P90X - Week 1 Update

Okay, so today marked the end of the first week of the P90X program. It was brutal. After the first two days, I was beaten down so badly that I could not even stand up straight for most of the next day. And to think that despite my poor condition, I had to do more exercise plus the crazy 'Ab Ripper X' workout.

Well, that wasn't really going to happen. I could not physically lift my legs up, so I was forced to skip the Ab workout. I was able to do the regular workout though, so that was good.

The Yoga day was very important for me. It effectively fixed me. I was no longer Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame after that hour, and I was feeling a hell of a lot more limber. That Yoga thing took me from being at 10% to maybe 80%, which was good.

The next day consisted of doing a lot of pull-ups and squats. Well, you can only do so many pull-ups, so you have to cheat a bit (which is what they recommend) by using a leg on a chair to help give you additional support. This was fine, but man, I was so beat afterwards. The guys on the video did about 120 or more pull-ups throughout their session. It was pretty sick.

The final day (today) consisted of some Kenpo cardio kickboxing. It was pretty fun, but it really sucks when your calves and leg muscles are completely wasted from the exercises from earlier in the week.

I hate P90X. I really do. All I know is that it better be worth it afterward, because it sucks. Massive amounts of exercise is not normal. It's really not. Anyway, that's it.

Exercise Time

So, JC's been bugging me about trying this 90-day workout program called P90X. While I do go to the gym semi-regularly, I'm pretty bad about keeping up with trying to be more fit. A program with a rigorous set schedule didn't sound like it'd be too good for me, because chances are I'd break schedule then convince myself that it likely wouldn't work since I didn't follow the rules so to speak.

Well, over the weekend, we hung out with her cousin and her cousin's husband who were vacationing here in the Bay Area. And, the husband had just completed the program at their home and he lost 25 pounds and went from being able to do a mere 3 pull-ups to over 20. That's impressive.

I don't need to lose weight at all. What I do need, however, is to bulk up some. I can do 6 to 8 pull-ups on a good day, and I can't bench worth crap. If this thing can take a guy from 3 to 20, maybe it can get me up there too.

Anyway, today was Day 1 of the program. JC and I pretty much got our asses kicked, which was to be expected given all that we heard about it. There's no way anyone is going to be able to keep up with even half of the exercises on their first try, unless of course they're already in great shape. In any case, I'm super ridiculous sore right now, and I have no idea how Days 2 through 90 will go. I hope it's worth it.

We did take some pictures of ourselves so that if we do end up completing the training program successfully, we'll have some good before and after pictures. Maybe I'll finally get rid of the beer gut.

There are also tons of 'transformation' videos on YouTube.

Ghetto DIY Air Circulation

It's starting to get really hot here in San Jose, and we're pretty much forced to make use of the AC. The problem, however, is that when we turn on the AC in the upper two floors, the ground floor gets freezing cold. It will be 75 on the 3rd floor, 71 on the 2nd floor, and it'll be a chilly 66 downstairs. It's just not efficient, and if everyone is split up, it's never the case that everyone is comfortable.

Turns out this is a common problem. Some houses had designers that did it right... the people that drew up the plans for my place obviously didn't.

Anyway, to help this matter, we built something super ghetto to pump the cold air from downstairs all the way to the top. It's seriously ugly, but so far it's working out some. It's not perfect, but it's definitely helping. Here are some pictures of our set-up.

We start here on the bottom floor...


Then, we snake up two sets of stairs.


And, finally, the air makes its way out at the top where it is the hottest.

Movies

So, I watched two more movies to continue the Best Picture Quest. I saw Gandhi, which was the winner from 1982, and remaining in the Indian domain, I watched this year's winner, Slumdog Millionaire, too.

Gandhi was long. It told a good story, but it wasn't ever really all that exciting and though I was never bored by the film, it didn't really keep me that interested. It's a good film though in that it tells the story of his life, and if you, like me, didn't know that much about him and what he did, it was definitely informational.

Slumdog Millionaire was really well done, I thought. The movie basically gives you a glimpse of a really rough life for the protagonist that gave him the necessary life experiences to win the grand prize of a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire game show. The film did really well with balancing out a love story and all the various struggles of a homeless and exploited child. I recommend this one for pretty much everyone.

Outside of my quest, JC and I went to the movies and saw the new Star Trek movie. I thought it was really good, and I enjoyed it. I wouldn't consider myself a Star Trek fan, but I am quite familiar with the old series. I thought the Spock character who was played by that Sylar guy in Heroes was excellent. And, as a bonus, you get to learn Uhura's first name. So, if you haven't seen it yet, go check it out. There's no real prerequisite for this one, as they pretty much explain everything and provide all the background necessary to enjoy it.

KFC vs El Pollo Loco

Well, I did go and redeem my free Grilled Chicken Meal from KFC today, and I was pleased with it. I liked it, and I'd probably order it again. However, I think I still prefer El Pollo Loco for the grilled chicken. I was looking up what others thought about it, and then I came across this advertisement from El Pollo Loco, which I found highly entertaining only because of how poorly the KFC corporate guys did with pretending to be someone else. El Pollo Loco makes a really good point about "Highway 5." Ha ha. Enjoy.

Free Chicken Meal

So, the Oprah is buying everyone a chicken meal from KFC. If you're not opposed to that, follow this link and print out your free coupon: Unthink KFC. It's good until 5/19/09 with the exception of Mother's Day. Get your free grub on.

Lucky C-Note

I'm not superstitious at all, but lots of Asians are. Anyway, most of you know probably know that the Chinese people love the number 8. I recently got a hundred dollar bill from the card room with a serial number ending in five 8's. Pretty cool... probably should hang on to that one in case I ever play Liar's Poker for hundreds. Ha ha.


It's actually legal to post a picture of money... I looked up the rules.