/mike

Try P90X yourself!

And so it ends, for now. Twelve weeks after starting my first P90X workout, I can say that I’m a changed person. P90X is not your momma’s workout and it doesn’t get any easier from week to week — at least if you’re doing it right it doesn’t. So, how changed am I? Let’s have a look.

In the beginning

Before starting this workout I took some body measurements — I’m not a fan of weighing myself and haven’t owned a scale in years. This is how it broke down:

• Total body fat %: 13.88%
• Measurements:
  • Chest: 37?
  • Waist: 34.5?
  • Hips: 35.25?
  • Left thigh: 20.25?
  • Right thigh: 20.25?
  • Left arm: 11?
  • Right arm: 11.25?

Not too bad considering I have had quite the on again, off again relationship with exercise. I also took some before photos to see just how much my body has changed (patience, they’re coming).

In the end

Now, after 12 weeks of plyometrics, yoga, pushups, pull ups, extensions, raises, lawnmowers, and various other exercises, my measurements are:

• Total body fat %: 8%
• Measurements:
  • Chest: 38?
  • Waist: 32?
  • Hips: 34?
  • Left thigh: 19.5?
  • Right thigh: 19.75?
  • Left arm: 11?
  • Right arm: 11.5?

Alright, those numbers are great on their own but how about a comparison:

• Total body fat: 5% lost
• Chest: 1? gained
• Waist: 2.5? lost
• Hips: 1.25? lost
• Left thigh: 0.75? lost
• Right thigh: 0.5? lost
• Left arm: No change
• Right arm: 0.25? gained

And now, what you’ve all been waiting for, the pictures:

Always room for improvement

As committed as I was to giving this my full effort, there were a few areas I can improve on. The first and most important one being food. Next time going through the program this will be one of the top areas I focus on. Your body needs the right fuel to run properly and mine wasn’t getting it.

I also took it easy on the back exercises a little longer than I should have. Pull ups have always been very, very difficult for me so I stuck with the exercise bands instead of doing assisted pull ups from the beginning. There’s a reason pull ups are so prevalent in P90X — they work.

Final thoughts

When I look at the numbers, I remember expecting something different… possibly bigger changes in my chest, arms, and legs. Instead there was a decrease. I also thought I’d lose more around my waist. It’s not all bad though; the 5% drop in body fat is amazing.

I’m pretty sure the big change in body fat is what made me think my chest, arms, and legs got bigger while my waist got smaller. Getting rid of all that fat just leaves toned muscle. While the measurements may not have changed much, my muscle mass has certainly increased.

More?

A lot of people thought I was crazy when I told them I was trying P90X. My question to them now is:

How crazy am I for wanting to do it again?

And as a follow-up, is it even more insane for me to do “doubles” this time around? The answer is probably going to be “yes” in both cases but I have no problem with that.

Before starting again, I do want a bit of a break in order to set myself up with a nice routine of eating properly. This post is a little late and comes a week after my last workout day — which takes care of one break week. February 2nd seems like a good day to start again. I’ll shoot for that.

Try P90X yourself!

Time to get right back into the mix. Recovery week is over and it’s the holidays. Not necessarily a good combination.

As I predicted eating was definitely touch and go over the holiday. Partly because I love my gran’s cooking but mostly because my willpower wasn’t exactly where it should have been. I’d like to see if you can resist my mom and gran ganging up on you with chocolate, turkey, buns, and various other desserts and treats. Diet was really a negative the last little while.

The workouts

It was really great to be doing different exercises again and mixing up the muscle groups that were being worked each day. Progress in my chest, arm, and shoulder strength seems to be getting significantly better and it’s more noticeable now than it has been the past two months.

Where I’m not seeing quite as much improvement is in my back strength — mostly with pull ups. I’m not saying there is no improvement, it just seems like I’m not pushing myself as hard as I should be. This will change in the next couple weeks.

Yoga is becoming much easier as well. The great majority of it at least. The warrior three sequence gets me every single time. My goal was to be able to make it through yoga x with no breaks by the end of three months. That’s still a goal.

Consistency

Throughout the past two and a half months I’ve been able to keep very consistent with my workouts. Always working out in the morning. If I missed a workout in the morning I’d do it at night as soon as I could. To this point I’d only missed two workouts due to illness.

Christmas is a different creature though. I took Christmas (Thursday) off this year and skipped that day’s workout. To make up for it I did Christmas day’s workout the day after, on Friday. The rest of the week didn’t work out so well. The day after catching up (Saturday) was a travel day and I was bagged, so I skipped that day’s workout as well. And nobody likes to workout on Sunday right?

Almost finished

As I write this I’m midway through week 10. That means there’s only two and a half weeks left. My goals for the final couple weeks are:

• Push myself as hard as possible with pull ups
• Be more consistent in eating the right foods
• Finish strong

Simple goals but important nonetheless.