RippedNRich.oRg

Well, I’ve been awfully busy lately working on RippedNRich.oRg and other related projects behind the scenes… so busy that I neglected to announce…

Mission Accomplished! P90X Complete!

That’s right, I have completed my first round with P90X and I loved it!

I’ll get to my pics, numbers, etc., in a second. First, I have to say that the physical transformation and the numbers you are about to see were accomplished with a rather poor Phase III. A few things really knocked me off my P90X stride.

The first was a weekend long wedding, where I danced the night away (embarrassing myself at times… or so I’m told), and received two huge blisters on my big toes. As a result, I missed 5 days of workouts.

The second was that I hurt myself… no, not working out… sleeping. One morning I woke up and my neck was all tweaked out. I had some pretty intense dreams that night, so I imagine I hurt my neck while dreaming. I actually thought I was going to be laid up for awhile, but my neck was feeling better again in two days time. I have to credit my new level of physical fitness and P90X for my quick recovery.

The last thing that knocked me off my P90X stride was the desire to improve my workout area. I used the B-lines resistance bands during my first round with P90X, and they work great (as my results prove). However, I can’t help but conclude that certain exercises are certainly better with dumbbells and that, overall, it is best to use both dumbbells and bands… this is right in line with the “muscle confusion” concept that is central to P90X. So, I purchased some dumbbells. (I don’t want to disclose which dumbbells I purchased just yet as I have not had enough experience with them, but let me just say that they are not your average dumbbells.) However, with my new dumbbells on there way, I didn’t have room for them in my workout area, so I needed to make some room. Now, my exercise area is in the garage, the garage is quite messy, and I’ve been cleaning it bit by bit… as it turned out, making some room for the dumbbells required 5 days of cleaning and organizing before I had my workout area back (and a cleaner garage).

Throw all those days in with a couple other days that I just kinda missed and, all told, I missed 14 days of Phase III, which runs for 35 days… so I missed 2/5 of my Phase III workouts and still got fantastic results!

With that said, here are my Round I P90X results:

First, check out my gallery (these are the poses they recommend, although I wish I had had a little more fun with the poses and am thinking of throwing a few more poses in the mix for Round II): CoachJames.name/gallery

I was also quite pleased with my numbers:

Test: Day 0 / Day 90
Body Fat %: 11% / 8%
Weight: 153 lbs. / 160 lbs.
Chest: 37” / 41”
Waist: 32” / 32”
Hips: 35” / 38.5”
Thighs: 18” / 21”
Arms: 12” / 14”
Resting Heart Rate: 53 bpm / 50 bpm
Pull-Ups: 5 / 12.5
Vertical: 21” / 26”
Push-Ups: 18 / 44
Toe Touch: +5” / +10”
Wall Squat (min): 2:00 / 5:00
Bicep Curls: 45 (orange) / 16 (25 lbs)
In & Outs: 50 / 100

But, most of all, I am pleased with the way I feel, emotionally, mentally, and physically. I remain on a more even keel throughout the day. I focus more easily. And, the neck and shoulder problems I have been experiencing as a result of sports injuries in high school are practically gone!

This is not the last you will hear about P90X from me… in fact, this may just be the beginning! Nevertheless, I hope my success with my first round of P90X inspires you to “Bring It!” with P90X too!

After really struggling physically and emotionally during my first two Yoga X workouts, it was nice to nail my third one.  Perhaps the biggest indication of my improvement was that, unlike the first two times, I did not cry during the ohms at the end.

 July 21, 2007

 Day 18: Yoga X

 Ooooohhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmm…

 I felt good after the Yoga X workout today!

 As I have written, the first two times I did Yoga X, I did not feel good during or after the workout.  During the workout, I felt stressed and frustrated.  I was unable to do many of the moves, and I felt as though I was doing many of the moves that I did do poorly.  At the end of each workout, I cried during the ohms and did feel some relief, but afterwards I found myself alternating between feelings of sadness and anger for the rest of the day.

 As I have written, this experience is not uncommon.  In fact, I have gone though it before when starting a yoga program, and it was certainly a contributing factor to my not sticking to any of them for very long.  It is no surprise that I would have this experience with Yoga X, especially given that it is one of the more challenging yoga programs I have attempted and that, generally speaking, I have not been very happy lately, my father’s recent passing being the main source of my unhappiness.

 As I have written, I did Yoga X last week a little differently from the first week.  When I was unsure of myself, rather than struggling to hold a posture while being unsure of whether I was even trying to do what I was supposed to be doing, I stopped, breathed, and watched Tony & Co.  I feel like I learned a lot by doing so, and I think my performance and feelings about my performance today, as well as the way I felt when it was done, indicate that my decision to watch more and do less last week was a good decision.

 In truth, I did even better this week than I expected.  I was pleasantly surprised by two things in particular. The first was that I balanced myself in and held the “crane” position for a few seconds, and probably could have held it for longer, but Tony & Co. were moving on.  The second was that I got myself into wheel and held it for a few seconds, and probably could have held it for longer, but I was so shocked that I had gotten myself into it in the first place that I think I just kind of wimped out.

 Crane is a very difficult balance position.  With a crouched stance, you place your hands on the floor, about shoulder distance apart, and open up your knees a little wider than your elbows.  You then place the inside of your knees against your arms and lift your feet off the ground while supporting yourself with your hands.  It’s kind of like a mini handstand.

 Wheel gives you a crazy stretch all across the front of your body.  To get into wheel, you first get into bridge.  You get into bridge by lying on your back with your feet on the floor and your knees bent, and raising your pelvis as high as you can with your hands clasped and your arms underneath you.  You then get into wheel by putting your hand on the floor next to your head and straightening your arms and legs.  I think some would call it a back bend… but if we called it that then we wouldn’t be doing yoga. 

 The only problem I had today was that my left wrist was a little tweaked, so I had to be careful with it.  It didn’t bother me much though.  Really the only thing I did differently was skipping the push-ups that Tony likes to do during the vinyasas.

 I didn’t cry during the ohms today, although I thought I might.  And, I really felt pretty good when I was done.  I certainly have not felt angry today as in the past.

 Today’s P90X Yoga X experience was closer to what it should be… and that in and of itself makes me feel good.

July 20, 2007

Day 17: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

I had a great workout again today… no puking though.

I know I’ve said it before, but it continues to be the case. Every time I use the B-lines Bands I feel that I am more comfortable with them, and that I am getting a better work out from them. Today my big breakthrough came with the use of a loop.

Up until today, I had tried to watch what the guy on the DVD was doing, whether he was using a loop in the band or not, and do the same. However, today I departed from this practice and struck out on my own.

The guy who uses the B-lines Bands in the Shoulders & Arms DVD, (David Hass, I believe), never (I think) uses a loop for the exercises where he is standing up straight. This makes sense to me and works well for me with exercises where you raise the bands above your head, like the Alternating Shoulder Presses and Lying-Down Tricep Extensions (you don’t actually lie down when you are using the bands), for example. However, I found that the bands were slack and thus not giving me much resistance at the bottom of the exercises where you are standing up straight but only raising your hands to shoulder level, like the Upright Rows and Static Arm Curls. So, I started using a loop for such exercises and got a much better pump as a result.

The only problem is that this means that I need to reconsider which B-lines Bands I use for these exercises. And, I won’t be doing these exercises again for six weeks.

As I said with regard to the Chest & Back workout a couple days ago, I am kind of disappointed that I won’t be doing the Shoulders & Arms routine again for six weeks. I feel like I am just starting to get the hang of it. But, once again, that is the whole idea behind the “muscle confusion” concept; if you feel like you are getting the hang of it, it’s time to do something else. I am fascinated by the “muscle confusion” concept and I will write more about it in the future.

I also want to mention that I did Ab Ripper X again today… well, sort of. My neck was actually not the problem. I am unhappy that I skipped a week of it (3 times in total) and I started out the routine happy to be doing it again. However, during the first rep of the first set of the first exercise (In & Outs) that muscle above your quad and below your pelvis (hip flexor) cramped up on me. I couldn’t believe it. However, I did continue through the routine, attempting every exercise and doing the ones for which my hip flexor did not cramp.

Here’s my Shoulders & Arms stats:

• Alternating Shoulder Presses: 10, 10 orange; 10, 10 green; 10, 10 green
• In & Out Bicep Curls: 16, 16 orange; 16, 16 green; 16, 16 green
• Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 10 magenta; 10, 10 orange; 10, 10 red
• Deep Swimmer’s Presses: 10 orange, 6 green; 10, 8 green; 10, 8 green
• Full Supination Concentration Curls: 11, 12 green; 12, 10 green; 7, 8 green
• Chair Dips: 25, 25 bent legs; 30, 25 bent legs; 20, 13 straight legs
• Upright Rows: 15, 15 magenta; 15, 15 orange; 12, 12 red
• Static Arm Curls: 16 orange, 16 green; 16, 16 green; 16 green, 8 red;
• Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 8 magenta; 10, 15 magenta; 14, 14 orange
• Two-Angle Shoulder Flys: 10, 10 orange; 16, 16 magenta; 16, 12 orange
• Crouching Cohen Curls: 10, 16 magenta; 20, 15 orange; 16 red, 10 yellow
• Lying-Down Tricep Extensions: 12, 16 magenta; 12, 10 orange; 12 orange, 10 red
• In & Out Straight-Arm Shoulder Flys: 16, 12 magenta; 16, 16 magenta; 16, 10 orange
• Congdon Curls: 10, 10 green; 12, 15 green; 7, 8 green
• Side Tri-Rises: 10/10, 8/8; 15/15, 20/20; 20/20, 21/21

Purely by coincidence, I am publishing this journal entry on the day that I did the P90X Shoulders & Arms workout for the first time since the day I wrote this journal entry. I was just writing my journal entry for today and I definitely did the Shoulders & Arms workout differently as a result of what I learned doing the Back & Biceps workout during Phase II.

Yeah, I’m hard core.

 July 19, 2007

 Day 16: Plyometrics

 I Puked!

 Yes sir… Threw Up!… Blew Chunks!… I was Praying to the Porcelain God! (as we used to say in college)… Whatever you want to call it… However you want to describe it… I did it!

 The first two times through the Plyometrics workout, I was worried that I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough.  However, I didn’t want to push too hard and hurt myself.

 As I wrote on Day 1:

 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.’

 Well, I’m not worried that I didn’t push myself as hard as I should today!

 I was conscious of the fact that I felt a little less hydrated than I would have liked to be when I started the workout this morning.  It’s been somewhat sweaty here in Concord, MA over the past couple of days, and I don’t think I drank enough water before I went to bed last night.  In fact, I even started my workout this morning a little later than I wanted, just so I could drink an extra glass of water.

 Once I started, I felt thirsty throughout the workout and kept going back for a little more water whenever given an opportunity.  I felt good though, at first anyway. 

 I have yet to actually sit down and figure out how all the heart rate zones work, and what my heart rate should be at during the workouts (I should do this soon).  However, I have been wearing my heart rate monitor during the Plyometrics and Kenpo X workouts and keeping an eye on it.  During the first two Plyo workouts, my heart rate remained above 130 for the most part and got into the 140s on occasion.  During the first two Kenpo X workouts, my heart rate remained above 120 for the most part and got into the 130s on occasion.  Today, my heart rate remained above 140 for the most part, got into the 150s on occasion, and even hit the 160s a couple times.

 Like I said, I felt good, at first.  I felt like I was pushing myself a bit more.  I felt comfortable doing so.  I was sweating and huffing and puffing and it felt like I was doing the Plyometrics workout the way it was meant to be done… or at least closer to how it was meant to be done than the first two times.

 However, about three quarters of the way through, I began to feel a little nauseous.  “I’ve been drinking too much water,” I thought to myself, in the midst of all those feel good chemicals that Tony talked about in the live chat on Monday flowing through my brain, “I just won’t drink anymore until it’s over.” 

 Well, my heart was pounding, sweat was dripping onto the mat, and I was huffing and puffing like I have not done in years.  I finished strong, not feeling too nauseous… but then when the cool down started… all that water started to come up… and I was not about to keep it down!  I rushed over to an empty trash barrel and…

 I Puked!

 Then, I threw up again… then I blew chunks again (actually, there were no chunks at all, it was all water and froth and a little stomach acid I suppose)… and again… and again… and again…

 By the time I was done, so were Tony and Co.

 It was hard because, even though my body wanted that water out of my tummy, my body also wanted to be moving around and cooling down.  I went from a heart rate above 160 (I don’t recall looking, but I did really push it at the end), to on my hands and knees with stomach convulsions.

 Nevertheless, I wiped off my mouth, scanned back the DVD, and did the cool down, complete with some extra stretching and breathing at the end.

 By the time I was done, I felt fine.  And, thankfully, the P90X Peak Recovery Formula remained in my stomach with no problems.

 Although I don’t want to repeat this experience, I do feel like an official hard core P90Xer now!

On Day 15, I completed my third session with the Chest & Back workout and said goodbye… not permanently… just for 6 weeks… but it was hard… we were just getting to know each other…

 July 18, 2007

 Day 15: Chest & Back

 I had a great workout today!

 I positioned the chair closer to the pull-up bar today and found that I was actually able to rely on it less while also supporting myself with it more when I needed it.  Also, I continue to feel more comfortable with the bands.

 I didn’t do Ab Ripper X again today because, although my neck was not stiff when I started the workout, it felt somewhat stiff at the end and I am mindful that it was after doing the Chest & Back/Ab Ripper X combo last week that my neck really stiffened up.  It stands to reason that all those push-ups and pull-ups would torque a guy’s neck a bit.

 Nevertheless, I really like the Chest & Back workout and am kind of disappointed that I won’t be doing it again for six weeks.  I feel like I am just starting to get the hang of it… but that is the whole idea behind the “muscle confusion” concept.  If you feel like you are getting the hang of it, it’s time to do something else.

 Here’s my Chest & Back Stats:

• Standard Push-Ups: 12, 8;  15, 10;  15, 12
• Wide Front Pull-Ups: 5, 3;  12, 14;  12, 12
• Military Push-Ups: 10, 6;  12, 8;  12, 7
• Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 5, 3;  12, 10;  12, 12
• Wide Fly Push-Ups: 10, 10;  12, 12;  12, 12
• Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 3, 2;  12, 12;  9, 10
• Decline Push-Ups: 8, 5;  8, 3;  12, 6
• Heavy Pants: 10, 10 orange;  15, 10 orange; 15 orange, 10 red
• Diamond Push-Ups: 10, 3;  8, 6;  10, 8
• Lawnmowers: 12, 15 orange;  15, 15 orange;  12 orange, 10 red
• Dive-Bomber Push-Ups: 10, 5;  8, 8;  8, 6
• Back Flys: 10, 10 orange;  15, 15 orange; 12 orange, 10 red

It’s a little hard to believe, but today is my last day with Phase II of P90X. Tomorrow, I’ll be doing Chest & Back again for the first time since my Day 15 journal entry. The past six weeks have gone by fast… but I guess time flies when you’re having fun working out!

A week after I noticed that sore spot under my right shoulder blade, it had fully recovered. I was careful not to re-injure it during my second round with P90X Kenpo X.

July 16, 2007

Day 13: Kenpo X

I really had a good time with the Kenpo X workout again today.

While I have written in some detail about my concern for my shoulders when doing pull-ups, as I touched on in my letter to Coach Mcd, I believe the overly sore area beneath my right shoulder blade last week came from a little too much punching enthusiasm. After all, that sore spot did surface the morning after my first round of Kenpo X. Therefore, I was careful not to punch too hard this time.

Tony Horton’s tip of the day for Kenpo X is, “Don’t bang… Don’t bang the joints!” Good advice no doubt. However, perhaps he should add, “Don’t overextend… Don’t overextend your arms!”

I think this is precisely what I did. I was getting all into the punching… “Jab, Cross… Jab, Cross… Jab, Cross, Hook… Jab, Cross, Hook… Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut… Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut…” And, while I was not banging my joints, I do think I was overextending my arms, particularly on the cross punches.

With regard to that sore spot beneath my right shoulder blade, I think I just stretched it a little further than it wanted to go due to the ferocious force of my right fist!…

Watch out Mike Tyson cause I’m gonna knock you out!!!

Anyway, that sore spot beneath my right shoulder blade feels better now and I was careful not to re-injure it today.

When you are in the early stages of a workout routine, especially when you have not worked out in a while, it is important to monitor your body for budding problems and alter your workout accordingly. This is particularly true when beginning a routine as extreme as P90X. As stated in the P90X Fitness Guide, your goal during the first phase (first four weeks) of P90X is to “finish the workouts in one piece”.

My neck was still feeling a little stiff and my shoulders a little weak on Day 12, so I altered my workout accordingly.

July 15, 2007

Day 12: Legs & Back

Even though I skipped the yoga moves that seemed particularly hard on your neck yesterday, my neck was still a little stiff when I woke up this morning, so I decided not to do Ab Ripper X again today. However, I imagine that I’ll do it again, as scheduled, in a few days.

The rest of my body felt great. Once again, it stuck me that the Yoga X workout is well timed.

Once again, it struck me that the Legs & Back routine is well balanced. I pushed a little harder than last time and once again felt just maxed out at the end.

I felt much better about my performance with the pull-ups today than I have in either of the Chest & Back days or the Legs & Back day that I have done so far. I’m getting the hang of using the chair and getting a nice burn at the end of each set.

Rather than switching the position of my hands every two reps, as Tony suggests, during the Switch Grip Pull-Ups, I switched them every six reps (so only once) during the second set today. I felt like that was a good compromise between protecting my loose shoulders and getting some benefit from the switch. As my reps per set increase, I think I may stick to switching every six reps.

Here’s my Legs & Back stats:

• Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 5, 6; 12, 16
• Wide Front Pull-Ups: 5, 5; 12, 12
• Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 5, 5; 12, 12
• Switch Grip Pull-Ups: 6, 6; 12, 12

I did the P90X Yoga X workout a little bit differently the second time through and I was glad that I did.

July 14, 2007

Day 11: Yoga X

When I did Yoga X last week, I attempted, more or less, all the moves and did my best to keep up with Tony & Co., even when I knew I was doing them improperly. I decided to do it a little differently this week.

Since I had the experience of trying everything last week, I decided to go a little more slowly this week and spend more time watching the video.

One of my problems with yoga, although I do have some experience with it, is that I am not so accustomed to it that it seems to come naturally. I have done thousands of push-ups in my 27 years (although not many in the last 9) and I can hit the deck and pump them out with perfect form until I get tired. This is not the case with yoga. However, this is certainly not due purely to my lack of experience.

I’d have to say that yoga is inherently more complex than strength training. Form is of supreme importance in both, to be sure… as is breath. However, it strikes me that, with strength training, once you have the form down, you, more or less, have it down. When you want to make it more difficult you add more weight. But with yoga, when you have it down, in addition to holding poses for longer and stretching farther, you add more complexity.

It is telling that the Hindu tradition dictates that one should learn yoga only under the direction of an instructor. Now, there are many reasons for this, many of which don’t apply to the way yoga tends to be done in the U.S., and I’ll write about these more in the future, but I find it noteworthy that my high school football coach (who was also my middle school baseball coach) never told me, “Only do bicep curls under the direction of an instructor.” Rather, when I first approached him about lifting weights, he wanted me to go out and buy some free weights for myself and get to work pumping iron.

Anyway, I did spend less time doing the yoga and more time watching Tony & Co. today. Anytime I was not sure exactly where my feet were supposed to be, how flat my back was supposed to be, the position of my arms, etc., I stopped and checked out the video. I even stopped entirely for about 15 minutes in the middle when the moves get especially difficult and just watched. I learned a lot, and think I’ll do much better next week.

Once again, even though I spent less time in a state of discomfort this time than last time, I cried during the ohms at the end of the routine. Once again, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. Once again, I have been emotional all day, alternating between feelings of anger and sadness for the most part. However, as I wrote last week, this is to be expected… and won’t last forever as long as I keep doing Yoga X.

In this journal entry, I touch on the related concepts of “muscle confusion” and the “plateau effect”.

July 13, 2007

Day 10: Shoulders & Arms

My neck did feel a little better when I woke up this morning, but it was still stiff, so I skipped Ab Ripper X today.

The Shoulders & Arms workout went better this week, mostly because I had a better idea of which B-lines Bands to use for which exercise and how to use them.

There is definitely a learning curve with P90X. Not only do you need to learn mentally about the program, the various routines, the equipment involved, the supplements to take, etc., but you also need to learn physically. You body needs to learn how to move and what its limits are. There are so many moves in P90X that it requires some coordination and muscle memory to get them all down.

In fact, the whole point behind P90X and the concept of “muscle confusion” that P90X promotes is to keep your body off balance. In so doing, it maximizes the learning curve, and thus maximizes your results by constantly challenging your body and avoiding “the plateau effect”. “The plateau effect” is where the effectiveness of your workout routine diminishes because your body becomes accustomed to the routine. The end result of avoiding “the plateau effect” with “muscle confusion” is that your results are better and faster.

Here’s my Shoulders & Arms stats:

• Alternating Shoulder Presses: 10, 10 orange; 10, 10 green
• In & Out Bicep Curls: 16, 16 orange; 16, 16 green
• Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 10 magenta; 10, 10 orange
• Deep Swimmer’s Presses: 10 orange, 6 green; 10, 8 green
• Full Supination Concentration Curls: 11, 12 green; 12, 10 green
• Chair Dips: 25, 25 bent legs; 30, 25 bent legs
• Upright Rows: 15, 15 magenta; 15, 15 orange
• Static Arm Curls: 16 orange, 16 green; 16, 16 green
• Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks: 10, 8 magenta; 10, 15 magenta
• Two-Angle Shoulder Flys: 10, 10 orange; 16, 16 magenta
• Crouching Cohen Curls: 10, 16 magenta; 20, 15 orange
• Lying-Down Tricep Extensions: 12, 16 magenta; 12, 10 orange
• In & Out Straight-Arm Shoulder Flys: 16, 12 magenta; 16, 16 magenta
• Congdon Curls: 10, 10 green; 12, 15 green
• Side Tri-Rises: 10/10, 8/8; 15/15, 20/20

There is much more to say about “muscle confusion”, “the plateau effect”, and P90X, so I’m sure I’ll write more about them in the future.

This series of three emails ended my initial correspondence with Coach McD. They were written on the 11^th, so my neck had yet to stiffen up, which is why there is no mention of it. I thought about writing Coach McD to ask him about it, but it didn’t take long before it started feeling better, so I never did.

July 12, 2007

“Unfun Memories” with Coach McD

After Coach McD’s prompt and detailed response to my question about my shoulders and pull-ups, I wanted to write to thank him and respond to his advice.

Here’s what I wrote:

Hi Coach McD,

Thanks for your quick reply.

The problem is free weights are difficult for me right now, as I am traveling/moving around a lot. I suppose the bands, like the nautilus machine, don’t provide the same kind of effect as the free weights… but P90X with the B-lines Bands should get me on the path that you are talking about just by making me stronger, no?

I used the chair with the pull ups today rather than using the bands per your recommendation and it was easier than I thought it would be.

Thanks for the help.

-James

P.S. The tightness behind my shoulder blade isn’t there so much at the moment.

I didn’t say much, and wasn’t necessarily expecting a response this time, but I got one:

Jim,

Sorry -forgot that you mentioned using the bands. I would guess that they offer very similar results as the weights actually. A nautilus machine typically has only one movement, or track. You can push sideways on a device that only moves up and down, but it won’t budge to the side, meaning that you don’t have to use any other muscles to keep it from moving to the side. The machine does that for you. Only the very narrow range of muscle responsible for the up and down movement will have to engage.

However, I betcha the bands will perform very much like weights. There is no track that you are locked into when exercising with them, which means that you have to incorporate all of the little, stabilizer muscles as well, just like weights. Besides, they are a great way to add strength, as you say.

Glad the pullup tip helped. You brought back some unfun memories with that

Mark

So, I responded back:

Hi Mark,

Sorry to bring back the “unfun memories”.

Looks like I was placed with the right coach. I look forward to conversing with you and sharing my shoulder woes. (But hopefully there won’t be many.)

Thanks, James

Which is precisely how I feel. It’s cool that Million Dollar Body provides you with a coach in the first place. It is even cooler that mine responds. Yet even cooler that mine responds with so much detail. And it’s the coolest that mine has shoulder issues just like me. The folks at Million Dollar Body must be psychic or something!

I wonder if Coach McD has neck issues…

While this may have ended my initial correspondence with Coach McD, this certainly did not end my correspondence with him. In fact, we have been corresponding with some frequency. For, the next time I contacted him, it was to ask him about the Million Dollar Body Coaching Program…