P90X+: Round 3: Day 13: Kenpo/Cardio Plus

Ahhh, the end of week 2. I love Fridays when another week of the program is behind me, and there's a rest day ahead. Remember last week, when I promised I would review the Kenpo/Cardio DVD during the week so I wouldn't be so weak during the exercises? Didn't happen. I was too busy with social activities, I'm pleased to say. So, I approached this DVD today with a tinge of regret and fear that I'd still be ridiculously uncoordinated. I'm happy to report, that I did improve in some of the exercises; not at all in others.

I still find some of the arm/leg combinations difficult to master: elbow/sword/back kick comes to mind. Also, Gladiator. OK with one side, not happening with the other. And what's with the twirling sword/hammers? They make me dizzy. Perhaps they're supposed to strengthen your core. Aren't there alternatives to this move?

Perhaps I gripe too much. The workout is still a good one, with lots of flying sweat and heavy breathing (in the not-so-good way). The workout moves quickly and, as the exercises are repeated (like interval training), the moves will come, followed by improvements in form.

End of Week 2. Next: Week 3 starts.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 12: Upper Plus/Abs-Core Plus

Upper Plus

It took forever to get moving today. I was up at 6:15AM, but dragged my feet and didn't start the workout until 7:00AM. It seems that the summer is slowing me down. With the kids out of the house, I've lost my incentive to jump right into the workout. When fall comes, I'll be back on the clock, no doubt.

The workout is becoming more enjoyable as time goes on. I'm starting to get the hang of the individual exercises and am becoming less reliant on looking towards the TV for form. That said, my focus on form is resulting in fewer repetitions achieved. Not a bad thing, as I'm challenging myself by forcing isometric holds on some of the moves, which results in a deeper burn and a more intense exercise. Sometimes, it's not just about the numbers. Perhaps I'm maturing a bit.

I'm having difficulties with the shoulder exercises. I could probably do with a set of 8 lb weights. The maroon resistance band on the fly exercises is a little too stiff. On some exercises, I switched over to 10 lb weights. Clearly, there's work to be done. Patience. Do your best, and forget the rest. The fact that I find some of the exercises really difficult is good news to me, as it keeps me looking forward to the day when I'll be successful and increase my weight or repetitions. Until then, I sweat it out.

Abs/Core Plus

I rode home quickly and popped in the Abs/Core DVD. Again, I was on the clock, as I had to do my workout, eat supper, then head out to the theatre for Jersey Boys. So, no need for motivation. Increasing familiarity with the moves is aiding in working smoothly through this workout. Now, I no longer need to pause, watch, rewind, and replay. I still find that there is insufficient time to post my numbers prior to the next exercise commencing. At times, I felt as though I should just give up on writing down numbers; then, I realized that there is still some merit in logging information, as I noticed that my numbers have actually been improving. It's a love/hate relationship.

The workout went well. I find most of the standing exercises fairly easy, and spend my time doing those exercises with a specific focus on tightening my core ("engage the cage"). The exercise where you stand and tough opposite elbow to opposite knee is particularly easy, as is the similar one where you touch opposite hand to opposite toe, with a straight leg. Perhaps it's just me. The ease of the exercises is telling me that I should be doing additional ab work on Day 3, so I'll include Ab Ripper X on those days. It couldn't hurt from a muscle confusion viewpoint.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 11: Yoga

I played golf yesterday (once a year, whether I need it or not) and was interested in seeing whether P90X had any affect on my game. I had read some posts that the program had really helped others in terms of endurance and flexibility and I was keen on knowing whether that would also be the case with me. Warming up gave me an indication. It was really easy to loosely swing the club, whereas previously, warming up brought all sorts of groans. The results on the course were noticeable: much longer distance with all my clubs. I've never hit the ball so far. I was about 1.5 clubs longer than I've been before, so it took some time before I was able to adjust. I just couldn't believe that I could hit the ball that far. No short game to speak of (what do you expect when you play once a year?) but the long game was very satisfying, thanks to P90X.

Usually, the day after playing golf is a day of pain, because the golf swing is probably one of the most unnatural things you can force your body to do. It was fortuitous that today was a yoga day, because I felt I'd certainly need it to stretch out my body following a day of golf. I woke up this morning pain-free, another P90X bonus. I felt like I didn't even need yoga. But, I put in Fountain of Youth and had a very nice workout. I really focussed on stretching my arms, legs and calves during downward dog. That really loosed up my shoulders. Warrior 1, Warrior 2 and Reverse Warrior were just what I needed to stretch out my sides, legs and shoulders as well. By the end of the workout, I was dripping with sweat, but completely relaxed. Great way to start the day.

I've noticed that I don't feel a lot of soreness anymore following workouts, like I did in the early days of P90X. That must be due to the fact that I'm in superior condition now. I feel fatigue, and there's a little bit of ache, but not the lasting soreness that I used to experience. My body conditioning is why I didn't feel soreness from golf yesterday. What a great bonus that daily exercise can bring.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 10: Total Body Plus

I had forgotten the exercises in this workout since I had only done the workout once. I thought I would pound out the workout, then follow-up with a round of ARX. Wrong! This workout is extreme, especially if you bring intensity to it. This is like a classic P90X workout where you are the only impediment to success. If you want to try harder, you can do everything you can to pound your body.

I found myself a bit at odds with the lengths of some of the individual exercises. Some I felt were a bit too long, some too short. In some cases, I had leftover energy and wanted to squeeze out a few more repetitions. This wasn't an issue of using weights (or, in my case, resistance bands) which were too light; this occurred during some of the push-up routines where, at the end of the time, I felt I still had 5 more in me. So, I did 5 more, then reset the disc to the appropriate spot. Doing that, along with taking mini-breaks every 5 exercises or so, extended the workout to about 1 hour in length. Then, a nice ride on the bicycle to the office. Talk about total body. Wow.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 9: Interval X Plus

I recalled from last week that I conked out in the 2nd half of the workout, just prior to completion. Today, I knew not to give up so easily.

The first half of the exercises went pretty well. I find it tough keeping up with the kids on some of the exercises, especially the Side Lunge/Side Kicks and Loading Dock, which move quickly. The kicks for me are tough because I can't get my legs up too high in the red phase of the exercise, so it seems more like an extended orange phase, rather than the super-intense high kicking that's supposed to be happening. Mark Briggs manages to kick head high! In my dreams (or, I currently struggle with...)

I took a somewhat extended break at half-time, mindful of not making it too long, because I didn't want to be prone to injury by cooling off too much and then starting back into the exercises. The second half went well. I started off counting down the exercises (15 in total) but by the time I reached 4 or 5, I had lost count, due to concentration on form. I was really sweating and panting by the end. In some ways, it seems like an extended version of 10 Minute Trainer.

I found that the cool-down period was not really of sufficient length for me. I'd like to see them hold poses for a longer period of time. Again, I think that's part of the desire to keep the overall workout to a certain length of time. If I need more time, I'm going to take it.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 8: Upper Plus/Abs-Core Plus

Upper Plus

I didn't need too much motivation required to get the workout going. It's amazing how you jump to it when other plans are pending, and you're on a deadline. I'm finding that I'm gaining some familiarity with the various exercises and am less reliant on the TV for form. I still find that there's too little time between exercises to write down results in the worksheet, but it does force you to keep up. I think that the producers could have added 5 minutes to the workout, for a longer warm-up and cool-down period, and to give sufficient time to write down your results. I'm guessing that there was a push to keep the entire workout to less than 45 minutes, and that overriding factor led to some shortcuts in other areas. I think P90X got it right; less so in P90X Plus.

I had a good workout nevertheless. I think I'll switch to using 2 chairs for Double Dip'll Do Ya, instead of the PowerStands, because I don't see myself mastering the leg move between pushups and dips any time soon. I've been substituting different types of pull-ups using resistance bands for all exercises done on the pull-up bar. This has been going reasonably well.

I absolutely love some of the exercises: spiderman push-ups and combat push-ups especially. I really feel a great burn after doing those. I'm also realizing that my left side is weaker than my right side, particularly in the shoulders and deltoids. The exercises which isolate that part of my body are really tough. I'm using the lightest resistance band I have (maroon) and still find it hard to extend my arms on Shoulders Everything. I might switch to 10 lb weights for those. This would be a good time for adjustable dumbbells.

Favourite move today: Spiderman push-ups.

Toughest move today: Shoulder Everything.

Abs/Core Plus

I seemed to be on the clock for this workout as well, having to complete it by a certain time, then pop into the shower to prepare for a social evening. I enjoy this workout, but again, find that there's not really sufficient time to write down results between exercises. I'm not really sure why there's a worksheet for this workout, as there aren't too many reps you can do in the time allocated, and in some cases, Tony's intent seems to be that you should work out with the group following each move verbatim. I'm sticking with the worksheets for now, but may drop them later. After all, there weren't worksheets with ARX, and I never missed them.

I find some of the moves really easy, like standing side crunches, and posing like an X and lifting opposite toe to opposite hand. Actually, I think that ARX is a more difficult ab routine, even though it is done entirely on the floor. The variety of body positions in Abs/Core is nice, but it doesn't result in a more challenging routine for me. I think I'll do Abs/Core on day 1 and day 5; ARX on day 3. That should provide some muscle confusion.