P90X: Round 2: Day 83: Kenpo X

It took forever to get moving this morning. I had a short amount of sleep last night, as the kids were excitedly chattering about completing school and looking forward to summer plans. Also, I ate poorly yesterday, leaving me sluggish this morning. I must remember not to skip any of my meals or snacks. Breaking the 3 to 4 hour rule really doesn't do the body any favours.

So, up at 6:15AM, but not into Kenpo until about 6:55. But, once I was into the warmup, I was ready to go. My body felt pretty good today. Sometimes, my glutes are killing me from Legs and Back the previous day, but today, I was reasonably well off. During the warm-up, my hamstrings felt a bit tight. I tried to stretch them as much as possible, but the poor muscles can only go so far some days. As a result, kicks were tough today, especially back kicks. I even had some balance issues on back kicks because I was having some problems extending my legs to the desired extent and location. Do your best and...

I enjoy this workout as the final workout in the week. It's more fun and less intense than most of the workouts and the time does pass quickly with all the kicks and punches. I'm looking forward to the next level of Kenpo in P90X Plus.

Favourite move today: side lunge, high sword, low hammer.

Toughest move today: back kicks and side kicks.

Tony line of the day: "We don't need no stinkin' break."

End of Week 12. Looking forward to Recovery Week and the completion of Round 2.

P90X: Round 2: Day 82: Legs & Back / Ab Ripper X

Legs and Back

Another day, another farewell to a friend. Today was the final day of Legs and Back (for now). I've been approaching the week's workouts with the desire to finish up with a bang. I wanted to crush the exercises, to prove to myself that I'm ready to leave P90X behind and move onto P90X Plus.

Last night I was really excited about Legs and Back. This morning, upon awakening, my enthusiasm was greatly muted. I had a lousy sleep and was really tired. It took me some time (about 30 minutes) to get up, to get moving, and to get my friggin' knees up. By the time the warmup was over, I was ready to go, and pounded on my nemsis, balance lunges, cranking them out just before Tony and the kids started. My mental approach has become tougher over this Round: don't wait for the exercise to start, just go and do it already. That gives more time for either more reps, or slightly more rest between exercises.

Previously, I have found myself gasping for breath several times during this workout. Today, I decided to focus more on my breathing, to assist in controlling the exercise and in maintaining form. That helped. My breaths are coming regularly, deeply and fully from lower in my diaphragm, which seems to conserve my overall energy level, versus shallow, rapid breathing from the upper chest. This approach works well for the types of exercises in Legs and Back, which, for the most part, are slow and methodical (unlike Plyometrics).

I had a great workout today, once I finally got the engine going. I had a good mindset and was able to focus nicely on the various parts of the body during each exercise: straight back leg on lunges, keeping the knee from drifting over the toe, getting really deep into the lunges. My left leg is slightly weaker than my right, but over time, that has improved. I've come a long way in Legs and Back. It's been a good trip.

Favourite move today: step-back lunges.

Toughest move today: single-leg wall squats (what else? I hate it...but...)

Tony line of the day: "Find your intensity level."

Ab Ripper X

How exciting: the last ARX, for a while. No nostalgia here, as I won't be missing this workout in the near future. To commemorate the last time, I did listen to the full introduction. It's always nice to hear Tony finish with "I hate it...but I love it."

The workout went well. Not the best ever, but not bad. I struggled a bit with the reverse bicycles. For some time now, I've had a bit of a coordination issue with this move. Occasionally, my heels will scrape the top of the mat. Solution: get your knees up! Problem solved. As always, still a good workout. I may resort to using this workout every now and then during my round of P90X Plus, depending on how the Plus Ab workout is, especially with its reliance on the pull-up bar. We'll see. I'll have to conduct a close review of the DVD in order to make my decision.

Favourite move today: mason twists. Finished up strong with the Mason Twist.

Toughest move today: reverse bicycles.

Tony line of the day: "BREATHE, people now." True, but not always obvious. Sometimes it's tempting to hold your breath to push through an exercise. Ultimately, that doesn't help. Controlled, deep breathing is the way to maintain your focus and improve your energy level.

P90X: Round 2: Day 81: Yoga X

There were definite benefits for having done Fountain of Youth yoga last week. The intensity that Tony put into his basic moves (crescent pose, warrior 1, warrior 2) carried over into Yoga X today, making the workout more challenging than ever. I tried to concentrate hard for each pose: can your arms be straighter? Can your back leg be straighter? Is your front knee in the same plane as your foot, or is it leaning towards one side or the other? Can you stretch your arms higher? Can you get a stronger stretch in Reverse Warrior? This added attention to detail made a big difference in the workout. I really huffed and puffed during the moving options. Sweat was rolling off my forearms, onto my hands and onto the mat.

As I write this, I feel really limber, loose and relaxed. I enjoyed Fountain of Youth, but there's nothing like the full 1:32h of Yoga X. FOY feels a bit like Yoga X Jr., in retrospect. If you have the time, I would recommend Yoga X as a superior workout.

I've noticed as I occasionally scroll down the posts, that there have been 0 comments to date. There's a sort of serenity and tranquility in that, as though these words weren't in the public realm. It's as though the entire journey has been documented in a secret and private journal. Sometimes, I have felt that writing and posting to the internet has been a complete waste of time. What's the use, if no-one is there to share your trip? On the other hand, writing has forced me to confront myself, to come to terms with my limitations, and to (silently) savour small moments of success. I've come to the conclusion that I don't really care whether anyone reads or comments on the posts. The act of writing has, in itself, been a source of motivation to me in my quest to complete Round 2 of P90X.

Favourite move today: right angle pose with grab. Strong and solid.

Toughest move today: triangle pose(!): it was early in the workout, and my hamstrings felt a bit tight. I wasn't able to achieve the full, deep stretch I was looking for.

Tony line of the day: "I hear breathing back there...makes me happy."

P90X: Round 2: Day 80: Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X

Back & Biceps

I'm getting nostalgic for these workouts, knowing that this is the last week prior to Recovery Week. It's almost like saying goodbye to an old friend. I've been thinking about completing Round 2 and commencing P90X Plus. Every now and then, I think about doing Round 3 of P90X, but I am growing a bit tired of the videos (although I only see some of them 5 times during the 90 day cycle). I have gotten to the point where I've memorized many of the lines, and it's starting to wear on me a bit. I find the thought of P90X Plus a bit daunting, but I had that feeling with P90X initially, and I managed to get over it once I had become a bit familiar with the workouts. Besides, I'm looking forward to a 45 minute workout instead of an hour.

Back & Biceps went well today. I blew out a handle on the blue resistance band part way through the workout. Fortunately, I had recently purchased a spare set of handles, and was able to make a quick replacement. I was surprised that the stitching through the cloth had unravelled. The handle itself is in good condition. Perhaps I can repair it.

I ran through the workout without pausing the tape. There are many exercises which can be done out of sync with Tony and the kids, so as soon as I finished one exercise, I immediately went on to the next. This allows me to do a few more reps than what's being done on the tape. My numbers didn't change from week 10, but form was good and I got a very good burn. I'm still pushing for maximum reps on most exercises, but conscious of the need to be able to complete the workout.

Favourite move today: Twenty-ones. Solid arms. Good horizontal hold on the forearm while working the opposite arm.

Toughest move today: Hammer curls. Barely squeezed out 12 using the blue resistance band. 13 was an impossibility. I really liked going to failure.

Tony line of the day: "I think I blew out my esophagus."

Ab Ripper X

This is the second-to-last time for ARX during this Round. I'm at the point where I love it, rather than hate it. Well, maybe not love, but definitely not hate. It's more like flossing your teeth: you may not particularly feel like doing it, but you know it's good for you, it doesn't take too much time, and it won't kill you. Besides, it makes for less pain later at the dentist.

Had a really strong workout today. I was tired at the end (like always) but this isn't the killer workout for me that it once was.

Favourite move today: heels to heaven. Got the legs going straight up, very little front-to-back wobble, heels up high, toes aimed slightly towards my head, good concentration, great burn.

Toughest move today: VF rollups.

Tony line of the day: "I can't believe it's almost over...makes me sad." Indeed.

P90X: Round 2: Day 79: Plyometrics

It took me a long time to get started this morning. I was really bagged when I woke up, and it took me about 1/2h to crank up the engine and get moving to Plyo. The warm-up killed me. I was seriously thinking about taking the Cardio X option, because I certainly didn't feel Plyo X ready. It took a few moves to get my mind right. By the end of the first series, I was in gear.

The house was warm today. I opened up the back door, trying to allow a slight breeze to enter the house, but all I felt was the sun beating into the room and mid-summer-like heat. I worked up an unbelievable sweat. By the end of the workout, it was falling off me like I had climbed out of a swimming pool. I must have lost a ton of calories today.

Favourite move today: hot foot.

Toughest move today: rock star hops.

Tony line of the day: "Keep your little bucket nearby, because you're going to need it."

P90X: Round 2: Day 78: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps / Ab Ripper

Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

Last day for CST, so I wanted to be Johnny Intense like nobody's business. I decided to use the bars for all applicable push-up exercises. From the start, I realized that I was in for trouble. Like last week during Chest and Back, the bars brought the difficulty up a few notches. As a result, most of my numbers were down from previous weeks when using the bars, but the same or higher for the bar-less exercises. I don't find that particularly disappointing or depressing; I know that the bars give me a much greater range of motion and, as a result, a better burn. That's what it's all about anyway, getting the burn on the last 3 reps.

Overall, I find this workout to be the toughest in P90X. Say what you will about Plyometrics; at least I can do Plyo without pausing the tape. There's no way (yet) I can do that with CST. This tape still takes about 1h20m for me to complete. There's a bit of pausing going on every few exercises. Still, with the pauses, my numbers don't crash through the ceiling, and I have a major burn at the end of the workout. I can barely lift my arms above my shoulders by the time I'm through.

Favourite move today: side-to-side push-ups.

Toughest move today: weighted circles. I could really use less weight here. If only I had 8lb weights.

Tony line of the day: "Arrrrrrrrr" (after airborne pushups)

Ab Ripper X

Again, I had a certain intensity for ARX. I had to be out of the house by a certain time, and barely had time to fit in the workout. As a result, I burned through the exercises with extra grit. I've done this workout so many times (64) that I've basically memorized every move, every line, every second. It still gives me a good workout; not the incredible burner it once was, but still a nice sweat. I'm still tired at the end, and really appreciate upward dog to stretch out my abs. I am looking forward to P90X+ for the ab routines there.

Favourite move today: mason twist.

Toughest move today: reverse bicycles.

Tony line of the day: "Adam's gotta be a hotshot, puttin' his hands in the air."