Week 1 of P90X down! 83 days to go!

So, my first week of P90X is done! Whew!! As I mentioned in my last blog post, I workout all the time with weights and cardio and I was doing P90X to challenge myself. Challenge myself I did! It was a week of some new things, some not so new and lots of soreness! It was and is a good soreness (as opposed to pain that isn't a good sign to have from a workout)! I love feeling sore from a workout, it tells me I pushed my body. I know that the result of the soreness will be a stronger body the next time I workout.

So day 1 was back & chest which I love to train. This workout consists mostly of pushups and chinups of all kinds. It's tough and tiring but fun. There are P90X workout sheets to keep track of your reps in each exercise so that gives you a good visual to try to beat each time you do the workout. I've always used a workout journal to keep track of my workouts and I highly suggest you do the same with your workouts. While a lot of you may say, pushups and chinups... Oh My! There are ways to do the exercises to make them a bit easier to do until your body gets stronger though. It's all about pushing yourself and bringing it. There's no getting around it, your body will get stronger but you will have to push it. After the workout I did the P90X version of Ab work called Ab Ripper X and whooboy, that title is accurate! 16 minutes of non-stop ab and core work! Mind you, I have strong abs but that was hard! Honestly, I was not able to do all the exercises all the way through but that's ok. I know I will get stronger and better with it in time and that's how you should approach any exercise. Give it your all and do what you can. As you stick to it, you will get better and stronger with it. Same goes for the pushups and chinups. As they say in P90X, do your best and forget the rest.

Day 2 was Plyometrics and they call this workout THE BEAST for a reason. Athletes utilize Plyo a lot to prepare for their sports. It consists of a lot of leg work and jumping exercises. Your legs and feet will take a beating and your heartrate will soar with this workout but its a great cardio workout and you'll find yourself feeling very accomplished when its done! It has a lot of variety with the exercises so you won't get bored with it. In fact I don't think you'll be bored with any the days since they are all very varied and you're too busy getting through the exercises to be bored! Lol. You have to keep track of your heart rate in this workout to make sure you stay in the zone but it will no doubt improve your cardio capacity fast.

Day 3 was Shoulder and Arms which I also love to train. I don't really have a bodypart I don't like to train though. There is more use of the resistance bands & weights in this workout and if you use a heavy enough weight, you'll definitely feel it the next day. To get the most of any exercise, you should always use enough weight to make it hard by the last 3 reps of the exercise.

Day 4 was Yoga X. This is a long 90 minute workout but once you are done you feel great! Most of the other workouts average about 55 minutes long, including warmups and cool downs. The Yoga workout is broken into 3 parts consisting of overall body exercises while your body is fresh and strong, then balance exercises and then core exercises. I like the way its setup and the whole flow of the exercises. Its definitely challenging but you will feel the difference in flexibility by the end.

Day 5 was legs & back. Lots of leg work with back exercises (mainly chinups, yes more chinups!) as breathers. A really good workout! I loved it and my legs definitely felt it the next day. They were already sore from the plyo on day 2 and this workout actually helped lessen the soreness and speed up the healing as the exercises forced blood into the muscles. That's the way to do it. If you just have normal post-workout soreness, the best way to get rid of it is to get the blood flowing in your body through more exercise. The blood helps to flush the toxins and soreness out. It helps with the recuperation process.

Day 6 was Kenpo X. As a lifelong martial artist, this was a workout I was looking forward to. I also found this workout the easiest to do but then again its something I'm used to doing (punches and kicks). This workout works out everything so its a good overall workout and great way to end the week with this last workout! Martial Arts are a great way to work out - the punches work the upper body, kicks work out the lower body and the pace of the workout works your cardio. This workout helps bring all the P90X workout days together. I had a blast!

Day 7 is either a rest day or a day to stretch. The P90X system comes with a stretching DVD and that's what I chose to do after a hard first week of working out. In fact, I plan to do the stretching instead of resting for the entire 90 day duration. Stretching helps not with your flexibilty but helps flush out some of the toxins and post-workout soreness that you may feel. Although stretching should be part of your warmups and cool downs, taking your rest day to stretch is a really good idea. As with all things P90X, the stretching program incorporates various types of stretching (ballistic, static and yoga) and spans about 55 minutes. After a hard week of working out though, its a most welcome and glorious 55 minutes of stretching! :)

I can't wait for week 2!