only 60 days to go!

FROM: Jim
TO: Bob
DATE: 7.31.07

BeBob,

Here is my 30 day pic.

Drew ‘cleaned’ my IBM Thinkpad which I was using for my morning workouts with a lot of water from the nearby sink. Needless to say water and computers are a bad combo so I need to find a dvd to use.

Hope you are still cranking away.

Jd

FROM: Bob
TO: Jim
DATE: 7.31.07

Jimbo,

Nice job! The progress is clearly visible, eh? My girlfriend noted how your love handles have definitely gotten smaller and your man tits have gotten higher. Your wife claims you've got a bounce in your step, too. Damn, what's life gonna be like in another 2 months? You're gonna have to beat those secretaries off with a stick.

Unless, of course, you're gonna use this situation with Drew 'cleaning' your Thinkpad as an excuse to shelve the whole thing for awhile. Now do you understand what I've been up against all these years? It's always SOMETHING. An unplanned road trip, a broken workout band, a pulled hammy, a ruined laptop. Can you see now why I've been trying for 6-7 years to pull this off? Life always throws you a curveball during this 90-day adventure.

So are you saying you need new DVDs to keep going? Or a new machine to watch the DVDs on?

Don't stop now, ya bastard!

Here's my 4-week report card:

Week 1--worked out 5 days
Week 2--worked out 7 days
Week 3--worked out 5 days
Week 4--worked out 5* days

That's right. I missed another day last week.

(*4 if you don't count the day I substituted a 2-hour sweaty sex romp for that day's cardio workout. But like I said, that was as vigorous as any P90 workout I've had.)

No excuses. I'm going 6-7 days per week, every week, until we're done climbing this mountain. The results after a mere 30 days are irrefutable.

Since you've failed to answer my many email questions up to this point, I'm gonna pose only ONE question to you per email. Today's question, which you MUST answer, is this:

Have you altered your diet at all since embarking on this fitness journey?

Me, I still find myself eating crap all too often. (Like a Haagen Dazs ice cream bar on the way to see Bob Dylan last week.) Plus, I've been eating dinner too late. An hour or 2 before going to bed is NOT a good idea. No wonder the gut is shrinking more slowly than I'd like. Oh, well. We've got 60 days to rectify that.

Okay. That's it for today.

Keep those big bones moving!

~Coach Bob

FROM: Jim
TO: Bob
DATE: 8.1.07

Hey there.

Diet changes:

Switched to lite beer.
Reducing the amount of fat intake.
Eating smaller portions.

Just being more aware of what I am putting into my body.

I have probably lost about 5 lbs so far but also remember muscle is heavier than fat so that probably offsets some of the actual weight loss.

For example, I was eating some caramel popcorn and noticed that each serving size was 100 calories and the serving size was 7 pieces of popcorn. I had already consumed about 40 morsels so that adds up on the calories.

Keep it real.

Jim

PS: The two hour sex romp would only count if you were not just lying on your back most of the time and letting your girlfriend do all the work.

FROM: Bob
TO: Jim
DATE: 8.1.07

King James,

Thanks for answering my lone question. Nice to hear this whole process is making you (and me) more conscious of what we put into our bodies. That caramel popcorn is a killer. Enjoy!

Even if you don't lose any more weight, at least that soft, doughy fat is turning to muscle.

Keepin' it real.

~Bob O.

p.s. The 2-hour "sex romp" was a multi-faceted tour de force, with many positions...including some that got me off my back and moving like a devoted Power 90 disciple.

in a groove

FROM: Jim
TO: Bob
DATE: 7.24.07

Bob,
I am in a groove with the workouts. I am getting ready to bump it up a notch.

I have never been called Fatso before, more like big-boned.

Best,
Jim

FROM: Bob
TO: Jim
DATE: 7.24.07

Glad to hear you're in a groove. Let me know when you're past "getting ready to bump it up a notch" and have moved on to "I DID bump it up a notch." By the way, does bumping it up a notch consist of going from those candy-ass 7 lb. weights you started with and moving up to those challenging 10 pounders?

Bump it up to 25 pounds, like my skinny ass has been doing from Day 1. You've got 40, 50 pounds on me and you're working out with half the weight I'm using? C'mon, dude. You can do it!

Oh, and for the record, you HAVE been called Fatso. By me. On the 4th of July. But I apologized profusely for it. Did you not read all the way to the bottom of my email? Am I gonna have to keep these exchanges to 130 words or less?

Sorry again about calling you Fatso. You're right. You're just big-boned.

Those big bones just happen to have a little extra meat around them these days, right?

But that's all changing!

Happy Day 25.

~BOB13

p.s. What's your take on a marathon 2-hour sweaty sa-weeeet lovemaking session counting towards that day's Power 90 cardio workout? Just asking.

gutting it out

FROM: Jim
TO: Bob
DATE: 7.22.07

hey there.

day 23 - still on track. getting stronger which feels good. it is nice to have some muscle mass again. it has been a long time.

traveling to chicago on monday for a few days so i will have to do the hotel workout which i hate.

i assume you are still going strong as well. can you send me the link to your blog so i can read your postings?

talk to you soon.

jd

FROM: Bob
TO: Jim
DATE: 7.23.07

It's about time you got back to me, ya bastard! I was beginning to think you'd slacked off and were too ashamed to tell me.

Either that or I thought you were pissed at me for calling you "Fatso" when we saw you on the 4th of July. I told you I was calling you that for your own good. A motivational tool from your Power 90 personal trainer. You said you didn't mind. But I felt bad about calling you that after we left.

So my apologies.

Now I'm using other motivational tools to keep you fired up. Like posting this photo I took of you 5 years ago during our old farts trip to Tahoe way back when. Let me know if you've got a problem with going public with this kind of display of your...former girth. Or soon-to-be-former, anyway.

Glad to hear you're still on it. And re-acquiring muscle mass, no less. Good job! How long HAS it been since you felt like you were in decent shape? And how have you been eating? Any late night refrigerator raids? Do you like ice cream as much as I do?

Good luck with staying motivated and committed on the road. Just do it, dude! Think of it this way: by doing Power 90 in your hotel room, it's keeping you out of the bars and strip clubs. (Not that you were ever one to frequent these places.)

As for me, I just completed Day 22 this morning. Day 1 of Week 4. Feeling good, getting stronger. I worked out twice in a tiny Catalina hotel room over the weekend. That's how committed I am. Trying to eat well. But I somehow keep finding myself at the wrong end of a burrito or a mouthful of ice cream.

After 3 weeks, my report card reads like this:

Week 1--worked out 5 days
Week 2--worked out 7 days
Week 3--worked out 5 days

Since the Power 90 program says you should workout 6 days a week, I figure if I go 7 days this week I'll be back on track for doing this thing without cutting any corners.

Keep me posted on how you do this week from the road. I wanna hear how you're eating, too. And make sure you're near a camera in a week. Gotta post those Day 30 shots.

Cheers!

~Bob

just do it!

King James,

Today I'm on Day 11. You're on Day 13. I thought this would be a good time to begin the cyber documentation of our attempts to complete Power 90. Send me your Day 1 pic and I'll post it with my Day 1 pic.

Regarding the content, I'd like to just post every email exchange we have about the process. Not necessarily to have hundreds of people showing up at the site to read up about our progress. More just to document it for you and me. To have a record of our attempt, to watch our attitudes and habits change.

Not to mention to see the actual physical transformation that WILL happen when, not if, we complete this.

In the process of doing this, if a few people are amused and/or inspired by our stories, so be it. That's icing on the cake.

Also, the fact that this is your 1st attempt at Power 90 is interesting to me. Especially when juxtaposed against my, oh...90 or so attempts to complete it. In fact, I've been starting and stopping Power 90 so many times that I've made that tired joke about 90 times.

But this time is different. I KNOW I'll finish it this go around. Why? Because I've never attempted to do it in conjunction with someone else. So the whole idea of it fits perfectly with the 13 Collaborations multi-media project I'm embarking on this month.

So what do you think about all this?

Last night my girlfriend had my bicep in her tiny little hairstylist hand and said, "I can see the muscle. Your arm's gotten bigger."

Only 10 days in and we're already seeing results!

This after feeling weak as a dog those 1st couple days. Especially doing the push-ups and military press. A week and a half later those push-ups are MUCH easier to pull off.

You're not still using those pussy little 7 or 10 lb. dumbells are you? Step it up, dude!

Okay. That's your pep talk for the day.

Send me your Day 1 pic!

~Ballbuster Bob