I posted before/after pictures the other day, so here I'll attempt to put down some data, thoughts, and grade myself on the areas of P90X in this first round.
Part 1: Data.
If it's not noticeable from the pictures, I've undergone some physical appearance changes, becoming less "doughy" and more defined. The major numbers I've been tracking are below:
Weight
|
“Gut” Measurement
|
Hips Measurement
| |
| Day 0 |
242 lb
|
46.0 in
|
42.5 in
|
| Day “90” |
207 lb
|
37.5 in
|
38.0 in
|
| Difference |
-35 lb!!!
|
-8.5 in!!!
|
-4.5 in!!!
|
Again, all in all an unqualified success. I think I would have liked to end at an even 200 lb for the first round, but I'm not going to sweat it. Well, actually, I am going to sweat it in the second round I do. (See what I did there?) I know P90X isn't billed as a weight loss program, it's more of a possible side effect of getting 'ripped,' and I had the right kind of starting conditions to lose a lot of weight.
I need to work my pre- and post-test data up into a chart to post up here. There is definite improvement in strength, but I still think I can do better. I'm up to a whopping 4 unassisted pull ups and 30 pushups at a time now, which, on it's own, doesn't sound that impressive, but when you consider I did an awesome 3/4 of one pull up and just about died doing 10 pushups on the pre-test, that's some solid improvement.
Part 2: Thoughts.
There's nothing special about P90X, really. If I had sat down and put some thought into planning out an exercise and diet program where I watched what I ate and worked out about an hour a day for 6 days a week, I'm sure I could have seen similar results.
Problem was, I didn't know where to start. All my previous experience was training for cycling, which involved a lot of biking, which wasn't really calling to me at the time. There was a big mental block of having to get the bike out, get in the gear for the weather conditions, etc to get out on the bike. In my mind, just dropping in a DVD for an hour a day was a much easier thing to do, when in all, the total time sink isn't that different between the DVD workout and riding. Dropping the cash on the program, while in all not all that much, I think also kind of "invested" me in the program in addition just to my desire to change myself. P90X did all the thinking for me - I can follow directions pretty well, I just get bogged down and tired in figuring out what those instruction sets are sometimes.
There's a wide range of reviews on the program out there I've read. When it comes down to it, you have to want to make a change in order for this, or any program really, to be successful. Don't agonize too much over finding the "perfect" program, because you're not going to find it. There are aspects of P90X I don't like so much (mainly yoga, more on this later), but, had I held out trying to find a better program, I'd still be where I was 90 days ago. Try to find something that looks doable and will keep interest and go for it.
Part 3: Grades.
So here's the self assessment I'll do on what I'll categorize as the main areas of P90X. These are based on the effort I tended to bring to the workouts, success rate at doing the workouts, and actual results. I'll do another post where I grade the workouts, because I definitely had some that I preferred over others, for a variety of reasons.
Strength Workouts - Upper Body: A.
I feel like I always "brought it" when working the upper body/chest/back/arms, etc. In the early days it was tough hearing people on the DVD saying they'd do like 20-30 pushups and I'm calling out "I'll do three!!" while I flopped in a pool of sweat on the floor. But I'm catching up now. And I'm getting the "gun show" to boot.
Strength Workouts - Lower Body: A-.
I've always had my strength centered more in my lower body, what with being a cyclist. I had some knee surgery on my right knee in 2011 from a pretty significant hockey injury, and found that I had to modify the exercises depending on how my knee felt. Generally it was OK, though some days the repeated squat/lunge type exercises got to it. Nevertheless, my legs are getting back to the shape they used to be in when I was mountain bike racing 6-7 years ago. And all that with hardly turning the pedals on a bike.
Strength Workouts - Core: C+.
I had to modify Ab Ripper a lot for a good portion of the program, due to some hip flexor issues I picked up playing hockey. I'm happy that I see major improvements in doing the workout - I can get much farther into the routine doing full 25 rep sets now than when I started - but there's times when I just crash out and I've probably been a little too eager to push the stop button on several occasions. I still can't seem to reliably do an "Oblique V-Up."
Same deal on the Core Synergistics workout - never really felt like I got the exercise forms down too well with it and was quite eager towards the end of the first round to skip stuff/call it a day early. In all, my core is definitely stronger, but I probably could have been a little more determined during some of the workouts. The last couple weeks, I changed things up by doing Ab Ripper before the other workouts, and I found that doing it with a full tank of energy helps with determination to get through the whole thing, and it doesn't seem to affect my performance or attitude in the weight routine that follows.
Cardio/Endurance Workouts - A+.
If there's an area where I went for broke 100% of the time, this was it. Whether it was rockstar hopping, sword-hammering, or football hero-ing, I'd push it to the edge. I'd jump until my heart pounded and my chest burned. I'd spin until I was dizzy. I'd squat-jump until my legs pumped battery acid. And then I'd, "Guess what? REPEAT THAT!!"
Flexibility/Yoga Workouts - D+.
If anywhere I slacked, avoided, or looked for ways to get out of workouts, here's where it was. I am not very flexible. I mean, the Tin Man looks like Gumby compared to me. I'd never done yoga before, so it was quite eye opening. In all, I think I went through the whole yoga routine a total of 3 or 4 times throughout the first round. In reality it's not that much longer than the other exercises combined with Ab Ripper, but the pace just makes it feel like it takes AGES to get through. Combine that with my lack of flexibility and it's a tough one. So I went through the whole thing a couple few times as I mentioned, but, by the end of the first round, I found myself doing either certain portions of the Yoga workout for about 45 minutes, then doing some kind of unstructured cardio, or just doing Cardio X and calling the first 10 minutes that does yoga good enough. I did notice some improvement in my flexibility (I can nearly touch the tops of my toes now!), it's just something that is hard for me and takes a lot more determination to work through.
Where to now?
So for the past week I've just been taking it a bit easy and doing what I call the "Best Of P90X" on a couple days. Did the workouts I liked the best and had some fun with it. My future plan involves getting back into a second round of 90 days, probably starting next week, with the renewed intensity and dedication to the workouts and diet to get results. I'm thinking about officially going the "doubles" program - the first round I think there were about 10-12 days where I did a "double" workout where I played a hockey game in addition to doing a workout. There were also several rest days where I got on the bike for a ride, or played a hockey game, so this first round was kinda "doubles." Maybe "one and a halfs."
As the weather gets nicer in spring, I'll transition out of my basement and back into outside activities - biking, roller hockey, kayaking, etc and rely less on the workout program throughout the summer. Will probably pick it back up, or look into another workout program like Insanity or P90X2 around September/October to get me through the winter months.
Anyway, long post, go ahead and thank yourself for reading so damn hard.
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