Day 85 - P90X Shoulders & Arms/ARX

This was a neat workout because I haven't done it in over a month, so it was great to see numbers up. The main difference I saw was in bicep exercises. I was able to use heavier weights and do more reps. Great combo!

Ab Ripper was tough. It was nice to just use my kids' playmat today. Much cushier. I probably could've pushed myself more, but I plan on going for a 3 mile run when the kids are napping. Five months until the Lincoln 1/2 Marathon and over 50 degrees on the last day of the year. That's the recipe for a run!

Day 84 – P90X Kenpo X

Tomorrow officially starts my last week! I love ending a week with Kenpo. Good way to break a sweat and have fun. I can’t believe this round is almost over. And I’m so looking forward to starting P90X2. That extra day off per week also sounds pretty sweet!

Day 83 – P90X Cardio X

I love the length of this workout… I think I mention that every time. This week I’ve decided to focus more on the full body and/or cardio routines, hence there haven’t been any upper body workouts. I realize this takes away from the muscle confusion bit, but I really feel that the cardio is where I need to focus for weight loss. Next week (starting Sat) will be the last week of P90X and I plan on sticking with the schedule for that (though I may substitute P90X2 for One on One routines).

One thing about this routine makes me feel like a major slacker: when Tony says that if you’re doing the P90X Slimming this is your second workout of the day. I don’t think this has ever been my second workout of the day. Though I suppose if it were there would be some major slimming going on.

Day 82 – One on One Yoga

You’d think that I’d be able to do chaturanga since I did last week. But no. Came close every time. And I’m sure my shoulders will feel it tomorrow. As of today I’m just feeling the stretches in my legs. When I started the workout I was so stiff it was unreal. By the end I felt all stretched out and happy. One of the things I love about yoga. Also, I got to use my new yoga mat and yoga towel today!

Day 81 – P90X2 Core

Not called Core Synergistics this time around but most moves still seem to work multiple muscle areas. Lots of work on the stability ball. A fair number of moves using the medicine ball. The DVD listed weights as needed, but we never actually used them. Weird; you think someone would’ve caught that. Or perhaps they were used by a modifier and I missed that part. I saw bands and towels used for modifying, but no weights.

Sure enough, my core is sore. But, my arms and legs also felt worked out. And there was sweat, lots of sweat and heavy breathing. The sign of a good workout, right?

My only complaint is that there were a lot of moves in sphinx (plank on elbows). This tends to make my elbows hurt and my left elbow (the one that’s been bothering me) was especially unhappy with the moves. I did find that I could modify at least one of the moves by being in plank. I believe plank is actually harder on the core than sphinx, so I may end up getting more than I bargain for with this modification, but at least my elbows won’t hurt. I was a little surprised that there was never a modifier in plank. But then, modifiers then to make the moves easier rather than harder.

Day 80 – Rest Day

Whoops! Didn’t wake up early. So, another rest day. Or as much as one can rest with two little kids under 2. It’s a 4 day work week, so I’ll just plan on working out on Friday to make up for today.

Ten days left of this P90X round… funny thing is I’m leaning more toward P90X2 at this point. When I started this hybrid routine it was mostly P90X but then as the weeks went on it shifted to more of the One on One workouts. And then P90X2 arrived and it’s so much more polished than the One on Ones that I’ve been doing mostly P90X2 anymore. Once I hit day 90 I’ll take ‘after’ pictures, do the P90X2 fit test, and start my actual P90X2 round. Looking that the schedule for that I’m pretty excited to see that we get two days off each week! I only have to work out 5 days per week!! Whooo hooo!!! Of course, if I were really motivated I could use one of those days to do Kenpo or go for a run… but I have a feeling P90X2 is going to put me in a position where I need those two off days

Day 79 – P90X2 Plyocide

I love how this one kills me while I’m having fun! Woke up early and by the time cinnamon rolls were cooked and others were ready for presents I had already gotten sweaty and showered. What a great way to start the morning! Almost forgot that I had worked out, but every once in a while my legs/glutes felt the need to remind me. I have to say that I enjoy the muscle soreness after a good workout. Nice to know that I am making a change. In the new year my husband and I plan on working more on the eating right portion of health. That should help the scale agree that I’m making a change.

Day 78 – Rest Day

I had planned on Christmas being rest day, but today got away from me. Then once I had the opportunity to work out my stomach was really unhappy and I went to bed

Day 77 – P90X2 Shoulders & Arms/ARX2

Wowzers! What a fun and hard workout. So many thoughts. It’s a great finished product of what One on One was trying to do. I don’t have the P90X2 workout sheets printed, so I didn’t keep track of my reps, weights, etc. It’ll be good to do that in the future.

Great use of stability ball and foam roller. When P90X2 arrived I wondered why the foam roller was so long. Roller angels are one reason; a very awesome reason. You lay on the roller with it under your spine (head to butt) and then make motions with your arms kind of like making a snow angel. Feels oh so good on the shoulder blades! The move is repeated during the cool down on a stability ball – more of a stretch, less massage.

There are some number of moves (see, no printed sheets yet) which you repeat 3 times. The workout is just over 50 minutes but I’ll be feeling my shoulders all day. There’s one move where Tony suggests light weights of none to 8 lbs. I opted for none and still felt the move. Hoping to move up to 3 lbs at some point. A lot of the moves are done on one leg, with the option to keep your other foot on a stability ball. Nice was to sneak in a little balance and leg work.

Ab Ripper X2 is nuts! It’s 15 minutes and I felt every move. Not every move is 25 reps this time. I don’t know that I did any move as many reps as suggested. This one is going to take some getting used to. Much more oblique focus. I could see it being good to alternate this and the original Ab Ripper for more variety. They definitely work different muscle groups.

Day 76 – P90X Kenpo X

I feel like I just did this one. But then I also feel like I’m always doing Plyo. Funny how that works. Some other workouts feel like ages between. Maybe it’s the frequency of the particular workout. Anyhow, this was a fun workout as always…though it is a little more fun (?) when working out frustrations.

Shoulders are still sore from the yoga and it turns out you use your shoulders a lot for blocks and some punching.

Tomorrow won’t be a rest day, as I plan to rest on Sunday for Christmas.

Day 75 – Cardio X

I found myself going off the schedule today. I was supposed to do Back & Legs but needed a shorter workout due to time constraints. I also figured I could use the cardio. There’s a reason the workouts are in the order they’re in. After yesterday’s yoga the fronts of my shoulders and upper biceps (think that area where flu shots go) are super sore. Glutes are still feeling the Plyocide from Sunday.

So the yoga portion today was rough. No accomplished chatarangas today. The Kenpo was fun. The plyo was fun and hard. The core was fun. I modified some of the core moves by using a basketball like Tony does in the One on One series. My sides are feeling that decision. And my mind is thinking that it’ll be awesome to use a medicine ball for those moves someday! When something gets easier it’s time to make it harder!

Day 74 – One on One Yoga

I really thought about doing P90X2 Yoga today. But, I know I like the One on One Yoga and it’s a good length. My only qualm is the lack of verbal direction, which isn’t bad now that I’ve done it multiple times. Anyhow, I still enjoy this one. And today I did chaturanga!! Only once, though I was close several more times. Felt awesome to push through on that.

I’ve really missed yoga. It hasn’t been included in the schedule for the previous 3 weeks and prior to that I had my week off for being sick. My body really thanked me today. I was worried going in since I’m still sore from Plyocide. But the stretching felt so great. My shoulders are now aching and there were times during it that I thought my legs were done… but overall such a great feeling to get all stretched out and whatnot.

The first time we did chair pose I thought “wow, this is easy when you’re not running or jumping at the same time.” But by the 6^th time I thought “okay it’s hard again, especially on one leg.” Then again I remember when I first did this disk and thought it was impossible to do chair on one leg.

Another move I was able to do today: downward dog with hand touching opposite leg and then lifting the same leg as hand. Hard to picture? Hard to do.

I love seeing obvious progress!

Day 73 – One on One V-Sculpt/ARX

I had no idea what to expect from this one. I was hoping for a core routine. I was wrong. This was Back & Biceps (which, I guess, form a V). I was really hoping to not have arm work, as my left elbow has been angry about all the weights for some time. It’s not getting any worse but it’s also not improving. I did what I could and generally found that I was done with a move when my elbow decided I was done, rather than my back or biceps making the call. I did like that this routine used a lot of band in more unique ways.

P90X2 came with a V-Sculpt routine that isn’t in the regular rotation, so now that I know what V-Sculpt is I’ll probably try that one next week.

Felt better with Ab Ripper today. I’m up to 20 side V-ups per side now; only 5 away from what I’m supposed to be doing per Tony.

By the time I finished today’s workout my legs started reminding me that I did Plyocide yesterday. I have a feeling they may be sore for the rest of the day.

Day 72 - P90X2 Plyocide

That's right, I did a P90X2 workout. It is indeed extreme. Has the hard moves of One on One with the intensity of a polished program. It killed me. And I loved it. I'm so excited to start P90X2 when I finish my current 90 days.

Plyocide has a ton of fun moves. Felt like I was playing for a lot of it. Out of breath and sweating profusely, but having a lot of fun. I also really liked the warm up, which included moves with the stability ball and roller. And afterward there were great leg stretches. I really have nothing bad to say about today's workout.

Day 71 - Shoulders & Arms/ARX

Today's workout is one of the reasons I think/know my body is changing despite the scale not moving near as much as I would like. Shoulder area is killing me now and arms are showing definition. Not much cardio involved... but feeling changes. And my weights/reps are all up. Plus I did the pike push ups with my legs elevated and it does greatly increase the difficulty.

Ab Ripper was so hard. But I mostly kept up. I was even doing good on the side up v-ups until my hair got caught on the Velcro part of my mat (whoops!).

Day 70 - Rest Day

Ah, rest. Yesterday I played with the medicine balls that came with P90X2. My back/sides are killing me today. Guess holding the 8 lb ball and swinging my arms side to side was a bad idea. Also tried a push up on the medicine balls... I could do plank, but the bending of elbows was a little impossible.

Day 69 – P90X Kenpo X

I decided that after my frustrating day yesterday I was in need of some Kenpo this morning. I was right. Man, it felt great to kick and punch for a while. I will definitely have to look at the schedule for the next three weeks and figure out what I can replace with this routine. Today also made me see a big difference between P90X and the One on One DVDs: the moves in One on One are harder but P90X has the intensity. P90X is a finished product and when you workout for an hour you’re actively working for an hour. One on One has a lot of “do this impossibly hard move, then listen to Tony gab for 3 minutes.”

P90X2 came in the mail yesterday and I looked through some of the items it came with. I’m intimidated. I think it’ll have the intensity of P90X with the impossibly hard moves of One on One. That being said, I may start to substitute some of those workouts for the One on Ones where I feel there is too much talking. I could do P90X2 Plyocide and not have to hear about Tony’s black eye! Though, with increased intensity, I may want to give him a new one.

The only thing that made me sad about the P90X2 box is the lack of a Kenpo workout. It’s clearly meant to be done after completing P90X, so I guess anyone doing it would have Kenpo… but I was hoping for the next step in the kickboxing world.

Another note on the P90X2: I’m glad we got free shipping. That box weighed 26 lbs… which stands to reason since it had two 8 lb medicine balls in it.

Day 68 – One on One Upper Body / ARX

Only my second time doing this workout, but it looks like this will also be the last time… the schedule for the next 3 weeks doesn’t include it. Last time I was in the basement working out with the kiddos, so I didn’t write anything down. Consequently I don’t know if I really improved this week, though I suspect that I did. Happily my arms were okay to do push-ups today. Shoulders sure are tight now. Like most of the One on One workouts I found myself modifying, typically leaving out the balls.

And I made myself do Ab Ripper. Definitely need to be doing that more. Pregnancy was obviously hardest on my core section and I have a way to go to get back where I want to be. On the plus side, I did do the side v-ups today! Not all 25 of them, but 15 per side.

I hope the next three weeks have more cardio based workouts. I feel like that’s what I really need in order to lose the weight. I know I’m building muscle and that’s a good feeling… but I’d like the muscle to show! If the next three weeks don’t have much cardio I may have to exchange some routines. I’m thinking Plyocide and Plyometrics both need to be included. Maybe Kenpo X… I miss that one!

Day 67 – One on One P.A.P

Last night was too late and this morning was too early. I don’t know if it was related to that, but my arms did not want to work this morning. The warm up and leg complex were fine. Then I got to the upper body complex and my arms just stopped working. I attempted the push-ups on my knees and still had a hard time making my arms do anything. They weren’t necessarily sore but they sure didn’t want to hold any weight. Each complex is done 4 times. By the third I laid on my mat and did some ab work. At least my core was working. And this routine has a super stretch section at the end.

One of Tony’s sayings that I really like is not saying “I can’t” but saying “I presently struggle with.” Today I presently struggled with a lot of arm issues. But next time I’ll be able to bear weight on my arms and I can struggle with something else. I’m not really sure if the saying sticks out to me because I like its positive foresight (I’ll someday be able to do the things I can’t today) or because I like the idea of a struggle. Working out isn’t easy. And it shouldn’t be. Struggling, to me, implies that you’re overcoming something to improve yourself. And I want to improve myself. Who doesn’t want to be a better version of themselves?

Day 66 – One on One Chest, Back & Balls

Ah, the title always makes me chuckle. Should really be “Chest & Back on balls” …course my modifications seldom use balls. My numbers on this one were much higher than last week. Felt nice to see that I was pushing more reps out. It’s so easy to get discouraged, I love that Tony suggests writing stuff down. I know that my life is far too busy to remember how I did on any particular move the day before, much less last week. Seeing numbers on the paper gives me the strength to push out a couple more reps or the excitement of knowing that I was able to do more without exerting too much more effort.

Day 65 – One on One Plyocide

I wish I could will myself to get out of bed early on the weekends. I just stay up way too late and then have no motivation to get up before the family. I’m so thankful that my husband will watch the girl if she isn’t in bed and I need to work out. Still a late night, but workout got done. Yay for a supportive family. I think I like this one a little more every time I do it. And it kicks my butt every time. Really, this workout is what I need more of. I love the strength days but they’re not going to burn that fat that I need to shed in order to see results. The sweat that pours off me in this one tells me that progress will be made.

The one downside is Tony’s excessive talking about his black eye and the silly stories he makes up to explain it. The more I do this work out the more I want to give him a second black eye. Course, P90X2 should be here soon. Presumably it will include Plyocide and I can substitute that routine. Or this will drive me to go back to P90X Plyometrics, which I tend not to enjoy. I wonder which really gets me the best workout? These moves are harder, but I think there’s more rest time.

Day 64 – One on One Shoulders & Arms

Happily this one no longer makes my triceps hurt for days on end. It is still hard though. And I still laugh every time Tony pulls out his 85lb dumbbell for a tricep move; that thing looks so comically large you’d expect that it’s made of rubber. I do enjoy this workout and shoulders/arms are the first area that I feel like I’m seeing improvement.

Day 63 – Rest Day

I actually rested on a rest day! The day it was supposed to occur. Yay for this week going mostly as planned, despite some lack of sleep. On Day 62 I actually ended up doing about 25 mins of One on One Stretch and Recovery. My son seemed to think it was fun when I worked out the other day, so yesterday he was pointing at the TV and jumping around. I popped Tony in the DVD and the boy got a big smile. Did some stretches with me and played around my stretches. Maybe we’ll do some more of that tonight. A good, deep stretch almost feels as good the next day as a massage or chiropractic appointment.

Day 62- One on One Back & Base

I actually got 8 hours of sleep and was ready to go this morning. Awesome!!! Since I did yesterday’s workout in the evening my arms haven’t had the chance to start hurting yet, which was good since there are tons of pull ups in this. We’ll see if I can move my arms later today. One excitement (besides the sleep) was that I’m seeing bigger numbers for the plyo moves and my legs are feeling better doing them. Yay!

One disappointment: my back has been super stiff to where upward dog is nearly impossible for me. I thought that it was caused by the two nights of little sleep and lots of holding/bouncing/walking with the 18lb girl. Today I’m still stiff. I still think that’s the cause. I think I just need some time of stretching and getting back to regular schedule.

Day 61- One on One Upper Body

After two nights with very little sleep this one didn't happen this morning. But, the kiddos were nice enough to play around me while I worked out after dinner! Lots of tricep work; I imagine I'll be sore tomorrow.

Now if the boy would go to bed...I could too...

Day 60! – One on One P.A.P.

Hard to believe it’s day 60. In some ways I still feel like I’m just getting started. In other ways I feel like I’ve been at this forever. I’m not sure that I feel I have ‘day 60’ results just yet, but then I really haven’t been doing anything regarding diet. I should. I know that was part of my awesome results last time. I think mentally I’ll be better at thinking ‘healthy food’ once the holidays are over. And when we start feeding my daughter homemade baby food. We’re doing pretty good with healthy food and snacks for my son but somehow I haven’t transferred that to me lately. I should really do some 60 day pictures. They’ll either be a wake-up call that exercise isn’t enough or they’ll show me that I really do look better than my ‘before’ picture. Or both.

Anyway, today was P.A.P. again. The weird thing with this one is that while it’s 70 minutes long the first 20mins or so are warm up and the last 15 minutes are cool down/stretches. Some of the warm up has me sweating more than the arm portion, but the arm portion has me shakier. Should be interesting how my arms handled tomorrow’s upper body workout.

The milestone of ‘day 60’ was a lifesaver today. My daughter was totally out of routine last night and I had to walk/bounce her from 8pm-11pm. Way too long and late for the 4:30 wake up. And she got up with me! Not sure what her deal is. Glad she’s usually a good sleeper. Guess we have to have nights/days like this to appreciate how easy we have it most of the time. Anyhow, it didn’t seem right to skip day 60… so I sucked it up and worked it out.

Here’s hoping for an early bedtime tonight.

Day 59 – One on One Back, Chest, & Balls/ARX

I have to admit I didn’t use the balls much this workout. This is a lot like the P90X Chest & Back, only Tony makes the moves harder by having you balancing on either medicine or stability balls for most moves (well, push up moves… he hasn’t found a way to incorporate balls into pull ups). Whenever he used the stability ball I did also, though sometimes this made me drop to my knees for push ups. I never once used a medicine ball or basketball; for these moves I did make myself stay on my feet (rather than dropping for knee based push ups). I know I’m not doing as much as the guy on the TV, but I’m doing more than I could’ve 59 days ago. I have a feeling when P90X2 comes out it’ll have ball options available for the extreme and modifications will look like what I’ve been doing.

Speaking of what I’ve been doing, it occurred to me this morning that I haven’t done Ab Ripper in a long time. One of the hazards of my hybrid routine. I was good at doing it when the schedule called for P90X strength days, but when my strength days came from One on One I didn’t even think of doing Ab Ripper. The schedules calls for me to do the One on One Vol 1 ab routine, but I’m doing Vol 3. The volume I have contains a 42 minute ab routine and I sure wasn’t going to add that onto the end of another exercise. Today I pulled out Ab Ripper X and it killed me! Need to get back into doing that. I think, based on yesterday’s thoughts, it would be wise to get the ab routine from One on One Vol 1. Maybe even the ab routine from Vol 2 also. Can’t hurt to learn more ab moves.

Day 58 – One on One Plyocide

My first time through Plyocide. It’s as hard as it sounds and looks. And yet I kind of liked it. Specifically, I liked that there are no repeats. Once you’ve done a move you’re done with it. That’s a nice change! Especially since I ate way too close to beginning this workout. Really happy I never hurled.

The idea of needing medicine balls and weights for plyo work is just nuts, but it works. Granted, I was using 3lb weights and my ‘medicine ball’ was a basketball. I could clearly make this workout harder in the future. At least I’m not scared of it anymore!

I actually found myself liking some of the moves. There were a couple of moves where what you’re doing is based on what’s called out. Example: You get in the yoga pose chair; then either ‘run’ or ‘jump’ is called out and you do that while in chair. Challenging and an extremely long 60 seconds. But fun to just not even watch the TV and follow the directions you hear.

One thing I’ve decided with these One on One workouts is that they give good variety for something you may or may not like. For instance, I’m not a big fan of Plyometrics, but doing Plyocide is the same idea with different moves and that’s nice. If I’m going to be doing something that is super hard variety is beneficial. Or the One on One Yoga is harder, but shorter.

Day 57 Take 2 - One on One Shoulders & Arms

Alright, so I'm picking back up on Day 57. This is the one day I'm totally redoing. It was nice doing this workout for the second time. I knew the moves and was able to do a set and skip to the next group when Tony got too long winded. The workout could've been a lot shorter, but my wonderful hubby joined me and it was his first time through this one.

Last time I did this my triceps hurt for like 3 days. I'm not sure if it was because I worked it that hard or I was getting sick and my body couldn't take the time to mend. We'll see how I do this time.

Tomorrow's Plyocide for real.

Sick Day #4 / Rest Day

The alarm went off at 4:30 to work out and I decided to take the easy route and reset for 6am. Didn’t have a good night of sleep and the girl was being super cuddly. Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day and my son will be having surgery. So, I’ve decided that I just need to restart this week. Saturday I’m going to redo Day 57 and we’ll pick up where we left off.

 

And, I twisted my ankle this morning at work...didn't think it was bothering me. But tonight I'm finding it hard to walk!