P90X: Round 2: Day 62: Kenpo X

This feels like the early days of P90X: major pain in the legs and butt following a day of Legs and Back. Either I'm really Bringing It, or I'm dearly paying the price for skipping out on the recovery drink yesterday. My legs and back were really stiff this morning, and the Kenpo warmup didn't seem to do much to stretch things out.

The workout wasn't great today. I was somewhat of a clock watcher, which is really unusual, because I don't recall ever looking at the clock in anticipation of the workout ending. I resigned myself to the fact that this day would be a "do your best and forget the rest" day. I tried to increase my intensity and focus the best I could. I ended up working up a good sweat, and perhaps I did reasonably overall, but I definitely felt this was one of my weaker experiences with Kenpo.

Following the workout, I rode my bike to the office, and felt great. Again, perhaps I need to eat a bit more for some extra energy.

Favourite move today: high sword, low hammer. I realized that this is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's just a disguised lunge. I took my lunges really deep.

End of week 9. The start of week 10 will be tough. On days 1 and 2, I have commitments which may interfere with the timing of my workouts. I'll try to get the workouts in really early, prior to my other commitments. We'll see how it goes.

Toughest move today: side kicks, left leg. My leg just wasn't cooperative today, and I had difficulty getting my customary height out of my kicks.

Tony line of the day: "Be good to your body, and your body will be good to you."

P90X: Round 2: Day 61: Ab Ripper X

I rode my bicycle home from work and was rather fatigued by the time I reached home. I'm not sure what caused that feeling; perhaps skipping the recovery drink following the morning workout, perhaps the temperature (26°). I ate well today and drank lots of water. Perhaps it was the combination of legs & back, followed by cycling. I'll monitor this situation and see if it repeats itself. Maybe on days like this I should have an extra hit of protein, or increase my food intake for a bit of extra energy.

I put off ARX until 8:20PM. I wanted my body to recover from the ride home and to give it an opportunity to digest dinner (I love the way I talk about my body in the third person, as though I weren't inhabiting it). I really wasn't in the mood for the workout, but, like a true Xer, I pushed play. Wow. Still major fatigue in my body. I didn't think I would get through the first 4 exercises, but, after heels to heaven, I caught my second wind and finished up strong. Some days are better than others. The important thing is to keep at it.

Favourite move today: mason twists. The workout is over after that.

Toughest move today: reverse bicycles. After cycling home today, I didn't want to have anything to do with bicycling. Major hit in the thighs and hip flexors. Yikes.

Tony line of the day: "If you need a break, take one. We're doing 25 a pop."

P90X: Round 2: Day 61: Legs and Back

I just noticed that today is Day 61: two-thirds of the way to 90 days!

I've been looking forward to this day for some time, to see how difficult it would be to cycle to the office following a Legs and Back workout. I had the added pressure of having to complete the workout by 7:15AM so that I could take my son to school. Toss in a brief power failure, and there was sufficient stress to keep my motivated throughout the routine.

I seem to have a love-hate relationship with Legs and Back. Some of the exercises are really difficult and, over time, never seem to get easier, no matter how my legs have improved. Other exercises, difficult at first, are now comfortable to the point where I can focus on form and on the individual muscles involved, and are deeply satisfying. The most difficult aspect of this workout is starting and pushing play, likely because of my dread of the first exercise: balance lunges. This is still one of the most difficult exercises for me. I can do them, 25 reps per leg, but my glutes kill afterwards (in a good way). Starting the workout with this exercise is hard on a barely-warmed-up body. Sometimes, I think that Tony is evil. Then again, the pain and agony is good for me.

The workout went well. I went about it in a fairly brisk, business-like manner, basically turning off my brain and just concentrating on the particular task at hand. Before I knew it, I was half-done; then, fully done. I guess today was more love, and less hate. I'll have to maintain that attitude in the future.

The ride to the office started poorly with my wobbly, jello-like legs; then, great improvement. A surge of energy and power, and ended up blasting my way into work. The real test will be the ride home, followed by ARX.

Favourite move today: skaters. Got really low, like Eric.

Toughest move today: single leg wall squats. These are supposed to get easier, aren't they? If so, when?

Tony line of the day: "Eric's from Belgium. That's all they do there!" (skaters)

Later: Ab Ripper X

P90X: Round 2: Day 60: Yoga X

Again, after the push, pull and grunting of the past few days, I was looking forward to Yoga to stretch out the kinks and relax my muscles. I don't really get too sore in P90X anymore, just mostly a pleasant tiredness; a souvenir for having worked hard.

I started Yoga a bit late today, around 6:15AM. Usually, I like to start this routine earlier because it's 1:32 in duration, and I'm still waking up my son and taking him to school. There's a bit of a conflict between Yoga and the morning breakfast/school schedule that I don't like. The idea behind yoga is to clear your mind and relax, but it's sometimes a challenge when other obligations are pressing. It makes having a good attitude while doing Yoga even more important.

I felt strong during the workout today. I really relaxed at the start of the disc, breathing deeply, and really twisting and stretching during the opening exercises. It led to an excellent first half. I was very focussed, and paid extra attention to swinging my leg(s) forward into runner's pose / warrior 1. I've had some difficulty in this move, especially with my right leg, which frequently has required minor adjustment. Today, I concentrated on moving my hip up, out of the way, to clear a path for my leg to swing under and through. My objective was to land my foot in the correct position, without any additional adjustment. Many times, I was successful. Hopefully, this trend will continue. It's satisfying to still find opportunities to improve, even though I have done this workout a lot.

Again, I struggled with wheel, holding it for about 25 seconds. I'm still looking for improvement. I think that my shoulders have to gain a little more strength. I tried relaxing my head, letting it basically dangle, and that helped, but my spine was a bit sore from the bend and I had to abandon the position at about the 40 second mark and go back to bridge. Still, I've come a long way from day 1.

Yoga belly 7 went well today. I tried to strike better form on the last few moves, where the legs hang out to the left/right at various heights. Those exercises, followed by the 3 part touch-the-sky leaves my belly a quivering mass of jell-0. Good times.

Favourite move today: the entire first half of moving options. Loved it.

Toughest move today: 3-part touch the sky. A lot of shake happening.

Tony line of the day: "Don't think about your feet on the ground; think about your hands in the sky. Then, stop thinking."

Favourite move today:

P90X: Round 2: Day 59: Ab Ripper X

I rode home quickly today after work (had to rush to see the new Star Trek film) and had very little time for recovery after my cycling. I quickly towelled off, changed my shorts and set up for Ab Ripper.

I think that my energy level was a bit drained from my ride, because I found ARX to be pretty tough, especially the bicycles (you'd think that I'd be incredibly smooth throughout those sequences. Unfortunately, I wasn't. My thighs and hip flexors were on fire). I managed to get through the routine, and towards the end, really focussed on my core, trying to squeeze the most from my tired abdomen. It looks as though cycling and P90X in combination are going to push my body a bit more. I'm looking forward to that.

Favourite move today: oblique V-ups. I've been reading that many people find this move to be really difficult. I find it quite enjoyable.

Toughest move today: VF rollups. I really struggled with this move today. I even had to take a mid-set break. I don't recall having to do that since the early days of Round 1.

Tony line of the day: "Now there's the face of a girl that's working hard."

P90X: Round 2: Day 59: Shoulders and Arms

I really enjoy the workout schedule this week. I find the Chest and Back / Shoulders and Arms workouts to be more enjoyable than the Phase 2 substitutes. I'm not sure whether it's because these are less challenging, or that they give me more satisfying results. I suppose that it's natural that people will gravitate to the workouts that they find easier and tend to dislike those that they find harder. Human nature.

Like Chest and Back earlier this week, I was able to push up the numbers and/or the resistance level on many exercises today, and was pretty much able to match those numbers during the repeat exercises. I had a certain intensity during the repeat exercises; after all, this is Phase 3, and there's not much opportunity to revisit these workouts again (I'm planning to do P90X+ for the next Round, so I won't see these workouts again for some time). I don't want to leave these workouts feeling that I could have done more, so I was motivated to leave it all out on the floor today.

The workout went well and I collapsed at the end after the last round of side-tri-rises, unable to do more. That felt really good. Even the cool-down was tough. I found it hard to raise my hands over my head to stretch out my shoulders. Then I knew it had been a good workout.

Favourite move today: side-tri-rises. 30 each side, both times.

Toughest move today: Lying-down tricep extensions. This would be an easier move for me if it came earlier in the workout, but as it comes near the end, my triceps are pretty toasty by the time I get to them. I squeeze out a bunch during the first round, then barely try to keep up during the 2nd. Triceps on fire, here.

Tony line of the day: "We all want to be Daniel Haases." (warmup)

Later: Ab Ripper X

P90X: Round 2: Day 58: Plyometrics

Yesterday was Victoria Day in Canada, and I didn't have time to get to the computer for a post of the day's P90X stories, so I'm posting here today.

It's hard to get up at 6:00AM to do Plyometrics; it's harder to get motivated to do Plyo when you have the opportunity to sleep in. It's so easy to stay in bed, all warm and comfy, especially when faced with the Plyometrics workout; however, if you're going to Bring It, you have to actually get up, lace up your shoes, and get started. My son was up around the time I started the workout, and having him watch me sweat and grunt gave me a little extra impetus to do as well as I could. It's a little more motivating when you have an audience. He didn't stay for the entire workout, choosing video games over spectator, after awhile. No matter. By the time he left, I had developed a positive attitude and was able to charge through the video. In fact, it seemed to end pretty quickly.

Although I've done Plyo many times now (17, actually) I still find it to be a tough workout. Once I was able to conquer the time issue and didn't have to press pause, there were still more challenges: can you jump higher? Can you land like a cat? Can you keep up with doubles in Mary Katherine lunges? Can you...(your weakness goes here)

Overall, a good workout and, I'd have to say, this is one of my favourites.

Favourite move today: jump knee tuck. I actually felt strong during this exercise, even when repeated.

Toughest move today: 2nd round of squat jacks. I was really low in my squat, and going slowly really caused a burn.

Tony line of the day: "This is what puts the X into P90X." (intro)

P90X Round 2, Day 57: Chest & Back / Ab Ripper X

Chest and Back

The start of week 9 saw the return of an old friend, Chest & Back. I really enjoy this workout and have a special affinity with it, likely because it was my introduction to the P90X program. I'm always a bit tentative about starting Phase 3 of the program and doing Chest & Back in particular, because I haven't been doing this routine for 4 weeks. I'm always concerned about my number slipping and about whether I have been successful in strengthening my body during Phase 2.

I reviewed my information sheet carefully prior to commencing the workout, and noticed that my second round numbers never matched up to my first. That indicated that my first round numbers were reasonable, and there was extra work to be done during the second round. I breezed through the first round and was surprised at how easy it seemed to do the exercises. Significantly, I felt absolutely no discomfort during the Dive Bombers, which to date, have brought twinges to my hip flexors. I was really excited about repeating the exercises, and decided to challenge myself to match the round 1 numbers, especially since I felt so good during round 1.

I managed to match all of my round 1 numbers during my second round. In fact, I felt that I could have exceeded my round numbers in several exercises, but was afraid of burning out early and not being able to complete the workout. Now I have a new goal: increase my round 1 numbers by about 5 push-ups for each exercise, and then continue to try to match the round 1 results during round 2.

Overall, probably the best workout I've had to date. I can't wait until week 11.

Favourite move today: standard push-ups. All day long.

Toughest move today: diamond push-ups. Improvements were seen here, but I'd like to increase the numbers. I think that's possible.

Tony line of the day: "Make it X-like...not Ex-Lax."

Ab Ripper X

As much as I enjoyed seeing Chest and Back like an old friend, seeing Ab Ripper X was like dancing with your cousin. You're forced to do it, so you grin and bear it. And as much as Chest and Back was crushed, I was crushed by Ab Ripper X. Taking a week off Ab Ripper really has an impact on my body. When I'm doing it 3 times weekly, I can get through it, sometimes rather easily. When I'm off for a week, the first week back is a challenge.

I managed to work my way through the routine. I think my mind drifted and went elsewhere, because it seemed as though the workout went quickly, and without much fanfare. Overall, a pretty good workout, broke a sweat, engaged the core, and had a pretty good time. A great time, now that it's over.

Favourite move today: oblique V-ups on the right side. Felt strong.

Toughest move today: Reverse bicycles. Still having a bit of trouble keeping my feet from brushing against the floor.

Tony line of the day: "Scissors...get it?" (Fifer Scissors)