Stress breeds inactivity

Or so it would seem.

When I get home from work, all I want to do is lay on the couch, play spider solitaire and lurk on my fav internet message board.

I don't want to think about the fact that I'll be phased out of my current job in 2 weeks when the new girl starts working alone. I don't want to think about the fact that of the 20jobs I've applied for only a call center has called me for an interview (is there a spelling mistake on my resume or something?!?!?!). I don't want to think about the fact that even though I feel I gave my employer 2 months notice, I was ambushed yesterday and told that as far as their records are concerned I didn't give them a specific end date, so I still owe them a full 2 weeks notice. I don't want to think about the fact that IF I'm offered a job at the call center, they're starting training this coming Monday. I don't want to think about the fact that I'll likely end up going from a 5min jaunt to work to a 45min commute. I don't want to think about the possibility that I may, somehow, get turned down for the call center job, even though it's a call center and they hire everyone! I don't want to think about how badly I'm going to want to shoot myself in the face everyday dealing with customer complaints.

So I go home from work, I lay on the couch and I play Spider solitaire and browse the Internet until I go to bed. I can't sleep, can't think about making supper, can't motivate myself to work out and am living in near panic attack mode.

Let me get through this.

Life keeps getting in the way

Motivation seems to have been the main antagonist in my fitness story. If I am not in the mood, or feel like my day is already busy, I just skip my workouts.

I must stop this. I must gain some self control. But how?

This week's preoccupation is knitting. I'm making these for my grandmother for Christmas. Hopefully I finish them soon or I'll have wasted last week's return to the P90X.

I think it best I start from Day 1 again in January. It would be a more honest countdown.

I`m Back.....

I can`t believe I haven`t posted since August, I didn`t realize it had been that long. In anycase, I made it to about week 10 of the P90X Classic before giving up (so close yet so far) - life got in the way. A coworker quit rather suddenly so I was working 6-7days a week, school started up so I was busy with that. Then when we finally had someone new trained...she quit. It`s been a long fall.

But now it`s over. I finished the final course in my program and my hours at work have steadied out simultaneously. I find it interesting that I literally started working out again the day after I passed in my schoolwork and the week that my new coworker started working on her own. I thought that I was experiencing a motivation problem and that`s why I couldn`t be bothered to turn on a video, but it would seem that it was more of a burnout problem.

In anycase, I`ve restarted with the P90X Lean. Well... more or less. I`ve decided to substitute the videos I like for the ones I don`t. So this will be my Phase 1 schedule:

Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

My Plan Core Synergistics Plyometrics Chest & Back, AbRX Rest Legs& Back, AbRX Kenpo Rest

P90X Lean Core Synergistics Cardio Shoulders & arms, AbRX Yoga Legs & Back, AbRX Kenpo Stretch or Rest

So there you have it. It's pretty well the same with some minor substitutions. I had the intention of replacing Kenpo with Plyo, as I hated Kenpo the first time through and skipped it pretty well every single week. But, I decided to do it today and actually sort of enjoyed it. Mostly because the 1hr workout seems to be the only one that really flies by. More on that later. So I decided instead to replace Cardio with Plyo as I love plyo and needed to sneak it in there somewhere.

And while I generally enjoy the Shoulders & Arms video, I would really like to continue to improve my push-up count for the motivation aspect of things, and I feel that the Chest & Back video will accomplish this better.

Another thing I've learned from my first round of the P90X is that I burn out if I work out 6 days straight, and I'm likely to just skip yoga anyway. So I've decided to build a 2nd guilt-free rest day into my plan.

P90X - Week 3

Considering I've been ridiculously busy at work recently (worked 101hrs this pay period)blogging has not been at the top of my priority list. Somehow, I have only missed 2 workouts in this time - both Kenpo coincidentally.

I am starting to see some changes in my shape and feeling really good about my body. Unlike the 30DS where I just kinda noticed random muscles popping out in strange places, the P90X really seems to be working everything to slim me down evenly. My waistline is looking very smooth and I'm noticing muscle definition all across my abs. My arms haven't changed in appearance much, but my performance in the "Chest & Back" video has improved threefold. My thighs & (miraculously) my calves are also quickly showing some definition. I've also lost 2lbs - which, considering I really don't need to lose weight, is a pleasant surprise. I could probably lose 3lbs more without becoming sickeningly thin. Chances are I'll gain some muscle weight anyway and get back up to my regular 125lb.

Now I'm on my rest week. I probably won't do any P90X related videos even though I should continue to follow the program. But after the last 2 weeks I've survived through, I'm just exhausted and need to just relax and have some down time. It also seems I have planned the workout very well so that the rest weeks correspond with Auntie Flo's visits. It's complete chance but works out very well since she pretty well knocks me on my butt with aches and pains. So at least I'm not going to have to worry about missing "real" workouts.

I'll hopefully be updating regularly in the next couple weeks once some new videos get thrown into the mix.

Update on life

Sorry I have been bad. Very little updating....probably because I'm not working out everyday, whoops! But I have been running more than I have been posting, so this whole exercising thing is not totally unravelling. The problem I seem to be having is remembering that it is important to weight train on my non-C25K days.

Speaking of the C25K, I am happily progressing along week 3. Running for 3 uninteruppted minutes is death, but I am enjoying the fact that I am physically capable of accomplishing this. I dread week 4, eeek.

I'm going to finish this update later. I have to go buy ice cream while my husband bbqs. Sigh, I am totally cancelling out the workout that I plan to cop out of this evening.

Bad bad me. Oh well, ice cream :D

C25K Week 1 Day 2

I'm feeling discouraged about having to give up the 30DS when I was sooo close to finishing. I've never accomplished any health/fitness goal in my life, and I was so excited about sticking to this one for so long.

I'm so discouraged/irritated in fact, that I did nothing for the past 3 days. I also ate a lot of chocolate (it didn't help that it's been raining for 3 days making it easier to avoid the outdoors). Fortunately for me I finally came to my senses today and got my butt in gear - light showers or not. I think that if I hadn't gone out for a run today, I may have lost my motivation entirely.

So, about said run. It was about as challenging as the last one, but infinitly better planned out. I actually remembered to turn around at the half-way point. I found a better path to get to the abandonned railroad bed turned walking path - now I won't have to jump over 2 small streams or climb any embankments.

It was a good workout, I was quite out of breath by the end of it but not dying or anything. Unfortunately I am experiencing a great deal of pain in my left hip. It was sore the day after my first run, but went away quickly. Today however, i started feeling a sharp pain in my hip in the last quarter of my run - I had to slow down quite a bit and hobbled most of the rest of the way home. I'm not sure if this is a normal sort of pain that a person experiences when running for the first time in their life. Or if it's being caused by poor form on my part. Or if it is indicative of a larger joint issue and I should see my doctor.

Surprisingly, my knees are not bothering me any more than usual. I think running is treating them far more kindly than the 30DS was. Perhaps my non-soundproof floor is a blessing in disguise? hmmmm, no I really can't convince myself that there's anything good about noisy neigbours who complain about us walking around when they're the ones blasting country music at 10pm on a worknight because they are lazy bums without jobs.

Ok, vent over.
Post over too.
Ginny out.

The Shred - Day 17

I'm being slack this week but I did do my workout today. It was tough since I skipped yesterday. It's hard to workout when a 3rd random person is living in your 2 bedroom apartment.

I might start the C25K sooner than expected since that would be done outdoors. We will see.

Various musings

Haven't gotten around to doing my exercises yet today. Bad me. I'll have to concentrate on motivating myself in the near future.

I found a couple articles on circadian rhythms, hormones, metabolism and exercise.
When's the Best Time of Day to Exercise?"
Peak Athletic Performance Related to Time of Day
I find it interesting in that most of what I hear "people" say is that it's best to exercise in the morning to kickstart your metabolism for the rest of the day. Whereas these studies seem to contradict that belief. In any case the most efficient time of day isn't going to effect my habits too much. Since my work schedule varies quite a bit, I intend to continue trying to fit my workouts in whenever I happen to be home.

Now to my analysis of the Shred.

It's getting easy way too quickly. The only thing that still challenges me is the push-ups. Perhaps this is because I'm no longer waking up in the morning with sore aching muscles. Perhaps I am a glutton for punishment. Either way I'm considering starting Level 2 earlier than planned - perhaps Friday.

Not to say that my heart rate doesn't skyrocket or that I'm not winded by the end of it. But I don't really feel that I'm getting a total body workout. Or maybe I'm just getting bored doing the same exact workout every day. When I watch my husband do the P90X, he does a different video each day of the week. It changes things up, works different muscle groups and keeps him off balance enough that the next day is always a challenge. It looks far more interesting and effective than what I am doing. Unfortunately I currently can't do pull-ups worth a damn so there's no point in starting on the p90X just now.

I'm also noticing some strange grinding and frequent cracking in my knee and shoulder joints. The knee grinding is not new - I have always had knee issues and they've always snapped crackled and popped. But I don't like this new shoulder issue. It's not causing me any pain and for now it is just an annoyance. But I'm going to have to watch it a bit and maybe see my doctor about it...

Last, and certainly not least, my husband told me my tush looks smaller. Glee :D And I've definitely noticed his abs are becoming nicely defined. This exercise stuff works wonders!