Week 1, Day 4: Yoga, P90X Style

I recently purchased a Groupon for yoga classes near my area of town hoping to not only learn the stretches, but also the many different poses that would help me gain more flexibility, strength and definition in my body.  I have to say I was slightly disappointed with the two times that I went because I did not really learn any of that.  While I did get a great stretch, I wanted to be challenged.  Today, I got just that with the Yoga X portion of the P90X program. 

 

I had said yesterday that I already knew I would not be able to complete the full 90 minute session due to time constraints so I finished about the first half of the DVD.   That first half focused on moving asanas which were done in a vinyasa style of yoga.  The movements flowed from sun salutations, mountain pose, planks, upward dog and downward dog, just to name a few.  I have done a yoga DVD before, so I was somewhat familiar with the warrior poses, crescent pose and chair pose and the others I mentioned.  I have to say that even though I felt a little clumsy and off balance, I did feel a noticeable difference in the tension I was carrying in my neck and shoulder area afterwards.  I know I got in a full body workout just in the 50 minutes of work that I did, especially my thighs.  And tomorow is leg day.  Joy.  My only complaint with today's session was how it was at times difficult to be focused on looking down, breathing and having to check the T.V. to make sure I was doing everything correctly.  Over time, that will diminish as I will know what to expect.

 

What I like about yoga is that it helps you to relax and find your center.  At the very beginning of the session, Tony tells you to shut the garbage out of your mind and just breathe and relax.  I definitely needed that.  The journey of weight loss can sometimes take its emotional toll on you mentally as well as physically.  Yoga is a great way to reconnect and refocus on what you want to get out of this whole experience.  Next week, I plan to do just the last half of the session and then switch back the following week to the first half.  By week four, it will be on a Saturday and I will be able to complete the program so on that day I will test myself to see how far I can really go.  Even with today's workout, I managed to burn nearly 400 calories so I cannot wait to see what happens when I do the full day.  As I said earlier, tomorrow is leg day.  I am not sure I am ready for that.  I mean, I enjoy things like being able to walk and sit and I am still sore from Plyometrics on Tuesday so come Saturday I am sure I will be feeling it.  But, this is all just part of the fun, right? Until tomorrow...

 

 

Week 1, Day 3: Shoulders and Biceps and Triceps, Oh My!

I am not going to lie.  This morning when that alarm went off at 4am, I so desperately wanted to press snooze and just sleep and extra hour and skip the workout.  My bed was warm and comfy, it was cold outside and I had my two sweet dogs curled up next to me, can you blame me? For some reason the last few nights I have not slept the greatest so I was a little slow in getting going today, but I got up and faced day three of the P90X workout.

 

Today's area of concentration was shoulders and arms.  That is actually one of my favorite areas to work so I was looking forward to seeing what Tony and his crew had in store for me.  There were four circuits of exercises plus a "bonus" circuit.  Each circuit contained exercises that focused on shoulders, biceps and then triceps and then you repeat it.  I was proud of myself for keeping up, but I do wish they would have showed the guy using the bands a little more at the beginning of each exercise.  Sometimes it was hard for me to tell how he was positioning the band until halfway through the section.  Coming from pretty much doing the same arm workouts with dumbbells and now using resistance bands has been an interesting learning experience.  I realize I have to use less weight than what I would have used before, but I am also working out in a different way than I was before and working different muscles.  I think I am going to look into getting some additional handles for my bands so that I do not have to keep pausing the program to switch out the weight for each band. 

 

Once the shoulders and arms workout was complete, it was time for another round of Ab Ripper X.  I was slightly disappointed that it was the same workout from  Monday.  I was hoping there would be more variety of ab exercises and honestly, I only did about half the reps today because I was tired and just not in the mood to go full out by that point.  I am not sure if I will do their ab routine every time.  I might start using my stability ball some too and throwing some plank exercises in as well.  I realize Tony has spent the time to create this amazing program, but I can get bored pretty easily doing the same things over and over so I do not see the harm in spicing it up a little bit.

 

Tomorrow is the Yoga X routine.  I already know that due to time constraints, I will not be able to do the full 90 minutes, but I am still looking forward to trying it and giving it my best shot.  Day three is in the books, only 87 more to go!

Week 1, Day 2: Hello Plyo!

Another day in the P90X books for me as I completed the first of many plyometrics sessions today.  I have to admit I was not sure what to expect with this workout.  I have done plyometrics before, but lately I had been focusing more on my weight training that cardio has taken a backseat.  For those unfamiliar with the term "plyometrics" it is essentially known as "jump training,"  Basically you are doing a lot of jump squats, jump lunges, monster truck tire jumps, etc.  This workout lasts just under an hour and boy was I worn out by the end of it.  Below is a small sampling of what was included:

Fortunately, there were small breaks throughout the program, which helped, but I have to admit that I had to stop a few more times to get my heart rate back in the zone.  I was happy to see, however, that Tony Horton and his crew even had to stop for a breath here and there as well.  What I also enjoyed about this workout was that one of his team members did modified versions of many of the exercises which helped me feel like I was still doing a good job but not overdoing it on my first try.  The exercises are grouped together with about four moves in each one and then you repeat each group.  I have a feeling this plyometrics workout and I will become good friends as it is just the extra butt kicking I need most days.  88 more days to go.  Tomorrow will focus on upper body work again.  So to that I say, "Bring it Tony.  I'm ready for ya."  

 

 

Week 1, Day 1 of P90X

I kicked off the P90X workout series today with a fantastic chest, back and ab workout that totaled about one hour and fifteen minutes.  And at the end of that set, I could certainly feel the burn. 

The chest and back portion of the workout consisted mostly of various types of chin-up exercises and push-ups.  For someone like myself that has not quite reached the expert chin-up level, they showed you how to use resistance bands to mimic the movement and work out those muscles.  By the time I am done with this program, I want to be able to do a proper chin-up so I have some work to do.  There were other exercises as well that used the resistance bands, or weights if you have them.  I can certainly tell a difference in muscles used that may not have gotten a lot of attention before whenever I used standard dumbbells.  I am already feeling it in my back area for sure.

Then there were the push-ups.  My oh my, I never knew so many variations existed.  I have always hated push-ups and have tried to avoid doing them at all costs.  Over the last couple of months, I have started doing more of them, either modified or my best effort standard push-up, so my fear of them is not as high as it once was.  Today I did about six different types of push-ups: Standard, Military, Wide fly, Decline, Diamond and my new arch nemesis, Dive-bombers.  I did what I could do for each variation, switching from being on my knees to not so I felt good about that, but those dive-bombers and my brain just were not connecting.  I posted a video below.  I will master these by the end of the series.

Once you complete the back and chest workout, then it is time for Ab Ripper X.  A full 15 minutes of about 11 different exercises.  I had never seen about 80% of those moves before and was about ready to die by the end of it, but I hung on the best I could. 

 

Overall, I felt like today was a great workout.  I know I will feel it tomorrow and that is a great feeling.  As time goes on, I know my body will progress and be able to handle more of the weight and movements.  Tomorrow is the Plyometrics workout.  I may want to kill myself after that one from what I have heard.  Wish me luck!

 

 

 

 

The Show's About to Begin

WEIGHT.  It is a six letter word that carries, well, a lot of weight.  We, as humans, either weigh too much, not enough, gain too much, lose too much, but for many we never seem to be able to find the perfect weight.  If someone would have told me 10 years ago that today I would be one of those health nuts and workout addicts, I would have laughed in their face and said, "Yeah right." And yet, here I am, but it was a long path that got me here and a long path that still lies ahead.

I have struggled with my weight for the better part of my life.  I quit ice skating when I was 12 years old and became a lazy kid and eventually a lazy teenager.  It was not until my last two years of high school when I got back into an activity with dance and although that helped get me off my butt, it did not help the pounds that said butt accumulated over the years disappear.  I was about 165 pounds in high school and back then that was considered a size 14 and by all comparisons to the other girls on my dance team, I was definitely on the other end of the size spectrum.  I pretty much stayed that same weight until I was about 19 years old and then, without really trying, I started losing a bunch of weight and got down to 148 pounds by the time I was 21.  It was pretty easy to lose when all I was really doing was dancing at clubs, drinking and smoking cigarettes.  Back then I never cared what I put in my body, whether it was food or something else.  I was just living it up.  

Eventually after I slowed down, all that lost weight caught up to me and I was creeping back up to my old high school weight and then some.  I would work out here and there, watch what I ate, but was never dedicated or serious about it to make those long term, lifestyle commitments.  When I was 26, I finally quit smoking (a habit that I did pick up again & recently have to kick again) and joined my first gym, one of those that everything is done in private and you follow the same program day in and day out.  I went almost every day, watched what I ate (still not knowing the true meaning of eating clean) and lost about 10 pounds.  I felt great and was seeing changes, but in typical "me" fashion, I quit going because I was bored with the program.  So here we go again.

Six years ago, I made the move back to Houston from Dallas and during that month around Christmas before I started my new job, I sat around, ate, drank and got up to 185 pounds, the biggest I'd ever been up to that point in my life.  Well, this time I was fed up and knew things needed to change.  New year, new beginnings, right? So I joined a real gym this time and got myself a personal trainer and started reading and researching a healthier lifestyle.  Over the course of 8 months, I got down to 160 pounds, the smallest I'd been since high school.  I looked great, felt great and was really committed to this lifestyle.  I was even looking into becoming a personal trainer myself so that I could help those that were just like me.  I had made this my whole life, though, that I forgot what it was like to get out and live.  I had started a new job further away from my gym and quickly I was slipping again until I just quit going.  Over the years, and after a few broken hearts, there I was again but this time it was the biggest I had been in my whole life at 198 pounds.  I was miserable with myself, my job, my life and I just wanted to find the old me again.

One thing that I hated about myself whenever I was at that weight during that dark time was how little confidence I had in myself and how I would beat myself up about how I looked.  It really took its toll on me and my self esteem and I was not sure I would ever feel "beautiful" again.  It would take a while to get back on track, but I started working out again last April and watching what I ate.  I lost a few pounds and I was excited, this time I was going to keep at it.  In July, one of my favorite bands that I have grown to love over the last year announced that they were playing a show in New Orleans in October.  It was that moment I made a goal to lose 30 pounds by that show because I wanted to meet them, thank them for their inspiring music and I wanted to have the confidence to be able to do that.  I got up at 4am almost every day, worked out, got strict about what I ate and I did it.  I cannot tell you the excitement and pride I felt that day before I left for my trip and weighed myself to see that I was finally back to the weight I was for my thirtieth birthday.

Over the last few months, I have kept at it.  I have totally changed my attitude about myself.  I do not allow myself to put me down for my faults and I am very careful about the things I put into my body.  I have an inner circle of great support and have also inspired and have been assisting with others work towards their new healthy lifestyle.  I am addicted to that happy feeling I get from working out.  I love the way I feel when I do and I love seeing the changes that are happening.  I did not get this way overnight so getting to where I want to be is not going to happen overnight either.  

So, I ask you, what are you rebelling against? Do you want to continue on your path or do you want to live and lead a healthy lifestyle? Today is exactly seven months from my 35th birthday and my goal is to be in the best shape and health I have ever been in my entire life.  Tomorrow I begin a new journey on my path and will be starting the P90X classic workout.  It is going to be hard and I am going to want to give up, but I hope you will hold me accountable.  Join me on this adventure and in 90 days we can welcome a whole new version of me.