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.

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.

I always have mixed feelings about Yoga X. Before I start I am dreading, but half way through the Vinyasa I am loving it! It is hard to believe I was so against the routine when I first started. Probably due to the difficulty. Now I realize what a great workout it is and how much it does for my body.

Yesterday I did my first Doubles routine and completed the Cardio X in the afternoon. It is a quick 45 minute routine that incorporates a little Yoga, Kenpo, Plyo, Stretching and all around fun. As soon as I finished, I didn’t think it was that great. However, by 8:30 pm I was feeling it. It is amazing what a little extra cardio will do to your body.

Overall I am making good progress through P90X and already planning my next round when I am finished with this one!

I have a love hate relationship with Yoga X. It is so long that it really tears up my mornings. However, it is a solid workout and I know my flexibility is getting better each time I do it. I made it through today and was able to hold every plank to either upward or downward dog without breaking plane. Overall every move gets tighter and more precise each time I do Yoga X. So that is encouraging. The yoga block is priceless and I don’t know why I waited so long to get one.

I also met with a nutritionist today and my diet checks out! She was happy with everything. I thought for sure she would blast me on how much protein I take in. However, she thought it was acceptable. I am 191 lbs and she said anything under 200 is good. She also liked the fact that I drink over a gallon of water everyday. While I was there we talked about some healthy snacks and I managed to get a few really great tips from our conversation.

Overall, today was a good day. I am going to keep pressing play and keep writing in online journal. Even if no one is reading…..

Workout 1 – Yoga X

My morning started off the same, a solid Yoga X routine. This was my first time using my new Yoga Block, and it really helped. My moon poses where a lot wider because I could balance myself on the block. For $10.00, it is well worth it. During the routine I really fought to keep my thighs off the ground during upward dog and adding push ups between upward and downward dog. I was happy with progress I made at that. There was only one time I hit a child’s pose during the transition. My balance poses are getting better and I feel myself reaching and stretching further.

Workout 2 – Team Workout

As I mentioned in previous posts, my employer is sponsoring a fitness program at work. You create a team of 8 fellow employees and work out twice a week with an instructor pushing you for an hour.  There are a number of teams participating and the winning team will be the one who looses the most weight. This ties into my P90X program very well. What is really nice is it takes place during business hours. So you basically get paid to work out! We do a lot of different exercises in one hour including cardio, upper body, legs, and back. I enjoy working up a sweat but a lot of the routines go against my P90X goals. The instructor likes us to 75+ reps with routines mixing on and off with a partner. I am a firm believer in 1 -3 sets doing as many as you can and alternating routines. However, I still enjoy getting two extra workouts in a week.

Workout 3 – Basketball

After work I decided to play some basketball with a co-worker. It has been about 5 years since I played basketball last, and it really showed. My ball handling and shooting was aweful. I could not find my rhythm for the tempo of the game. Not to mention the fact that I was sweating like a pig. If I was not 27 days into P90X, I may have had heart failure. Well maybe not, but even with the exercise I am getting from P90X, I was still way out of basketball shape. So, I am going to add basketball to my weekly exercises and focus on getting what little skill I used to have back.

Overall, today was burner on my body. On the way home from basketball I tried having a healthy sub at Jersey Mike’s. After researching nutrition facts online after eating my tuna sub, I realize there is no such thing as a healthy sub at Jersey Mike’s. It was loaded with fat and calories, however I worked extremely hard today and I am sure my body burned right through it. I am off to grab a Casein protein shake and then hit the hay. Hopefully I can catch some good REM sleep and let my body heal.

I am starting week 4 today which is recovery week. Recovery week is all stretch and cardio workouts with no resistance routines. Unfortunately I was not mentally prepared to do a Yoga routine this morning. It really is surprising the mind set you need for a Yoga X routine.  Especially when you are looking forward to good chest and back workout. However, I did make it through and was happy with my progress.

As I continue to work on my flexibility, I do see myself reaching a tiny bit further each time. I am not wrapping my hand around my ankles in hamstring stretches or anything, but there is improvements. I also picked up a yoga book at the library today to do more research on the poses and additional stretching. The moon poses are still very difficult and I did not get a chance to buy a yoga block. Hopefully the block will help with deeper and more solid holds in different moves.

P90X Thus Far

So here I am, week 4 of P90X. I am proud of the hard work I have put in and the progress I have made. If I want to get the results that I want, I need to get more serious about the diet and push myself harder. Yesterday I picked up another round of supplements and got a container of Casine protein to assist with protein synthesis.

I came out of my last round of Yoga feeling great about the routine. I had finally finished the entire workout, albeit heavily modified, but I made it through. As I was waking up this morning I was really looking forward to bending and flexing. After holding a Half Moon for about .125 seconds, I realized how much more work I need in order to become efficient at Yoga X.  Looking back at last week I would not say I was arrogant about my skill at Yoga, maybe riding an endorphin rush. However, I really felt good about the routine. Coming out of today, I realize how much work my balance, core, and flexibility needs.

I do see improvement with how far I can reach during the stretches, however it is no where near what the pros are doing. One new item that has been added to my equipment wish list is a Yoga block. One of my Perfect Push ups is not cutting it….

Moving through the P90X program, I am proud of my progress. I have been pushing myself hard and pretty diligent about my diet. Hopefully Friday’s X Stretch will help me with some of my flexibility issues.

Yoga X – You Can Do It!

After my first attempt at Yoga X, I felt defeated. I was ready to swap another cardio exercise for this one. Today was my 2nd go around with Yoga X and I am proud to say I made it through!

When the alarm went off this morning at 5:20, I did not want to get out of bed. I knew Yoga X was waiting for me and I was not ready to face the workout. After forcing myself out of bed and downstairs, I was ready to slay the Yoga beast. It was as simple as mind of matter. After about 20 minutes into the workout I realized I could actually do Yoga. All be it, a very scaled down version, but I was doing Yoga! I found little spots to take breaks like going from Plank to Downward Dog I would do a quick Child’s Pose to catch my breath. After 90 minutes of the workout I felt amazing! I am very proud and ready for the next Yoga workout.

The routine itself is great. It really helped me stretch out tight hamstrings (from Plyo) and a sore back. I found myself stretching about the same as I could when I played football in high school. My goal by the end of 90 days is to master the Crain and really perfect the rest of the positions. This seems very achievable after today’s success.

Reflecting on my progress from my first attempt to today I realized this is what P90X is all about. Pushing yourself beyond what you think you can do. I had to get out of my own head this morning to get going. Once I did, I was on my way. Reflecting back to last week’s post on my Yoga experiece, I called it “a failure”. This is not accurate. A failure is when you face a challenge once and give up. I faced the challenge of Yoga X and conquered it. Today’s experiece was a superior motivator for me has me completely pumped!

Watching Tony and the others, I realized how far I need to go before I can get half of the maneuvers. I also had a hard time looking up at the TV to get the technique right, while I was on the ground contorting my body. To be honest, I gave it about 30 minutes before I had to stop and re-evaluate my Yoga future. I did fast forward to check out the rest of the workout, and the moves just got harder.

So, feeling defeated, I started reading other people’s opinion on the Yoga X workout. It is a given that Yoga is a great workout and really does help with coordination, core strength, etc. Fellow P90X’ers like, Coach Josh, say it is OK to substitute another cardio workout like Plyometrics. However, I am not going to give up on Yoga. It is good for me, and P90X is supposed to be a challenge. It is not “P90-Give-it-a-shot”, ITS P90X!