my husband is MacGyver!

My husband is super handy.  From building outdoor balcony seating to living room shelving to carrying me to bed when I fall asleep on the couch -- he's really indispensable in my life.  I thought I knew the full extent of his helpfulness.

I was wrong.  Check out this amazing pull-up assist he made!  It's 2 resistance bands connected to one handle and then fed through the arm attachment (which you attach to the bar and put your arms in bent to do core exercises).  Well guess what also fits in the arm attachment -- YOUR FOOT! 

John's home-made pull-up assist! 

I am super psyched about this because it means I did 5 -- FIVE -- pull-ups with assist in each round of the 2nd complex of PAP Upper!  Which means I did 20 assisted pull-ups! 

Calories Burned = 504

Average Heart Rate = 127

Peak Heart Rate =165 

 

Checking in on my goals

When I started the program, I had the following goals for this program

1. Follow nutrition plan as described in the P90X2 materials (minus the 5 cheats)
2. Be able to do 1 pull-up by the end of the program 
3. Get a 4 pack before summer 2012 
4. Reduce my body fat to 20%

I'm not on track to reach any of my goals, well, maybe the one about having 4-pack abs ;). I am surprisingly okay with it.  Given how achievement-oriented I am, I expected to be way more disappointed, but I actually feel pretty good.    

I should clarify -- I'm working toward my goals, but I'm not confident that I will be able to reach them all by the time this first round is over.  I am also not sure that I WANT to reach them -- for instance, to get my body fat down to 20% (which means a decrease of at least 4%), I'd have to really restrict my diet, and I've learned that I'm not willing to do that. 

Maybe it's a result of the unexpected outcomes, like having more sustained energy throughout the day, being able to get through the workouts (even with modifications) and being proud of that, knowing I'm getting stronger, having visible changes in my body, increasing my flexibility.

Yesterday afternoon, when I did yoga, I noticed that my chattaranga was much better after having done Superman during PAP Upper.  What a surprise!  My low back was simply stronger and more flexible! 

So, at the end of the day, I'm really happy with my results, even if they aren't what I had originally anticipated. 

PAP Upper - Week 1

So, the people in PAP Upper get really sweaty.  I did not get as sweaty as them.  I think I needed to work a little harder -- again, the first workout is always a little weird to get used to.

Again, 2 complexes, 4 workouts each repeated 4 times in a row with a water break in between the complexes.  One of the exercises I was most proud of was the Plank on Med Ball.  I couldn't do it for the whole 60 seconds, but I could do it better than I expected!

And again, the workout was fast and fun.  And there's a lot of room for improvement!

Calories Burned = 479
Average Heart Rate = 126
Peak Heart Rate = 169