Starting ChaLean Extreme!!
So Monday is the BIG DAY, my friend and I are starting the Chalean Extreme workout program and we hope it is everything it says it is. I just recently finished the P90x workout and loved it, but the workouts were almost all an hour long, some longer, which is fine. But I am glad to hear that most of the workouts for Chalean Extreme are only around a half an hour. I do not know how well you can workout in a half an hour but we will see. I will be blogging every day about the progress I am making, so hopefully it helps anyone who is reading these lame blog posts. I hope I do not bore you. I am excited and a little nervous about starting this workout. I love working out, but another 90 day commitment freaks me out a little bit, so wish me luck! I feel like if I can stick this out, I can really get in the shape that I want to be in. P90x did great, but I still have a long ways to go. I also will be going to to the gym regularly, so I can get more cardio in, I have to keep on running, no matter how much I want to not run, I have to continue to press on.
And the Pinky and the Brain picture really has nothing to do with anything, I just like that TV show…I wish it was still on.
P90x Push up stands
Today I am going to write about the use of push up stands. My first week in the P90x workout routine I did not use the push up stands, after that week I decided to go for it and get the P90x Push up stands and I am really glad I did. Did I do fewer push ups? Yes. But that is because there is a deeper motion when you are using the stands. Not only was I getting a better workout with the push ups stands but I was also saving my wrists. I do not know about you but when I start doing push ups, after awhile my wrists start to ache. With the Push up stands I did not have any more problems with my wrists hurting. There are two types of push up stands that P90x offers, there is the regular push ups stands or you can get the Powerstands push up bars. Ultimately they will both get the job done, but the Powerstands are a lot more heavy duty and will definantley last longer. In my opinion if you want to get the best results out of your P90x workout, then you need to get some push ups stands. oh yeah, the Powerstands also are more expensive than the regular push up stands, so if you cannot afford the nice pair the regular ones work just fine.
P90x tools
I thought it might be a good idea to write about some of the P90x equipment and accessories you can get to help you along with your P90x workouts. So today I am going to focus on the P90x Resistance bands. I loved these resistance bands, they really do give you a great workout, providing resistance through the whole rotation. There are many different types of P90x resistance bands, ranging from 10 lbs. to 50 lbs. of resistance. You can buy a few of them separately, but for the most part they come in a package deal. There are three types of packages: The P90x Super Kit, which is advanced, the P90x Standard Kit, which is great for women, and the Complete Kit, which has 10 bands. Both the standard and the super kits come with three bands. I mostly used the P90x Super kit. Another great thing about the resistance bands, is that if you buy the upgrade kit, you can actually perform pull ups with them, if you do not have a chin up bar. So they are very versatile, resistance bands are easy to travel with and do not take up any space like dumbbells do. So if you are wondering if the p90x resistance bands are a good buy? They are.
P90x is worth it!!
I have been done with the P90x workout routine for about a month now, so it is probably about time I write about my overall experiences with the program. First of all, the reason I did P90x, was because some of my girlfriends thought I would not be able to complete it, so we made a little friendly bet. If I did not finish the P90x program then I had to shave my legs for a month, I know it might not sound like a big deal, but I really did not want to be shaving my legs!! If I completed the program then the girls have to take me out for a nice steak dinner. I guess I could have made them “not” shave their legs for a month… but really… who wants to see that?! Besides, I really like steak and girls with shaved legs!! I pretty much saw it as a win win situation, because not completing the workout was not an option. So I get in great shape by doing the P90x workout and I get a nice steak dinner for free at the end of it… sounds pretty sweet to me. But I have to admit it was not as easy as I thought it was going to be, it was only three months right? The hardest part about doing this workout is making sure you hit play on the remote every day. There are days when you really do not want to workout, you just want to take a break and be lazy, but fortunately that is not an option. I actually suggest to anyone who is thinking about doing this workout, that you make a bet with someone. It needs to be something you really do not want to do, like losing money are some weird activity like shaving your legs, because I am not sure if I would have finished the P90x routine if i did not have that bet in the back of my mind. If you are already a self motivated person then you are probably good to go, but if you are like me and you “hate” losing bets, then make one. Anyways, I won the bet!!
Lets talk about the progress that I made. I started off weighing 199 and in the first couple weeks I actually gained a few pounds, so I went up to 202. I wish I would have checked my body fat percentage in the beginning, I started around the second month I did not really stick to the P90x nutrition guide, I was allowed to make up my own diet, so I put myself on a high protein diet, and later on I started adding other foods and drinks to my diet to help my body recover more quickly. I tried pushing myself more every week, if I struggled with certain exercises on the discs then I made it my goal to be able to do those exercises better and in more quantity. I pretty much stayed at the same weight through the second month, the new exercises in the second month were a great change, and really helped my arms and chest begin to show some great definition. All the pull ups and push up and resistance band exercises really push you to the limits. But it really was not until the third month is when I really started to see change. By this time I started eating more food, drinking more protein shakes and vitamin drinks. I also started taking the P90x Multivitamin pills for extra energy. I began going back to the gym to get more cardiovascular workouts in. For a awhile it was pretty nuts, because I was doing P90x in the morning, then running and stair climbing a few miles in the evening, and then I would go back to the gym later on and play racquetball. So some days I was doing up to three workouts, most the time though I was doing at least two a day. I really started to see results, and I had energy to do it all, it was pretty nuts. When I started to add more cardio exercises to complement the P90x routine I went from weighing 202 to 196. As of today I weigh 193, the last time I was at this weight is when I had my knee injury, and a year ago I weighed 245. So all together now I have lost 52 pounds…pretty sweet huh? I still have some more weight to lose, so I want to see if I can get down to around 180.
I loved the P90x routine, I am glad it is over, but it really made a difference in my life. I wish I would have done more cardio from the beginning of the workout, and I wish I would have been more disciplined in my eating. It was hard to stick to a diet when you have three Thanksgiving dinners and left overs, 3 Christmas parties, New Years, and 3 birthdays in one week, one of them being your own. So I probably could have seen even more results than I did, but I am happy with myself, I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. The P90x workout really helped me with my trip to Honduras, because we laid about 50 yards worth of concrete that we mixed ourselves with shovels, so it was pretty tough, plus we had to remove all the ground before we laid down the concrete. The sidewalks were about 8 feet wide and we had to dig down 7 to 8 inches then shovel sand and lay that down on the ground to even it out, then mix and pour concrete. I really do believe if I did not do the P90x workout, it would have been way tougher for me to do. So next my buddy and I are going to do the Chalean Extreme workout routine, which is another 90 Days!! We will see how it goes, he is a pretty motivated person, so he will help push me and motivate me. I will also be blogging about that.
P90x: Make Up Days #2 and 3
Ahhh Someday
So with each day I am getting closer to finally being done with this P90x workout, I keep on wanting to do two workouts in one day, but i just cannot get myself to do it right now. Tuesday I finished another P90x stretch routine, and it went very well. At that time I had three more workouts to do, two more stretching and one more P90x core synergistic workout. Wednesday I went to the gym with one of my friends and we did almost an hour and a half of upper body workouts. It is weird going back to free weights after you have been doing resistance bands and push ups for awhile. The workout was great and very challenging and I stick suck with any tricep exercise. It was a lot of fun though getting back to the gym and lifting some heavy weight. Today I did another stretch routine, I have not decided if I am going to do two workouts tomorrow and be done with it, or do one tomorrow and one on Saturday, I guess we will see how I am feeling. My back is just now starting to feel better after my lower body workout I did on Monday night. I did not injure my back, but it did fell like I gave it a good workout. Alright so I only have 2 more workouts to finish in my P90x fitness routine.
P90x: Extra Day #1
This pic has nothing to do with anything, I just thought it was funny. THE THIGH MASTER!
Today was the first day of my make up P90x workouts, I had 5 workouts that I missed, 4 of them are stretching workouts, and you are probably wondering what is the big deal about making up the stretch exercises. Well, the terms of the bet that I made specifically say that I have to finish every workout, no matter what it is. But today I got one of the stretching workouts out of the way, so now I only have 3 P90x stretch workouts left, and one P90x Core Synergistic workout. I did a good job in my stretching workout today, and hopefully by the time I get done with the rest of the three stretching exercises this week I will BE THE MOST FLEXIBLE PERSON IN THE WORLD!! I also went to the gym tonight, I only went once last week, pretty much because last week was crazy with birthday parties! Seriously I went to 6 parties for birthdays last week, 3 of them were mine own! So I thought regardless of what happens today I need to go to the gym and run. I went out to dinner with my sisters and their husbands and then spent a couple hours with my nieces, then I watched 24, which got over at 10, didn’t get back to my house until 10:30 pm, but La fitness is open till 12 am, so I had to go. I ran a little bit over 3 miles and then did some lower back exercises. It was a pretty hard to run though because I still had dinner in me and popcorn, but I made it through.
