Woot Phase II Begins!

If you’re wondering what happened to Day 28, it’s a Recovery & Mobility day… lots of foam rolling so there’s nothing exciting to report. I took a couple of extra rest days before starting Phase II because of wrist issues. My core wasn’t as strong as it needed to be when I started P90X2, so many of the balance moves put more pressure on my wrists than normally would. Instead of modifying to keep my wrists safe, I pushed myself and ended up with some wrist pain. Nothing major, but I listened to my body this time and took the couple of recovery days that I needed.

I still had a tiny bit of wrist pain going into today’s workout, so I modified quite a bit just to be safe, to give my wrists just a little bit more healing time. I also didn’t have a pullup bar yet (yes, yes I know… bad!) so I had to modify the pullups as well as the pushups. That being said, I can’t pretend I’d have been able to do the pullups WITH the bar lol … when I say CRAZY pullups, I mean CRAAAAZY pullups!

Lever Pullup .... WTF right?! Bananas.

I’m so happy to be into Phase II already. It’s going so fast, and I feel SO strong. Getting there… getting there

Today’s “Surprised My Own Damn Self”:

Elevated Stability Ball Pushups - I cannot believe I was able to do 5 of these! I didn’t have as much depth in my pushups as I’d like, but I kept my balance (promise you it’s not as easy as it looks) and was able to pull off 5!

Elevated Stability Ball Pushup

Today’s “There’s No Way” :

Chattarocker - Uuuuuuh, hmmmmm, ok! I couldn’t even do one of these properly. I laughed at myself the whole time, can’t even try to describe what these devilish little things are, and pictures can’t possibly do it justice. My goal is to do at least 3 REAL reps, (without flopping on the floor like a fish) before I move on to Phase III.

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YAY! Today was my final workout day of Phase I: Foundation! I feel SO much stronger than I did when I started. I can’t believe (actually I can because Beachbody programs just give you phenomenal results) how much I’ve improved in every single exercise, every single routine. Today was bittersweet because I did have to modify some of the moves because my wrist is still hurting (less), so I didn’t exactly get to go out in the blaze of glory that I wanted to, but wow… I’ve improved so much it’s hard to be disappointed. So I won’t be!

Biggest Improvement Today:

Forearm Alternating Side Plank AND Crawly Crab Press - It was so hard to just pick one, so I chose two! I always keep notes about my workouts, each week, so I can look back and see my improvements. I literally could not do ONE of either of these moves in good form during Week 1. They were both so hard that I wrote about each one, and I was angry! lol … Today, I did both exercises, in perfect form, right along with Tony & the team.  I feel proud… proud and motivated for Phase II woot!

Forearm Alternate Side Plank - Crawly Crab Press

Today’s “I hate this stupid exercise!” :

Decline Sphinx Plank Press - Yes… it IS as hard as it sounds! I started off in Week 1 not being able to do this exercise at all. I could think about it, but not actually move in the exercise. Today I was able to do 3, and by 3 I mean really, REALLY horrible reps. My wrist pain did not help, but I can’t pretend I would have made it to 4 with perfect wrists. You begin the exercise in the position shown in the picture below, then you raise yourself into a plank position from there… and repeat. HARD!

Decline Sphinx Plank Press

Below are my personal measurement results. I was late on recording them after I started, so they’re not my actual 30 whole days results; those would have been quite a bit better. I’m so looking forward to my Recovery & Mobility day, and I can’t wait to see what surprises & challenges Phase II holds. Bring it!!

P90X2 End of Phase I Results

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I started my weight loss journey on May 10th, 2010 (Mother’s Day), and here I am two months later, 20 pounds lighter! My belt has a couple of newly acquired holes, my pants slide off and on without unbuttoning or unzipping, my shirts fit like moo moos, and my shoes don’t fit my feet anymore. I am most definitely not complaining, and have never been happier to say that I have nothing to wear!

My decision to lose weight started out as a vain one. We took some pictures and created a short video, and used them to put together a virtual Happy Mother’s day page for my own mother. She lives about 700 miles away, and we don’t see each other that often unfortunately. The page turned out awesome, she loved it, and I was so happy to have made her Mother’s Day special. Out of all those positive things, the ONLY thought stuck in my mind on that day was, “Jesus! Look at me! I can’t believe I’ve gained so much weight!” I couldn’t even enjoy what we had done because I was so horrified at how I looked. Pretty shallow right? … maybe! But it’s the 100% raw truth.

That day… those pictures and those thoughts lit a fire under my fat, jiggly butt like never before. I’ve always said to myself, “You know, I’m going to start eating right and exercising so I can get rid of this weight,” but I never really did. Easy to say, hard to do. On that particular day, something just clicked for me, and I never looked back, never wavered in my goal, never steered off my path. Looking back on Mother’s Day 2010, I realize now that I actually gave myself a present that no one else could ever give me. I’m giving myself the gift of life… a healthy life, a happy life, a more enjoyable life… and I thank myself for that.

I continue to use the tools provided free on LiveStrong.com to manage my eating habits, and am still a huge cheerleader for Jillian Michaels’ Yoga Meltdown. I do this workout about every other day, and the results are just amazing for me. It’s a workout that I have fallen in love with for so many reasons. I have really bad knees (the fact that I sit cross legged in my chair 24/7 doesn’t help my poor knees any), crunches and other related forms of exercise really put a strain on my neck and back… not good for me. The Yoga Meltdown routine helps me burn fat, build toned muscle, improve my flexibility and balance without any of the side effects most workout DVDs seem to provide as a bonus. So really, just 5 thumbs way up in the air for this workout… love it all the way around!

I told myself that it would be much to embarrassing to take more photos until I reached my weight loss goal. But more and more I’m thinking, “How will it really be inspiring to anyone if they never see my progress?” So I have decided, that while embarrassing for me, seeing my progress in pictures might be helpful enough for someone else that I can live with that fleeting moment of embarrassment. Very soon I will start including pictures of my progress along with my progress posts. No laughing please lol I am not the most photogenic person in the world… seems to run in my family.

I’d like to give a HUGE thank you to the people giving me constant encouragement. I get the most beautiful emails from this blog, Facebook, and even Skype messages congratulating me on my progress, sharing of your own personal weight loss struggles and successes, and even “Way to go!”s to keep me moving forward. This is a direct source of inspiration and motivation for me, and it helps more than you know… thank you so much for your support!

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