David’s Workout – 30/15 Routine + Ab Ripper X

Today was supposed to be Chest and Back day, but I decided to switch things up and do 30/15 (from the 1 on 1 series) instead.  It’s the same basic concepts with a load of push ups and pull ups.  One thing that I know for sure: my cardio has taken a serious hit over the past 3 months.  I feel that my strength is already close to being back, but I don’t have the endurance I did have.  So, it’s a bit frustrating to run out of gas.  I know that will change.

One of big differences between this workout and Chest and Back is that Chest and Back emphasizes maximum reps (at least I emphasize max reps).  30/15 is more paced, although it’s not easy.  I could feel lactic acid buildup in only my 3rd set.

During Chest and Back, I typically blow through about 60 or so standard pushups on my first set.  I admit, I do end up blowing myself out and by the end can only must about 15 Diamond pushups, but each week I work on increasing my total number of push ups.  In this workout, the first set of 30 is no big deal.  Neither is the second.  But I tend to struggle with military style pushups and so that is where I really started struggling.  All of this is good and is a real push.

The other half of the story, however is not so good.  The workout is titled “30-15” because you are supposed to do 30 push-ups and then 15 pull ups, over and over and over and over again.  I can’t do 15 pull ups.  Not even close.  I’ve been doing P90x workouts for nearly a year now, and it’s simply not achievable at this point.  So I modify, modify, modify.

Since there were two of us working out, we split up and one of us would use the lat pull machine and the other did pull ups.  The lat pull machine is NOT the same as doing pull ups, but it works many of the same muscle groups so I don’t complain too much.

After a hiatus…I’m back. Here’s what happened…

Ok, so my P90X Round 3 progress has hit an abrupt snag. I blew out my knee playing flag football almost four weeks ago.  I had an MRI on found that I had an ACL that was “torn pretty badly”.  This happened only days before our daughter Lillian was born.  What a crazy few weeks! 

The official diagnosis is a full rupture of the anterior crucial ligament (ACL), a medial meniscus tear, a lateral meniscus tear and a strained (not torn) medial collateral ligament (MCL).  In layman’s terms, my knee is a shredded mess.  A surgical reconstruction is in my future, but not until the end of January.  According to my orthopedic surgeon, the modern protocol is to take time to allow the swelling to decrease, the range of motion in the knee to be restored and the trauma surrounding the area.

So, for now my P90X Round 3 progress (and overall fitness program) is halted.   I am doing “pre-hab” twice a week.  So instead of doing Plyometrics, Core Cardio workouts or single-leg wall squats, I’m lying on my back trying to bend my knee.  It’s pretty boring and kind of depressing.  After a few weeks of basically doing nothing, I started working out 2-3 times a week again.

Any “hard” workout must consist of Abs and Upper Body.  So, I’ve been doing ISO Abs, Killer Abs, and Ab ripper X.  I’ve also started cycling through the P90x and 1-on-1 Upper Body workouts including On One Leg and Back & Biceps.

My schedule is now dramatically altered, and likely will be for the next 7-8 months.  I will have little opportunity to do much cardio.  But I am comitted to staying in shape and working hard, nonetheless.

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 7 / Day 4 – Super Cardio + Ab Ripper X

This is the first time I’ve ever done Super Cardio and I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I’m always looking for new, fun workouts and so I was looking forward to this one.  Super Cardio has three major sets three moves, and each set is completed three times.  So, there are only 9 different moves but with the multiple sets and reps, it gets the heart rate moving.  As far as intensity goes, this workout is comparable to Cardio X in P90x.  It’s not going to kill you, but it will work you if you put forth any effort at all.

If I had any complaint about this workout it is mainly just the lack of variety in the moves.  Rather than choosing only 9 moves to repeat, Tony could have made it more interesting by doing twice as many moves and possibly fewer repeats.  But, that’s a minor complaint.  It’s a good little workout and one I’ll likely keep in my rotation at the tail end of my workouts.

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 3 / Day 3 – Cardio Intervals + Killer Abs

Today’s workout took place in a hotel room.  We are at the Lake of the Ozarks and our room is large enough for me to jump around like a wild man and pretend that I’m knocking down doors with a battering ram.  Cardio Intervals is a fun workout although it is a bit silly at times (Wacky tires is just as goofy as wacky jacks).   I hope the people in the room below us weren’t too bothered.

I also did Killer Abs.  I think it went pretty well.  The Ab Ripper X portion never seems too tough considering you’re only doing 20 reps of each move.

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 2 / Day 6 – Just Arms + Killer Abs

My abs are killing me.  I don’t want to laugh or sneeze because it hurts.  Actually, they’ve cooled down a bit now, but you get the point.  Now, my gut is not the picture of a washboard…however I HAVE been doing Ab Ripper X three times weekly for the better part of 6 months now.  So, under that “blanket” of flab, there’s some muscle hiding under there.  P90x touts the “muscle confusion”, which is a term I don’t really buy into, however I do buy into the concept of working new muscles (and muscle groups) in new ways.  I think this makes muscle stronger and more durable.  So, even though I’ve been doing Ab Ripper X for quite a while, adding Iso Abs and Killer Abs has caused some new muscle areas to work.

Just Arms went well.  I really like the forearm work in this routine.  I consider it equivalent to the Shoulders and Arms only you’re working forearms instead of the shoulders.

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 2 / Day 5 – Plyo Legs

Today was my first day of drinking coffee prior to working out (like, 30 seconds prior, that is).  I got a new coffee pot that works on a timer and it was quite pleasing to wake up and have my coffee already for me.  I drank a bit while I warmed up and went after it.  I’m pretty sure this is a Tony Horton “no-no”.  Plyo Legs is tough for me.  It’s almost like Plyometrics was when I first started.  It’s not that I can’t do it, but I take mini breaks before the end of each exercise.   The nice thing is that there are quite a few longer breaks between moves.  This workout is a great cross between the plyometrics moves and leg exercises from “Legs and Back”.  Since I did neither of those workouts this week, it fit in well.

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 2 / Day 4 – Medicine Ball Core Cardio + Iso Abs

I’m switching up the schedule again and have placed yoga on hold for a while.  I’ve decided to stick with the additional ab work and do cardio and then squeeze in an additional resistance workout at the tail end of the week.

Today, I started off with Iso Abs.  This workout is a killer.  I’ve done this one time before–a very half-hearted, unmotivated review during my P90x intermission where I think I slept through most of the workout.  Iso Abs is really nothing like Ab Ripper X.  It is three times as long and each move completed in slow motion.  There are two rounds of ten moves, twelve reps each.  The emphasis is on s-l-o-w movements and isometric exercises.  I completed round 1 but by the first move of round 2 (slow-mo banana-boat), I was already failing.  I muscled through it, but it was quite a struggle and I frequently reach muscle failure before I was done.

After all that fun, Medicine Ball Cardio was on the docket.  I really enjoy this fast-paced and efficient workout.  I had a total of about 60 minutes of workout time and have to say that I worked quite a bit harder than I would have done yoga.

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 2 / Day 2 – Cardio Intervals + Killer Abs

In Week 2, I’ve changed things up to do ab work on cardio days, versus on lifting days.  Just for variety.  Also, I’m doing more extensive ab work on these days so we’ll how things go.  Today, instead of doing Plyometrics I did Cardio Intervals.  I really like Cardio Intervals, but after doing it twice in three days (I just did it on Tuesday as a replacement for Kenpo X), I feel that it is not quite the cardio workout that Plyometrics is.  Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise as I don’t think it’s really intended to be the same thing.  It does add variety and that is what I’m all about these days.

Cardio Intervals was actually the second half of my workout.  The first half was Killer Abs: basically this is Ab Ripper plus Ab Ripper X.  My purpose for changing the schedule up was to provide a little more variety (there’s that word again) on the abs routine and also focus a little more attention to the mid-section.  One of my goals in Round 3 is to reduce some more of the belly fat that I have and I think spending a little more time on the abs shouldn’t hurt.  I do feel like I cheated a bit as I’ve been doing Ab Ripper (and other ab routines without shoes).

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 2 / Day 1 – 30-15 Routine (One on One Series)

I took a diversion from the normal P90x routine today and replaced “Chest and Back” with a workout from the One-on-One series: 30-15.  Chest & Back is not really “old” for me, nor is it boring.  I just wanted to give something else a try and 30-15 was a good choice.  The concept of 30-15 is very basic: do a set of push-ups followed by a set of pull-ups.  The total number of sets is 24.  Tony’s goal is 30 push-ups for each set and 15 pull-ups per set.  Thus, the name “30-15”.  There are 6 varieties of push-ups and 6 varieties of pull-ups, each finished twice.  Really, it’s not too much different than Chest & Back, other than there are no Lawnmowers, Flys or Heavy Pants.  On the Push-up side, there are no decline-push-ups or dive bombers.  30-15 does feature some new moves, (not seen in Chest & Back) such as staggered hand pushups (from Core Synergistics), Lever pull-ups (I am unable to do even one), and a few different grips on pull ups.

Overall, this is a great workout.  It’s variety from Chest & Back, but doesn’t really give you anything more or less.  Most people can’t keep pace with the 30 push-ups and 15 pull-ups.  I hung well on the push-ups, but am an abysmal failure on pull-ups.   When I do this, it should be called the “30-4” routine, or the “30-need a chair” routine.  I did not make 30 on the military style push-ups or diamond push-ups (these are hardest for me, especially since I use dumbbells to increase my range of motion.

In some ways, I feel like my brain could not match my body today.  Once again, I feel like I could have gone harder and longer but I quit too quickly.  I think that is the detriment of workout out alone at the wee-hours of the morning.  Perhaps I need to start waking Jamie up and having her come downstairs to challenge me.  Her and the unborn baby girl could mock a few more reps out of me.

On another note, I’m having an undisclosed physical problem that is causing me some pain.  I’m hoping its nothing serious but it’s uncomfortable (and uncomfortable to talk about!).  At this point, it’s not interfering with any of my workouts.

P90Hybrid: Round 3 – Week 1 / Day 4 – Fountain of Youth Yoga

This round, we changed up our days a bit.  That means that Yoga now falls on Sundays.  Sundays used to be my heavy weight lifting day, so it was a bit of a change to spend the afternoon lying around and streching.  I have to say, once again, that I really like this workout.  45 minutes is plenty of yoga for me and I really feel like I can focus on strength and balance without constantly looking at the clock and moaning.  I also noticed that since I was doing this in the afternoon, I was much more stretchy.  This was another good, efficient workout. Tomorrow is Legs & Back..my least favorite of all the P90x workouts.