/mike

Try P90X yourself!

And so ends another two weeks on P90X. I have to be honest, these last couple weeks have been tough. Not only because I’ve been striving to push myself further, but mostly because my body is starting to really feel worn down. I’m not sure if it’s the exercise catching up with me or the change in seasons.

Even during the recovery phase I’m currently in it’s getting tough to force myself into it. For the second time since starting I actually put off a morning workout and almost didn’t do it that night. Luckily my ironclad willpower got the best of me. It really would have sucked if I didn’t get that yoga workout done.

Today I woke up a little more upbeat though. So for now I’m going to blame it on the rain. Yeah. Yeah. (ok, that was really bad but at least it’s true) Looking forward to the last phase of this run since I get to alternate between workouts each week instead of doing three weeks of the same thing.

Talk about the progress already

Progress is continuing nicely as well. I’m feeling stronger and seeing my body change quite a bit. I’m excited to put together the comparison pictures after this weekend.

Unfortunately I’ve still been neglecting the Sunday stretching. I always have the intention of doing it but then I get distracted working on pet projects or catching up on TV/movies. I’m paying the price though. Stretching is important and as much as I’m seeing improvement in each workout, I’m also noticing a lot more stiffness in my muscles — which hampers my improvement. I need renewed vigor to keep up with the stretching and improving my flexibility.

Balance and strength are coming along nicely though. I can get through basically all of the yoga workout, with the exception of the warrior three sequence — it’s a killer. I could even do crane for at least half of the time Tony does. Sure, it only equates to about 30 seconds but lets see you do it.

Push ups and pull ups are getting easier. Well, the first 30 or 40 push ups and the first 20 or so pull ups are. Doing back and biceps on the same day, followed by legs and back two days later, seems to have weakened my pull up strength. At least right now. I’m curious to see how it will be when I get back into a muscle building phase next week.

Eating

Ugh. I do my best to continue eating healthy but sometimes I’m a sucker for a treat. I probably should have read the P90X food guide before I started but at least I’ve thumbed through it. Mostly.

In all honesty I should have written down notes and printed out some of the recipes so I could just buy and eat the proper foods. I’ll add that to my checklist for the next run through.

The end

The end is nearing. I have a three day stint visiting my parents and a launch to get through but I’m going to give it my all. Food will be touch and go given the season but I’ll do my best and at least confine myself to having small meals instead of pigging out.

I’ll also do my best to get some progress pics up this weekend and some updated body measurements.

Try P90X yourself!

And so ends another fabulous week of working my ass off. Recovery week is definitely over and my body is feeling it. Sure, skipping the last couple days of recovery week didn’t help keep my body prepared but still, there’s no easing back into any workouts on P90X.

This was the start of a new phase in the grand plan laid out for me. So now I get to figure out and get used to a whole new set of exercises. Good thing knee push ups are acceptable because after a point that is all I was able to do. Starting off the week blasting my chest, shoulders, and triceps was a nice wake up call.

Oh my god, and plyometrics is worse than I remembered, in a good way of course. There was a lot of huffing and puffing going on. I had to stop early a couple times but I stuck with it as best I could.

After picking up the chin up bar, this week was the first time I got to put it through it’s paces. Back and bicep day was the first to put me in that situation. I’m glad I picked it up because it has proven to be a major challenge.

My balance has at least kept up to some degree. Yoga was still very challenging this week but my balance has improved quite a bit. Still made me sweat like a pig too.

At the beginning I thought it was cruel putting three ab workouts in a row — despite Tony saying abs shouldn’t be worked two days in a row, pfffff. After doing legs and back followed by abs I still think it’s cruel and unusual punishment. I’ll be excited when the ol’ six pack finally makes an appearance though.

Despite my best intentions I skipped the Sunday stretching again. I’m really starting to kick myself for doing this every week. I even thought I’d make it up by stretching Monday night but that didn’t happen either. Fingers crossed I’ll follow through on my promise this week.

The changes my body is going through are starting to show even more now. Every day I’m amazed at just how the changes are happening. This is by far the best workout plan I’ve been on in years. Imagine what I could do if I actually follow the meal plan next time I go through the program.