FIcX; Week 0, Day 5 & ONLY 14 days to PCB2!!!

Okay so this week I have begun following FicX, a new program that Suz showed me that we have decided is a great course of action we can tear into together! Per the program, this week I have ground my way through defining my personal reasons why, I have worked on the affirmations, visualizations & am working my way into the daily gratitude logging although I must admit all the psychological content is nearly as different for me as the dietary part is difficult LOL!

I say Week 0 as Suzette, my inspiration & awesome soul mate, was traveling out of state early this week & we are tearing into FIcX together so I have spent this week working up my baselines in the gym while working through my program email check in homework assignments!

I have been working out in the gym religiously for the last 2 years & fairly religiously the 2 years prior but my results have been hit & miss at best. I lost 30 LBs across a 6 month stretch mid 2010 then really got my head, heart & attitude in the game & lost another 30 the following 3 months then had a personal / relationship derailment that took me psychologically CLEAR outta the game & although I worked out HARD 4-6 days a week all through 2011 I put back on nearly half of that hard fought 60 LBs then I met Suz!

Her story & mine held many similarities except that she has managed to shed 90 LBs through her troubled waters & has kept it off! With her light in my life I have managed to shake off the darkness, have refocused on getting back in the game & have begun turning this train wreck around & as Suz pointed out before we even got into the FIcX way of thinking, we have renamed my train wreck the Griz Express LOL!

So the workouts this week have been great although have required substantial adjustment on my part! A few months back I herniated a lumbar disk so I have been working to find ways to work out that do not leave me folded up & cranky by days end. Recently Suz had introduced me to the pyramid style of weights / reps / sets beginning at a weight that just barely allows 16-20 reps then adding weight so you fizzle at 8-12 then max it out where 4-6 are all there is left then work your way clear back down to properly toast'em good! Having adjusted to that new methodology finding weights that work for the 12s 4X through has been tough! I find myself being a little over greedy setting baselines that make the last 3-4 reps on that 4th set impossible without a few seconds breather thrown in but HEY! At least I'm setting some stretch goals to grow into!!! Another thing that has tested my metal is having a cardio day immediately following leg day, WTH LOL?!? Planet Fitness, my new gym, has a cardio rig I had never tried, although I have seen others blog about how tough & awesome it is. It’s called an Arc Trainer from Cybex International & it reminds me of a cross between a Nordic Track skier, an evil elliptical & a stair climber all in one sadistic package! Somehow it manages to hit calves, quads, hammies & even a bit up into the glutes all with fairly vicious efficiency & trying this beast out for the very first time 23 hours post a kick @ZZ leg day proved purely masochistic!!! Today being yet another full day later my thighs are still SCREAMING FOR VENGENCE!!! Today was a repeat of Mondays UBWO & I managed an even tidy 30,000 LBs amidst intervals of cardio warm up & cool down.

Recovery & rest is the other uphill battle this old bear still has issues with! Thanks to "life" I find myself working 2 jobs; flying a desk in an engineering role 40 hours weekly then getting back to my machinist / tool & die roots making high precision parts night & weekends another 20-40 hours weekly so sleep usually idles around 5ish hours nightly but with proper detail to attention hopefully we can tweak on that too, with proper Focus, Intensity, compliance & eXcellence...RIGHT LOL?!?!?

Rock on pals!!!