P90X Round 2, Day 18: Yoga X

(Start of rant) Recently, I've noticed a number of postings on P90X sites from people complaining about Yoga being too long, too difficult, too boring, too (fill in the blank). While I understand that Yoga moves at a much different pace from the other workouts and is 50% longer, I can't quite grasp why people have so much difficulty coming to terms with Yoga as an essential component of the P90X program. People seem to buy into every other aspect of P90X: pushups are good for you, pullups are good for you, ab crunches are good for you, lunges are good for you, cardio is good for you...why not stretching, breathing and calming your mind? P90X is a complete body wellness program. Complete body includes the mind. (End of rant.)

Now that I've had a chance to take a deep breath, I will report that Yoga was wonderful (again) today. I can't believe how quickly the time passed. Again, I was able to complete some moves that, until now, I had not been able to do: I got my left knee to contact my forehead prior to the right angle pose with hand grab; I could contact the floor with my feet both singly and together in plough, and I think I stretched farther than ever during the seated hamstring stretches. Buoyant with optimism, perhaps I'll give Wheel a try.

Favourite move today: Crane. Only touched the floor once with my toe during the entire minute.

Toughest move today: Half-moon on right leg. Shaky, and difficult to hold my balance.

Tony line of the day: "Don't bite your toes...arrummph!"

P90X Round 2, Day 17: Ab Ripper X

It was a great ab workout today. I felt really strong throughout each exercise and was pushing hard to Bring It. It was probably one of the best ARX workouts ever. I was so energetic, that it felt like I just burned through the entire workout.

Favourite move today: heels to heaven. Legs straight, very little sway, real good crunch on the abs.

Hardest move today: backward bicycles. For some reason, I'm far less coordinated cycling my legs backwards than forwards. I felt this one in my hip flexors and thighs.

Tony line of the day: "We're almost done...makes me sad."

P90X Round 2, Day 17: Shoulders and Arms

This is a tough workout. For the last few weeks, I've been trying to improve over the numbers posted in P90X Round 1. Recently, I've tried changing resistance bands (increasing the tension), which resulted in fewer repetitions but more intensity, especially during the last few moves of each exercise. Today, I stuck with that approach, but my numbers seemed to hold steady from last week, only improving in a few exercises. It's almost as though I've hit a bit of a wall on this workout, as though my body is incapable of doing more.

There will be good days and there will be bad days. "Do your best and forget the rest". That was my motto today. Not to say that the workout was bad; I'm just competitive with myself to see some improvement week after week. Sometimes that's in very small increments, say, even a couple of reps more than last week. Today, that was difficult to achieve.

Favourite move today: side tri rises: 27 each side, both rounds. I love this exercise. At the end, all I can do is collapse on the floor.

Hardest move today: flip-grip twist tricep kickbacks. I find this very tough using the bands. When the bands get to maximum extension, it's really difficult to maintain an isometric hold with arms fully extended. I increased the difficulty by making a loop in the band on the floor and stepping on the loop. I must be crazy.

Tony line of the day: "Use the weight of your head. Mine weighs 600 lbs. Ain't a damn thing inside." (warm-up)

Later today: Ab Ripper X

P90X Round 2, Day 16: Plyometrics

I like to ratchet up the intensity during weeks 3 and 7, when I know that I won't be seeing a standard workout week for a little while (as next week is a Recovery Week). Yesterday, when I flagged during the second round of exercises and mentally dropped out of Dive-Bomber Push-Ups, I made a mental note not to allow my mind to quit before my body. Today I wanted to put that attitude to the test.

The workout went well. Each exercise, I tried to tax my body. Can you jump higher? Is your chest and head up on the squats? Can you get lower in your stance during squat jacks? Are the arms and legs straight in military march? Can you control your breathing? It seems now that almost everything in P90X is becoming as much a mental exercise as a physical one. Certainly, the physical challenges are there; however, I'm finding that I can do much more now when my mental approach is sound. This is yielding more satisfactory results, both physically and mentally. I feel more energized, more alert, more relaxed and more able to deal with the stresses of everyday life than ever before. I'm starting to feel that P90X has really brought about a life-change for me.

Favourite exercise today: Hot foot (right leg): all day long.

Hardest exercise today: Jump Knee Tuck (the repeat round). Will this ever become easier?

Tony line of the day: "Man, oh Manischewitz, as my uncle used to say" (intro)

P90X: Round 2: Day 15: Chest and Back, Ab Ripper

Chest and Back

Today was the last time I'll see this routine for some time, so I felt really motivated to do my best. I decided to focus more on pushups than pull-ups. As a result, I was content to match my pull-up numbers from last week, but really wanted to increase the pushups. Specifically, my goal was to maximize my repetitions both times through the exercises, or, at least try to get the second round as close as possible to the first.

I felt rather energetic through the first round of exercises and definitely did a few reps short of my maximum, in an attempt to adhere to the tip of the day (pace yourself). I don't really like holding back, since I'm not sure how well the saved energy is going to be expended; however, I think this strategy worked, as the second round numbers rose a bit from last week. I was able to improve my second round numbers on all pushups from previous weeks, except for Dive-Bombers. Big disappointment there, as I had a number in my head but gave up on it too soon. In retrospect, I could have done more. That's a lesson I'll carry with me for this, and other, workouts in the future.

Favourite move today: Military Push-Ups (especially the second round). Really able to crank them out today. Also, the second round of Diamond Push-Ups.

Hardest move today: Dive-Bomber Push-Ups. This is still hurting my right hip flexor and limiting the numbers as a result. I'm going to work harder at Yoga and Stretching to try to gain a little more flexibility and movement in this part of my body.

Tony line of the day: "What's your goal?"

Ab Ripper X

I got to this workout about 5 hours after completing Chest and Back. I didn't have as much energy during this workout as I'd like, but a little mental toughness overcame the lack of energy and compensated nicely. By the time Crunchy Frog came around, I felt well.

Now that I'm focussing more on form, I'm forgetting about counting out all the repetitions during the exercises. I'm just thinking about straightening my legs, flexing my feet, bringing my legs higher, pulsing up higher, engaging the core, and the numbers and repetitions just seem to be taking care of themselves. This workout is starting to become much more of a mental exercise than ever before. It almost seems as though my head is getting into another space during the workout time. That's great for me, because I still find ARX to be a challenge. It's almost like a runner's high, where the body and the mind seem to act independently.

Favourite move today: VF rollups. Improved height on the pulse-up.

Hardest move today: Mason twists, especially the final 10 during the bonus round.

Tony line of the day: "Abbbbb Ripppppperrrrr XXXXXX" (sauntering towards the camera like a gunslinger)