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P90x Review – Week 1, Day 6, Kenpo Karate

Morning,

One of the benefits of working from home is that you can modify your schedule for whatever needs you might have!

At 1:30am this morning, I realized I wasn’t falling back asleep….so I decided to get up and tackle Week 1, Day 6 of P90x – Kenpo Karate.

Now, I do karate 3-4 days a week, and greatly enjoy it. While I worked up a nice sweat in this routine, I focused more on form instead of cardio (I’m trying to improve my balance/force/etc. with my kicks and blocks at the dojo). Thus, for example, during the jumping jacks portion, I concentrated on power knee raises (I’m trying to get my front kick higher) and side raises (same thing for side kicks).

I now realize that coordination-wise, I’m a wee bit, ahem, not there at all. At my dojo, I see senseis being able to throw a front kick, rechamber the knee, throw a side kick, rechamber, throw a back kick….I just fall over. However, it’s becoming more and more clear to me that quite a number of muscles are called into play for balance and the like…which gives me more areas in which to practice.

I like the speedups that are done in this DVD. True, I’m not anywhere near peak form, but it does get your muscles moving and hopefully builds muscle memory. My favorite part was the front kicks (amazing, isn’t it….with me recovering from surgery, never thought I’d like them) and the blocks (during the past 4 months in which I couldn’t kick, I substituted blocks instead).

End result – good workout, I was done by 2:45am, took a wondrous shower and was back in bed by 3am. Time now to start the day.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Some Tony Horton Goodies!

Dealing with reality in strength and recovery

Morning,

Well! As I had earlier reported, this morning I did the P90x Legs and Back DVD, along with Ab Ripper X. Great stuff, that….and by 9am, I was at the gym with my husband, ready to do my 55 minutes of treadmill cardio.

That went rather peachy, I must admit. Then I was seized by an insane desire to see just how much weight I could leg-press….back before in my peak, I could handle 210 pounds. Imagine my surprise to realize that today, I was barely able to move 135 pounds!

Obviously, my leg muscles are still quite weak. This is okay…but frustrating, I will admit. Here I had thought I was well on the road to recovery….well, I *am*, to be honest, but it apparently will take far longer than I had expected.

Wah!

The good news is, with my “I can DO this!” attitude, I looked at it and said to myself, self, these things happen, so long as you’re on the right path, just keep enjoying the journey.

So I shall.

Reality. It’s something quite stark sometimes.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – want to see what else out there targets the abs?

P90x Review – Week 1, Day 5, Back/Legs

Morning!

Today I got up at 3am and pushed PLAY by 3:30am. Today was Back/Legs and my oh my, did I learn lots about myself.

First off, my right leg is still quite weak from the surgery recovery. Thus, squats done on that leg go down, oh, 3 inches if I’m lucky? I figure that with time, I’ll improve, so I’m not angsting about that nor am I trying to go lower. My left leg, however, is peachy, and I was able to dip down pretty well.

My favorite squats here, of course, are the wall squats – those are rather easy for me to do. The one-legged wall squat was a challenge.

And don’t forget about the pullups/chinups! I adore these exercises (along with pushups) so I had a great time with them. Widearm pullups are nil, mind you, but hey…I’m just starting out. :)

Ab Ripper X was a nice way to end P90X today. I can do between 15 to 25 reps of each exercise – again, I believe time will help me build up my endurance.

Since today was Back/Legs, I will confess…after the workout, I did go downstairs to use my PreCor Hack/Squat machine. I’m only using 70 pounds (I figure start easy) but it did contribute towards a very lovely burn afterwards.

I completed everything by 5am and was back in bed by 5:05am. After the kids go to school, I’ll do my 55 minutes of cardio on the treadmill and continue with my work at home activities.

And that be my review of P90x, Back/Legs,

Barbara

ps – here are some more great P90x goodies:

P90x Review – Week 1, Day 4, Yoga X

Morning,

Well! I just finished the 1.5 hours’ worth of P90x Yoga X, and all I can say is,

My gosh, I’m so non-flexible, it’s ridiculous. Me! The all-powerful warrior mom…I might destroy everyone in my class with weight lifting/strength training, but here….wow!

This lack of flexibility is even more astonishing for me as I’ve been stretching now every day since recovery of my surgery. Sure, I can just about do a split now, and touch my face to my knees in front stretches…but wowsa, that apparently has virtually nothing to do with yoga.

Strength! Flexibility! Holding poses! I’m pretty buff for a mom of 4, but there is a WORLD of difference between quick moves and holding poses for 30 seconds to a minute.

That being said, I will have to agree with what others have said – this is, so far, the most killer of all the workouts. Wow. I’m the pushup master at karate and at home, but those single pushups between upward dogs and downward dogs really get to you!

Needless to say, my form was, well, hmmm, “definitely leaving room for improvement.” :-) But here’s the killer realization for me – I find it extremely difficult to keep my legs straight when they’re in the air. My muscles just wanted to keep bending! It was bizarre, and is definitely something on which I need to work. But! I did manage to last the entire 1.5 hours and went the distance.

Anywhos, Day 4 has been completed! Now it’s time to wake the kids up and get the day started.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – want more yoga goodies?

P90x Review – Week 1, Day 3, Shoulders/Arms/Ab X Ripper

Morning!

Well, at 4am I made certain to be up, ready, and pushed PLAY again!

Now, today’s workout was shoulders/arms and we used dumbbells. Thing is, when I’m doing a static bicep curl, I can curl 35 pounds in 3 sets of 8 reps. But when you’re doing things from different positions, swinging your arms, lying down and punching the sky, etc., it gets reeeeeal tough real soon!

Yesterday, I treated myself to a pair of 15 pound dumbbells but in today’s workout, I had to drop the weight down to 10 several times. What a great burn! I think I’ll check out my local FreeCycle and see if I can get some 12 pound jobbers as well.

My favorite part to this workout was anything and everything that dealt with the triceps – it just feels weirdly nice after the exercises are completed. Go figure.

And unfortunately, I forgot about Ab Ripper and stopped the DVD at the end – my DVD player is so old there’s no way to skip ahead to get to that point once more. So instead, I did TurboJam Ab Blast (and will remember to keep pressing PLAY after Shoulders/Arms the next time!!).

Today I think I’ll venture back to the gym and try out the treadmill once again – I haven’t been on it since I had surgery a month ago. We’ll see how things go.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – More P90X goodies!

Recovery after intense exercise workouts

Morning,

As you know if you’ve been reading my blog, I’m currently challenging myself with P90x, an extreme home-fitness routine. It’s great! It’s exciting! And it cajoles your muscles to failure, which is why taking care of yourself afterwards is of such high priority.

After every workout I do, I now will take a looooong hot bath (I have the time for this, you see, because I push ‘play’ at 4am before anyone else is awake) into which I’ll have added several drops of essential oils. My favorites are pine, sandalwood and damask rose. When that’s done, I’ll slather on the Tiger Balm (muscle rub) onto whatever part of me aches…and then simply rest for half an hour.

So far, this routine has helped in my recovery. It’s something you should consider as well! Every extreme effort always deserves a wonderful reward…and hot baths/muscle rubs certainly fall into that category.

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Here’s discounted Tiger Balm!

P90x Review – Week 1, Day 2, Plyometrics

Morning!

Well, at 4am, I got up to try the second day of P90x, Plyometrics. For me, was that ever an eyeopener!

Couple of things you should know about. One, I’ve never done any physical activity that requires an intense amount of jumping. And two, there are some things my legs simply aren’t yet strong enough to do (what with surgery recovery etc.), such as the one-legged hop in the shape of a cross.

But barring that, wow, what a super workout!! During the exercises I couldn’t do, I simply substituted front karate kicks (which I need to practice anywhos). And during the exercises that were too difficult, I just backed off on the intensity and kept on going.

Quite frankly, I was astounded at how one’s body can move. True, true, I know, newsflash Barbara! But seriously, I never realized that I could rotate my body 180 degrees while in the air…I never figured I could leap from side to side, etc. What an eyeopener that was!

My favorite part of Plyo was the kick-over-the-chair exercise. I need to improve my crescent kicks anywhos in karate….and these were perfect! First one leg, then the other, over the back of a chair…and I was even able to maintain a good chamber during it. Wheeee! I think I’m really looking forward to the Karate Kempo part of P90x later on in the week.

And thus closes Day 2. I think I’m going to take a nice hot bath now – see ‘ya!

Barbara

ps – Why not try P90x yourself?

P90x – Week 1, Day 1, Chest, Back, Ab Ripper X

Morning!

Well, today is the day I started P90x…and let me tell you, ‘awesome’ doesn’t begin to describe it. Why, I hear you ask? Because like other super workout DVDs, there’s lots of encouragement, lots of laughs, and lots of excellent exercises to music that, in this case, really work your muscles to failure.

The first day is Chest/Back and Ab Ripper X. Chest and back includes a lot of pushups and pullups but the good news for me and my family – we absolutely adore these kinds of exercises! ‘matter of fact, whenever we’re at karate and the senseis call ‘pushup time!’, other kids/families might groan, but me and my kids always cheer, yay!

But I digress. :-)

The thing I liked about Back and Chest is that you’re encouraged to use a chair to help support your weight during the pullups. Given the fact that by the middle, I couldn’t achieve a single pullup anymore, this was really a boon – I was able to offset my weight juuuuuust enough to inch my way towards the bar, thus ensuring I was continuing to the best of my abilities.

Chest/Back has a series of 12 exercises that are repeated in two sessions, and the second session has you perform them in different orders. Very energizing! The time really flew by. I also greatly enjoyed Tony’s commentary; he’s very motivating. One difficulty I did encounter was my weights were ‘way too light – I had brought up the 10 pound jobbers from my basement and they were woefully ineffective. I’ll bring up my 20 pounders the next time (and after I was finished, I did top off my workout by doing 3 sets of 8 biceps curls with my 35 pound dumbbells downstairs. Oooooo, a very nice burn indeed).

Ab Ripper X is a nice little 15 minute workout that includes over 336 ab movements. Each set had 25 reps – I was able to get to between 15 and 25 for each one. While I’m obviously not in top shape, I’m certainly in much better form that I would have thought, having just had surgery last month!

I completed the workout about 20 minutes ago….and my arms/shoulders/back are starting to feel the results. It’s really quite the sensation! I’m looking forward to seeing what P90x has in store for me tomorrow.

Today I also need to take my Before pictures as well. Wheeee!

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – more P90X goodies!

Age is but a number – it’s your spirit that counts

Morning,

You know, I’m 43 years old.

And for many of my fellow moms, that’s considered to be, well, not exactly young.

Thing is, though, I’ve been realizing as I’ve pitted myself against my abilities and broke thru countless boundaries this year….age is but a number. You could be in your 70s but still have the lightness of spirit and beauty of personality…and be far younger than your typical 30-something.

This concept has really struck a chord within me. I can now DDR with my kids and leave them in the dust, easily take a 55 minute jog on my treadmill, confidently walk my beloved 2.4 mile circle walk without collapsing in a heap…and yet retain the wisdom and insights that my 43 years of life has bestowed upon me.

I really think I’m in the best shape of my life…and that things will only improve as time continues to pass on by. But I do know this – by the time I get to my 60s and beyond, I will never have to say, ah, if only I had the guts to do ABC or XYZ when I was younger. Why?

Because I’m doing it all now…with no regrets at all. :-)

Enjoy,

Barbara

ps – Speaking of spirits!: