Sick Day 3

Should've gotten up and worked out today... will tomorrow.

Sick Day #2

Maybe I could have gotten up and worked out. But, I set the alarm for 6 and slept amazing. So, no regrets. Today was to be cardio and that would probably be the best option if I decide to sneak it in tonight… but I have a suspicion that I will just want to go to bed as soon as possible. When I start back up I guess I’ll just start where I left off.

It’ll be nice to be able to breathe again.

Sick Day

I’m giving in and taking a sick day from P90X. Working out isn’t going to be beneficial if I end up sicker or in bed the rest of the day. I awoke before the 4:30 alarm and moved it back to 6am. When the alarm went off it still seemed early, though my sleep was anything but good. Today was supposed to be One on One Back, Biceps, and Balls. I’m assuming the balls reference is to medicine balls (which I don’t have) and/or stability balls.

Maybe I’ll pop in the DVD and watch it just for the heads up on what I’ll be doing next week. Or maybe the second the kids are asleep I will be too.

I’ve actually been doing pretty good with avoiding sweets over the holidays. Though with the cold I’ve been making myself eat when I’m not hungry just to have something in my belly besides various vitamins and herbal supplements.

Day 58 - One on One Plyocide

This routine has scared me ever since I heard the title. I reasoned that nothing good could end in 'cide' ... think of all the words you know that end in those four letters. None of them are good. Plus, I haven't been overly fond of things that begin with the letters 'plyo.'

So, I cheated today. Didn't wake up early because my head is fighting a cold. Napped while my son did, and longer than my daughter. Finally stuck the DVD in once my son was asleep... but my daughter wasn't. I'm not going to lie; I did very little of the routine. The first 15 minutes were spend on a balance ball with my beautiful 18lb weight. Once she was asleep I joined in for some moves. But, not all and none for their intended length.

Obviously most of the moves in the routine are plyo. Some are isometric. Seems like there are more iso moves in the first part and more plyo toward the end. Seems like that set up just makes it harder. Plus for some moves you're doing plyo while holding a medicine ball or dumbells.

Chair while running and jumping killed me. I think this whole routine will have that effect next time, when I actually attempt to do all of it!

Day 57 - One on One Shoulders & Arms

This routine could go much faster than the clocked 60ish minutes. Tony talks a lot. There are 10 moves done in sets of two and repeated three times. My least favorite is seated flys; I always hate those. But they're paired with my favorite: a move where you lift your arms straight in front of you to shoulder height, rotate them to fly position and lower; then do in reverse.

Arms are exhausted. I foresee triceps hurting tomorrow.

Day 56 - One on One Stretch and Recovery

Not thrilled that this was over an hour. Otherwise it was a pretty good routine. Certainly a good "day off" exercise. Didn't break a sweat, but didn't expect to. Muscles are sore.

I would have liked more neck/shoulder stretches. Those are my favorite on the X Stretch but almost non-existent here. Tons of hamstring/leg stretches. An amazing amount of side stretches; those were nice.

I decided today to work out while the kiddos were awake and in the room. My son thought it was awesome. He jumped and ran with me to warm up. Did forward bends with me. And ran/crawled all around me when I was doing any downward dog stretches or stretches with my legs separated. Apparently I make good tunnels. My daughter was happy in her bouncy seat until the last 10 minutes and then I was to the sitting on the mat stretches, so she joined me on the mat and made faces at me. Yay for the kiddos being entertained during my workout. Don't know that I could expect that if I were jumping around; I'd be too paranoid about running over them.

Four weeks left!

Day 55 - Cardio X

Ah, Thanksgiving day! I was magically able to get up and get this quick 40 min workout in before the guests or daughter woke up. Hallelujah! Glad it was a short workout today... but probably ate waaay too much to break even.

My favorite part was that not all the squats involved jumping.  That being said, I totally broke a sweat early and worked hard. I don't know if it was the promise of food or what, but I put more in than usual. Felt great!

One downside was that I was working out in the basement and didn't have a mat. Not horrible for the yoga portion. But I had to skip the Dreya Rolls... didn't think that would feel good on a wood floor. Superman Banana was modified to Banana Crunches.

Day 54 – One on One Core Synergistics

I was really curious how today’s workout was going to be different from the P90X Core Synergistics that I did earlier in the week. Answer: It was harder, but much like most One on One workouts it was less organized. Total running time was 67 minutes; I was sad to see that as I hit the alarm more than I should have. There was a section that he called the Bonus Section, so I skipped past that and eliminated about 10 minutes. It was enough to give me time for a shower.

The regular workout was hard enough, not sure that I could’ve done any of the bonus moves anyway.

There were some moves that I really liked… Dreya Roll with medicine ball: I don’t have a medicine ball yet (ordered one with P90X2) and didn’t feel like going to the basement to get a basketball; so I used a stuffed dog. Tony says that the heavier the medicine ball the more momentum and balance you have, so it actually makes the move easier. The stuffed dog wasn’t very heavy, so I didn’t see if that was really a benefit. It did keep me from using my hands during the rolling portion and I liked that. Rolling Boat: I liked the contrast of rolling (massaging the back) and holding the boat pose; the rolling was a nice break and felt great. Plyo Runner’s Stretch: Basically in plank and jumping feet to lunges with the front foot to the outside of your hands.

There were some moves that I couldn’t decide on… The whole first section after warm up uses a stability ball essentially as a weight. So, you’re doing leg moves but your arms are killing you because you keep lifting the giant ball. These moves were really hard on my arms despite looking like they should be easy. The other move that falls into this category was Banana Ball Crunches (the ‘dessert’ for a Dreya Roll meal): Holding the stability ball (or medicine ball) in your hands you crunch up and grab the ball with your legs/feet and return to banana, then move the ball back to hands, back to legs, etc. I’ve done this move before, though I can’t recall where. Possibly an ab class I took years ago at a gym. It was hard then and it’s hard now. I like the challenge but it kills my core. Which I guess is the point of today’s workout.

There were some moves that I hated (basically because they were impossible for me)… The two that stick out most were very similar and left me doing the same modification for each. One was standing on one foot, touching the ground and jumping legs back to plank only touching down the one foot, doing a push-up, and jumping back up to one leg. The other was holding a stability ball above your head, touching it down to the ground and jumping feet back to plank, doing push-up on stability ball, and jumping back up to raise the ball above your head. Jumping feet back while holding the stability ball made me super afraid that I was going to somehow slip and smash my face. It also made me think that I probably need to add more air to my ball. For both of these moves my modification was standing, jumping back to plank, push-up, jumping back up. And my modified moves wore me out.

Day 53 – One on One Total Body

Today was not an easy 4:30. Last week I started getting hopeful that the kids’ bedtimes would allow me to work out in the evenings again. Last night reminded me why that doesn’t work. I had them more or less in bed at the normal time but my daughter decided that she wasn’t going to be happy unless I was by her side. So, she woke up crying at 8 and 9; each time waking up big brother, who joined in the crying.

So this morning I hit snooze more than I should have. But the workout was mercifully 40 minutes. A hard 40 minutes, but still short.

One thing I’ve decided with workout DVDs is that I might as well put my all into it. Once I hit play I’m going to be working out until the timer reads 0:00. And if my workout is going to take a set amount of time I might as well make the most of the time. If I do a half-hearted workout for 40 minutes I’ve wasted the same amount of time as if I put my all into it and get a good 40 minute workout.

Much as it did last time this workout really made me excited for P90X2 since it’s done on the set. It’ll be fun to see how Tony takes elements from these One on One workouts to create something more intense.

Day 52 – One on One Yoga

I was amazed at how good 4:30 felt this morning. After a busy weekend and late evening I expected the alarm to go off way too early. Instead, I was awake, feeling refreshed 20 mins before the alarm. Course, I did crawl back into bed for the extra cuddle time with my daughter. But, I was ready to go when the alarm sounded!

It was really nice to return to this short 60 min yoga routine after three weeks of Yoga X. There are still moves I am unable to do, but I found myself enjoying much more of the routine.

I feel like I’m oh so close to chaturanga. I think I should have it in the next week or so… even if it’s getting it once during a routine. I’ve been here before, and that’s how I assume I’ll start. I’ll be a good month before I can consistently push through chaturanga. My left ankle/leg area was a little unsure of some of the stretches and I’m not sure what to think of that. It’s been feeling fine otherwise. Guess I’ll continue to stretch it to the feels good point and watch for any signs of it not feeling right.

One thing I’d forgotten was how much Tony loves the chair pose. When I got to work this morning I thought, “ I have a limit on how many chair poses I can do before climbing three flights of stairs; I have surpassed that.” On the other hand, I love that this is a yoga workout that makes me shake. It’s so nice to be challenged on a regular basis.

Day 51 - Rest Day

Okay, so I just had a rest day two days ago. But, it was a busy day. Fun except for the daughter screaming/crying the whole trip home from Omaha. Yoga may have been a good call after that. But, I just wanted to get everyone, including myself, quiet and sleeping. So, I'll resume working out tomorrow and work out on my next rest day. That means X Stretch on Friday.

Day 50 - Core Synergistics

The funny thing about recovery week is that I always think how nice it will be. Then I do the first workout and am reminded that while the workouts aren't as intense or weight based they are in no way easy.

And Core Synergistics always reminds me how far my core has to go. But, I'm getting there. I was able t do the Dreya Roll for 45 of 60 minutes today and did the 'extreme' jump at the top method. Guess this plyo stuff is rubbing off on me!

The last workout this week is the One on One Core Synergistics. Haven't done that one yet; it'll be interesting to see how it's different from today.

Day 49 – Rest Day

It’s amazing how excited I get about setting the alarm for 6am. Sleeping in! It wasn’t all that long ago that I considered 6am an early morning.

My legs don’t hurt as much today as I thought they would. Probably hurt less than yesterday. But I’m feeling my shoulders/triceps today. So glad that next week is a recovery week. My body needs that. One of the things I love about Beachbody routines is that they build in things like recovery weeks. It’s nice to know that a fitness expert feels a recovery is needed at this point, rather than just feeling like I’m being a wimp. When I leave my schedule up to me I know I alternate between pushing myself too hard and refusing to take breaks, to choosing easy routines and becoming apathetic about if I’m feeling any improvement.

Tomorrow’s day 50… only 40 more to go!! On Sunday my daughter is 3 months old. When I had my son he was 3 months before I started P90X. So, I guess I’m ahead of the game. I have to keep reminding myself of that. Today I’m wearing non-preggo jeans and it feels great! Except that I felt like the stereotypical girl lying down to button her jeans and I have an awesome muffin top. Hooray for a big polo shirt.

Day 48 – One on One P.A.P.

Having put in the DVD last night, I decided that I needed to actually try this P.A.P. thing today. The thought scared me. Putting in the DVD and seeing the clock start at 1hr 9min didn’t help. But, I can’t put it off forever.

So, what is P.A.P. ? Copying from another person’s blog: “P.A.P. stands for Post-Activation Potentiation. Sounds a little “sciency” uh? That’s because it is. It is an idea developed by Dr. Marcus Elliott at his Santa Barbara training facility for high profile athletes called “P3“. In the most laymen terms, Post-Activation Potentiation is a training routine that involves complexes of heavy strength movements followed by explosive exercises that is said to fire your muscles so that they are more activated to help you perform better.”

In other words, bearing weight, then doing plyo moves. Because I need more plyo! Apparently so. My legs were aching from yesterday before I even began. But, I was locked in once I pushed play. There’s a warm up section. Then some lower body moves which are repeated four times. Then some upper body moves repeated four times. Then an awesome cool down stretch section.

The warm up was jumping and salutations. I hate when he does salutations for a warm up; specifically because I don’t like wearing my shoes and being on the mat. But, I also don’t want to wait and stop to put on shoes after the warm up. And I don’t like doing salutations on the hard floor. I usually just end up having my shoes on the mat. Or my hand on the mat and feet on the floor, but that causes slipping more often than not. If we had carpet this probably wouldn’t be an issue. But, no carpet here.

Throughout this routine I had issues with space. Where to put the mat so I had both mat space and floor space? How to alternate between weights and jumping? The hardest for me was doing weighted lunges followed by plyo lunges. Weighted push-ups followed by plyo push-ups had me on my knees sooner than I would have liked. There was a cool wrist/elbow stretch after each push-up segment.

The stretches at the end were great. Tony took stretches that we’ve done before and inserted variations to work smaller more specific muscles. Very cool. Felt amazing. My legs especially needed all the attention after today.

I was sweating so much, one of the problems with the heater kicking into morning mode when it does. But, by the end stretches I was freezing… due to the sweat and no longer moving all around.

Time actually flew by once I got going. The workout won’t scare me as much when it comes up again. I believe next week is a recovery week, so not sure what routines that will hold. Then this last part seems to be heavier on the One on One routines and lighter on the P90X.

Here’s hoping I can walk tomorrow! Yowzers!! (Or is it Wowzers? Is there a difference between those words? Spell check doesn’t seem to think that either is actually a word. Something to google…)

Day 47 – One on One Base & Back/ARX

I’ve kind of given up looking for the Legs & Back DVD. Either it’ll turn up at some point or my son threw it away (he likes putting things in the trashcan these days). May have to order a replacement disk at some point.

This workout was as killer as last week. I kind of like the idea of doing plyo moves to exhaustion/counting rather than for a certain amount of time. Not sure if this makes me push myself more or slack off a little, but I feel like I can do more moves, just at a slower pace and over more time.

Last time (Monday) I had a workout that involved pull-ups I started using the green band (the tightest band we have, a step up from the red one I had been using). I did that again today. It makes it a little harder to see improvement since I can’t do as many moves as I did with the red band. But I like that fewer moves give me a better burn. And presumably the harder pull is a good stepping stone for eventually doing an actual pull-up. I think I mentioned last time, but it’s odd using the bands to modify when there’s not a modifier on the screen. It’s just Tony doing his crazy pull-ups, while I try to mimic the movement using my bands. I really look forward to seeing some of the modified moves in P90X2.

On today’s plyo moves I also found myself occasionally thinking “how would Pam be modifying this?” Course, with plyo the answer is jumping less high, or not at all. I’ve really been making a point to get myself off the ground. The one exception being the leaping lunge/runner’s pose; I’ve been stepping through my the end of this move as it wears on my back to bend between jumps while lunging. I’m guessing that sentence was hard to visualize. It’s also hard to do.

One plyo move that I actually like better, despite believing it’s harder, is the jack-in-the-box knee tuck jumps. Basically you squat down, touching the ground, then jump up and try to get your knees to touch your hands. It kills my legs but I feel like I can actually get better jumps with this method. Maybe I have momentum from coming out of the squat, or maybe my hands aren’t as high. Either way, it’s nice to feel like I’m getting the move correct for the first couple of jumps. Then, my legs begin to shake and I’m happy to get my feet off the ground. I’m done with my feet no longer can move, or my squat turns into a sit.

Overall, one of my favorite things about my 90 days of P90X/One on One hybrid is that I’m getting to try new routines. P90X is great and has muscle confusion built in, but it’s nice to get the additional challenge. The key to seeing a change is really mixing it up. You won’t get that from doing the same routine every day.

Day 46 – Yoga X

Wow! Was it ever hard to get out of bed today. I probably stayed up a little later than I should have. Then I got the girl up to eat at 12:30 and 4:30, consequently getting out of bed didn’t seem as pressing an issue. Of course, once I made it downstairs and started the morning routine I felt ready to go. Unfortunately there was no way I was going to have time to do the full 90 minutes. I thought about doing One on One Yoga or a cardio routine, but decided to stick with the Yoga X that was already in the DVD player. (I put the DVD in the night before so it’s one less step in the morning.) I made it through the sun salutations and one balance move, about 50 minutes worth.

Disappointed that I didn’t get the last 40 minutes done. But, 50 minutes of working out is still nearly an hour. And, if the kiddos go to bed early tonight I have the easier balance and stretch sections left, which would actually be a pretty good pre-bedtime workout.

I’m getting so close to doing the chaturanga move. I can get down now, but the pushing through motion just isn’t happening. The oddest part about today was that my right ankle was fairly unhappy. I’ll need to work on stretching that area more. It’s the muscle just in front of the Achilles, which I injured by overuse about 4 years ago when training for a marathon.

Time limitations and pain aside, I’m feeling good. I pushed my limits and I broke a sweat.

Day 45 – Shoulders, Chest, & Triceps/ARX

After staying up later than I should have I was pleasantly surprised at how good 4:30 felt. It really helped that my daughter slept through the night. This is only the second time that has happened, though I suspect that often times I’m the one who wakes her. Co-sleeping definitely intertwines our sleeping patterns. Anyhow, I was amazingly refreshed after 6 solid hours of sleep.

Today I was finally smart enough to figure out a way to have both my hands on my thick squishy mat for push-ups (which I’m still primarily doing on my knees). I got a thin pillow to place me knees on. You think I would have thought of that sooner! The only slight problem with my plan is that the pillow slid on the floor somewhat, so my core section got more of a workout than usual; which probably isn’t a bad thing.

Today had some moves where I was able to surpass my past performance and my goals for the day. It also had moves where I was surprised at how hard it was to crank out what I did last time. Perhaps the ones where I pushed myself made others harder too. It was definitely a day where I was glad for my sheet telling me how I’d done in the past.

Yay for a good workout, a yummy Shakeology breakfast, and a beautiful fall morning.

Day 44 - Plyometrics

Another Sunday, another day of jumping around. I didn't even attempt to wake up this morning but got the workout done in the afternoon while both kiddos slept. Not much new to say about Plyo this week.

On the plus side, tomorrow I'm halfway done!!

Day 43 - Back & Biceps/ARX

In what has become a typical weekend day, I awoke early, pumped, and got back into bed to feed the girl. Then awoke for the second time with my family. A little frustrating that I have a hard time getting the workout done when I'm awake early. But, at the same time, I really value the cuddle time with my daughter.

Today I decided that rather than putting in the DVD I would just use the workout sheets to complete the workout. This allowed me to complete it a little faster. Each move is done to the point of exhaustion of the specific muscle and I can never make it the whole time. Plus, my hubby was able to be watching TV and I didn't have to lug all the weights to the basement. This method worked out pretty well. Yay for the workout tracking sheets. Realistically I didn't warm up/cool down as much and my stretching was probably subject. Hopefully the Recovery Drink will keep my muscles from hurting too much tomorrow.

Day 42- Rest Day

Yay, rest day! Plus, thanks to Veteran's Day I don't have to work so I can truly sleep in. Nothing better than being able to sleep in without the guilt of not working out.

Day 41 – Cardio Intervals

I had planned on trying the P.A.P. today, but after yesterday’s insane One on One workout I was scared. So, I went with one of the P90X bonus disks: Cardio Intervals. I didn’t realize that it was going to be a Power 90 routine. Funny seeing a slightly younger Tony and Dreya. Interesting workout. There were 11 moves that are repeated. Each move is done for a total of 1 minute, with 20 seconds at each intensity. The hardest intensity for each is generally the plyo version. Apparently this is the week of plyo for me!

I’d say I got a good workout. I was a little surprised by the length of warm-up, cool-down, and stretch. When the intervals ended and we still had so much time left I was a little worried that Tony was going to add in some ab stuff. But he didn’t.

The workout was obviously a pre-curser to P90X. But I guess the joy of the Power 90 workouts still being available is that they are a good stepping stone for someone who’s afraid to try P90X. Much like I hear P90X will be a stepping stone to P90X2. Here’s hoping I’m ready come January!!

Day 40 – One on One Base & Back/ARX

Haven’t found the Back & Biceps disk, so I substituted for the One on One Base & Back. Works the same muscles, but in crazy mode! I actually really liked the routine despite its craziness. I can’t count the number of times Tony said that it was the hardest workout he’s done a in a long time. The first time he said it I thought “well, that’s not a good sign.”

The pull ups and chin ups he did were insane. I was modifying for the bands, so I know I didn’t get the same intensity Tony did. But, I was physically able to do approximations of the moves this way. By the end of each set my arms were burning. And I’m guessing they’ll be sore tomorrow.

The “Base” part was legs… in plyo style. Every move was a combination squat-jump. My least favorite part of Plyometrics is when Tony incorporates squats. Yet, I actually found myself liking most of these moves today. Super challenging. But pretty fun.

I like the Base/Leg and Back combo for alternating totally different body parts. And the leg parts are almost cardio (especially in this routine) so the heart rate gets up… and that’s a good thing!

I look forward to doing this routine again. And now that I know what the moves look like I can forward past some of the talking. One minor downside to the One on One DVDs is the amount of talking. But, I’d rather forward through some talking and feel like I got a killer workout.

Sadly, I didn’t make it through Ab Ripper today. Started it, though the first four moves killed my already tired legs. With two moves left I hit stop. Felt too much like I was going to hurl and didn’t thing that would make my morning any better. Maybe yogurt was a bad choice before working out. In my defense, Tony almost hurled at the end of Base & Back.

Day 39 – Yoga X

Ah, the 90 minute routine. I think I would really enjoy this if it was 60 or even 70 minutes. It’s hard to get in a yoga mindset when the routine is so long and I’m thinking about if I’m going to have enough time to get ready and be on time to work. Just like last time, I found that I had to skip moves here and there to cut down on time. I tried not to skip only the moves that I hate, as I know those are the ones I need most. But, I did skip past about 10 minutes… course, the relaxation at the end was 5 minutes of that.

One thing that made me sad was that during the first chaturanga move my right shoulder felt funny and after we did it the second time I decided that I didn’t want to risk injury. So, as much as I need to practice chaturanga, I changed the move to decrease motion on my shoulders. Ultimately I think that was the right choice. But sad.

Oh, and my triceps are killing me from yesterday’s workout!

Day 38 – Shoulders, Biceps, & Triceps/ARX

Interesting workout today. First of all, because I didn’t do Plyo until my son was in bed last night; then I got up at 4:30 to do this workout. Always odd when I get two workouts done during the time my son is sleeping. I much prefer to work out the same time each day, rather than do what seems like back-to-back workouts. Also disrupting routine was the fact that my palm/wrist bone as bothering me on my left hand. Usually it’s my right hand that gets unhappy during tons of push-ups. I used my thickest mat, but still had to stop a couple of times due to hand pain. Really don’t know what to do about that. Maybe hold my hands differently? Or get push-up stands?

Push-up stands seem like a wise purchase at some point. We have some cheapo ones we got, but they rotate and that doesn’t work. My husband has found that he can use his 40lb weights as push-up stands. But he generally works out in the basement and keeps them down there. I don’t foresee myself carrying 80lbs upstairs to use. I’ll likely keep doing what I am and then if it turns out the push-up stands are necessary for P90X2 I’ll get them then.

I recently wrote on my calendar the day of P90X that I’m on. Turns out my last day (day 90) will be on 12/29. So, I’ll have a couple of days off before starting P90X2 on 1/1. Or, maybe I’ll have to start on 12/31 if I want to keep my day off as Friday. That’s something I’ll have to decide based on my daughter’s sleep patterns and if/how they change between now and then.

I felt bad for my husband this morning because apparently my daughter wanted to get up with me. Being the wonderful person he is, he let me work out while he tried to figure out what she needed. By the time I was done with working out they were both sleeping on the couch. And I had about 18 hours until I get to sleep again.

Day 37 - Plyometrics

Another Sunday. Another Plyo day. sigh.

On the plus side, I'm finding that I like more of the moves than I used to. Especially the sports section; that's just fun. My real "yay, I'm making progress" moment today was while doing jump knee tucks. I actually did 2-3 that looked like the people on the TV! I've never been able to do that before. Granted, the people on TV do them consistently for 30 seconds. But I did like three! And that makes me happy.

Day 36 - Back & Biceps/ARX

Second time doing this workout. In less than a week. I like it. I've probably mentioned it before, but I love how these DVDs give me so many different moves to work the same muscles. The variety is nice. And presumably each move works slightly different muscles. Like today there were a ton of different curl ups. The slightly annoying thing about today's workout is that for pull ups I use the red band. But for the other arm moves I had to get out the purple band, 10 lb weights, and 5 lb weights. Not a workout I'd want to do in the basement... too much stuff to carry down from the living room.

Happily today I woke up at 7:30 and was able to get my workouts in before anyone else awoke.

For whatever reason Ab Ripper killed the hip flexors today. I didn't even try the side v-ups. On the other hand I did great with the sit up v-up combo move and it's back to being my favorite!

Day 35 – Cardio X

My schedule said to do Super Cardio. This was one of those days where I had a hard time equating the routine from One on One Vol 1 to anything from One on One Vol 3. I think P.A.P. may have been a good substitution, but I opted to do a routine that I’m familiar with and I know is relatively short. Perhaps next week I’ll try the P.A.P. It sounds like an interesting concept; apparently it mixes weight lifting with cardio.

The exciting part of today’s workout was that I was able to do the Dreya Roll. This used to be one of my favorite moves. You start standing, roll back and push your feet/heels toward the ceiling, then roll back to standing, preferably without using your hands. My last round I loved this move and thought it was a lot of fun. This time it’s frustrated me. The first time I tried it I ended up on my back and thought ‘now what?’ Prior to today I had gotten to where I could usually get one solid roll without using my hands. Today I was able to do it repeatedly! And I continued for 40 of the 60 seconds. Next time I’m shooting for the full minute.

On a side note, whenever I hear ‘Dreya Roll’ I think “that should be sushi.” I think it could have a solid core and come up on either end. Maybe with tempura shrimp sticking out?

Day 34 – Rest Day

It’s rest day. Wasn’t supposed to be. But it is. Oddly my son was up for like two hours last night and when he was back asleep there was only about 45 minutes until the 4:30 alarm. That didn’t sound pleasant to me and I didn’t want to risk waking him up again. So, the alarm was reset for 6am and I enjoyed the cuddly time with my daughter.

Tomorrow will be the early morning of cardio.

Day 33 – Back & Biceps/ARX

Today was supposed to be Legs & Back, but I couldn’t find the disk anywhere. Hopefully I can locate it by next Wednesday. I figured that since I didn’t do Back & Biceps on Saturday and these workouts work one of the same areas it would be a good substitution. If nothing else it was a good workout. I like that this one is only 50 minutes long. And my arms are burning by the end. Course, my arms were also burning during arm circles in the warm up. You think I’d get used to those as often as they show up in the warm up. But, every time my arms are screaming at me by the end.

The exciting thing for me today is that during Ab Ripper I was able to climb my legs by just reaching up. I’d been stuck on one grab for a while. When I first tried this after having my daughter I was doing several grabs and actually climbing my leg; I had never needed that before. Today was a huge “I’m getting back to where I want to be” moment. Yay for that! Not that my belly is starting to resemble abs… but I’m gaining strength.

It’s hard to not compare where I am now to where I was last time I did P90X. Or where I want to be. I’m 33 days in, but that means I’m 6 weeks + 33 days post baby. Last time I did P90X I was 6 weeks + Slim in 6 + 33 days at this point. So, I jumped in a lot quicker this time… but it’s hard to remember that. I want to be lifting the weight I was last time. I want to be pushing the lunges, etc. My main barrier this time is definitely my hip flexors. I know that once those muscles are stronger a lot of the core work and leg work will be easier. And the only way to strengthen them is to keep at this. So, I’m trudging through the mental frustrations of where I am, knowing that up ahead is where I want to be. Where I’ve been. Where I’ll return to.

One day at a time.

Day 32 – Yoga X

The problem with this workout is that it’s 90 minutes long. Hard to fit into an early morning. I got out of bed when the alarm went off at 4:30 and went through my morning routine, but this workout left me with five minutes until I needed to walk out the door. It’s hard to get all you should from yoga when you’re feeling like you should be rushing. In the interest of time (and admittedly, frustration) I skipped crane pose and all the relaxation/corpse pose/’om’s at the end. I rarely can balance crane for any amount of time, so I didn’t see the point in trying for 60 seconds today. Nor did I need to relax when the workout was over; I needed to get out the door.

I generally have a hard time with not feeling drawn to multitasking when I workout and the length of yoga made it that much harder. Today I found myself folding blankets instead of doing mountain pose between salutations. Clearly the spirit of yoga was not in me this morning.

I know this routine is on the schedule for the next two weeks and I refuse to get up earlier than 4:30. So, we’ll see how my Tuesdays pan out. I haven’t looked past this 3 week segment to see if there is more Yoga X in my future. If there is I may just switch back to One on One Yoga; the poses are harder and the time is shorter.

All that negative stuff aside, I do enjoy the flexibility segment of this workout. It’s like adding stretch after doing One on One Yoga. Some of the balance moves are also nice. I think one of the things I prefer with the One on One Yoga is the balance moves are more mixed in with the sun salutations.

I look forward to seeing what P90X2 has in store for Yoga. No doubt that it’ll be a challenge. I’m hoping it’s an under-an-hour challenge.

Day 31 – Chest, Shoulders,& Triceps

Hey! I made it past my first 30 days! Guess I should take the next set of pictures. Don’t know that I’m ready to share results just yet. Way too much candy floating around lately. I think that may be the true curse of Halloween. We did do really good at not buying candy this year. But now we have kids who trick or treat despite being too young to eat the candy. Drat!

Happily, while I’m not seeing all the results I’d like to see, I am feeling more results. Today had a lot of push-ups and I was feeling pretty good about what I was able to do. One thing I really liked about today’s routine is that each exercise is done only once. No repeating sections. And there are many more moves for these areas that I would ever think up. It’s nice to have the variety; I never really felt there was this much variety when I did routines at the gym. Maybe the trainers I got were just not that creative. One of my favorite tricep moves from today uses a weight to do a throwing motion starting at the shoulder with the elbow up. One of those fun “pretending to play a sport” moves. Sometimes my imaginary throws even hit their target.

Another result I’m feeling is that my legs are sore today. I guess back to back days of Cardio X followed by Plyo will do that. Sometime I’ll have to get out for a run and see how all this is improving my abilities. Maybe a Turkey Trot?

Amazingly 4:30 didn’t seem that early today. We’ll see how tomorrow is after the trick of treating tonight. Could be a later night than any of us want.