Day 10: Time is Money (257 lbs)

I finished round 2 of the shoulders, arms and ab workout. The workouts are just as hard as last week but moving along much faster now that I'm getting familiar with the different exercises and learning the weights and number of reps most suitable for me. In fact, I didn't have to hit the pause button once to setup for an exercise or because I needed a little extra rest.

Although I start my workout every morning between 7:30am-8:00am, it's still almost 10:00am by the time I've finished the workout, eaten some breakfast, showered and dressed for work. Therefore, it is vital that I rip through these workouts as quickly as possible. I don't want the workout cutting any further into my workday and costing me money. After all, my inability to continue paying a personal trainer was my main motive for starting P90X in the first place. I am going to have to discipline myself and start my workouts as early as possible.

Day 9: Plyometricts Again (257 lbs)

Ryan and I went Round 2 with one of the P90X's most extreme workouts: Plyometrics. The workout was tougher than hell but easier than last week. I can already tell that I am starting to get into better shape. This round I did the workout on a padded mat like the one in the picture to reduce the stress on my knees. After last week's plyo workout, my knees were hurting for a few days and I was fearful that I might have injured myself. I'm feeling really good but already dreading Yoga X in 2 days.

Day 8: It's Week 2 Already (257 lbs)

The first week of P90X is history. We have passed GO, collected $200, and are ready for week 2. During the second and third weeks of P90X, we repeat workouts (disks) 1-7. Today we revisited the chest, back and abs DVD. The workout went much faster this round because Ryan and I are becoming familiar with the exercises. We were also able to workout harder and increase our weight and reps on many of the exercises. My girlfriend, Karen, even joined us for the workout and really enjoyed the intensity and format.

Day 7: Stretching X (256 lbs)

Well I finished my first week of the P90X. I wrapped it up with an hour of the P90X Stretching X workout. Flexibility has always been my weakest of physical fitness because I have always ignored it. It hate stretching. It hurts and I suck at it. For just those reasons, I am glad this program puts such an emphasis on this vital component of exercise and forces me to do my stretching.

Today's workout was especially fun because all 3 of my limber sons joined me for the workout. We got our towels and water bottles, closed the garage door, turned off the fans, and spent and hour sweating and stretching. The boys laughed as they listened to their Old Tin Man father grunt, pant and moan. I was pleased to watch my sons effortlessly touch their toes and kiss their knees. Life is good.

Note: The green strap in this post is called a stretching strap. It comes in handy for guys like me. I put a loop around my shoe and use the other loops to give me a much deeper switch.

A Little Extra

I snuck over the LA Fitness to get that extra leg workout I mentioned two posts back. If you want big legs you need to combine heavy weights with low reps. In this picture, I'm squatting about 350 pounds for 10 reps. I did about four sets of squats before moving on to other leg-crushing endeavors.

Please be careful when doing these type of exercises. You can seriously injure yourself if you're not careful. Make sure you always use proper form. Don't lift too heavy and always use a spotter. My spotter, Ryan, is standing just behind me.

Day 6: Kenpo X (256 lbs)

After getting my butt kicked all week, the P90X Kenpo X workout was much easier than I expected. Granted, my heart rate topped 160 bpm and I was huffing and puffing, but the workout didn't trash me like some of the others. I felt totally invigorated, even refreshed, after the workout. This is by far the easier of the P90X workouts I've done so far, but I'm in excellent cardiovascular shape now that my ticker's been fixed.

Kenpo X is a 60 minute workout that involves lots of punching and kicking. These drills may seem easy at first but after a couple of minutes of continuous punch/kick combinations, you'll be ready to drop. No martial arts experience is needed but I did use my Muay Thai training and tried to always use correct form. You don't want to drop your left if you ever get in a real fight.

Again, Kenpo X was a fun workout. After killing myself all week on the first five P90X workouts, Kenpo X was a welcome change. However, I'll probably start doing this workout with my MMA gloves and training bag to bump up the intensity and make it more of a challenge.

Day 5: P90X - Legs, Back, Abs (253 lbs)

I hate my legs. They are lean and well-muscled but way too small for my body. It's not for lack of effort. I've never been one of those guys who just works out his upper body at the gym. At least half of my workouts have always been devoted to my legs. That's why I was quite curious to see what the P90X leg and back workout had to offer.

Again, legs and back turned out to be another killer P90X workout. This workout consists of 12 different exercises performed twice each for a total of 24 sets. You perform one back exercise for every 2 leg exercises as you progress through the workout. The leg exercises involve lots of lunging and squatting and definitely set my glutes and legs on fire. However, even though the workout was quite strenuous, I don't think it will provide the results I want on its own. Let me explain.

I am not a fitness expert but this is what I've been told by fitness experts. If you want to add mass (hypertrophy), you need to lift heavy and perform fewer reps. If you are able to do lots of reps, they weight is obviously not heavy enough. Although the P90X gives my legs an unbelievable burn, there are hardly any weights involved in the leg exercises. Without heavy weights, my legs won't get that contraction that produces bulk. Therefore, I am going to add at least one monster leg workout each week across the street at my LA Fitness. I am also going to need to increase my caloric intake (healthy calories only) to fuel muscle growth and supplement my diet with lots of protein powder. Heck, maybe I'll grill myself some chicken legs too and see if that helps.

Day 4: Yoga X (253 lbs)

Warning! This workout will kick your A-Double-Snake. I thought the P90X Plyometrics workout was difficult but it doesn't hold a candle to Yoga X. The yoga workout is by far the most difficult P90X workout yet. My son, Ryan, and I turned off the fans and closed the garage door. We then proceeded to sweat and groan and suffer for 90 minutes. Yoga is not just about flexibility but it is also about strength and balance and coordination. Oh, and they throw in a mental component that completely escapes me (I'm supposed to clear my mind and focus on nothing in this economy?). I absolutely hated the workout but I'm glad I did it and gave my all.

Day 3: P90X - Shoulders, Arms, Abs (256 lbs)

As expected, this was another killer workout, although not as tough as yesterday's plyometrics. The shoulders and arms routine involves 15 different exercises performed in 2 passes for a total of 30 sets. The exercises are done in groups of 3 rotating among a shoulder, bicep and tricep exercise until you have completed 10 sets for each muscle group. The workout is 60 minutes in duration but, alas, is followed by a 17 minute ab ripper workout.

I use light weights and do high reps so that I can increase definition without building bulk. My upper body is big enough and it's already difficult enough for me to buy a shirt. Most 2Xs no longer fit and try to find a larger size that's not tailored for a fat guy.

I use the Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells pictured in this post. They replace 15 sets of dumbbells and allow me to adjust the weight from 5 to 52.5 pounds. I have had these dumbbells for a few years now and love them. Although expensive, they are very well made and extremely convenient. Bowflex has a second version which goes up to 90 pounds, but I'm not that crazy.

Day 2: P90X - Plyometrics (256 lbs)

This workout was absolute hell. Plyometrics is a jumping cardio routine designed to develop your fast twitch muscle fibers and make you a better athlete. All I can say is, I exercised muscles that I haven't touched in 30 years. I was extremely sore and tired at the end of the 60 minute workout. In fact, my knees hurt so bad, I could barely walk up my stairs and was fearful I might have injured myself. Besides old age, I think much of the problem stemmed from the lack of a exercise mat to cushion my blows during the different routines. Next week, I'm doing the workout on my mat.

Day 1: P90X - Chest, Back, Abs (259 lbs)

Ryan and I  started the P90X program today. During our first 3 weeks we rotate through disks 1 through 7. Today we did the chest and back workout on disk 1. This workout lasts about 60 minutes and consists of 12 different exercises performed in 2 passes for a total of 24 sets. Most of the exercises are a variety of push ups or pull ups. Since we don't have a pull up bar in my garage, we used heavy bands suspended from the ceiling. The bands work great and come very close to mimicking the movement of a pull up.  To be honest, I'm a big guy and can barely do a single pull up. I prefer using the bands.

The workout was extremely hard. I did over 90 push ups in total (using the push up bars to the left) and over 200 reps with the bands and dumb bells. Needless to say, I was spent by the end of the workout. However, I was pleasantly surprised with my performance. I was actually able to keep up with the workout. When I initially watched the P90X videos on the Beach Body website, I was unsure if I could handle P90X.

In addition, disks 1, 3, and 5 have a 17 minute Ab Ripper X workout that you perform after the standard workout. This workout consists of 11 different exercises of 25 reps each. I did each exercise but could not always do all of the reps. I took lots of mini breaks. I did get a great workout though and my abs are very sore.

Day 0: P90X - Assessment & Before Pics (262 lbs)

Tomorrow is the big day! We start P90X. To prepare, my oldest son, Ryan, and I took our Before Pics, body measurements and went to the gym to do the P90X physical assessment. I don't look too bad in my before pics for a 47 year old man but definitely see lots room for improvement.

Basically, I want to accomplish the following goals:

• Upper Body: I want to increase muscle definition but don't want any more size. I'm 6'5" and 260 lbs. That big enough. I just need to scrape some of the frosting off the cake so you can see the existing muscles underneath. I carry most of my body fat in my upper body
  
• Lower Body: My legs have lots of definition but I need some bulk so I am more uniformly proportioned. This probably means adding a traditional heavy weight workout to my P90X routine each week. If you want to grow them legs, you need to pump some heavy iron on the squat machine and leg press.
  
• Flexibility: I have none and need it desperately. There are countless benefits to flexibility including improved range of motion, less likelihood of injure, improved muscle growth, etc. I'm tired of being a stiffy and am finally going to devote my efforts to area.
• Improve Athletic Performance: I want to be better, faster and stronger. No only do I want to look good, but I want to be able to run up and down a basketball court, hike for hours through the mountains, challenge my sons to a race, or beat up a drunk in a bar fight.
• General Health: I want to continue to improve my general health and keep my blood pressure and cholesterol under control without the use of medications.

The physical assessment went better than expected. I hit almost all of the base requirements to to the P90X. Here are the tests and results:

• Pull ups: 6 (assisted)
• Vertical Leap: 14"
• Push ups: 16 (I did 32 in April '09 before my triple bypass)
• Toe Touch: 14" above the toes
• Wall Squat: 1:16
• Bicep Curls: 15 reps @ 35 lbs
• Abs In & Outs: 25 reps
  

The following are my starting body measurements:

• Weight 262 lbs
• Body Fat: 13%
  
• Hip 40"
• Waist 36"
• Shoulders 50"
• Chest 46"
• Thigh - Left: 26.5"
• Thigh - Right 26"
  
• Calves - Left 15.25"
• Calves - Right 15.75
• Biceps - Left 16.25"
  
• Biceps - Right 17"

What is P90X?

P90X or Power 90 Extreme is a home exercise system developed by Tony Horton in conjunction with Beachbody. The program emphasizes full body fitness through cardiovascular, strength training, and stretching exercises. P90X stresses the importance of 'muscle confusion' by switching the order of exercises, and incorporating new exercises during each of the 3 phases. Muscle confusion prevents the body from adapting to the exercises over time and plateauing.

In plain English, P90X is designed for people who are already in good physical condition and want to take it to the next level and get totally ripped. Be forewarned though, P90X is a program that will require you to dig deep and push yourself to the extreme.

This is exactly what I am looking for. As Tony Horton would say, "Bring it."