P90X Round 2, Day 31: Back and Biceps

Well, my muscles are certainly confused. I was still sore yesterday and this morning from Sunday's Chest, Shoulders and Triceps workout. Today, I had to work the opposite groups of muscles.

I enjoy this workout (except for Katy's whiny voice). I like the organization of the sequences: a pull-up routine, then three bicep/back moves, then a pull up routine, etc. I also enjoy the workouts where we run straight through a set of 24 exercises (the same with Chest, Shoulders and Triceps) instead of repeating the exercises as we did during Phase 1. I like the different look. It prevents the program from becoming stale for me.

This workout moves a bit too quickly for me. Because I am using the bands, I am able to do a greater number of repetitions, so I find myself still exercising after the clock has run down to zero. Then, with writing the information down, I fall behind. As a result, I find myself pausing the DVD more frequently than in other workouts, not to take longer breaks, but just to get in my reps and log my information.

I'm using the black resistance band with a door attachment for all the pull-up/chin-up exercises and have pretty much maxed out at 24 reps on most of them. I'm about as far back from the door as space permits in my tiny, low-ceiling basement room. I'd love to get a bigger stretch on the bands, but have yet to devise a way of doing so. At any rate, by the time I hit the maximum rep pull-up exercise near the end of the workout, I'm pretty toasty.

For the bicep exercises, I mostly use the blue resistance band. Occasionally, I'll use the green and red band (strip set curls), but I'm trying to use the blue as often as possible for greater resistance. By the end of the workout, I can barely lift my arms to wash my face.

It was a good workout today. I matched, and in some cases, exceeded the numbers from week 12 of Round 1. I'm looking forward to improving on today's numbers. Perhaps I'll switch to the black band for some exercises next week.

Later: Ab Ripper X

Favourite move today: didn't really have one. Perhaps One Arm Cross Body Curls.

Toughest move today: Hammer Curls. I find these really challenging, particularly since they come so late in the workout. Had to use the green band.

Tony line of the day: "These were invented by E. Cohen. He was a crouching, curling kinda guy" (Crouching Cohen Curls)