P90X Phase 2 Completed

Yesterday was our last day in Phase 2 and it was actually our “Rest day.” So why was it that I woke up this morning more sore than I’ve been in weeks? We did our usual bicep blast yesterday afternoon and this time I increased my weights by 10 pounds. But I don’t think that was to blame for the extra soreness. It may have something to do with the new medicine ball we found in the gym. Karlo and I had fun throwing it back and forth to each other. Well, I had fun throwing it, but I wasn’t too crazy about catching it. As usual, Karlo was too rough with me and threw the ball too hard at me. Every time I caught it, I felt as though I just got rear-ended in a car wreck. My neck would snap as my body got thrown back by the weight of the ball. That has to be why my entire neck and upper back were sore this morning. So much for ‘resting.’

It feels good to have completed the second Phase. I feel all around stronger and I have improved on every single video. I can’t think of anything that I can’t do in each segment. I still have to use a chair to assist with some of the pull-ups (mostly the wide arm ones), but overall my pull-ups have gotten much better.

Other areas of improvement that I have noticed:

• My leg strength has improved. I can do the wall swats almost with ease.
• My cardio has gotten much better. The last time I did the bunny hops over the towel I realized that at the end of the one minute, I wasn’t even breathing hard. I stopped jumping and my breathing immediately regulated back to normal.
• All aspects of my yoga routine have improved. I learned some tricks to get through the once impossible parts and my flexibility is astonishing me.
• My abs have also improved greatly. It feels GREAT to be able to do Ab Ripper X without crying – still a little cursing and grumbling – but no tears.

We snapped a couple of pictures to document the end of Phase 2. I was pretty excited that my biceps are starting to get pointy :-)

I intended to take a picture of Karlo’s biceps, but I think his Popeye forarm is more interesting to note. I should also include a footnote here that Kalro looked like this before P90X. P90 is making him smaller (trimmer) not bigger.