Tools at Hand Hybrid

Monday 6/27/11 will mark the start of my new hybrid... the Tools at Hand hybrid. It is a combo of P90X, Asylum, and some One-on-Ones. It puts the focus back on lifting, and I am really looking to use this round for two things. First, I want to get a little bigger while dropping a little more fat. Building muscle and dropping fat is a slow process. Normally, you should only pick one and do it. Drop the fat, get ripped, and then build. Or bulk up and then cut down to get shredded. I am happy with my current leanness and just want to building muscle and strength while tightening up what I can. This round's second purpose is to get ready for P90X2. That should launch this fall (2011) and be killer! My hope is to do a full on, daily blog of that journey.

For Tools at Hand, I will be sticking right at my maintenance calorie mark (2400/day) and using the ratios of 40/40/20 for my macros. Right now I am hovering at 156 lbs in the morning. I may decide to do a tiny surplus after I see what my daily burn is actually accomplishing and if my weight is maintaining or still decreasing. I will post some days with menus of what I have been eating to give you a rough idea of what has been making up my diet. I am still eating 6 times or so a day and limiting carbs in the evening... other than that, good clean food. Watching for and avoiding added sugar, HFCS, enriched white flour, saturated fats, etc.

So on to the plan:
TOOLS AT HAND HYBRID

Keep working hard and you will accomplish your goals. Let me know if I can help with anything!

Blessings,

David J

davidcjeffries@gmail.com

Switching Gears AGAIN!!!

Can this guy stick to just one thing? I think I can, I mean... I did fully rock P90X and Asylum... It is just this mass lifting. I am going to have to give it up (for a while). Here's why!

About 2 weeks ago, I was contacted by a manager at Beachbody. She had received my results from Asylum's Earned T-shirt offer and had a question for me. Would I be willing to share my results and a little interview with BB and see if they can use my story? OF COURSE I'D BE WILLING!!!!

I have no clue if this will turn into anything, but I had to jump at the opportunity. So back into the Asylum I went. They want about 30 minutes of exercise video and a set of interview questions. I needed to get dialed in and quickly. I have dropped back to 1900 calories (I miss you 3000... ) and have been hanging out with Shaun T. again. My plan is to do at least 15 days again of straight Asylum and then head into my "Tools at Hand" Hybrid.

My "Tools at Hand" Hybrid will be fully detailed in a bit, but it uses what Beachbody DVDs I have and mixes in some fun. For a sweet 1st Father's Day gift, my son (with Erin's help I am guessing) got me 3 One on Ones with Tony Horton (30-15, Diamond Delts, and Just Arms). I will have an awesome hybrid now!!!

Keep posted to Xshred, it is summer and I will be blogging much more. I will also be including more multimedia stuff as well. Reading is great, but live action is cool too.

I leave you with a recently uncovered picture of the David of old... enjoy... or don't...

Blessings,
David J.
davidcjeffries@gmail.com

I'm out of the Asylum!!!

The review board has decided to release me from the Asylum... I hope I am rehabilitated!

The last 30 days have been crazy to say the least. The Asylum from Shaun T. is like nothing I have ever done. The cardiovascular aspect of the workouts is truly extreme. You should not even begin to think about this program if you are not already in great shape. I was fresh out of a round of P90X and I still was humbled. P90X gave me a great base, but the Asylum needed more. I burned more calories in 40 minutes of the Asylum than I ever did in a full hour PlyoX day. Even the lifting day requires great cardio. Shaun takes you through what he calls a "cardio dumbbell rotation." These begin with a curl into a squat, dropped/kicked out to a plank, push up, and back up to start again. Each time you add moves to the plank portion... spiders, and then mountain climbers. Running 30 lb. dumbbells did the job nicely.

I ate cleanly again for the Asylum. I started with going back to 50p:30c:20f at 1800 calories. I then bumped to 2000 as I was feeling really tired. I evenly ending up at 40p:40c:20f at 2200 calories. Still below my maintenance, but I didn't feel I could push without the extra carbs and calories.

What did it do? Well I dropped 3 lbs... and roughly 2% BF. Oh and this is about sports performance: I dropped 36 seconds off my mile: 5:59 to 5:23!

Here are my fit test results:
Agility Heisman: (10) - 12
In-Out Ab Progression: (52) - 57
Pull-Up/Push-Up (specify): (40 push) - 48
Mountain Climber Switch Kicks: (75) - 99
Agility Shoulder Taps: (5) - 7
X Jumps: (37) - 43
Moving Push-ups: (5) - 6.5
Agility Lateral Shuffle: (17) - 19
Agility Bear Crawl: (13) - 16