Day 31: Back & Biceps followed by Ab Ripper X

Back to strength training as we focus on the back & biceps. I didn't realize there were so many variations of the curl! Great workout for for the arms though but it was my upper back that was burning.

After getting so exciting seeing that "8" yesterday in the tens spot, I was surprised to see it joined by another 8 in the one's spot. 188.4 today!

Day 30: Plyometrics

Woo hoo! 1/3 of the way down and still going with it. Not a single missed workout.

Put yourself in this situation:

You normally get out of work at 4pm. It's been a long week. At 3:30 in the afternoon a late change comes across your desk. Crap. Instead of getting out at 4pm you now get out of work at 5:15pm. Traffic is much worse now. You have to stop and pick up some groceries on the way home. Now you get home at 6:30pm Do you still get in your 1hour workout knowing you won't be done until 7:30pm - on a Friday no less. I did.

That's why I'm going to get results.

Day 29: 2mile run followed by Chest & Back followed by Ab Ripper X T

More progress today. The last time I did this routine I did 130 total push-ups. Today I did 154. I'd love to hit 200 by the end of the 3 months. The biggest improvement was in standard push-ups (52 from 39), military (14 from 6) and diamond (24 from 15).

Why did I throw in a run before an hour long workout? Well, this is Wisconsin and it's festival and fair time. The best food comes out at this time and 99% of it is terrible for you. State Fair started this week and new treat this year is chocolate covered bacon. Yes, you heard right. Last week I tried chocolate chip & bacon cookies and found them absolutely delicious. I actually had already eaten two before I found out there was bacon in them.

Anyways, the State Fair staple is the cream puff. It looks like a giant hamburger but instead of buns, it's a light pastry and instead of beef, it's a giant helping of whip cream. The whole thing is then sprinkled with powdered sugar. The ones at the fair are about the size of a dinner plate. Our cafeteria at work was serving one's the size of a saucer today. I couldn't resist but promised myself I would run at least 2 miles before my workout to make up for it. Gotta earn it, right?

I've really been trying to develop a "earn a treat" lifestyle. Want fast food, gotta earn it. Want to play Xbox Live for an hour with some buddies, gotta earn it. It's not easy but you feel a whole lot better knowing you earned it.

Bonus: Day 29.5 (after workout, after shower)

189.4!!!!!! Finally! You have no idea how thrilled I am. I honestly cannot remember the last time the number 8 was in the tens spot. The only time an eight was in my weight was when I was 198 and then I was just thrilled to be under 200. It doesn't sound like much but this is huge to me and my motivation has just went through the roof.

Day 28: Rest & Weigh-in

I took pics tonite but will have to go back and actually post them. Or maybe not. They aren't much to look at once again, so maybe I'll just spare everybody. I never got sun like I promised. Well, this is now 4 weeks in. Tomorrow starts phase 3 which is back to lifting again. The rest did me some good today. I'm seriously beat. I fell asleep on the couch tonite and I'm making this post while my iPod gets updated.

Here are some notes for this month: Just under 5 pounds lost. Gained two notches on my belt. Pants definitely getting looser. I'm feeling good. Once thing that ticked me off today was my wrist. I noticed my watch was loose. I think I managed to lose weight in my forearms. I didn't realize my arms needed to lose weight. Why can't it just take it from the gut?

Final weight: 190.1 lbs.
Weight lost this week: 1.7 lbs.
Total weight lost: 4.7 lbs.

Day 26 & 27: Core Synergistics & Yoga (plus a run)

Day 26: Core Synergistics

This was the second time around on Core Synergistics and I still love it. Felt a lot more comfortable doing the drills & exercises the second time around. Still my favorite workout of the bunch and it leaves your core feeling great. Time got away from me though and I forgot to post!

Day 27: Yoga (plus a run)

Another difficult day schedule wise. I was going to have the baby after work until 7:30pm and I knew it would be difficult to get my workout in that late at night. My only option was to workout in the morning. The problem was that I needed to get to work early as well (I start at 7:30am already as it is). So, I got up at 5:00am and worked out. Yoga in the morning feels great and is probably the easiest of the workouts to do waking up.

After work, I decided to try a new jogging route with Eva. It was only 2.5 mile run but it felt great as second workout. I've been trying to find a route that involves less street crossing and quieter streets. This one seems to have both.

Day 24 & 25: Yoga and Heavy Bag

Thought I skipped a day? Yesterday was very tight schedule wise. With Christy working until noon, I was a baby duty. Working out is impossible with her unless it's jogging. Once Christy got home, I had 2 1/2 hours to workout, shower, eat, pack and head to Madison for the night. I got my yoga workout in but saved my post for today.

Last night, I got together with my friend Marc in Madison. We had tickets to the "Madtown Throwdown, a UFC style cage fighting event. We saw 12 fights over the course of the night - 5 amateur, 7 professional with 2 title fights. It was incredible to watch. You wanna talk about being in shape, these dudes were cut. I couldn't help but to pay close attention to the heights & weights and what that looked like on these fighters. Several fighters were my height or within an inch: 5' 8". Their weights fluctuated between 135 & 195 but all were completely ripped.

It was good motivation for me though. So, today I deviated from the schedule once again. Todays workout was supposed to be "Stretch X" which is simply that - stretching. I'm not worried about my flexibility. You wouldn't look at me and think I can do the splits but I can still get down with my front splits and still kick above my head. So, instead of stretching I beat on the heavy bag for 45 minutes (with sprints mixed in). It felt great.

Today I also wore Christy's heart rate monitor which keeps track of my average heart rate, peak heart rate and calories burned. My heart rate peaked at 178 which was a little lower than I had hoped for but I managed to burn over 500 calories in that time. Since, I'm currently taking a calorie burner you take 10-15 minutes prior to working out, it was probably much, much more.

Alright, that's all for now.