Day 6 and 7: One week down!

Legs and back plus ab ripper on Friday. Good workout but I need to get resistance bands to make any progress with pull ups. I have some issues with my right arm (tennis elbow or something similar) and even with a chair I can’t get a decent workout.

Saturday was KenpoX and it was  a lot of fun – except for the pain. I took karate in college and was a pretty good green belt so a lot of the exercises were familiar. Some of the multiple punch combos took some time to get the hang of but all in all a great / practical workout.

Saturday afternoon I went to Sports authority to get resistance bands.  They had a huge selection of top quality bands in a dozen resistance levels but guess what – not a single handle in the store!? Being a former retailer all I can see is the huge investment in band inventory that has zero chance of being sold – crazy – just crazy.

Dropped into SuperWalmart for groceries and found what I think might be a decent set of resistance bands. They contain three bands each which can easily be disconnected to adjust tension. I’ll only use them for pull ups – we’ll see how they work out. I am keeping the receipt just in case. Also bought some eye of round steaks for protein as a break from chicken.

Sunday…rest, blessed rest.

I think…I repeat think that I am starting to see the slightest amount of fat loss. The love handles I have (and they weren’t huge to start with) seems to be a little less obvious. Could be wishful thinking. But any positive change after only one week is encouraging. After giving up my beloved sweet tea for a week I deserve something.

P90X. You can NOT be serious?!

Actually I am. One of my daughters has shown a real interest in fitness and I am not getting any younger so I thought to myself…Self. How many times have you seen guys just like you who live their lives not execrcising and eating whatever they want until one day they have a heart attack and THEN decide to modify their behavior. Plenty. Well that’s just stupid. Why not skip the potentially lethal heart attack and modify my lifestyle now. So that’s my plan – my most recent plan. Let’s see where that goes.

Being a frugal guy I tried to find a used P90X set on Craigslist. Several were listed but one guy was out of town and never called back or the set had already been sold. Used sets were listed for $75-$85. I finally broke down and bought it legitimately from BeachBody because I had committed to my daughter that we would start March 1, 2010.

The purchase process.
It was as I expected except they really had the “add on” sales pitch – even heavier than GoDaddy add-ons which is truly hard core. P90X had no less than 8 pitches. Pull up bar, resistance bands, and protein shakes? No/ How about just the pullup bar? No? How about a lifetime warranty on the discs? No? On and on it went. How about a single pay instead of the three payment option? (Me: Is there a discount for that? No? Then – No thanks, I’ll spread it out). The final insult to my intelligence is the free EXPRESS shipping. Their version of EXPRESS shipping is 5-7 business days. What?! Really? Their normal shipping is 2-3 weeks. Pleeeeease.

Bottom line $69.41 today and the $39.99 in 30 and then again in 60 days for a grand total of $149.31.

Here’s how I justify it. I do not and never have had a gym membership. My daughter and I will both use it, so that right there effectively cuts the price in half. If I can stay healthy and avoid the use of meds and a heart attack – well, $150 bucks is a bargain.

The big question. Will I use it and stick with it.

Warning: “Before” pictures coming soon.

P.S. I left the below posts (From 2008!) to emphasize that I am just like many of you – I have lots of good intentions. Of course we all know about good intentions…

P.S.S. I did get heavily into tennis (USTA 3.5) in the time since this post and played 2 to three times a week. Assuming this P90X thing sticks I plan to play as much tennis but on tennis days let that be my workout. Because…well tennis is way more fun than working out.

A Plan Begins To Form

All this is tentative but I am starting to see a plan form…

Start date July 1. Commit to 90 days.
- Cut out most sugar, high fructose corn syrup and other obviously bad food choices such as candy bars, ice cream, chocolate etc.
- For most meals I don’t plan to limit quantity but try to cut out some fats and eat more fruits and vegetables. Less bread.
- Exercise. Three days a week I will do a serious workout of at least a two mile jog (or cardio clinic)
- Exercise. Three other days per week I will do some sort of exercise. Plan right now is push ups and sit ups at home.

That’s what I’m thinking right now…Stay tuned