CL/PH2/WK4/Day4: XStretch
Good morning,
Haven't done XStretch yet, but I enjoy it so much that you can be sure I'll get it in before the day is done.
Traci - 45 mins gone up in e-smoke?! MADDENING!! A suggestion: when I type long posts (when DON'T I?!) I frequently highlight the text, then use the right mouse button to "copy". If I lose my text, in whatever program, I just have to hit the right mouse button and click "paste." I liked reading about your friends and your dinner. 50 years old and still qualifying for marathons? I can only dream!! I'll bet your success with P90X must be inspiring for them, too!! LOL about becoming a dog toy if you lie on the floor. Funny, babies have a tendancy to do the same thing! Thank heavens they're much smaller! My DH actually made himself a decent lunch today. Now let's just hope he eats it! I'm on the verge of deciding to let my hair grow long. I just can't get to the hairdresser's. I'd love to be able to just throw it up in pony tails. The "growing it out" stage is always so nasty, though. I hope SOMETHING works to help you get longer sleep. Insomnia is one of the most aggravating things there is.
Monica - I'm thinking about you today! I have the Shivea Yoga Shakti dvd and have barely used it. I got it when I wasn't making much time for yoga. In my post P90X life I see myself using it more frequently for sure. I like the matrix a lot. A suggestion I have for more yoga is the Namaste series. It's not really hard, but they have very nice flows that just leave you feeling refreshed. And they're 22 mins long, but you can do the warm up from one, then string together as many flows from the different workouts as you want (they're about 12 mins each), then finish with a cool down. Very enjoyable.
Dr. Tracy - 22 pounds for bicep work? NICE!! And Cardio Fusion as a warm up? Sounds very intense! You really brought it good yesterday! Thank you for your words of thesis advice. I always benefit from hearing comments like that. I was pretty depressed by time I went to bed last night, so thank you. I have never purchased Nutella, and DD#1 has never tasted it - I KNOW if that jar makes its way into our house we will all be finished. Good on your son for throwing it out! I would not have the fortitude....You eat 2 tablespoons of flax oil every day? That's around 240 calories. Do you factor that into your eating? I typically have 1 tablespoon of the ground flax seeds. If I ever get around to buying the oil again, I will use it in my salad dressing, but that will still only be about a teaspoon a day. How do you incorporate 2 tbsps a day, without it becoming excess calories? I'm curious, because I'd love to do that; I just don't want to gain weight!
Jeanette - LOL! Do they really call themselves the Garage Boys? And how did you meet them? Your workout was probably much more fun with a group then alone on your trainer, I imagine. I have no idea what you're talking about with your "levels" and "zones", so I'm just going to say "Yay on finding a new way to do your workout"! Change is good. I had pancakes for dinner last night, too. I love pancakes. DD#1 does, as well, so we have them for dinner about once every three weeks. I make them with whole wheat flour, but will add chocolate chips. I find if I put a few ch.chips in them, I don't need to add much (if any) syrup. I always serve them with turkey breakfast sausages that are quite high in protein and low in fat. The family loves them, too. This is one meal where everything gets gobbled up. I always throw a vegetable on the plates, because I simply can't call it "dinner" if there's no vegetable. Last night it was corn. And DH and I had our standard side salads. So, I don't feel like I kicked the nutritional bucket, but got a nice "treat" supper. I once had sourdough pancakes made with "starter" that originated 100 years ago. Well, that would be 107 years, now. I think it's really neat how you can keep something going like that. I don't think DH has Big Gear. I'll have to check which ones he does have. Not many - they're very pricey. I hope my DH is like yours when it comes to the regular workouts - it sounds like he's starting to take some initiative. Seeing some results probably helped him in that regard?
DB - if you're going lower than the women in your YogaX lunges, then you're doing terrific. That's tough! I can go lower on one side than the other, but I think I generally I hover around the 90 degree mark. I agree with you about the leg-side-twist move in Yoga Belly 7. The second version of that is, for me, the absolute hardest move in the entire workout. I've seen improvement, but it still feels very uncomfortable and I don't think my form is very good. But one day it will be better! I just have to keep pushing play.
Laurie - I have the same question about the froggie. Some days I seem to be able to get lower than others, but I think it might be because I'm at a different angle. Oh well. That stretch, at ANY angle, will do some good! It's a tough one for me. Curling, eh? How Canadian! Why the heck are they doing that? And all your yoga and core syn work will prepare you well for that. Enjoy! "Haaaard! Haaaaaaaaaaaard!"
Lea - Good job on getting as much of YogaX done as you did. I got to relax by doing it during DD's nap - when I was supposed to be working on my thesis. So, I was slacking off in more ways than one! I'm currently training DD#2 to amuse herself while I workout. I did this with DD#1, and find that it doesn't take too long for them to learn how to cope. I make it easier on all of us by turning the small kitchen tv onto the preschool channel, and setting out a snack. During a one hour workout, DD#2 will watch a bit of tv, eat her snack, play in the playroom for a bit, come and visit me in the living room (have to watch I don't bonk her), try to copy me a bit (her sphinx push ups the other day were impressive), then go back to playing/eating/watching tv. Sometimes I have to take short breaks to assist her with something, but that's not very frequent. I love your addiction. It's better than online gaming!!
Debra!! The Prodigal X-er! Great to see you back! Your week away sounds just delightful. I'm very envious. What was the tastiest thing you ate? The most interesting thing you saw? The best thing you did? What is your tattoo a picture of, and where is it??
I've spent some time figuring out DH's rotation. We finally crystallized a goal for him that he finds motivational. He wants to be in decent condition by early May, when cycling season starts. That's three months away. About perfect for a 90 day rotation. He's going to start tonight, and for 2 weeks, just alternate P90 Scuplt 1-2 and Sweat/abs 1-2. The plan for the first week of these is just to do them; to view them as rehearsal and learning. Next week, he can focus on finding a challenging weight load, and his heart rate. By the third week we will start to add some variety by subbing a TimeSaver Spinerval for one of the cardios. As the weeks go by, we'll be increasing the cycling workouts to probably 2 cardios a week. As his conditioning increases and he starts to get bored, we'll move on to the Sculpt 3-4 and Sweat/abs 3-4, then eventually to the P90Masters Sculpt 5-6 and Sweat 5-6.
The P90 series also came with an "Express" workout which is a live workout done in Hawaii. It's very much like CardioX, but they use a medicine ball (optional) with many of the moves. For anyone wanting to add intensity to PlyoX, pick up a medicine ball!! It looks ingenious. We also received P90Masters' Plyo/Legs, which is just another version of PlyoX: many of the same moves, but not in repeated segments. It may be slightly easier than PlyoX - no tuck jumps or rock star hops.
So, between CardioX, P90 "Express", Plyo/Legs, and Sweat 1-2,3-4,&5-6, and the Spinervals, I'd say I have tons of cardio options for DH. I like that they all have a bit of yoga in them, too. DH needs to work on his flexibility. For total body weight work we have Sculpt 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6. Hopefully by time he's comfortable at the 5-6 level he'll be willing to go to split workouts, and maybe even be willing to try P90X. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here! One week at a time....
Jeanette, what are the key areas to work on to enhance long-distance cycling performance? Legs, glutes, core? Upper body endurance-type work?
Have a good day,
Sandra
