P90X Lean - Week 2

I've decided to post weekly rather than Daily, since I assume you don't want to read the same thing every day. I've already posted my opinions on all the videos I've followed, no need to repeat that info.

Week 2 was good. I was rather impressed with my improved endurance, particularly at the first of the week in Plyo. I don't know where the energy or strength came from so quickly, but it was marvelous.

This week, I don't expect to accomplish much. I'll be working the next 14 days straight including 3 days where I'll be working twice (scheduled at both my old and new job) so I'm going to be kind of beat. In order to avoid losing all of that great improvement last week, I'm going to try the 30DS Level 1 & possibly 2 if my knees can handle it. It's a lot easier to squeeze in a 22min workout than it is to find the time for 60+mins. And I should at least see some improvement in the push-up department.

Let's try this again...

P90X Lean - Day 1 - Core Synergistics

As I suspected, I wouldn't really get back into this until the New Year. Well, here I am again. I had a good holiday - a nice and relaxing 13 days off with my husband. We ate, we visited family, we partied...all in all, quite nice. He has committed to getting back into running and to start a weight lifting regime, he's even begun counting calories. It's inspiring. Also his new resolve helps me to eat well since I'm the cook and "have to" make meals that fit in with his (...our) diet.

Enough about life. All you really care about is what I thought of Core Synergistics right? Well, I'll keep you waiting no longer...

This was my first encounter with Core Synergistics as I always skipped it during the recovery weeks in the P90X Classic program. I was excited to switch on a new video to spice things up a bit but, quite frankly, it bored me.

The exercises seemed uninspired and either completely impossible without severe modification (a testament to my pathetic upper arm strength) or ridiculously simple. I only started getting a bit out of breath near the end when it came time for the Lunge Kickback Curl Press (which was excellent), the Superman Banana (ouch but woah) and the Steam Engine.

I will give it a 2nd chance though. I felt the same way after finishing Kenpo for the first time and, as I discovered a couple weeks ago, that snap judgement was perhaps too harsh. On the other hand, I gave Yoga a 2nd (and 3rd) chance and I still hated it, so really this could go either way.

I`m Back.....

I can`t believe I haven`t posted since August, I didn`t realize it had been that long. In anycase, I made it to about week 10 of the P90X Classic before giving up (so close yet so far) - life got in the way. A coworker quit rather suddenly so I was working 6-7days a week, school started up so I was busy with that. Then when we finally had someone new trained...she quit. It`s been a long fall.

But now it`s over. I finished the final course in my program and my hours at work have steadied out simultaneously. I find it interesting that I literally started working out again the day after I passed in my schoolwork and the week that my new coworker started working on her own. I thought that I was experiencing a motivation problem and that`s why I couldn`t be bothered to turn on a video, but it would seem that it was more of a burnout problem.

In anycase, I`ve restarted with the P90X Lean. Well... more or less. I`ve decided to substitute the videos I like for the ones I don`t. So this will be my Phase 1 schedule:

Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

My Plan Core Synergistics Plyometrics Chest & Back, AbRX Rest Legs& Back, AbRX Kenpo Rest

P90X Lean Core Synergistics Cardio Shoulders & arms, AbRX Yoga Legs & Back, AbRX Kenpo Stretch or Rest

So there you have it. It's pretty well the same with some minor substitutions. I had the intention of replacing Kenpo with Plyo, as I hated Kenpo the first time through and skipped it pretty well every single week. But, I decided to do it today and actually sort of enjoyed it. Mostly because the 1hr workout seems to be the only one that really flies by. More on that later. So I decided instead to replace Cardio with Plyo as I love plyo and needed to sneak it in there somewhere.

And while I generally enjoy the Shoulders & Arms video, I would really like to continue to improve my push-up count for the motivation aspect of things, and I feel that the Chest & Back video will accomplish this better.

Another thing I've learned from my first round of the P90X is that I burn out if I work out 6 days straight, and I'm likely to just skip yoga anyway. So I've decided to build a 2nd guilt-free rest day into my plan.