness but are so tasty.  Oh well, all in moderation, it’s only a few days out of the year.

On the other hand, not only did the holiday throw a screwball into my food intake but also my workout schedule (the migraine in the middle of the week didn’t help).  So on Saturday, I decided to play a little catch up.  I completed 2 days worth of workouts in one day.  I completed Legs & Back WITH the Ab Ripper X (I tend to skip the Ab Ripper when I’m doing longer workouts but I felt I owed it to myself to work myself hard) and then Kenpo.  Next time though, I think I’ll do the cardio before the weight training. I was seriously wonked out at the end of Kenpo, partially because it was at the end of a 2 hour work out but also because I switched out Kenpo X and did Kenpo Cardio Plus.  Although Kenpo X is a good workout there were just too many breaks in between the sets for me.  KC+ doesn’t stop and even during the breaks you’re moving around.  KC+ is seriously my favorite workout so far.  I still have to try out of the other Plus videos but that one is definitely a good one. On Sunday, I’m also going to try a double dose.  We’ll see how that works out.

Saturday’s Workout
Day: 5&6
Program: P90X
Workout: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper, and Kenpo Cardio Plus
Length: 2 hours
Time: Evening
Place: Home
Buddies: N/A

Next Workout: Core Synergistics and maybe Cardio X

Round 2, Day 4 workout

I am definitely a few days behind my schedule.  I had a load of work that needed to get done before the holiday compounded by a most wicked migraine that I finally got over this morning.  Not surprisingly, I’ve gained some weight with the reduced exercise and Thanksgiving dinner in there as well.  I am going to try to make up the last three workouts that I’ve missed.   This morning I did my Yoga (all 90 minutes of it), I was definitely all wobbly and off balanced today (which isn’t surprising) but it gives me a baseline for improvement.  I still haven’t gotten a good handle on Crane yet but I’m working on it.  I’m going to try to get in a second workout in today but I will see how my day goes.

Today’s Workout
Day: 4
Program: P90X
Workout: Yoga
Length: 1.5 hour
Time: Morning
Place: Home
Buddies: N/A

Tomorrow’s Workout: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

Round 2, Day 3

I got a late start this evening on my workout and so I wasn’t able to do the full workout.  This is my first strength training workout of this Round.  I decided to work out using my green bands (~10lb bands) but did not complete the Bonus Round or the Ab Ripper X.  I haven’t done any strength training in a while so I wanted to take it slow on this first time especially since my arms are still quite sore from the 2 Core Synergistics I did in the last week.  I’ll definitely add the Bonus Round in next week’s workout.  I do use bands instead of weights because it requires less equipment (“looping” the bands allows me to increase the resistance of the band).  The downside is that it is sometimes harder to track the resistance I am using in the workouts because I do “loop” and I’m not measuring or otherwise quantifying the loop.  Eventually, I’ll probably either get greater resistance bands or switch to weights.  For now I have a green (light, 10lb) band and a red (medium, 20 lb) band.  I use the green band mostly for upper body an the red band for back and lower body.

Today’s Workout
Day: 3
Program: P90X
Workout: Shoulders & Arms
Length: 1 hour
Time: Late Evening
Place: Home
Buddies: The cricket that sneaked a ride into the house on my yoga mat.

Tomorrow’s Workout: Yoga

Added Benefits of the P90X- 45 points down!

As many of you know, my job requires me to be medically monitored annually to check my hearing, eye sight, and blood work among other things.  Yes, it is a great annual joy to have someone stick me, miss the vein, and then root around looking for it about 2-3 times before they finally call the blood bank nurse to take my blood.  This past year, the nurse I had remembered me from last year and tried just once before getting the blood bank lady.  This is the first year I didn’t have my whole elbow area turn purple for about a week.

Well after all of that, and waiting around for a few weeks, I finally got my results back and lo and behold, my total cholesterol is down 45 points from my 2009 monitoring. 45 Points, that’s craziness! I’ve also gotten my bad cholestorol down 28 points.  WHOO HOO!  Last year when I got my bloodwork back, the doc said that I had to get serious about my weight and diet which is why I started with the p90X.  I’ll be honest, I have been discouraged about my lack of weight loss but now I’m seeing it from a different side.  WHOO HOO, 45 points down!  YEAH! happy dance happy dance!  Now I just have to deal with the fact that my arms are all sore from the pushups in CoreSynergistics and I think I’ll have a good day. Yeah!