WTF!  Seems like there are times when you can’t catch a break.  First, my lower back has been slowly getting sore again.  Then my knees starting getting sore.  Next my stomach has been pissed off at something in my diet.  Finally, yesterday morning I pinched a nerve in my neck.  Or something else happened, but my neck hurt like a sonofabitch and that did not help my workout.  I pretty much dogged it the entire workout, afraid of shooting pains in my neck.  Never quite happened but the workout suffered.  Heart rate barely stayed in the aerobic zone.

Thank god for the recovery week.  Time to regroup and refocus.

End of week 6.  We made about half way through. Can’t say exactly since P90X is a 13 week program.  Kenpo is that workout that is fun to do.  Works up a good sweat. Gets the heart rate going.  Falls short at the end.  I’ve felt like this aspect of the Tony Horton P90(X) series has been a short coming. In P90 there wasn’t a Kenpo but the second part of Sweat was basically kicking and punching ala Kenpo X.  They both suffer the same problem.  You start strong and get good and lathered up.  The heart rate gets up into the zone.  Then over the course of the final 25 minutes of Kenpo (maybe 10 in Sweat from P90), it’s like its a cool down.  You continue to sweat but the heart rate slowly but surely drops out of the aerobic zone.  The moves just are not intense enough to maintain a good aerobic heart rate.  I’m looking to burn calories in the non resistance workouts by maintaining a high heart rate for the duration.  I’m going to have to try to push the intensity myself next time.  It’s not easy when you are getting tired by the end to self motivate and self regulate to a higher intensity.

I started P90X with no heart rate monitor.  Then I splurged for a cheap ass wrist watch model that does not use a chest strap. Instead you push a button on the top to get a readout.  That didn’t work very well.  Probably made my blood pressure go up just by trying to get a reading to work. So then I really decided to splurge (for real this time) and bought a Polar FT4.  Not overly excited about the chest strap but it works.  I think I’ll get used to it.  It made a huge difference in the Kenpo last night.  I was able to constantly get feedback on my heart rate and push myself more to get back into the aerobic zone I wanted to be in for this workout.  Very happy about that. Taking Kenpo X to a whole new level now.

May be time to reassess my nutritional intake.  I really zonked out by the end of the workout.  During my Power 90 weeks I tracked my nutrition religiously on fatsecret.com.  Love the Calorie Counter app for Android.  I continued tracking my calories the first week of P90X but didn’t continue.   Following the Insanity Nutrition guide, all of the meals are already specced out for calories so it became fairly easy to just estimate and feel comfortable that I was within range.  I should probably verify what my intake is exactly.  Then I can make sure I am getting enough or if I need to increase calories or add some complex carbs.  The term the P90X nutrition guide uses is “Bonking”.   I may be a little low on carb. In particular, complex carbs.  I’m eating very little bread and haven’t been eating rice or potatoes.  Well this is a good week to figure this out.  Get it right for the upcoming Phase 2 of the P90X workout.

Week 1 of P90X is in the books.  That’s my new favorite saying by the way: in the books.  Book it. Erh…

Moving on.  This is a few days late.  About 5 of them to be exact.  Better late than never, right?  As I said, moving on.  When you decide to partake in the challenge that is P90X you are looking to make a change in your lifestyle and your fitness.  What you don’t realize is that the first thing you are going to change is the amount of pain you thought you could tolerate.  This ain’t your grandma’s home video workout!

Day 1: Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

Why start off slow and easy when you can  jump right in with a killer upper body workout! Gravity at it’s finest. All you need is your own weight and the earth to work a ton of muscles.  Chock full of push-ups and pull-ups you’ll know you just had a workout after this one.  I was probably sore for the rest of the week from this workout alone.  I can’t do a pull-up without a chair but what I did do was more than enough to feel it.

After fighting gravity for 50 something minutes it was time for the core.  I though I was doing well with Ab Ripper 200 from Power 90 but that didn’t prepare me for the X.  Really hits the core more than just the abs.  My upper legs, hips and lower back were burning up after the first 3 exercises.  Good stuff.

Day 2 Plyometrics

The mother of all P90X workouts.  It puts the X in P90X as Tony says.  He ain’t kiddin.  This is a very, very tough workout.  Pushes your heart rate up quickly and doesn’t let up until your a sweating, quivering, heaving rag lying on the floor.  Love it.  This is why I’m doing this program for workouts like this.  It’s tough on the lower back condition I have but icing down my back after every workout has helped lesson the pain there.

Day 3 Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Keep pushing play.  After day 1 and 2 you’re ready for a nap, followed by bedtime and another nap.  Everything is sore and you just want to sit in front of the tube and veg out.  No can do my friends.  It’s time to hit those glamour muscles as Tony calls em.  Another injury I have is my shoulders so this is a tough workout but pushed through it and hit those Biceps and Triceps good.  The Side Tri-Raises were tough for some reason. Seemed pretty simple but they were hard to execute.  Gotta Bring It!

Day 4 Yoga X

Perfect timing for this one.  Not easy, but the intensity is not the same and getting that stretch on is just what the doctor ordered.  I really think this routine helps with recovery as well. I felt pretty good afterward and much better on Day 5 than I had been feeling.  Couldn’t execute all of the stretches though.  Crane was impossible.  The plough was also a little tough to do.

Day 5 Legs & Back + Ab Ripper X

Felt good after Yoga but my legs were fairly tired already from the week of work and my back and upper body were exhausted.  The pull-ups were tougher than on Day 1 and I felt fairly weak doing these.  Then there were the squats, followed by more squats followed by lunges….you get the point. Those Wall Squats are killer.  I have to admit, I forgot to do Abs afterward.  I quickly hit stop on the DVD player and didn’t do them.

Day 6 Stretch

Real life got in the way here.  On Saturday, my wife who is doing this with me was out of town. We had decided to take Saturday as our day off so I was going to do the Stretch routine instead. I never ended up doing it. The family came home early and we spent the rest of the day hanging out together.

Day 7 Stretch + Kenpo

Once again real life intercedes.  I did do the Stretch routine in the morning.  Nice stretch felt good.

My wife and I have been trying to workout at night after the kids are in bed.  We have a 6 month old, however.  He wasn’t cooperating and after about 30 minutes of trying to get the routine going we gave up and went to bed.

Day 7/8 Kenpo

So Monday morning, officially Day 8 we woke up early and did Kenpo X.  We didn’t skip it or give up but pushed on and made it work.  Kenpo is a great workout. Even fun.  I like the kicking and punching stuff.  Work up a sweat and pretend to be kicking the bill collectors ass while burning calories by the 100’s.  I don’t think I gave this one my 100% though.  I commented aftwards to Val that I thought it could have been harder and it probably was due to my effort.

In Conclusion:

One week down and 12 more to go.  Yes, it’s a total of 13 weeks in P90X.  Surprise!  If you make it through week 1, and should if you are serious about imrpoving your health and fitness, then you can make it.  It only gets easier after this right?  Well, maybe not easier but as you master the moves and you start to see changes you’ll be even more motivated to keep pushing play and Bring It!