I am officially in Phase 3 of P90X! It is hard to believe this is my 57th day working out with the program. Reviewing the Fitness Guide before my workout, it is time for Chest and Back. I have not done with workout since end of Phase 1. This is part of the muscle confusion. Varying the workouts keeps your body guessing and helps eliminate the plateau effect you get with most workout.

Since I have not done this workout in a while, I was excited to compare today’s numbers to week 4′s numbers. Sure enough, there were significant improvements. Especially the pull ups and weights used. I am up to 10 pull ups unassisted and using 30 pound weights during the back exercises. I am really happy with these results and it is a great motivation to keep pressing play.

As I was reading the Fitness Guide prior to my workout, it mentions leaving everything on the mat this round. Pushing as hard as you can for the final stretch of P90X. This is going to be my goal for every workout for the remainder of P90X.

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To say my workout schedule is off is an understatement. It started going bad Monday afternoon. I skipped my afternoon cardio so Tuesday after my workout at work, I decided to squeeze it in. That would make 3 workouts in one day, plus a 1.5 mile walk with my wife and dogs at night. So, when I woke up today I was feeling a little off and sore. It is interesting how doing the same workouts at different times of the day creates new soreness. I guess your body is just used to being sore at certain points in the day. Something new for me to research….

So, this morning I woke up at 5:00am ready to pound out Legs and Back. I wanted to get started early because I had an 8:00 meeting on the other side of town. So, chugged my JACK3D and grabbed my worksheet for review while the DVD was loading. Come to find out, I never created a new worksheet for this routine like I said I was going to do last week. Needless to say, my morning workout was spent creating a new P90X Legs & Back worksheet. I am happy with the way it came out, looks semi-professional.

Anyways, no workout in the morning meant workout in the evening. My thighs are still sore from yesterday, however I got a good Legs, Back and ARX set in. My pull-ups are looking good and my focus on tightening up the diet is paying off. I was below 190 for the first time this morning, heck the first time in 10 years I think… Good workout today and looking forward to tomorrow.

It’s official, I am half way through P90X! Today’s workout was nothing different than the rest. Still focusing on getting my form as close to perfect as possible. I am also upping my reps and weights from the last time, so there is a steady progression. Still trying to shed a few extra pounds, however I am on the fence about doing Cardio tonight. I guess we will see.

Looking back, it is hard to believe I started this 46 days ago. Time has just shot by. Looking in the mirror, I do see a difference and I feel a lot better. Tonight I will be stopping by the Vitamin Shoppe to check out Flackseed. It is supposed to help “clear things out” plus it has a lot of great amino acids. Considering the blend of Omega-3′s and Flackseed.

Still pressing play and bringing it as hard as I can.

I can not believe it, today is start of my week 7 with P90X. Looking back, I am proud of where I am at. However, it is time to take a self check. Time to do a little self relflection to ensure I am going to make my goals by day 90:

Things I need to work on:

1. No more cheating on meals. I have been doing great with my diet, but there has been some cheating. I am holding strong at 191, however I want to get to the mid 180′s. So I am going to tighten up the diet.
2. More weight. Looking at my tracking sheets, I am not seeing the steady improvements I was seeing early on. So, I am going to dig deeper and push harder to start increasing weight or reps during the routines.

The Workout

With my new goals stated, it is time to bring it! The Chest and Shoulder routine is solid. The slow-mo push ups are a burner to start and the triceps raises finish the program strong. Looking at my sheet, I did see improvements. For a lot of the routines, I used 10 pound weights, next week this will be increased. The reps may go down, but as long as I can keep good form, I will settle for more weight with lower reps.

P90X is a journey. It is not something that will happen overnight. I am over half way through and ready to make the changes needed to finish out and meet my goals.

Legs and Back are a constant switch between leg exercises and pull-ups. You end up doing 6 different rotations on pull-ups. That being said, I am really seeing improvements with my pull-ups. Embarrassing enough, I couldn’t do 1 pull-up day one. Today I did 7 reverse grip the first round and 5 the second round! This is huge for me! The rest of my pull-ups were improvements as well. This is such a great motivator and really got me jacked for my day.

JACK3D

Speaking jacked, last night I stopped over to Vitamin Shoppe and picked up a refill on JACK3d. Talking with a few workers there, they recommended the Fruit Punch flavor. I have only used the Lemonade before, so I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately I am not a fan. It is a little too sweet for me first thing in the morning. I will be heading back today to exchange it for Lemonade. If you are using JACK3D, it is on sale right now at Vitamin Shoppe. I believe it is $27.99. Like everything, I am sure you can find it cheaper online, however I like the convenience of stopping by the store, talking with the workers and comparing items.

One last note, the worksheet for Legs and Back is messed up. It only lists the pull-ups and the week numberings at the top are all off. As such, I will be creating a new sheet today and also creating a downloads sections on the site.

After a poor workout in Kenpo X, followed by a day off yesterday, there was a tiny feeling of doubt starting to set in. Not enough to really faze me, but enough to ask the question “why am I not pushing it hard?” Well, today that little bit of doubt was squashed with a solid Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, and ARX set.

Yesterday, after work, I decided to get a good workout in at the gym to make up for not do anything in the morning. My concern last night was I did a little too much and would be feeling it today during my P90X workout. Sure enough, there was a little soreness. It didn’t impact the routine too much, however, I was only able to match the number of sets I did last week during the routine.

Tony’s advice for this workout is to make sure the last three sets are really tough and make sure you are feeling the burn. I can say I was feeling the burn on the last three for a majority of the workout. I was happy to be back in action and on track with the system. I am looking forward to Plyo tomorrow and I am also toying with the idea of doing doubles for a few weeks. There are only a few weeks left in the fitness challenge at work and I really want to maximize my weight loss. I will be researching Doubles tonight to try and make up my mind.

As I progress with the P90X program I am starting to see improvements. Keeping track of your numbers on the worksheets is crucial. I didn’t really believe that until this round of P90X. Documenting your reps and weights helps for the next round. Especilly when you are really trying to push yourself.

Today my pull ups were a lot better. Even on the second round I was able to get solid numbers in and not use the chair very much. I am happy with the progress I have made and the results this far. Really looking forward to Day 90!

I am half way through week 3 and I am seeing improvements in all my routines. This morning I was able to do 5 good under hand pull-ups with no chair. This is huge for me because I couldn’t do one 19 days ago! During this routine I was adding weights when Tony gave the option during the different leg exercises. Wall squats are getting a lot better as well. I held all the wall routines for the maximum time, even the leg raises.

Ab Ripper X was a solid workout as usual. In previous ARX routines I would go a little faster than Tony to get a extra rest between sets. It is also easier to get it done quicker. However, there is a reason he sets that pace. It gives you extra resistance and works the muscles harder. Today kept up with the pace of the group. This gave me an extra workout for sure. Learning from previous ARX workouts, I now start some of the exercises while Tony is still explaining. Like the V-up Roll up. I will get  head start and I actually finished with the group today. My form is still shaky on the Side Raises, but overall I am enjoying Ab Ripper X.

Each time I watch the routines, I pick up different things going on in the background. Today I kept laughing every time Drea was denying Eric on the fist bumps. I understand he may not be her favorite person, but can’t he get a little love? I think she rejected him twice and the third time he had to shove his fist in her face to get some recognition. Thank goodness he stuck with it though. Would have looked bad for the video if he gave up on her.

Staying Motivated

It is amazing how just sticking with P90X for 19 days keeps me motivated. There is not even a question about whether or not I am going to get out of bed at 5:15am to workout. My morning routine is very methodical and it is really helping me stay on point. Also, keeping a daily log of my P90X journey is very encouraging. It is good to go back and see my progress. These two things, plus the fact that I am seeing steady improvements have me motivated to keep working hard at the P90X program.