02 May, 2012

P90X Day 5: Legs & Back

P90X is all about “muscle confusion” as Tony Horton calls it. That means you work different muscles every day, and even on every exercise. And you don’t even stay with the same muscle groups throughout a single workout. You work one area, and then give it time to rest before going back to the same area.

For today, that means lots of squats and lunges, and mixed within, more pull-ups. None of this is easy. And if it is, don’t worry. Tony’s got you covered. Do the lunges and squats with weights. Oh boy, that’s fun. You should be feeling “the burn” by the end of every single exercise set in P90X. If you’re not, then you need to change what you’re doing. You’re not pushing yourself hard enough.

But, my legs are all right. I made it through all the lunges and squats. I was hurting, but I made it through them. I did find my nemesis today, and it has a name: Wide Front Pull-Ups. If I can get to the point where I can do ten of those, I’ll feel like I’ve really accomplished something. So, I have a goal now. Ten wide front pull-ups.

Unlike previous workouts in the series, where you double up everything, you only do one each of all the lunges and squats. You do two sets each of all of the pull ups though. I’ll admit it. On the second set of wide front pull-ups, I did one. Yes, one. Go ahead, mock me now. But there’s still over 12 weeks in this program. I have plenty of time to improve. I won’t be doing just one at the end.

And, of course, since we haven’t done Ab Ripper X since Monday, that was on the menu for today too. I’m getting noticeably better at the ab exercises, even after just three sessions. I still had to pause a couple times, and there’s still one of the exercises where I’m unable to do a full set of 25 (13 today, closer). But, for most of them, I’m able to keep up, and my form is good enough that I’m feeling it in the right places. That’s the last Ab Ripper X this week, thank God. I need the break. Saturday, it’ll be back, though. I’ll be ready.

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