P90X Lean Workout Review

Tuesday I had a Protein shake for breakfast on my way to work. I enjoy mixing things up with this meal. There are so many different fruits you can add to get completely different flavors. The Beachbody Protein Powder goes good with just about all of them. I am partial to the vanilla flavored one, but my husband likes chocolate. For this particular morning I tried mango and banana with vanilla powder. VERY GOOD! Work was very busy. Around the holidays families come visit or take their loved for outings. It is very touching to see that some people still try to keep in touch instead of just forgetting about their loved ones that are in our care. We enjoyed a holiday trivia game and some girls from a local school came in and played some Christmas songs on their violins. The residents loved it! My AM snack was an apple with some peanut butter (for dipping). For lunch I had a Lean Cuisine stir fry meal. They are extremely good. Those of you that have reservations about “health food” should really give these a try. They are not your typical cardboard reheats. My PM snack was some string cheese. When I got home I did a little bit of straightening up and wrapping. We had pork chops with brown rice and asperagus for dinner. Afterwards we watched Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas with the kids. It isn’t the holiday season until you watch that. My husband insists that the DVD they sell now is different from the one they aired on TV some 15 years ago. Anyone that can solve this dispute is welcome to voice their opinion. Once the kids were in bed I started my workout. Core for this night…..how is this considered a rest again? I added some weights again. The last few times I’ve done core I have focused more on form than adding extra weight. Now that I have my form down well enough I picked some light free weights and rocked out. I found that about 3/4 of the way through I had to set them down so I could finish all the reps. I can really feel the intensity in my core lately. Before it just plain hurt. But now I can feel the specific areas that I’m working, and can even start to control them. I know that sounds weird saying ‘control them”. I guess I mean I can focus on what it is I am supposed to be contracting and engaging. I go through a mental checklist before each exercise starts to make sure I am nice and taunt. I am very impressed with my progress with this workout. I considered this to be one of the hardest ones for me and I am seeing vast improvements. Not just in my form or anything like that, but simply in my stamina alone. Beofre I was having to stop quite a bit for some water or air. Now I just use the 45 sec they give you. So good signs on Tuesday.

Sorry I have lost track of the blog the last few days guys. I could imagine you’ll all understand it being Christmas week and all. Be rest assured though that I DID NOT, REPEAT: DID NOT, slack off. I have been just so damn busy that I have not had much time for anything but GO GO GO. Luckily for me, and you, I brought along my little notepad and kept track of things. This week was the rest week, although it was anything but rest.

I started off Monday with a mushroom omelet with strawberries and cottage cheese. I had Monday off and used it to get some last minute things done around the house and some shopping. My AM snack was a protein bar. For lunch I had a chef salad and for my PM snack I had some soy nuts. After I came back from shopping I decided to tackle my workout. The kids have the next 2 weeks off from school, so they were home and thought they’d give yoga a crack. Definately didn’t last as long as when they try kenpo. Too boring for them maybe? By the 3rd venyasa they were going back to their toys. I, on the other hand, wen tinto mind melt mode. At total peace…….until the children needed to tattle. My flexibility is totally improving!!! I even need yoga blocks now during the hamstring stretches to add some pull to it. I am almost to the point of laying my head on my legs. Sick, isn’t it?!? I still cannot conquer the crane. I am beginning to wonder if I ever will. Maybe it is an inner fear thing. Not wanting to fall on my head and what not. My balance is soooo much better than when I first started this. I can do tree without even waivering anymore. My royal dancer, which sucked majorly, is now quite graceful. I still struggle with the grab under pose (this is not the technical name). I fall at least 3 times still, but I can now grab without killing myself. Before I could barely lock my pinkies. It was not as peaceful as my other yoga experiences with this program, but I feel that has a strong influence from my children LOL. So that was my 1st day of ”Rest Week”. Again, sorry for the lapse in blogging. I will do my best to make the journalings of good informative quality (hence the reason for my notepad……whxh I highly recommend you have).

So I am at the end of week. Tomorrow I start week , my rest week. I can’t believe I have been doing this for almost a month! I am quite proud of myself for making it this far. Now it is time to kick it into overdrive. I went to work again today, but got sent home early because we were over staffed. That was good because I wanted to do some stuff at home before the holidays. The snow is still falling like crazy. I swear we got another 8 or so inches again today. This is such a joke! I grew up near the beaches, I am definately not a snow bunny. My breakfast this morning was oatmeal and my AM snack was a Fiber One bar. For lunch I had some chili. I ended up skipping my PM snack because we took the kids to the movies to see Desperaux. We muched out on popcorn and slushies……I know, I know but hey you can’t go to the movies with kids without the essentials. The movie was actually very cute, but not at all like the book. After that we walked around the mall a bit and decided to eat dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s. This time I behaved and ordered a turkey burger. I didn’t even eat my fries. Once we got home I got the sudden urge to clean out ym kids’ rooms and closets. Make room for all the new stuff Santa might be bringing. After that we had to pack up all the kids’ gear because they are going to go stay at their grandparents for a few days. Granpa has some land and really great sledding hills! This snow should be good for something. So after all of that was over it was time to knock out some kenpo. The kids jumped in throughout the workout. Always good to have some cheerleaders along. This is their favorite workout and I am shocked to see how far they go until they get tired (which is usually aournd 20-30 mins). So if my munchkins can do it you guys can too! All of my family has been really supportive these last few weeks. There have definately been those nights where I didn’t feel like woeking out at all and they have been there to encourage me. That goes for al of you guys too. If it weren’t for all of your comments and support (and the fact that I feel like I would letting you down) I wouldn’t be here. So now that week 3 is over with I have going to take a victory shower and head off to bed.

This was my first day working a weekend shift. I grabbed some toast and fruit on my way out the door. This snow is getting ridiculus!!! I actually made it to work on time though and without crashing…..that’s always good. My AM snack was a yogurt and an apple. For lunch I had leftovers, which was spaghetti and salad. My PM snack wasa protein bar. Work went well. It was diffeent working a weekend. The routine is varied and you have more time to spend some one on one with the residents. We baked some cookies and listened to Christmas music. My husband and kids even came to visit for a few and spend time with some of the residents. Everyone always seems to have a good time doing that. Once I got home I relaxed for a little bit and putted around the house. After that I started my workout. I have been sore this week. I think it’s because I have finally found my niche in this program. I know what weights work right now and what reps and so on. So I have really been BRINGING IT this week. That being said, when I started out today I was feeling kind of tight and tense. After warm up and some stretching I was feeling good and ready to rumble. On this workout I always try to give it my best shot because I feel my lower body is what needs the most attention. I pushed through all the exercises and did all reps….no whimping out here! I am still a big fan of the sneaky lunges. They just strike me as hilarious! I would have to say the absolute killer in this routine is the wall squats. I don’t care who you are, if you have to stand up against a wall for over a minute and alternately raise your legs you are gonna want to cry!!! I am keeping with the green band for all of my back exercises. I really like doing these exercises. Something about feeling that contraction and muscle working in your back makes you feel fantastic. Kind of impowering. I know that may sound weird, but that’s just how I feel when I max out those back routines. I think for a woman it is better to use the bands as opposed to a pull up bar. I have no desire to be some jacked up chick, so I feel the bands do the trick. I really struggled with ab ripper today. Not really sure why. Maybe I was just plain pooped, or maybe becuase I was sore. I couldn’t go all the way through the reps for the full 25, but I definately gave it the best I could. Those heels to the heavens are what really got me today. So now I am going to shower and relax a little bit more before company comes over. Later taters!

Another day off for me (since I work this weekend I get 2 days off during the week). Good thing too since I have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for the holiday and the snow storm that’s coming later today. The kids still had school but are getting released early. Thank God! At least that gave me a few hours to get things done without them running around. Once they were gone I started scrubbing and vacuuming every surface of my house. I tell my kids Santa doesn’t visit dirty houses, it’s a nice way to get them to keep their rooms clean for the month. I was also finishing up some laundry. After my house was sparkly clean I decided it wuld be a perfect time to do my yoga. With the kids gone it makes it sooo much better. It really is a workout that needs to be done in a very zen like environment (so no kids, husbands, or pets is my rule). I was suprised to notice that I was really looking forward to this ,almost like a spa treatment. I am seeing a lot more flexibility and much better balance. I touched my knees today during the hamstring stretches and didn’t fall over at all during the royal dancer. I still can’t manage to pull off the crane pose, but that will definately take some time and practice. I have even graduated from the yoga blocks!!! I usually used them for the triangle and right angle twist poses but I no lnger need them. During the corpse pose I fell asleep (or something that resembled sleep) for just a bit. When I came back to reality everyone was “OOMMMMMMMM” ing. All in all it was a great workout today. I feel very much relaxed and rejuvenated. Now I am off to eat some lunch before the rugrats get home. They can’t wait for the snow to start flying so they can go sledding and build snowmen….either that or they are looking for a really good excuse to have hot cocoa 24/7. Take care everybody!!!

Another glorious day off of work. Can’t say that I don’t like my job though. Most of the time when I’m not at work I wish I were. That’s a nice feeling to have since most people can’t stand their jobs. I had a spinach scrambler for breakfast today. Got the kiddies off on the bus and then started me marathon sprint of things that needed to get done today. I had to run to the store (ended having to go to 2 separate ones). Once I got home I had to straighten up my house since it looked like a tornado went through it. After that I had to make some chocolates and other things for gifts I was sending off to family. That took forever! Oh, did I mention that I was also doing laundry while all this was going on? Somewhere in all of that chaos I had an apple and cashews for my AM snack and a sandwich with some cottage cheese for lunch. So once all that was over I tackled my workout. Started out with a bang. Kept at the same weight amounts (5 for tris, 8 for presses and flys, and 10 for rows and curls). I petered out around 14 reps.  The push ups really start killing after a while. In the begining of the workout I can do almost 12 per exercise, but towards the end I am lucky if I can do 6. I suppose that’s a god thing though because it means I am working and my muscles are definately getting ripped! I am still having a lot of problems with that reach high and low routine. You are in plank position, you do a push up, then reach under your stomach to the oposite side, and then finally turn to the side and reach up. Hard as hell! I am wiped out after about 4 or 5. It is getting better though since the first time I did it I could barely do 2 LOL! For ab ripper I noticed I am able to do more reps without stopping. I used to always force myslef to make it to at least 15. Now I notice I am able to go to 19 or so before I feel that unbarable burn that says “Holy crap if I don’t stop I’m gonna hurl.” My oblique crunches are looking a little prettier too. This is really starting to work for me and show some improvement. Things are always easier when you start noticing a change. Well now I have to go shower and get the kids from school. I think tomorrow we are supposed to get more snow!

Was feeling much better today as I went off to work. We had a holiday party scheduled, but I will get to that later. I had oatmeal with apples and bananas for breakfast. my AM snack was a Fiber One bar. Because of aforementioned party I decided to have my PM snack at lunch time since the party was not scheduled until about 2pm. I had yogurt and an apple. For the party our bosses ordered food……and MAN DID THEY ORDER FOOD! We had a cheese platter, a relish tray, fruit and veggie platters, wraps, a salad, and of course a dessert tray. So not too bad for a holiday party. At least it wasn’t a bunch of nasty fatting food that I shouldn’t be eating. I opted for some fruit, salad, a few cubes of cheese, and half of a wrap (they were huge)……and of course those 3 mini eclairs were definately not a part of the nutrition guide. I decided to hold off dinner until later since I stuffed myself in the afternoon. So once the family was all home we did our Christmas family picture so we could mail it off to friends and family. It came out really nice. Afterwards we had some running around to do and dinner time ended up being around 7:30pm. We stopped by a local mexican eatery. Don’t worry people I played it safe and just ordered a salad. By the time we got home it was late, around 9 and I still had my workout to do. It wasn’t too bad though because cardio seems to go by fast, probably because they change it up in the workout. I was really jammin tonight. I totally kicked ass at this workout!!! It was probably the best one I’ve done so far in regards to me giving it 110%. Don’t get me wrong, I always try my hardest, but you and I both know that when you are first starting something you got to build up to it. So tonight was that breaking point. Trust me I was still huffing and puffing, but man I was cruising. I did not stop or pause once!!! I kept right up with Tony and the gang and really did a good job. I am really proud of myself. So now that I am completely drained and sweating like crazy I am going to go shower. This breakthough has been great and I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s workout now just to see if there’s a difference there too.