Day 51 (Core), 53 (Kenpo) and my first missed workout.

Finished Core my last full day of vacation (Friday).  I didn't necessarily dog it, but I have to admit that I wasn't in the frame of mind to really put my all into it.  I got through all the exercises but I fell apart during the Plank/Chaturunga runs and iso's.  The Sphinx push ups were harder than I remembered too.

Saturday/Sunday was supposed to be Kenpo/Stretch.  I knew I was going to be driving 12 hours on Saturday, so I switched Kenpo to Sunday and essentially just skipped Stretch.  The Stretch workout is only done once during each recovery week for a total of 3 times during the 90 days.  It is also optional as the 7th workout every week.  Practically all the stretches in the workout are already covered in the warm-up/cool-downs of the other workouts so I don't feel like I really missed anything.  However, just to be good I plan on putting Stretch during my next off day so I can officially say I haven't missed anything.

Did Kenpo yesterday as planned.  Nothing really new here.  Kenpo is the easiest of all the workouts for me.  I've continued to toy with replacing it with Core every week.  I see from internet searches that others have done the same thing.  The problem with that is there would only be 48 hours of recovery from all the upper body stuff before I'd have to do another round of upper body with either Chest/Back or Chest/Shoulders/Arms.  It is really hard to tweak the P90X schedule without running into issues with recovery.

Day 50 (Yoga)

Finished Yoga this morning.  Not much to report.  These blog updates are likely to get more and more boring as less and less new happens.

Today's Yoga was very similar to Sunday's.  I got through right angle pose and grab without stumbling.  Prayer twist was better.  Couldn't hold Warrior 3, but did marginally better at the whole standing splits/half moon/twisting half moon.  Although I couldn't always hold the pose (with half moon being the hardest), I tried to keep the back leg up throughout the whole routine.  I stumbled here and there, but I am getting much better. 

I did notice that I've never been getting as low as what they do during the Chaturangas.  I'll work on that.

I also noticed last Sunday that I haven't been getting low enough on the side twists during Yoga belly.  Working on that too.

Day 48 (Kenpo) 7 weeks complete!

Finished Kenpo and week 7 today.  Not much to report.  Once again, proud to get a workout done while I'm on vacation.  Not too long into the workout, I was overwhelmed with the desire to quit.  Being on vacation isn't very conducive to pushing yourself in P90X workouts.  But I kept on and I'm really glad I did.  I haven't missed a workout yet and I'd like to keep the streak going.  Tomorrow is a day of rest, but I'm probably going to do X-stretch as I'm planning on missing it on Saturday when I face another 12 hour drive back to Indiana.  Thursday will be Yoga and Friday is Core.

Day 47 (Legs/Back) Dogging it...

Felt really tired and not into it this morning.  Also, it was difficult to perform some of the exercises in a different environment.  For instance, the walls at this condo are covered in some type of glossy paint that makes it difficult to hold traction on wall squats.  Plus, the temp pull up bar sucks...the ceilings are only 7 ft so if I stand, the pull up bar is at about eye level.  Then I had to switch between working out on a rug which slid on the floor or working out on the floor and sliding in my own sweat.  I couldn't focus, I couldn't keep balance on a lot of things I had been improving on...etc., etc.

I thought back about my posts on this workout and I've always bitched about it.  It is just a rough one for me unless everything around me is going perfectly.

At least I got through it.  I think I accomplished something at least and I know that I will do this again every resistance week.  

Day 46 (Yoga) on the beach...

Well, in a condo on the beach.

Completed my first real workout while on vacation.  Mel was busy out getting donuts while I completed Yoga X.

I tried a new expensive real rubber Yoga mat I got last week.  This is the second Yoga mat I've used.  I've also used an area rug and just on a regular rug.  I can't seem to keep my hands from slipping in downward dog no matter what surface I use...until today.  After giving up on the rubber mat, I ended up doing the whole routine on a very short pile/no pile area rug that was in the room.  It was perfect and I'm going to have to find one like this when I return to Indiana.

I am getting way better at the asanas.  WAY better.  My knees are much, much stronger than they were when I started.  I once again got all the way through the Right Angle Pose and Grab with no problem.

I learned a trick they don't really talk about for the next move, Prayer Twist from Runners Pose.  I saw Tony steady himself with one of his hands while putting the other forearm on the knee to start Prayer Twist.  This is much easier than taking both hands off the ground at the same time.  So you first pull up one hand (the arm that will end up on bottom) and then pull up the other one.  By doing this, I was able to get into the pose fully on one side...the second side was wobbly and I kept falling out.  But even getting one side for the full allotted time is a HUGE improvement.  I still can't look up while doing it, but that will come later.  At least I can hold the position and not fall.

Warrior 3 on my first side was still a failure.  I kept trying to stay in it but couldn't.  But I was able to stay in standing splits and get both half moon and twisting half moon for the most part.  The cool thing was Warrior 3 on the second side...I actually got it and completed standing splits, half moon and twisting half moon without falling out.  Twisting is easier for some reason. 

Once I did all of this, I once again suffered from "two steps forward, one step back" syndrome.  I had burnt out my legs and didn't have what I needed to do the balance postures on my legs.  I just kept falling out.  I was able to do crane more easily than ever though.  I think it may be the harder surface I was working on today.

By the way, I tried using something as a block.  I actually found it harder to maintain balance than just using my fingers or hands on the floor.

Day 44 (Plyo), Day 45 (Ab) Commitment is...

Did Plyo on Friday as normally schedule.  I was to do Back/Biceps today, but I moved it back to Thursday because I drove 12 hours to Florida today.  However, I couldn't do the Ab Ripper portion because I had already done it on Wednesday as a part of flipping my schedule around.  OK, so that is way confusing and not very important.

The important thing is that I actually drove 12 hours to vacation, was worn out, felt like crap, the last few hours didn't go as planned and I still managed to do the workout I was supposed to do.  That means I made it 45 days (halfway through to 90) without missing a single workout.  I feel pretty good about that.

Nothing special about Plyo except that I didn't have to pause the DVD once.  I wrote out a cheat sheet of the exercises to mentally prepare myself.  Many of them are fairly easy so I consider them mini breaks.  By writing the whole thing out, I can push myself through absolute exhaustion during the hard exercises because I know when I will get a breather.  The only real modification I did in the workout was that I simply couldn't get all the way to touch the floor for the rest of the routine after the second round of Squat Reach Jumps.  If I were to go all the way to touch the floor after that, I wouldn't be able to get back up.  So I would just go down to just below my knee.  That is the best I can do. 

Melanie and I are in Panama City Beach for a week.  But I always get up quite a bit before her and I plan to continue workouts while I'm here.  Tomorrow is Yoga.  I brought weights and the portable pull up bar for Legs/Back on Monday.  Kenpo on Tuesday will be easy.   Wednesday is rest (although I may do the stretch).  Then I move on to the rest/recovery week.  Thursday is Yoga.  Friday is Core.  I am swapping Saturday and Sunday to make Saturday stretch (which I may skip or do Wednesday because I am driving home this day) and then do Kenpo on Sunday.

Day 43 (Back/Biceps) P90X injury report!

Today was Back/Biceps...probably my favorite routine.  It is one of the shortest, it goes very quickly and it is very simply...do a bunch of curls and a bunch of push ups.  This workout was actually for Saturday but I moved it up to allow for the drive to Florida.  After Plyo tomorrow, I'll be right back on track for Yoga on Sunday and then my normal schedule.

As far as the injury, well it may be minor but I definitely did something to my shoulder yesterday.  I didn't feel it during the workout, but this morning I had a lot of tenderness in the right shoulder as I lifted it up into a fly motion...like you are raising your arm to get something off a shelf.  It isn't the soreness of working out...it is definitely a minor injury...a zing during that fly range of motion.  It didn't keep me from my workout today and it might not affect anything as I only have Plyo, Yoga, Legs/Back and Kenpo and then I'm into a recovery week.  It might affect Core, but that isn't until next Friday.  I hope it is healed by then.