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I relate my experience with martial arts and twitching/cramping calves below:

July 9, 2007

Day 6: Kenpo X

I felt pretty good when I awoke this morning. Not too sore.

As I was falling asleep last night I was a little uncomfortable with the way my calves were twitching. Throughout my life, but especially in high school, I have periodically been awakened by intense pain in one of my calves due to it cramping up. The first time it happened, it was downright scary. However, I soon got used to it and learned what to do: breath and stretch.

In high school, my physician and the school trainer both thought it was related to dehydration and, when they found out that I consumed very little salt, they prescribed salt tablets. At the time, these seemed to help. Now, I just make sure I’m taking in some form of electrolytes and I look for the early warning signs of an upcoming cramp and breath and stretch in advance… and that is just what I did last night.

Although I have experimented with martial arts some, similarly to my yoga experience, I’ve never dedicated myself to it. I’ve spent the most time with Tai Chi and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu.

There were certain aspects of Tai Chi that I liked: the philosophy behind it, and the idea of using your opponent’s energy and aggression against them especially. However, it required you to position your hips in a way that, having spent much of my athletic life in the western athletic position, I couldn’t seem to get the hang of (at least not as quickly as I would have liked). Additionally, it wasn’t delivering the workout that I wanted, and when I looked around at my instructors, while they had extremely strong cores, their legs and arms and uppers backs were totally undeveloped. I must admit, I didn’t really want to look like them.

I took more of a liking to Brazilian Ju-Jitsu. I got into it in part because the winners of the Ultimate Fighting type contests always seem to be Brazilian Ju-Jitsu guys and I got the opportunity to train with a former female grappler champion (C.J. McCue, 2004 Grapplers Quest Absolute Champion, among other accomplishments, I believe). However, I soon tired of it. At the time I really wanted to just get outside and go hiking, it felt graceless grappling on the ground all the time (the idea behind Ju-Jitsu is that most fights end up on the ground, so that’s where you need to know how to fight), and, honestly, my nuts were always sore afterwards (I was not born with “balls of steal”) and I was concerned about doing some serious damage if I kept it up.

Anyway, all of this is an introduction to say that I had never tried Kenpo… until today.

I really enjoyed it! Although, I’ve got some work to do with the side and back kicking in particular. Also, I think it may take some time to get the coordination down, especially on the fast combination punching and blocking moves.

I’m still working on the side and back kicks, but my form and height have certainly improved a great deal since Day 6! One thing I find interesting when I do a little self psychoanalysis is that I find myself throwing punches and kicks at random throughout the day. I think, subconsciously, Kenpo X may be my favorite P90X workout.

Even though my legs seem to naturally be the strongest part of my body, legs routines have always been laborious for me. However, as you’ll read below, my first experience with the P90X Legs & Back workout was a good one.

July 8, 2007

Day 5: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good all over. I was in good spirits and I felt very little soreness throughout my body. I think the Yoga X workout is well timed.

The Legs & Back workout seemed well balanced. It cycles through two sets legs, one set back, eight times. Just as my legs felt like they were going to explode, (and they did feel like they were going to explode on more than one occasion), they got a nice breather while I did the back set. I felt just maxed out at the end of the routine.

As with the Plyometrics routine, it was easy to take this one easy on myself just by not squatting as low or jumping as high as Tony & Co.

I’m still struggling with the pull ups. I’m definitely going to try using the bands or a chair for the pull-ups next week, as I want to be doing at least 8 reps per pull-up set. I also worry about all the strain the switch grip pull-ups put on my shoulders while I am switching my grip.

Also, I should note that I definitely broke the 200 rep mark with Ad Ripper X today. It felt really good to be seeing an improvement in my performance already.

Here’s my Legs & Back stats:

• Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 5, 6
• Wide Front Pull-Ups: 5, 5
• Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 5, 5
• Switch Grip Pull-Ups: 6, 6

My first Yoga X workout was intense. As I relate below, I cried during the ohms at the end.

July 7, 2007

Day 4: Yoga X

Although I’ve never really gotten into it, I have done some yoga before. I’ve tried a variety of types of yoga with a variety of instructors at a variety of studios, but was never so inspired that I committed myself to it.

I have a Master’s Degree in Eastern Classics from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, NM, where my favorite texts were Hindu and the tradition I most identified with was Hinduism. One of my favorite texts is Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutra. In fact, the Yoga Sutra was the first Eastern text to which I was exposed, and, in large part, inspired me to enroll in the master’s program. At present, I am working (slowly but surely) on a Master’s Thesis on Bahkti Yoga in the Bhagavad-Gita… but I’ll write more about this in the future.

Getting back to Yoga X… it is intense. In fact, with the exception of a yoga class that I once took from one of my fellow master’s students, it is the most intense yoga I have ever done. I didn’t even attempt a few of the poses, and my form was horrible on a few others. This was a real challenge… and, at 92 minutes and 24 seconds, it is a long routine (the longest in P90X).

I think what is most important to note about Yoga X (and yoga in general), is that it is as much a mental test as it is a physical test. Yoga is done most effectively when you are uncomfortable throughout the routine. Not too uncomfortable, mind you. But, if you are breezing through Yoga X without any discomfort, then you are not doing it properly. In a sense, the point of yoga is to push yourself just outside of your comfort zone and stay there for a while. Holding uncomfortable positions requires as much mental fortitude as physical fortitude.

In all likelihood, especially when you are just beginning to do yoga, you will find yourself delving into areas of mental and emotional discomfort as you are pushing yourself into physical discomfort. No matter how you try to clear your mind and focus on your form, when you are first starting out, you can anticipate your emotional baggage surfacing during the routine.

I’ve been going through a difficult time in my life lately, the most significant event certainly being my father’s recent passing. I cried during the ohms at the end of the routine. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I have been emotional all day, alternating between feelings of anger and sadness for the most part. However, as I said, this is to be expected.

I am confident that, over the course of the next 90 days, Yoga X will help me to process the recent (and not so recent) events in my life, contribute to my emotional and physical well being, and purify my soul.

I still find Yoga X to be the most mentally challenging of all the P90X workouts. However, my Yoga X performance has been continuously improving… but more on that in future posts.

My first P90X Shoulders & Arms workout was the first time I had ever used resistance bands for a complete workout.

July 6, 2007

Day 3: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

When I woke up this morning, my legs where a little sore from yesterday’s work out and my chest & back had recovered, which worked out well since I was doing shoulders & arms today.

This workout was considerably more sophisticated than the Chest & Back workout, which consists mostly of pull-ups and push-ups. This workout had me really using a variety of resistance bands in a variety of ways and it took some getting used to.

The only time I’ve ever worked with resistance bands before, I was using light bands for physical therapy, not as a substitution for heavy dumbbells. At present, it doesn’t make much sense for me to invest in a set of dumbbells, especially considering how cheap the resistance bands are, as I am moving around a lot between Santa Fe, NM and Concord, MA. I got the complete kit of B-lines Bands (10 in all) from Million Dollar Body for $80, which is pretty economical considering in would cost hundreds of dollars to get the dumbbell equivalent.

I don’t want to gripe about them too much at present, as I think I am ultimately going to like them very much. However, I do wonder if they are as effective as dumbbells. It has been suggested to me that, for certain exercises, they are actually more effective than dumbbells, which makes perfect sense. For, with the bands, unlike dumbbells, the level of resistance increases as you stretch them. However, this characteristic obviously renders the bands less effective in certain exercises as well.

I think most of my frustration with them today can be chalked up to inexperience. I had difficulty determining which one to use for which exercise and how big of a loop to use on some of the exercises.

Also, I wish the complete kit came with more sets of handles. It only comes with three. So you need to transfer the handles between exercises if you use more than three bands. For the lighter bands, this isn’t that big of a deal. However, this is rather difficult to do with the heavier bands, at least for someone who is inexperienced (and weak) like me. I didn’t end up transferring any of the handles today, but I did struggle to get the handles on the green band.

Anyway, here’s my Shoulders & Arms stats:

• Alternating Shoulder Presses: 10, 10 orange
• In & Out Bicep Curls: 16, 16 orange
• Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 10 magenta
• Deep Swimmer’s Presses: 10 orange, 6 green
• Full Supination Concentration Curls: 11, 12 green
• Chair Dips: 25, 25 bent legs
• Upright Rows: 15, 15 magenta
• Static Arm Curls: 16 orange, 16 green
• Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 8 magenta
• Two-Angle Shoulder Flys: 10, 10 orange
• Crouching Cohen Curls: 10, 16 magenta
• Lying-Down Tricep Extensions: 12, 16 magenta
• In & Out Straight-Arm Shoulder Flys: 16, 12 magenta
• Congdon Curls: 10, 10 green
• Side Tri-Rises: 10/10, 8/8

I’ve been using the B-lines Bands for seven weeks now and am much more comfortable with them. Bottom line: They work! I’ll have more to say about this in the future. For now, let me just say that I definitely recommend B-lines Bands as an inexpensive and mobile alternative to dumbbells.

Plyometrics has become one of my favorite P90X workouts over the past seven weeks… and most adventurous… but more on that in a later journal entry.

For now, here’s my first plyo post:

July 5, 2007

Day 2: Plyometrics

When I woke up this morning, my chest and back were quite sore… in a good way. So, I must have done something right yesterday.

I feel like I did a little better today in regard to keeping up with Tony & Co. Although, it was definitely easier to take it easy today and keep up, as I just didn’t squat down quite as deep or jump quite as high as Tony & Co.

To be brief, plyometrics (“plyo” for short) is essentially jumping exercises. So, lots of jumping today.

Tony really emphasizes the importance of landing softly and properly, which I appreciate, as it is easy for me to tweak my neck with too much impact… and plyo is definitely high impact.

Also, I realized today that, while I had anticipated this, the ceiling in the garage (where I am working out) is a little low for plyometrics. While I made some reasonable adjustments, I worry that this may become more of a problem as I progress through the program.

Hi All,

Well, I’m back from vacation. I got burnt… big time. But, more on that some other time, because…

Today is my Independence Day journal entry! This is the day that I officially started P90X! Bring It!

July 4, 2007 – Independence Day

Day 1: Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X

WOWY! I haven’t done anything like that in a while. In fact, I’m not sure that I’ve ever done anything like that. I did some circuit training in high school, but I don’t think I ever did it for an hour and fifteen minutes straight, or as intensely. Having said that, I did take it pretty easy on myself.

The P90X program has three phases. The P90X Fitness Guide says that during the first phase “your goal should be to master each movement and finish the workouts in one piece.” It goes on to recommend that you “focus less on the amount of weight you are lifting and instead try to achieve your desired number of repetitions while maintaining strict form.”

The first phase lasts four weeks. So, I figure that I should take it especially easy during the first week and concentrate on my form, especially since I have a history of shoulder and neck problems.

While I did do every set, I certainly did not even do close to as many reps as Tony and Co. I found myself doing an awful lot of huffing and puffing with my hands on my knees or sucking on my water bottle while Tony and Co. were pumping out more reps.

I felt especially pathetic during Ab Ripper X, which includes 349+ reps of various core exercises. I think I pumped out no more than 200 reps myself.

Here’s my Chest & Back Stats:

• Standard Push-Ups: 12, 8
• Wide Front Pull-Ups: 5, 3
• Military Push-Ups: 10, 6
• Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 5, 3
• Wide Fly Push-Ups: 10, 10
• Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 3, 2
• Decline Push-Ups: 8, 5
• Heavy Pants: 10, 10 orange
• Diamond Push-Ups: 10, 3
• Lawnmowers: 12, 15 orange
• Dive-Bomber Push-Ups: 10, 5
• Back Flys: 10, 10 orange

As you can see, I definitely went a little too hard during the first set as my numbers dropped significantly across the board during the second set. Also, I think I’ll try using the bands or a chair for the pull-ups next week, as doing 2-5 reps per pull-up set doesn’t seem to be enough to get the type of gains I would like to see.

It sure was fun though!

It’s fascinating to think back to Day 1, Independence Day, in light of the present. P90X continues to make me huff and puff, but this will always be the case as I will always be able to push harder. I still can’t get through all the Ab Ripper X reps, but I’m doing significantly more now than on Day 1, and my abs and core are much stronger. I remember being absolutely exhausted after my first session with P90X… Now I’m frequently doing two per day!

Hi All,

I’ve gotten a couple of emails wondering why I have not been posting regularly lately.  I did not know the blog had a following already!

Sorry, but I went away for the weekend last weekend and I’ve been preparing for and now I’m on vacation! I’ll post again in a few days.

‘Til Then, Coach James

This journal entry relates my first interaction with Million Dollar Body. This was the first day I made two separate journal entries. I had not been intending to write this entry, but I was excited about the coming day and by my discovery of the Million Dollar Body Game.

July 3, 2007

The Million Dollar Body Game

Well, I’m pumped! Tomorrow is the day… Independence Day! Yes, tomorrow is the day I honor the U.S.A.’s founders and founding ideals by declaring my own Independence from my recent sedentary lifestyle and the resulting feeling of physical weakness!

To get myself psyched up for my self-declared Independence Day, I decided to poke around on MillionDollarBody.com. I had already perused (which means to look through something thoroughly) P90X.com when I was deciding to purchase the program, and Beachbody.com when I was purchasing equipment and supplements. However, while I registered with MillionDollarBody.com a couple weeks ago, I had yet to explore the website, as recommended by the P90X Fitness Guide before you begin the program, until this evening. So, I checked it out tonight and was quite impressed.

There is much I could say about MillionDollarBody.com (it is very easy to register), and in no way did I explore all there was to explore in the hour or so that I spent poking around, but I want to highlight the Million Dollar Body Game in this journal entry.

In order to play the Million Dollar Body Game you log in to MillionDollarBody.com, go to WOWY (”Work Out With You”… more on this later), click on “Start Your Workout Now”, select your exercise routine, and click “Continue.” At this point, you can post a message for your fellow WOWY gym rats to see, or just click “Enter WOWY Now!” and start working out.

At this point, you have entered the Million Dollar Body Game and are eligible to win the daily prize. It looks like about 1000 people enter every day. Six days a week, the winner gets $300 or a physical prize like an iPod. Once a week, on the WOWY Mystery Day, the winner gets $1,000!

You can enter once per day and winners are chosen at random and notified by email when they are selected. Theoretically, you could win the daily prize every day. (Highly unlikely…but possible.) No purchase is required. You just have to have registered with WOWY and uploaded your picture to your profile.

I’ll definitely be getting in on this tomorrow…

“Bring It!”

At the time, although I was excited about the Million Dollar Body Game, I had no idea how important Million Dollar Body was going to become to me. My relationship with Million Dollar Body has presently culminated with the financial opportunity that is the Million Dollar Body Coaching Program.

However, this journal entry was about the Million Dollar Body Game. Even if you are not interested in the MDB Coaching Program right now, you can still win some cash by playing the Million Dollar Body Game. You have approximately a 1 in 1000 chance of winning $300 or $1000 every day for free!

Plus, if you sign up through this link right now, I will be your personal coach. It will be like having your own personal trainer. You can ask me any question you want at any time and I will get you the answer you need.

Once again, if you want to have a chance to win as much as $1000 a day just for working out and have me as your personal coach, sign up for the MDB Game here: MDB Game.

My last journal entry explained what inspired me to get back into shape. In this journal entry I relate how and why I decided to do it with P90X.

July 3, 2007

My Decision

About two months after my father’s passing, I found myself searching for information online and designing a workout program for myself. However, it was coming along rather slowly as I can be a perfectionist with such things. If I was going to truly devote myself to as intense a regimen as I was envisioning, it had to be good.

It was while I was visiting my sister for a few days at St. Michael’s College in Burlington, VT, that I caught my first glimpse of P90X. Myself, my sister, and a couple of her friends were sitting around the tv hanging out when, for a brief moment, a P90X infomercial came on. The girl who was lackadaisically flipping through the channels was distracted for a moment and left the P90X infomercial on long enough to peak my interest.

I got on the P90X website the next day and I was quite intrigued right away. I remember thinking, “Wow! This looks like the exact type of program that I want to design for myself… but better!” That night, after the girls had gone to bed, I was having difficulty falling asleep on the broken futon I was given, and my thoughts turned to P90X. The broken futon happened to be in the tv room (my sister had a very nice dorm), so I decided to see if I could find the infomercial… I did!

I took this as a sign (and I was awfully impressed with the P90X program), and it was not long before I had ended my research into developing a program for myself, and was ordering P90X and researching and buying the equipment that I needed.

Now, I must admit, after I found P90X I thought I was ready to go. However, I had underestimated how long it was going to take me to get all of the equipment, supplements, etc., that I wanted before I began the program. While Beachbody.com does carry most everything you need, after nine years of not working out, I didn’t even have things like shorts, sneakers, and socks.

My starting the P90X program was delayed even further by my decision, in light of my father’s passing, to move home to Concord, MA, to live with my mother for the summer. We have a beautiful home in Concord (birthplace of the American Revolution, Thoreau, Emerson, and Alcott), but there wasn’t exactly a good place for me to workout. So, I had to make a place for myself in the garage, which, in addition to setting up a tv, pull-up bar, etc., also required cleaning out the garage some.

So, from H.S. to College, to firewood, to my father, to my sister’s dorm, to my mother’s garage, I’ve pretty much covered it.

Tomorrow, I “Push Play” for the first time, and “Bring It!” with P90X.

There you have it: “My History”, “My Inspiration”, and “My Decision”.

So, how do I feel about my decision to “Bring It!” with P90X?… I couldn’t be happier!

This journal entry was a difficult one to write:

July 2, 2007

My Inspiration

This past November, I had a moment that I knew was important… you know how you have those moments sometimes. I was in Santa Fe, NM, hauling firewood in preparation for winter (yes, Santa Fe does have winter everyone, we’re not Phoenix… at one point this past winter I had 3-4 ft. of snow in my driveway and was snowshoeing to work and back for two weeks). When I picked up an especially large basket of wood to carry inside, I found that I couldn’t make it without stopping a few times to rest and remove some of the logs.

Now, like I said, it was a large basket of wood, and many people would not have been able to even pick it up, but I had not thought that I would have much trouble picking it up and carrying it inside, and here I was, huffing and puffing, and failing. After I got it inside, I was standing there with my hands on my knees thinking about how I wouldn’t have had much trouble moving that basket nine years ago, when I started getting angry. Now, it’s not like I made a resolution that day or anything, but… I just knew that a desire had been born in me that day… a seed had been planted, if you will.

A few months later, Febuary 4^th, 2007, was a day that I will remember forever. I got an unusually early morning call from my mother. It was immediately evident that something was very, very wrong.

With much difficulty, my mother informed me that my father had died of a heart attack. My father was 55 years old, and, although he was by no means the healthiest man on the planet, no one had expected that something like this would happen so soon. 65… maybe. 55… no.

My mother, sister, and I, as well as our friends and family, take some comfort in knowing that my father had a great last night. He and my mother had hosted a party the night before at which most of the guests were friends my parents had known since they were teenagers. His last words were to my mother, “I love you, dear.”

To put it mildly, this was hard to take… still is… I’m crying as I am writing this.

Like no other time in my life, the importance of physical health was thrust before my eyes.

I LOVE YOU, DAD!