Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Burn phase complete

Today I officially finished the Burn Phase of Chalean Extreme, doing the Burn it off and Recharge workouts. These workouts, of all of them are why I would personally recommend that someone relatively new to working out start with Chalean, then transition to P90x. One of the biggest gripes about P90x is that the workouts are too long (especially Yoga-X). Burn it off is like a "lite" version of Plyometrics. Not that it is less intense because the moves you are doing, if you go all out, are as intense as anything in Plyo-X. However, the workout is only 28 minutes long. A lot of people find Plyo-X difficult to get all the way through at first, and this will definitely get you ready for that workout much more than Cardio-X does. The Recharge workout is a 20 minute stretching routine that incorporates some yoga, but is not as long or as intense as Yoga-X. Again a better place to start for beginners.

I also did my measurements today, and compared them against Day 1. My weight actually stayed the same for the most part. I started at 184.4 and got to 183. However, a perfect example of why one should not live and die by the scale alone, my bodyfat went from approximately 22.1% to 20.7%. My waist went from 42" to 40.8", and my hips from 42" to 41". I also lost 1.5 inches in my chest going from 44.5" to 43".

Overall I am making good progress. From what I have read, in the test group for Chalean Extreme many people made the most progress in the Push phase, which is up next. Instead of failing at 10-12 reps for each exercise, you fail between 6 and 8 reps. The goal of course to put on as much muscle as possible. Tomorrow is my rest day, so I will be doing X-Stretch, then Push Circuit 1 on Tuesday.

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