Your Old Pal, The Frog

About halfway through the Frog, Tony Horton says, "So, if this is starting to feel easy for you, you can move your knees apart."

This has never happened to me.

The Frog hurts me for the entire 90 seconds I do it.  I'm getting better, but geez.

Calories Burned = 367
Time in Zone = 9:26 (15%)
Average Heart Rate = 103
Peak Heart Rate = 154

clearing the mind

I love how P90X2 (and to some degree all workouts) help to clear my mind.  I mean, it's hard to consider how to respond to this or that or think about drama when you are standing on one leg trying to do half moon or twisting half moon or 5 Warrior 2 lunges with your thigh burning. 

3 workout days left!

This morning, as I was completing yoga, I realized that I only have three more workout days left in this phase -- PAP Upper, Lower, and Recovery+Mobility!  OMG!  Then I'm taking a week of Recovery+Mobility before starting Round 2 of P90X2.

I've been working harder during the PAP workouts, trying to hold positions longer or do more weight or use one fewer resistance band on my pull-up assist.  I don't necessarily feel like I am getting that much better at the PAP workouts.

We'll see how I am doing on my goals tomorrow and Friday -- I'm weighing in tomorrow and doing measurements and pictures on Friday!

Checking in on my goals

When I started the program, I had the following goals for this program

1. Follow nutrition plan as described in the P90X2 materials (minus the 5 cheats)
2. Be able to do 1 pull-up by the end of the program 
3. Get a 4 pack before summer 2012 
4. Reduce my body fat to 20%

I'm not on track to reach any of my goals, well, maybe the one about having 4-pack abs ;). I am surprisingly okay with it.  Given how achievement-oriented I am, I expected to be way more disappointed, but I actually feel pretty good.    

I should clarify -- I'm working toward my goals, but I'm not confident that I will be able to reach them all by the time this first round is over.  I am also not sure that I WANT to reach them -- for instance, to get my body fat down to 20% (which means a decrease of at least 4%), I'd have to really restrict my diet, and I've learned that I'm not willing to do that. 

Maybe it's a result of the unexpected outcomes, like having more sustained energy throughout the day, being able to get through the workouts (even with modifications) and being proud of that, knowing I'm getting stronger, having visible changes in my body, increasing my flexibility.

Yesterday afternoon, when I did yoga, I noticed that my chattaranga was much better after having done Superman during PAP Upper.  What a surprise!  My low back was simply stronger and more flexible! 

So, at the end of the day, I'm really happy with my results, even if they aren't what I had originally anticipated. 

Slow Week

Recovery Week always seems to creep by.  Perhaps because the workouts are less intense.  Perhaps because I feel less need to really eat the 1800 calories I should be eating because I'm working out less.  Perhaps because the workouts alternate between Recovery + Mobility and Yoga.  Whatever the case, it's slow.

BUT, I'm resisting the urge to move on to the next Phase without it.  I feel like the recovery gives me a chance to rest, regroup, and heal in preparation for the next phase.

I'm really excited about Phase 3 Performance.  I haven't yet viewed the DVDs, but that's on my list of things to do this coming weekend.  There are no workout sheets for it, evidently because there isn't enough time in between the exercises to do anything but catch your breath (according to something I read on the Team Beachbody website)!  We'll see!

In other news, John has finished his first month of P90X2!  I keep asking if he wants to write a blog, but I think I am going to just put my computer in front of him and see what happens. ;)   

zen

When I looked at the scale today, I didn't worry about the numbers.

P.S. I'm craving carbs. {11:27 AM}

P.P.S.  When I practiced yoga at the YMCA, I was frequently distracted by the kids playing in the courtyard.  When I practice at home, I'm distracted by Falkor.  I let him out on the balcony to enjoy the beautiful weather after being cooped up in the house all day, and he just whines whenever someone walks by on the back walkway.  So I spend several minutes saying, "Falkor, stop it!" and I am distracted.  At least until I make him come back into the apartment and he gets into his bed to chew on his antler and his rope.

Calories Burned = 343
Average Heart Rate = 99
Peak Heart Rate =  146

Ready for Phase 2

Today is the last day of my Recovery Week and I am SO READY for it to be OVER!  While I love the reminder that the body needs some rest in order to perform better, I am bored this week.  There's something about doing something different for each workout that I just enjoy.  I am actually cutting my recovery week a day short and doing only 2 days of yoga instead of 3 days because of some scheduling issues.  Plus, we change over our nutrition plan each Sunday, so starting the workout week on Sunday also makes more sense.

For the Recovery & Mobility workout, I did one day of whole body foam rolling, then in the other two days, I focused on either my lower body or my upper body.  One of these days I am going to take Tony Horton's advice and do some foam rolling while watching TV, but I'm just not there yet.  In this next phase, that's one of the things I'm going to add.    

Recovery & Mobility Day 1/Day 2/Day 3:
Calories Burned = 188/169/219
Average Heart Rate = 86/84/90
Peak Heart Rate = 118/116/138

Yoga Day 1/Day 2:
Calories Burned = 334/381
Average Heart Rate = 98/103
Peak Heart Rate =  145/150

X2 Yoga Week 4

My hips are the tightest spot on my body.   As much as I love yoga, it is murder on my hips.  They don't seem to be opening as much as I'd like, especially considering all the hip work that is done in all the workouts.  

Perhaps I need to focus on my hips with the foam roller in the coming Recovery Week!  I may also have to break out The Stick!  It might be able to get into my hip flexors a bit better than the foam roller.  

I am ready for the Recovery Week!  My yoga practice today wasn't one of my best, and I think I might have hit the overtraining period.  This week has also been insane in some other ways, so my stress level has been elevated, which hasn't helped.

Calories Burned = 333 (compared to 455 in Week 1)

Average Heart Rate = 98 (compared to 109 in Week 1) 

Peak Heart Rate = 140 (compared to 157 in Week 1) 

I am a morning person but...

I don't think morning workouts are for me.  Due to my schedule these last few days, I have had to get up early to work out before my day begins, instead of working out in the late-afternoon or early evening.  I am not sure my body thinks this is a good idea.

I feel stiffer in the morning, slower to warm up.  My muscles protest, and fatigue more easily.  Although I am still improving in many exercises, I don't feel as good doing them in the morning.  Perhaps the ability to move around throughout the day is helping my body warm-up and prepare for the workouts.  Luckily, this is an occasional issue, arising only when other things, like filing my dissertation, getting a facial, and seeing friends, require that my day not be punctuated by a workout.

On the plus side, I did the Ab Ripper this morning, and figured out better how to do the Superman Banana X, with less giggling and more core engagement!  It wasn't perfect, but it was much improved!      

Total Body (separated Ab Ripper from this because of time)
Total Calories Burned = 666
Average Heart Rate = 130
Peak Heart Rate = 170

Ab Ripper + Yoga

Total Calories Burned = 551
Average Heart Rate = 107
Peak Heart Rate = 152

Fatigue

I needed more than 15 hours between workouts.  Yesterday evening, I did X2 Total Body + Ab Ripper -- an hour and 20 minutes of hard work.  Then, this morning, I did X2 Yoga.  It was not one of my better yoga days.

It's the little things, like not being able to do 5 yoga push-ups at the beginning of the session, not being able to hold Warrior 1 or 2 for very long, that tell me I needed more rest time.

Total Body & Ab Ripper 
Calories Burned = 751
Average Heart Rate = 122
Peak Heart Rate = 166

Yoga
Calories Burned = 469
Average Heart Rate = 111
Peak Heart Rate = 159

Namaste

I've heard that the P90X yoga workout was the hardest one.  I was expecting some of the hardest yoga moves I've ever seen.  I was expecting to modify a lot and have to do my typical pause and rewind.

All those years of semi-regular yoga practice actually helped.  Sun Salutation, Chair Pose, Warriors 1, 2, and 3, Half Moon... okay, I'm still working on Warrior 3 and Half Moon.  Those one-legged balance poses kill my hips.  But then I love the pain of Runner's Lunge and Pigeon.

Over the past few years I've been working on Crane -- another balance pose in which you put your knees on the outsides of your triceps and balance on your hands with your feet off the floor.  I can do it for maybe 2 seconds at a time.  It's an adrenaline rush to get those seconds.  

One of my favorite exercises, even though it is super hard, is a Warrior 1 flow sequence in which you do 1, 2, and 3 Warrior 1 poses on each side with a vinyasa (Cobra, Up Dog, Down Dog) in between.  So, you do 1 Warrior 1 pose one each side, then a vinyasa, then 2 Warrior 1 poses on each side, then a vinyasa, then 3 Warrior 1 poses on each side, then a vinyasa.  OH MY GOSH.  That's pretty much when my heart rate peaked.

Perhaps the best part about the workout are the Warrior 2 Lunges, in which you stay in the Warrior 2 position while you lower your front hand to the ground and lower your body... 5 times on each side.  SO HARD.  But, amazing.

Then, the shortest Shavansana on record, and Tony Horton talks practically the whole time.  BUT, I sat up, had my one "om" and opened my eyes to this cute face.

Namaste, Falkor, Namaste.  

Calories Burned = 455
Average Heart Rate = 109
Peak Heart Rate = 157