The Past Week

Okay so I officially stink at keeping this thing updated. No excuses. Just going to say sorry.

Day 5
Legs and Back - 58: ish minutes (Sorry don't have the book with me right now)

OUCH! Picture an entire hour of variations of squats and pull ups. This presented two slight issues. 1. I have relatively bad knees. I tore my left ACL in high school so both of my knees need to be guarded. I want to avoid having that crunching noise when I squat down as I get older, so I tend to really protect my knees. Not a problem though! Tony "the Tiger" Horton (as I like to call him) is all about protecting your joints. *Side note here...I really like Tony (although he is a goofball) because he really wants you to protect yourself. He does not push you further than you can go, and I appreciate that. Anyway, back to the squats. Basically I modified most of my squats or just didn't squat as low as I could have. My main goal on my legs is not really to build muscle (goodness knows my legs are big enough as it is) but to try to reduce some of that nasty inner thigh fat. Ladies, you know what I am talking about. That area that just doesn't seem to go away. Am I right?

So P90X does a great job of alternating between the legs and the back. Which brings me to issue #2. I can do about 3/4 of a pull up...read A pull up...not multiple pull ups. I haven't done multiple pull-ups since I was in the 4th or 5th grade and I was taking the Presidential Physical Fitness test. So I decided if I wanted to really work out my back, I need to modify and use resistance bands. I was at my parents house while I was doing this exercise, and my 9 year old sister (who was working out with me...so cute) had the brilliant idea to hang them from the pull up bar. Good job Eliza! So that is how I completed my back exercises. A little less than 1 hour later I was ready to fall over from exhaustion.

I officially hate the "wall squats" where you spend a minute in a squat next to the wall. Needless to say, my legs were shaking after that one.

Day 5 officially over!

Okay at this point in the game I need to tell you about the financial investment I have made in this workout program. If you know me at all, you know I am CHEAP. I was very leery about spending money on this program because I didn't know if I would/could stick with it. Nevertheless, I found a great deal on the disks and I went for it. I also purchased a nice yoga mat (BEST INVESTMENT YET), some knee braces (got to protect those knees!), some resistance bands (still trying to figure out if I like these, but still cheaper than several sets of free weights), a sweat band (rockin' it 80's style) and finally a cheapo heart monitor watch (Walmart you may be getting this one back). I haven't tallied up the final cost, but I fairly certain it is less than purchasing the entire program through those infomercials you are always seeing.

Okay sales pitch over. Back to the real stuff.

Day 6
Kenpo X - 59: ish minutes

Kenpo is the P90X version of karate. It is a great cardiovascular workout. Plus, let's face it, I really enjoy envisioning that I am beating up mean scary men in a dark alley (Ninja Turtles' style) when I am throwing my kicks and punches.
The thing I like the most about this program (and this workout) is that it keeps you moving but it also varies your workouts every :30 - 1:00. It makes the mental part of exercising a lot easier when you know that you only have to do each move for a short time.
I did this exercise with my 19 year old cousin and my two younger sisters (9 and 10). It was a lot of fun to have people to exercise with, but I think I got a little too competitive for the first week. I discovered on Monday that I tweaked my Hip Flexor doing all those side kicks and back kicks. But no worries, I am all better now.

Day 7 - Rest Day

Thank you Lord for rest! This program has really given me a new love for my day of rest. I did wake up with HORRIBLY sore calves though. Apparently, I don't use my calves as much as I thought I did. I considered doing the Stretch X disk, but then decided against it when I saw it was another hour.

Okay since this post is getting a bit long. I will follow up with my first parts of week 2 shortly.

Oh and side note, I now eat dessert and most of all chocolate maybe once a week. That is a huge change from my 3 times a day chocolate habit. While I missed my beloved chocolate, it really has not been as hard as I thought to give it up daily. But I do like to splurge once a week!

Okay guys...until next time. BRING IT!