Wahhhhhhh

I WANT TO WORK OUT SO BADLY!!!! I hate this stupid rash!!!! I'm dying to work up a great sweat and challenge my muscles!!! But I know if I do my skin infection/rash will just get more agitated and take longer to heal. I hate being forced to take time off! HATE. This rash better go away quickly so that I can have a serious sweat session SOON! :[

Unwanted time off

Well, my body decided that it hates itself again. My skin allergy is back with a vengeance!! For those who missed this in a previous post, I am allergic to my own sweat. It sucks. Big time. I had it under control for awhile but it decided to ambush me today. I have a prescription body wash/nasty bright red "shampoo" for it but it doesn't help all that much. I broke out with it for the first time quite a few months ago. It was entirely miserable- I couldn't sleep, I went to the ER twice and my dermatologist once. It was really bad for three-four weeks and eased up after that. I started using this RX and it helped a lot! I was finally hopeful for some relief! I spent a few months without an issue. Until now. My neck felt a little itchy last night but I thought it was just dry skin. Well, wouldn't you know, I woke up this morning and my neck was even more itchy. By lunch break, my whole neck and chest were itchy, stinging and red. It has just gotten worse and worse as the day goes on. I've been using some anti-itch lotion and ice cold compresses but no relief. I used my RX and it helped for about three hours but that's it. I'm really hoping I can sleep tonight! Last time it was this bad, I barely slept at all. I was up every hour to put a cold compress and more lotion on. Utterly miserable. Those weeks were honestly awful. I'm hoping and praying that this clears up quickly!! I decided to take a couple days off from working out to let it clear up. Sigh. I hatehatehatehate doublehate taking days off from working out! Especially when it's for something lame, uncontrollable and frustrating like this. It makes me very angry. And annoyed. And angry. Gahhh!!! I don't want to take time off but obviously sweating is just going to aggravate my rash even more so it's a necessary evil. Unfortunately. So that's my update. My stupid I'm-allergic-to-myself rash is forcing me to take time off from my workouts. ASGJFHFDFIUOY!!! MAD MAD MAD. Pleeease send prayers and good thoughts my way for a speedy healing!

Drop 10 & new ab routine!

I started SELF magazine's Drop 10 Diet this week! You can check out the plan here.  It's a 5 day a week program that alternates cardio and strength training. Confession: I haven't done any of the cardio yet :X  I seriously prefer strength/resistance training over cardio. I'd rather lift all day then do cardio for an hour. I'm so bad. I do like Plyometrics and Kenpo from P90X so I need to work those back into my workout schedule. I'm getting there, though. Starting my full-time position screwed with my workout habits so I'm just happy to get back to working out four days a week! It's hard for me to commit to an hour+ six nights a week when I have a lot of other things to do with my evenings. I know I shouldn't make excuses but I did need to give my body time to adapt. I'm up a good bit earlier every morning but I'm still staying up until about the same time at night so I was concerned that keeping up with P90X for the first few weeks would make me apt to injury. Well, I did injure my stupid tow ligaments (yes, it still hurts a lot) but I didn't do any major damage. I needed to take the time off, as much as I felt guilty for it. I'm happy to be forming some new habits! I really like this Drop 10 plan because the workouts are only like 20 minutes. The strength routine is power-packed! It works multiple muscle groups at once to maximize calorie burn, which I love. Some of the moves are pretty easy for me, so I've increased the reps. Others are more difficult so I just do the recommended number of reps (its 2 sets of 12 reps, in case you're wondering). It's a great workout!

I also started a new ab routine that I'm suuuuper psyched about!! I needed something new. I'm sick of Ab Ripper X and I don't have my own copy of Ab Ripper X2 so I had to find something new. I went to Barnes & Noble with my mom last weekend and read the newest issue of Fitness magazine while I sipped my skinny mocha. It was a great Saturday afternoon! Back to topic- I found a ab routine that targets your transverse abdominals, which act like a natural corset! I read that and thought "score!", haha. Anything that can make me tummy look trimmer is a must-try for me. So I found the workout here. I was very happy and did it right away. I'll tell you what, this routine is no joke!! I thought my abs were pretty strong after completing P90X but man, this was a killer! I'm doing the minimum reps/sets right now while I gain strength. I was a little annoyed the first night but I realized that I have a lot of room for improvement which will be nice to see. I like starting a new tough routine and watch myself get better and better at it. That's an awesome feeling of accomplishment! I'll track my progress here to see how much I improve. I can't do the "Tolasana on Blocks" at all. Ugh. I'm trying but I just can't get it yet. I will be incredibly happy on the day that I can actually do that move!! It looks easy but it is NOT. Especially for someone like me who has very long legs. Not easy. At all. Gotta get stronger so I can own it!

Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty good! I'm going to try harder next week to get in my cardio, even if it is just plyo one night and kenpo another. I need to do something. One step at a time! I'm not gonna lie, though, I'm pretty thrilled about how my abs are looking. After I worked out tonight, my upper abs were completely visible (they usually are, but they looked even better), as were my obliques (yay for the side cuts coming in) and the center cut in my lower abs (those are the most stubborn). I snapped a picture on my iPhone to show my "trainer", haha. That was a boost I definitely needed! I feel my motivation coming back. Time to kick it up to beast mode and get ready for bikini season!! :D

Ab Ripper X2!

I did Ab Ripper X2 tonight with my brothers!! I was going to do a whole workout with them and the Ab Ripper, but there really wasn't enough room and my late dinner wasn't making me feel the best. So I watched some of their workout (I'm not sure what it was called but it was all cardio plyo-style and pulls up/chin ups) and did abs at the end with them. I think I could have done most of the stuff I watched them do in the regular workout which makes me want to try it, haha. I DID do just about everything in Ab Ripper X2!! I was happy :] It was tough and I wasn't great at some of the moves... but I did my best and I'm feeling pretty happy about it! I thought I would struggle with it a lot more than I did. This ab routine is a lot different than the regular Ab Ripper X. It's hard to compare the two and say if one or the other is easier because they're so different. X2 focuses on a lot of stabilization- more yoga-style moves like boat and banana. It was isolated movements that just buuuuurn so deep in the abs! I liked it. I think it works the transverse abs and obliques really well, which is exactly what I've been trying to work more lately! Yep, I like Ab Ripper X2! It was nice to have a change of pace, too, since I've basically been sick of Ab Ripper X since my fourth week of P90X :P haha. Overall, it was good. It wasn't a full workout but I'm glad I did something tonight. I guess 17 minutes of abs is better than nothing! I'm feelin' good :]

Leg work/injury

I tore it (and by "it" I mean my quads, hammys, calves and butt) with some leg work tonight! It was SO good! Jake wanted to watch the Bruins game so I busted out my rep logging sheets from P90X and just did the legs component of the Legs & Back routine. I didn't do the back work because I've been playing catch with the hubs lately (yay for good weather and preseason baseball to get us in the spirit!) and my shoulders/back are pretty sore from that. We had an awesome time throwing a baseball around so I figure that's a good workout. Back to legs- I dug deep and pushed myself tonight! It was hard to workout without the DVD. I'm a competitive person so I do well working out along to a DVD because I push myself to keep up with everyone in the DVD. I try to do just as well as they do and that always leads me to push harder than I typically would on my own. I brought it tonight, though! I used good old dedication to push myself. And it worked! My legs were on fire! It burnt so good.

However, one minor problem... I hurt my big toe on my left foot. I don't know how but it's been hurting for a couple days now. At first it just felt tender when I would walk... today it hurt just to be in my shoes or bend my toe... Now, after working out on it, it hurts just to stand up. No good! I don't think it's broken because it isn't super swollen or funny colors. Something definitely isn't right, though. I'm trying to avoid going to the doctors because I hatehatehate co-pays. Ha. Jake looked into toe/foot injuries and we think I have "turf toe", which is an injury to the ligaments. Apparently I should stay off of it for three weeks but that basically is not an option for me. I can't stay off my foot for that long! I'm going to try and rest it a little and hope it heals up. If it doesn't get better in a few weeks I'll suck it up and go see a doctor. I guess we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. Hopefully it will stop hurting because it's pretty bad.

I'm taking a rest day tomorrow to travel home for the weekend *insert big grin here*. My brother told me that I must try a P90X2 workout while I'm home so that might happen on Saturday. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little scared of the P90X2 workouts!! They're RIDICULOUS. Beyond ridiculous. It's crazy. I watched my brothers do a couple of them last time I was home and I was astounded at how crazy they are. I know there are some moves that my brothers can't even do, which confounds me. They're both much stronger than I am so I don't know how much of a chance I have at getting through this!! I was going to get P90X2 for myself but I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet. P90X still challenged me so I'm going to stick with that for now. I'll update on how my P90X2 workout goes if I go through with it. For now, it's bed and a day off tomorrow! :]

Two months later?!

So it's been about two months since I finished P90X. Two months. Wow. Time has been zipping right along in my little world! What have I been up to since I finished? Well, the first thing I did was take an entire week off! Ha! Yep, I rested my body and took it easy. I wasn't sure how I felt about taking a week off but I felt like my body really needed it. My muscles were pretty beat up. I ended up enjoying my rest week- real rest, unlike P90X rest week ;]. It did make it a little difficult to get back into my regular workouts, though. I'm not working out 6 days a week anymore. I figure working out 5 days a week is good for me... I'm not gonna lie, though, even that is tough lately! I started a new full-time job and my schedule got super busy super fast. It's been hard to get in my workouts every night when I barely have enough time to cook dinner, clean up the kitchen, catch up on emails, spend some time with my hubby, grocery shop or a million other things I'm used to doing. My time feels so limited lately! I'm having a hard time adjusting but I'm working on it. I'm doing my best. Even if I can't workout six days a week I can still eat really healthy and workout as hard as I can an often as I can. I'm doing my best. And when I do workout, let me tell you, I workout hard!! I did Kenpo X tonight and kept my heart rate nice and high. I torched around 600 calories and felt fantastic! I'm sure my legs and shoulders are going to be sore tomorrow. I hope so, ha. Last time I did Chest & Back, I cranked out 226 push ups! They were girly (on my knees) and obviously not all consecutive, but still! I'd say that's pretty impressive. I'm still getting stronger and working hard. I need to work even harder, though. I'm going to do a strengthening workout tomorrow since I did cardio tonight. I'm still trying to alternate cardio and strength days; it keeps me balanced. I'm also trying to mix up what I do so I don't get sick of the workouts. I get bored easily, haha. I might do Back and Biceps tomorrow or Shoulders and Arms. Something upper body. Oh, which reminds me, I've also increased my weights on my bicep curls! I'm up to 15 pounds! That's triple the weight I started with! I know 15lbs isn't incredible but I'm working on it. Anyways, that's my workout life! I'm just plugging along trying to do as much as I can. I might get Tony Horton's 10 minute trainer to sneak in alongside some quick cardio on days when I'm especially crammed for time. Not sure yet, but it sounds like a good idea. All I know is I need to make time to workout more often so I'll be ready to rock my new VS bikini this summer! ;]