P90X DAY 90: YOGA X

It’s over.

What does Tony say?

Oh yeah…

“Take in the fact that you just did that.”

Wow. Hard to believe, but there it is. 90 days go by so fast. 91 days ago, I was nervous as hell, wondering if I could actually even make it through the first week. Well, I did. And now I’ve done 13 weeks (ok, technically I’m one day shy of 13 weeks).

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it, but I hate the side twists that are part of Yoga Belly 7. The rest of Yoga Belly is ok, but I hate those side twists. Ugh.

But, despite that “Ugh”, I’m smiling broadly right now. And you know why, don’t you?

Because I just completed day 90 of P90X.

Tomorrow, final fit test, and maybe some pics if they aren’t too embarrassing.

Ciao. See you then.

P90X Day 89: Core Synergistics

“You might find that this is your favorite workout”  - Tony Horton

Well, you might find that. I didn’t.

It’s all right. I don’t hate this workout. But I don’t love it either. There are a few exercises that I can’t stand. But that’s true pretty much every day. But it’s over now. No more Boat-to-Bows or Superman-Bananas for a while.

Starting to get a real feeling of accomplishment here. I smile to myself all the time when I think about P90X anymore.

Tomorrow, DAY 90, Yoga X. And then it’s all over. Friday, I’ll do my final fit test and post the results. (And I’ll sneak in an X Stretch too, of course)

P90X Days 83-88

Wow, the last week. You think I’d be more consistent about updates.

Sorry, been very busy.

Day 83: Kenpo X

Someday I’ll figure out why they pretend they have breaks in this one. Not this time though. As usual, a fun workout that seems very short, but isn’t. And, as usual, I don’t feel like I got as much out of it as some of the others. I guess I have it in my head that P90X should be hard, and when it’s fun, I feel like I’m taking it too easy.

Day 84: X Stretch

I’ve really started pushing myself on this one. Just about every stretch I’m trying to stretch farther than ever before. And on most them, I’m succeeding. I wonder if I’ll ever consider myself limber. At this point, I settle for feeling like I’m average. I’m getting close. I can almost touch my toes now when standing with my feet together. Haven’t been able to do that in probably 25 years.

Day 85: Yoga X

Recovery and Ab Focus week starts with Yoga again. Like X Stretch, I’m really pushing myself hard on this one now. And sweating even more than ever. In fact, after Plyometrics, this may be the workout where I sweat the most. If you’d told me that on day 1, I would’ve laughed at you.

Day 86: Core Synergistics

No matter what week you’re on, Day 2 is brutal. Now, sure, Core Syn is no Plyometrics, but it’s definitely the hardest workout in Recovery and Ab Focus week. My form is awful on several of the exercises. This is something that I really need to work on, next time I do P90X.

Day 87: Kenpo X

The last time for Kenpo! Now, I truly know that I’m closing in on the end. I’m almost tempted to do a different workout on this day the next time around. I may do another day of Plyometrics, or Cardio X, or even Core Synergistics. I’m almost tempted. I know me. I’m far too anal to start switching things around. I’ll do Kenpo and learn to like it, I guess. :)

Day 88: X Stretch

The last time for X Stretch. Or is it? P90X is called that because it’s supposedly a 90 day program. But it’s really a 13 week program. 13 weeks is 91 days, not 90. They call it P90X because that sounds a lot better than P91X, and because the parameters of the program allow them to cheat up a little. The final day of each week is “Rest or X Stretch”. And that applies to week 13, meaning day 91, too. So, by calling it P90X, they’re implying that the 91st day is just a rest day, so it doesn’t matter if you end the program one day early. But, if you’ve been paying attention, you know I’m not going to have a rest day. Friday will be an X Stretch day for me. So, does that mean that I should think of it as a 91 day program and that I still have one more X Stretch to go? Probably. Honestly, I doubt I’ll post about day 91 though. If I do a post on day 91, it’ll just be a wrap up post.

Tomorrow, the final Core Synergistics. I’m so close to the end, I can taste it.

P90X Days 81 & 82

Day 81: Yoga X

This workout just doesn’t get any easier. I’m doing better at it, but if anything that just makes it harder. I know it like the back of my hand now, though. At 59 minutes remaining is when it first gets really hard. The active options end at just under 43 minutes. Yoga Belly 7 starts at 17 minutes and change. After Yoga Belly 7, it’s all relaxation and nice easy stretches. I’ll miss this workout. A little. But still two more times to go.

Day 82: Legs & Back

Three cheers!

No more Legs & Back!

No more pull ups!

No more Ab Ripper X!

We could add one more, too. No more “Fifer Scissors”. That’s one of the Ab Ripper X exercises, and it is without doubt, my least favorite exercise in all of P90X. Just thinking about it makes me wince. But I don’t have to do it again, until…I don’t know. Until the next time I pull out these discs. :)

Tomorrow, Kenpo X. Not the last, though. I get one more of Kenpo next week. But, definitely closing in on the finish line here. And it feels like it too. Every day, I feel better and better, and more like I’ve accomplished something special here. Just a few more days and it’s all over…

P90X Day 80: Back & Biceps

Wow, day 80. That's hard to imagine. 10 days to go. Sort of. More on that in a later post.

Today was the last time for Back & Biceps. I've mentioned before--many times now--that I hate the pull ups. I think that they're the worst in this particular workout. First, the two new pull up types are just mean. But, even on the more standard varieties, it's awful.

You see, when you do Legs & Back, you're working two completely different areas of your body. You do some leg exercises, then you go do some pull ups, then back to legs, then back to pull ups. Your arms get a chance to rest.

Not so for Back & Biceps. Here you are doing curls and lifts, pushing yourself to failure on each exercise. Your arms are sore. Your shoulders are sore. You're tired. And then you have to go do some pull ups.

Torture.

The only rest for your upper body comes at the end, when you have to do...you guessed it...Ab Ripper X.

I'm actually finally getting close on Ab Ripper X. I'm now finally doing more complete sit ups than my pseudo-sit up-attempt-crunch-whatevers. That feels good. But I'm still thankful that I only have one more time of Ab Ripper X to go.

If it sounds like I'm enjoying the workouts a bit more lately, it's because I am. Perhaps it's because I'm showing some improvement in all of them. But I think it's more likely that it's because I know I'm getting close to the end.

My frustration with P90X a week or so ago, when I decided to move on to Insanity, was that I couldn't see myself doing this for another 90 days. I like the progress I'm making, and I feel better about most of the workouts, but if you told me that I had to do Ab Ripper another 30 times, I think I'd want to crawl into my bed and lock the door.

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration. :)

But it's definitely the truth that I will be exceptionally happy Wednesday when I hear Tony say "Nice work" at the end of the final Ab Ripper X.

Tomorrow, Yoga X. Sadly, not for the last time.

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P90X Day 79: Plyometrics

Last time for Plyometrics! Woohoo!

I'm not sure I really have anything else to add. I've mentioned before that after this workout, I always feel that my clothes should just be burned, not put into the wash. Today, that was again true.

Oh, there is one thing I can say, I guess. This is definitely a workout that when you finish it, you're filled with a sense of pride, accomplishment. You know that if you make it through it without collapsing, without pausing, and with doing good form for everything, that you've truly done something special. You know that you're in at least moderately decent shape. You have to be to make it through this. It's an hour of jumping, twisting, and hopping. It starts out hard and gets harder. When you make it to the last segment, you sigh in relief, knowing that it's almost over and that this segment isn't that hard.

And then you just smile happily at the end. You know you did it. Or maybe you're smiling like that because you're dizzy from exhaustion. Could be either one, honestly.

Tomorrow, Back & Biceps. Last time for that one too.

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P90X Day 78: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

Another milestone. Last time for this workout. I’ll be saying that several times this week. This is the last “real” week of P90X. Next week is another “Recovery and Ab Focus” week.

This is one of the workouts where you can really tell at the end if you’ve put it all on the mat or not. During the cool down, you do some stretches that start with overhead stretches, putting your hands up as high above you as possible. Today, when I did that I could barely get my hands up there. Not because I was in pain, but because my arms were just too heavy to lift up that high.

It’s funny. I increased my weights on a couple of the exercises in this workout this week. On the first one, my form went straight to hell, and I immediately knew I had to go back to the lesser weight. The others went ok, but they were definitely much harder. It’s amazing the difference 5 pounds can make sometimes. You have a weight, and it seems like it’s too light. You add 5, and suddenly it goes from too light to no longer doable.

While I’m moving on to Insanity in a couple weeks, I know that I’m going to be coming back to P90X at some point. I’ll be doing some sort of maintenance workout in October-December, and at this point I’m planning on another round of P90X starting in late December or January. I’ve already decided that I’m going to keep track of all my weights that I’m currently using. Next time, I’m going to start with the next weight down for most of the exercises. Will be interesting to see how that works.

For this first round of P90X, my goal has really been to just get through the thing, and to improve on a week-to-week basis. Next round, I really want to concentrate on form, on doing every exercise as perfectly as I can possibly do it, even if that means doing fewer reps than I’m doing now, or going to a lower weight, or whatever. Not that I slack off now, but I am constantly noticing even still that there’s room for improvement on my form. I think some of that is just a learning experience. And, in the case of a few things, such as in Yoga, or even Plyometrics, I was totally incapable of doing the exercise perfectly on day one. My body just wouldn’t do that. Now, I’m doing better, and I can. And I want to put that to the test next time around.

Anyway, tomorrow is the last time for Plyometrics. I’m so disappointed. My friend is slacking off. He says he’s skipping the last Plyos. Something about a 100 mile bike ride or something. I think he’s just wimping out on me, don’t you agree?

P90X Days 76 & 77

Day 76: Kenpo X

The only bad part of this workout is that the side kicks are a constant reminder of my flexibility issues. I can tell that I’ve gotten much better over the last 11 weeks, but I constantly wonder if I’ll ever be able to regain any kind of real flexibility at my age. All I can do is keep on plugging and see where it goes, I guess.

Day 77: X Stretch

And speaking of flexibility…

Well, I pushed a little harder on all the stretches today. After talking with my friend at work who’s also doing P90X, I got a reminder once again of just how poor my flexibility actually is. That encouraged me to try even harder during the workout. Made it much more painful, but I still felt great at the end.

Insanity has an off day each week. Pretty sure I’m going to continue to do this workout on the Insanity off day.

P90X Day 75: Legs & Back

Nothing much to say about this workout. Pull ups, lunges, and wall sits. Oh yeah, there is one thing I'd like to say.

Ow.

But I did increase my pull up count. In fact, I'm quite proud of my pull ups. I can now do 15 pull ups in each of the exercises. That's a far cry from the 2 and 3 I was doing 11 short weeks ago.

And, Ab Ripper X was actually almost enjoyable today. I did better during Ab Ripper today than ever before. I'm almost sad there's only three of these left. Almost. I don't think I'll ever miss Ab Ripper X.

Just one more time for Legs & Back. Tomorrow, Kenpo X. See you then.

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P90X Day 74: Yoga X

Of course, right after I decide to not do another round of P90X, I start really enjoying the workouts. Today, I think I enjoyed Yoga X more than ever before. I feel like I'm making some real progress on this workout. I'm reaching farther than ever on the hamstring stretches, and I've made significant progress on the movement pieces of the workout. I still look ridiculous during the Half Moon and Twisting Half Moon poses. But I think you could actually look at me and tell what pose I'm attempting.

As for the rest of the workout, it actually goes pretty well. After about the first 25 minutes, I'm in near constant pain, but it's a good pain. I'm still having problems with the first of the balance poses. This was the third time in a row, I think that I had problems.

I have a theory about it now, though. The three balance poses are Tree, Royal Dancer, and Standing Leg Extension. Tree is by far the easiest of the three, but it's also the first one. And it's immediately after the Warrior Three, Half Moon, and Twisting Half Moon segment. I think my legs are just too tired and sore right then, and I need a little break before moving on. I had no problems at all today with Royal Dancer or Standing Leg Extension, just Tree. I've been doing Tree for six months now with little to no problems. I attempted Tree again later, and had no problems with it. I just think at that point I'm too tired. So, next time I'm going to interject a little break between the moving section and the non-moving section. I think that will solve the problem nicely.

I'll find out next week, and let you know.

Tomorrow, Legs & Back. Day 75. The end is near.

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