P90X - Phase 1 Complete

I'm proud to say I've stuck with my daily P90X workout and I've completed Phase 1 of 3.  Four weeks down, nine more to go.

Week one was the hardest.  I was sore early on and kept getting more sore.  Normally being sore would be an excuse for me not to work out, but I wanted to stay on schedule.  I was only sore occasionally for the next 3 weeks.

The exercises routine push my limits.  On my own I would take much longer breaks between exercises, but the videos keep things moving.  All the routines are an hour, with the exception of Yoga X which is 90 minutes.

I wouldn't have thought yoga would be too hard, but it is.  It takes some good strength and determination to stay in position.  Plus there's a lot of stretching between yoga and the Stretch X workout.  Last fall when I was having knee issues I was trying to stretch more.  I realized I was very inflexible.  So I hope these routines will help me.

The Plyometrics X routine really gets your heart and lungs moving.  It's kind of my favorite for that reason.  It reminds me of how I push myself while riding muni.

The other routines are great too.  They mostly involve push-ups, pull-ups, lunges, squats, arm/shoulder exercises with dumbbells, and abdominal exercises.  It has certainly been better for me than being idle.  I hope to come out of this winter feeling in good shape for riding.

I'm not really following the P90X diet very closely.  I'm just continuing to eat healthy, and I've cut my calorie intake to lose a bit of weight.  It sucks being hungry all the time.  I didn't really have much extra weight to lose, but I was able to lose 5 pounds off my gut over the past 4 weeks.  Hey that's 5 pounds I don't have to carry with me on the trails.  I might lose a bit more, but I think in Phase 2. I should concentrate more on building strength.  If I gain the weight back in muscle, I'll be fine with that.

Syd's Talent Show - 2012

Sydney did some nice unicycling and hooping at her school's talent show yesterday! Kessa got into the act too!

Barracuda Unicycle

I saw a unicycle for sale on craigslist this weekend.  It was $20 and located in my town so I ended up getting it.
It's an older cheap 20" uni that would be good for a kid to learn on.  So I'll put in the garage and have it on hand when the need arises.
The seller said it was her son's from years ago and he didn't stick with it.

One interesting thing about it is that it has training wheels!  I'm not sure those will really help someone learn, but they're interesting.

Here's a picture of what a new one looks like.  Mine has surface rust on the chrome, but that will definitely clean off.  And of course it didn't come with the box.

 

 From the internet I gather it's a Rand Ross brand.  The model is Barracuda.

P90X - Day 1

I've been way too inactive lately. I was sick a lot of December and the weather has been crappy and uninviting. So I decided to exercise more inside with the P90X workout.

I did Day 1 today and felt pretty weak. I certainly AM compared to the buff guys in the video.

It's gonna be tough to do every day. Hopefully I'll get through it and be more fit for riding muni. That's my end goal.

Uni Videos

Here are a bunch of my favorite unicycle videos I've seen online. Some street, freestyle, trials, and muni.

Max Schulze's 2010 video with a mix of trials, street, and freestyle. As if the video wasn't crazy enough, he shows off his new MaxWhip trick at 2:15. Woah!


Max Schulze's 2011 video, again with a mix of trials, street, and freestyle. In this one he shows off his front flip! Again Woah!


A quick street video by Kelly Hickman. Lots of stairs and railings


Cedric Vincent riding street. Very cool.


Dan Heaton riding street. I would love to be able to hop like that.


Bobousse's video. Mostly freestyle with some street.


Ryan Kremsater with some serious muni skills near Vancouver. Lots of North Shore features and skinnies.


Claude Magnuson having a good time riding muni. Nothing insane but I like his video a lot. It's the kind of muni I do.

Kris Holm's classic Freeride video. My blog started with this!

Dan Heaton's Columbia Sportwear video.


Derek Schmitt's stillstand for over 18 minutes! You'll get the idea in a minute and skip through. It's like watching paint dry, but you've gotta be impressed.


Zombie problems? The Unicycle Bastards can help.


Added February 12, 2012. Some of the best BC wheeling I've seen.

Snowshoeing

Today the family and I went out to Whiting for a snowshoeing hike.  The last time I remember trying it was when I was a kid on a school nature hike, so I wasn't sure about it.  It turned out to be easy and fun!

In previous winters I only got out to ride muni occasionally and didn't have any other winter sports that interested me.  But cross training has always sounded like a good idea. My wife got me a pair of snowshoes last year but I never used them.  Now I can see myself going out more.

I brought some ski poles with me and they were ok.  But I did some running with Kyle and wished my arms were free.  I don't need handlebars, so maybe I don't need poles either.

I still would like to ride muni in the winter.  In fact on the trails today there were times I wished I was riding instead of snowshoeing.   The trail surface was mostly packed.  The snowshoes were cool because I never worried about slipping or twisting an ankle in areas with icy frozen boot prints. So maybe when we get a lot of heavy snow I'll go snowshoeing, and when the trail conditions are better, I'll ride muni.

Coming Back To Life

It's been over a month since my last blog post.  I haven't ridden at all for a long time.
During December the temperatures finally dropped and being outside started to become less inviting. But still it was unseasonably warm so the trails and road never got snowed over.  Trails were muddy and generally not ridable.
Additionally I was sick for weeks with what I think were three back to back colds.  Nothing too crazy, just typical cold symptoms.  I'm still not 100% with slight congestion and tight breathing. So I've been avoiding any strenuous exercise.

Finally the temperature is dropping and we're getting snow that seems to be staying.  I went for a casual ride around the block today after clearing the driveway.  The road is mostly covered in snow, though a bit icy and slushy at the moment.  When plowing, the town's goal isn't to leave a hard packed snow surface.  So for the conditions to be right I need some luck.  It needs to snow a lot so the plows can't keep up, cars need to drive enough to pack the snow, and it has to stay cold.

I hope it snows some more and I can go for a bigger ride soon.