Felt better on Thursday so I was ready to work on the “glamour muscles”. I’m getting the hang of this P90X workout, and was considering putting different plates on my dumbbells. Then I hit some of those triceps kickbacks and had to lighten the load again. I was debating getting another pair of dumbell bars and Thursday’s workout has me leaning toward making an investment in another set. It would be easier and faster to switch the weights during the workout. I do need to increase the weight since I’m doing 12+ reps on some of the curls and the upright rows.
Some P90X workouts have a long enough pause between exercises that I can write down my results and get back in position, I always have a hard time writing in my reps and getting back in time for this routine.
Oh yeah, I got my car back from the shop. With the tow and a new starter, I’m $400.00 poorer. At dinner I was talking to my son about his P90X workout and told him would benefit from the Plyometrics workout. He plays football (running back or defensive back) and baseball. When I left to pick up the car he started the workout and by the time I got back he was still at it with about 10 minutes left to go. He was wiped out (or bored) and stopped the video. I figured he would keep up with Tony, this kid is constantly moving. He even plays Playstation standing up or hopping around.
Here’s a Youtube video of highlights of his first year playing football
I rested on day 7 (Monday), but was back at it on Tuesday morning. On Monday, I felt like I was coming down with a cold, so I took some cold medicine and went to bed early hoping I could whip it over night. No luck, I was sick. I was dogging it all through the P90X workout. I tried the tip that Chris had left in the comment section of this blog and it seemed to help get more out of the pull-ups.
When I started P90X, I purchased a set of push-up stands to enhance my P90X workout. They arrived at the end of last week so I was looking forward to try doing push-ups with them. They worked out great, I’m glad I made the purchase. I’m not using them to extend the range of motion so much as to just take some of the pressure off my wrist.
I felt worse at the end of the work-out then when I started, but I was glad I completed the workout. Making excuses to not work out is how I went from physically fit to out of shape over the years.
I made a protein shake for myself with the intention of drinking this on the way to work, but my stomach was so upset, I didn’t drink it until noon or so.
I couldn’t get my car started, so my wife had to take me to work. This just added to the stress of the day… and week.
I have been a casual student of the martial arts since I was a teen, so I was looking forward to the Kenpo X P90X routine. The purpose of this video is more cardio than strength training. Your heart rate is slightly elevated with a series of punches, kicks, and blocks. In between the karate drills, are short “cardio breaks” consisting of jumping jacks, x-jacks or X jumps, and jump rope - that’s when the heart really starts pumping. It was during those times that my heart rate really climbed past my zone. During the karate drills my heart rate was right in the zone, but it didn’t get there until the video was about at the halfway point.
Most of the moves were familiar to me, but the combinations were not. I was a little behind on some of the drills, especially the Star Block where you do a series of different blocks in quick succession. I guess my focus was as it was when I was in karate class where our form had to be perfect. Tony’s form on some of the blocks is poor, but I’ll have to get past that distraction.
It was a good interval workout with the cardio breaks thrown in there. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I ended up with shin splints. Glad tomorrow is a rest day.
One week down, only 12 more weeks to go! P90X…Bring It!
Tony mentions it briefly, but the guy named Wesley in the back, was the consultant for the Kenpo X video. You can see them brainstorming the moves to include for P90X Kenpo-X in this Youtube video. It’s encouraging to see Tony was struggling with the punch combinations right out of the box.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCkynLlw3GU
This P90X workout hits the back using variations of pull-ups and the legs with variations of squats. I’m sure I’m oversimplifying things here, but that’s what this video seemed like to me. As a biker, I was ready to bring it on the leg portions. Super Skaters was a bit of a challenge since the movement was unfamiliar to me. Tony warns that it will be awkward at first, but improve over time. My right knee was popping and creaking for some of the exercises, but I kept up my pace with the rest of the class. I did better with the single leg wall squats than with the double leg wall squats. Really felt the burn in those wall squats, something tells me I’ll be feeling it tomorrow.
I’m feeling frustrated with the pull-ups. Well I should say I’m feeling frustrated that I can’t do the pull-ups without the chair. I know a lot of people start with the chair, but I feel like I’m assisting myself too much with my leg resting on the chair. I’m thinking of buying the resistance bands so that I can work the muscles of the upper back without having to lift my own body weight off the floor. Anybody else have that problem or frustration?
Ab Ripper X follows the Legs and Back routines. I did a little better on the Crunchy Frogs with better form and better extension.
Wow, one more day and I’ll have completed my first week with the P90X fitness system.
P90X Yoga X…people seem to love it or hate it. Since I just started the program, I’ve been reading a lot of other P90X blogs. Most of the bloggers don’t like Yoga X, so I was looking forward to see what all the fuss was about.
Yoga X is about an hour and a half so you’ll have to carve out a bigger block of time than most of the other P90X routines. Tony leads the exercise in a very subdued voice for the most part. Toward the end the crazy drill sargeant comes out a little bit. The poses are repeated quite a bit which might be why some people don’t like Yoga X so much. Compared to the quick pace of the other videos, it’s like you’re moving in slow motion. Don’t let the slow pace make you think this will be an easy workout…it’s not. The positions or poses you do really work the small muscles that increase muscle definition.
Call me crazy, but you can put me down for a thumbs up vote for Yoga X. Before I decided to get back in shape, I was considering taking a Yoga class to increase my flexibility. When I was younger I had a great sense of balance and good flexibility and I wanted to get some of that back. I think Yoga X will really help me acheive that goal. Looking forward to my next Yoga X days.
By the way, before I started P90X, I bought a Yoga mat for my wife because she was doing Yoga on the Wii Fit. When I told her that the mat would be two feet wide, she said she really was thinking they were going to be wider. You’ll find the same thing if you look around, the standard Yoga mat it is 24″ wide and about 6′ to 7′ long. While I was searching through Amazon.com, I found that is offered by YogaAccessories.com that measures three feet wide. The link to the extra wide yoga mat - 3 feet wide is here
. I purchased it and we really like the extra size it provides, when I get a chance I do a quick yoga mat review for you.
By the way, my wife was watching me do the Yoga X yesterday and was interested in trying it out. She was 15 minutes into the video and she was complaining that it was boring. She finally quit the video before it was done. That’s OK she’s getting fine in ‘09 using another Beachbody product, Hip Hop Abs videos. Fast paced cardio workout with some great hip hop music, she really gets a workout from those videos.
This work out has been the easiest so far this week. Much of that had to do with the fact that the free weight routine I was following for a month and a half before I started P90X had most of the same exercises as the P90X routine. The area of focus of this session is the shoulders and arms. Specifically working the biceps and triceps. There are 12 exercises plus a “bonus round” round of 3 more exercises. It was the only day so far that I performed better on the second time through than the first time. I guess I’ll need to up the weight a little on this day since many times I had to stop because the time had run out and I had already completed more than a dozen reps. The Congdon Curls were a little awkward for me. I have been used to doing this type of concentration curl one arm at a time, so that’s something I’ll have to get used to. Since I’m using dumbbells, it was hard to swing them up in the small space between my legs. Working out with the bands would be easier on this one. I can see that performing it both arms at a time means you can get more exercises in at a time. Well designed workout, really blasts both sides of the upper arms.
After Shoulders & Arms comes Ab Ripper X. Love working the abs, but still struggling with that crunchy frog.
Whipped up a protein shake with fresh strawberries to drink on the way to work.
Note: Little late getting this posted, should have been last night, but I worked late last night at work on some multimedia projects and was whipped from the workout in the morning. Had some oatmeal and went to bed.
