Thursday, October 30, 2008

I Can't Believe I'm Already in Phase Three

When I first began P90x, I thought the months would drag, doing the same workouts for 13 weeks! But it has really sped by. In this phase you do the Phase 1 workouts in weeks 9 and 11, and Phase 2 workouts in weeks 10 and 12, with week 13 being the final recovery week - wherein you collapse and die...I mean wherein you congratulate yourself for a job well done, and stand in front of the mirror looking pleased.

In the past few weeks I have eliminated yoga and replaced it with XStretch. The yoga is an excellent program, but it is very long and very hard to do along with the difficult resistance work. The stretch is very yoga inspired and a full hour itself, and it definitely filled the flexibility need, although it's lacking the strength work in Yoga X, which is why I'm skipping it! Doing it the day after Back and Biceps (Phase 2) or Shoulders and Arms (Phase 1) is just too much, and it was having a serious dread factor for me. I didn't even do it in the last recovery week. I am sure I will pull it out again sometime in the future, but not in a P90X rotation. I have also used Ab Ripper X only once or twice a week, rather than 3 times.

As I get closer to the end of the 90 days, I appreciate this program even more. I think that in the future I will pattern my workout weeks on the P90x protocol -three days of strength, two of cardio and one flexibility. I may even alternate one month P90x/one month other workouts or perhaps 2 weeks P90x/2 weeks other workouts just to maintain the great results I have gotten with these discs. I think the results would have actually been incredible if I had really cleaned up my eating, but I haven't changed that at all. I am considering making November "Blast Off the Fat" month and eating super clean (no processed foods, refined grains, etc), but it is cooler and this is when I like to bake! So, while I may watch it a bit, I ain't makin' no promises.

As far as results go - I have gotten stronger, developed better balance and greater cardio endurance. My "problem areas" look much better, and my "non-problem areas" look excellent. I have lost quite a bit of fat from all over, and like I said, this is without changing my eating habits - which are not horrible, but not super healthy, either. I just think my body likes the amount of weight work in this program, and that my metabolism is doing well as I build up more muscle. I still can't do a pullup, but Husband will be making me a pullup bar that I can use when I do another round of the X sometime next year, and hopefully I'll be able to do at least one then! I can do a lot more pushups on my toes than I could do at the beginning, and can do kinds of pushups that were really too difficult for me when I started.

I have learned a lot of new exercises, and feel like I have come to understand weightlifting more - which muscles are worked with which exercises, etc. I think I could advise someone on designing a weightlifting regimen, and know that if I were stranded somewhere without my DVDs, I could keep myself in shape. I told myself that I would not purchase the personail trainer certification program until I finished this, because I figured it would be a good education as well as a good physical challenge, and it definitely has been.

I'm too tired to say anything else but P90x ROCKS!

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