Reflections After 12 Weeks of P90X

Today was the first day of my last Recovery Week, and I gotta say, it feels GREAT! Last week I couldn’t help but to keep saying, “This is our last Plyo. This is our last Legs & Back” and so on. And now I’m saying, “This is the last weekend we have to get up and do P90X.” I’m not even sure the reality of it all has really set in.

This morning was Yoga X and this was my best yoga to date. Maybe I’m just on a high that I only have ONE MORE TO GO. Or maybe this was the first time I did yoga after a rest day. What a difference only one little day off makes. It really re-energizes me. My legs felt strong. My arms felt strong. I achieved great chatterungas throughout the entire session. OK, no push-ups in between plank and down dog, but come on, I’m not crazy! The best part was reverse warrior . . . when I dropped my arm down my back leg I noticed how incredibly tight my thigh felt. This pleased me greatly.

I definitely feel as though I’m in the best shape of my life, which is amazing seeing as my big 4-0 is soon approaching. For sure I am stronger than I’ve ever been. I have yet to get on the scale since I started P90X, but then again, I rarely weigh myself. The numbers on the scale are never really my concern. The only thing that matters to me is how I feel. I doubt if my weight has changed at all. If anything, it may have gone up since I converted some fat to muscle.

I have noticed some subtle changes in my body. For instance several of my jeans that were once my “tight jeans” have gotten baggier. I think some of my weight has redistributed. I also think my arms are bigger and more defined (especially the day after Back & Biceps). But all in all, with clothes on, you would never notice a difference in my before and after pictures. And speaking of those, I never really took ‘before’ pictures, but do plan on snapping a couple pics next week, when I’m completely done.

OK, Maybe it's Getting Physically Harder Too

What is going on? I think I'm going backwards now. Last week I chocked up the unbearable Yoga X to the 'push-up/pull-up bootcamp' the day before. But yesterday I did Legs & Back and this morning yoga was dreadful again. This is very discouraging. Three weeks ago, I could feel myself improve in every aspect of Yoga X. Now I'm feeling weaker. This is the second week of true "P90X Classic Version" and previous to these past two weeks, we tackeled Yoga the day after Core. I really think that makes all the difference. Actually, with our old routine, we did Kenpo, Rest, Core and then Yoga. That seemed to be the perfect set-up for the long and challenging Yoga. But trying to follow a tough day of hard lifting, it just sucks.

After screwing everything up last week, I tried to build myself a better schedule that took the major muscles groups into account when shuffling around the work-outs. Today is day 2 and I'm already wondering if I did the right thing. There must be some way to rearrange the days so that Yoga X falls on a weekend. Maybe next week I'll start the week with Yoga (following the rest day). That just may be the smartest solution. We'll see . . .

One Question About P90X Yoga X

I only have one question. Is there anybody out that NEEDS to do a push-up between plank and down dog during the vinyasa session???? I have to know. It just kills me when Tony says, “Do a push-up if you need to.” I feel that I need a lot of things during these 45 minutes of hell and doing extra push-ups is not one of them. Why doesn't he offer, "Take a nap if you need to" or "Have a drink of water if you need to" or better yet, "Cry if you need to." Maybe in Phase 3 I'll need to do the extra push-ups, but right now, I don't feel the need.

One more day of 'Recovery' and then it's on to Phase 3. gulp

Half Moon Yoga Pose Trick

I think I got it. I figured out how to do those impossible one-legged standing poses. To date, that series of 'standing on one leg' poses was the only part of the P90X Yoga X that I couldn't fully do. And it was buggin' me. I could do just about every single exercise on every single video, as good, if not better, than the buff chicks in the videos. And yoga is my thing so I HAD to be able to do the entire routine.

Well, this morning was my first time lasting through the entire series of Half Moons and whatever the other poses are called when you're standing on one leg with the other in the air. I finally discovered the trick. Instead of keeping my standing leg slightly bent, I simply made it as straight as I could. This seemed to take a lot of pressure off of my burning thigh muscle, and the pose went from a thigh strength endurance test to a balancing act. With my standing leg straight, my muscles were no longer doing all the work. All I had to do at this point was balance my weight. Yes, it's still ridiculously awkward, but now that I know the proper form, I can work on improving the balancing act.

I tested my theory by sharing the new discovery with my husband, who also struggles with these unattainable poses. To my surprise, he agreed that my suggestion helped him and he was able to get much further along with the second leg. Now I'm looking forward to Yoga X again next week. And as luck would have it, next week is another recover week so we get to face Yoga X twice in one week.