P90X Round 2, Day 34: Kenpo X

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: doing Kenpo the day after Legs and Back is a glute killer for me. On top of it all, I decided to ride my bike down to the office. Ouch. Riding home uphill should make for an interesting end to the day.

I know I'm in for a tough day of Kenpo when I do downward dog to stretch out my calves and they are incredibly tight. I thought I had done a reasonable job stretching them out following the Legs and Back workout, but I guess I was Johnny Intense during the calf raises yesterday and really hit the muscles' sweet spot during the last ten burners. Stretching out this morning during the Saunders Cycle warmup resulted in a lot of groaning, popping, clicking and breathing. I thought the warmup would kill me.

At least I was able to pursue the workout in reasonably good form. I had extra concentration on the punching sequences, making sure to rotate my body, pivot on my heels, and taking care not to bang or hyperextend my joints. I think my heart rate was more elevated during this sequence than before, due to the extra attention given to the quality of the exercises.

Still, the leg kicks kicked my butt. Those sore glutes from yesterday prevented me from getting any serious height out of my side and back kicks, at least for the first few in the sequences. Eventually, my legs stretched out, becoming used to the kicking motion, and I managed to get in a few respectable repetitions. Overall, I had a good workout and worked up a fabulous sweat.

I am still the undisputed owner of the Klutz of the Day award with my form on Star Blocks. No matter how hard I try this, I cannot seem to coordinate my arm motions properly. I probably look hilarious trying to do this move. It's a good thing I'm alone in my tiny basement, away from prying eyes. My wife did drop in on me once (fortunately, I was doing side kicks at the time) and I thought I glimpsed her eyes rolling, but at least she didn't catch the Star Block circus: arms flailing...you get the idea. Neither pretty, nor impressive.

Favourite move today: the opening punching sequences.

Toughest move today: front knee kick, followed by back kick. Pulling in the knee really stretched out my glutes. Ouch.

Tony line of the day: "Real sweat. Real people."

P90X Round 2, Day 33: Ab Ripper X

I rarely look forward to the ARX workout, even though it is, by far, the most frequently occurring event on the P90X calendar and for quite awhile, now, I have been able to keep up with Tony and the kids on every move.

Still, it is a necessary part of the program and, like most dedicated Xers, I am pretty much fanatical about not skipping or missing a workout.

All went well today. I'm still working hard to close the gap between my legs and chest during Fifer Scissors, and to keep my legs perfectly straight while so doing. I find that particularly difficult, because my legs just aren't that flexible. I have, however, noticed improvement as I concentrate more on form and keep pushing play and doing the exercises. Like always, small steps will get me there (I trust).

Favourite move today: VF Rollups. On most of the pulse-ups, I was actually able to touch my toes. My back is really getting off the mat. Very exciting (obviously, I lead a sheltered life).

Toughest move today: Bicycles. Big burn in the thighs, especially in the reverse bicycles.

Tony line of the day: "There's no Part 1 and Part 2. There's Part 2." (crunchy frog)

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

P90X Round 2, Day 32: Yoga X

Yoga is fast becoming one of my favourite workouts. I love the stretch, the breathing, the focus, and the sweating. I'm up at 6:00AM and can't believe how quickly 7:32 comes around.

Today, I decided to concentrate more on my breathing. I read somewhere on the P90X Facebook group site that by the time you strike a pose, you should have completely inhaled or exhaled. Then, hold and breathe. I found that increased my focus on what my body was supposed to be doing and the time just flew by.

There were a couple more (minor) milestones achieved today: on some of the moves, I am now able to place my entire palm on the floor, whereas before, I would have only my fingertips contacting the floor. My body is becoming more flexible as time goes on.

Favourite move today: right-angle pose with hand grab, right leg forward. I'm now grabbing my entire hand, not just interlocking the fingertips. Also, I'm getting a really good stretch, opening up my chest and twisting to look upwards at the ceiling. This is a tough, but really satisfying move.

Toughest move today: 3-part touch the sky (last 20 seconds). I really pushed for maximum height. My abs were really sore after that.

Tony line of the day: "Drop down there in Warrior 2 Mr. Haas! This is Yoga X, my brother!"

P90X Round 2, Day 31: Ab Ripper X

I got around to ARX following supper. Not the greatest time to do it, with my meal still resting (undigested) in my gut; however, one must press on.

Aside from occasional laboured breathing (due to expanded stomach competing with lung space, no doubt) the workout was great. My charming and talented wife, checking email at the computer while I exercised, barely noticed my presence. Either I wasn't grunting to distraction or my marriage is in trouble. I prefer to believe the former.

All moves were really strong today. Just a great workout. No cracking of the right hip flexor at all today.

I saw some "Making of P90X" videos on YouTube the other day. Some of the moves in ARX are named after participants in the test group: Fifer Scissors (Scott Fifer) and Mason Twists (after the director, named Mason). I found that to be quite interesting.

Favourite move today: Mason Twists. Bring it.

Toughest move today: None come to mind (a first!)

Tony line of the day: "We're halfway done...the party's almost over...what a bummer!"

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)

P90X Round 2, Day 30: Plyometrics

My workouts always have Plyometrics scheduled for Monday mornings, and waking up at 6:15AM on a Monday is not exactly my idea of fun. The consolation is that this workout moves quickly and, thankfully, is over in pretty short order.

I've been feeling pretty strong lately. Last Friday, I rode my bicycle to the office (all downhill, the story of my life) and back again at the end of the day (all uphill, the story of my life). I felt great on the ride home, energetic and not really tired, which has never happened during my first ride of the season. When I arrived in the driveway, I started coughing (which I attributed to air pollution - I hope). After a few glasses of water, the coughing subsided. About an hour later, I played tennis with my son and daughter for an hour. Even tennis was a breeze. I was getting to balls I would never have reached a year ago (returning them is another story - as my son says, I can get there, but don't have the stroke control to return!) I could never have done this without P90X. Again, no serious fatigue. Life is good.

Back to Plyo. I have a love / hate relationship with certain moves in this workout. Some moves I know are going to kick my butt, but I look forward to the challenge anyway. In retrospect, there are a lot of individual exercises in P90X which fall into this category. Today, things moved fairly well during the first two groups of exercises. I flagged a bit around the 36 minute mark, when I caught myself watching the overall countdown clock and thought that it was going to be a rough day; however, I was able to pick things up during the third group, starting with jump-knee-tucks (the mother!) and finished strongly. Sweaty, but strong. After the workout, I couldn't believe how red my face was. Scary red, like a really bad sunburn. I guess I was more intense today than I had thought.

Favourite move today: Jump-Knee-Tuck. Really aimed high with the knees, and felt controlled and strong.

Toughest move today: Mary Katherine Lunges (2nd round): really hard to get low into the lunge, especially left leg forward, and still keep up with Tony during the double time lunges. Ouch.

Tony line of the day: "I've got my hands on my knees...I'm hitting my own personal pause button...I'm back." (gap jumps)

P90X Round 2, Day 29: Chest, Shoulders,Triceps/Ab Ripper X

Commence Phase 2. My son took the traditional photographic poses marking the end of Phase 1 and the start of Phase 2. I usually take the photos between phases, rather than waiting precisely for days 30 and 60; I just like the break between phases better. Personal preference, I suppose.

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps

This workout killed me every time in Round 1. I'd say it's probably the toughest workout for me, Plyometrics notwithstanding. At least in Plyo I can DO all the exercises; in CST I find it difficult to do some of the exercises, especially the ones near the end of the workout. I was curious to see whether I'd improved in my fitness since the last attempt. Time to Bring It.

It started with the slow motion pushups. Previously (in Round 1) I found this really fatiguing and was not able to do additional pushups during the bonus round. Today, not only did I crank out the slow pushups, but also squeezed out an additional 10 as a bonus. The entire workout didn't go as brilliantly as that, but I did feel strong and was less intimidated during the exercises than previously. Overall, a good start to Phase 2.

Favourite move today: plange pushups. Really strong, and could keep going, even after the timer ran out.

Toughest move today: slide-fly pushups. This exhausts my core, shoulders, chest, you name it. I conked out with 25 seconds still left on the timer. I wouldn't exactly call that Bringing It.

Tony line of the day: "What's your shoulder saying? P90X rocks!"

Ab Ripper X

Completed all the repetitions today. Still working on improving form and focussing on engaging the core. That stubborn 6-pack will emerge someday.

Favourite move today: Heels to Heaven. Straight legs, flexed feet.

Toughest move today: Forward bicycles. I heard a disturbing clicking sound in my right hip flexor. No pain, but a strange sound effect. I'll monitor this one. No sound on the reverse bicycles, or any other move.

Tony line of the day: "I think I'll finish up with the kids."