Day 5 (04/14/2011) - Beginning, Middle, and End

Legs and Back!  I feel like I've been on a rack (old time torture technique there where they pull your limbs, that rack ;) ) for the last hour.  It actually wasn't too bad and I got decent reps on each exercise right up until about 15 minutes to go in the video.  Tony breaks out this exercise... basically, you stand with your feet apart by about a foot to a foot and a half, toes pointed slightly away from each other then slowly rise to your toes, hold for a second, slowly drop to flat feet.  Repeat this 14 more times, slowly.  Then you do it 10 times quickly.  Then you place your feet, same distance, but parallel now and repeat the process.  Then you point your toes toward one another slightly and repeat again.  I could only do the first two sets (toes out and toes parallel.)  My calves were KILLING me.  They weren't throbbing or burning, mind you, but I'm very susceptible to BAD charlie horses right at those very muscles and could feel them coming on in a hurry the last few times I dared rise up.  Even after I'd stopped, just the motion of a gentle walk felt like it threatened to slip a muscle out of place.  They felt fine within minutes, and feel great (little burn, but that good, just-worked-out-just-right burn that feels even better as it heals) now.  I'm hoping as I do this routine more and more, they strengthen up and that little issues goes away.  It would be amazing to never feel that pain again.  Anyone who's ever had an acute charlie horse, I mean SEVERELY acute, you can see the muscles aren't quite where there supposed to be acute... you know where I'm coming from.  Going to integrate a banana every other day or so into my diet as I've read (and witnessed first hand the difference with and without) the potassium helps stave off these muscle-menaces. 
I am sorry to report I wasn't able to do the Ab Ripper X video at all tonight.  Again, I'm hoping as I continue on this routine, my body will slowly adapt and I'll be able to complete more and more reps at greater degrees of difficulty during the initial routines as well as be able to complete the Ab Ripper X video each night.  I'd love to get my abs looking like all those on the covers of these DVDs.
But for now, I'm going to sip my chocolate milk, go play some Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to vent out all this pent up energy, then crash like a Boeing 747.
Until next time,
Matt