I’m back in the cities, at least for the foreseeable future, and I’ve got a bit of catching up to do with P90X. Between what went down this weekend – all the drinking and puking – and eating out a few too many times, I’ve gotten slightly off track this week. That being said, it’s 11:15PM right now and I’ve decided to hit up the fitness center in my apartment to get a quick 2 mile run in, as well as the AbRipperX exercises – all before I go to bed. A little ambitious? Yes, but that’s what P90X has done to me. I’m an animal. Haha no not really.

All in all, it’s been a good week thus far, and it should finish with a bang. I’ll get some new photos posted tomorrow, as well as a more detailed update with how things are progressing with Phase 2. I’m planning on making a new video tomorrow, too, of the AbRipperX exercises. I talk about the ab exercises so much, I figure it’s worth showing you what it’s all about. Then you can all join me! haha

Anyways, more tomorrow …

I went to a surprise birthday party for a good friend of mine this past Saturday night, although I’m pretty sure he knew something was up before the actual surprise happened. I think he was a little surprised, though. Anyways, most of us started drinking around 6PM, and I didn’t have my last beer until 1AM at the VFW. Needless to say, I got hammered. I haven’t been that drunk in awhile – and it was great, at least until the next morning. I got to bed around 2AM and was the first to wake up – at 8:30AM – before driving home to my parents house. I ended up pulling over at some park in Wisconsin and emptied my stomach for a good 10 minutes, but then I was good to go! haha

Actually I pretty much laid around most of Sunday. My body was exhausted and I had a sore throat from throwing up. And ever since my vomiting episode, pretty much everything I’ve had to eat or drink tastes funny. I think I screwed up my taste buds or something; hopefully they get back to normal soon! Anyways, it was good to spend time with my friends in Winona.

Today was a great day of P90X. I did an intense 30 minutes on the stair master, and then I did AbRipperX. I’m usually dripping sweat after 10 minutes on the stair master. When I got home, I still felt like I had tons of energy, so I went for a brisk, 2 mile run just before it got dark outside. It was a little chilly, but after all the drinking that went down this weekend, it was good to do some extra cardio exercise. Then, before I go to bed tonight, I have the chest and back exercises to complete, and thoat is always brutal.

I’m not really sure what’s going on with my soccer team. I skipped our game last Friday so I could spend the weekend in the Winona area, and it sounds like something went down when I wasn’t there, and since then people are dropping right and left. Two people have already sent the entire team a resignation email – I’m not even kidding. Check this out:
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Hi All,

I regret to let you know that I will not be finishing the session.  It was fun to be able to join and get to you know all individually.  The main point of me playing was to have fun and I have lost that.  I loved all the good characters on the team and hope that I will maintain contact with several of you.  I was mad about the conscious decision of too many men on the field but the tipping point was afterwards when a team member was omitted from emails and was not informed of being removed and also having their character (and also questioning mine) defaced without their knowledge.  I quickly lose respect after that and do not wish to continue as the #1 reason we are all here had been taken away. Again, best of luck to everyone the rest of the session.

Geez … I miss all the fun! Anyways, I’ll update my blog again on Wednesday and I’ll include some updated photos from week 5.

Well, I’ve booked my flight to California. I fly into Fresno, CA on April 11th, and then fly out of San Diego on April 20th. I wasn’t originally planning on going to the Fresno area, but my grandpa’s health has taken a turn for the worse, unfortunately. For the past couple of months, he’s had extreme trouble sleeping and eating, and he was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 bone cancer, so I’d like to spend as much time with him as possible. I also have plans to visit a friend in the Santa Cruz area, and then I’ll be driving down to the San Diego area to work on the hair care products a bit later that week. Should be a good trip, all things considered.

I have another soccer game tomorrow night, but I won’t be going to this one. For one thing, it’s at 10:50PM, and yea, that wasn’t a typo. More importantly, as much as my calf has healed, it’s still not 100%. It’s still pretty bruised, and it looks like I have a sprained ankle from all the blood that has pooled at the bottom of my foot. It’s pretty gross. Anyways, I don’t want to risk further damage, so I’m taking this week off. Should be a good weekend, though. Got a couple of fun things going on – golf, unfortunately, is not one of them. Not with this crap weather anyway. Maybe next weekend.

Totally random comment: my new favorite food is White Chocolate Strawberry light yogurt – by Yoplait. It’s amazing, and you should try it. It’s only like $.40, too! So buy 20 of them. Just know that you won’t find any at Target because I bought them all.

Today was an intense day of P90X. I did Plyometrics for the first time since injuring my calf, and it went pretty well. It wasn’t as “easy” as it has been in the past, but I don’t think my legs are 100%. I recorded a video of me doing the plyometric exercises, and an edited version can be seen here or by visiting the naters.com homepage. It’ll give you a small glimpse as to what I go through on a daily basis. After doing the plyometrics, I did the stair master for 20 minutes, and the sweat was literally pouring off of me. Doing 60 minutes of plyometrics – then 20 minutes of stairmaster – is a little nuts, but it felt really good. Then, later in the night, I did the AbRipperX which went well as usual. My abs are definitely firming up.

Finally, I posted some more updated photos (end of Phase 1), and they can be seen here. At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be any significant differences from last week, but if you look at the big pictures and compare those to the photos I took on day 1, I think you’ll notice that there is definitely improvement. I think I look skinnier, and I now have muscle in areas where there wasn’t any muscle before, specifically in my mid-section. Anyways, you be the judge, but I’m happy thus far.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Just when you thought old man winter took his 8 months of vacation, he decides to reappear the second day of spring, and he brought the cold, wind, and icy rain with him. Lots of rain, actually. And I really like the rain – it’s the cold and wind I can do without. Oh well … doesn’t really matter. Just means I might be golfing in snow and 30 degree weather this weekend.

I’ve come to realize that it’s easier for me to eat healthier when I’m not in a relationship than it is for me to eat healthy when I am in a relationship – or even dating for that matter. It’s probably the opposite for most people, but I think I eat a lot more when I’m dating someone. I definitely eat OUT more. Those are things that need to change as I start dating again. Case and point: last August, I got out of a long-term relationship with this great girl, and while it is/was disappointing things didn’t work out, I don’t really blame her for walking away. I clearly had things I needed to work on.

That being said, no one is perfect, but I had literally turned into a big fat doofus. And even though I’m certain she didn’t leave me because of my BMI, I know my lack of exercise didn’t help my cause; at the very least, it helped to magnify the bigger issues. Anywho, the reason I bring all this up is because she was an amazing chef, and I often ate a lot of good food when I was with her. And it wasn’t like she was cooking me donuts with M&M’s sprinkled on top for dinner, but her parents lived on a farm, so she had what seemed like endless amounts of the best tasting hamburger you could ever imagine. So of course I often requested Hamburger Helper, and that’s what she made me. I remember she usually tried to make enough so there would be leftovers for her at lunch the next day, but I would often eat what would have been her leftovers at dinner. Haha it’s kind of funny looking back at it, but man it was so damn good. You have no idea. Her mom once made me a juicy steak that was the size of my plate; it must have weighed 7 lbs.

When in a relationship, I like to eat out at nice restaurants, too, and it’s harder for me to eat proper portions when I’m delivered a humongous plate of amazing food. Bottom line, I know it’s all about discipline, and I need to learn to discipline myself with regards to food, no matter if I’m single or not. I just wish food didn’t taste so good. Anyway, enough about food – it’s making me think naughty thoughts … about food.

The last two days of P90X have gone really well. It’s definitely getting “hard” again, but nothing I can’t handle. On top of my P90X exercises, I’ve been continuing to do extra cardio. Yesterday, I did 15 minutes of the stair master, and then ran a hard mile on the track. Today, I ran an even harder mile, and then finished with AbRipperX. I can tell that I continue to thin out – my face no longer shows any signs of a double chin (yes, I had multiple chins at one point), and my stomach is shrinking more and more everyday. That 6 pack will hopefully be making an appearance soon! Anyways, so far I’m pleased with my progress during Phase 2.