One Month After Completing P90X

I can’t believe how quickly an entire month passed by. I’ve been incredibly busy with work and home projects and I guess you can say that I’ve been slacking with the working out. I had some feeble intentions of popping a P90X video in once a week – just to keep myself in check. But sadly, it hasn’t happened even once in a month. Sigh.

However, with that said, the few times that I did do some form of physical activity I was quite pleased. We have taken a couple good kayak rides. Normally the first few of the season are particularly hard on my shoulders. I usually have to take paddling breaks every 10 minutes. But not this season. I paddled hard and strong for the entire ride. I felt like I could paddle all day (into the wind). My arms and shoulders were strong and I could feel my abs engaging (remember that word?) the entire time.

The best success story is my first ride on my ‘real’ road bike. Since the day I bought it, I’ve never been comfortable on it. Every ride results in a sore neck and back. Not this time . . . I planned a short 20 mile ride for our first trip. Unfortunately we got completely lost and the ride turned out to be about 35 miles. I felt great on the ride. My legs were strong. My lungs were pumping effortlessly. Despite feeling good on the bike, I was sure I would pay for it the next day. The next day came and nothing. No sign whatsoever that I rode at all. Now THAT was amazing.

Last week I decided that I better start lifting again. After all, my upcoming 40th birthday was part of my motivation for starting all this nonsense. So here I am a month out and I intend to pose for some pictures on my birthday. Time to hit the gym! I lifted 3 times this week and now I remember what it’s like to be sore. I have to say, I was sore for the first 2 days of P90X and never again. But lifting with my husband KILLS me. Now looking back it all, P90X didn’t seem that bad after all. The time commitment was by far the hardest part.

It’s been a long time since we lifted regularly, but I’m still stronger now than I was before P90X. I’ve increased my weights in just about all my exercises. I’m just thrilled that the guys in the gym shake their heads in disbelief when they watch me lift. I am definitely a wolf in sheep’s clothes. I may still look a little scrawny, but I got some muscles under those clothes.

P90X Lean Version

Or not. As I have said many times before, our “Lean version” is not exactly what it appears. We added Plyometrics to the routine, and still continue our afternoon weight lifting sessions. If anything, our own custom Lean version is tougher than the P90X classic version. Take today for example. Friday is “Rest day” and this is what our rest day looks like:



This is what we call our Bicep Blast. That first set went on longer, but since I was getting bored filming it, I didn’t want to you bore you with too much of it. Karlo sets me up with enough weight to make me want to cry and then we stand facing each other and I match him set for set. By the time we are done, picking up my glass of water is usually a challenge. NOTHING in the P90X videos gets my heart exploding out of my chest like these biceps blasts. I always have to roll my eyes a bit when I see and hear the over-acting of the buff athletes on the videos, grimacing in pain and moaning up a storm. Come on, you can’t look that buff and be THAT challenged with the little dumbbells. I give them all an A for their acting. Spend 15 minutes in the gym with my husband. Now THAT will make you grunt and moan and THAT I’ll believe!

Biceps, Shoulders, Triceps (Part III)

I don't really have much to say about this P90X session. I never really liked it. It never challenged me and now its just plain boring me. I upped my weights on some of the segments to 15 pounds. That was definitely more of a challenge, but the hour still drags on. Ho hum.

And I really think that those people on the video are totally acting it up. I'm watching the chick closely as she's grimacing with her 10 pound dumbbells. NO WAY. I mean come on . . . she can do multiple pull-ups from a dead hang and she expects me to believe that she's working hard with 10 pound dumbbells - when I'm doing the set with 15 lbs. I'm not believing it!

Day Three of P90X

Today we concentrated on Shoulders and Arms. I didn't do any lifting at lunch time and instead went to my Zumba class. I find Zumba to be just plain fun. It's not very hard and I really don't feel like I'm getting a real workout, but at least it gets my heart-rate up for 45 minutes or so.

This was the first P90X video that required equipment. I wasn't sure we were totally prepared as I didn't know what sort of dumbbell weight increments we would need. The sad part is that we had over 800 lbs of free weights that we practically gave away last year because we didn't want to move them to our new house. Seems pretty lazy for folks so interested in staying in good shape. And as a result, we only have one set of 10 lb and one set of pathetic girly 3 lb dumbbells, along with some heavy duty resistance bands. My husband used the bands for the entire work-out and I used the 10 lb dumbbells.

I have to say, I was extremely proud of myself. I'm fairly certain that the super buff chick on the video used mostly 10 pounders and I kept right up with her in every single exercise. The video leads you through every set and asks you to record how many reps you did and what weight you did them at. This is to track your own progress as you make your way through the 90 days. Day one, an hour of lifting with weights, and I'm already keeping up with the super girl on the video. This was a huge high for me! I am much stronger in my upper body than I ever gave myself credit for. I guess my husband's militant weight lifting sessions have really paid off. As a matter of fact, I never really got hot during the entire workout. The folks on the video are sweating up a storm and I literally still had goosebumps. I should add a footnote here for those of you that don't know me. I am always, always cold and almost never sweat. Plus our heat is turned way down and we live in CT so the room was pretty chilly. But STILL, I would have thought I would have been working harder.

So it looks like I'm off to the store to buy some 15 lb dumbbells. If day one of weights didn't challenge me, it's time to increase the weight. I can't wait to see how sore I'll be tomorrow. One this is for sure, no matter how sore I am, it will be NOTHING compared to the pain I've suffered under my husband's coaching rein. I'm ready for the pain. That's one thing I've grown very accustomed to. Bring it on.