Rest weekend

My shoulder is still not happy today and I generally feel not full of beans so I'm gonna rest this weekend. It will upset the schedule but I think 2 days rest will do me the power of good.

I got a bruise moving some boxes and it took it over a week to dissapear so I think that's an indication of slower healing and sleep hasn't been great too for the last week so I think rest is needed. I don't like getting injured and I feel really lazy not doing anything but sometimes you just have to don't you.

I might make it an easyish week and pull in the missed days (Kenpo, plyo & yoga) so that I make sure my shoulder is ok and fully rested and ready to start phase 3.

P90X Week 8 Day 4/5 Core Syn following by X Stretch

Week 8 Day 4/5 Core Syn following by X Stretch

Was cautious with my shoulder today so didn't up the weights and was careful with push ups but got it done

My bananaman/supermans seems to getting better somehow!

But wow I was sweating more than normal today - not really sure why??

 HRM 2 Hr 05 mins 808cal 50% fat Max 170 91% Avg 120 65%

P90X Week 8 Day 3 Kenpo X

Week 8 Day 3 Kenpo X

Tweaked shoulder yesterday so rested and took it easyish with Kenpo today. Always enjoy Kenpo

Crappy eating over the last 24 hours left me not feeling full of beans like usual today that my recovery drink was much needed so good dinner tonight and will eat better tomorrow onwards.

 HRM 1hr 12 mins 529 cal 45% fat Max 163 88% Avg 127 68%

Push up stand upgrade

My new Tony Horton Power stands have arrived - for my 35th Birthday and they are awesome!!! Wahoo!!

Here's my old crappy ones and my new awesome ones..

Much bigger padded hand grip, with a slight angle, which will be so much better for my hands and wrists.

Because I use them for Downward dogs when I need to swing through to runners pose, I'm on them quite a lot and they make my hands ache on the narrower grip of my old ones, I've also nearly gone over on them 3 times - no chance of that with these new ones!!

P90X Week 8 Day 2 Core Synergistics

Week 8 Day 2 Core Syn.

Great fun today well apart from bananaman/superman and bow/boat grrrrrr

Had to pause a few times to bring HR down, mop up the dripping wet stuff and change weights - I used 2 x 2kgs for the crescent lunges and Squat runs, then 2 x 4kg for the rest.


I did 5 proper sphnix push up too, last time I only managed from knees.

Another personal best for me today though - I actually did 9 full push ups during the session wahoo!!!
Most consecutive was still 3 but still I'm over the moon with the 9!! Including staggered ones

I did 5 proper sphnix push ups too, last time I only managed from knees.

HRM 1 Hr 20 mins 651cal 45% fat Max 170 91% Avg 133 72% 

P90X Week 8 Day 1 Yoga X

Week 8 Day 1 Yoga X

Went well - I still need the push up bars to get my foot through anywhere near where its supposed to be for runners pose. The bars also are not great on my hands - so I've asked for TH's Power stands for my birthday they should be much better and more stable, I keep threatening to go over on my cheap ones

Got into plough before shoulder stand this time too so pleased with that.

Bring on Core Syn tomorrow as I'm going to go on with the programe and do my 3 missed ones at the end. If I try and cram them in when the reason I missed them was to rest my legs would be a bit senseless me thinks.

HRM 1 Hr 35 mins 449 cal 60% fat Max 147 79% Avg 104 56%  

P90X Day 44 Kenpo X followed by X Stretch

Day 44 Kenpo X followed by X Stretch (Hmmm do I count this as two days lol)

Loved Kenpo today as always, it was great to do it after missing it last week

and so I can rest tomorrow I did X Stretch straight after and it felt great too. Should help with the minor doms from legs and back yesterday.

I did a push up with each chaturanga today, form wasn't perfect as I wasn't tight enough but I still did 3 full push ups.

Hey I did Plough for the first time today, as in got both feet on the floor

HRM 2hr 06 mins 779 cal 50% fat Max 164 88% Avg 118 63% 

P90X Day 43 (light leg week) Legs and Back + ARX

Day 43 (light leg week) Legs and Back + ARX

So I did this with no weights today (except for calf raises) as it's the first leg work I've done in a week. Went well and still worked hard. I did ring rows today for pull ups, so slightly easier but concentrated on form and got more reps in.
I only managed 15 balanced lunges before cramping and iso lunges are really tough still.

Stretched and foam rollered afterwards - still got some niggly trigger points in my quads grrrr

Looking forward to Kenpo tomorrow, and I'm going to X stretch straight after it and then rest fully on Sunday. Anybody else tried this?

Then the question is can I really call this Week 7 as I missed Plyo and yoga and go straight into recovery week or do I stick to the original plan and redo Week 7 with plyo and yoga before recovery week?
Can I really say I've done P90X if I miss two workouts?????

 HRM 1hr 36 mins 804 cal 45% fat Max 167 90% Avg 135 73%  

P90X Day 42 (light leg week) Backs & Bi's + ARX

Spent over 7 hours lifting, carrying, and sorting stuff yesterday out of the garage Phew. The skip arrived today so spent another hour filling it!

I was also strangely aware of my knees again last night too - not sure why, I can only think it was the push ups when I got tired and dropped to knees the day before?

Day 42 (light leg week) Backs & Bi's + ARX

Enjoyed today bicep work went really well. The pull ups not so much - I did them as pull downs and sat on the chair instead going on my knees to help them, which felt quite odd and I upped my weight too to 40kg and only managed 4 reps (they were tough in all hand positions too) but I guess that's too be expected. 4 reps and keep getting stronger quicker is the theory.
I wanted to concentrate on form more and think 'Shoulders in the back pocket' to help engage the back but for some reason I only remembered on the last set DOH!!!

I managed 10 lawnmowers at 25lb/11kg so pleased with that - up that next time again.

8 standing bicep curls at 17.5lb/8kg is a new best for me too

HRM 1Hr 24 mins 541 cal 55% fat  Max 159 85% Avg 118 63% 

P90X Day 41 Chest, Shoulders and Triceps + ARX

Day 41 Chest, Shoulders and Triceps + ARX

So after 2 days rest I got back to it today and boy it felt good

Enjoyed it and tried something new today - I did band assisted push ups all the way through
I think form wise its much better, so I started with a red band at pin 5 which gave a little assistance but especially with those slow push ups and then the plange push ups I really struggled to get many reps so I then swopped to a blue band which gave me more help.
Some were still tough obviously but for the clap push ups I was a least able to leave the ground on the first rep and then because of my wrist I just stuck to doing them as fast as I could.

Overall I'm pleased and with my push up bars used where tony used his I got better range of motion too.

ARX I got few more reps in today and the pfiffer scissors I did the holds again without the scissor as the twang in my left hip bothers me - I don't thing 40-50 twangs a week is a good thing?

 HRM 1 Hr 36 mins 525cal 55% fat Max 147 79% Avg 110 59%

Rest day

I am in it for the long haul that's for sure - and I guess I was getting a bit caught up in the whole 90 day thing
This is about being a better me for the rest of my life not just a quickie do it and forget it thing.

So I had today off completely.Went and did a bit of shopping and that's it

My knees are feeling a little better already (all the puffy water has gone so I'm really pleased about that) but I think I might skip X stretch tomorrow too as I'm sure the rest of my body would like the rest too and then back to it on Monday following the lighter schedule.

Pull ups and Knee pain

I got some help on a forum regarding doing few reps to speed up progress - so I'll try fewer reps and maybe 2 sets of 3-4 hard reps instead of the 8-10 I'm aiming for at the moment which should accelerate the progress
You helped me see the wood for the tress thank you.


Each session that I achieve the 3-4 reps all the way through I'll decrease the resistance on PU rev and increase weights on Pull down for the next session.



Well last night after legs and back my knees hurt again (groan) when I get to 90 degress to sit in a chair and there seems to be puffy fluid around the knee area (indicative of overwork) so as much as it pains me to say I think I need to rest my lower body.

I'm not quitting and if I'm honest I don't want to rest as I'm really loving these workouts but knees like backs are pretty important parts of the body so I think I need to give them the rest they deserve - at the end of the day I've been working them really hard for 6 weeks solid (only 3 off days and 2 of those doing other weighted carrying stuff so no rest for the knees either) which is 6 solid weeks more than I've done anything in my life so not really surprising is it .

So I think I will extend this phase by a week and basically this week concentrate on upper body stuff only.....
Kenpo today so I think I'll do upperbody only and just plant my feet careful with any twisting (it may feel a bit odd but at least I can still burn a few calories?)
Sun - X Stretch - I'll do
Mon - Chest, Shoulders & triceps + ARX - do without jumping in the warm up and pull downs sat down so not on knees and no PU rev to rest knees
Tue - Plyo - skip (even though I love plyo) but maybe do Tai Cheng
Wed - Backs and Bi's + ARX - do without jumping in the warm up and pull downs sat down so not on knees and no PU rev to rest knees
Thurs - Yoga X - skip but maybe do Tai Cheng
Fri - see how I feel for legs and back again? and if completely pain free then do it with no weights see how I am?

Does that seem like a sensible plan???

P90X Day 40 Legs and Back + ARX

Day 40 Legs and Back + ARX

Well I wanted to give this my all today and didn't get off to great start with the balanced lunges, only managed 12 on the right leg I can normally do 16, but I did manage 17 on the left leg.

I upped calf raise squats to 4kg in each hand today and boy did I notice the kg increase and that kind of did me in for the rest I think as most of the leg stuff was really tough after that The sweat was pouring off me, my towel was soaked and I've never seen my mat so wet

My knees felt different today - better or worse not quite sure??

I decided to do all pull ups on bar with assist again today and I increased the assistance (not by original design - the tape that has been my marker for a few years decided to slide down without me realising grrrr) but I think in hindsight it did me a favour as it allowed me to get more reps in.

I can't decide to make it easy enough to get 8-10 reps every time before I make it harder (like weights) or to make to hard enough so that I can only manage 4 or 5??? Should I be only getting 2 or 3 each set and when I get to 5 make it harder again?

Any thoughts on assisted progress? - when to make it harder??? 

 

My HR was quite high today and I had to take a few breaks to slow it down.

 

 HRM 1hr 48 mins 836 cal 45% fat Max 172 92% Avg 130 70%  

Tai Cheng Day 1

Well today I just wasn't fully recovered enough for Leg and back so I did the function test and Day 1 of Tai Cheng with my mum. (She found the foam rolling and plank a bit much for her which was a shame has she's lost a lot of strength in her shoulders)

It was good to rest and the few stretches we did in warm up was just a little and I felt pretty good and relaxed afterwards so really looking to properly attack Legs and Back tomorrow .

P90X Day 39 Yoga X

Day 39 Yoga X

This was tough today, my arms and shoulders were obviously still tired from yesterday as every chataranga was tough and I didn't manage 1 push up this time ;(

My Tai Cheng pack arrived today and not sure weather to wait or see if I can make start on it??

I always do X Stretch on day 7 and I really enjoy the stretch and I think my body needs it but it still doesn't feel like a rest day.
I wondered weather to do Tai Cheng on Day 8 of each week if know what I mean as an extra rest day but I don't really want to interfere with P90X as it's working well.
But does Tai Cheng need that regular daily commitment to get the most out of it?

HRM 1 Hr 40 mins 452 cal 60% fat Max 140 75% Avg 103 55%  

P90X Day 38 Backs & Bi's + ARX

Day 38 Backs & Bi's + ARX

Today I did all pull ups properly with PU Rev (very similar to Chin up max) and overall it went well, I quite surprised myself.

Bi's are going great, upping the weights and reps everywhere I can

ARX - gave the pfiffer scissor a miss again and just worked on the few inch holds off the floor as they are still tough for me.

 HRM 1Hr 33 mins 673 cal 50% fat  Max 162 87% Avg 125 67%

P90X Day 37 Plyo

Day 37 Plyo

Love plyo, really enjoyed it today and didn't have to pause once

Don't do the squat jacks, I do just normal jacks because of knees. Squat switch pickups I did more a step than a jump because of oxygen but other than I kept up with them for the most part

I'm definitely noticing I'm getting fitter with less sweating and less pause buttons lol this stuff is so awesome!!!

HRM 1Hr 17 mins 700 cal 40% fat  Max 172 92% Avg 142 76% 

P90X Day 36 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps + ARX

Day 36 Chest, Shoulders & Triceps + ARX

The main problem I have with this dvd is not enough time to write stuff down, have to keep pausing it but maybe its just me .

I tried to do more floor push ups today instead of the easier bar option (think box push ups) so I hope that builds up some of the strength I've lost as I only managed 1 full proper push up today on push up bars.

I did however manage 10 chair dips today with straight legs so really pleased with that progress

ARX somehow felt a bit easier today - no idea why really?

HRM 1 Hr 34 mins 614cal 55% fat Max 158 85% Avg 119 64%  

P90X Day 35 X Stretch

Day 35 X Stretch

X Stretch today, enjoyed it except I tried a push up during the second sun salutation and failed can I really have lost my push ups already??

Also I didn't even break a sweat today - I must be adapting to this stuff and getting fitter ;)

P90X Day 34 Kenpo X

Day 34 Kenpo X

Did this in my weights room and space is a little limited so I felt a little restricted but got it done and still enjoyed it.

Probably good so that I did go crazy

Foam rollered (very painfully) and stretched afterwards and knees feel great tonight.

HRM 1hr 20 mins 571 cal 50% fat Max 163 88% Avg 125 67% 

Trigger points and foam roller!

Just read my trusty trigger point book and yep - those Quad muscles are the culprit! So got the deep tissue massager out worked all my upper legs, calves and butt. Then got down with my foam roller and found some more and went into the pain cave!

I feel much better now all the tension has gone from around my knees
So I think I will have to incorporate some foam rolling into my Rip60 stretches that I do after every P90X workout (except yoga and stretch of course) but those few minutes will be sooo worth it!

I can carry on doing what I love - Thank you.

P90X Day 33 Legs and Back + ARX

Day 33 Legs and Back + ARX

Well it was great to get back to it today. My knee was better but not gone completely so I didn't push too hard. Some lunges that I did weighted last session I even did unweighted today. Doing something is better than not being able to do anything.
I upped the calf raises to 2.5kg in each hand today and made it through feel the burn lol.

I tried the pull ups (well chin ups actually) with the chair - quite different and somewhat easier than I expected although knee started clicking every rep and I can't move the chair any further away grrr

I used the low side of the chair (ie the chair itself and not the back) on the next set of chins and with a push off I got up and then did the negative under my own weight. I was pleasantly surprised with these.

I did the same for the last set of switch pull ups but being tired I kept my foot on and thinking about it afterwards not sure its the best way??

In ARX today pfiffer scissors were not great after a few reps the dull thud I get in my hip every change became more of a twang so I decided to just try keep foot off the floor and not do the change over.

Finished with more foam rolling of all of my lower body to see if I can get top side of this knee pain and get rid of any triggers I had just put in and then following with my Rip60 cool down stretches as normal.

HRM 1hr 40 mins 804 cal 45% fat Max 169 91% Avg 132 71%  

Rest day

Today I'm gonna take a rest day. my upper body is still pretty achey but I could push through but today my knees are not happy at all, my left one in particular. Sitting ie anything 90 degrees or less is really painful so doing legs and back today I thought would be very silly.

I find it hard as I really want to do my workout today to keep on schedule and the fact that I love doing it but today I just feel I need to listening to my body.

Still not sure whats upsetting my knees - is it doing yoga barefoot as I have tibial torsion and working without my shoes that have ortho insoles in seems to upset things a little. ( Ithink next yoga session I might try in my shoes)
Or is it runners knee?? (not that I have ran anywhere?)
Is it just lots of work, jumping about nearly every day and its just not used to it?

Overall I've been trying to get deeper into my lunges - has that put extra strain on them?? I don't bloody know grrrrrrr

P90X Day 32 Yoga X

Day 32 Yoga X

I enjoy yoga although its still tough. Today I felt tired physically so it seemed harder than usual.
I tried for a push up before down dog and failed miserably twice so I think my upperbody is just tired from new Chest, Shoulders & tri's, and Back and Bi's this week!

 HRM 1 Hr 34 mins 430 cal 60% fat Max 146 78% Avg 103 55% 

P90X Day 31 Backs & Biceps + ARX

Day 31 Backs & Biceps + ARX

Oh wow this was fun today, I worked hard, I was shaking and grunting and squeezing them bicep curls out today

OMG what are those corn cobs all about
I'm up to 8 @ 35kg pull downs so I attempted the corn cobs and well after 3 tries to do something that looked like a corn cob I was toast!
They are going to take some working on - need to drop the weight to something I can manage a corn cob with I think and work up from there!

Towel pull ups hmmm didn't risk doing them as pull down incase the towel slipped, and wouldn't have felt safe using PU rev so opted to do body rows instead and it worked fairly well.
Maybe I should try to find a chair to do the job with after all - would make it easier but would it be too easy, I'm concerned I would use too much leg and not progress??

Any advice please or experiences to share about this guys n gals?

HRM 1Hr 27 mins 605 cal 55% fat  Max 162 87% Avg 123 66%

P90X Day 30 Plyo

I'm very aware of my pecs today but not excruciating pain so I think that is about perfect, pushing but not crazy


Day 30 Plyo

Pushed hard today too and loved it as always.
Had to take a couple of breaks and didn't do the squat jacks but still did 691 calories so pleased with that

Bring on back and bi's tomorrow another new one wahoo!!

 HRM 1Hr 14 mins 691 cal 35% fat  Max 173 93% Avg 145 78%

P90X Day 29 Phase 2 Chest, Shoulders and Triceps + ARX

Day 29 Phase 2 Chest, Shoulders and Triceps + ARX

Phew!!! This was well erm different to what I was expecting some how

It was kind of an intense workout camouflaged as an easy workout if you know what I mean.
First one of new dvds is always a bit stop/start as you get used to new moves but wow does it do the triceps in or what

My upper body (ribcage to neck) was dithering after this and did do for a good few hours afterwards. I pushed hard and wonder if I pushed too hard? Maybe I pushed just hard enough?

Having only just got to do full push ups, plyo push up were not on the menu at all lol especially as my wrist was a little tweaking so I was on my bar and pushed up with gusto as if to leave the bar but without actually leaving the bar if that makes sense.

I've never done slow or fast push ups either so they were new and the fast ones were erm not very fast lol. But I tried

This workout worked my chest and arms like nothing ever before, so you gotta love it.

HRM 1 Hr 28 mins 547cal 55% fat Max 146 78% Avg 116 62% 

P90X Day 28 X Stretch

Day 28 X Stretch

All done - 1st phase done and dusted

Bring on Phase 2

Visually I don't think there much difference but I'm certainly firmer pretty much all over

My diet has been a bit more phase 2ish than phase 1 with slightly more carb than recommended so I'm hoping this phase 2 should melt more fat away and I'm hoping for more visual changes at in another 28 days

P90X Day 27 Yoga X

Day 27 Yoga X

Yoga done and although the sweat dripped off me like Leyton Hewitt (sorry if no one is a tennis fan) I still loved it. Some poses are still tough but each time one area gets better or stronger or easier.

This program is so well designed its incredible.

HRM 1 Hr 36 mins 432 cal 60% fat Max 144 77% Avg 102 55%