Gym Workout - Weights and Precor 100i Elliptical/Stepper

This will sort of be my Tolstoyish entry.  I went to the gym and did an hour workout and then did cardio.  I ran the watch for the weight workout and then the cardio.

Weight Workout at Gym

FYI, when I say 3 sets, my first set, I try to do at least 10, my second set I try to get close to ten and my third set I do as many as I can, but at the very least 5.

Here is my routine I completed today:

• 5 minute jog to the gym from my apartment
• Strecthing
• Shoulder Press w/ Dumbbells 30lbs each hand, 3 sets
• One arm rows with dumbbell, 45lbs, 3 sets
• Dumbbell Bench Press/Fly (I twist the dumbbell on the way up and bring them together making a hybrid of the two exercises), 45lbs each hand, 3 sets
• Icarian Leg Press - 90lbs each side (2x45lb plates a side), 3 sets
• Icarian Calf Raise - 55 lbs in plates, 3 sets
• Preacher Curl - 75lbs, 3 sets (25 lb plate on each side, curl bar is usually 25lbs)
• Abcoaster Elite Machine (spelled as typed), 20lbs addon on each side (max allowed), 3 sets
• Push Down with v bar at Icarian Cable Station - 80lbs, 3 sets

So here are the stats for the workout:

Avg HR = 123 bpm
Peak HR = 161 bpm
K Burned = 600
Time of Workout = 55 minutes, 23 seconds


Cardio Workout - Precor 100i

The Precor 100i is sort of a hybrid between an elliptical and a stepper.  You can control stride length to do a stepping motion (least width in stride), jog (medium) or running (large stride).  It has the moving handles that go with the steps as well to give your upper body something to do.  This is the one that has the yellow steps you see in many gyms.  What's nice is the machine also picks up your chest strap and so I did not have to reach down to check my heart rate.  It gave a constant heart rate and that matched what my watch was getting since they both had the same source.

I did the "Fat Burner" workout, which last 28 minutes.  I changed the lower resistant bars up to a level 6 and the higher resistant part of the workout up to a 12 (both are out of 20).  As the heart rate info was the sameon the machine and watch, all I can compare is the calories (k) burned.

Avg HR = 145 bpm
Peak HR = 159 bpm
K Burned (watch) = 416
K Burned (Precor 100i) = 347

As you can see the machine is more conservative with my watch with the same info.  The machine has the added benefit of knowing my resistance and my actual age, which i entered.  Both the watch and machine had my weight.  At any rate, it seems my watch may be a bit aggressive with the calories burned, and so you may want to take a grain of slat with some of the results I have been getting.

Ab Ripper X - 2/24/11

Tonight I just did a solo ab ripper exercise as I got home quite late from work.  For once I seemed to have a normal resting heart rate going into the exercise routine.  I started in the 70s when I turned the monitor on.  This is probably mnore indicative of the calories burned and hr achieved when doing this exercise routine by itself and at the level I am at now (70% or so).

Avg HR = 96 bpm
Peak HR =126 bpm
K Burned = 98 (my lowest yet to date)


So perhaps a light warmup or stretching or jogging in place would be advisable before doing this routine if you want to burn an extra 30 or 40 calories.  I keep learning with this monitor.

Cardio X & Ab Ripper X (sans caffeine)

To correct my mistake of having Starbucks too soon before these workouts on Saturday, I decided to repeat these late at night hours after any caffeine intake.  Since I just described these workouts, I'll keep it brief.

Cardio X

Avg HR = 125 bpm
Peak HR = 157 bpm
K Burned = 501

You'll notice my peak and avg hear rate is down a little bit and I burned 60 less calories.  This is probably more accurate, unless of course your are taking caffeine or stimulants before working out.

Ab Ripper X

Avg HR = 111 bpm
Peak HR = 128 bpm
K Burned = 144

I did this only 15 minutes after cardio x and I must admit I was quite gassed.  Also cardio x ends with some core work (steam engine and superman-banana poses).  So while I was working hard to do the workout and thus burning through some calories, I was actually completing less than I normally do if that makes any sense.  I'd rather complete more and burn 15 less calories as I am ultimately trying to strengthen the abs.  Next time I will wait more like an hour before doing ab ripper.  (Ideally you'd do one in the morning and one in the night).

Perfect Pushup - Power Punch Pushup

This is one of the extra exercises from the Power 10 workout which are extra exercises that can be found on their website. (see prior perfect pushup entry...you can use the tags).  This exercise involves slowly lowering yourself but instead of turning the pushup bars sideways you do a full 180 degree turn.  When you reach the bottom you explode up, again turning it 180 degrees.  By explode, I mean the upward movement should only take one second (literally).  These pushups are supposed to focus in on the bicep, although I still feel a burning in my chest.  For my two minute drill I did 14, 10 and then 6 reps.  Forgive me but I finished in 2:02.  Given the intensity of these, and my rush to get them done when I saw I was falling behind in the time, my heart rate increased more.

Time = 2:02
Avg HR = 129 bpm
Peak HR = 147 bpm
Calories Burned = 24 (yes, double my prior ones, it is intense).

Cardio X & Ab Ripper X

Today I did cardio x, took a 30 minute break and then did ab ripper x.  I was at starbucks before working out.  Starbucks coffee has a lot of caffeine.  Even after a 60-90 minute break after finishing my coffee, my heart rate was elevated at the start of the cardio x workout.  I was starting at 106 or so.  This just shows you what caffeine and supplements like no-xplode can do to your workouts.  In moderation they can increase your hr and thus calories burned, but of course with too much (and this varies from individual to individual) they can put too much strain on your heart and send you way over your zone.  For cardio X I have nothing to compare it to yet, but for ab ripper x, notice my avg hr was up and my calories burned was an extra 40 than usual.  Another explanation is that I usually do these workouts later at night, hours removed from any caffeine (I cut myself off of caffeine by 1pm every day normally).

Cardio X

Cardio X is a supplemental routine in the P90x system for those that want extra hard training or feel they need to burn extra calories in a particular day or week.  Since for many it will be an extra workout, it is slightly shorted, at around 43 minutes.  It is a hybrid of (in this order) warm up, ballistic yoga manuevers (sun salutations and warrior poses), kenpo, plyometrics, and finally core work before a cool down.  Each unit takes 3-5 moves from the P90x workout.  If you're not feeling doing just one type of workout, this is a nice change of pace, expecially if you don't have as much time.  You get a little bit of everything.  You get the fun of Kenpo, the loosening from yoga, and the heart rate spikes from plyo.

Avg HR = 135 bpm
Peak HR = 167bpm
Calories Burned = 568

Ab Ripper X

For the life of me, I'm not sure when I will be able to do the entire routine, but I will say even at my 70% or so, my abs are starting to look great (of course doing core synergistics and yoga are helping too). 

Avg HR = 123 bpm
Peak HR = 149 bpm (a new record courtesy of starbucks, lol)
Calories Burned = 180 (again new record courtesy of Starbucks caffeine)

I will caution, that caffeine and supplements that spike your heart rate are in general not a good idea, since if your heart rate spikes too much you can get dizzy or even pass out.  In rare occasions extreme amounts have lead to death (think FDA banning ephedra in supplements that were supposed to make you ripped).  Despite my increased calories burned and heart rate, in the future I will wait longer after consuming caffeine (and even longer if it is Starbucks).  I could only imagine what would have happened if I attempted a complete plyo workout.  For now take today's results with a grain of salt and I will try to repeat cardio x at a later date.

Ab Ripper X - 2/17/11

Since I am dealing with a cold I stuck to ab ripper.  You may notice ab ripper is the most frequent.  If I was doing the full P90x, I would be doing this 3x/week in addition to all workouts.  since I am using this for my abs, I am doing it close to that.

For some reason my heart rate was up tonight even when i was first starting.  I think I started at around 100.  I'm not sure if this has to do with the cold or maybe too much caffeine today?  At any rate I checked my pulse myself and the watch was pretty much correct.

Avg HR = 116 bpm
Peak HR = 147 bpm
Calories Burned = 157 (notice the 50 calorie increase tonight due to my heart working harder...it just shows how calories can be affected by good and bad workouts and outside sources).

P90x - Core Synergistics

Core Synergistics uses ab work, lower back work and some leg and arm work, many times at the same time (synergy) to work the core.  It is a grueling workout that made me pour sweat.  I am coming down with a cold, but given tha my blog has been empty, I went for the workout.  I completed most of it and tried the bonus exercises.  However I am exhausted and headachey now, and so i don't recommend doing this or any other P90x routine with a cold.  I may have to take another break after today.

Avg HR = 131 bpm (this includes before and after stretches, I would say I was in the mid to upper 140s on avg during the workout)
Peak HR = 165 bpm
Calories Burned = 723 (as you can see, a little tougher than Kenpo, not as tough as plyometrics)

Ab Ripper X

I apologize for the gap.  I was away in the Berkshires this past weekend learning how to ski.  I thought about putting on my heart rate monitor but since I would not represent an active skier, I thought better of it and left it at home.  Since I am recovering from falls and soreness, I just did an Ab Ripper to get back into the swing of things, although it was especially brutal for my legs given the skiing.  Without further ado:

Avg HR:  97 bpm
Peak HR:  128 bpm
Calories Burned:  110

I did leave my watch on for an extra minute tonight while I was putting the dvd away and seeing how long it took for my heart rate to rest.  So, it seems I've fallen into the 100-110 calories burned, upper 120 hr peak for ab ripper for now.  I will continue to post each workout, and perhaps when I finally start coming close to finishing the workout the numbers will change.

Yoga X (P90x0

The P90x is a 1 hour and 32 minute workout.  The first 50 minutes or so are ballistic yoga moves (i.e. constant shifting between positions).  You can actually burn a fair amount of calories and get your heart rate up a little bit (not cardio levels, but possibly up to fat burn levels at some points).  After that they go into balance poses (i.e. tree, crane, etc.).  I make good use of my $8 yoga block I bought on Amazon.com to help with the balancing.  Then there are some yoga style stretches, with a fair amount for the back.  After these stretches they do a 7 or 8 minute core/ab workout Tony calls Yoga Belly 7.  After that you go into some more general leg and glute stretches, and then your deep breathing/relaxation finish with some "ohms."  I have to say with the eyes being closed and deep breathing at the end, despite how hard you work in the first half, you feel completely relaxed at the end.  I used the chest strap because I felt with the first half being constant movement and the whole workout being difficult maneuvers that challenge your core and balance, there might be times your heart rate spikes and calories get burnt.  I figured at the very least a 300 calories given the first 50 minutes.

Avg HR = 97
Peak HR = 126
Calories Burned =   562 (basically 6 calories a minute, which seems realistic since cardio workouts do at least 10/minute usually.  Obviously if yoga was just an hour like Kenp, I'd be sitting at around 350 calories, almost half the amount I burned in Kenpo).

Kenpo X Workout With Ab Ripper an Hour Later

Kenpo X

For those that don't know Kenpo is a Hawaiian martial art that is sort of a hybrid of several.  In the P90x Kenpo X you are throwing kicks (knee, ball (straight), side and back), punches (jab, hook, cross, uppercut) and doing many blocks, followed by elbows.  It finishes up with a series of over 100 rapid punches from "horse stance."  It is by far the most fun I've had while burning calories.  The hour definitely goes by much quicker than the others.  Oh, and the "breaks" are 90 seconds of running in place, virtual jump rump, 20 seconds of jumping jacks and then leaps in the air while creating an X.  I swear my heart rate went up about 10 bpm on average during each of the "breaks."  With further ado, today's results:

Avg HR = 124 bpm
Peak HR = 163 bpm (during that last series of punches at the end)
Calories Burned = 650

Ab Ripper X

Avg HR = 104 bpm
Peak HR = 139 bpm (during the Mason Twist at the end as usual)
Calories Burned = 118

Some Perfect Pushup 2 Minute Drills

I have a maximum of 20 pushups, which means for each drill I do a set of 14 reps, then 10 reps, then 6 reps in a period of 2 minutes.   For those that don't know, the perfect pushup  bars are pushup bars that twist while doing the pushup maneuvers making it infinitely harder.  The perfect pushup comes with drills for regular, wide and close pushups.  Their website has 10 extra routines you can do, called the Power 10 workout (http://www.perfectfitness.com). 

Regular Pushup
Time:  1:58
Avg HR:  99 bpm
Peak HR:  112 bpm
Calories Burned:  12

Shoulder Press (from the Power 10)
Time:  1:55
Avg HR:  99 bpm
Peak HR:  115bpm
Calories Burned:  12

So as you can see I was pretty consistent with the 12 calories burned.  But in 2 minutes, how much can you really burn.  My heart rate was pretty much at its peak as I was finishing and so if it were a three minute drill I am sure the calories burned would go up exponentially.  Don't let the calories burned fool you, they are extremely tough 2 minutes.  When you finish your chest feels like it will explode and for 20 minutes you'll look like you've been bench-pressing for years.

Ab Ripper X

Sorry for such a quick repeat, but I do these 3 times a week.  Yesterday I planned on testing a an elliptical at the gym, but I had a case of food poisoning Friday night into yesterday.  Not like I needed those calories after doing plyo...so you can imagine how wonderful I felt Saturday.  To ease back into things all I did was Ab Ripper so far today.  Maybe I will try stretch, later after the Super Bowl.

Avg HR = 107bpm
Peak HR = 132bpm
Calories Burned = 128

As you can tell this time it was lower.  I had a harder time today, most likely because I am just coming off being sick.

P90x Plyometrics

First I will start out by saying I did 90-95% of the reps in the 59 minute workout.  I started the watch from the beginning stretches and stopped it at the very end.  This is what I will be doing in the future.  I also did the bonus sports movement exercises at the end (pitching, shooting a basketball, football run).  I will also add that since I am somewhat new to this kindof intensity, my heart rate was probably quite higher than it will be in the future.  That being said, this is the X in P90x as Tony Horton says.  This is the most extreme calorie burning workout there is.  Without further ado:

Average HR = 151bpm
Peak HR = 175bpm
Calories Burned = 943

Due to the intensity of this workout I found myself getting almost dizzy at times, and I used those 30 second breaks to deep breath and drink water.  My advice if you think you can't complete it, do another cardio one until you're ready.  If you finish it, have an energy (protein) drink, because 900+ calories is a ton to burn in an hour, and you need to make up some of those (you pretty much wiped out breakfast + lunch)

Workout #1 - Ab Ripper X

I just got my Timex T5G971 Personal Trainer watch today.  It was rated as a top pick in the heart rate monitor (HRM) watch category by Consumer Reports.  It has the chest strap and has a user removable battery which is nice.  Amazon had it for under $50 and with free shipping I decided it would be fun to have.

I decided to give ab ripper x a go after doing exercises to determine my maximum heart rate.  The data entered in my watch is 165 lbs, max hr of 195bpm.  I will throw in the caveat that I am a beginner (second week) at ab ripper x and do about 70-75% of the workout and need to stop before Tony Horton does.  A complete workout would get higher average bpm and more calories I imagine.  Without further blathering, here are the results:

Peak Heart Rate (HR) = 141 beat per minute (bpm)
Average HR = 113 bpm
Calories Burned = 148

So despite my beginner status, I think 148 calories in 16 minutes and 30 seconds is pretty good.  I can only imagine what Kenpo and Plyo will yield me.  Soon to find out.  I will try and do plyometrics tomorrow