Day 1 (again) - Chest and Back

Well I took a break from P90X for a while, so I decided instead of starting where I left off (the beginning of the first recovery week), I should really start all over. So that's what I did. My biggest problem last time was finding the time to do the full workout (usually an hour and a half), so now I have a new plan. I am going to get up first thing in the morning (on weekdays - weekends I'll be a little more flexible) and I will do my full workout then. I had wanted to do this before, but my fiance was still sleeping so it wouldn't work. Now we have an agreement that he will be getting up early (he goes to the gym at the crack of dawn most mornings anyway), so that my workout won't disturb his sleep.

Today was Day 1 (again). I did Chest and Back. I decided this time to copy the worksheet that is provided so that I didn't have to waste time writing down the name of the exercise in addition to how many reps I did. For Chest and Back this was never much of a problem because I never did more than half the reps that the guys and girl in the video did, but this was a constant cause of frustration for me in other videos.

This time I did not try to match what I did when I left off since I haven't worked out at all for several weeks. However, I did very well. During my first try at the program I was able to figure out how to accomplish more using my mind to keep me going. I was able to still apply this, so although I couldn't do quite what I could in week 3, I did better than I did on Day 1 last time.

I am excited about starting again.

Day 16

Plyometrix X - A successful workout! My reflections worked. Today was the hardest workout and I was ready for the pain. I am in better shape than when I started, so now I can really agree with "you can do anything for 30 seconds!". I did not stop short on any of the exercises this time. And I gave every exercise my all. I felt great! Though this is the hardest workout, it has definitely become my favorite. :)

Day 15

Chest and Back & Ab Ripper X - Week 3 begins! The Chest and Back workout is split into two rounds. Each contains the same 12 moves just in different orders. The "Tip of the Day" is "Round One: Pace Yourself, Round Two: 'Bring It'". The first two times that I did this workout, I did just that - made sure I didn't burn out in the first round. This time I decided to push myself harder. I worked really hard in the first round. By the second round I was really tired but still did okay the first half. At move number 7 I burned out. I still kept going but my number of reps dropped significantly.

I almost turned off the DVD then remembered that I still had Ab Ripper X. Since I was wiped out from the first workout, I did not try to exceed what I did last time in the ab workout. It was only my arms that were exhausted but I was mentally drained after pushing myself so hard in the first workout.

After the workout I thought back to my days of college swimming. Every year we went on a training trip over winter break. That was 7 or 8 days of hell - double workouts every day, both of which were the hardest of the season. We would always make it through because we were mentally prepared for the challenges. I reflected that rather than just going through the motions and doing the best I can in the moment, I would be better off if I was mentally prepared for pain before even putting the DVD in.

Day 14

X Stretch - Again this was X Stretch or rest day. I did a combination this time. I wasn't able to do the workout during the day so at 10 pm I put in the DVD while I stayed up with the puppy. Puppy was of course getting in the middle of every move I tried to do. So after about 20 minutes of neck and arm stretches, I turned off the DVD and did another 10 minutes or so of leg stretches on my own. It feels great to have a nice long stretch after a week of hard work.

Day 13

Kenpo X - I did better this time around with the warm up. No toppling over with the yoga moves. Also this time I was able to do the running in place and jumping jacks during the breaks. I sweated more this time than last time which is good progress.

Day 12

Legs and Back & Ab Ripper X - Today was the first time that I did more than just the first few moves of the legs and back workout. I was surprised that almost no weights were used. By the end, I was very sick of doing pullups. I can't do them without chair support and it starts to get frustrating after a while to just keep doing them with my feet on a chair. The leg workout was good though.

Then at the end was the ab workout. As I've done everyday so far, I forgot that it was coming. Luckily, they put both workouts on the same DVD so that I couldn't forget. I did much better on the abs this time. I optimized my breaks, so instead of going to failure around 15 reps and then sitting/laying still for the other 10, I did 10 reps, sat for 5, then did the last 10. As I build up my strength, I hope to go longer without a break. I was proud today of how much better I did than the last time I did this workout.

I'm not too sore from the Yoga workout yesterday, but I am just all around tired.

Day 11

Yoga X - I had to take another day off because yesterday at 6:30 I was heading to Home Depot instead of off to do this workout as I had planned. I didn't have room any other time of the day to do this long workout, so I had to push it out a day.

This time, I did the full workout. I had my yoga block ready. I did fairly well on the first part of the workout - the moving poses. I used the block when I needed it. I am fairly flexible, but there are a few poses that I just can't get my hand to touch the floor quite enough to balance me. The last couple poses I couldn't hold my balance for at all, but I'll get there. The balance poses were not as bad as I had expected. Then at the end there was "Yoga Belly 7" - I wasn't expecting an ab workout, so that was a surprise, but it was just a few tough moves, which I did the best I could on, and then it was time to stretch out and the workout was over.

I can't believe how sore I am already, just a few hours later! I wonder what I will feel like tomorrow... They certainly were not kidding when they said don't expect this to be an easy day!

Day 10

Arms and Shoulders & Ab Ripper X - I had to take a couple days off due to scheduling conflicts, but I'm picking back up right where I left off. Today was Arms and Shoulders. I did the workout in the morning and was able to complete at least as much as week 1. I upped the weight on a few of the moves. I felt good after the workout, so I did Ab Ripper X also. Again, I did at least as well as last time, and on most moves I did much better.

I ate the Shrimp Pasta Pomodoro for lunch for the second time since starting the meal plan. The recipe is great, but I still feel that I really don't like the shrimp part (and of course that is supposed to be the biggest part of it). I think I'll try cooking it next time with chicken.

Day 9

Plyometrix X - 1/10th of the way through the program! I did better this time than last time - less 5-10 second breaks. After this workout I was starving!! I found this last week too, so I guess this is really is a big calorie burner.

I think this workout has become my "feel good" workout... it is a great stress reliever. Also, it's really hard - my legs burn the whole way through - but it is doable with each move only lasting 30 seconds and enough time in between each move to walk a circle around the room a couple times to cool the burn momentarily.

Day 8

Chest and Back & Ab Ripper X - Week 2 begins! Last time I did this chest and back workout I ended with a horrible headache and as a result, I skipped the Ab workout. This time, instead of doing the Decline Push Ups, which I knew were a partial cause of my headache last time, I did an extra set of regular push ups. I ended without severe pain in my head, so I went ahead with the ab workout. In the Chest and Back workout, in all exercises, I was able to match what I did last time and in many cases, I exceeded last week's numbers.

The ab workout was tough. It's only 16 minutes long, but there are no breaks. Each exercise is supposed to be done to 25 reps. I did 10-15 on most instead. But I know that less than the max is still better than nothing at all. I will be able to build up my strength and at the end of 90 days I should be able to do all 25 of each exercise.

As for the meal plan, today for the first time I was feeling less enthusiastic about the meal plan. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast instead of the muffin I was supposed to eat. There was one meal that I had not yet tried, so that is for dinner tonight. For lunch I had the chicken burrito which I had only once before. I will have to come up with some new recipes to vary my diet a little more.

Day 7

X Stretch - Today was "rest or X Stretch". I love stretching, so I decided to do the stretching routine. It was great. Slow paced and relaxing, but not boring. It was a nice recovery. Tomorrow is back to chest and back!

Day 6

Kenpo X - This workout is the shortest at only 55 minutes. The warm up was mostly yoga moves. I was not expecting that, so I wasn't mentally ready for the balance challenge. I did okay anyway though, just toppled a couple of times. The workout was basically kickboxing. I have always enjoyed kick boxing, so it was fun. The time went by fast. But during the breaks, they wanted me to run in place and do jumping jacks instead of stretching out! I'll do better at that as I get fit. This time, I mostly stretched my arms out while moving my legs. I did break a sweat in this workout, but not like the people in the video. I'm excited to get more in shape and then do this video when I can keep moving the whole time. I bet then I will be drenched!

Day 1 - Day 5

I started P90X 6 days ago, but didn't think about blogging about it until now. I was very excited to start the program and wanted to share my accomplishments, but the only way I could do that online was my facebook status and I figured my friends were getting sick of seeing "day one completed", etc.

So now I will catch you up on my progress so far...

Day 1 - Chest and Back - I was nervous to begin because I was afraid that I would be getting into something over my head. I was pleasantly surprised. It was definitely hard, but the great thing was that everyone in the video was doing 20 or more reps of each move and I was doing 12 at the most, so I had extra rest time in between each move. This extra rest allowed me to push myself and to finish the entire workout. I was very pleased.

Day 2 - Plyometrics X - I was worried about this workout because my legs haven't had much of a workout in quite some time and I wasn't sure they could take a lot of jumping around. However, each move is only 30 seconds! As Tony says "you can do anything for 30 seconds!" That wasn't entirely true - I did have to take a few 5-10 second breaks during some of the harder moves, but I didn't skip any moves. After this workout, I was sore, but again pleased.

Day 3 - Arms and Shoulders - I woke up at 4:40 to do this workout! I was afraid that I would give up just because I was too tired, but the warm up woke me up sufficiently. This workout was harder to keep up with because the guys were doing 8-10 reps and the girls 12-15. I was able to do the same number, so I didn't get much rest. I managed to finish though with pausing the tape just a couple times. After this workout I was all smiles. I had expected to be miserable because of getting up so early, but that was not the case. Unfortunately, when I got up, my cat decided he wanted everyone up, so my fiance was up since about 4:45. It will not be an option to work out so early again.

Day 4 - Yoga X - The brochures warn you that this will not be an easy workout, but I still wasn't prepared for what it was! I need to buy yoga blocks because I'm not yet flexible enough to successfully complete all the moves. This workout was very long and I was pressed for time, so I only did the first hour. There was still another half hour to go. I will make sure to have enough time next week to do the full hour and a half. Still after this workout, I felt good. My body felt fairly limber.

Day 5 - Legs and Back - I had a lot going on this day, so I did not eat dinner until about 8:30 and then tried to start this workout around 9:20. I usually go to bed at 10, so I was not very motivated to do the full hour. I had some problems with the DVD and gave up very early. I still got a few moves in, but did not complete even half the workout.