/mike

Try P90X yourself!

Three weeks have passed since I started using P90X and I’m coming up on the first recovery period. This last few weeks have been quite the eye-opener. In a good way of course. The first week was killer and here’s a quick breakdown of the last couple weeks.

Week 2

Oh boy. Not only was I still somewhat sore from the first week, but during the second week I got to compound the soreness by starting all over again. The positive side was the soreness didn’t last nearly as long this go ’round.

I decided to increase the weight I was using on some exercises but still found that sweet spot of feeling the burn and getting enough reps in. Using weight bands for the pull up exercises is challenging but I decided to order a door jam pull up bar. Something about wanting to be able to push myself even more.

Unfortunately my flexibility and balance are still pretty poor — as evidenced by the yoga and stretching parts of P90X. There is some improvement but it’s minimal right now. My coordination is much better on the second time with the kenpo work though, and that makes me happy.

Week 3

It’s amazing just how much a person’s body can change and adapt to in a short period of time. Even though I’m not following the meal guide — I haven’t even read it yet to be honest — my body is getting trimmer and more toned all over.

Having skipped Sunday last week, I was really looking forward to getting started on week 3. I’m feeling a little tired from the toll all this exercise is taking but every day I’m pushing as hard as I can and doing my best to maintain the best form possible.

All the various push ups are starting to get a little easier and I’m happy that I can get through more than one rotation without having to do knee pushups. Well, for most of it at least. I did kind of dog it a little bit during this week’s plyometrics though. It’s a lot of jumping and apparently I wake the downstairs neighbours.

Finally there is some improvement in my balance, flexibility, and coordination that I can see. Yoga is killer but in a completely different way than plyometrics. Looks like I’ll have to hit up Sports Basement and grab some heavier weights soon.

Preparing for the next phase

For all the back work it seems that the exercise bands are getting a little too easy. So I got the P90X chin up bar and will be using that from this point on. I have a feeling I’ll only be able to do a max of five or so the first few times but it’s a great challenge to give myself.

Next week is a recovery week so I’m looking forward to a slight change of pace. Guess that means it will soon be time to take some progress pictures. Can’t believe it’s been three weeks already. Time sure flies.

Try P90X yourself!

The hype behind P90X and it’s difficulty is not overdone. This program is hard. It will kick your butt every day. Fortunately on each video Tony states, repeatedly, that if you’re not at the same level as the demonstrators you don’t have to keep up with them. Take breaks. Easier ways to perform each exercise is usually shown for anyone that is having troubles.

And now for a little day-to-day breakdown.

Day 1

Today was a muscle building day. I haven’t been to a gym or lifted weights for several weeks now and today hurt. I bought some small weights and exercise bands because I didn’t know what exercises I’d be doing and how difficult they were going to be. I’m glad I did.

The reps were really low today but I’m looking forward to seeing how they evolve over time.

Day 2

And my first experience with plyometrics was one for the books. After yesterday I knew I was in for a shock with P90X, and today really put me in my place. In the end I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised given my lack of exercise but wow. I was totally knackered at the end and actually felt like I wanted to puke a couple times.

Oh yeah, and the soreness started kicking in from yesterday’s workout too. Doing cardio is not necessarily easy when your abs are too tired and sore to work properly.

Day 3

Another muscle building day today. It was a little more focused and I took it pretty easy because yesterday totally obliterated my legs. I powered through as much as I could but my legs were definitely some sort of factor in taking it easier instead of pushing as hard as I could.

Seriously, I can’t believe how sore my legs are.

Day 4

Back at it with the cardio today. This time it was yoga. I haven’t done yoga ever in my life to this point so this was another interesting experience. Back in the day I used to have really good balance but not so much any more. I’m surprised at just how tiring it was.

My flexibility obviously needs some work as well. Looking forward to doing this again and seeing my improvement. Legs are still super sore today.

Day 5

Time to build those muscles again. My still sore legs definitely affected today’s performance. I made sure to push to the point where I just couldn’t physically do any more. It was another day where I felt like puking after finishing up.

Oh, and there was the whole I-worked-out-after-four-hours-of-sleep-because-I’m-travelling-today thing as well. :-/

Day 6

Because of my travel yesterday and today I wasn’t able to get today’s cardio in until the evening. It was a good workout and I got a nice sweat going by the end of it. It was a little more complex today and there were a bunch of times I was mixing up the movements. Hopefully the movements get easier so I can focus on the intensity.

Day 7

I opted to go ahead and do a workout today. Well, it’s not really a workout, it’s stretching but it’s still doing some physical activity. Again, I can see just how bad my flexibility has become and hope it gets better over time.

Closing thoughts for week 1

I’m feeling better already. I’m sleeping better at night and I’m waking up easier and earlier each morning. Even after one week I feel a little stronger and — I may be projecting a little bit here but — I’m already seeing some changes.

Getting P90X is one of the best things I’ve done in recent history. I’d been considering a Bowflex home gym because I was getting fed up with going to the gym and P90X is much, much cheaper. I’m really excited to see how it goes over the next few weeks and looking forward to starting week two.

Try P90X yourself!

Over the years I’ve been both obsessed and completely indifferent to improving my fitness. I’ve tried several different methods, programs, and techniques to do so. I’ve done cardio only, my own weight-lifting program, Body For Life, and various others. Now I’m going to do P90X and do my best to keep you apprised of my progress.

What is P90X?

P90X is a fitness program developed by Tony Horton. It’s claim to fame is muscle confusion. Muscle confusion is very important to the continued improvement in fitness and muscle development. The best way to keep muscles growing is by working them in ways they aren’t used to.

Confusing muscles can be done in any program, all you need to do is change the exercises for the muscle groups in different intervals. Muscle confusion keeps your body guessing — and at the same time, growing.

The P90X program just lays it out explicitly for whomever wants to use it. Instead of having to figure out what exercises to change and what to change them to, Tony lays out a 90 day plan for you.

P90X comes as a set of 12 DVDs with a printed program and nutrition guide. The DVDs are set up as one days exercise per DVD. There’s no need to switch DVDs during your workout, you just pop in that day’s DVD, hit play, and workout.

Starting out

The P90X program asks you to gather up some information on your body — body fat percentage and actual measurements of various body parts. I left out a few things — height, weight — because I’ve never been a fan of body weight. I know muscle weighs more than fat and at this stage I’m not concerned with that measurement. Height doesn’t change so there’s no point in noting it — I’m 5′10″-ish if you’re curious.

This how my body measures up before starting:

• 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″

Bring on the pictures!

The P90X program also asks you to take pictures of yourself in the following poses: front hands on hips, front making muscles, side, side upper body twisted to camera, back hands on hips, and back making muscles. I took all those pictures and have them handily sitting in my photo archives.

I’m not going to post them now but I will post them with comparison shots after the first 30 days. I’m also going to take milestone photos at 60 days and at the end of the program.

Now, as Tony says in the videos, it’s time to bring it!

This zen thought was said during a conversation about relationship length. After asking about quantifying what counts as a relationship I expected a typical “about two weeks” or “after you’ve been introduced to the friend circle” type of response. The actual response was much more.

“I think relationships are the ones that feel like relationships.”

It is definitely refreshing to see this point of view when most people are concerned with metrics and stats.

Today a friend of mine found out his site got ripped. In this day and age ripping someone’s site so blatantly is the lowest of the low. And you’re going to get caught.

If you’re selling yourself as a designer or design agency you should either have enough talent to design something great yourself, or the money to pay someone else to do it for you. Be inspired by someone else’s work but don’t steal it, change some colours and two graphics, then call it your own.

It’s a popularity contest

If you’re going to steal someone’s design you should pick a good one. Here’s the problem, the good designs are usually popular and widely known. You’re shooting yourself in the foot right from the beginning because someone is bound to notice the theft.

Good design gets promoted. Good designers get promoted. People look at popular, promoted designs to get inspiration and learn from their peers, mentors, and idles. You’re seriously deluded if you think you won’t get noticed using a stolen design and passing it off as your own.

Make an excuse. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

When you’re stealing a design and you get caught — and almost everyone gets caught eventually — don’t use the excuse that you were “just seeing how things worked wasn’t going to keep it up[sic]” (source). Why? Because you’re lying. And you’re apparently really bad at it.

That excuse has been used over and over again. Every time I see another design theft when the thief finally reveals themselves and wants to win back some favour, they use that excuse.

“My bad. I’m just learning and wanted to learn from the best.”

“Oh, I only wanted to know how they did this or that.”

“This is just a temp site. I’m too busy to work on my own and needed something up right away.”

Anyone working in the web that is worth a damn knows about testing environments. Hell, anyone that’s built anything on or with a computer knows about testing. Using the “testing it out” excuse implies to me that you think you’re above testing your work. This reeks of immaturity and unprofessionalism. Would you build a client’s website and throw it on their live server just to see how things worked?! I don’t think so.

Grow up people. Get a better excuse. Better yet, get some talent.