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!