P90X - Phase 2

This week is Week 5 of P90X, which begins Phase 2. There's 2 new videos for the next 3 weeks, then a recovery week, and then the next 4 weeks go back and forth between the first set and the 2nd set of videos.

I feel very good about the first month. I didn't skip any days, and I can see some definite improvement. By Week 3 I was doing more pushup and pullups than in Week 1. I went from about 138 lb. to 133 lb. and 24.5% body fat to 23.3%. I had a very strenuous martial arts test at the end of Week 4, and my recovery was very good. And that's just after the first month! Because of the test I had to do, I gave myself 2 extra rest days before beginning Week 5.

So now, I'm 3 days into Week 5. Monday I did the Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps video. It adds some of the exercises from the first phase on the Shoulders and Arms video, but most of them are new, and it adds about 6 new kinds of pushups, which are all I would say more advanced than the ones you get in Week 1.

Tuesday I did Plyometrics, same as before. I can't really do the rockstar jumps because they make my knees hurt, and the hot foot makes my left foot sore, so I just do a jump rope motion during that, but otherwise I can keep up pretty well with this video.

Today was Back and Biceps. The pullups are basically the same as in the other videos, but with the added pain of something called Corn Cob Pullups. I wasn't able to do as many pullups as I had been doing, probably because it's been 2 weeks since I did any, and this workout really makes your arms sore. It goes pullup exercise, some other back exercise, and then 2 bicep exercises.

Last week, I got some lighter weights (5 and 3 lb) for Core Synergistics, but now I'm really glad to have them, since both of these new Phase 2 videos required lighter weights than 10 lb. I don't feel bad at all to go down to 10 or 5 lb at the end of a workout when my arms are killing me and having good form isn't happening with something heavier.

P90X blogging

This blog has been dead for a while, but now I've got something new I want to keep track of - P90X training. I began on Saturday with some downloaded files (to try before I buy), but I've already ordered the DVDs to keep everything honest.

Day 1
Chest and Back

This was a hell of a lot of pushups and pullups. A few weights (rows and such) thrown in for fun. Elevated pushups, diamond, dive bomber (which I knew as Hindu pushups), wide arm.. all kinds of pushups. I won't do this one on Saturday anymore, since I do another workout regularly on Saturday mornings and the combination of the two just about killed me, but I'll switch it around with the rest/stretch day, which would normally be Friday for me now.

Day 2
Plyometrics

A cardio workout. This was a lot of fun, but it made me sweat for sure. Lots of jumping and explosive movement.

Day 3
Shoulders and Arms

Almost entirely weights and it cycled between shoulders, triceps, and bicep exercises. I learned there are many types of curls out there.

Day 4
Yoga

Just about killed me. I looked it up online and found a lot of other people like me, in pretty good shape who weren't too daunted by the cardio or weight stuff in P90X, but the yoga, which I never do, is very tough. I look forward to getting better at this, because I'm crazy.

Day 5
Back and Legs

More pullups for the back, and a lot of squats and lunges, some with weights, for the legs. My old friend the wall squat was in there.

Day 6
Kenpo

Explosive punching and kicking. Nothing new here for me, I do this kind of stuff all the time, but you do have to focus to make it challenging. I might add my 16 oz gloves at some point to make this a little tougher, since this one is done every week for the set.

This is as far as I've gotten so far. Tomorrow should be the Stretch video (for the rest day) but I'll do that on Saturday instead and repeat the Chest and Back video tomorrow. Then I repeat these for the next 2 weeks. The 4th week is a "recover" week, with no weights, but it throws in the Yoga twice, and some different cardio videos that I haven't seen yet. The 5-7 and 9-11 weeks add different weight videos than the ones I've done so far.

I didn't see anything to scare me off so far, and some new things for me to work on. I'm looking forward to keeping it going and seeing if I get some improvement in my arm muscles, pullup ability, and reduction in body fat %.