Just did the yoga. Yep, still hate yoga.
A friend of mine gave me the DVDs and I’ve been carrying them around for… damn, it’s been a year already. I’ve visualized doing them. I’ve watched snippets of them, nodded excitedly in approval, and got really worked up at the idea of them. I’ve made grand plans about starting, written down some goals, did the pre-workout tests and measurements… oh… three times now. Maybe this thread is the final push I need.
For those who’ve done it, how important are free weights as opposed to resistance bands? I’m on a bit of a nomadic kick at the moment so I can’t afford to drag hundreds of pounds of weights around with me on my travels. I do have a good chin-up bar though. Is that, plus a good set of bands going to ahem work out for me?
They have a resistance band variation in all the videos I’ve done so far. And that is an awesome screenname, btw.
This could have been written by me. My boyfriend bought the DVDs about a year ago and he’s done a few of the exercises and I did the stretching one once. Since then I keep eyeballing 'em and thinking I should really get started. This year has brought a lot of changes! I lost my job in February and we decided I’m not going back to work yet, so I’ve had plenty of time on my hands to contemplate my navel and wonder at how much fat is trying to swallow it.
So far I’ve lost about 30 pounds by making minor dietary changes but it’s time for more! I won’t give up this time!
Today was Day 1 for me and Ab Ripper was a beating. I couldn’t even do half of the exercises. Chest & Back was rough but at least I could do a few push-ups in each style. Not many, but it wasn’t a total failure I totally expect to come across a lot of moves I can’t do yet, but my goal is to push every day, modify what I can and be satisfied with my best.
Ok, that does it. Day 1 officially starts… tomorrow. No, no, I absolutely mean it this time. No more excuses, I promise.
… after this last one.
I can’t start tonight 'cause I already have a hellacious time sleeping and I don’t need to compound it by revving my body up at 10pm. But after tonight… it is SO on! Yeah, what!
I feel more muscular just typing that.
Are most of you doing the diet plan along with it? It looks a bit complex, though I’m sure it becomes much easier once you get in the habit. I’m slightly concerned about the cost, as I’m on a pretty tight budget. Hopefully I can make that work.
Thanks! After this program perhaps I can increase my dosage of Awesome to an entire ladle! Brace yourselves, ladies.
I’m not doing the diet, but I’m also riding a lot of miles on the bike so I could use more energy.
I’m not doing the diet either. It’s a high protein/low carb diet and I’m still running, which requires high carbs. So I’m just eating how I’ve always eaten.
Bought a pull up bar today. I brought it home, all excited, put it together then hung it from my door frame. Jumped on that thing and got transported straight back to junior high. Apparently I still have the upper body strength of a 12 year old girl. Damn. I gots a long ways to go.
The diet is totally ridiculous - you want me to eat SEVEN SERVINGS of protein a day? I think I’d throw up around five. And how are you supposed to do all this new work on no carbs? Frankly it seems set up to watch you fail on the “keep going with exercise” front - I know when I was running a lot I never could have done it on that kind of limited-carb diet.
The seven-protein low-carb thing is only the first phase of the diet, and even they say you shouldn’t do that longer than 6 weeks. After that the amount of protein decreases, and carbs increase. There’s a message board for P90X and from what I’ve read there, energy is absolutely not a problem if you follow their nutrition plan, but it can be if you don’t. I’m sure that depends on how well you eat right now, though.
I won’t follow it at first, but only because I have no money to buy a bunch of groceries right now. When I do I’ll follow the guidelines, if not the recipes themselves.
Everytime I read what a “good” meal plan is supposed to look like, I’m stunned that people can even eat that much during the day. A 4 course breakfast, a snack, a 3 course lunch, a snack, a 4 course dinner, etc. They may be small portions, but I’d have to force myself to eat everything suggested. Right now, I eat half a cup of multi-grain Cheerios for breakfast, a peanut butter sandwich on wheat for lunch, and then I eat whatever I want for dinner. No snacks and only water.
Oh. My. God. I finished (and I use that term in the loosest sense possible) the Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X today and I can barely keep my hands on the keyboard to type this. It didn’t just kick my ass. It stomped me unconscious, ran me over with a piece of construction equipment I can’t identify on account of being beaten unconscious (and possessing no knowledge of construction equipment), laughed heartily at my demolished remains and then ran off to do x-rated things with my mother. I mean come on! I knew I fell a long way in my two-year gym hiatus (believe it or not, I used to go almost daily), and even further from my invincible high school years when I could party all night and still score touchdowns the next day, but this was just unfuckingfair. These guys were knocking out twenty and thirty reps and making jokes about it whilst I lay in tears on the floor cursing at the carpet for not being softer.
But I gotta say now that it’s over, and despite the fact that my body feels like it’s made of microwaved jello, I feel freakin’ AWESOME!
I didn’t know it was possible to both love and hate something with such profound and equal intensity. I simultaneously dread and can’t wait for tomorrow! :).
I’m up to it I think. I kind of a procrastinator when it comes to physical fitness so I’ll get back to you.
Tomorrow will be rough. My legs are killing me right now from Ab Ripper one day (which does use your leg muscles), to Plyometrics, to another day with Ab Ripper. I’m definitely feeling the love/hate for this program. I feel good and I generally like this sort of soreness, but… stairs are hard. I don’t want to sit down anywhere, 'cause it means I have to get back up at some point. I will NOT give up on this, though.
Yeah, I like the soreness as well… to a point. But you’re right, I’m staying on the 2nd floor of a London building with no elevator (that’s the 3rd floor to the Americanites). I will definitely be considering very carefully whether whatever I need tomorrow is really worth going out for.
That’s the attitude! High five!
Exactly - I canNOT eat that much food! I just can’t! Especially in the morning, Jesus Christ no I do not need three courses of breakfast!
I’m going to start on Wednesday when I’m back from a trip.
Got mine in the mail yesterday! I’m still reading through all the materials and I might need to pick up a weight or chinup bar, but I think I’m going to watch the starter DVD tonight. This weekend should determine whether I can muster up the willpower to do this or flame out like all my other attempts at getting fit
I got mine yesterday too, YogSosoth! Already did the fitness test, before pics and read through the nutrition guide. Like everyone else here, I’m skeptical of the caloric requirements. Drinking whey protein should help, but there’s no way I’m going to put away 2400 calories a day. That seems aimed at men who want to build some decent muscle mass, not a 40something woman who needs to lose a good 40 pounds of flab. After checking on the P90X boards on Sparkpeople (which have a lot of people who are experienced with the program and nutrition experts) it’s OK to modify the plan as long as you have enough energy to get through the workouts and your day.
It’s been a hell of a stressful day at work for me, so I can’t wait to get home and push play. I fully expect to get my ass kicked but I’ll do what I can and with a good will.
Wishing everybody who’s on this lots of success.
Oh god.
I took it on vacation with me and just finished day 1.
I had to get somebody else to open my beer for me after.
Thing is, I NEVER feel chest and back stuff in my chest and back - I think my arms are just too weak, so I feel it there. That ab ripper stuff is targeted as hell, though. Jesus fuck.
And I can’t do the declined pushups at all. Oh, well - I was surprised I could do any. Can’t get down for the whatchamacallits where you go under the fence - I’m not even sure I was born with whatever muscle does that.
The important thing is, I was this close to calling it a day after the first half of that evil workout and I didn’t, and I finished. (Well, sort of. The good thing is you get a lot of recovery time when they do 25 and you do 3.)
The morning after? No fun either.
I just tried my first workout. I don’t think I did the normal thing everyone else did since it wasn’t as bad as I thought
There was a disc that preceded the main set of workouts called How to Bring It. It had 2 bonus workouts on there and I did the first, the UML (Upper Middle Lower). Since it was only 36 mins, I’m not hurting like some of you are
Still, with about 10-15 mins left, I just could not do any more push ups. Fuck push ups. I tried but my arms just wouldn’t move anymore. Nice start. Tomorrow comes the 56 min workout… :eek: