Summary of the 1st 18 days

The previous post was more-or-less background information about myself...

I began P90X on Thursday, February 10th....
The chest and back workout is UNREAL the first time you do it... My arms felt like jelly after I completed the final workout (Divebomber pushups!)...... During the 1st chest & back exercise, I was lucky to get 15-20 pushups per set & 4 or 5 pullups.... It is definitely a workout that pushes you to your limit.. It would take a very muscular AND very fit man to complete the chest & back workout without feeling runover by the end of it!

....and if that's not enough..... the AbRipperX (at the conclusion of EVERY resistance training day) workout is BRUTAL.... Tony goes through 349 repititions within 15 minutes.... everything from In & Outs, to Bicycles, to Scissors, to V-up Pulse ups, to Mason Twists...... (I plan to explain the exercises in depth as I go through the workouts)......

Day 2 was on Friday, February 11th.....
The thing with P90X is, the program gives each muscle group time to recover, BUT you don't get much time to recover!! After a strenuous chest & back workout, Tony shows no mercy as he pushed you headfirst into Plyometrics....... yeah... if you order the program, you'll begin to associate 'Plyometrics' with such words as...... Ha, I better edit myself right here (there might be children reading!).... but you get the idea...
Plyometrics essentially translates into 'jump training'.... Tony gives you 5 sets of 4 exercises.. but you repeat each set.... so you really have 40 exercises.... the 1st three in each set are :30, but the fourth is for an entire minute..... It sounds easy.... but, after an hour of this, you'll be standing in a puddle of sweat. I guarantee it!!

Day 3 - 2/12
Arms workout - Tony hits your shoulders, biceps, and triceps --in that order-- for an entire hour... I don't feel too intimidated when I see 'Arms' on my calendar, but I know that it's not going to be easy.. you still have to BRING IT! especially if you want awesome results.. My arms day falls on a saturday, which also keeps me from having too many beers on friday night -because I want to have energy to complete the workout.. and it also keeps my 'good' on saturday night -because I don't want the workout to go in vain!!

Day 4 - 2/13
Yoga! A lot of people turn up their nose when they hear about Yoga... but let me tell you, Yoga-X is INTENSE! The Yoga DVD runs just over 90 minutes.. but if you make it through the 1st 45 minutes, the rest isn't so bad.... It is an amazing workout for the body, as well as the mind... It is much easier to get through these workouts if you keep breathing and if you focus... as Tony would say "there is a storm going on" but, if you keep your mind clear, you can weather the storm.

Day 5 - 2/14
Valentine's Day! ..ha.. Tony must not be much of a romantic.... I'm not a huge fan of the leg & back workout... I don't mind the pullups so much, but all the lunges can get rather intense... I don't have the best knees, and they always feel ON FIRE when I go through these workouts... PLUS, legs & back is sandwiched between Yoga & Kenpo-- 2 days that are very leg-intensive.... I don't know if that's the point? but I wouldn't put 3 leg-intensive workouts next to each other..

Day 6 - 2/15
Kenpo-X! This is a fun workout, BUT that doesn't mean it's easy... there's a lot of punching & kicking.. it's kind of like a karate class? I wouldn't know, I haven't taken karate.. but you will definitely get an amazing cardio workout... Tony says that you won't even realize how hard you worked and how much you sweat.. and I thought it was one of those lines, but when the workout ended, I looked down at my shirt, and was like... WOAH.... I sweat that much?! Great workout.

Day 7 - 2/16
X-Stretch -- Some people view this day as just a rest day.. I wouldn't. The stretches that Tony puts you through give you a great opportunity to recover from the previous week AND prepare for the next week... As I began stretching, I quickly realized that I was putting my body into positions it had never been.... trust me, this is a good thing..... I very rarely hear about people sustaining injuries while completing P90X... I believe the thorough stretches at the beginning and end of each workout is a great reason why.... Tony knows his stuff.

Week 2 -- Days 8-14 (2/17-23)
The 2nd week gives you a great opportunity to begin to adapt to the workouts... Tony breaks down each phase into 4 weeks.... 1st - Introduction, 2nd - Adaptation, 3rd - Mastery, 4th - Rest.... Tony uses 'muscle confusion' to keep your body in a state of flux.. this is a proven method to eliminate plateaus in not only weight training, but also in losing weight.....

During my 2nd week, I didn't spend so much time watching Tony & trying to figure out whether I was properly executing each move.. I became more familiar with what was going on, and I subsequently got a little more out of my workouts.. Chest & Back wasn't 'as bad' this time, but it was still a bear.... I should also note that the unique workouts and/or moves go much quicker the 2nd or 3rd time through.... Plyo, Kenpo, & Yoga seemed to never end the 1st time I did them.. but after seeing everything and knowing what was coming, they went by just like a regular ol workout..


Week 3 (SO FAR) - Days 15-18
I can definitely tell that I'm in the 'Mastery' week.... I was able to complete 45 standard pushups during one of my sets during chest & back... I was also able to complete 14 chin-ups... I have noticed that I can keep up with Tony & his gang with the pushups, but I am no where near their pull-up totals.... I hear that this is something that comes with time, and that after 90 days, I might be able to do 15-20 per set..... I guess we will see!!!
Plyometrics was fun for me this week... yeah, it made me sweat and it was a workout, but I knew that I wasn't going to have to do it for 2 weeks... lol... (got to love that rest week!)

I completed my 3rd Yoga exercise today.... and I've got to tell ya, some of the poses seem next to impossible.... there is a pose called 'plough' where you do a shoulder stand, and then kick your legs back over your head until your toes touch the floor..... One of my primary goals in this program is to be able to complete that pose.... I think I'm getting a little closer each week, but I still feel like I have a ways to go... but flexibility is definitely something that can be acquired.. I've never really been that flexible, and I admittedly never saw the benefits, but after listening to Tony, I've learned that flexibility greatly benefits balance, weight training, and athletic performance...

Tomorrow = Legs & Back!

18 days into P90X!!

So, I meant to start blogging on my 1st day of P90X, but I kind of forgot about it... anyway, from here on out, I plan to bring you all a daily update of my journey through P90X.

A little background on myself-- I am 26, male, 5'7, and I began the program at 160 pounds. I have always played sports and I've always tried to eat well. Accordingly, I am not one of those 300 pound guys who has ordered P90X to lose 100 pounds... (and I have absolutely nothing against that!) I ordered the program because I could feel myself starting to go downhill in terms of fitness.....

I am not one of those guys who never had a 6-pack... I have pictures from about 6 or 7 years ago where I had a very defined 6-pack, BUT I definitely had a runner's body... I came into college weighing 165 pounds, and if I had to guess, a body fat of roughly 18-20%... I had played basketball, football, and baseball for my first 2 years of high school, but then I began to focus primarily on baseball (and beer drinking). And we all know, HS baseball conditioning doesn't exactly cut you up!

Anyway, as a freshman in college, I began to run almost nightly.. I mixed in some pushups and situps, but I was predominately running during every workout... I droped over 30 pounds to get down to 130 pounds!! I lost far too much weight for my body type, and you could tell it in my face.. I just didn't look good! However, I was able to sculpt a nice-looking 6-pack during that time....

I then realized that I was too scrawny, so I decided it was time to hit the weights... I lifted on & off during college, sometimes I was serious about it, sometimes I wasn't... but I quickly got my weight back up to the 160-range... and this was a much more fit 160 than I came into college carrying.... I had my body fat tested a few times and it was almost always around 10-14%...... I never really got the abs back that I had as a freshman, but I was very healthy, and I was strong.. My max bench got up to about 235 pounds. (I'm not bragging, I know that's not an extraordinary amount.. but it was a far cry from what I could lift when I was a 130-pound "runner")...

Then I went to law school.... I tried to lift during the 1st couple of semesters, but I inevitably shifted my focus to my studies (lol)... I watched my very fit body turn into a body that was still somewhat fit.. I guess.. but NOWHERE near where I wanted it to be! worse came to worse after I graduated and studied for the bar exam.... during this time (several months), I didn't do anything in terms of weight training.. and my only cardio workout was when my brother had some of his friends over to the house to play soccer..

Flash forward several months.. I passed the Illinois Bar and was sworn-in during November.. I am currently on the job hunt.. and while waiting, I have decided to give P90X a whirl..... I am actually borrowing the DVDs from my sister.. I was afraid it was one of those programs that would only make me lose weight, but after doing research.. and watching before & after videos.. I have realized that it is definitely possible to also gain muscle while on the program....

I would love to stay around 160 pounds, but I want to see a decrease in body fat.... I would LOVE to have a nice 6-pack-- hell, give me an 8-pack! I also want to have a strong back & decently sized arms.... I do not need to bulk up huge like a body builder.... I just want to look GOOD!