Day 90 (b): COMPLETE

Very sorry for the delay in posting my FINAL blog post, but needed some time to reflect, and also have been taking Patricks' advice to heart, to take a break and rest (read: been out on the piss almost every night).

So, without further ado:

Before/After:

Here again are the final stats:

-Final Weight 67.6kg, -7.1kg (15.6lbs), -9.5%

-Final Body Fat 16.5%, -9.0%

-Final Visceral Fat (gut) 5.5%, -3.0%

-Final Muscle Mass 35.1%, +3.6%
-Final Subcutaneous Fat 10.0%, -5.6%

Assorted pumped-up shots from Day 90:

Obligatory old pants shot:

Obi-wan and the Jedi Knight:

And...The Situation:

First and most importantly I would like to thank your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave me the strength and courage to see this through to the end. Next I'd like to thank the Academy, Team Running Rats, Patrick, my wife Reiko and baby girl Jessie, my family and friends, and all of you out there in PCP land. You love me, you really love me!

***

"You love yourself, go ahead, say it!" As many PCPers have blogged before me, at one point during the Project I found myself starting to wear very little clothing around the house. The wife, who on many occasions I have blogged about her extreme, undying support over these 90 days, started teasing me, trying to get me to say, out loud, that I love myself. It was all very good natured and we both laughed about it, and out of principle I would not say it, but it got me thinking, that yes, I DO love my new PCP body, both the way it looks and the way it feels. But it goes beyond looking lean, fit and trim, or feeling lighter and stronger. As Patrick has prophesized, I now understand my body better than ever before: how it responds to exercise and diet, and the signals it sends to adapt and adjust to changes, stresses and breakdowns.

Being in such a great state of body and mind, it is only natural to want to spread the gospel and get others to climb aboard the PCP Express. But it is a tricky proposition. As Patrick blogged about The Deflators, peoples' natural reaction to others' success or progress is to feel threatened, so they would likely be negative about the idea. I counterblogged about The Inflators, people who are very supportive and truly happy about others' happiness. But being an Inflator (or just NOT being a Deflator) does not make people automatically open to constructive criticism (you can call it what you want, but telling people how to get into better shape implies that they are NOT in good shape, or at least that is the way they might take it). No matter how good the benefits/results may be, being too pushy/preachy will only turn people off, to both the program and to the new you. It is a very fine line that we all need to discover how best to tow.

The question that I keep coming back to is who WOULDN'T want to look and feel as good as we do? Surprisingly, not everyone. Similar to my homework blog post about people in the gym, I think people can be put into 3 different categories. Category 1 is people who, like us, are not happy with their bodies and are motivated to do something about it. These people can start out in a very wide range of in/out of shape, but share in common the drive to do something about it. Actual results would vary based on the program they choose and how closely they stick to it (and some people invariably will NOT and slip into Category 3), but for starters they are the best candidates for PCP and would be the most receptive to our guidance/preaching. Category 2 is people who are content the way they are. These people also come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, although some would appear to need to get into shape more than others. Even though they are happy with themselves the way they are, as PCP alumni I feel it is our duty to share what we have learned, and hopefully some aspects of the PCP diet and/or exercise may make their way into their daily lives (if not the full PCP), for which they will be better off. A subset of Category 2 is the people that are so out of shape that their long-term health and lives are in danger, in which case it is everyone's duty to try to get these people to change their ways, but these people are probably the toughest nuts to crack. Category 3 is people who are not happy with their bodies but are not willing to make any kind of commitment to change. These people would not be open to any sort of advice, are probably Deflators, and are generally just grumpy and annoying. Not really sure what to do about them but leave them be...

The moral to the story is, you can teach or preach all you want, but even if people understand, it is impossible to impose these changes on them, especially when it requires such a high level of commitment in order to achieve the desired results. But if we believe in the system, and believe in ourselves, we set an example that hopefully will inspire others to come along for the ride.

The Peak is not a destination, it is a journey, and despite the stamp we receive after Day 90, it is never "COMPLETE". It is a commitment to a lifetime of eating and living and being well.

And with that, I will leave you with some inspirational words from our fearless leader, Obi-wan:

Don't suffer in silence, blog it out!
The road to Peak Condition has many paths!
So embrace the burn. It's your friend.
Hear the doubt, acknowledge its presence, and do the right thing anyway.
There is no merit in numbers, the only thing we value is pain.

Illuminate your own path, you already have all of the answers.

See you on the other side!

Day 90 (a)

First and foremost, a disclaimer: I am DRUNK! After the Day 90 workout, went out for a celebratory beer with Patrick, TWO BEERS later I'm 3 sheets to the wind! But we earned it! Congrats to Team Running Rats!

Day 90 workout: without giving too much away to the newbies, let me just say that it was very enlightening, to see how far we have come...

Final stats: the last "weekly" stats were actually for a period of 11 days.
-weight: lost 0.6kg, 7.1kg total, final weight 67.6kg. Good.

-body fat: unch, down 9.0% total, final 16.5%. Very good.
-visceral fat: down 0.5%, 3.0% total, final 5.5%. BAM!
-muscle mass: down 0.2% (no worries considering the super sets), up 3.6% total, final 35.1%. BOO YA!
-subcutaneous fat: down, 0.1%, 5.6% total, final 10.0%. Sweet.
-body age: down 1yr, total 11yr, final 33. WOW!. I turn 40 next month...

Final post: I am splitting the Day 90 post into 2 parts, (a) today for knee jerk reactions and (b) to follow a day or 2 later with the Deep Thoughts.

Day 90 knee jerk reactions: a few different feelings swirling around in my drunken head. It will be very odd waking up tomorrow without a daily email waiting in my inbox, and not jumping rope, and not counting grams, and not going to the gym at lunchtime...it feels like the last day of school, obviously ecstatic that it is over but at the same time a bit of anxiety about how to best spend my time without the usual structured daily schedule. It feels like I just bought a brand new car, excited to get it out on the road, but at the same time terrified of getting into an accident.

I asked Patrick what we are supposed to do tomorrow morning without him telling us, and he said "illuminate your own path, you already have all of the answers"...whoa, dude...I leave you with that for now...

Day 89: Homework

Supersets: these past couple of workouts I can really feel and see the difference, my muscles seem to be kicking into overdrive.

Homework: OK, peer pressure, I will submit my gym report. I didn't have to go for a free trial since I have been going to the gym to do my daily workouts 3-4 times per week during lunchtime, not because I'm using the machines (I book one of the aerobic studios, have bands/push-up bars will travel, but because I prefer to workout during the day (not after work) and there is no shower at my office. Here are my observations:

-I think there are 3 kinds of people that go to the gym: 1) people that know what they are doing, 2) people that think they know what they are doing and 3) people that are posing/socializing. The first 2 groups' intentions are good, Group 2 just needs some guidance. Groups 2 and 3 intentions are different, but unfortunately for Group 2 the results are the same. I honestly have no beef with Group 3, as long as they are happy paying the fee, happy with their "results", and not inhibiting other peoples' workouts, either by hogging machines or causing a distraction (which many times they are).

-It would be very difficult to get a proper read on peoples' workouts from just a 1 day fly-by. As often as I go, I see a lot of the same people there every day, and in general they fall into 2 groups: cardio and weights. Although running on a treadmill might not be as efficient for fat burning as jumping rope, if it is regular then I can't see the downside (except on the knees), especially if people actually enjoy running (or the running motion, on a treadmill). If watching TV or listening to an ipod while running does not reduce the level of exertion, I see no harm in that either. The weights people I see 2 different styles: heavy lifting and circuit training. Circuit training is not unlike PCP, mixing in different muscle groups on different days. Heavy lifters are the pump-you-up guys that are focusing on 1 muscle at a time. Very difficult to guage to what extent either type is lifting/exercising to burn, so tough to judge how efficient of a workout they are getting. But from the looks and sounds of it, I'd say many are doing OK.

In general the people at my gym seem to be in pretty good shape and many of their workouts vaguely resemble something that might get the PCP stamp of approval. But I think a more important quesiton is how do they feel? If they feel like their workouts are producing results (and I'm sure most are producing results, just to varrying degrees), and they are feeling good about themselves, then isn't that what counts? In a perfect world, everyone would be doing PCP, and everyone would have ripped bodies and squeeky clean pipes. But not everyone has the means/motivation to reach the Peak. The ones that do and seek it out are better for it, but those that don't but are happy with their results/lives anyway are no worse off....(the exception of course is Group 2 above, or the grossly misinformed like me and my fat back from enema island).

We are only talking about the gym for this assignment. A natural extention of this topic leads me to my PCP Deep Thoughts that I am saving for my Day 90 post...stay tuned...

Day 89: WHOA WHOA WHOA slow dooooown!!!

As I sit here typing at my desk in Tokyo, it is 15:34 JST on Mon 12-Jul-10, DAY 89 of Team Running Rats' PCP. Someone got a little ahead of themselves and moved us from Active PCPers to Recently Complete on the PCP home page status bar. I'M NOT READY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 88: Mixing and Matching

Super duper sets take longer, Fri was OK but Day 89 looks like it would take too long to squeeze in the full workout during lunch time, and although Patrick said it would be OK to break off the abs and do them later (I already jump separately, in the morning), would like to stick to full workouts in 1 session, sooooo swapped in Day 89's bicep/tricep/shoulder 4 exercise Stoopid Set for Day 88's bicep/tricep Super Set, and today's workout took almost 1 hour, serious stuff, especially doing the back-to-back Davincis and Shoulder Raises 2 days in a row. Oh Momma...

(was that the longest run-on sentence in PCP history?)

V-sit/Plank Super Sets, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways....did not come close to Brett's 4:03 Plank. The first set was about 3;30, the other 4 were between 2:00-3:00. V-sits were all between 20-30 reps...

T-minus 2 days and counting...wow. Returning to the Mother Ship on Tue for Day 90 workout with Patrick. I'm expecting candles and hooded robes and some sort of either animal or virgin sacrifice....

Day 87: Hot in, hot in herre...

Yup, the same heat that has been sweeping the globe has hit Tokyo, giving our last few days of super sets that extra umph!

Super duper sets:

-Legs: technically not a super set, but I think this was the first time we've ever done Creeps and Froggyjumps in the same workout. Yikes, burn to the point of nausea....hurts so good.

-Shoulders: a super set of Davincis and Forward Shoulder Raises, followed by individual sets of Chicken Wings and Shoulder Flys, I would call that a Shoulder Super Duper Set...

-V-Sits: 3rd day in a row, to failure, 1st set of 35, then 30, then 20, 20, 20. The burn got to a point that it almost felt like my abs were going to pop.

-Side Crunch: to failure kind of tough to make sure they are done right, so did sets of 20, at the end of each held arms and feet up in the full crunch and did between 10-20 quick crunches from there (not sure what that's called, pretty sure it has a name).

In other news, played golf and did a lot of hanging out with

Jessie the Baby, who turns 6 months this week....good times.

Day 86: Accentuate the positive...

Struck down by the PCP gods for lambasting my doorman (for simply doing his job), I understand that with only 4 days left there is no room for negativity. I did my jumprope penance (see pics). Onwards and upwards!!!!

Supersets: love them, but really the only thing to talk about is the V-Sit/Plank sets. V-Sits did 35 the first set then between 20-25 the rest, and tried to keep my legs as staight as possible, especially on the way down, simulating the leg-ups to get more lower ab action. After the 1st set they got much harder much faster w/ the Planks in between. Same for the Planks, harder with the V-Sits in between. I did 1:45 timed sets and made it thru all 5, so technically was not to failure, but w/ the V-Sits in between I was happy that I was able to do 5 full sets of 1:45. And boy was I sweating/shaking by the end the last 3 sets. (NOTE: after seeing Jennifer's post about her KICK ASS 3 minute Plank, I am ashamed and motivated to FAIL OUT THE PLANK next time...maybe I need to do a little more jumprope penance for my Plank sins first...).

Only 4 more days to go. I'm expecting some sort of an epiphany....I'm also expecting the last remnants of my belly to disappear, maybe I should start jumping 3x a day?

Day 85: the first of the last set of exercises...sniff sniff...

Started the day on a down note. I usually do my morning jumping in the hallway by the elevator. I'm sure you can hear the thump thump thump on the 3rd floor (below), but its outside by the elevator, no way you can hear it inside the apartments. And the only elevator movement during those 15-20 minutes is to/from the 5th floor, someone either walking their dog or picking up the paper, otherwise not a creature ever stirs. Today I woke up a few minutes early, so happened to be jumping while the doorman was making his security rounds, and he gave me the boot, said it was too loud and too early. Since I wasn't fully awake yet, and even at my sharpest my Japanese probably would not have cut it, I obediently complied, with my tail between my legs, and went downstairs into the back of the lobby to jump it out. Whether it was my fukked up wa or the change of scenery or a combination, it was not a pretty or pleasant jumping session.

But enough about that....on to the good stuff:

Shoulders: big day today. Frist of all, my aching left shoulder was totally fine (as Obi-wan said, working out makes the sore muscles feel better). Second of all, this was probably the toughest, most burnaliscious shoulder workout I have had yet. Third of all, my shoulders are HUGE, freaklishly so...

Gas: still have it, lots of it....

Bowel movements: verrrrrry regular, in fact so regular it feels a little IRregular. Seems everything I eat pushes something else out to make room. Hey, its Day 85, we're like family!

Haven't posted a PCP meal lately, so here you go: shrimp, asparagus, red and yellow peppers, shiitake and maitake mushrooms, spinach, bean sprouts, eggplant, kabu (Japanese turnip) stir fried in garlic, black pepper and cayenne pepper, and the juice collected from the shrimp steamed using sake (the alcohol burns off), over grain pasta. Looks/sounds nice huh? Was deeeeelish...

Day 84: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Really quiet/boring day at work. On days like today I get reeeeally hungry, find myself counting down the minutes in between meals and snacks...these are those dangerous snacking times, but as long as we stick to fruits and veggies, snack away, as Patrick says.

Glad today was a rest day (though would have welcomed a workout to break up the boredom). My left shoulder is still hurting, and in general my muscles are feeling a bit sore, but different than the usual sore, sort of heavy. I'm hoping its the muscles GROWING from the increased reps/sets....?

That's the news, and I am outta here...

Day 83: 1 week-to-go musings

Starting to get a little emotional...or maybe its just the gas.

Clarification from yesterday's post: Planks are NEVER easy, no matter how many sets of how long duration, the question should have been just which do you prefer, not which is easier...its more mind over plank than anything.

Totally agree with Mikhael about the psychological effect of an odd number of sets, that once you are over the middle set it feels like you're cranking them out faster.

My left shoulder is starting to bother me, especially on the pull-downs today. Hopefully tomorrow's rest day will sort it out.

Sit-up Pro Tip: made minor adjustments today, knees bent, feet a little higher, legs slightly extended forward, NOW I'm feeling it in my lower abs. Try this Amateur Tip: while employing the Pro Tip, after the last sit-up of the set, straighten your legs and slowly lower to the ground like the end of a leg-up. Ooooooooooooh momma, burn baby burn!

Day 82: Plank Debate

As usual, went to the gym at lunchtime, but forgot that it is closed every 5th and 20th of the month! DOH! I normally enjoy my lunchtime workouts at the gym during the week, not so much those at home on the weekends, and absolutely hate working out at night after work (though really like my 2nd set of jumping after work, as well as the first set first thing in the morning).

I guess if that is all I have to complain about, things could be a lot worse...wait a second, almost forgot, 1:45 PLANKS! AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last weekend in Yokohama, in the middle of 5x 90 second Planks, Patrick said that we would not do any more than that. I guess technically 4x 1:45 is less. Initially I thought I would prefer 1 more set of shorter duration, but in the end I think 1 less set of longer duration (and less time overall) was in fact easier.

Thoughts?

Day 80-81: Independence Indulgence

Right, so unlike my previous 2 indulgences, which were primarily focused around booze, I made an effort to really think about #3 to make it meaningful, so what could be more appropriate than doing it on Independence Day with one of Tokyo's best burgers: Union Square Tokyo (yes, related to the Union Square Cafe in NY) in Midtown. You could argue that there are better burgers in Tokyo, but UST is definitely top tier, and also very convenient to my apartment AND kid friendly....

Nothing fancy, just went with the bacon cheese burger, medium rare, and fries. I'm not going to play any silly word/mind games: it was AWESOME.

For dessert I shared a little carrot cake thingy with orange sorbet, and a cappuccino. Very yummy, especially the sorbet which was bursting with flavor.

I will say that I felt very full afterward, and since we are all like brothers and sisters now I am comfortable telling you that it all plowed right thru me and moved the mail, almost instantly, but that in and of itself did not make it any less enjoyable.

On a more cerebral level, it was apropos that this indulgence was on Independence Day. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, I did not feel like I really needed it, or that I had been missing such guilty pleasures. One of the people I was with ordered a massive chef's salad, with grilled chicken and shrimp and loaded with all shapes and sizes of colorful veggies, and I found myself oggling at it, thinking how delicious AND healthy it looked.

Fast forward to PCP dinner, the same stir fried veggies and chicken we have almost every night, seasoned with ginger, garlic, black pepper and cayenne pepper (and the wife's secret, the juice collected from steaming the chicken used as a based for the stir fry) over grain pasta. Both the wife and I have recently admitted that we actually, truly enjoy it, even though you might call it bland, the natural flavors are quite nice. She also admitted that she recently was making some instant ramen noodles, using the packet of sauce it comes with, that she has been using for her entire life, and that now it seems really really salty, to the point where she won't be eating the sauce any more (she will make her own).

So we seem to have broken free from the societal norms, and the future looks bright for our house and our lives to be PCP-friendly, to infinity and beyond!

Workout: doing the Shoulder Fly, I rolled my sleeves all the way up, and it was amazing to see the definition of the seemingly 3 or 4 different muscles and the veins all working together. Pretty cool...

Remember, Freedom is not free...

Day 79: PCP Lash of Honor

Had to dig into the archives and bring this one back, after all the talk about flagellation yesterday:

Wed 05-May Days 19-21

-WARNING: if you are doing your rowing on the outside of the sliding glass door (after someone kindly locked it in place for you on the inside) and you have a mischievous 3 year old niece lurking about, make sure to release the bands before she unlocks and opens the door, or else SLAP! Fortunately my arms were straight out and not at full row, but still left a mark (BUT nothing close to Maren's finger...).

Now, on to the stats. Excellent progress this week, especially considering it was a short week (5 days). Check it out:

-Weight: virtually unchanged this week, no biggie. Down 6.3kg overall.

-Body fat: down 1.7%, biggest 1 week drop since Weeks 2-3, I'm chalking it up to the 2-a-day jumping. Down 9.0% overall.

-Visceral fat: unchanged @ 6%, stay the course, target is 5.5%.

-Muscle mass: up 0.9%, biggest 1 week gain since Weeks 2-3. Due to the new/secret pre-workout snack. Patrick said probably the most I could have gained without using steroids. Nice.

-Subcutaneous fat: down 0.9%, biggest 1 week drop since Weeks 2-3, target below 10%.

Workout: 5x 90 second Planks, briefly tried the Pro Tip (raising/bending one leg at a time)...very briefly. Meanwhile, Patrick was doing what I am calling the Plank on Crack: raising/bending one leg at a time, then no hands (forehead on the ground), then no legs (all his weight forward on his elbows, lifted his legs up vertical, actually can't think how that is physically possible now). Then he says "that's nothing, you should see the Kung-fu Planks". Uh, I'll pass...

Day 78: Devo

-The PCP gods are cruel. After complaining the other day that the marks had faded, this morning jumping I helped myself to a fresh, new, hearty flagellation, check it out. Ooooooh yeah, hard core!

-After failing it out on the Resistence V-sits last weekend in Yokohama, the first set today went very smoothly, so I tried the Pro Tip for the 2nd set (each V-sit in 2 steps, partial lift, pause, finish). Good Lord. Back to the missionary position for sets 3-5, and they weren't pretty...

-We've talked about this before (I love talking about it), but MAN am I gassy! More than before, though not sure why, my diet has not changed. Maybe its because my pants are too loose, and I'm wearing my belt too tight...?

-Back to Brett's post from the other day, tonight went to a football game at the Tokyo Dome, pickins were mighty slim, ended up with chicken wings (pealed off the skin). No carbs, no veggies, and skipped my evening jumping (morning jumping and workout all done). I will repent tomorrow in Yokohama...

Welcome Newbies! Team SEXAAAAY, how does it feel to be the wiley veterans?