Ahh….P90X Plyometrics a workout like no other. If you’re not sweating at the end of an hour of jumping and squatting, there’s something wrong. While I was working out this morning I thought out all the workouts, Plyometrics is the one workout that the benefits you gain is in relation to how much you put into it. It’s so easy to not quite give it your best and lie to yourself and think, “oh yeah, great workout today”. I find myself dogging it every once in awhile and then turn it up a notch to make sure I’m really bringing it. The other thing I realized is that plyometrics is one of the workouts that I don’t set a goal for during the workout.  A large part of that is that there is no worksheet involved in this exercise set. Some of the exercises would be hard to quantify or measure, but others such as the Creek Jump would be easy to see if I made progress in the length I’m jumping. That’s something I’m going to have to work on for some of the future Plyo workouts.
I used the yoga mat for extra cushioning, but my old creaky knees still took a lot of abuse and they were sore all day.
- This is where I had to workout this morning. Good thing it wasn’t Plyometrics today.
Did my P90X Chest & Back/Ab Ripper X in a new environment this morning. We had to travel out of town last night for a funeral this morning. I rolled out of bed at 5:00 AM, grabbed all my gear, and snuck out of the room so I wouldn’t wake up the rest of the family.
First of all, props to you folks who travel and keep up with the P90X. It has to be tough to keep with the nutritional plan and find a space to workout.
I typically use dumbbells and a chin-up bar for Chest and Back, today I relied on an exercise band that my wife had purchased in the past and my push-up stands. We brought the portable DVD player for the kids so I used that to watch Tony and the gang go through the workout.
I didn’t have any type of doorway attachment for the exercise band, so I looped it through a piece of cardio equipment that was in the hotel’s tiny fitness room. After going through the workout with the bands instead of weights, I am so glad I’m doing this workout with dumbbells. The bands just didn’t seem to provide the same tension on my muscles through the entire range of motion like the free weights provide. The other thing I didn’t like about the bands is that the tension was different everytime I did the exercises that I needed to step on the band to shorten the distance of the band. With a dumbbell the resistance is always the same.
I tried to eat clean while I was away from home and ate all the healthy snacks that I packed. Glad I did, the hotel had plenty of junk for breakfast and had zero fresh fruit. I packed a couple of apples, some almonds, a couple of protein bars, and some water to drink. At lunch I had some chicken and a bunch of raw veggies.
After we made it back home, my wife reminded me that it was weigh-in night tonight. I was a little reluctant to step on the scale since I was sick last week and felt like I was doing a mediocre job in my workouts. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had dropped two pounds since weigh-in last week.
Last week I chose to take the rest day as a day off of the P90X exercise routine and let my body recover. I needed it, I was feeling sore all through the week. It did feel weird not pushing play that day, but I was anxious to get back at it after the rest day.
This week I tried out the X Stretch exercises to keep my body in the rythm of getting up early and exercising. I was expecting a very laid back workout. In the typical Tony style, even stretching is intense. The movements are slow and gradual, but you’ll feel you’ve worked and stretched your muscles at the end of X Stretch.
Started off the day with Kenpo X. I mentioned in my last post about the Kenpo X P90X workout that I ended up with shin splints. This week I started the shin splints coming on more than half way through the workout. I stopped doing the jumping jacks and X jacks thinking maybe that’s what is causing it, but I still had pain through the rest of the workout. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, but if I can’t fix the problem, I’m going to put in an hour on the stationary bike with my heart rate at 80-85% MHR, instead of Kenpo X.
I think I’ll try the workout barefoot next week. Practicing martial arts with shoes on seems foreign to me. I feel like I have suction cups on the bottom of my feet when I rotate on the ball of my foot for the kicks. That may be increasing the torsion on my front lower leg causing tibial torsion.
My Saturday started with legs and back and ended with Plyometrics since I was sick on day two of my P90X week. Combining these two really kicked my butt. No…it really feels like someone kicked my in the rear - I’m really sore today. I feel it less in my quads than I did the first week, so my muscles must be getting used to exercising at such a high level of intensity. As a matter of act the soreness I felt the entire week during my first week wasn’t there this week.
I do feel the burn in those wall squats though.  As Tony says, “I hate it…but I love it.” I can keep up with the Legs and Back, but man that Ab Ripper X still whips me. I feel like I’m making progress and I know the end results are going to be worth the effort so I..just…bring…IT!
I started the workout a little later since it was a Saturday so by the end of the workout, the whole family was in the room distracting me. I love working out at 0530 during the weekdays since everyone else is sound asleep and I can put all my focus into my P90X workout.
One hour and 36 minutes, that’s how much time you’ll have to set aside to do this P90X exercise routine. My balance is improving on some of the poses, especially transitioning from runners pose to the warrior pose. Last week I had to readjust myself everytime, this week was much better. I’m really working on pushing myself to get a good stretch on all the moves.
This cold is still hanging around and going into the downward dog was really bringing on the sinus pressure. I stuck in there and finished it off and started my Friday with a good workout.
