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AdvoCare Success School 2012 Day 2

Today was day 2 of AdvoCare Success School and it was wonderful.  I have been taking notes on my MacBook Pro and so far have about 22 pages of notes, so it's been great.  I discovered a new author/speaker today named Andy Andrews.  I am looking forward to checking his works out very soon.  I also discovered a new AdvoCare product called Carb Ease Plus.  Here are some pictures and today's video:

AdvoCare Success School 2012 Day 1

Okay, so today Tommy and I slept in and then went to the Fort Worth Stockyards to have lunch at a place called Riscky's Steakhouse, and it was awesome!  The ribeye was succulent, but before the steaks came we had...uh...hmm...how to say this politely..."Calf Fries".  Yeah. When you Google that you may run across something else called "Rocky Mountain Oysters".  They are one and the same...Yep...we had cow nuts.  They were good though!  Here's some video evidence.  Now Tommy was the videographer and I haven't had time to edit the video yet, so it gets a little wonky there in the middle, but you get the idea.

End of the Day Wrap Up Video (this was hastily shot at 6:45am the next day after we slept right through the alarm and are about to be late, LOL):

P90X Day 12b (or 13 or whatever)

Click on each picture for a larger version:

Yeah, that's me on the plane. Just in case you didn't know, I hate flying.  Now don't get me wrong, I love the benefits of flying, I just don't like the act of flying, primarily because of my anxiety disorder...it also could be because I almost died in a fiery plane crash caused by lightning back in 2001 flying back from Italy, but I digress.

When we got off the plane we toured Cowboys Stadium, which was both awesome and gross at the same time (awesome because it's impressive, and gross because I hate the Cowboys...like, even more than lima beans and hairballs).  Here are some pictures from the tour:

I have a bunch more pictures, but our internet connection isn't the fastest right now, so I'll post more later, including today's video.  In fact, the internet connection keeps dropping out, so I can't post it now no matter what.

So my OCD won't allow me to NOT post a video for this blog entry before moving on to the next one, so I had to post one using my iPhone, which isn't bad...I've done those before...it's just that...well, from all the travel and lack of sleep, I look pretty rough.  Oh well:

P90X Day 12: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X

Yesterday I attempted Yoga X in the morning and in the evening I taught a martial arts class and took a martial arts class, so I was exhausted when I finally got home last night.  So exhausted in fact, that I laid down at 9:30pm and didn't get up until this morning to work out again.  I am really pushing my body far more than I've ever done before, so even though I am having a hard time, I know I am getting a great workout.


Low Fat-Low Calorie diets are great for some people, but not me, so I switched back to a Low Carb-High Fat diet, and the results were immediate.  I have lost 7 pounds since this weekend alone.  That is more than with Low Fat-Low Calorie over a period of 3 months!  I also noticed a marked improvement in TaeKwonDo class last night.  We need to be open minded about our ways of eating, find what works for us, and move on.


Today I became nauseated again about 3/4 of the way through the Legs and Back, and tried to push though and finished it, but only got about halfway through Ab Ripper X and decided I needed to stop before I got REALLY sick (like I did Saturday).  I'm losing weight, and I'm getting fit, so this bothers me, but I need to get over it because I truly did my best today.  I honestly think I just need some rest.


Here are some links that I mention in the video:


My AdvoCare Site

Low Carb Discussion Group

Fat Head the Movie (on Netflix)

Livin' La Vida Low Carb by Jimmy Moore

Why We Get Fat and What to Do About it (Gary Taubes)

And today's video:

P90X Day 11: Yoga X (Wasted Days)

CAUTION: Today's blog entry is very honest, and I seriously considered deleting it and starting over, but I think it's an important entry so that when I (or anyone else) looks back, they can see what happens when you overcome an obstacle.  However, this is not an inspirational video, so proceed with caution, LOL.
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Today is Day 11 of P90X, which means Yoga X.  When you watch today's video, admittedly you will see and hear an intense frustration.  I seriously considered reshooting that video after some time had passed so that a cooler headed Brian would be on the video, but that honesty is important so that I can look back in the future and see how I overcame it.


The bottom line is I really dislike everything about yoga and I don't know why.  I am going to spend some time over the next week trying to literally write down why I dislike it so much because I really need to get down to the bottom of it.  Until I can figure it out I am considering switching the Yoga X with Cardio X, or perhaps even some TaeKwonDo forms practice.


As rotten as my attitude is in this video, and as embarrassing as my demeanor is in it, here's today's video:

P90X Day 10: Shoulders & Arms, and Ab Ripper X

I think part of the reason I have been so tired lately is that work has been very difficult, especially the last couple of months.  I am transitioning out of full time ministry to go into the martial arts/fitness/nutrition field full time, and I am in a fishbowl.  I will go into more details after May when I've moved on, but for now, the relevance to this blog is that stress wears you down in a very real, very tangible way, and I think that's a BIG part of what's bogging me down.


Today I woke up and I actually didn't have to drag myself out of bed this time.  Yes, it was hard, and no, I didn't bound out of bed like I was a 4th grader about to go on a field trip to Six Flags.  It still took a bit to get out of bed, but it only too 15 minutes, as opposed to an hour, and that is true progress!


The workout itself was fine.  I absolutely love doing the workouts with the PowerBlock Dumbbells as opposed to the resistance bands.  I will have to use the bands on the trip this week, but unless I absolutely have to, I will use the PowerBlocks.  I found that while using the bands I was using the "20 pound band", but when I did the same exercises today I had to drop to the 15 pound dumbbells.  That solidified my opinion that the bands just are not the same resistance as free weights, and that I'm getting a much better workout with free weights.


Even as I type this I'm a little bit rattled because of some stress I'm having to deal with, but here's today's video (I have no idea why the video and audio aren't synced up properly in this video):