Day 93

Week 12, Day 6 Eccentric Lower done after my 5k. Yep that is right the guy who "doesn't run" ran today. The 5k was the L.C. Sammons 5k Donut Dash. It started at 8 am and went until all the runners were done. The goal was to raise money for the youth center and at the same time get people off their butts, oh and have some fun with doughnuts. The idea of the Donut Dash was to run the 1 mile path and then consume 3 doughnuts then run the 1 mile path then consume 3 more doughnuts and then finish the race. Sounds simple enough.

I haven't run since about 1995 or 96 after I hurt my back in "the" car wreck. I have tried once on a treadmill for about 10 minutes. It was probably in 1996, but I can't be sure of the date. I was told after the wreck by my orthopedic doctor at The Texas Back Institute to 1. No working out for 2 years, 2. No running ever and 3. No situps ever. He then explained why the three restrictions and after the pain I had in my back, I was pretty ok with what he told me. My body would regret it and I would as well, but what did he know. He only ever wanted to do surgeries and I was not quite a candidate yet, but if I didn't workout much from now on, my inevitable pathway would lead right to his OR table. Maybe he really does things that way maybe not. Either way my end result without working out much and never working on my core would eventually land me in his pudgy hands again. When I did run that one time on the treadmill, I regretted it immensely because the pain I had put me down for about 2 days in severe pain. Today, I have not had any flare ups so far. Crossing fingers!

Like I said, I haven't ran in a long, long time. As the race time approached, I got a little anxious as to how I was going to do. Not running for so long, I wasn't sure how to do it. I know how to run, but I have not made my body really move that way, at least not on purpose for so long. I was always the guy that said, "I don't run. If a bear is chasing me, he is getting a good meal." I was pretty adamant about not running. I had watched countless friends either people I had daily contact with or on FB talk about their 5K, 10K, half and full marathons. Jogging on the bike path for the last 7 years in Rhode Island. I did bike, but no running. People ride their bikes, jog, walk, roller blade and whatever else on that bike path. It's a lovely time and usually a good workout if you put some miles in. The time building up the race gave me a slight amount of anxiety and not knowing anyone or almost anyone there in a town I basically grew up in is also a bit disturbing. It's tough to come back to a place you once lived but really know nothing about or the people in it. I KNEW them at one time, but I haven't known them for some time. Even being friends with them on FB doesn't mean I know them. I am acquainted with them, but you miss a lot if you base your complete knowledge base on anyone solely on FB.

As the time approached we all lined up and of course the younger kids all anxious to get out in the lead jumped up front. It was kind of fun to watch their excitement. We never really had things like this when I was growing up, although it was a long time ago and my memory isn't what it used to be. The guy called the start and I started walking for a few steps and then decided to go ahead and test the waters with running or rather jogging. Funny to think that I was jogging, but for most of them in the front they were jogging at what would most likely be my top end run/sprint speed. One woman, whom I never caught up to was power walking and no matter that I would walk then jog then repeat, I never caught up to her. Needless to say I got to the back of the pack pretty fast and while I wasn't the real tail end of the group. I was pretty far back after the first half mile.

I decided to create little areas in the path as I was going through it to jog and then walk. I tried to continue this process all the way through the race. It worked for the most part, but one thing I know that is very different from what I have been doing and what I did today is that the lower impact I have been staying with on my usual workouts feels different on my ankles and feet than putting feet to pavement. I was able to keep my pace pretty good. I did alternate the walk/jog routine quite a bit, but I felt I was doing well. I had an imagined time of around 30 to 35 minutes to get it done, but that was not to be. My time was 47:32 or right around there and after seeing some of the better runners times, I didn't feel that bad about my time. One thing I did like is that I was lapped by a few people, but most that did, did so near the end of the 2nd lap. I was a mile and a half in before anyone lapped me. My legs were tired and slightly jello like afterwards.

When I got home I hit the hot tub and then rested for a couple of hours. Around 1 pm I did my Eccentric Lower workout. I felt really good when I did that workout as well. I ended up breaking a good sweat, more so than I did with the run. I am glad I didn't eat of the donuts, but if I had, I would have easily burned them off today between both workouts. That workout signaled the final "hard" workout of the program. I have Dynamix tomorrow then start Victory Week on Monday. Isometrix is the first workout and while it is hard for me, it is not a resistance workout and is really only hard for me due to my poor balance. I am going to add 3 extra days of cardio next week. I want to get as much of a burn in this last week as I can. I have already talked about backing into the finish line vs. sprinting. I didn't have to do any burpees today, but I still needed to do pushups. I did 25 before leaving for the race, 25 after getting back, 25 before my workout and then 25 after the workout. The last 50 seemed harder, but that last 25 seemed the hardest. I didn't use my upper body at all today, but pushups use legs and core for stabilization and I think I was just fatigued from the 2 workouts today. I got them all done and hope I am not too sore tomorrow because I have 50 burpees tomorrow.

I think, for my last day of heavy work with this program, I feel like I did great today and am not unhappy at all with how my run or workout went. I am excited to see that I can add something so easy as running into my training routine (not that running is easy) and get some different results and increase my fitness. If my back holds out, I might be working up to that half marathon territory. First though, I will need to get through tomorrow without any back pain then start to incorporate running into my program. Baby steps as it were. All I can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and often and as fast as I can and repeat.

Day 92

Week 12, Day 5 Pilates X done. Pilates has not been my strongest point amongst all these workouts. I don't hate it, but I haven't gotten to where I really enjoy it. I do like the core/ab work and can feel it. I am still so week in my core that I have a real tough time doing this workout, but since we only do it say 6 times total during the 90 days, I don't feel all that bad about how it's been going. I know as I lose more weight and keep working my core, I will get stronger there and be able to enjoy this workout more and more.

Tomorrow is the Eccentric Upper and the very last hard "work" of this program. I will say that Isometrix will be tough for me as balance is still an issue, but other than that all I have in that week without adding on to it is Accelerator. However, I have planned to add cardio on to what I am doing next week. I will be looking over this on Sunday and trying to figure out what would be the best thing to do. It will be interesting to see what kind of hybrid week I can come up with that won't derail me and aid in burning that last bit of fat I can and maybe help shed a couple of more pounds before that day 90 mark.

Tomorrow is also the 5k at Cooper Park. I am ready to get out there and give this running thing a whirl. It's cloudy today and tomorrow, but it's not supposed to rain until later on tomorrow and the 5k is at 8 am. I am sure we will have no issues. The weather has been great here for the most part. Yesterday it was really nice and decided to try the legs out a bit. I got on the road and did 30 minutes of walking. I don't know exactly how far I actually walked, but I will be mapping the route I did yesterday when I get out today and see how far it was. I think it was about 1.5 to 2 miles total. There are a lot of hills around here, so some of the walking on a steep grade at times. I am looking forward to when I can get a bike and get some good miles in.

My knee felt ok during the walk and has felt pretty good today. I only did pilates and my burpees. The burpees are much harder and I did feel my knee a little then, but not really to the point of causing me to not do anything. I am thinking this "strain" is just that and the ligaments have had a slight stretching with that kick because I kicked the leg out without any flexing in the muscles in my leg. I think this would have held my leg better and not caused this to happen. When you get tired this is when you get injured because you get lazy and don't practice good form. You have to always practice good form or you will get injured.

I am feeling quite accomplished for this workout almost being done. I have lost around 50 lbs and while I am still about 65 to 90 lbs from where I want to be, I will continue to get closer. I say 65 to 90 because I set my goal to 235 and if I am at 300 then 65 lbs is the first main goal. My weight when I got married was right at 210 and I am 90 lbs away from that. I would love to be at that weight just once more or for my life, whatever I can do. I do plan to bulk up after I get down to at least my goal weight. The bulk up will be muscle as well, not fat bulking. I would love to 1 time get a really big look and ripped as well. If I can do that once, I might be completely satisfied, or not but at least I would be able to say I have done it. I am not too concerned with being Mr. Olympia or anything like that, but I know with my size, I can handle a bigger weight with low body fat and look like a monster. Just once I would love to see that in the mirror.

Keep crushing your workout and never give up.

Day 91

Week 12, Day 4 Triometrics done. Today was good and I did burn those quads good. I had some left knee issues today and it started 2 days ago with MMX. When doing the back kicks my knee kind of popped and I felt it. I just stopped putting any exertion in my kicks with that leg and I was able to finish the workout. Yesterday doing upper body I didn't even notice anything with my knee and totally forgot about it until that first sumo kick. I was able to do my flying warrior squats and iso squats without any issues, and moving around I don't feel pain or with walking and extension etc. I do feel it on more of the inside of my knee as I sit here hammering this post out, but I have pilates tomorrow and I am sure it will feel better on Saturday.

Saturday I will be doing Eccentric Upper and then I have a 5k to do. I don't know yet how I will do with running and am a bit anxious. Not running since 1995 because of my back and now trying to put myself into that now makes me nervous, but I am sure I will know what I can and can't do right away. I have been increasing the amount of "air" I get with jumping since starting X3 and now with the burpees, I am actually getting my body off the ground. I want to be back to that point of doing jumping moves and running and not having fear and if I get some pain, just do what I know I can do for that acute pain and get it under control quickly. I am sure that as I lose more weight, it will be easier and easier to take care of.

I have been fortunate enough to reconnect with some people from Dallas or that lived in Dallas 10 years ago that I knew and worked with in the medical field. It was nice to talk to the ones I have talked to and hope that I can reconnect with the others I have been trying to reconnect with. It seems weird to pop up on the radar all of a sudden, but I really never put much effort into staying connected with a bunch of them. One I have been friends with on FB for some time, but never really looked for the rest. I do miss some of my friends from that time in my life, which was a difficult one for me.

My life is going in a direction that I am happy about overall. I need to get working and that is something I am working on as well. I feel very good about what I am doing with my nutrition and fitness, but I can always do more there. I know that my personal development is a "work in progress" and I am completely open to the positive influences and try to be a positive influence instead of negative. If you put in negative that is what you get out. It works the same the other way. Put in positive and get out positive. Garbage in = garbage out. I try to fill myself with positive, motivational and inspirational things and in turn I hope it will be a positive, motivational or inspirational thing for others. I had been a negative person for so long. I allowed my situation to dictate how and who I was. I now dictate how, who I am and will be with my personal development that I try to do every day.

Day 90

Week 12, Day 3 Eccentric Upper done. Today is day 90, sadly not of P90X3, but of my journey with weight loss and fitness. Now there are only 10 days difference, and I am glad that today is not my X3 90 day mark because I need to get a little more done first. I finished this workout today and will not see this one again until block 2 of round 2, so it will most likely be June before I do this one again. Wow that is a long time! I can't wait to see how things will be going for me then.

Things are quickly wrapping up on P90X3 and decisions will become key here in the next few days on how I approach the final week, Victory Week, with X3 and then how I do the upcoming 21 Day Fix. Whether or not I will do some sort of doubles with that one or will I be doing an extra yoga along with that or nothing. I have to feel right about what I am doing. I know I can handle the extra workouts, but along with the 30 day challenge and the 100 day pushup challenge etc.. I feel like my elbow and shoulder will need some rest. I am going to take 1 week off and do some daily yoga after I finish up with X3 before 21 Day Fix. I decided yesterday that an extra week off should be in there. I feel good when I do pushups, but I still feel pain in my shoulder. Not sure what aggravates it just yet, but I know rest is the best medicine.

The weather is picking up and now is time to get moving outside. I hope to get a bike soon enough so I can get some time outside instead of inside. I love doing my home workouts, but being outside is so awesome when the weather is nice. The hills around here will definitely be a challenge on the bike, but I am sure I can find a good route to bike that is challenging and very doable for me. I have a chance to be outside on Saturday with the upcoming 5k, but I think it is  going to rain that day, maybe not early, but it will affect how it's going to be during the day. I haven't seen our forecast for Saturday, but I will see coming up. Springfield may be rainy and we might have sun, who knows just yet.

I am excited about what is on the horizon. I have done something for myself that I didn't think I could do. I got myself to see what can be. I have restarted a business that can be extremely successful if I put all of myself into it and be courageous with it. Life could be going the same, but I don't want same. I want better. I want extraordinary. No more excuses.

Day 89

Week 12, Day 2 MMX done. Another workout that is the last time done until round 2. I hear a lot of people really love this workout. Eh. It's ok, but I wouldn't say I love it. I utilized the part I like the least (sprawl) to do my burpee challenge. I turned all the sprawl moves into burpees which only just made me do the pushup and the jump at the end which was just adding a couple of components onto the sprawl. It did cause me to do less total on the sprawl moves, but I didn't lose out that much. I suck at the sprawl, but this at least gave me a reason to do them and work hard and push myself. The one sprawl where you do the double knee I did the pushup then the double knee then back up into the jump.

With this workout I ended up doing 45 burpees which is 10 more than needed for the day. I liked how it felt today as well. I feel like I am getting better at the burpee, but I still get gassed after 10. I notice that my recovery between sets is getting better. We are getting close to the halfway mark for the burpees, which is 15 days, so the numbers are getting up there. Once this week ends for the burpees and we get past that rest day, our numbers will be 50 and over. That seems like so many, but after doing 45 today I know I could have done 15 or 20 more especially if I had the whole day to do them all. It will be good to knock out 100 and say "Yep, I just did that!" I won't be doing 100 on day 31 though haha.

The more I pay attention to what others are doing with their fitness and the P90X3 workouts or whatever they are. I see them doing doubles a lot and I know I can as I did P90X which were hour long workouts, so why couldn't I do another 30 mins. Some of the workouts are tough and I am glad to be done, but I know that I could take 15 min break and do another 30 min workout or go straight into another 30 mins. I will be doing that when I do the next round of P90X3. I will do doubles, but I am going to do my own version of it. I have to be smart about it though. I can't kill my joints and connective tissue. I will have to really think this out. Experimentation is awesome as long as there is no damage done to myself which could cause me to be sidelined for an extended amount of time.

Before I start round 2 of P90X3 I am going to do at least 1 round of 21 Day Fix with the workouts. I want to have a base to work with on that plan. If I get people to do paid challenge groups where they have to get that program, then I should at least do that program once. I will continue to get 21 Day Fix groups going after that, it's too easy not to. Only 21 days in the program one time through. You can do it round after round after round or just once depending on what you want and need to do. I might use those workouts as my double workout as well. All I know is that I am doing doubles in X3 and the 21DF might just be the right workouts to use as my "double" routine.

The 22nd of March is the last day of the program for me. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I want to get some great results. I know that saying I have lost close to 50 lbs, well 40 from the start of X3 but 50 total. The farther below 300 I go the more I can say. I really hope I am closer to 290, but all I can do is just keep pushing hard and eat as clean as I can. I will let the rest fall into place and let the scales fall where they may (sort of speak).

If you are struggling with weight and fitness, you have to do something different. If you do the same thing and expect a different result you will be disappointed. To get different results, you have to change what you are doing. It isn't easy all the time, in fact it is down right hard, especially for me. I know that I want to weigh 235 by November. I know I have to eat as clean as I can and workout with intensity. I have to be persistently consistent about both or I will not get the results I want. I have to trust that the plan that I have made for this goal is the right plan. So far it is. What is your plan? If you need help, and are willing to be coachable, send me a message here or on FB and I will give you all the help I can. I am by no means no expert on health and fitness, but I think I might be an expert on struggling with food. I know how hard it is to get on track with health and fitness and how easy it is to just say, "screw it!" I've done the latter so many times, I should have had a shirt made that says it. (Book title? Maybe so.) Something to think about I guess. Keep crushing it!

Day 88

Week 12, Day 1 Decelerator done. Today is the last day to do this workout for this round. Today is also the start of the last week of work. Week 13 is victory week, but it is really more like a transition week. I will have to bump up the workload that week as well. I plan on pushing hard this week to get the most of out the workouts. Tomorrow is MMX and while I like it, I have issues with the sprawls. I have been getting better with those and with the burpee challenge I am doing, I feel like I am progressing. I will see how it feels tomorrow.

I saw this video yesterday. It really inspired me and hit home with how I am doing things. Focus is great, but if you have to channel the focus correctly. Check it out.

The part that struck a cord with me was this part: What makes a person average is their focus. An average person is focused on getting paid, that's why they are average. A person who's good he is focused on "I want to make my boss happy". A person who's great, his focus is "What need can I meet". His focus is different.

That means that if all you want is to get paid, then you are average. Everyone wants to get paid. Good = make 1 person happy and great = fill a need (shared by more than one). The ability to see that and see it in that way is a huge eye opener, at least for me. Greatness means you have to do more than ordinary, you have to be extra ordinary. Extraordinary. Whether you use it as 2 words or 1, it means the same thing.  Unusually excellent or strange: very unusual and deserving attention and comment because of being wonderful, excellent, strange, or shocking. That is the number one definition of that word and it really does sum it up.

It doesn't matter what you do, do it great. You only have one life, live it. That small video made me decide last night that I have to do things better in my life, not for me, but in spite of me. You can be ordinary, but why be ordinary when you can extraordinary. Seize the moment and be extraordinary, because you CAN do it.

I challenge anyone who might read this to take that stance. It may only be small things that you have to do to be extraordinary. You don't have to walk a tightrope over the Grand Canyon to be extraordinary, but you do have to take that first step beyond ordinary. Whatever that is for you, be fearless and do it.

Day 87

Week 11, Day 7 Dynamix done. The final day of Week 11 done and now tomorrow starts Week 12.  That will be the final week of hard work on the schedule for P90X3. Week 13 is called Victory Week and it is very similar to a transition week, which I have already lamented about being a coasting week. I want to be close to 290 lbs not 301 lbs. I am going to do extra cardio each day. I am hoping that since Daylight Saving Time has started, I will wake up earlier by an hour. I can then do both workouts back to back and knock it all out. This week I will do normally, but the next week I am going to work my ass off to keep the intensity up. I hate the idea of coasting into the finish. I love the idea of sprinting to the finish line.

I was very sore this morning in my legs and hips and butt from the last two days of work. Triometrics on Friday and Total Synergistics yesterday. I have been trying to work my legs harder. I am sure I am making gains, but it really is hard to tell other than how strong they feel. One thing I do notice, since I am doing burpees, is that I can sprawl better. If you know how to do a burpee, you would understand this, if you don't, hmm... OK. When you do a burpee, you squat down then kick your legs back into plank, do a pushup, bring your legs back up to "frog" position then jump in the air. That action where you kick your legs back into plank is also known as sprawling. It is more of an MMA term, but it fits for this as well. Anyway, I notice when I do this, I am able to do it better than I have been. I know I am getting more fit and losing weight. I know that my legs are getting stronger, but it seems that every week I make them more sore, which means I am pushing harder each time or doing more than I did the week before. They aren't huge strides, but they are changes that are progressing me forward. I feel that my legs need more work as does my whole body, but it is a slow process. I have to be persistently consistent. This journey I am on is not a sprint, but a marathon. All the running analogies.. oh yeah... I am doing a 5k in 6 days.

The burpee challenge I am doing is on day 9 and today was 35 burpees. You can space them out over the day and so far I have not. I do sets of 10 and 5 depending on the count. They go up by 5 each day except after rest days. I do 10 and then I rest for 3 to 6 mins then repeat. It's easier to do sets of 5 and if you space them out over the day, it would be much easier, but I just want to get them all done. I will be spacing out over the day by the end. Day 30 is 100 burpees. 35 was touch, but 100 will be extremely challenging. I am also doing a 100 day 100 pushup challenge. Today is like day 53 or 54. If we continue this all year, I will be able to do this challenge 3 times over this year. I am liking doing pushups daily as well. I have gotten much stronger with pushups and it has definitely shown. 

I am really enjoying all the things that I am doing physically, but that next step is this Saturday, a 5k. I have not run and I mean really run with purpose for a long time. Not since 1995 have I tried to jog/run in any form. This is a huge hurdle for me, but it hasn't been so much about fitness as it was a physical problem as a result of the car wreck and some poor lifting habits for a beer company 2 years prior. Regardless of the problem, I had massive pain in my back and legs when I tried to run last time somewhere in the 1996 or 97 range. I decided to heed the Dr.s warning and never run again. I miss running and getting in touch with a friend from high school who is an avid runner has really pushed me to change my thinking. Now I have friends who have been doing marathons and half marathons while I lived in RI, but I never really put much thought into it, or used it as motivation for me to try to achieve that. Since I have been working out and eating as clean as I can, I have been really motivated to be better and do better than I have been. I can versus I can't. The mind can make great things happen if you just get out of the way and let it. I have decided to get out of the way and be better. Thanks Jamie!

She isn't the only person who inspires me. I watched a friend, Jeff, change who he was last summer. His daily biking journal and the pushup and situp challenges he was doing was inspiring to me as well. Just a few years prior to that, I was worried for him. I felt he was in danger of what he was doing to himself. We have talked a lot over the last I guess 8 or 9 months and to see his transformation, he lost 40 lbs with running and biking over the summer, made me want to do better and I had moved. My hand and wrist had the necessary strength to perform in a program like this (P90X3). I had all the time I needed. I really had no more excuses. So I did it. I stepped out of the way and just let it happen. Almost 50 lbs later I am glad I did.

Last night I had a really great time. A girl I went to high school came back into town and well she is the ... how do I put this... ring leader of get togethers. She has been coordinating all the reunions, which I never went to for one reason or another. I mostly didn't go because I didn't have fond memories in school and with all of these same people growing up. I moved in from out of town in the middle of 6th grade. I was different, much bigger ( 6th grade 5'10" 167lbs) and I came from Texas. That alone was reason not to like me. My first week here some kid came up to me and told me that Jeff wanted to talk to you. I was like ok I don't know who he is. I met him in the cafeteria that morning for the first time. I asked me, "I hear you want to kick my ass?" I was stunned and didn't know what to say at first, but I just said "No, I don't even know who you are." This scenario kind of played out for the rest of the year people testing me. I never got into any real fights, but I guess people felt threatened by me. As the years went on, some ridicule here and there about this or that took place, but I made some friends and got mostly adjusted. By the time I got to high school, however, something happened with the popular girl clique that made me really hate them as an entire group. I know what it was, but it was like 8th or 9th grade, so why hold on to that kind of bitterness. I did for some reason. Whether it was the use of a nickname I didn't really like bestowed on me by some jackass redneck coach who was only as bright as the dimmest bulb in the school calling me Big Al because I was 6'1" by 9th grade maybe I was a bit taller.. can't remember when I was what. I was 6'4' by 17 though. Those years weren't the most fun for me, some times were great, and some were not. They didn't know my past. I was a fat little kid and had taken, what by today's standard of conduct would get kids suspended, and it really affected me for the rest of my life and especially my body image issues that never left me. I had to fight and do drugs by 4th grade to either be feared or be respected. I got in a lot of trouble and I think was a motivating factor in us moving to this small town in Arkansas. I was also told to get straight to I was going to military school. I had been suspended, caught smoking weed and was only 10 and 11. That is insane.

About last night. This girl who gets people together and has the loudest most vividly heard voice in a 5 state region and who is probably one of the best people I have known since moving here in 1980. She is tough to get to know and sometimes difficult to like, but I thought really hard about it especially after all the joking around we did about our younger days. She was worth it and no one really knew it then. I see that a lot with some of the people from school. They were worth knowing, sadly I always tried to fit into that mold or box that I felt I had to be in to be accepted. It really wasn't the case and I feel bad for people I was really shitty to and feel proud for the ones who might not have been "______" whatever you might want to call them.. coolest, smartest, most athletic, gifted, best looking whatever. We had only lived for 16-18 years by then. We knew absolutely nothing and we thought we knew everything. So looking back last night and seeing everyone and knowing and learning things about them I have gained a greater appreciation for them. Brian Tracy sums it up well for me:

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to
you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something
bigger and better than your current situation.

Trying to do this allows me to have gratitude for those people I have known since I was around 12. I might not be an active part of their lives, or them in mine, but I have seen them all grow, change, become parents and lose loved ones. Some good times and bad times have happened to us all, but no matter what has happened to us in our lives, we can still get together and have a great time. I hope to become better friends with as many as I can be. I allowed some feelings to become bitterness and it kept me from being friends for so many years and that is something I regret. Life is about living and not having regrets, so from now on, I live without regret and with a lot of gratitude that I still have people I have known for years and can call them friend.