Showing posts with label P90X. Show all posts
Showing posts with label P90X. Show all posts
Monday, January 3, 2011
Starting the Year With A Round Of Power 90
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I have always made a point not to make New Year's resolutions. Mostly because I've never been able to keep them. In fact the only resolution I was able to keep was a resolution not to make a New Year's resolution. I was in college, thought I was being clever. Anyway, I thought this year it might be good to start the year off with another round of Power 90. I have already done one round last summer and lost a good chunk of weight doing it. This time round I hope to lose the last 10 pounds or and gain some muscle mass and tone. I am planning on upgrading to P90X this next summer but I can't afford to buy it right now, though I think another round of Power 90 will work just fine. Last time a flamed out a bit the last month so hopefully this time I will not miss any workouts. If anyone is interested in joining me in a round of Power 90 let me know. It is a lot easier doing any workout if you have someone to do it with and keep each other accountable! I would love to have some buddies to go through the program with. Just leave me a comment if you're interested. I'm starting this round of Power 90 tomorrow. Hope everyone is off to a great start in 2011. Happy year!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Fibro Check-in
(The Editor Here)
I finally have some good news on the Fibro Front. I am now down to two medications that I take daily, as opposed to five. Getting off of them was no picnic. Unbeknownst to me, Cymbalta, an anti-depressant that helps manage pain in fibro patients, has terrible withdrawal symptoms. I've more or less had migraine symptoms for a month now, thanks to the withdrawal. My head still throbs if I look left or right, though up and down is ok, for some reason. It's not nearly as bad as it was in the beginning of the month, but it's definitely worse when I'm tired.
I've noticed a lot of things going back to normal now that I'm off all of those meds, things I didn't realize weren't normal. I didn't know that insomnia was a side-effect of Cymbalta, and now I'm sleeping much better, even without Ambien. (Insomnia is both a symptom of fibro, and something that makes the pain much worse if it continues.) I don't know if it's related, but I'm eating less, too. I don't have the desire, and I'm not complaining about it.
So far, I'm down four pounds from the beginning of the summer. I'd love to say that I've achieved fantastic results like my hubby, but I can't do anything to the intensity that P90 demands. For example, I'm very sore today from the Ultimate Frisbee last night. For Aaron, it's best that he continues with his daily workouts. If I do that, I'll flare, especially with where I'm sore, which is my lower back. Bad juju, dude.
I've been thinking of posting some of the exercises I invented that one can do with a counter. While working at the hardware store over the summer, I sometimes had to stand with nothing to do but lean on a counter for long periods of time. I figured out a number of things that helped my back and built up my abs, but I'm afraid if I post instructions that someone will sue me if they are stupid and get hurt. I'll make a decision soon.
I hope you all are finding progress in your journey to fitness, even if it's not nearly as quick as you'd like it to be.
I finally have some good news on the Fibro Front. I am now down to two medications that I take daily, as opposed to five. Getting off of them was no picnic. Unbeknownst to me, Cymbalta, an anti-depressant that helps manage pain in fibro patients, has terrible withdrawal symptoms. I've more or less had migraine symptoms for a month now, thanks to the withdrawal. My head still throbs if I look left or right, though up and down is ok, for some reason. It's not nearly as bad as it was in the beginning of the month, but it's definitely worse when I'm tired.
I've noticed a lot of things going back to normal now that I'm off all of those meds, things I didn't realize weren't normal. I didn't know that insomnia was a side-effect of Cymbalta, and now I'm sleeping much better, even without Ambien. (Insomnia is both a symptom of fibro, and something that makes the pain much worse if it continues.) I don't know if it's related, but I'm eating less, too. I don't have the desire, and I'm not complaining about it.
So far, I'm down four pounds from the beginning of the summer. I'd love to say that I've achieved fantastic results like my hubby, but I can't do anything to the intensity that P90 demands. For example, I'm very sore today from the Ultimate Frisbee last night. For Aaron, it's best that he continues with his daily workouts. If I do that, I'll flare, especially with where I'm sore, which is my lower back. Bad juju, dude.
I've been thinking of posting some of the exercises I invented that one can do with a counter. While working at the hardware store over the summer, I sometimes had to stand with nothing to do but lean on a counter for long periods of time. I figured out a number of things that helped my back and built up my abs, but I'm afraid if I post instructions that someone will sue me if they are stupid and get hurt. I'll make a decision soon.
I hope you all are finding progress in your journey to fitness, even if it's not nearly as quick as you'd like it to be.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
From the wisdom of magnets comes this thought
My good buddy Steve has a set of those refrigerator magnets that you can use to spell out different sentences and words. His happens to be a troll word set. My favorite saying that we wrote out was, "You Are Suck!" That is totally how a feel right now.
My Celtic band had a gig tonight for a bunch of kids. It was a ton of fun, but two other groups that were suppose to perform backed out at the last minute. So we went from warm-up act to main event. Normally, I'd be thrilled about that. Not today though. I failed to mention that this was an outside gig, on a baseball diamond, in 106 degree weather! So we played for an hour non-stop in blazing sun without any shade. Yeah, you are WAY SUCK!! In the end we had a great time and the kids loved it, so I guess that's the most important thing.
It also meant we got home late and I hadn't done my daily workout yet, though I'd argue that playing an hour in intense heat was a workout. I learned a valuable lesson in sticking something out tonight. It's now 11:30 at night and I just finished an hour of cardio. UGH!! Every core of my body said go to sleep and skip your workout. But there was this one tiny little voice in the back of my head saying don't do it. You're doing well, don't start slipping now. Thank goodness that little voice won out. I proved to myself tonight that I can do this even when it gets hard and I don't want to. That being said, I probably didn't workout quite as hard as usual, but I did it. That's all that matters at the moment. "You Are Suck"; maybe, but not tonight.
My Celtic band had a gig tonight for a bunch of kids. It was a ton of fun, but two other groups that were suppose to perform backed out at the last minute. So we went from warm-up act to main event. Normally, I'd be thrilled about that. Not today though. I failed to mention that this was an outside gig, on a baseball diamond, in 106 degree weather! So we played for an hour non-stop in blazing sun without any shade. Yeah, you are WAY SUCK!! In the end we had a great time and the kids loved it, so I guess that's the most important thing.
It also meant we got home late and I hadn't done my daily workout yet, though I'd argue that playing an hour in intense heat was a workout. I learned a valuable lesson in sticking something out tonight. It's now 11:30 at night and I just finished an hour of cardio. UGH!! Every core of my body said go to sleep and skip your workout. But there was this one tiny little voice in the back of my head saying don't do it. You're doing well, don't start slipping now. Thank goodness that little voice won out. I proved to myself tonight that I can do this even when it gets hard and I don't want to. That being said, I probably didn't workout quite as hard as usual, but I did it. That's all that matters at the moment. "You Are Suck"; maybe, but not tonight.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Aaron's Story
My name is Aaron Morgenstern, and I’m a 30-year-old music teacher in Billings Montana. I’m married to a wonderful wife and we have a two-year-old son. I play in two bands, one as a saxophonist in a ten-piece classic rock band, and as a guitarist in a Celtic/Bluegrass/Whatever-We-Want-To-Play band. I also sing in a semi-professional vocal ensemble. These three activities, being a father and husband, and my day job take up most of my time, much to the chagrin of my wife.
I have made very little time over the last eight years to take care of myself. I wasn’t in great shape in college, but I was young enough to be able to rock climb on a regular basis and play ultimate frisbee with my friends twice a week, eat pizza, and still keep my weight reasonably low.
That all changed when I started my career. Being a band director is a great job. I love working with high school students, crazy, I know. Unfortunately, music at the H.S. level is a HUGE time commitment. It’s not uncommon for me to be to school by 7:30 in the morning and not get home until 10:30 or so in the evening. Between concerts, pep band, and other music trips, the hours can be quite long. I still love it, but it has caused me to pay very little attention to my health.
I weighed somewhere around 200 pounds when I started teaching. This year, at the end of the school year, I tipped the scale at 230 pounds. YIKES! I didn’t feel all that well anymore, and when I would play ultimate frisbee or rock climb I could hardly move the next day. There was also my my wife and son to consider. Being a parent has completely changed my perspective on life. I love being a father and I love my son. I realized that if I didn’t do something now about my health, my son could potentially lose me to some horrible disease long before he should. There is a strong history of type 2 diabetes on both sides of my family.
My wife has gently be prodding me to do something about my weight and health for several years. (Ahem. The Editor, I mean, wife, wasn't exactly gentle.) My biggest excuse was not having the time to do it. Sounds familiar, right? My doctor has a great quote in his office: “People who don’t make time for diet and exercise now will have to make time for illness later.” That was me. So, I finally decided to do something about it.
My sister in-law had a copy of Tony Horton’s Power 90 fitness program. She lent it to me and I’ve been using it for about a month and a half now. I was going to buy his P90X program, but it’s hard to say no to free. I’ve actually been able to stick to it. It was hard at first, I was a lot more out of shape than I thought I was. I was pretty much constantly sore the first week. I felt just like I did after I would go out a play a game of frisbee or some other physical activity. But it kept getting better, each week I wouldn’t be quite as sore and I started to notice that I felt better. I had more energy, which is good for keeping up with a two-year-old, and the workouts have gotten easier.
I’m not quite halfway through the program of 90 days, but, as of today, I weigh 215 pounds. I’ve lost 15 pounds since June 8th. I think that’s pretty good for 6 weeks of working out. I still have a long way to go. Figuring out how to keep healthy habits during the school year will be tricky between eating fast food on every pep band trip and trying to make time for workouts in an insane schedule.
But, I finally feel up to the challenge. Getting in shape has become a bit of an obsession. ("A bit?" the Editor asks, thick with sarcasm.) My younger sister just ran a half-marathon. I’m starting to think it might be possible for me to do that at some point in the future. As of right now I’m very motivated and excited about how I’m feeling and starting to look. Good luck to all of you on your own journeys. Let me know how you are doing.
I have made very little time over the last eight years to take care of myself. I wasn’t in great shape in college, but I was young enough to be able to rock climb on a regular basis and play ultimate frisbee with my friends twice a week, eat pizza, and still keep my weight reasonably low.
That all changed when I started my career. Being a band director is a great job. I love working with high school students, crazy, I know. Unfortunately, music at the H.S. level is a HUGE time commitment. It’s not uncommon for me to be to school by 7:30 in the morning and not get home until 10:30 or so in the evening. Between concerts, pep band, and other music trips, the hours can be quite long. I still love it, but it has caused me to pay very little attention to my health.
I weighed somewhere around 200 pounds when I started teaching. This year, at the end of the school year, I tipped the scale at 230 pounds. YIKES! I didn’t feel all that well anymore, and when I would play ultimate frisbee or rock climb I could hardly move the next day. There was also my my wife and son to consider. Being a parent has completely changed my perspective on life. I love being a father and I love my son. I realized that if I didn’t do something now about my health, my son could potentially lose me to some horrible disease long before he should. There is a strong history of type 2 diabetes on both sides of my family.
My wife has gently be prodding me to do something about my weight and health for several years. (Ahem. The Editor, I mean, wife, wasn't exactly gentle.) My biggest excuse was not having the time to do it. Sounds familiar, right? My doctor has a great quote in his office: “People who don’t make time for diet and exercise now will have to make time for illness later.” That was me. So, I finally decided to do something about it.
My sister in-law had a copy of Tony Horton’s Power 90 fitness program. She lent it to me and I’ve been using it for about a month and a half now. I was going to buy his P90X program, but it’s hard to say no to free. I’ve actually been able to stick to it. It was hard at first, I was a lot more out of shape than I thought I was. I was pretty much constantly sore the first week. I felt just like I did after I would go out a play a game of frisbee or some other physical activity. But it kept getting better, each week I wouldn’t be quite as sore and I started to notice that I felt better. I had more energy, which is good for keeping up with a two-year-old, and the workouts have gotten easier.
I’m not quite halfway through the program of 90 days, but, as of today, I weigh 215 pounds. I’ve lost 15 pounds since June 8th. I think that’s pretty good for 6 weeks of working out. I still have a long way to go. Figuring out how to keep healthy habits during the school year will be tricky between eating fast food on every pep band trip and trying to make time for workouts in an insane schedule.
But, I finally feel up to the challenge. Getting in shape has become a bit of an obsession. ("A bit?" the Editor asks, thick with sarcasm.) My younger sister just ran a half-marathon. I’m starting to think it might be possible for me to do that at some point in the future. As of right now I’m very motivated and excited about how I’m feeling and starting to look. Good luck to all of you on your own journeys. Let me know how you are doing.
Aaron and Janet are Ready to De-Pudgy-fy.
The band geeks are doing fat camp, Beachbody-style. We teach band, choir, and general music just outside of Billings, MT. We were introduced to Beachbody products at our school and from our family members. We had heard a lot of good feedback from several different people, some of them from the military, who use P90X to train while deployed. We're here to tell you our stories and use you to keep us accountable.
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