Today I am taking the day off. Now stretch, no cardio after work, just rest. Looking back, this is the first time I think I took a complete day off. The only thing I am planning on is a walk tonight with the wife and puppies. This is the end of my rest week and tomorrow is Chest and Back.

I am on the fence right now about purchasing some Power Blocks. It is time to up my weights and I don’t want to have to buy 30 pound weights just to upgrade again in 4 or 5 weeks. So, we will see.

This is my 9th time going through Yoga X and my flexibility still needs  a lot of work.  My Moon moves are especially troublesome. I can only reach my lower calf on the  Half Moon and Twisting Half Moon. I can not believe how much harder I need to work on my flexibility.

Balance Postures are getting better! I was able to hold Crane for about 7 seconds. This is incredible considering I couldn’t even come close to holding first day. Overall my core strength is improving. It would be amusing to watch a video of my first Yoga X session compared now. Especially considering I didn’t even finish Yoga X the first time..

Well, I am still pressing play and pushing it as hard I as I can.

Do not let the name “Recovery Week” fool you. You are not sitting around watching Tony do stretches for 7 days. You are still working your tail off. Today’s Core Synergistics is a solid routine. I forgot hard it pushes you.  Like all the P90X workouts, I enjoy it. However, I can see a lot of people being mislead by the wording “Recovery Week”.

Tomorrow is Kenpo and I have my weight in on Tuesday at work.

I didn’t even realize I was beginning my second Recovery Week. I was planning a good resistance workout this morning until I reviewed the fitness guide. It is hard to believe I am in my 8th week of P90X. The time is just flying by. According to the guide, today should be Yoga X. However, Tuesday is my weight in at work and I want to loose as much as possible. So I will be modifying the schedule and doing a Plyo routine instead. Plus I did not have the mind set for 90 minutes of Yoga today.

P90x’s Kenpo X is always a great workout. All the punching and kicking really make the time go back quick. Today was exceptionally good for me because I was able to keep my heart rate about 160 for pretty much the whole routine. Tony keeps you working even during the breaks!

One thing I would recommend for those looking to get a little bit more out of the workout is weighted gloves. Just make sure you get a decent pair that are comfortable and wont chaff your hands.

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.

Woke up 30 minutes early this morning so I would have plenty of time to complete Yoga X. My love hate relationship continues with Yoga. I am struggling with the moon poses and I have no idea how they get their chests open that much! One nice thing is I was able to hold Crane for about 5 seconds. Watching myself in the mirror, I realized I need to get lower in my Warrior Poses. I start to creep up during these and have to force myself down.

Last Vinyasa

For some reason, I love seeing the Last Vinyasa come. It tells me the workout is half over and Balance Postures are coming. Not that I don’t love the Vinyasas, they are solid routines. It is just the fact of knowing the tough part of Yoga X is over. Anyways, tomorrow is Legs & Back and I need to finish my custom worksheet for that and get the downloads section going.

Additional Workouts

Yesterday I did not do my Cardio routine in the afternoon, so today I am going to do it after my second workout in the afternoon. We have the second workout with a work related fitness challenge so I will be dressed and ready to go. Hopefully three workout doesn’t completely smoke me… Still focusing on shedding those pounds.

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.

P90x’s Plyometrics is such a great workout! It  is so easy to get the heart rate pumping and keeping it up the whole time. I really enjoy this program and feel great once I finish. Today was another solid day. I added my weighted gloves to get the extra burn. Nothing really worth noting during the workout. I am at the point of just pressing play and bringing it as hard as I can every day.

Upgrades

So, I am starting to think my weight upgrade process is hurting my progress. Instead of having the 30 lb weights available and trying them, I am just pushing hard with the 25s. The same is true for the rest of my different weights. Also, if I add another set of weights, I will start running out of room in my office. As such, I am thinking about getting either the Blowflex Selettechs or The Powerblocks. I am heading over to Dick’s Sporting Goods to evaluate each and make a decision.

So, I am off to the internet to look for coupons and then off to Dick’s.

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.