Day 68,69 (Legs/Back, Kenpo)

So I went back to the normal schedule...Monday Legs/Back and Tuesday Kenpo.  No Core as my back didn't seem to like it.  Not sure when/if I'll try that again.

I surprised myself with Legs/Back this time.  I didn't have any problem with some exercises, specifically one legged wall squats.  My balance has also improved...barely needed any chair on the balance lunges (first exercise) and the toe iso rolls.  Actually, the only exercise that really kills me is the deadlift squats...where you are squatting on one leg.  That is a balance AND strength move and I lack in both.  I really struggled through those...wobbling all over the place and I know my form sucked.  I have a tendency to bend over instead of going straight down.  I get distracted by the pace of the DVD.  Next time I do this, I plan on pressing pause and really focusing on my form.

Legs and Back has really risen to the top (or should I say dropped to the bottom) of my least favorite workouts.  I say least favorite, but I can see how much these are helping me.  My knees and legs just keep improving.  So it is a love-hate type of thing.

I really could see an improvement in balance during Kenpo.  I was able to do front kick/back kick without even touching the ground with the kicking foot.  Kenpo isn't so bad...just fairly easy.  And perhaps I need "easy" once a week.  Kenpo is the only workout in which I feel energized throughout instead of wiped out.

Well, that wraps up 10 weeks.  Only two more weeks of resistance and then a "recovery" week.

Day 67 (Yoga) Getting better every time...

Completed Yoga today and performed better than I ever have.  I am beginning to see that statement on several workouts lately.  It is cool to start mastering some of this stuff.

First, I woke up late today.  Usually, I need to start workouts at 9AM on weekdays to get done in time for other activities.  Today, I didn't even wake up until after 9.  I wasn't sure how I was going to fit a 90 minute routine in and I kept putting it off.  I wasn't in the mood to spend 90 minutes exercises.  But finally a window opened that seemed to make sense and I finally pushed play on the DVD player.  Like most other days when I don't feel like working out, once I start the workout my attitude changes.

I was a little worried at first.  For some reason, I found myself kind of wobbly.  I almost fell backward out of Reverse Warrior.  That hasn't happened since I started P90X.  I thought that this was going to be a bad day.  But somehow everything got better.  I finished the whole right angle pose and grab thinking, that was WAY easy.  I still fell out of prayer twist in a lunge on the first side, but was able to keep it in the second side.  The massive improvement was in the Warrior 3 series.  I was able to get into Warrior 3 and hold it on both sides.  I wobbled around a bit, but I was able to stay up on one leg.  That is a first.  As I did last week, I used a "yoga block" (actually the box my weights came in) and was able to get reasonably respectfully through half moon and twisting half moon without bringing the back leg down.  The only problem was through the first series (with the right leg front) my leg burned out trying to come back into crescent pose at the end.

Another huge improvement was tree...I stayed in it without even wobbling on both legs.  The bad news is that I got overconfident and sucked at royal dancer...a pose I am usually decent at.  Standing leg extensions were rough too, but I am making small improvements.  I can do crane now for 10+ seconds but it puts a lot of strain on my wrists so I don't put a huge effort into it.  I have a lot more control in crane through and I can feel myself compensating and moving back and forth to stay up.

Nothing else really special to report.  My lower back felt better for a while after Yoga, but then felt worse through the day.  No modified routine this week...no Core!  Going back to Back/Legs tomorrow and Kenpo on Tuesday.  Once problem I am having is a little bit of what feels like tendinitis on the outsides of my ankles.  This happened a day after Legs/Back last Tuesday...perhaps from the calf raises.  Not sure, but it prevented me from going full out in one of the sitting hamstring stretches (where your foot is against your upper thigh as you bend over your leg).  My ankle felt a lot of strain and I couldn't stay in that position.  We'll see how that goes.

Day 66 (Back/Biceps) Injury II report!

Finished Back and Biceps...essentially a bunch of pull ups and curls.  I was able to increase weight on a number of exercises.  I may actually have to buy more weight...I am doing 50 pounds on lawnmowers and it isn't enough.

But I am feeling a lot of lower back strain.  I first felt this during my last Core workout last Monday.  There is an exercise where you mimic picking up an object on one side and setting it up on a shelf on the other over and over again.  I was feeling a little bit in my back during the exercise, but I attributed it to the normal "burn" you feel in muscles while doing a routine.  Well, perhaps you don't want that "burn" in your lower back.  I think I made it worse on Thursday doing tricep exercises.  I mentioned this on Thursday's blog (day 65) that there is no reason to stand during those exercises as it puts unnecessary strain on the back.

It isn't serious, but enough to make me sore quite a bit...and enough to say screw doing Core during the normal weeks.  I'm going back to the normal schedule of having Kenpo on there until my back feels better.

Day 65 (Plyo) The best so far...

Finished Plyo today and did the best I've ever done.  Forgive me if I've already stated this in previous blogs, but 90% of getting through Plyo is psychological.  If you can mentally break down the workout into the six sections it contains, it won't seem like an endless stream of exercises designed to kill you.

In my case, getting through the first and second sections is the hardest.  I don't have a problem with the jumping that happens in the next several sections, but the first two contain a lot of crouching/squatting that really tires the legs out quickly.  I consider those the hardest and I'm not able to get down and touch the ground by the end of them.  Each section has two exercises that I consider almost breaks because they are easier on the legs.  If you are aware of where these breaks are, you can mentally prepare for them and prevent yourself from giving up during the harder exercises.

Day 64 (Chest/Shoulders/Triceps) Just sit down!

Finished Chest/Shoulders/Triceps yesterday and I've learned the lesson to sit down several weeks too late.  What I am talking about is many of the weights-over-the-head exercises (tricep extensions and shoulder presses).  I have been struggling with some of these because it is awkward trying to stand while moving the weights around above your head.  I've thought about it and talked with others and determined there is no reason to stand during some of these exercises.  In fact, standing takes your focus away from where you really need your energy.  I wish I would have learned this six weeks ago as I could have pushed much harder and been much easier on my back for the past five times I did this workout.

Another lesson I've learned is to pause the DVD during many of the maximum rep exercises.  I am commonly doing push up variations far past the time they do on the DVD.  I'll automatically stop because I've used up the allotted time.  However, I've started pausing the DVD at the beginning of the exercise and then do my max reps.  I'm actually doing this on other exercises that aren't max reps so I can really focus on what I am doing without being distracted by either the pace or banter on the DVD.  I'm not criticizing the program...the pacing and banter was really useful early on.  I just feel like I've moved past much of it and can do this stuff on my own better.

I am really learning how it feels to push yourself to exhaustion.  When I first started the program, I would go until I really thought I was exhausted.  Later on, I learned how to push past that point to REAL exhaustion...like when the muscle isn't just uncomfortable but literally will not operate any more.  Specifically, it seems like push ups do this for me.  It is actually an awesome feeling powering through past what I thought my limits were.

Day 62 (Legs/Back) Oh...its about balance

Yesterday I completed Legs and Back.  Because of the P90X schedule, I haven't done this in two weeks.

One of the benefits of blogging all these workouts is that I can see patterns.  And one pattern is that I never feel good about this workout after it is finished.  Many of the P90X workouts are hard...in that it is hard to lift heavy weights or do it over and over again without becoming exhausted.  Other P90X workouts are difficult...in that it is difficult to actually do the routine because of balance or coordination.  I now realize why I'm so bummed about Legs and Back...because it is both hard AND difficult.

My biggest problem is all the different types of lunges.  It takes a lot of focus to conquer exhaustion and get through them.  Then you combine that with the difficulty in balancing in such a low lunge.  I talked with a friend a work and it seems like P90X lunges are a little odd in that they maintain a straight back leg.  This makes balancing a real problem for me.  I even have problems keeping balance in the warmup lunges.  My issue is really trying to find my center of balance.  Should I balance my weight on my front leg?  This would seem to be the best way to keep balance.  However, this means that your hips aren't necessarily square and pointing forwards...you are more pointed toward the forward knee.  This is a big no-no in Yoga where you are supposed to square yourself straight forward.  In reading this, it really sounds like I am over thinking, but what else am I supposed to do when I can't seem to keep balance?

I think I'll pop in the DVD over the next few days and really look at the form they are using during the lunges.

Even with this problem, I did OK I guess.  I had a chair beside me for balance and really tried to minimize using it.  I was able to do a decent number of pull ups without a chair before having to resort to one.  I did have to make a few breaks slightly longer as I caught my breath...my cardio seems to be suffering somewhat.  I didn't want to do this, but if I didn't take a short break, I knew my performance would seriously suffer.

Day 61 (Core) Mixing up the schedule and fading magic

Today was my first experiment in improving the P90X schedule.  Kenpo is done weekly, but I find it way too easy of a cardio workout and although there is some balance work through the minimal amount of kicking during the routine, the benefits are really limited.  I am committed to the program so I would continue to do it, but I saw an opportunity to tweak the schedule and replace it with something that adds more value.

Core is an excellent workout that focuses obviously on your core muscles while performing other exercises.  For the Classic schedule of P90X, Core is only performed six times during the entire 90 days.  Core is also pretty non-stop and therefore very cardio-like.  I've measured and it burns just as many calories as Kenpo so I don't lose any cardio by switching them out.  Essentially, what I lose in some balance and coordination, I get back in core work.  Mind you, I'm not losing all the balance work.  Yoga is practically all balance and the Legs/Back routine incorporates a lot of balance. 

Another thing...I'm not going soft here.  Core is WAY HARDER than Kenpo.  I am actually making the program HARDER by putting it in.  There is NOTHING in the Kenpo plan that I cannot do very easily.  However, there are a lot of exercises in Core that I won't be able to do for a long time.

The real issue to swapping out Kenpo with Core is how to schedule it.  I've found that the P90X schedule is actually made very nicely to allow for recovery and prevent over training.  Kenpo is on a Tuesday.  However Core is actually pretty chest heavy with a lot of push up like exercises.  Thursdays are always full of chest exercises and those two days don't feel like enough time to rest.  From the advice of Stephanie Osborne, I've decided to put Core on Monday and move Legs/Back from Monday to Tuesday.  The only problem with this is that there is quite a bit of lunge and squat stuff in Core too...hopefully not enough to put me off Legs/Back the next day.  We'll see.

Core went pretty well today.  It can really be an exhausting routine.  Most exercises don't use weight but those that do require very light weights because of the high number of repetitions.  I use only ten pound dumbbells for these.  Some of the more challenging exercises included are Sphinx push ups, Plank/Chaturanga runs and Plank/Chaturanga isos.  Each of these I can actually do by themselves on any given day.  But when you put them in the middle of the workout, they become exponentially harder...or almost impossible. 

P90X has really start to lose the magic for me.  The reason why is that it isn't really magical to begin with.  It is marketed and talked about as if it is some type of supernatural force.  But after 60 days of doing this, I am realizing that it is just a workout routine...three days of cardio and three days of weights.  It is well regimented and put together, but it isn't anything super special.  And after doing it for a while, I begin to realize that it isn't as hard as everyone says.  People actually scare you when they talk about it.  But once you get in the groove, although it is definitely challenging, it isn't impossible.  It isn't walking on water...it is just working out.