P90X+: Round 3: Day 80: Total Body Plus

Keeping track of the days has been a bit confusing of late, with Week 12 restarting. Yesterday, I felt energetic upon my return home from work, so I decided to attack a round of Plyometrics, doubling up the day's workouts to catch up with the weekly schedule. Hence, I'm logging today as Day 80, as yesterday's workouts comprised both Days 78 and 79.

The Plyometrics workout was tough. I started out strong, but found that my energy soon dissipated, much sooner than during the usual early morning workouts. I found myself starting to watch the clock and was wondering whether I'd be able to complete the workout without having to pause the tape. I never realized how quickly Tony moves from one exercise to the next, until this workout. When your energy's dwindling, the down time between exercises really flies.That's the time when you find what you're made of. Are you going to Bring It? I decided to dig deep, and pushed through the entire workout. There was plenty of knee-grabbing and gasping going on, and it probably wasn't the prettiest Plyometrics workout I've ever done, but it was one of the most satisfying. It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to succeeding at a task. There is tremendous satisfaction resulting from pushing yourself to what you think are your mental and physical limits. I think that success in exercise is largely mental; the physical surely counts, but your mind controls your body. Think of taking a placebo.

This morning's workout, Total Body Plus, was as tough as ever. It's been two weeks since I last did the workout, and throughout this Round, I've always found this routine to be challenging. I could probably use another round with this workout, because I have yet to master it. It's reminiscent of some of the workouts from the original P90X series, in that it took me more than one round to really feel comfortable. I will likely include this workout in my next, customized round, in some capacity.

Now that I'm back on track, I'm looking forward to returning to one workout per day. I'm especially looking forward to Yoga tomorrow.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 73: Total Body Plus

OK, I've finally reached doubles day (as opposed to Doubleday, the man mythically connected to the creation of baseball). I started off with Total Body Plus this morning, and will stretch out this afternoon with some peaceful, yet intense, yoga. That seems like a civilized way to do doubles, and a nice end to what has turned out to be a fairly hectic day.

Total Body Plus has a long warm-up sequence (in excess of 9 minutes), parts of which I don't particularly care for. Part of the problem is that I work out in a fairly confined space in my basement, with a low ceiling. This prevents me from straightening my arm out over my head, which means that I don't derive the benefit of some of the warmup moves: sun salutations, walking lunges and cyclone, for example. If I could change locations for this workout, I'd be happy. Also, I don't like the speed of the sun salutations. I like to perform these in a slow, fluid way, without shoes on, and I'm not getting that from this warmup. I suppose a solution could be to do my own warmup and then jump into the workout. But, I basically turn off my mind when exercising and just do whatever Tony tells me, so I'm not about to tax my brain and start being a mentally competent, self-sufficient sentient being now. Too late.

In week 11, I still find this workout to be challenging, and enjoyable. Now, I'm enjoying the fairly rapid flow of the exercise sequences, and have managed to quickly scribble down my results while reaching for the next piece of equipment and preparing for the next move. It's rapid-fire for sure, but my heart rate doesn't really get any chance to precipitously drop, which is a recipe to keep the sweat flowing.

My favourite moves come near the end of the workout, when my body is really becoming fatigued: 3 & 3, 1 & 1, and spiderman jumps. Due to the low ceiling height, there's no jumping for me, so I modify the move by doing a maximum number of spiderman push-ups using the powerstands, making sure that my elbow is nearly touching my knee on each pushup. At that point, I'm squeezing out about 22 pushups in 1 minute, which, for an old guy like me, is pretty satisfying.

Soon, time to calm everything down with Yoga. Namaste.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 66: Total Body Plus

I got plenty of sleep last night, and awoke refreshed and energized. I've been noticing that there's a difference in my energy level since I've increased my water intake. Starting this workout was no problem, and it moved along nicely to the end. I paused briefly before the spiderman jumps (which I now regret), but was able to complete the workout. One exercise I don't particularly care for are the Plyo pushups done right at the end, nor do I care for the way they are introduced; however, it's a minor quibble.

I really focussed on form during the warm-up sequences this morning, paying particular attention to my left hip flexor, which can get a bit stiff from time to time. It doesn't cause me any pain, but I notice that there is a slight restriction of movement in it compared to the right side. I'm taking care to ensure that the left side gets stretched out and is really warmed up, especially during workouts like today's, which involve the total body. Also, I want to make sure that the left side is as flexible as possible, to stave off any long-term effects of not using that body part.

I enjoy this workout, especially 3 and 3s and 1 and 1s, along with the 10 sets of 3 different types of pushups done early in the programme (whose name currently escapes me). I find these exercises in particular to be quite challenging, and I've been noticing some modest improvements in my numbers as this round continues.

Overall, I've been enjoying P90X+; however, I am getting a little bored with all of the scheduled Upper Plus routines and I don't feel that my legs have had the attention that they probably need. I'm thinking of creating a hybrid workout routine for the next round, incorporating P90X, P90X+ and One on One. To do that, I'll actually have to purchase the One on One discs. It's almost decision-making time.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 38: Total Body Plus / Abs-Core Plus

Total Body Plus

This workout, like Upper Plus, also still takes about 1h to complete. I tried breaking up the workout into three segments of 7 exercises each, which worked for a while, but I still had to take a pause after exercise 17 to catch my breath a bit. I didn't bother wearing a shirt today, which made for more comfortable exercising (not to mention infrequent glances into my tiny mirror to see my heart practically beating its way out of my chest -- not a comforting sight), and I didn't have to contend with the discomfort of a dripping wet shirt clinging to my body during the various moves. It's warm in the basement and I tend to sweat a lot, especially during these hot August days. Even the grips on the PowerStands are pretty much soaked by the end of the workout. It's not particularly fun to hang onto those grips during the Spiderman jumps. Squishy and yucky. Overall, a nice workout, although I could happily dispense with at least three of the moves. Perhaps I'll modify and insert a few toughies from Upper Plus, or Chest and Back, to liven things up. Of course, I say this from the comfort and distance of my keyboard. Let's see how things play out when the workout is in progress.

Abs / Core Plus

Later.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 31: Total Body Plus / Abs-Core Plus

Total Body Plus

Maybe I'm not in the shape I thought I was. I was expecting to crush Upper Plus today, but instead was crushed by it. I had to pause the DVD multiple times, sometimes to catch my breath, sometimes to catch up to the next exercise because I had insufficient time to record my results, sometimes to get my mind right, sometimes to stand near a window a hope for a passing breeze across my body, which now seems like more than 97% water.

There are still some exercises which don't really do it for me, mostly of the twisting, lunging, squatting variety. I don't have that much space in my tiny little basement, nor do I have a turquoise resistance band. I find the lack of space and the higher level of resistance hampers my form somewhat. I would love to have straight arms on Warrior Swim, but the maroon band has too much resistance. On the other hand, I know that my shoulders are working, and that there's room for improvement.

Like Upper Plus, I really enjoy the push-up exercises. I was able to bang out 30 standard pushups today near the end of the workout, and 28 of the wide arm variety during 1 and 1s. That was satisfying.

This workout still challenges. I (and my muscles) are more confused than ever about whether this is a superior workout to P90X. I'm starting to conclude that it's neither superior nor inferior, just different. I'm not seeing much on the weight-loss side of things, but my clothes are still fitting loosely and I feel well. I'm going to stick with this workout schedule until the entire round is over, with the modification of including Ab Ripper X twice a week, and Abs/Core Plus once a week.

Abs/Core Plus

Later.

P90X+: Round 3: Day 17: Total Body Plus

Well, I had to open a mouth about the quality of the Plus workouts yesterday. I take it back, at least for Total Body Plus. I had to pause the DVD multiple times today (about 5 times!), to gather enough strength to Bring It for the next exercise. Some of these exercises are intense, or perhaps I'm just competitive with myself. I'm trying to make adjustments to form, weight, resistance or repetition to make the exercises as difficult as possible. Judging by the sweat and fatigue I felt today, I'm meeting with some success. On the other hand, some of the fatigue may be due to the late night tennis match I had with my son last night. I'd like to think that I was able to survive tennis, and really burned up on the exercises.

I really enjoy the push-up exercises during this workout. In fact, I think I enjoy just about all push-up exercises on the P90X series. I've found that in Total Body, I run out of time before I run out of push-ups inside me. Perhaps next time I'll try to continue in the exercise until I hit my maximum reps, then reset the DVD to the appropriate spot, and carry on.

Some of the exercises don't really do it for me: Lara Lunge Crunch, Lunge Squat Lunge, Kid Play (although they do involve push-ups). Perhaps if I had dumbbells, it might be a different story. I'm not sure. A higher ceiling (living with 1.9m!) would also be a benefit. Do your best and...you know.

Overall, still a good workout, I'd say. I'm going to stick it out in the name of muscle confusion.

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 3: Total Body Plus

In retrospect, Interval Plus was a better workout than I gave credit for. I'm feeling the affects of this program: my arms and shoulders are a bit sore, and my legs felt the impact (no pun intended) of having done the intervals. Today, time for total body. I've done some total body work with 10 Minute Trainer, but it's nothing compared to Total Body Plus. I found the 9-minute warmup moved too quickly for me (reminiscent of 10 Minute Trainer), so I just went at my own pace, listening to what my body wanted. I was also hampered somewhat by the low ceiling in my basement (1.9m high!) so I can't get my arms fully extended above my head.

The workout is, like other workouts in P90X Plus, sprinkled with colourful names for the individual exercises. If exercise names were a revenue source, the company would be rolling in dough based on that factor alone. I personally don't find the names particularly memorable, nor do they help in defining what the objective of the exercise is. I found myself yearning for the simplicity of P90X -- push-ups, pull-ups -- just plain and simple good old hard work. No "Plank-o-crunch-twisting-moon-spiderman" stuff. Sounds like some kid's breakfast cereal.

Regardless of the titles, the workout was a killer. I had to pause the tape several times, taking numerous breaks, and sweated bucketsful. Muscle confusion reigns here. I was a bit slow in the uptake during the exercises, and found myself watching, then rewinding, then working out with the kids, but my form was lacking somewhat due to unfamiliarity, even though I had previewed the DVD. I also found that there was insufficient time to write down my information following each exercise, so again, I was forced to pause the disc.

Overall, a great workout, with lots of room for improvement. I'm looking forward to it.