Day 60 - Booooooooom

Congratulations to those who have just finished, a good effort all round, but now get those final posts up as it's good to see how far you've come.

I got home last night feeling depressed and completely knackered. I lay on my sofa, questioning my pitiful PCP existence and contemplating not doing my routine. My finger hovered over the pizza delivery speed dial button and a bottle of red was seductively calling my name like a mythological Greek Siren luring me towards the rocks of PCP damnation.  But a swift self delivered pep talk about the importance of staying true to the cause and unflinchingly focused did the trick and I eventually managed to drag my sorry ass off to the gym.

I got there and realised that it was time for my day 60 stat check-up. I didn't have time to do the full suite but I did have time for the most important of all - body fat %

Day		1	28	60	90		Change + / -
Weight	kgs	82	76.3	73.4			-8.60
Body Mass Index		25	23.8	22.9			-2.10
Fat Mass	%	18.7%	16.8%	12.5%			-6.2%

Having arrived feeling less then enthusiastic, I can't tell you how pleased I was with the fat mass result. I felt as if I was a phoenix rising from the ashes, it really has given me a well needed boost and I managed to tear through the routine on the back of it.

I am though a little perplexed as to how I can still be carrying around such a generous and ample gut, but we've still got another 30 days to go so plenty of time to achieve my goals and hopefully see some positive results.

I'm off to Portugal tomorrow for a few days R&R (bands and rope packed of course). So when I return next week I'll be fully rested and even more motivated for that final push to the finish line. I'm feeling really positive again after a little dip and can't wait to take on all that Pat-Diddy can throw at us.

Good luck to everyone and I hope you all stay strong and have a great final 30 days

Day 57 - Bye-bye England

I had a very chilled weekend and it was great to recharge the batteries and get some proper sleep. Less impressive was Scotland's result against the Argies. I'm not in the least bit worried though as we'll stuff the English on Saturday. We always raise our game against the 'auld enemy' and it's nationally acceptable to lose every game we play, but if we beat the English then everyone agrees it's been a decent season.

I don't know why but I find myself much hungrier at the weekends. I obviously need the structure of work to keep me focused. I find that if I'm sitting around at home then the lure of the fridge is strong as I keep opening it to have a look, even though I know exactly what's in there and that there is nothing whatsoever to snack on.

I was overjoyed to see we have 5 x 60 sec planks scheduled for later this week.......hey Pat-Diddy, why don't you go the whole hog and include finger nail extraction and eye lid removal to the routine while you're at it.

Good luck folks and if you hear something attuned to a squealing pig being unceremoniously slaughtered and a flapping, gasping rhino being slowly sucked into a quicksand trap, don't worry as it will just be me, about 5 seconds into that 5th plank set.

Day 53 - warrant officer Ripley

bicycle abs this morning sucked big time. I don't know what went wrong but I was absolutely useless. I had to get up early this morning to do the exercises before work as I have something on this evening. I usually do the routines after work so maybe this change in pattern has something to do with it, but this shouldn't excuse my pensioner like performance.

I'm getting a little bored with the fact that my gut is stubbornly clinging on like a parasital face sucking alien - be gone with you, ye vile over hanging sack of visceral blubber.

But fear not fellow PCPers, I will persevere and will continue to trust in the doctrine of Pat-Diddy. Focus, determination and positivity are whats needed in times like this, something I have in abundance (or at least I'm hoping I will if I continue to say it enough times)

Day 50 - I do

I was at a wedding on Saturday down in Dorset, which was my first ever sober wedding experience. At one point I was very close to having a drink but I knew that if I turned the tap then the dam would break in spectacular fashion and then I'd have to suffer the consequential self loathing the next day. But I'm happy to report I successful saw off the urge. I didn't quite stick to the diet but I wasn't too bad considering the circumstances. I had a little cheese and a very small piece of cake to I'm just going to put that down as my 'indulgence' for the week. I'm also happy to report that I managed to keep up the exercises having packed the bands and the rope. So all things considered, it was a successful weekend.

I did get quite a few negative comments though (what's the point, sounds daft, what a waste of money, pay me to tell you not to drink etc etc) and I got a tad bored with everybody wanting to talk to me about it and offering me their pennies worth of advice. On the plus side though there were positive comments too which was nice and helps reinforce the old motivational requirements as we head into week 8 (or is it 7?)

The exercises look like they've ramped up again this week, I'm looking forward to giving them my all. Bring on the burn! And I'm still enjoying 8MA, they're still hurting, especially the one where you reach for your feet. I did some digging around and found out that the guy in the video is called Jamie Brenkus. I'm quite disappointed by this as a friend of mine led me to believe he was called Chad, which is far more fitting hahaha. I will continue to refer to him as Chad, he is definitely a Chad.

http://www.cbn.com/700club/guests/bios/Jamie_Brenkus041107.aspx

Day 47 - Atavism

I've been getting up at 5:30 for a week or so now. I do some jump rope, 8MA and maybe some pull ups or push ups. In the evening I'll do another 15-20 mins of jump rope and then the exercises. It hasn't been too much of a problem but the last couple of days I've started to feel pretty tired. Then this morning I had to get up at 4:45 to fit in all the exercises before work as I can't do the routine tonight as I'm off to a wedding. Anyhow, I was rubbish. I really wasn't in the right frame of mind, my exercises were sloppy and I just couldn't motivate myself to get into any kind of rhythm. The legs were heavy and I had a really negative 'can't be arsed attitude'.

So, I’ve made some mental notes.

1. Get more sleep. I need to start going to bed earlier
2. Approach every work out in the right frame of mind. If I'm not 'feeling it', then take a moment, remind myself why I'm doing this and focus on completing a really good routine.
3. Accept that not every day will be easy

On a more positive note, I've started to do my evening jump rope sessions in an empty squash court at the gym and it's brilliant. Lots of room to move around and try out moves and combos. I'm really enjoying it and don't even notice the time - in my head I think I'm the jump rope Kevin Bacon  (think the abandoned warehouse scene in footloose) hahahaha, but more realisticly; Barney the dinosaur ineptly bumbling around a squash court.

Day 45 - Livin' on a Prayer

......we're half way there.

I'd like to think that it's 'all down hill' from here on, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the next 6 weeks are going to feel more like we're going up hill rather then down.

The first few weeks were all quite straight forward, but now that we're really well into the exercises and diet, I think this is when we're all going to see some real changes.

So far everything is going fine. I seem to be in a good routine and think (or talk) about little else at the moment. I'm enjoying the jump rope and I love the feeling of complete exhaustion at the end of the workouts....it's the getting there that I'm not too keen on. I'm getting good burns on just about all the exercises now and I'm really trying to concentrate on form as I know how important this is.

I need to be a little stricter with myself on the diet as I'm probably slipping in a few extras Gs now and then. Nothing too major, but Patrick's email today about not thinking we can get away with an extra bit of bread here and there was a good reminder (he's rather good with the timing of these emails).

I also need to be getting a bit more sleep. I'm probably only managing 6 or 6.5 hours a night which isn't good enough.

But apart from that, I'm happy with the way things are going. My outlook has changed immeasurably for the better and I ask myself the question "what benefits am I getting from this" before I consume anything now.

I'm really looking forward to this stage, I'm still motivated and don't want to have any regrets at the end of this, so its a case of rolling up the sleeves and keeping the head down. There is still a long way to go, so keep up the good work everybody.

Day 43 - The Valley of Death

Having read everybody elses posts it sounds as if I'm not alone. Quite a few of us seem to have hit a lull and have succumbed to temptation. I was out for dinner on Friday and Saturday night and didn't quite stick to the programme. It was nothing crazy but dinner wasn't pcp compliant i.e. egg whites! I stuck to protein and greens so I'm not beating myself up over it, and as Pat-Diddy says, it's all about the long game. There is no need to get fascist about it all, but as long as we stick to it as best we can then we will see results.

I got up early this morning to do my jump rope and 8MAs and then after work did some extra jump rope and then the exercises and absolutely smashed it. I'm feeling great now, the jump rope especially was really good, I'm starting to put together some different combos which breaks up the monotony of vanilla jumps. Push ups were a bit of a struggle straight after the chest dips but the burn was good. And although the planks were as hard as ever, I found if I concentrated on the breathing like Pat-Diddy recommended, then they were just about bearable.

This middle bit is going to be tough, so I'm going to concentrate as much as I can on PCP and become even more of a social outcast then I already am. In the grand scheme of things, 6 weeks isn't long; its all about focusing....... but will I have any friends by the end of it?

Day 36 - Staying Strong

I don't know why, but I've been feeling pretty hungry for the last couple of days, it's probably something to do with my metabolism stepping up a notch or two (and hopefully) the extra muscle needing more fuel. I'm sure it will settle down in the next day or two as the body gets used to it all.

I had a terrible day with the jump rope yesterday but today was great, I really got into the groove and got through them no problem. The new exercises are interesting, but I'm totally useless at the pistol squats, and the bicycle ab exercises are deceptively tough after the first set. Like all the exercises, once you really learn to isolate the right muscles, you can start to feel the burn.

I had a stag night on Saturday, and god it was tough. Lots of pressure to drink and plenty of negative comments, but I stayed strong. As the night descended into mayhem it really became quite taxing and I just wanted to go home. But I stuck it out and felt a hell of a lot better then the rest of them the next day!