Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

All day today, I have been feeling the burn! Standing up, sitting down, standing up. Ouch!! I just sneezed and my abs hurt, or I should say, the area where my abs will be!

Again, I use resistance bands which follow this colour/weight scheme: Black (5lbs), Blue (10lbs), Yellow (15lbs), Red (20lbs).

All of these exercises are done twice, so I will list each rep set, followed by the band colour, separated by a comma. The exercises we did today are:
1. Alternating Shoulder Presses: 10Y, 18Y
2. In & Out Bicep Curls: 20Y, 28Y **Need to try Red next time
3. Two-Arm Tricep Kickbacks: 18Y, 15Y **Need to try Blue next time
4. Deep Swimmer's Presses: 17Y, 14Y
5. Full Supination Concentration Curls: 14Y, 15Y
6. Chair Dips: 16, 15 (Use your own body weight)
7. Upright Rows: 15Y, 15R **Red is good for now
8. Static Arm Curls: 8 per side Y, 8 per side R
9. Flip-Grip Twist Tricep Kickbacks: 13Y, 12B **Blue is where I need to be
10. Two-Angle Shoulder Flys: 16Y, 16Y
11. Crouching Cohen Curls: 20Y, 16Y
12. Lying-Down Triceps Extensions: 10Y, 8Y

There was an option to do 3 additional BONUS exercises (In & Out Straight-Arm Shoulder Flys, Congdon Curls, and Side Tri-Rises). There was no way I could do these today ... but they do look fun. Especially those side tri-rises.

On to the Ab Ripper X! I was exhausted by the time I got to this point. EXHAUSTED! BUT, I did my best and forgot the rest. Today, I was able to lift my butt of the ground!!!!! I don't remember what he calls them, but you basically hold your legs in the air while lying on your back. Then you proceed to lift your butt off the ground. Reutnr back to the floor and continue. This is a HUGE improvement for me because last time, the only thing I did was will myself off the floor. Didn't work.

In addition to all of this exercising, I am determined I really need a recovery drink (should aid in recovery time which means less pain in the muscles). Kristi (my fiancee and workout partner) looked into some of the cheap options, or atleast where we can find the same product just cheaper ... and she ran into some guy's commentary. What he said is worth repeating (I just wish I knew where she found it to give the guy some credit here). He said, and I quote very loosely, that people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on cable, find excuses to spend extra money on our cell phone bills ... yet when it comes to our health, we find reasons and ways to spend the least amount of money. I am a victim of this. Which is ridiculous because above everything, we NEED our health. So, spend the extra money and get a product that is worth it. He also tested a few different company's recovery drinks and found the P90X recovery drink found on Beachbody.com. I plan to buy this on pay day!

So, there you have it! I can do it, so can you. Just do your best and forget the rest!