I'm sure there's been several threads on this in the past, but I haven't seen anything recently. I'm looking to be a little accountable for my P90X, actually perhaps I just want a brag board - but, either way, I thought I'd blog a little bit about each day. If anyone is interested they can follow through my days here.
I'm on day 4, but I'll try to put a post up for each of the first three days as best as I can remember.
I am doing P90X with my boyfriend. I think having a partner REALLY helps. We started on Friday morning at 5 am because we both know that by the end of the work day neither of us will have the motivation to work out.
We got up, did about three minutes of stretches and then turned on the video without any sort of preview. We really went into this blindly.
The majority of the workout is pull ups followed by push ups. Instead of using a chair as an assist, we simply assisted each other with a little bit of a lift. I was working toward just doing 6 each time, honestly.
By the end of the video I wasn't able to do a single push up, lol, though I tried really hard. We didn't give up and pushed through the entire thing. We both felt a little bit like puking by the end, though.
When the abs video came on we said we'd do it after work. But, honestly, we never did it after work. We were too exhausted in the morning and too unmotivated that night. So, that's something to work toward next Monday. Actually getting the abs in.
Okay, I had read that this is the hardest workout. So, I went into it expecting it to be super tough. I think, for that reason, I REALLY REALLY paced myself and probably dogged some of the moves. I was plenty spent by the end, but I do feel like I should have pushed myself a little harder.
I think the biggest fail for me on this was that I was forming blisters on my toes. He reminds you repeatedly to try to land softly on your toes. All that time on my toes just made blisters, though. By the end I couldn't do some of the moves simply because my toes weren't having it anymore.
I think some better gym shoes by next Saturday would really help. The ones I have now are as old as the hills.
Also, we, of course, didn't work out right away because it was the weekend. This was fail. We went out to lunch and had a couple drinks before coming home to work out. I cannot do that again!!!
I'm not sure why, but this day didn't seem as tough. Well, I think part of it is because my boyfriend does not own any weights. So, he was using my highest weights which is only 8lbs. Which stuck me with the 5 lb. weights. I don't think the workouts were nearly hard enough for me. He had one medium resistance band but he spent the entire time complaining and *****ing about it, so it was just easier to give him my weights.
All in all, it was relatively easy to complete this video. I still worked up a sweat, and there were still some moves I couldn't do, but next Sunday I need to kick him off my weights, and probably even buy some 12lbs for myself.
We did get to the abs this time. They are HARD HARD HARD HARD HARD. HARD. I maybe did 4 minutes of the video and then just dogged everything else by doing one rep, lol. It's rough.
Last edited by Amberelise; 06-01-2011 at 01:50 PM.
This is rough if you've never done yoga before - and I hardly have. I really, really think I'd be better served by going to a studio where an instructor can correct my moves and help explain things a little better. A couple times I paused to see the moves, but being that this was a before work workout I didn't have the luxury of pausing every move to make sure I was getting it right. It's hard to know when they are switching things and to do the moves while looking up at the tv.
I'm hoping this will get better over time. The first 30 minutes really works up a sweat. By 25 minutes in I was pretty much done and said screw it to the last two moves. But, then it moves into the balancing portion which was once again doable. By the end there were a couple again that I couldn't do, but it was not nearly as frustrated as the yoga moves directly before the balancing part.
The yoga did feel really good as I'm somewhat sore from the other days. I'm not sure how relaxed I was between my own frustrations and listening to my boyfriend harp on stuff as well.
Cool. I've been planning to get this but I'm trying to lose weight first, then get ripped later with P90X. This will give me a good idea on what to expect. Good luck to you and your boyfriend!
So, my boyfriend tells me last night that he is tired and cranky. And, that maybe he won't get up to do the legs workout this morning. Sure enough the alarm goes off at 5am and he stays in bed. This really upset me. It's hard to push yourself when you're on your own. Regardless, I dragged my butt outta bed and started preparing for the workout. Just as I hit play he managed to pull himself out of the bedroom and into the living room. I'm not sure how many more days I'll have him around. It's a pretty bad sign five days in that he's ready to quit.
Anyway, this was basically a legs workout with three different types of pull-ups sprinkled throughout. If my boyfriend quits, I am screwed on all of the chin-ups. I can't do them without him there to assist. But, I guess I can pull out my step ladder and try to use that as an assist. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
None of the moves seemed too advanced. There was one where he jumped between squats, and I just skipped the jumping. But, I did the entire video. The calves workout toward the end was killer! At first I was annoyed that my boyfriend got my heavy weights again, but it was probably a blessing. I am certain my calves are going to kill me tomorrow.
The insides of my thighs just above my knees were really sore yesterday. I suspect it was from plyo. They feel much better today, though not perfect. I will admit, I've been sore every day since beginning. I am wondering if I'll be sore every day for the next 90 days!
Cool. I've been planning to get this but I'm trying to lose weight first, then get ripped later with P90X. This will give me a good idea on what to expect. Good luck to you and your boyfriend!
Thanks, seina! I am hoping this will be helpful to you! If anything, maybe it will show what items you *really* need to purchase and which ones you can slack on. For example, you don't NEED the chin up bar and can do it with bands, but I would certainly recommend the chin-up bar. I bought the Iron Gym bar from CVS for $20 and it is working PERFECTLY for us.
Yesterday I ordered some nice cross trainers online. My five year old tennis shoes simply aren't going to cut it for work outs like plyo. Live and learn!
So, I did not want to wake up this morning. After the alarm went off I didn't move. Two minutes went by and then my boyfriend pushed me, literally. So I begrudgingly got out of bed. Uuuugh, cardio?! I was not feeling it.
I put on my new tennis shoes, though, and hit play.
The stretches were different today, more like yoga. And, they were some of the yoga moves I can't do very well. So, I didn't like that. However, once the workout begain -
LOVED IT!!!!!
I really thought it was a ton of fun! I can't wait to do it again next week. Honestly! The hour went by relatively quickly. I wasn't so spent that I felt like I couldn't move on, and at the same time, I was definitely breathing hard.
I own a heart rate monitor, but I haven't used it in years. However, after today I am convinced I need to dig it out of it's grave and start using it.
Anyway, day 6 is done! Tomorrow is just stretching. Yay!
Ooh, easy day! Stretching! Or so I thought. But it turns out I can't do half of the stretches, haha. I cannot touch my toes. It's pathetic really. I've never been able to touch my toes. I would like to blame it on the fact that my legs are 80% of my height, but honestly I think I'm just that inflexible.
Regardless, the stretching was relatively laid back, but you do move around the entire hour. I would say my body is insanely stiff after a full week of P90x. I'm not sure I did nearly enough stretching to get all of the kinks worked out, honestly. There is a Thursday night beginner's yoga class at the Yoga Boutique on Irving, and I think I may start taking it in conjunction with P90x. I'll see how yoga goes next week and decide from there. But, I think some of the weight and cardio moves are harder for me because of my lack of flexibility. So, it would probably be worth my time.
I try to weigh myself just once a week, but I had read a lot of people complaining that they weren't losing weight with this program right off. So, I have been monitoring the water weight gain from sore muscles, etc. Keep in mind, I had a VERY off plan day on Sunday. Last Saturday morning I was 152. On Tuesday and Wednesday morning I weighed in at 153.5 both days. (That sucked to read.) Today though, I weighed in at 151.5. That is the correct direction. Tomorrow is official weigh in day, though, so we will know then.
Finally, I want to add that I had an INCREDIBLY hard time getting out of bed this morning. I could have slept an additional five hours I think. I feel fine now, but my body does feel a bit sleep deprived. I was in bed at 10pm last night, but up at 5am. Perhaps 7 hours isn't cutting it with this intense of a workout. Plus, yesterday afternoon my face even looked exhausted. This is kicking my butt for sure.
Well, one week down!!!
Last edited by Amberelise; 06-01-2011 at 01:54 PM.
I was a little tired this morning, but not as bad as yesterday. I felt pretty ready to go for this morning's workout.
Something I've noticed is that the warmup for this video seems especially brutal compared to the other strength training days. I have noticed if it's just a longer warmup or what, but I'm certainly warm by the end!
I managed to do every single push up 10 times and all of my pull-ups 6 times. My boyfriend assists me on the pull-ups and I think he assists me too much. I'm still getting a workout, but the last one isn't feeling IMPOSSIBLE for me. Though, seriously, the first one is probably impossible for me without him. I don't know which is better. Just go it alone and do only 1, or do 6 with assists.
Regardless, still did not finish the video today - but I got CLOSE!!!! I did EVERYTHING except the VERY last move. And, basically, that move is just too freakin' hard for me. (The one where you go under the fence.) I noticed the girl is doing hers modified, which I did the first time around and that made it doable. But by the end I didn't even feel like trying that.
I pulled an ab muscle on my very first pull up of the day. Now that I think about it, we don't really warm up our abs for this video. And, honestly, I find myself using my abs a good bit on pull-ups. So, in the future I'm going to be sure to warm them up as well. The pulled muscle made all of the push ups and pull ups especially hard for me today. I, no doubt, dogged it.
And, I absolutely did not do the abs video. To date I have successfully done the abs video all of one time. Uuugh.
ETA - Today is my official weigh in day. I came in at 150.5. I believe I've lost 2.5 lbs. since starting P90X.
Last edited by Amberelise; 05-06-2011 at 11:32 AM.
Reason: Weight.
Tough as ever. I did it this time with my new rykas that are cross trainers. I noticed that my toes were still sore by the end, but no blisters this time. We did the ENTIRE video and didn't dog it. I was completely covered in sweat and exhausted, but it felt good!
We did the ENTIRE video this time - including the bonus workouts which we skipped last week. ROUGH. I did 8 lb weights for most of it, 5 lb. for a couple others. Lol. How weak is that? 8 lb. weights are the heaviest I own. At some point I'll have to purchase heavier ones. But for now, I really think it's all I need. My boyfriend is using bands. He has a hard time setting them up in time to start his workout at the same time as the video. But, pausing is always an option.
The abs are so tough if you're wiped from the weight lifting - and we certainly were. I thought today would be less of a workout than yesterday, but nope!!! My glutes are a little sore from plyo from all of the squats, but not too bad. The abs we did the entire video. I had to skip the obliques workout where you lift your legs while on your side. I mean, I tried, but they are too hard and it hurts my hip bone horribly. I suspect it's a form problem. But, this was the hardest workout I've turned in to date, so I'm not going to let one little skip bother me.
Ten days straight! I'm really proud for keeping with it!!
Nutrition - I've been counting calories in conjunction with these workouts. I'm aiming for 1200 - 1300 calories. I had a horrible night on Friday night, however, when we went to the movies. I had bacon popcorn, a martini, 1/2 of a mushroom panini and 1/2 of an italian panini. I had only 600 calories on the day going into that, but still not good. Oh, and lots of hand cut fried chips that came with the sandwiches. Mostly, though, I've managed to stay in range. Last night we went to Improv Olympics and I still managed to have exactly 1300 calories. (Only one glass of wine.) Still the weight loss is slow. Only 1.5 lbs. in week one. But, that is nothing to sneeze at! Next weigh in is on Friday.
Last edited by Amberelise; 06-01-2011 at 01:56 PM.
This video is the bane of my existence! An hour and a half is insane! And, the first 45 minutes are so hard. Uuugh. I had sweat dripping off my face by the end of the first half. I *still* cannot do all of the poses. I'd say there's like 4 poses that I don't even TRY. And, there are *several* that I put a good attempt to, but I'm pretty sure if I was in a yoga studio I'd be getting some serious corrections on.
Having taken yoga at two other places before I have a bit of a clue of what is expected of me. So I KNOW that some of my poses are just wrong. I also know that some of the poses he gives us are EXTREMELY advanced. I wish we had some serious beginner poses like you get in classes. I *really* want to take a beginner yoga class one evening a week to help me out here. I'm worried I will never be stretched out enough if I keep jacking around with this hard stuff. THEN AGAIN, there is a lot I CAN do. And, I'm DEFINITELY getting a work out because I sweat up a storm.
I have to say, 11 days in, there is no OFF day really. The hour long stretching is the closest you get and even that is not a total blow off. P90X is serious. If you're going to do it, it's 90 STRAIGHT days of *** kicking. It is HARD work. No wonder the results are what they are. Though, I'm so worried I will not see results! I've seen some before and afters from some people that are really hard to see. I'll post my before and after when I hit the 30 day mark here. Here's hoping!
P90x
