P90X Round 2, Day 33: Legs and Back

I have always found this workout to be tough, starting from the first exercise. After doing 10 balance lunges with the left leg forward, my mind is pretty much ready to quit. I'm holding 10 lb weights in each hand, going as deep as I can, top of foot flat on the chair behind me. By the time I reach 25 and try to stand up, my glutes are killing me. And that's just the first exercise!

I've always had pretty strong legs, so I do enjoy this workout. Completing each exercise and keeping up with Tony and the kids are not really issues for me anymore, so I concentrate more on form and breathing, keeping the legs straight in lunges, arms and chest high in chair pose, deep squat in Groucho Walk, deep knee bend in skater. On the other side of the workout, the pull-ups, I've pretty much maxed out my reps using the black resistance band. I'm getting the maximum stretch I can achieve in my tiny basement space and am doing 24 reps each time for each type of pull-up. It's a time like this when I wish I had a higher ceiling (it's about 6'-3") and had a suitable doorway to install a chin-up bar (I don't). Do your best, and forget the rest.

By the time the workout was over, I was a sweaty pig. It's as though I had been standing outside in a rainstorm. It felt great. I had a terrific leg shake going. I was really pumped to ride my bike into the office and changed into my cycling gear, but upon opening the door and feeling the blast of a 4°C, 15km/h wind in my face, I did an about face, and changed into a winter sweater, put on my winter coat and donned gloves and toque. Cycling will have to wait for more amenable weather.

Favourite move today: Calf raises. Love the burners.

Toughest move today: single leg wall squats. Major leg shake.

Tony line of the day: "The P90X recovery drink. It's the only reason I do the workouts."

Later: Ab Ripper X