Sprain Recovery Weeks 2 and 3

After the first work week was over (where I was using crutches), I switched to one crutch during the weekend. Sunday night I realized if I set my weight on my heel and had my foot pigeon-toed (facing inward), I could support my body weight without any pain. So, for that 2nd week I was able to sort of slowly limp around without any curtches. Occasionally I would land my foot slightly off and feel some pain, but nothing to intense.

Saturday, I decided to ride my bicycle to the grocery store to pick up food. It wasn't to fun. Orginally hoping to ride to two stores (one for cold stuff (milk, yogurt, bannanas, and ) and the other for dry goods(grains and nuts)), I was happy to be able to at least get my cold stuff from one. Next Sunday I found myself walking fairly normal.. so maybe the bicycling helped some. I think I'll start back up with P90X next Sunday.. which will meet the minimum healing time of 3 weeks (6 weeks was the max range)

Nutrition-Starting the 2nd Sprain Recovery week I started back in the routine of cooking oatmeal for breakfast and preparing my lunches for the week. I made a few minor changes. Since I haven't been working out, I've only been taking 1 scoop of Protein Supplement. My Calorie consumption is right in line with someone my age/height/gender that doesn't currently workout(this will of course change when I start working out) . Instead of having 2oz Cashews for a snack, it's now 1.5oz Almonds. My peanuts are now unsalted and have been eating that with raisins for an afterwork snack, which means I'm not using raisins in my oatmeal. Starting tomorrow I'll add Flaxseeds to my oatmeal.

I also need to find a place that sells raw spinach in smaller bundles or variable sizes, and perferably organic (Ref: http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php ). Buying bundles wastes to much. Spinach is said to only last about 8 days. Buying just what I need every week Organic Spinach would be my perfered option.

Crutches

Instead of going into so much detail, I thought I would make two lists related to how things are going using the crutches. I think, I might of used crutches once before when I was in 5th grade.. but I don't remember to well.

Things that work against me:

• The place I'm living isn't kept in the best condition, makes it hard to get around


• I don't like to clean or cook in the crutches when my brothers are awake (witch is often)


• I can only carry things with a few fingers, unless I bare my weight on my armpits


• My Ego prevents me from taking time off or often asking co-workers to get things for me


• Going to work, I'm not taking care of my foot as well as the Doctor recommended

Things that have helped me:

• I have a limited Water Supply in my room


• Alot of my pre-P90X food is instant and located in my room


• My main source of entertainment (computer) is in my room


• I have Drummer Stool that works really well for having my foot rest on


• Various People will somtimes help with things


• I don't weight that much and have good upper body strength


• I've been riding in to work before I got injured, so I didn't have to set something up


• For the most part, I have a desk job (I'm sitting about 90% of the time)


• I have a cup with a lid and handle (so it can hang by my pinky without it spilling)

Overall.. I think it's a good experience. It is kind of fun to use crutches (espeically at work with the open hallways). Though, just a few days into it my other leg and forearms are tired and my armpits are a bit sore. I thought about taking a day off.. just to rest, but now there are only 2 days left. I'm thinking I should be able to walk on it by the weekend. It's suppose to take 3 to 6 weeks to fully heal. Maybe by the time I restart the program I can get my brother (2nd born) started on it at the same time as myself.

Day 21.5

After 3 hours of taking the pain.. I was like "screw it". I asked my brother to take me to the emergancy room. 4 hours later, I'm told it's just a foot sprain. I feel like such a tool.

I can't really put any pressure on it. I'll have to stop P90X.. and to be fair, start over from Day 1. I'm not sure what changes might happen as far as my eating habits go.

Day 21

Basketball - What? Thats not a P90X workout. So.. I haven't played basketball in like 15 years (and I wasn't really into it then), back when I was in Junior High. A co-worker put up the invitation. I would normally turn it down.. cause team sports don't appeal to me. BUT.. I thought.. "How would I do?". The oppertunity to test myself was to tempting. The first hour I was just kicking a ball around with a co-worker's brother's kid and another co-worker. The next two hours I played 5 games. I wasn't that great. I didn't feel comfortable dribbling or shooting the ball. I played some solid defense though. I got some rebounds and heh.. in one game I kept one of the opposing teammates completely out of the game, with me gaurding him no one felt comfortable passing to him. I landed kind of awkwardly a few times. It didn't seem like anything much.. left knee and left ankle.

I layed down, put some ice on it and kept my foot up and watched a movie. When I got up though x_x . So.. its bit worse then I thought. I'm still convienced that it will go away. I don't want to be going into work looking injured, I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me or feeling like I can't take a game of basketball.

The good news is that tomorrow is the start of my Recovery Week (thankfully no Plyometrics). I'm not going to do Yoga X.. but I might do Stretch X tonight, besides Yoga X is scheduled for tomorrow anyways.

Day 20

Kenpo X - I was going to record the whole thing, but it kept cutting out (low batttery). I got my heart rate quickly up to about 148. The next time I looked at the clock there was only 20 minutes left. Alot of sweat at the end.

I love the Double backhand, Front Kick, Back Kick Combo... it's the only one where I really get my facial expresions into it. I also like the Punches and Blocks in the horse stance where you constantly buildup your speed.

Nutrition - making my lunches Sunday and storing in indvidual day containers worked out fine. The Spinach didn't get moist or wet, the Rice stayed soft, and the Salmon didn't get dry.

Day 19

Legs and Back - I'm a little dissapointed that I didn't get the the numbers I was hoping to get for my Chin-up and Pull-up stuff. Even though it was my last chance to record some strong numbers for Phase 1.. I'm still happy with the overall effort I put out.

Ab Ripper X - I'm getting better at this. For Oblique V-Ups and Fifer Scissors, I just have to pant like I'm about to give birth (or else I hold end up holding my breath). I also noticed if I place my arms under back.. parellel to and supporting my spine.. I could work Hip Rock n Raise and Heels to the Heavens.. in a way more closer to how their doing it and without the lower back pain. With those minor adjustments I was able to hang in for all of the moves with basically no breaks. Now I can focus on getting my legs straighter and my overall form better.

Nutrition - Nothing new.

I had a dream that bothered me, but I won't go into it. (Tqn{nfOjwjr~UttqIfixMtzxjWttkGfg~)

Day 18

Stretch X - I got off work early.. but I ended up wasting alot of time. So, I decided to Switch Stretch X and Yoga X for the week. I'll do Yoga X in a couple days.

Nutrition - During my wasted time I consumed out of my schedule... extra peanuts, raisins, and a yogurt. Not much else to say.

Day 17

Arms and Shoulders- I did well. Either I improved my form, did more reps, or increased my weight (and probably ruined my form some). An hour workout with 15 exercises.. all repeated twice.. 13 of the 15 using weights.

Ab Ripper X- My bicep was feeling all pumped, wasn't really feeling like doing Ab Ripper X... but whatever.. I'm to lazy to hit the stop button I guess. All around I did all right. On the last side of Oblique V-Ups I stuck in and finished well.. I usually stop two or three times to cry out in pain, haha.

Nutrition- I changed my some of my custom entries on NutritionData.com to some of the ones they had.. since the labels don't show everything. I'm stil short 400 calories and could use some Folate (I have about 66% Daily Value Recommendation). But, all in all I'm doing okay. I'm feeling really good about the changes I've made. It also feels good to buy and eat the food that I've chosen, knowing what it is going to provide for my body. You don't get that feeling standing the checkout line as the cashier rings up a bag of cookies or what have you. Personally.. and not offend anyone else, I would feel less embaressed buying a year supply of toilet paper then a bag of cookies. Maybe my viewpoint is flawed though, I don't know.

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Day 16

Plyometrics-I tried to take it easy on the knees. I heard no squeeking noise today. My heart rate was at lot lower.. even though I sweating hard and tired. Stayed in the 130's and maxed around 148.

Nutrition-Before I went to lunch.. I wasn't so sure about the change. Then I started eating it and it tasted really good and I felt good eating it. And just look how nice it looks. The only bad thing is it less Calroies.. I'm getting like 66% of the Calories I should be getting. Even though this is more filling.. it's half the Calories. For next week I'll aim to find something to increase my Calorie intake, perferablly cheap.. w/ protein and little to no fat (I have 33% Fats and some really good fats).

Day 15

Chest and Back - I finally got a proper pullup bar. I increased my weight for the lawnmower and heavy pants.., but I needed to switch my weight back to do the back flys in decent form. I think I'll need to buy more weight, so I can just adjust before hand with 2 sets of diffrent weight to work on throught the workout (no mini breaks to switch out weights). Even though its chest and Back.. my Biceps were feeling like they were going to burst. I have to relize I won't be doing any strength training next week (Recovery Week).. so I need to really push myself.

Ab Ripper X - After working muscles I'm so tired to do this. The third day is where I seem to make progress. I definatly tried.. and might of improved my Fifer Scissors, but it's still sort of pathetic. I'm hoping doing Stretch X will improve my flexability here.

Nutrition - My new lunch cost about as much as my old lunch $1. 3 oz Salmon (canned), 1 Cup Brown Rice, and 1 Cup Raw Spinach. I have them all in a container for each day of the week, I'm hoping they'll hold like that okay. I'm looking forward to see how they effect my Nutrition scoring.

Day 14

Stretch X-The last day of the week is allways a Rest Day or Stretch X. From now on I'll always do the Stretch X.. because I could use it. It feels very un-natural for me to sit up straight with my feet out in front of me, that needs to change.

Nutrition-The weekend again. I currently have no planned eating for the weekend.. mainly just eat what I allready have lying around. So, maybe I'm not getting exactly what I need.., but eh.. its nothing to bad. Not working, I'm more prone to want to do something.. like snack on something. The raisins and cashews have been tempting, but I managed to at least not over eat those items.

2 Weeks down.

Day 13

Kenpo X-I love this workout. I really enjoy getting the form in the combinations down and then building up my speed.. and just impressing myself with how fast I can go. Heart Rate stuck around 140 (slightly lower then my Plyo workout). I might try going bare foot next time, because wearing my running shoes I have to much traction.. makes pivoting kind of tough.

Nutrition-Here is my current Daily Food Intake and Financial Cost (it will change next week) (Red Items I'm looking to change):

• Bananas (1 medium) - $0.20
• Cashews, w/ salt and oil (2 oz) - $0.50
• Chow Mein (1 Instant package) - $1.00
• Egg (1 Medium) - $0.08
• Milk, Nonfat (16 fl oz) - $0.26
• Oats, Whole Grain Steel cut (80 g) - $0.35
• Raisins, seedless (40 g) ~ $0.14
• Yogurt, nonfat fruit flavor (6 oz) - $0.50
• Multi-Vitamin (1 Pill of 2) ~ $0.16
• Calcium Supplement (1 Pill of 2) ~ $0.124
• Whey Protein (2 Scoops) - $1.00
• Water (64 fl oz) - Free

Daily Total Cost: $4.31

Prior to me monitoring my Nutrition.. I was spending like $60 to $100 a month.. now it looks like I'll be spending around $150. Not to bad, considering the health benifits. I'm also sure I can buy some of those items in bulk for less.

Day 12

Today was pretty sucky. At my work you can usually count on Wed and Thur being light days. So I work on an update to a program and revise one of our databases. I come back on the floor and everything is like an hour to two hours behind. We miss a deadline.. witch adds a bit more work on to my workload. I finally finish about two hours past the time I was hoping to leave at. Then I relize that co-worker (that was nice enough to give me a ride in) left early without telling me. So I have to wait for someone else (again, that was kind enough to give me a ride home), another hour or two of sitting around. I think I managed to keep it all under control.. I don't think anyone noticed how pissed off I was. When I got home it toke me an hour to cool down, rationalize things, and get motivated to workout.

Legs and Back-Good solid workout. Sort of feel like I cheating with the pullups.. I need to get an actually pullup bar (maybe over the weekend). Despite my knees continuing to make noise.. I think I pushed my self a bit more then last time (where I might of been more cautionary)

Ab Ripper X-I think I did good. I definately tried to Bring it. I sort of want to record myself, so I can compare both to the videos and to my previous workouts.

Nutrition-Looking forward to making lunch next week and improving my nutrition stats. I'm thankfull I'm used to eating the same thing everyday and have such bland tastebuds.

Day 11

Yoga X-I think I got the form down a little better. Theres like 3 sections in this hour and half long workout. The 1st section is constantly changing poses that stretch and constrain, my biggest weakness here is toward the end where you put all of your weight on one foot and contort the other parts of your body.. it's just feels like alot of weight. The 2nd section is Balance Poses, no major weakness that I can remember. The Final section is Streching and relaxing various parts of your body, like Ab Ripper X.. my biggest weakness is getting my legs straight out and up.

Nutrition-I managed to get my Calorie count up to 2000, I should probably be at 2500.. but I'm not too concerned for the time being. If I do intake more food.. it really needs to be Protien... My current Ratio is 47% Carbs, 31% Fats, and 22% Protien. It was kind of struggle to eat all of the food in my schedule for the day. My oatmeal take a half hour to cook, so ended up taking it with me to work. By lunch time I managed to eat the last of my oatmeal, ate my lunch, and then had 2 ounces of Cashews to finish off before I left for the day.

Day 10

Arms and Shoulders-A good solid effort. Of course, better then last week. With sStrength building workouts it's kind of hard to say if you really gave it your all.

Ab Ripper X-Didn't feel as good as it on Day 5, but I was also worn out a bit from the Arms and Shoulder's workout. I thought about taking a break between the two, but didn't want to waste the time.

Nutrition-Added a banana to my post-workout meal/dinner. Some fast burning carbs, natural protein, and best of all the potassium. Ideally I need to increase my calorie intake (I'm only geting like 1800 Calories a day, I should be getting somewhere closer to 2400 Calories) and improve my Carb:Fat:Protien ratio. I'm aiming for no more then 50% Carbs and no less then 33% Protien. Ideally something like 40C:20F:40P might be good.

Day 9

Plyometrics-Dripping sweat at the end. Heart rate topped at about 155.. and was in the 140's through most of it. That's put me in the Moderate to Hard zone.. I think that's good (see chart below). The actual workout is about 45minutes long, with 15minute warmup/cool down, and buch minor water breaks. http://images.gophersport.com/files/image/general/LARGE/HeartRateChart1.jpg

Nutrition-For at least the week. I switch my breakfast up to
Whole Grain Oatmeal (w/ two spoons of Raisins), 1 Non-Fat Yogurt (fruit flavored), and Protien Supplment in Non-Fat Milk. Previously it was 2 bowls of Raisin Bran w/ Protein Supplement mixed in. They both add up to about the same Calories and Fullness Factor. Suprisingly though the bowls of Raisin Bran gets a better rating for both Nutrients and Dietary Fiber. The thing that really kills Raisin Bran though is the huge Sodium content 1,261mg 55% DV (for a 2k calorie intake) . The new breakfast model is only 267mg of Sodium.. and with me still eating those tasty sodium packed ramen meals for lunch brings me my total intake for the day at 97% DV (for 2k Calorie intake). I now.. to much talk about this stuff, but.. it's kind of fun (for me at least, probably very boring for anyone else reading it (except maybe my Dad)).

Day 8

I wokeup four hours early. I went swimming with my Brother and my Sister's family. When I got home I was tired. I would of liked to just do my workout and go to sleep.. but in order to set myself up for work I needed to stay awake. I eventually toke a 2 hour nap. I woke up thinking.. "I'm so tired.. maybe I can just do it tomorrow after I wake up". I thought about where I was and what my reasons were for doing this. That gave me my motivation. Then I got up, cleaned up some, and started the workout.

Chest and Back-It went fairly well. I think I improve my form and added a few reps on most things for the second round, if not both rounds.

Ab Ripper X-I remembered how well I did last time and was looking forward to doing well this time. I was just so tired and couldn't perform like I did on Day 5. For the first time during this program I felt like maybe I was going to vomit.. I'm guessing.. either I ate to soon before, didn't eat well enough over this weekend, or just had to much water.

Nutrition-Over the weekend I didn't have as tight control of my nutrition as during the week. So... in at least that one aspect.. I'm glad to start the work week.

Day 7

Rest Day-Sort of eased up on my food planning for the day, had some pre-P90X food I bought.. nothing to unhealthy though. The time I would spend working out I reorganized my exercise tracking into a spreadsheet and reviewed some of the workouts (I didn't have the patience to go though the Yoga one though, I'll just wing it when it comes). I'll go swimming tomorrow noon to afternoon and start Day 8 in the later part of the evening.

Day 6

Kenpo X-Little trouble getting the combos down in the start of it. I pushed myself. Ended feeling a little sore and covered in sweat. I really feel pumped and ready. I really look forward to getting home and doing the workouts. I love feeling worn out knowing I pushed myself.. it's like finishing a 5k, except I don't geet a medal :P .

Nutrition-I woke up to find my milk gone. My brother accidently thought it was his and tossed it (basically all of the milk he buys goes bad), but I was like "I need to keep up with my meal plans.. let's do this!". Even though I was sore from last nights workout I rode my bike to the store, ate my food, packed my lunch and snack, and made it out the door before my co-worker arrived.

Day 5

Legs and Back-So.. the first day was intense and the second day I was covered in sweat. Day 3 and 4 just didn't seem to reach the intensity of Day 1. So I did what the video said "Bring It" and I brought it. My knees were creaking again.. which probably isn't a good thing. Most likely something to do with my 10 years of bicycling to work (for the most part) or my lack of fats and/or calcium. I had to cover my ears towards the end to block out the noise. It's not like their hurting really.. just making a noise.. maybe some WD-40 would fix it.

Ab Ripper X-It caught me by suprise again. Still.. I put the same effort as Legs and Back into this. I kept through it and improved my technique alot. I have the most trouble with Fifer Scissors (One leg vertical other parellel with body, switching every couple seconds).. I just can't seem to get my legs straight and up.

Nutrition-My stepmom gave me some corn tortillas so for my Dinner I've been having an Egg over one of those along side my Protein Drink (just mixed w/ water (hopefully it absorbs okay this way)) .

It's only been a few days.. but I think I'm starting to see some more defined defination. Of course it's probably easy to see muscle if you don't have any meat on your body to start out with.

In my free time I've been searching out other people doing P90X. I've enjoyed the videos on this guy's site http://www.90dayreview.com/ , he acts like all 110% into it and quotes the guy in the workout video constantly.

Day 4

Yoga X-Not so bad. Had trouble with some of the poses. I also not quite sure if I had the proper technique down on some of them. I might want to go through it again, just to examine them a bit closer. My legs are my biggest weakness, I can't get them straight in the air from lying on my back.

Nutrition-Not to much change. I might add a bannana to balance out the ammino acid of my protein supplement. A breakfast of 2 small bowls of raisin bran, w/protein supplement and a half of a banana will cost about $1.25 to $1.50 per day. The biggest down side is the amount of sugar (85g, about 50g come from the cereal). The goods are it's really cheap, easy to make, and provides alot of the things I need.

Day 3

Arms and Shoulders-Felt a little limited by the weight options I had(2 bars with 15lbs on each). Ended up with 10lbs on each bar and 2 loose 5lb weight for the more awkward ones. I also should probably move my worksheet from Notepad into Excel.

Ab Ripper X-Was struggling again with my legs. I think I improved from last Monday though.

Nutrition-I figure I need about 100g of protein as minimum for strength building. Will add some of the protein mix to my cereal. I've planned out a better option for my work lunches that I'll implement as soon as another oppertunity to hit the store is available. With out the change in lunch I get to much sodium, not enough protein, less variety of amino acid, and not to much good fats. I'm using http://www.nutritiondata.com/ to help me out.. its is a great site for this sort of thing.

Going to bed kind of late, due to the blog. My tv has gotten very little use since I stopped watching the tapes.

Day 2

Thought I would get out earlier, didn't get home until about 5am. Was tired,but determined.

Plyometrics-Not to much of a problem, alot of cardio type stuff. My only concern were my knees were making a creaking noise.. so I didn't push it to much. I was covered in sweat by the end of it though. Space in my room was a slight problem for some of the routines.

Nutrition-Before I would eat breakfast, lunch, and then eat a tons of carbs before bed. Witch sort of worked when I was riding my bike in the next day. I've made the change to eat a snack before I leave work.. to offset my hunger. And eat mainly protein as a dinner (and maybe fruit, since it digests really quick) and give at least an hour space before I sleep.

Went to bed late...

Day 1

Chest and Back- Pushed myself a bit much during the first round, wasn't expecting a second round. During the 2nd round I often couldn't beat what I did before. Orginally was going to do the pullup/chin up stuff elsewhere.. but the program constantly switches between them. For the time I used 2 chairs and a bar.. the chairs backs arn't very secure.. might break. I'll have to buy door one(that might not fit on the door frame) or a standalone one that might cost around $200. Once I get my own house I could just put something permanent in.

Ab Ripper X- Struggled through it. Not use to that sort of leg work. I also lack alot of flexability.

Nutrition-Orginally I was just going to do the exercises and ignore the nurtition part, since I eat fairly healthy. I relize though... that if I want to see an improvement then following the nutrition is that much more important and it only hurts my performance in the exercises if I don't pay an attention to my food intake.