One Week into P90X and Running my new Blog

[calebwojcik]

Anyone else doing or tried P90X? I'm 8 days in so far and I am feeling great!

I timed this with the start of a new blog and while promoting it I fell upon this website and forum.

[mark]

Nice work! I'm a few days behind you (I saw you posted in my thread). Enjoying it so far, although I'm finding it pretty tough. Have you found it any easier the second week?

Want to share a link to your blog so we can follow along?

[calebwojcik]

I'd say that week two is necessarily easier, since now that I understand the form on all of the exercises I can push it that much harder. Logistically it is easier though because I know what to expect from an exercise, which ones I should use specific free weights on, etc. I have started to focus more on how I am doing the form of the exercise instead of how many. I'd rather build up to doing 30 correct push-ups by first doing only single digits, deep, perfect form ones the first week.

Since you asked for it (shameless plug to follow)... here my Blog is Pocket Changed. I would love any feedback you have on it. Its main focus is personal finance.

Are you doing the diet too? What is your nutrition like?

[bantic]

I started p90x a little before Thanksgiving. I took a break around xmas for a week, and I don't do the workouts on days that I play basketball (I'm in a league and play a couple times a week) because the one time I did that I completely wore out my arms and air-balled a bunch of shots. I consider an hour of high-intensity bball to be a good workout substitute. Anyway, that puts me in the middle of week 5. I absolutely love it. I thought Tony Horton was kind of a macho jerk at first but now I consider him funny and kind of a lovable goofball.

Anyway, I can very clearly see an improvement in my physique, and more inspiring than that, I feel better in lots of small ways. My energy levels are very clearly up. In the morning on the way to work I'm happier and I have so much extra energy that I often bounce on my toes while I wait for the subway, or sometimes even do a little air jump-rope in place. The other very cool thing is that I have increased the strength in lots of places where I didn't really realize I was deficient, and I feel like I've gained some of magical new abilities. Small but telling example: I almost always take the stairs two at a time going up in the subway, and before doing p90x I could certainly do it but I'd be a little winded at the top, and my form wasn't great. My legs would wobble a little bit side to side and I had to kind of jump off my back foot to get the momentum to get up to the next stair. Now, though, it's totally different. I have extra strength in my legs that I didn't have before, and -- I believe because of the p90x yoga -- I have better balance. When I climb the stairs I am in complete control. Rather than pushing off the back foot I'm pushing down using my forward leg only, and I can stop mid-step. For fun I'll do this and vary the speed I take the stairs: 3 fast and then slow down for the fourth step, then a couple fast again. I don't wobble or lose my balance. When I get to the top I'm less winded than I used to be, and my energy level rises very quickly, so I usually do some calf raises or little hops to bleed off the extra energy while I wait for the train.

I used to think being stronger just meant that you could do more push-ups or bench more, but I'm realizing after doing the p90x that the conditioning really affects a whole lot of what I do on a daily basis. There are lots of small examples like the one I gave above where I feel more in control and poised than I used to. I really look forward to doing the next workout now, and my social plans are starting to revolve around when I can fit in a workout, rather than the other way around.

I've only just started paying serious attention to the nutrition aspect. I always have tried to eat well, but now that I know what I'm eating is going to fuel better p90x performance, it's extra motivation. I'm focusing on cutting down most fat and avoiding carbs in the evening, and then munching throughout the day on high-protein stuff. Nuts and protein clif bars and the like. One of my goals this year is to cut to 11% body fat by the end of March (I'm at 13.5% now), and to have a visible six-pack in the same time frame. It feels very doable, which is helping me stay motivated.

[mark]

Hi bantic. Thanks for posting this.

I'm just at the end of the first week of P90X now and I've found the workouts all fairly tough the first time through but I expect things to get easier as my body adapts. Hearing your experience and the benefits you've found is very motivating for me. Thanks and I hope you'll keep us updated!

[calebwojcik]

Thanks for the great reply bantic!

I find that I actually have more energy by doing P90X too! It also increases my mental strength to stick with not only workout sets, but with other things too.

Did you two take before pictures? I did, but I'm only 11 days in, so not much (if any) visual progress yet.

Keep us informed of how your progress continues bantic.

[bantic]

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

Yeah, I took a couple of before pictures. I look pretty scrawny in them.

It was probably about three weeks before I felt like I could see any difference in physique. I just went on vacation with the family (to a warm destination) and posted a bunch of shirtless pics on facebook afterwards, and I've gotten several unsolicited compliments that I look stronger than I did before, which is pretty awesome. I figure it's pretty tough to stick with something as intense as p90x, so I try to keep a list in my head of all the reasons I am doing it, to keep myself motivated. Some of the reasons are: look better, feel better, be less vulnerable to injury, play basketball better. And when I'm running out of steam on some of the exercises I envision one of those reasons (like, I think about an acrobatic play around the hoop that I want to do, or dunking) and it helps me stay focused and power through instead of giving up.

[calebwojcik]

That's a great way to think about it bantic. Visualize the prize and attack it. Some of the phrases I put in my head when I want to give up include.

Pain is temporary. Glory is forever. (Cheesy, I know...)

It won't hurt when you're done.

Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. (Maximus from Gladiator...)

Brothers, what we do in life... echoes in eternity. (another ^)

I need to remix some music to go with P90X. What they have playing doesn't really get me going.

[Altair]

I did P90X and loved the intensity, plus Tony Horton's cheesy one-liners always make me laugh. The only reason I stopped was that it's so hard to stick to the 6-day a week schedule, and I like just doing my own thing. I like workouts that are spontaneous, like suddenly deciding to go run around outside somewhere.

Also, the P90X strength workouts are focused heavily on arms, and as a girl I don't want super-ripped arms, heh.

[calebwojcik]

I like just doing my own thing. I like workouts that are spontaneous, like suddenly deciding to go run around outside somewhere.

Also, the P90X strength workouts are focused heavily on arms, and as a girl I don't want super-ripped arms, heh.

I feel ya. I get bored of things pretty easily and I think that eventually I will get sick of the same thing over and over again. Some of the cardio days I have just wanted to go for a run or something instead, but I am trying to stick with what they have provided because they work the whole body more.

I find that the strength workouts focus a lot on chest, shoulders, back and core which helps with every part of my body. I like it so far, but I can understand why a girl wouldn't want to do it until she was super ripped. My fiance just does less weight and more reps (12-15) to get leaner muscles.

[Altair]

How's the P90X going? I've changed my mind and I'm actually doing it too. I have done 2 weeks so far, and I'm really enjoying it. It's winter so I don't mind staying inside and sticking to the schedule so much.

[mark]

I'm still going with P90X. Today is the end of week 3 for me. I'm posting my progress over in my 4 week challenge thread (link here) although work has been hectic lately so that thread has been a little quiet of late.

Keep it going and let us know how you do!

[calebwojcik]

I mentioned this over in mark's 4 week challenge thread, but with future-in-laws in town I had to take a break from it for about a week. I will be continuing with day 18 tomorrow, or possibly restarting week 3 again.

I agree though, when its crummy weather is nice to be active inside.

[bantic]

Still going well for me. I just finished up week 6. I'm halfway done! I've been trying lately to do a better job with the nutrition and eating part of it. I bought one of those bodyfat %age scales and have been using this site 'daytum.com' to track my weight and body fat every day to make sure I'm gaining weight but not too much bodyfat.