Hotel Workout

Turns out working out in the hotel isn't that different.  I put the door attachment in the bathroom door because it had the most space around it.

These are my resistance bands hanging over the bathroom door in my hotel room.  Worked out pretty well!

Yes, that's three resistance bands that I'm using.  It ends up being about 50-62 pounds.  I was doing the Chest + Back + Balance workout, so it's alternating push-ups and pull-ups.  It was kind of fun figuring out how to do the push-ups that have my feet up high using the furniture in the hotel room.  I guess I should be grateful that I had a "king" room, which had an extra super cute low wing back chair that I could put my feet on.  

Starting this Friday (when I do Base + Back) I'm going to start working "the negatives" -- starting at the top of the pull-up position and lowering myself down slowly.  John says this will help me get to pull-ups faster, and since I'm starting my 8th week, I'm getting a little anxious that I'm not going to get there.

On the plus side, when I was working out, I caught a glimpse of my arms in the mirror.  Naturally, I flexed to see how it looked, and OMG, my bicep is clearly visible-- it's this nice bump!  I'm so excited. 

I didn't do Ab Ripper in yesterday's workout because of time. I had to ice my knee a little bit because I strained it oddly the day before, and then had to get ready for breakfast with Erin before I went to a meeting! 

Calories Burned = 561 

Average Heart Rate = 127

Peak Heart Rate = 164

The Weekend Caught Up

Remember yesterday how I said I felt so great doing Chest + Back + Balance & Ab Ripper despite the Saturday night of cheating?

I spoke too soon.

I was supposed to get up at 6 AM to do Plyocide.  I got up at 7 AM.  I thought the workout would be hard like it always is, but I didn't anticipate being so fatigued.  I guess the weekend caught up, after all.

On the plus side, in this phase of Plyocide, when doing balance moves, if my foot touches the ground, I'm doing the 2 push-ups like the folks in the video are doing.

Calories Burned = 668
Average Heart Rate = 139
Peak Heart Rate = 176

Pleasant Soreness

I woke up today with sore lats!  I'm thrilled!  It's a sensation I've been waiting for since this whole thing began!

Yesterday I did the X2 Chest + Back + Balance workout -- which is basically the pull-up/push-up workout.  Seriously, the exercises alternate.  Luckily, I had two things on my side: 1) in the morning, I watched the DVD to get a sense of the exercises and modifications; 2) at least some of the exercises were familiar (e.g. 4-Grip Pull-Up, Plyo Push-Ups, Push-Up Side Arm Balance).

I was TERRIBLE at Chattarocker.  It basically has you going from Chattaranga (from yoga) to Sphinx to Plank  while moving your feet back and forth.  I just didn't have the upper body strength to make it happen.  I didn't go any exercises on Med Balls -- I'm just not confident enough yet.  I used bands (red & black together to equal 40-50 pounds), but I think I need to increase the weight I use.  It wasn't easy per se, but I really want to better prepare myself to do a pull-up.

All the weight training workouts in this phase also include Ab Ripper.  I'm still working on that Superman Banana X!

Calories Burned = 591
Average Heart Rate = 114
Peak Heart Rate = 160

Cheating

I should have better defined what "cheating" meant before I started; perhaps then John wouldn't be subjected to a barrage of questions as I ate bread and olive oil or homemade mini chocolate cupcakes last night at Will & Colin's house.  Thankfully, Will made this delicious lentil soup, so I felt good about the main course.

Why didn't I bring a sensible tasty dessert -- something with fruit in it perhaps?  Instead, I looked for a recipe with chocolate in it.  Enter Low Fat Mini Chocolate Cupcakes.  I had two, at 74 calories each.  Is this a cheat?  Maybe half a cheat?  Well, add the slice and a half of french bread, and call it a cheat.

I guess I did define the cheats early on as diet oriented.  A fitness cheat would be not doing all the exercises I'm supposed to do in a week.

On the plus side, I did the Balance & Power Workout today -- LOTS of room for improvement, especially related to my push-ups, plyo push-ups, and not collapsing into my hips when standing on one leg (surprisingly, there's a lot of one-leg movements in Balance & Power...coincidence?).  My hips are the least flexible part of my whole body, the most tight when stretching, the most in need of work.

Calories Burned = 777
Average Heart Rate = 142
Peak Heart Rate = 178

The Fit Test

Part of the P90X2 is the Fit Test -- in which you do some exercises to find out if you are physically ready to do the workouts.  This is where I found out that the "assisted pull-ups" I'd been doing at the gym were worthless to prepare me for actual pull-ups.  Luckily, there's a disclaimer that says you don't HAVE to be able to pull-ups, just that you'll get more out of the workouts if you can.

Besides the lack of pull-ups, I managed the fit test pretty well:

Vertical Leap: 11.5" [this was the hardest one to measure because we had to go outside of the apartment, in the dark]
Push-ups: 8 "regular"
Toe Touch/Flexibility: +5" past my toes
Wall Squat: 1 min. 32 secs.
Bicep Curls: 30 with 10-12 lbs resistance band
In & Outs: 30
Jumping Jacks for 2 mins & Still Able to Breathe: Yes

I'm as ready as I'll ever be to start this thing.