Vacation Recap

We’re winding down our vacation and have made it back to a part of the world that offers internet access (or at least does not charge $1.99 per minute for it).

P90x on vacation, went about as well as could be expected, I guess.  I never envisioned trotting into a gym with Tony Horton and dutifully following along with the entire routine day-after-day.  My goal was to remain active, keep up with the program enough to not completely fall off the wagon, and not get too fat.  Well, two out of three ain’t bad.  I worked out about half of the days on the trip.  My workouts consisted of about 45-minutes of prettygood cardio (20-25 minutes of running on the treadmill–which I loathe, and 15-minutes of intense elliptical work–target heart rate of 175) and then about 30 minutes of various weights/resistances including dumbbells and push-ups.  I even slipped in a few Ab Rippers. 

On Tuesday, we’ll be back home and ready to get back into the swing of things.  My plan is to maintain my same daily schedule (Thursday as the rest day) and to simply pick up on Tuesday in week 10.  This means that there will be 2 days that are actually repeats, including Legs & Back and Kenpo X, before starting week 11 (day 1 of which I’ve already done, so I will be repeating….confused yet?).  I’m not excited about repeating these, but I consider Legs & Back and Kenpo X to be a little less intense than the arms/shoulders routines so I think this will be a good way of jumping back in.   Besides, Chest, Shoulders & Triceps is perhaps the most difficult for me, so it will be a good workout for me to tackle again.  I really hope that I don’t mess up the “muscle confusion” science and start growing muscles that aren’t supposed to be there.  I doubt I’ll have that problem. 

On another note, because we were on a cruise this week…the so-called “non-diet diet” crashed and burned this past week.  In fact, I’d say the last 30-days we’ve been slowing spinning out of control.  So (waving my index finger in the air with authority) starting on Tuesday I’m getting serious about the diet again.  We’ve taken our 30 and 60 day progress photos, and I have to say I’m somewhat disappointed.  I can see more muscle, but also notice that I’ve added some additional flabbiness from day-30 to day-60.  I’ve still got a bit of time to stop the train wreck.  Stay tuned for the home-stretch.

Day 71 (Week 11, Day 1): Chest, Shoulders & Triceps (Vacation Week)

What a screwed up morning. Today was supposed to be Chest and Back, but because I messed up last week and did the wrong workout, this morning I did Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. Tomorrow we’re leaving for vacation and so our entire schedule is going to be in flux for a bit. We’ve debated on how to do vacation week….do we start week 11 as normal (as I did), do we modify everything?

I decided to start this week as normal. But, my problem started last night. I had planned to get up and work out this morning at 4:50am but l stayed up until after 10:30 watching Bellator. This doesn’t work well for me. So, this morning, I really didn’t want to get up. I mean, I wanted to work out–or say I worked out…but didn’t want to get up.

I think this is where alot of people fail in P90x and in fitness in general. Everyone wants to do it…we want the results and the feeling of accomplishment…but we don’t want to do the tough stuff of getting there. That’s where I was this morning.

I did get out of bed, at the urging of my wife who was essentially whispering “don’t be a bum, get out of here”.

When I finally got down there, it was tough. I don’t know if its because I skipped this work out, but I could not match my last performance. I don’t know what anabolic I was on last time I did this, but I was not as strong today.

I have a hard time with this one particularly because I struggle with Flys. I feel that I am very good at push-ups, but then Tony throws a “fly push-up” at you and I struggle. The positive from today, however, was that I completed 10 “airborne plyo push-ups”. That’s right…both hands and feet left the ground. I only did claps on a few of them, but I was pleased with the ability to get airborne. I’ve been too scared to try this before.

So, this marks the end of “normal” P90x for a while. I anticipate replacing Yoga and Kenpo with Cardio on our cruise ship. Also, I’m hoping to do some combo of the resistance workouts or may cobble together my own workout based on different exercises from the program. Overall, I want this time to be used to get stronger–not fall behind on my performance. I’ll have the time and the rest…it’s a matter of doing it.