TRXDO

The last two workouts have left me extra sore - especially my abs.  I worked a little harder the last two days... so i'm taking a recovery day.

Tomorrow I'll hit back with TRX W3D3 and hopefully 2 hours of walking or riding.

Until then, I'm going to take it easy, drink plenty of water (the medic's answer for everything), and rest my muscles.  You know what that means, right?  Tomorrow, I'll be a little stronger to do the workout (which happens to be one of my favorites so far).

TRX - W3D2

I had to slow down a bit today, but I was able to do at least one of every exercise.

Spiderman Pushups - three each leg followed by five 'leg-in' movements (same as a spiderman pushup without the pushup)

Hamstring curls - I've been able to do these, but they have been hurting.  Since I went to level 1 they've not hurt and I've been able to keep my jlo off the ground

Atomic Pike - I had to stick with level 1 which is the same as a Pike for me.  I've never really been a pushup kind of person so pushups slay me.

All of the rest of the exercises were a lot easier than I'm sure they'd be on the first day.

Tonight's plan, should there be no rain, is to walk or bike for 60 minutes.

The indoor trainer was loud on the nubbed mountain bike wheels - i'm going to hold off on that (and my butt was sore after a few minutes, but I sweat like I owned it for 10 mins).

I'm still noticing that my pants are falling off and my shirts don't look like they're completely full.  I'll get some measurements and compare them to some previous blog entries.

Picture Comparisons

I thought I'd share these sets of pictures.  I don't really like showing off my body - here is a comparison of januaryish 2010 and today: http://elvisapocalypse.blogspot.com/2012/06/old-pictures.html

Please ignore the towel hanging on the broken towel rack (on the counter) that my kids didn't tell me they broke.

TRX - W3D1 - and Memorial Day Weekend

I did not workout much this weekend at all.  My bike arrived on Saturday and I assembled it.  It rained a lot and I didn't ride Saturday.  Sunday I spent an hour testing my bike out and getting used to how it rides.  Monday (Memorial Day) I took it on a ride with the kids around the OTC trail.  I adjusted my brakes and was able to ride smoothly.  I ate ok, not great.  I had a 12 pack of Coke from Friday to Tuesday am.  I had pizza Saturday night, but by Monday I didn't want any pizza at all and stuck with meat and veggies.  Pizza actually sounded really bad (and it's never sounded bad in my life).

I also had some unexpected news this weekend when I taped myself.  I started at 49.8" waist and am now at a 48.5" waist.  My hips started at 52.5" and are now 51.5".  All of that is TRX - I had no "losses" before I started building muscle.

I feel great after completing W3D1.  I was a little concerned since I took 3 days off, but came back a little more powerful than I thought.

Low Row to Chest Press - these are extremely difficult for me.  My TRX is hanging down from a 10.5' ceiling and the distance to get from the row to press is expansive.  I had to shuffle forward to get under the anchor and then could only do one press at that low height.  I need to figure out a way to modify this so it's easier on my setup, but still get the correct workout.

Pull-up - I absolutely went in thinking I wouldn't be able to do one.  I did three each round.  I was absolutely floored.  I cannot do a full pullup on a pullup bar, but I can do a seated pullup - and that's impressive.  I can't mark this off of my goals, yet - I can mark down that I'm able to do a 2/3 pull-up.

Hip Abductions - this may be the first time I've done Hip Abductions without having to stop and put my butt down.  That's also impressive to me

Body Saw - kabam!  I did all 12 both rounds on  my elbows.  I attempted a full arm set but my abs and arms were worn out.

Inverted Row - these are what I used to do that I called Aussie Pullups.  I haven't done these in about 4 weeks now so they were a lot harder than I thought they'd be.  I was able to get the 10 done that I set out to do, but I couldn't do more than that.

Side Plank - also pushed through all 40seconds (10s x 4) on each side without dropping.  I could not do the TRX (level 2) so I stuck with level 1.  I tried level 2 and kept falling over.

Clock Press - these looked hard - they were not.  I had a lot of weight on these and they were very smooth.

Power Pull - I did level 2.  I thought level 2 would be very hard.  It was not.

Burpee - I cannot do these on the TRX.  I still have too much belly fat that gets in the way.  When I move my leg slightly to get it out of the way so I can go down to the floor I end up falling over.  So I just do the one leg on the floor and alternate for the reps of level 1.  My arms were way too exhausted by this point to do a pushup.

Resisted Torso Rotation - difficult by the end, but not horrible.  I was able to accomplish them all

TRX - W2D4

TRX W2D4 was very hard for me.  I think balancing nutrition this week kicked my butt a lot more than I thought. I lost a lot in sleep and was just not feeling well.

I was able to complete all of the exercises except burpees.  Pikes were very easy for me, the hamstring runners didn't kill and didn't hurt my hamstrings more than they are.

overall it was a great workout.

TRX - W2DO

This is my TRX day off (DO)

I woke up this morning completely lethargic.  I remember waking up in the middle of the night b/c it was hot, but I didn't wake up so much as remain almost asleep.  I was so tired, in fact, that I didn't get up and walk like I wanted to.  I probably could have walked at 7 instead of 6, but I was really wiped out.  I'm guessing from multiple factors: being in the sun a bit when that's not normal, working out 4 times in 24 hours (3 walks and one TRX), and possibly not enough carbs the day before.

I had a can of Coke and was able to catch up a bit, but still not great.  I have a bunch of sinus pressure from allergies (that not even Zyrtec is taking apart).

I'll get in about 45 mins of walking later tonight.  I don't really like the 430 walks b/c they tend to mean hotter than the early morning walks, but I'm determined to workout as much as possible so I can gain strength and lose size.

I was so wiped out from the 50 minutes of walking (over 3 miles) that I didn't do TRX.  I planned to all day, but ended up working through lunch and then just couldn't move.  I ate shortly after my walk, but it took about 2-3 more hours before I felt good enough to really move.  The sun sucked the life out of me.

On an even more positive note, I noticed my sweater was droopy; normally you can see my belly and sides pushing out on the sweater.  I decided to take a tape measurement of my belly (over the love handles the way you're supposed to) and found that my waist was 48 7/8" - 1" smaller in 10 days and over 1" smaller (down from 50" in 22 days).  That's exciting!


Tomorrow, the plan is to get up early and go for another 3mi walk then TRX at noon.  I won't have time to do a second walk before my son's baseball game and my daughters Tae Kwon Do testing.

TRX - W2D3

The day started off with a weight loss of 1 pound - down to 282.4 - I felt like i was stuck at 284-287 forever.

I then did a 45 minute walk at almost 2.75 miles through the countryside.

I didn't have time to exercise TRX all day.  I had a headache which I drank water until I urinated clear and it didn't go away.  I couldn't figure it out all day.  I had a 16oz Coke just in case it was caffeine related; it wasn't.  I finally took 200mg IB before my evening walk.  While I was walking I think I figured out that it was because of the sun.  I don't spend a lot of time outside and twice in 12-14 hours I spent over an hour in the sun.  I think that the headache was from baking, not being overheated, just baking.  Idk for sure though and I could be completely wrong.

I went out after work and did another 34 min walk.  When I returned home I did a full TRX workout.

Up to this point I've been unable to do spiderman pushups nor the hamstring curls (well not the hamstring curls correctly).  Tonight I was able to do 4 spiderman pushups per leg - the other 4 per leg I did regular pushups.  For the hamstring curls, I was able to go to Level 1 and do 10 in a row (not ever happened before).

One other point to note, while walking my lower back started hurting which I assume was from the walk.  I stretched some so maybe it'll be better.

TRX - W2D2

This workout was not as intense, in terms of struggling, as my first week was.  I accomplished everything in this workout.  I had some issues with one-legged burpees that I had to resolve by not using the straps.  I couldn't maintain balance after doing a bunch of leg work that wore me out.

Pike - I was able to do all of the Pikes - and they killed my abs.  I did 5 Pikes during each set (10 total)  I was very happy that I was able to do them.  My abs probably haven't ever lifted that much weight before.

Hamstring Runner - my hamstrings are still quite painful from the other hamstring workouts so I didn't lift myself up on all of these.  I did the exercises with tension and some by lifting my butt, but not all of them.

Body Saw - they killed a little, but I did as many as I could with Level 3 (on hands) vs Level 2 (on elbows)

The end of the day also brought a 32 minute walk through the countryside.

TRX - W2D1

This workout was fantastic!  I took three days off.  I hadn't intended to take Friday off - I also hadn't intended to go to my son's baseball game (I thought the first one was this Friday).   So I skipped the W1D4 workout.

During this workout I felt a lot stronger.  I wasn't nearly as fatigued as I felt last week (diet related?).

I noticed my calves were sore before I started working out; otherwise, I felt very much "recovered".

I was able to do the Planks (Level 3) and Hip Abductions with the straps (since hanging them from the ceiling).  It seemed like they were much more difficult when attached to the door.  Like my mobility was lost for both of them.

Side Planks I did on the floor again, but instead of being unable to do them correctly, I was able to do them as a correct side plank.  That, to me, is great news.

Hamstring Curls - I had problems with these last week - it turns out that my calf soreness I noted was directly related to these.  I was able to do these, even lifting my butt off the ground in a correct set, however, the 2nd go I had to leave my butt on the ground and tighten my muscles - it felt like my ham strings were going to explode out of my calves.

Spiderman pushup - I still can't do a single one of these.  I can, however, hold a plank and bring my knee in, but I cannot bring my knee in and do a pushup.  that appears to be just a bit too much weight as my arms give out each time.  I'm going to try doing spiderman pushups in different positions (e.g. knee extended, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 towards my arm) and see if I can do at least one.  If I can't then maybe I can do them on the floor.  I was able to do them last week on the floor, but barely.

TRX - ceiling mount

I was going to buy a TRX ceiling mount when I found an article on a different and cheaper anchor point...actually I found a couple.

http://hubcitytri.blogspot.com/2010/12/trx-suspension-trainer-anchor.html
http://www.travelinfitness.com/2014/02/trx-anchor-install-for-garage-gym/

I decided that the same thing was in order for my house.  The door workouts are great, however, there are some workouts that mention needing something different and that is a ceiling or overhead mount.  I have 10.5' ceilings so I decided to give it a go.

I purchased an anchor mount from Lowes and two 3/8"x2" lag screws - total cost was less than 12 bucks.  The lag screw rating *should* be enough to hold someone more than 2x my weight - use caution.

I found the ceiling studs using my stud finder then marked about where center was.
I pre drilled some holes with a smaller drillbit.
I then put one lag screw through the eyelet of one side and started screwing it into the wood.
I attached the D-ring
then put the other screw in the other eyelet and started screwing that into the wood
I then finished by making the lag screw heads flush with the ceiling.

After all of that, my daughter hooked up the extension strap then the TRX straps.

I then carefully tested it with an incline chest press so I could watch the bolts and D-ring to see if anything was moving and it shouldn't.

In a couple of days, or after a few workouts I'll double check the bolts to make sure there's no slippage.

That's it.

TRX - W1D3

I wasn't dreading today's workout - except in time.  It's hard to think that I will spend 3 hours with my wife watching tv, an hour driving to pickup kids, and work through lunch, but not take one hour a day to workout.  The hardest part about workouts is assuring myself that the time spent is worth it when I could be less stressed after working out.

I've made a few changes to my life in the last two weeks.

1) How I eat, I've become increasingly aware of what I eat.  I don't want to log something that I shouldn't eat, so I don't eat it (I should just not eat it right, but the thought of someone judging me is worse to me for some reason).

2) I weigh myself twice daily - once when I first get up, and once right before I go to bed.  I'm more obsessed with that than I should be, but I feel it helps me have a goal I can see.

3) I do some Tai Chi breathing when I lay down to sleep.  Last night I spent an hour or so doing this and had the most calm and peaceful sleep with extremely vivid dreams

4) I workout daily.  I started last week with P90X3 and this week I've been doing TRX Force.  I plan to add 30 min or so of Tai Chi in the morning and in 4-6 weeks I'll add P90X3 back in full time.  Right now, I plan to do TRX Force at lunch (except on business trips) then P90X3 in the evenings.

5) I have at least 8 cups of water (8oz each) a day

6) I strive for a LCHF diet where I eat mostly meat (lean hamburger and swai fillets) and some veggies (1c of carrots 2-3 oz) and I supplement my protein intake with Muscle Milk - right now it's Evolve which has 13g of carbs and 13 protein - I'll switch to one of the pro formulas next week that has 8-9g carbs and 25g protein

7) I take a multivitamin, bcomplex, ginseng, fish oil (omega3).  I've always had intestinal issues; fiber pills seem to block everything up.  The carrots seem to make everything right.

I'm also going to say that I love P90X3 and TRX.  I never "feel" like I'm working out until it's over - then I know I've worked out.  I'm not that sore and my muscles feel "right".

On to today's workout recap.

I read the workout and was excited, I knew most of the exercises - so I didn't have any stumbling through today.  I was even more excited that the exercises were pretty short - then I got to the bottom and thought I was done only to read that it said "rest 1-2 minutes then do Round 1-3 again" - I let out a glorious "fuuuuuu" then got up off the floor.  By this point I was already quite fatigued but I did finish the three rounds with the same intensity as the first set.

I was able to do the plank just fine - I'd been doing planks for time over the last two weeks - so a suspended plank was rough, but I accomplished it just fine.  I'm used to 45-60 seconds of planking on the floor.

The side planks I wasn't able to do suspended.  I just didn't seem to be able to get my hips off the floor - maybe the straps were too high(?).  I did side planks on the floor and actually did side planks - that's an improvement over 2 days ago.

Hamstring curl - I was able to do the first round, but I think I had the straps too low - I didn't move them to mid calf and I think that would've made a big difference.  I didn't do the 2nd set of hamstring curls as I couldn't even get my butt off the ground.

Spiderman pushup - no :) - I still couldn't do a spiderman pushup with the TRX.  I did them on the ground, but I found I could only do one at a time.  I couldn't do them repeatedly.

Getting my feet into the straps is a bit easier, though I need to cut out some of the "sawing" motion that I'm doing to the straps - and find a way to protect my elbow and knees when I'm doing some exercises.

Overall another great workout - I approve.

TRX W1D2

Holy crap - most of this workout was getting my feet into the straps.  The skinny people in the video make it look way easier than it is.  It's really like being on all fours on a rope bridge and trying to kick a puppy.  You'll never kick the puppy but you will wobble.

Only one exercise I couldn't do: a single leg burpee - I had to do this with my foot on the ground.

I had trouble w any foot suspended exercises but completed them.

I was a little sore from yesterday but the first stretches today hit all of the sore points.

I sweat so much today - I don't usually sweat much at all and today was twice as much as normal.

First TRX workout

I will start by saying I love Tony Horton.  I bash on him about the P90X series, but they have truly helped me find workouts that don't suck.  P90X helped me lose inches in weeks and over two months or so improve strength.  P90X2 did the same, but felt a bit more rough than P90X.  Insanity nearly killed me everytime, but it was awesome (thanks Shaun-T).  And P90X3 has some great workouts.  I feel the deadliness after the workout and I always feel great.  The workouts are superb (for me) and at a slow enough pace that I never feel like I'm working out but I also don't feel like I'm sprinting.  I dread starting the workouts, but by the time they're over I always think how fast they went by.

This isn't a review of the Tony Horton P90X* series.

This is about my first TRX workout.  The first workout took 45 minutes.  Most of that was b/c I watched the videos on how to do the movements as I went along - and I had to get setup for each movement.  In total - each move took about 2 minutes to setup and do.  I also moved locations because I needed more than the narrow hallway to work in so that took about 5 minutes or less to do.

The guidebook is spectacular.  It's spiral bound and made of waterproof and nearly tearproof pages (like the 68W handbook) - very nice.  I have pictures in my previous blog.

The workouts are very nice and the level of difficulty is based on your angle, which is what I love about calisthenics and why I started doing the cali-move type workouts.  I've always wanted to be able to do a lot of the moves they do (the stuff Stephen Amell does in Arrow).  You can say I may never be able to do any of that stuff; I will, however, still work towards that goal - why not?  Back to the review.

The app is very nice.  It contains a lot of information that helps you breeze through the workout even if you don't know what you're doing.  Between exercises you adjust the straps as needed - most of the time "like" exercises are placed together so I didn't have to jump up adjust the straps then do the next exercise.

The videos in the app are superb often giving you more than one way to do the exercise based on your level of fitness.  I often felt like it took longer to watch the video than it did to do the exercise.

Almost every exercise in the app has a timer next to it - so you can hit the timer and it gives you a 5 second countdown then starts your exercise timer.  Very handy.

Each exercise was approximately 45 seconds - I went slow and was able to do about 10 sets in that time frame.  I never felt like I was going to "die" or that I was going to run out of energy.  Each exercise seemed to be the perfect amount of time for me.

The feet suspended activities were awkward for me; I was able to do all but one foot-suspended activity.

There were only three exercises I could not do correctly; one I could not do at all.  The first was the side plank.  For my belly size it's incredibly difficult to get my feet into the foot straps - so I did side planks level one off the floor (as the app showed).  The second exercise I couldn't do correctly was the Spider-Man pushup.  I had to do these on the ground - and again with my belly at it's size it was hard to maneuver myself correctly.  I was able to do all 16 (8 each side), but on the floor and not suspended.  The only exercise I did not do was the shuttle sprints.  It was raining and I don't have a 50 yd running distance inside my house.  I'll have to do those later tonight if it clears up.

Overall:

• I like the structure of the workouts.
• I like the speed of the workouts - they'll get faster as I'm more accustomed to the exercises and adjustments
• I like the fact that I have muscles worked out that I didn't even know existed
• I like the stretches I can do with it
• I like that I use my own body weight
• The cost is quite high and there are others out there that have their own version - I would've paid 150 for this including shipping (the gifter paid a lot more - retail on TRXtraining is 300 plus shipping) - for this version the app is well worth the extra cost (developers gotta eat)

I'm curious to see how I progress over the next 12 weeks.

My gift - TRX

I have come to learn over the years that I will find excuses not to work out.  I don't like gyms - I always feel like people are staring at the weeble-wobble-guy running on the treadmill; or judging my form.  Maybe they're all thinking that I'm judging them.  I don't know, but I don't like gyms.  I don't like running on the road b/c I've been hit a few times by cars that got too close; the same reason I don't like blading on the street.

I'm very picky about where I workout - mostly I attribute this pickiness to being fat.  When I go to another city I don't like to go to the hotel gym and listen to a bunch of people or feel like I'm on the only piece of equipment someone else wants to use.

Enter the TRX.

I've been doing a lot of calisthenics over the last couple weeks - I love to blade and calisthenics are much better for me than a machine.  I like challenge of using my body weight to kick my own ass.  My trainer suggested I look at TRX - so I did and fell in love with the system.

Yesterday, my gift arrived and these are the unpacking pictures.

When that bundle is unrolled you get the full TRX in all of its 1.4 pound glory.

I did not workout last night.  I read all about the setup and workouts.  Last week I read all about those very things, but figured I wouldn't have a trx to play with so I didn't pay that much attention.

After it was all set up, I decided to give a few exercises, I normally do with the pullup bar, a go.  I did 5 aussie chinups and 15 inclined pushups and one fly (i stretched my arms out as far as they would go parallel to my body so I was basically flat - then one lunge.

The movements felt great and "natural" - I didn't think I'd worked out that much until a bit later I laughed and everything from my shoulders to my abs and the glute on the side I did one lunge hurt.  I'm not in any kind of shape, but I've done lunges in the last few weeks; as well as pushups, aussie pullups, pullups, planks, etc.  I was completely shocked at how much I felt the workout after but not during.

I'm impressed.  Today I do the Day 1 Week 1 workout and we'll see how that goes.

Day 11 - trip to TN

It's not actually Day 11, it's actually closer to day 64.  I kept having false starts - I'd want to workout and do something, but I just didn't feel like it.  In 64 days I've lost about 11 pounds - most of that in the last 11-20 days.

Saturday (after I fully hydrated from the workout known as moving - helped a friend) - I had dropped another pound.  I then had 2 cheat and rest days knowing that I would be here in TN for the week.  Not extreme - my cheats this time were mostly 2+ Cokes each day - I had some taco bell and a homemade burger and fries.  Usually I splurge on pizza, a lot of pizza. I was going to punch tony horton in the face with p90x3, but the hotel i'm staying in has floors that seem solid, but I make things move (and not necessarily b/c I'm 283 jumping) - so I'll try Tony later.

I've done very well today - I didn't eat breakfast on purpose - we ran out of carrots :(.  As soon as I landed I had a quarter of a breakfast bar so that my stomach wouldn't be sick - then I had some massive protein and a little bit o carbs - for dinner I racked up 4 cups of iceberg salad with green peppers, and black olives - and about a tablespoon of ranch (you can't just eat salad without anything - it's yucky) -- all to get some carbs in and settle before I bust some Tony Horton or PU, SU, dips, etc.  Also with dinner I had a half of a Coke.  The hell you say?!  Yeah, a half - and that's all of the Coke I've had today.

I'm going to decide what my workout is for tonight then punch it and eat a couple of cheese sticks then relax with netflix and a language group later.