My First 8 Days With P90X

I guess the biggest reason for starting this blog (I know it's kind of silly to have a blog about a workout program, especially one that thousands of people have done/blogged about, but I digress) is to keep myself motivated.  If people actually show an interest in reading it, then that gives me a ton of motivation.  I mean, there's a lot of pressure in knowing that people are going to be reading about an important life commitment.  Beyond this, I expect BIG results out of myself.  I don't like failing (does anyone?)  and having others invested in my success, even if it's only to read this silly blog for a few minutes a week, will make me work much harder.

So let's begin shall we?

I have yet to get measurements for myself such as weight, waist, biceps, chest, whathaveyou, but I'm going to do them (except for weight because I need to buy a scale) in the morning as soon as I wake up.  I do have day one pictures, but I'm not going to show them until I take another round of pictures on day 30 (hopefully there will be marked results).

Anyways, time to break down this first week of P90X, and it can be summed up in one simple, unexpected adjective... TOUGH.  If someone is looking for a difficult, yet rewarding group of workouts, it's this for sure.  The first workout was chest and back, which I made it through okay until the end where I really pushed myself and, as you should, burnt out those muscle groups for a strong finish.  However, about halfway through my first attempt at the Ab Ripper X, I couldn't curb my need to vomit, and thus, I was ralphing my way to success after the first day, HA.  However, I did feel PHENOMENAL about 15 minutes after the workout was over and for the rest of the day.

The nutrition plan that comes with P90X doesn't seem like it's going to pose too great of a challenge to abide by.  I get to eat roughly 2200-2400 calories a day, and at this phase in the program it's mostly protein, which is what my diet typically consists of anyway.

Now on to the biggest bitch of a workout since 8 hour days of football camp, the plyometrics  (and even football camp wasn't as intense as the plyometrics).  Be prepared to jump and squat and lunge your ass off for about 50 minutes straight (that doesn't include the warmup and cool down time).  Dozens and dozens of difficult, high impact moves that turned my legs into digested, soupy jello (gross analogy, but I think it's necessary to get my point across).  Again, after the workout I found myself puking immediately after, but feeling amazing in about 15-20 minutes.

The rest of the week consisted of me struggling to finish workouts (especially the yoga, i HATED the yoga) and nearly puking at the end of each, but I have to say the workouts are AWESOME, and with the exception of the yoga, they're pretty fun too.

I guess my overall point with this post is a disclaimer to anyone who wants to try this program.  It is NOT, and I repeat, IT IS NOT for the faint of heart.  I had NO IDEA that this program's workouts would be so strenuous.  However, if you can stick with the workouts, there's no doubt in my mind that anyone can get BIGTIME results from this program.  It's only been 8 days for me and I can feel, even see a little bit, a change in my body.  Hopefully I have the guts and perseverance to stick it out.  I'm sure once more obvious results come about I'll become more and more motivated.

I'll post measurements tomorrow and I'll probably post some sort of comparison as I go that shows improvements in strength via increased weight and reps with the exercises.

Welp, tomorrow it's plyometrics, so I should probably get some sleep.

-RB