I apologize for this post being about something other then Real Estate Investing, but I feel if you do something you are proud of you should pat yourself on the back. This is my “pat” on the back…
This past Monday, June 27th, I completed p90x! I am am very pleased with the results and feel much stronger and confident about myself.
Going In
Before starting P90X I was in decent shape, I played basketball 1 or 2 times a week and went to the gym 3 or 4 times per week. I weighed an average of about 185 lbs, 34 inch waste and no clue what my body fat percentage was. I still don’t because I never got it tested, but I knew I was not comfortable with what I saw.
The Struggle
P90X was not easy for a number of reasons, all of which made it very challenging and forced myself to dig deep. Some of the challenges that presented themselves where…
- Fitting the workouts into my evening schedule
- Yoga (it never got easier)
- Ab Ripper X (14 minutes of torture)
- The diet
I was determined to not skip one single day. I managed to do that all the way up until day 70 and in all I skipped 3 days. Although when I say Skip I mean I just pushed the workout to the next day. I was so proud of myself for keeping with the schedule of the program even if it meant doing my workout at midnight.
The hardest part of the entire process, for me, was the diet. I’m a picky PICKY eater and roughly 90% of the foods they recommend I do not like. I was determined to improve my diet and introduce a few more healthy options into my life. I succeeded and now don’t mind Broccoli or Baby Spinach leaves, it’s baby steps but all in the right directions. Foods (or habits) that I’ve cut out are french fries, eating desert Monday through Friday and snacking late at night.
The Success
For one, I finished the damn thing and I’m proud of myself for that. It took a lot of dedication and will-power to keep going and if you asked my wife, I never once slacked on a workout. I routinely had nothing left in the tank by the time I was done. These workouts are Top Notch!
One of my goals was to get to the point where I could do 10 pull-ups. That would mean I would have to triple my before P90X total of 3 and then add 1 more for good measure. I’m happy to say I reached that goal by week 10 and finished up being able to do 11.
I also improved my strength in every area of my body from my legs, arms, back and core. I pushed myself hard to increase my limits every week and I was successful for the most part. There are a few areas that I always struggled with and I want to continue to work those areas in the future.
My Discouragements
I’d not be telling you the entire story if I didn’t cover the things that I’m a bit discouraged about after working so hard. Everyone is different and this workout will show it’s results in a variety of ways for each person. Here is a small list of what I hoped would happen and didn’t…
- I’d become more flexible. Having to do Yogo over 17 times throughout the 13 weeks I expected to become at the very least, modestly more flexible. This did not happen and I didn’t notice much progress at all really. Maybe it’s just hard to tell, but this was starting to piss me off.
- A little more muscle definition. I am definitely stronger and I feel and look leaner but I didn’t see the muscle definition I was hoping for. Maybe 3 months is not long enough to really see results like that?
- Weight/Fat Loss. This is my number 1 gripe. There are countless stories online of people losing 10, 20 or more lbs doing P90X. Do you know how much I lost? 3 lbs!?! and only about a half of abelt size. I took before and after pictures of myself and to be honest I can barely notice any difference in my mid section. I know I didn’t completely change my diet, but the improvements I made to it should have been enough to cut down on some of the love handles. LOL
What Next
I loved the direction I get from these workout CDs and I plan on trying Insanity next. I am going to take a few weeks off from intense workouts by going to the gym to run and lift. I also will throw in a p90x workout here and there in order to maintain. I worked so hard to get to this point that it’s very important not to not regress by getting lazy. I also heard that they might be coming out with a P90X 2 in the fall and I look forward to that.
Has anyone else used P90X? I’d love to hear what you have to say about it or another similar program that you would recommend.
Thanks for reading about my experience!
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