End of week 10!

Today marks the end of week 10.  I'm nearing the finish of this crazy program.  Hard to believe that 10 weeks has gone by since starting in December.  One thing that I have noticed is I don't worry about doing the workouts, I worry about what time I can do it during the day.  When I first started I was anxious about what the next day would bring.  All I want now is to work out and get in shape!  I'm very glad my wife bought this program, because without it, I would have never gone this far.  Plus, she has the one that got me to eat better.  I owe most of my progress to her. 

So after a day of good stretching, I'm ready for taekwondo tonight.  My new goal outside of training is to complete a full 540 kick.  I know that mechanics of it, and now I need to put them in motion.  I'm not sure why I'm so anxious to try all of these crazy moves before I need to, other than the fact that I find them fun and challenging.  They look pretty flashy too :)

Getting Xtreme

Well I really pushed it to the limit today, about to the point where I wanted to crash to the ground from exhaustion.  It was a Core day, and I'm feeling it everywhere.  It is about time in my routine to really start going for muscle failure, especially if I want to see lasting results.  Some of the core exercises are becoming relatively easy, and more weight will  be needed next week.  The bananas, boats, and supermans are not as strenuous anymore, but still give me the workout that I desire.  Now I need to focus on getting my arms and legs up a little higher, to challenge myself.  I'm entering week 11 on tuesday, so its crunch time now.  My body keeps changing, and although it's not as drastic a change as I had hoped for, I'm very happy with progress thus far.  There is still a few weeks left, so that will give me time to really bring it.  Looking forward to stretching tomorrow, it will be great!  Then it's off to taekwondo lol.  So I don't really have much of a rest day, but I do need the martial arts training.  I may get tired, but I try to keep in mind that it only makes me stronger in the end. 

Calories, be gone!

Sweating like hell here!  Today's workout was kenpo X, and what a great workout today.  My twists and pivots are getting much better, and the punching series is finally coming together.  I'm not so uncoordinated with the combination of moves.  I'm still trying to get faster with the step-punch-drag-punch, and that wasn't too bad today either.  It still needs work, but as long as I'm busting my butt here, I'm not worried about it.  Kenpo is excellent for burning calories -- today I got rid of 660 of them.  Seeing those high numbers really makes me happy.  I think I have a great routine going for fitness, but I still need more focus on my diet.  I guess the occasional treat is okay :)

Last night we had a fantastic taekwondo class.  We did a lot of three-man drills, with kicks, and did the forms training that I was hoping for.  I got some feedback on things that need tweeking, or things I could sharpen up.  Overall it was a great workout, and I'm sure I burned a heck of a lot of calories there too.  It was also the extended class, which basically equals two classes worth of instruction.  Plus, since no one showed up for demo team, we did another 30-40 minutes of messing around with some judo and more difficult kicks.  The instructor is doing some research for me on how to do a 540 kick and a 540 back kick.  I only need to learn the latter of the two, but I just wanted to know a 540 kick for board breaking and demonstration purposes.  I gave it a shot last night, and I got the kick part down, but the landing needs work.  Not bad for my first tries.  Had an excellent evening of training, love it!

Yoga belly

It was another great yoga workout.  My body is feeling better because I was able to really twist and stretch today.  My hamstrings are a little tight, but other than that it was smooth sailing.  That right angle pose whooped on  me again, but I'll  get it down soon.  Usually I skip the yoga belly routine, but I decided to do it today.  Ouch!  Haha, it didn't really hurt that much, but my abs were burning up.  It was such a short session, yet it worked so many different muscles.  Although I was grunting and sweating like crazy, it felt good to get it done.  I'll be going to taekwondo tonight, first time in a week.  Looking forward to the class, and hopefully we get to work on forms tonight.  I'm pretty confident in the other belt level skills that I need to know, but I could always use work on the forms. 

Feeling good today :)

After about five days of feeling crappy, and not so fun workouts, today provided a much more productive workout.  It was back and biceps today, with the wonderful ab ripper.  Talk about an upper body workout today, WOW!  It was back to glamorizing and it burned like hell lol.  Lots of pull ups and curls today, and the occasional back workout, which coincidentally worked the arms and core at the same time.  A bunch of things going on in just a few simple movements.  Well, the movements are simple, but they burn depending on the size of your weights.  Sometimes I feel like I'm getting stronger, others I feel like nothing is going on.  But I think that is just because my muscles need that recovery time in between.  Toward the end of every recovery week I notice changes in my physique.  That keeps me going, knowing that what I am doing is not just for fun.  I'm trying to get something out of this whole workout and eating right routine.  I work hard (well at least I think I am!), and I've finally given in to the fact that results take time and effort.

What's goin on here?

So my weight has been consistent over the past month, but today I feel self-conscious about the way I'm looking.  I guess I'm expecting results faster than they are coming in :(  This sucks, because I work my ass off, and changed my diet; yet it sometimes seems like my tummy is expanding, not shaping up.  My arms, chest, and legs, on the other hand, are toning up nicely, and I'm more than happy with progress in those areas.  I can't wait to start running again when the weather warms up, at least a couple days a week.  That would burn off some of the excess junk I'm carrying around.   

Ohhhh I'm hurtin' today

It was a rough chest, shoulder, and tricep workout today.  I had to lighten the load on quite a few exercises, and my reps were a little low.  I'm blaming it on the bug I have, or maybe I'm still recovering from last week's upper body routines -- who knows.  All I know is that today was a struggle.  And then ab ripper was no picnic either.  Some of the exercises were tougher than normal, and my reps/form were not to standard.  I did what I could, but toward the end I didn't even want to get off the floor.  My body was actually shaking from the struggle.  I need to do a weigh-in today, and I'll post again tomorrow with what my weight is.  I burned quite a few calories this morning, and hopefully some more fat around my lower abdominal area.  The upper abs are starting to come around, but I still got a small band of goop around the obliques and lower abs.  I found some good core/ab yoga exercises that I am going to try out, and they look like they'll do the trick.  Never realized how much yoga can do for those nicks and crannies on your body.  My wife bought me a yoga magazine yesterday and I found it to be very good reading.  The website for the journal is great too, with a library of information on yoga and health.