P90X - BRING IT!

Back in March 2008 I began my weight loss blog and had a very successful year.  If interested in reading how that year went you can read all my weight loss entries here .

This year I decided to finally do the P90X workout.  Why you may ask? That question is pretty darn simple.  I have been the co-founder of this site, weightloss-hq.biz, since late 2007 and we have had such a loyal user base that loves to discuss P90X in our P90X forum that I finally felt inspired enough to join these hard core workout junkies!

What follows in the coming weeks (13 weeks, 90 days) is my personal journey on weight loss, physical conditioning, mental attitude, etc.  So please do read on and I hope I inspire someone along the way, at the very least you will know if it works.

Some Starting Information On Me

 It is amazing if you go read my first entry (link above) I did in March my weight was about the same.  230 pounds was March 2nd 2008 and I ended at a low of 208 pounds in October 2008 when tennis season basically ended and I became a couch potatoe.  BTW, tennis works! :)  So my stats:

Current Weight: 231

Current Diet: None (more on this - read to learn why)

Current Exercise: P90X week one

Day One Pictures:  These will be posted eventually, stay tuned here, I want until I have at least day 30 pictures for compairson.

So why am I not dieting?  That is a good question and probably a failure on my part.  I just wanted to get into P90X and focus on the fitness side and than around week 4 (recovery week) I would bring in the diet which still gives me 9 weeks to eat right and exercise a lot.  I do not think I will follow the P90X Nutrtion Plan, not because there is anything wrong with it, I just believe I can eat healthy and lose weight.

Now on to my P90X week one details:

I started off Week one of P90X on March 23rd, which is a Monday.  I had planned to start the week before but I had injured my hamstring doing a "trial two weeks" doing KempoX.  CAREFUL to anyone doing those kicks in KempoX, I have never hurt a hamstring before and it was painful, still is...

March 23rd - It Begins

• Day 1 P90X:  Chest and Back - I won't descibe what each routine you do in this. I really DO enjoy Chest and Back.  You must must must have either resistance bands or adjustable dumbbells, push up bars and also a pullup bar to do this workout.I had a very difficult time doing this workout but since I had done two weeks of "practice" p90x routines but only 3 days a week I was at least used to it.  I highly recommend you do two weeks every other day of p90x before beginning for real. My reps for pushups and pullups and all the various exercises are NOWHERE near what Tony and his crew can do in the video, nor should it be.  Afterall, its day one! :)  After this I also did AbRipperX which is 339 core abdominal movements of which I was lucky to do about 1/3rd or 120 or so.  It is SO FRIGGIN HARD but just do what you can and I did.
• Day 2 P90X: OMFG, I am sore as shit from Day 1 Chest and Back! Haha!  But hey, its a good pain  Day two brings plyometrics. Plyometrics is best described reading the wiki .  A lot of people "warned me" about plyo, but you know what.  I LOVE THIS WORKOUT!  It is definitely leg centric on the body and it definitely got my heart racing into the 160's (I highly recommend a heart monitor watch ) but I love the workout.  I can't do a few of the higher jumping routines because I have a herniated C5-C6 disc in my neck, but I do my best and forget the rest, which is a famous saying in the videos as you will find out if you ever begin doing P90X .I drank water whenever I had the need and definitely toweled off.  My favorite routine in this was the gap jumps!
• Day 3 P90X: Shoulders and Arms - I wasn't that sore today, my hamstring which I had hurt now 8 days ago was a bit sore, but that was about it.  By far my favorite day.  I am probably like most guys who wants to have big arms, i dunno, but I just really enjoy curls, triceps and shoulder press workouts which is what this is but with LOTS of variations to keep muscle confusion going.  Awesome video, as they all are.Watch out for the flys, they are tougher than most people think!  After the one hour workout I than did AbRipperX which is a B**CH to do after a 1 hour workout and was no improvement really over my day one abripper x, but that is to be expected, its only day 3. :)
• Day 4 P90X: I definitely felt some soreness in the shoulders and arms and now it was time to do YogaX!  I found this workout incredibly hard, especially the first I really SUCK at YogaX and found many of the moves like Warrior 3 very difficult to do especially on the right leg as my hamstring just wont heal, but I do my best and forget the rest. :) Now the 2nd part of YogaX is more "balance" oriented and I began to do better except for falling over 3-4 times as some of the balance positions are near impossible for my body that has no flexibility (yet!).
• Day 5 P90X: I went to Happy Hour - was my day off I guess! :) (you get 1 a week, but usually day 7)
• Day 6 P90X: It's Saturday and my body felt pretty refreshed to bring it for legs and back.  I like this routine also except for the one legged wall routine, what a trip to hell that is.  I am pretty tall at 6'3" and could use some added muscle to my legs as I think they are skinny, so bring this routine on baby! As normal on "lifting" day I ended with Ab Ripper X, no progress here beyond my day 1 ab ripper X
• Day 7 P90X: My legs are on fire, but what hurts most is my ass muscles! :p  The back/leg in my previous workout really works the glutes, but dont think the quads arent getting worked out, they are just the biggest muscle in your body and so can take the punishment better, but even my quads are a bit sore Its KempoX time and I was really nervous because this is how I hurt my hamstring which still feels quite strained. I love all the punching parts and most of the kicking but I did dial i back a bit on anything remotely that may aggravate my hamstring on the kicks. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice 1 hour cardio workout!

Some Thoughts On P90X Week One Results

1. So did I lose weight in week one?  NO - I gained two pounds 233 pounds.
   
2. What did I learn from week one? 
• Expect to be SORE AS SHIT
• expect to be hungry as a lion in the middle of dry season surrounded by a bunch of hyenas trying to steal your food. 
  
• Expect to sleep more than usual, I thought I had been hit with a horse tranquilizer!!
3. Any Setbacks? Nope, it went extremely well
4. Energy Level?  My energy level was great!!
5. Moody? Nope! I would say I was less moody than usual
6. Enjoyable? Yeah, I really enjoyed the videos
7. Impact on Life? Most definitely - it is hard to schedule 1.5 hours+ 6 days a week, just ask my family! :)
8. I now take two showers a day on workout days! :)
9. I was hoping for weight loss but everyone I talked to said the first 30 days you break even or even gain weight (which I did) as you begin to add muscle and not till phase II and beyond the weight begins to shed.

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