Lack of motivation?

So it seems as everyone has had alack of motivation recently. Myself included. I think the change in weather, sickness, and busy schedules all takes it's toll.

I have to say for myself it's the weather that's the biggest right now. If there is a PCP 3 group sometime soon they are gonna have it ROUGH in the winter. I have to do my jumps outside and man it is not fun in freezing rain. Especially because, believe it or not, upstate NY did just get it's first freezing rain and snow flakes. I saw them today with my own 2 eyes!

My lack of motivation recently hasn't been a bad feeling though just a tiredness and down-ness from the weather and busy schedule. I look forward to the end of the project here as I assume maintaining will be much easier than the effort i put into it now. Like I said earlier you can always improve and choose to get in even more "peak" condition. But I tell you what I realized the other day I am so happy with my body right now and the changes I have made. And over the winter I am merely going to focus on maintenance. After all keeping the motion of a healthy lifestyle is easy if you stick to the diet. So the diet by now requires so little effort with the numbers gone I imagine maintenance will be great! And then next spring Parkour here I come and the term "peak condition" will bring on a whole new meaning.

Also I have an awesome announcement! I am going backpacking in Europe for 3 weeks in May! Can't wait. I'm staying with some friends in Italy and France (primarily spending the trip there) but my friend and I are gonna take sometime to flit around to a bunch of places and do a eurail circuit of northern europe.

Highlights will be Athens, Monet's gardens, The alps, and of course all the beer and wine we can sample!

Also one other good piece of news. I found out just how many skips I can do in 6 minutes if I don't trip at all! That right! 6 straight minutes of jumps I tripped 5 seconds before my timer went off. Want to know how many that was in a row?

936!!!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen I came 54 jumps short of 1,000 in a row! I was so happy I threw my rope across the driveway and flexed like the HULK!

Alright here is a new update picture of how I look. And I'll have official measurements soon. I can't believe that finally my abs are starting to show up! I am really happy about that.

 Have a great night everyone!

Week 5 Workouts, Day 30!, Indulgence and a New Record!

So here is a varied and exciting post for you. I have been so busy and I admit the blog is the lowest on the priority list. But I'm here everyday to comment and read everyone else's because often it gives me the energy boost I need!

SECTION 1: Workouts (As usual I will post the range we are given and my projected goals)

Workout 1

Jumprope: 1600 (max - first time it hasn't increased)

Floor-jumps: 4 x 8-10 (max)

Incline Pull-up: 5 x 10-15 (12-12-10-10-10)

Push-up: 5 x 8-10 (max)

Curl: 4 x 10-15 (max)

Davinci (aka Side Shoulder-fly): 4 x 15-18 (15-15-15-15)

V-sit: 5 x 8-10 (max)

Workout 2

Jumprope: 1600 (max)

Creep: 4 x 12-16 (max)

Rowing: 5 x 15-20 (max)

Chest-fly: 4 x 15-18 (max)

Ski-Jumper: 4 x 10-15 (max)

Forward Shoulder-raise: 4 x 8-10 (max)

Plank: 4 x 40 seconds (max)

Notes: Workout 2 I will have marked ease on. I really like those exercises (minus anything to do with shoulders I hate!). Also the leg exercises this week are great for Parkour! Especially for the muscles necessary to roll, cat-walk, and land from leaps/jumps. I am going to order a pull-up bar to start using because that should help push my back muscles. But I am a little worried at the increase in just incline ones, I can destroy the first 2 sets usually but by the end can get the minimum so I have to pace myself.

SECTION 2: Day 30!

So We are a 1/3 of the way done with our project which is insane! I am feeling great and at times even though my enthusiasm wanes coming back here and putting on the PCP mentality really gets me ready to rock. Kazu from the PCP Japan group, left an awesome comment on my Flickr about all the visible muscular improvement and it really meant a lot to know that he sees that much improvement! As far as I understand Kazu works with massage therapy so he knows his stuff. Go check out his Flickr steam and you won't believe where is with the end of Week 6 from the beginning. The man is rocking it. 

So thanks all my readers for sticking with me and sharing things PCP with me in daily life too it helps so much. And thanks to my sister who recently allowed my to eat my PCP-sized breakfast and lunch at her house! 

PCP coming to fridge near you!

SECTION 3: Indulgence

Who: My best-friend Jason wanted to be present for this and I totally understand why. He is very supportive of me doing the PCP and I'm glad he was there to share this WACKY experience.

What: A slice of Ultimate Chocolate Cake, made by Wegmans. The most awesome chain of grocery stores in the USA. Seriously. They are amazing and this time of year really support all our local farmers. Not to mention they make all kinds of great prepared foods from sushi, to indian, salad bars, and pizza. On top of that the very large 2-story store in Pittsford NY  where we did my indulgence. In that store is an amazing little tea-bar that's part of the store. Going and sampling from the 100's of loose leaf teas they offer is very cool. To accompany my cake I had freshly brewed "lemon-black" iced tea with no sweetener. Amazing.

When: At Patrick's suggestion around 6pm. That gave me enough time to burn it off and not lose sleep. Not to mention it was before work-out.

Where: As I said. Tea-bar at Wegmans.

Why: I used to pound this cake down pre-PCP. I have a huge sweet tooth and love chocolate.  So I figured this was a good first indulgence before my body is so used to healthy food that maybe i go into shock later on in the project by something so rich and sweet.

How: I don't know how. I got really hard after the second bite.

Notes/Summary: So the first bite was delicious. The second also. But by the time I got the middle layer of icing I was starting to get sick. For the first time in a month I had a sinking feeling in my stomach and knew I would have to muscle down the rest. So my the time I got to the think layer of icing on top I was forcing it down and was not very happy. But shortly after I got a HUGE sugar rush. I usually am very desensitized to things like that, caffeine, sugar etc. But I felt this for sure. Jason was having a ball with all my crazy ideas and wackiness that starting spewing forth. I didn't think anything of it but I went back and checked out Patrick's indulgence on a chocolate chip cookie and he mentioned the flowing of ideas coupled with a crazy sugar rush. This lasted a good few hours and through dinner and work-out. Actually I never felt a crash because I went to bed early. But I could not wake up at ALL in the morning and was drowsy until about noon. It was nuts. And (I know it's gross) it made me constipated. So in the future (post-PCP) I may at times enjoy a small portion of 85% dark chocolate (it does have benefits) but never cake again.

So please, consider what you are putting into your body.

Oh and here is a pic of the Tea-bar. All the glasses on those shelves are snifters of the loose-leaf teas they offer. It had a neat pagoda style entrance on the other side too. Great place. One thing I want to do is make my own herbal tea sometime.

SECTION 4: Jumprope Record

So Adrian and Emiko have had huge recent success in Jumprope and I tell you what week 4 might just be the week that your cardio hits the "groove." That what I call it when you feel like you could go forever once you do about 300 and your body realizes this isn't so hard stop panicking and just keep jumping! So I crushed my old record of 374 with 790! IN-A-FREAKIN'-ROW!!!! Without tripping!

I was so excited I don't know how I did it but I did and my mind got the better of me and got distracted. 

So anyway that's about it for now I'll blog again In a couple days. Have a nice weekend everyone I'm off to workout!

Records, Records Everywhere!

So I had a really busy weekend. Sorry for my absence but I am back and the PCP has been growing strong over here! I got to sleep for about 10 hours yesterday and that was fabulous I haven't had a chance to sleep until I naturally woke up in a very long time! But i did have to work at night but I'm not complaining when I'm getting paid double-time and a half! 

So today I had a really good jump-roping experience. I have been doing my 1500 in sets of 300 these past few days. The great thing is I have been able to push past the point where it's hard and you kind of hit the zone and your muscles keep going and going. Well today I also had gotten the rhythm! On my second set I had an all time record of 274 in a row with no trips!

But then . . . 

In the next set I got 348!!!!!!!

I was so freaking happy.

The weird thing is that I think sleeping is what helped. Not being rested but mental rehearsal. The brain is an interesting thing and it works on solutions to problems while asleep, often in dream format. Last night I was dream of jump-roping and doing it as fast as possible and getting many in a row. While it seems like it certainly helped! Thanks Subconscious. You rock.

So besides that I was gonna say on little thing about my shoulders. That's that I agree 100%  with Adrian that my shoulders are not up to snuff. Man! I can't believe how hard it is to do some of these sets to the max, or minimum for that matter. If I want to get into Parkour I will definitely have to work more on my shoulders so I'm glad with the PCP that they are targeted EVERY DAY!

So other than that not much else is new. I just picked a number of interesting peppers form my garden and can't wait to experiment with them. Habeneros, jalepenos, hot thai peppers, and cubaneros.

So 2 posts back a reader from Germany (That's awesome by the way, simply great that the PCP is spreading it's borders! And I am delighted that you would comment on my blog Jochen) asked for some descriptions of the exercises we do. I would be happy to oblige and here I will explain 2 today and tackle some more tomorrow. Sometimes it's easy to forget Patrick explains everything to us and we get to pass it along!

Lawnmowers: For these guys you anchor the dongle for your resistance band at knee level. Stand sideways with your forward arm on your hip facing the door. Then with the other hand grab both handles and pull back. You just move your arms and exhale as you pull. Return to starting position with control. This works the lower lats in your back.

Ski Jumpers: Anchor the dongle at about waist height. Face the door and slightly squat and lean forward lie you are skiing down a slope. Grab a handle in either hand and start with your hands near your hips. Bend at the elbow to extend the forearm backward. This will give a great burning sensation in your triceps!

Try em out!

Have a nice evening everyone!

I Still Can't Believe It

I feel like a little kid as I sit hear and sweat off my 650 jumps. I am still so excited for the PCP! I hope my enthusiasm stays strong. And I will tell you what helps the most. You guys! Thanks everyone for their comments and support and blogs and everything. The PCP stands out so far in one way in my mind. Fitness should be communal. But sadly it's something we don't get. Here on our PCP blogs we have the community support to keep going strong but as soon as you set foot in the "Real World" it's a different story. So thanks guys!

So anyway I have a number of little side projects I have wanted to do that are related to the PCP. First off I got an idea from the little side convo Patrick and I had on Frank's hot sauce last post. I want to make PCP safe hot sauces and salsas because I love spiciness! My family has a rather large vegetable garden and fruit trees so this time of year is perfect for making any sort of fresh-producy-goodness (Sean I think you are wearing off on me lol) .

So this is where you come in!

I want to make 2 Salsas and 2 sauces. So come up with some ideas and comment or e-mail me and about a week from now I will document the experimentation/creation and share the recipes here for all!

Go nuts! I'll take some pictures of my garden and the various hot-peps I grow tomorrow!

Also I did my first 194 jumps today all in a row! I was so happy.

Have a great one guys!