Friday, February 11, 2011

Day 1 of P90X

by John Papa via JohnPapa.net on 2/11/2011 3:52:00 AM

I’ve been running, playing soccer, and keeping in pretty good shape but I want to see some better results. I’ve plateaued in my workouts. So after a lot of research and asking friends who tried it, I decided to try the P90X program. I’m going to blog this mostly for myself as a record of how I am doing and to motivate myself.

Prior to Day 1 they ask you to take a fitness test. I did OK, but I gotta tell you that doing those squats against the wall made my legs (quads mostly) feel like jello after 5 minutes. I was able to do it all, which was not surprising other than the pushups. I’ve been bad at those ever since I had a horrible motorcycle accident years ago and almost lost my left arm. But I did manage to get through those, so I was encouraged. But man, did I sleep well last night.

So tonight after work I tried Day 1 of the P90X program. Chest, back, some arms, and the abs (Ab Ripper X). I have a workout mat, some push up grips, and some resistance bands I use (with a door loop) which is great since I don’t have a place to put a pull up bar (nor do I want one in my house). It was pretty in expensive for those things and they are very useful in the workout.

So Day 1 goes through 12 exercises for chest and back … twice … all over an hour period (with warmup and cool down). The first run through was hard. The second run through was even rougher, but I felt good about it. Some of the pushups, like the decline (feet up on a chair) and the dive bomber (not even sure how to explain that one) were so rough that I barely could do the second set of reps for those at all. Needless to say that I did not keep up with the people in the video on more than a small few of the exercise. For many of them I was almost laughable. So much for thinking I am in shape.

Then I went into the ab ripper X program, which is about 15 minutes long and just murders you with various ab exercises. I did them all but man it tore me up. Again, rep count was lower than they like you to do, but I did my best.

So after a day  of this I feel good about it so far. What I like is that it changes up every minute or so so I don’t get bored. I like the program so I don;’t have to think about what I am going to do next. At the gym, I get into routines and that’s why I flattened out with my workouts. I really like that he talks you through it all and that I don’t have to worry about doing the insane number of reps they do every time. Do what you can, work it hard, keep good form.

The food is a bit of a confusion point so far, I’m still working that out. But I eat pretty well … just need to try to match the proper nutrition intakes they suggest because it is different depending on what phase you are in. I absolutely love the Pure Protein bars (chocolate fudge is my favorite). I ate one for a snack today before my workout and it made my hunger go away for hours and carried me through the workout (that and a lot of water).

Next up, plyometrics tomorrow. Wish me luck … I know I’ll sleep well tonight. I’m just hoping I can stick with it for the 90 days … I’ll take some time off and do something light when I travel for a week in April in hotels, but for now, its all about getting through each day’s workout.