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.