Chronicles: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Warrior - ECoach - P90X

Answering email quickly

My inbox is full of email from people who probably expect an answer from me, sooner or later.  Sigourney Weaver hasn't shown up yet and the Alien in my stomach is extremely resilient to bismuth.  It might be slowly working like Kryptonite laced with nicotine but until the good alien and bad alien duke it out in the junk yard of my stomach, I'll keep praying to Fed for relief.

What I've decided to do is answer all the email in one blog post to save time.  I won't post the names here because some people might be embarrassed by their questions.  Those of you that have sent email should be able to pick your answers out.  Let's get started.

No, I don't need any repl1ca watches, thanks.

Yes, by all means, forward that on to me and I'll have a look.

Really, you're that flexible.  I'm going to have to talk to my wife about that one.  Gotta luv Yoga.

No thanks on the watches.

Have you talked to your doctor about that.  That doesn't sound right to me. 

I'd love to.  Thanks for the invite.

Still no to the watches.

Yeah, that was funny.  Can I use it in my blog?  I'll substitute PTE Rick's name into the story so that you don't look stoopid.

More scramble?  I thought you had learned your lesson by now.  =)

Yeah, the whole book will have to be changed right from the start.  In the beginning Fed created the heaven and the earth.

Sure, give me a fake r0lex if it'll get you to quit sending me email.

I'm not sure that will work.  Yeah, it counts as burning calories but how many are you burning in those few minutes.  You might want to try jogging or something.

Calories in versus calories out.  It's simple but it's not always easy.

Dude!  No way!  Is there a pool to bet on for the number of stitches you're gonna need?

If I have missed anyone, just pick one that most closely matches the answer that you think I would have given or pick the one that answers in a manner that would most benefit you.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 77 - 73)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 77 - I weighed in and I lost 5 pounds this week.  That's wayyyy too much.  I'm sure some was fat and some was water but some might have been muscle.  I'm probably going to have to increase my calorie intake.  I took a guess based on some old numbers that I had in my computer.  I obviously wasn't doing P90X back then.  =)

I did Plyo X for my workout today. 

By the time I got to the end of the day, I hadn't eaten nearly enough so I grabbed some cookies to make up for it.  I don't know that I would recommend this to others but I know I'm not eating enough and it was a quick way to get calories in.

Walking: 1.54 miles.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 80 - 78)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Super condensed version today.  It's been one of those weeks and I'm behind on just about everything.

Day 80 - I did P90X Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps.  Two words: Pike Presses.  Three more words: Wear a helmet.

I postponed Ab Ripper X because my ribs hurt.  Later in the day, I did Turbo Jam's 20 Minute Jam and did the Ab Ripper minus a couple of the exercises that my ribs wouldn't allow me to do.

Walking: 4.26 miles. 

World Made by Hand

I finished reading World Made by Hand by James Kunstler a couple days ago.

It's a fictional account of life for a guy after the oil runs out and several US cities have been nuked in retaliation for interfering in the operation of other countries. 

Robert, our hero lives in what used to be a city but now is more of a village where life has reverted in many ways to what it was like before electricity.  Most people grow or catch their own food and barter their services with others.  People mine what used to be landfills retrieving stuff that was once garbage but is now valuable.

Everything is quiet and peaceful and running as best it can for a people who remember what life was like a few years earlier when they had electricity, cars, Wal-Mart, and grocery stores.  Life changes when one of the villagers is murdered by the owner of the landfill and several others are kidnapped and held for ransom by a thug in a town to the south.

It's an easy read and is meant to act as a warning for people about the ramifications of peak oil and resource wars.

If anyone wants my copy, let me know and I'll send it to you. 

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 82 - 81)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 82 - I did not feel well this morning.  Not in the least.  My ribs hurt and I was cold.  I don't know why I was so cold.  I put on a hoody, read my email, and drank my No-Xplode.  My usual start to the day except I usually don't wear the hoody.  I did not warm up so I decided to put off training for a while and made some tea.

After a couple of cups of tea, my body warmed up from the inside and what ever had its grips on me, let go.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 84 - 83)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 84 - No weight loss.  I am exercising harder and more than I ever have.  I hope that I am losing fat from all of this.  It seem impossible that something isn't happening.

Tia is having similar results from the scale.

It can be a bit discouraging.  I lost weight the first time I did P90X.  I wasn't doing Turbulence Training at the same time though.  It throws a new variable into it. 

Tia and I talked about it and in the grand scheme of things, everything is going well.  The only pressure is the pressure we are putting on ourselves for the cruise.  We're essentially into a 90 day challenge which I thought I would never do.  Don't expect to see a picture of me with my body completely shaved holding a newspaper to show the date when I get done.

Don't expect any gratuitous speedo shots either.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 87 - 85)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 87 - I started the day by sleeping in a little extra.  Between alternating P90X and Turbulence Training workouts and my messed up ribs, I've been trying to get a little extra rest in.

When I got up I did a Turbulence Training workout followed by P90X+ Kenpo Cardio followed by ice on my ribs.  I'm able to do just about everything.  Jumping up and down and laying on my back are the things that hurt my back the most. 

I followed that up with more ice a couple hours later.  Damage control.  I'm not going to stop working out so I have to do what I can to keep things functioning.

Ab Exercises: Plank and Surfboard

It's possible to work your abs hard without even moving.  Plank will have you trembling and cursing, begging the second hand to tick ahead quickly.  Push it to the limits and you'll definitely feel it the next day.

You start the exercise by laying on your stomach.  You're up on your toes and your elbows are below your shoulders. 

From there, you simply (simply, I say) straighten your body and then hold there for a predetermined amount of time or if you're a glutton for punishment, as long as you can.  If you haven't done it before, I suggest that you try 15 seconds, take a break, and then try another 15 seconds.  You can work up from there.  It's a great alternative to doing crunches all the time and works more muscles.

When that gets to easy, you can switch to an advanced alternative that I came up with the other day: the Surfboard.  It's very similar to Plank but has one minor change.

This has been around but it still cracks me up

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 89 - 88)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 89 - I stared the day with a dose of No-Xplode and followed it up with a kick butt session of Turbulence Training and P90X+ Intervals.

I can't do every rep of every exercise but I did do the whole DVD this time.  It's a tough one, at least for me.  Quite frankly, it's also not intervals for me either.  Maybe if you were a marathon runner or something but not me.  I still love it.  It's a great cardio workout but 20 seconds isn't enough to bring my heart rate back down much before they jump things back up.  Most interval programs that I have seen have intervals of 60 seconds or longer.

Go hard for 60 seconds and then recover at an easier pace for 60 to 90 seconds then go again.  Someday maybe I'll be like, "20 seconds of easy stuff?  Sweet!  How generous!"  Right now, I'm drenched in sweat muttering, "Make the bad man stop."  Tony Horton looks more ripped in the Plus series than he did in P90X.  Crazy stuff.

The thing is, you find someone that did something that worked and then you do the same thing.  So there I am every morning doing my best and forgetting the rest.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 91 - 90)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 91 - Well, it turns out the scale last week was weigh off.  This week, I tried again and I have lost a couple pounds from 2 weeks ago.  A pound a week, that's not bad but I'd like to see it bumped up a bit.  Still, at a pound a week, I'll be down where I want when it's time for the cruise.

I took the whole day off as a rest day.  Sundays are my rest or X Stretch days.  Tomorrow I start with 3 weeks of hard training again so I thought I'd give my body one last day of complete rest before throwing it into the fire for 21 days.

Me-Me Monday: TV

Borrowed from PTE Rick.

1.  Name 3 bad things about TV.

- Most of the crap on TV is crap.  Okay, I probably don't have the experience necessary to make that judgment call but from the previews of shows I've seen, I'm sticking with my evaluation.  Final answer.

- Commercials.  I would probably watch more TV if there weren't any commercials.  Currently, I watch an hour a week and that's all the commercials that I can stand.  Not only do I feel they are wasting my time, but some I don't understand, and some I just shake my head and wonder if people really buy into the stupidity.

- The average American watches 4 hours of crap and commercials per day.  After work, commute, showers, eating, and sleeping, that seems like all the rest of a person's daily allowance of time.  And they obviously fall for the stupidly materialistic commercials or companies wouldn't make them.

succesMe-Me Monday: Random Stuff

Another meme borrowed from Mrs. Chili (and I remembered to link to her blog this time).

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?

Any of them that charge interest.

2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
Sad as this may be but I can't remember the last romantic dinner we had.  We had plans for Valentine's Day but that was changed by friends dropping in. 

3. Do you own a guitar?
No.  I was tempted to go buy one just so I could answer yes to this question.

4. Name of your first grade teacher?
You're kidding right.  I can't remember what happened two days ago and I've been to about 14 different schools.  5th or 6th grade was Mr. C.  Cvatanich or something?  Best teacher I ever had.

5. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
Yes but not as a patient.

6. Do you own a piggy bank shaped like a pig?
No.  Mine looks like a large Pepsi can.  A held over idol from my cop days.  Mountain Dew was nectar of the gods but I favored Pepsi. 

7. How many colleges did you attend?
Two, so far.  Many more to come, I'm sure.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 94 - 92)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 94 - Time is ticking down.  The cool thing is that P90X is designed to work in 90 days and I'll be coming off a recovery week with 3 weeks hard training already done when day 90 arrives.  The first month shows the least in visible results for me.

Looking ahead at the next 3 weeks, I'm going to keep on with the tough training of alternating days of P90X and Turbulence Training but I'm also going to focus on flexibility.  I have done terrible on getting myself to do Yoga or Stretching so that will be my goal.

For those of you starting your own fitness program, adding one thing at a time is a great way to go.  You change one thing about your diet for a week or two and then change another and so on.  Over time, you will find that you are eating much more healthy.  The same holds true for exercise.  If you are just starting, you can do three easy 30 minute workouts in a week or go for a walk.  Do that for a couple of weeks and then add a day or intensity or weight.  These incremental changes really add up.

For me, I focused on strength the first month.  Now that I feel I have that going well, I can focus on doing my flexibility DVDs.  The last phase before the cruise, I'll probably focus on building up my arms because it's something I've always wanted to do.

Ricky T. Teaches Trey To Cuss

Why would he do that?  I don't know.  Trey is only 3 and really doesn't seem to have that many things in his life that are cuss-worthy.

There is one thing though that sets him off just about every time.  He has this Thomas the Train track set up that comes with a kind of bridge set up.  Putting the first track is the hardest part and it often falls before the second piece can be attached to stabilize it. 

When it does, Trey says, "Dammit!"

Some of you may be wondering how Rick pulled this off after spending only a couple of days with Trey a year ago.  In fact, Rick might be wondering that as well.  Lucky for you, I'm going to answer that.

Next week.

What I'm Reading

Tia bought A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and I've been trying to get some reading in on it.  He says that we are at a point in time where humans need to evolve or die.  The ego of humans is causing such dysfunction that we are going to destroy each other as well as our planet.  Can't argue with that. 

I'm interested to read more about what this evolution will entail and how he proposed we do our part in making the change.

I read The Power of Now by the same author several years ago and really enjoyed it.  I didn't put as much effort into following the advice as maybe I should have but I still enjoyed it and I should revisit it.  The Power of Now is geared to helping people live "now" and to let go of regrets from the past and worries from the future.

The other book that I'm reading is World Made by Hand by James Kunstler.  It's a first person fictional account of a guy living after the earth's oil supply is gone.  There is very little electricity and life is much like it was before the discovery of oil.  Most people grow their own food, walk where they need to go, and don't have much contact with people outside their village.  A farm hand has been murdered and no one is going to do anything about it.  A New Faith group has moved into the village and is trying to recruit new members.  There is a guy that seems to be doing very well for himself trying to create a new kind of life for him and the people that work for him, who sound like serfs to me.

I suppose the books go hand in hand.  It could be one or the other.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 96 - 95)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 96 - I started my day with P90X+ Upper Body. 

There were some interesting exercises in this DVD.  You are hitting the muscles from all sorts of different angles.  I have some suggestions for people are going to give this DVD a shot.

You should watch it one time through before you try it or give yourself extra time to hit pause several times.  You don't want to be trying to squeeze this one in a small time slot the first time you try it. 

I had to watch some of the exercises all the way through and then hit pause and do them myself.  This was especially true of the pull up variations because my pull up bar is not in view of the TV.  I also had to experiment with different dumbbell weights (where are my SelectTechs?) for the exercises.  Instead of doing a certain number of reps, you're going for a certain amount of time.  That meant going lighter for most of the exercises because doing 8 bicep curls is much different than doing 90 seconds of bicep curls.

I really felt good during the day after this workout.  The fact that I'm in my recovery week also probably plays a part in that.  I can tell you that I really needed it.  I will probably make this 3/1 plan the norm for my exercise program.  3 weeks of blasting as hard as I can followed by 1 week of stretching, light weights, yoga, cardio, and resting.  I think it's going to work well for me physically and mentally.

Howie Mandel and Night Ranger (and Boobs)

Last weekend, I did security for Howie Mandel and Night Ranger (hence the title of this post). 

Things were a bit calmer at the Howie show than Carlos Mencia.  In fact, other than the woman 3 seats away from me fondling her breasts while her boyfriend went down on her, the crowd was well behaved.  She obviously liked her boobs touched because even when her boyfriend went to pee or umm, take care of other things caused by watching your girlfriend fondle her breasts or what ever he did while he was gone, she was still fondling her boobs.  Is it Howie's bald head?  I don't know.  I should have asked. 

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice that you've been fondling your breasts for 30 minutes.  May I ask what it is that's got your engine going?  I'd like to see if I can bottle and sell it and make a fortune."

Here's a bit that Howie Mandel did at the show.  If you watch it and fondle your breasts, it'll be just like you were there.

Women, did Bobby's voice make you hot?  Clue me in.  Would 3 or 4 daiquiris help?  I really should have asked her.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 98 - 97)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 98 - Good gawd!

Let me preface this with a bit of a recap.  Friday and Saturday I was feeling a lot burned out.  Since starting my P90X/P90X+/Turbulence Training insanity, I have really been concentrating on trying to get enough sleep and doing a pretty good job of it.  Five nights a week, I get about 8 hours of sleep.  Friday and Saturday, it's hit and miss somewhere between 3 hours on the worst nights and 6 hours on the good nights.  Thinking sleep was handled, I figured the burned out feeling was from a lack of calories.  I'm not eating like I did with my first round of P90X.  I tried to eat more on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to get the calories up.

Let me assure you that not getting enough calories is not the problem.  I guess I can't be totally sure because I don't measure my calorie intake but I do measure my weight each week.  Today completely freaked me out because I have never, ever had this happen to me before.

I gained 7 pounds in one week.

Now, there has to be some kind of mistake.  No one gains 7 pounds in one week.  I stepped off the scale and stepped back on but it read the same thing.  I have gone over it in my head trying to figure out the cause but I can't think of anything so I'm stuck with the fact that I have gained 7 pounds.

I weigh three more pound than I did when my pants and belt were sounding klaxon alarms.  The interesting thing is that my pants aren't tighter and my belt is still on the same notch that it was last week.  There just has to be some kind of freaky mistake somewhere. 

Me-Me Monday: Manly Answers to Manly Questions

Here's a meme specifically made for guys by Mrs. Chili.

1. Boxers? Briefs? Boxer briefs? Thongs? Commando?

Is this a meme or a sleazy chat session?  I answered this one in last week's meme.

2. What’s your fussiest personal care routine?

I trim my pubic hair into different animals each month like the bushes at Disneyland.  This month's mascot is the giraffe.  Hello Mr. Giraffe.

3. Do you have a favorite tool? Power or manual?

Well, the obvious answer is too obvious so my answer is going to be my cordless drill (which could still be the obvious answer, I suppose, for those of you with your minds in the gutter).

4. Can you change your own oil? Do you?

That's a big negatory in both cases.  I have inherited my father's mechanical expertise (none) and added to that my mechanical desire (none) and come up with complete incompetance when it comes to cars.

5. What’s the “manliest” thing you do on a regular basis?

Pee standing up.  In morse code.  Long stream, short stream, long stream.  Short stream, long stream, short stream.  Long stream . . . sorry, need to go drink more before I can continue the message.

6. What’s something “manly” that you never learned how to do?

Change the oil in my car.

7. Do you ever cry? If so, what’s your trigger?

Yes.  Trigger: Clay Walker music.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X Journal (Cruise Plan Days 101 - 99)

Disclaimer: P90X is tough and you should be in decent shape before going all out using this system.  You could certainly use P90X to get fit but listen to your body and only do what you can.  This is *my* journal and I do not advocate that anyone do what I'm doing.  Some of it is probably very foolish and you should do your own research and/or consult with a doctor before doing crazy stuff like this.

Day 101 - I started off with Turbulence Training.

Last post, I said that the numbers and weights in a program should be used as a guideline and that you need to adapt it all to your body.  There is another option that I used today.  I was struggling with the Step Ups today.  My legs were doing fine but my wrists were getting tired of holding weights.  I don't know why but that's how it was.  I wanted to get all the reps in so I took breaks.

You can do the same thing.  If you can only do 2 push ups and your plan calls for doing 10.  You can do 2, take a break, do two more, and so on until you complete them.  You can also space the breaks out through the day if you want.  Do 2 in the morning, at lunch, when you get home from work, after dinner, and before bed.  There's your 10. 

Remember, the right way to exercise is in a way that challenges your body without causing injury.

Snippet Saturday - Spring, Tek, the Room Formerly Known as the Office

PTE Rick called me yesterday and during our conversation he said that he was already getting calls for business.  He had to tell his most recent customer that he would have to wait until the weather was nice.  I guess there's a blizzard or something back there.

Since he told me the weather there, I felt that it was my duty to let him know the weather here.  I didn't want to but I did it anyway.  I tried to phrase it in a way that wasn't rude or nyah, nyah, nyah.  I don't know how successful I was in my attempt to give an unbiased report on our weather.

It's been in the 50s and I'm running around the house in shorts with the heater off.  Outside my front door, I have bulb flowers that are coming up.  I can't remember what I planted there.  I think they are hibiscus.  They have large flowers and grow really tall and then the wind comes along and they end up laying across my sidewalk.  They are really pretty for about a day.

My roses are starting to bud and Trey went to the park to play with friends yesterday.  I wore a windbreaker to work last night and ended up leaving it there when I left early this morning because it was too warm for a windbreaker.

Other than all that, it's been pretty miserable.