Results

I know it took me awhile to finally get this posted, but here it is- my P90X results! I'm a little hesitant to post these pictures because my results aren't phenomenal... Don't get me wrong, I worked super hard and I do see changes! And I'm proud of those changes. They just aren't huge, like a lot of the P90X results pictures that you see floating around on the internet. Then again, I didn't have 100 pounds to lose! Heck, I didn't even have 20 pounds to lose... So I am happy with my results. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I've made some great progress! On that note- I started P90X all over again tonight! Haha, I'm crazy. I don't think I'll do it all the way through for this round, though. I won't do all 90 days because I will be starting P90X2 in a month!! I'm so excited. I might blog for that experience, too. Maybe. Anyways! Here are my final results from P90X! Sorry the first picture is so small... I don't know how to make it bigger...

                                                Top row: Day 1; Bottom row: Day 90

Start to finish!

                                                                      We did it!!!

Day 90!

I AM OFFICIALLY A P90X GRADUATE!!!! I did it!!! Woo-hoooo!! I'm so happy :D I wasn't sure that I'd be able to do this program at all, let alone finish it! But I DID IT! I proved to myself that I'm stronger than I think! I can push myself and move those limits, I can get better, more fit!

I wasn't happy to be ending my journey with yoga (as I stated yesterday) but I'm happy to have completed all 90 days. I did my best with yoga- it was a little harder than usual to focus because I have a lot on my mind and I'm driving up to MA tonight, but I made it through. I pressed through and brought it! My legs are a little sore from core synergistics but nothing unbearable. My hip flexors felt tight, per usual, but again, nothing major. I definitely didn't come to enjoy yoga, at least not the moving whatever they're called section. I did enjoy the stretching but I always have. Yoga was the bane of this program for me... but it's also the workout that is performed the most so that tells ya something! I guess it is really important to keep something like yoga in my fitness rotation to help prevent injuries.

I'm going to post before and after pictures on here, but not right now. I need to put them side-by-side and decide if the differences are really good enough for me to show :P haha. I'll post some updates as I decide what to do next or I might even redo this entire program and blog throughout again. We'll see! For now, I'm going to enjoy graduating my first round of P90X! :D

Day 89

Ahhh, ONE DAY LEFT!!! I can't believe it! I feel great. Core synergistics was excellent tonight! I got a later start than I originally wanted to, but that can be blamed on a delicious dinner that took longer than expected to prepare. It was worth it. I made a shrimp and avocado stir-fry with rice wine, soy sauce and some lemon juice over wild rice. Delicious. And apparently is was perfect fuel for my workout because I felt good bringing it tonight! Of course, core synergistics still kicked me butt and wore me out, but I feel like I got through it much better today than I did on Tuesday. I even upped my reps on a few moves! I was dripping sweat and beyond ready to guzzle my recovery drink and shower but I was high on endorphins and feeling mighty fine. I loooove that feeling!! I love conquering a challenging workout and pushing myself the entire way through. The endorphins afterwards are worth every bead of sweat. Gahh, I love working out! And I'm super excited that I've made it to day 89!

Tomorrow is yoga! I'm not too excited to end my P90X journey with my least favorite workout but I'm ready to bring it! I want to complete this! I'm a little nervous to take after pictures and compare them to my before pictures... I hope I can see all the changes I wanted! I know I'm still not where I want to be quite yet but I know for a fact that I'm closer than I was 89 days ago! :] So, one day left. Just one. Time to finish strong!!

Day 88

I love x stretch. Mmmm. My muscles are SO happy right now!! I just wish I could soak in a hot bath sprinkled with epsom salt right now. That would've been the best ending to x stretch. Unfortunately, my itty bitty corner shower stall of ridiculously small proportions does not allow a bath. At all. Sigh. Maybe I can soak in a bath this weekend at my parents house... it will be my reward for completing P90X ;] haha. Either way, my muscles feel great after stretching them out for an hour. Glorious.

One problem with today- I have been very hungry. All day. All freaking day I have been hungry. Hungry for anything, everything! I just wanted to eat. A lot. Mostly carbs and sweet snacks. Oh man, it was baddd! I don't know why my appetite was so out of control! It made me angry. I started the day off with a peanut butter and banana sandwich on some all natural honey wheat berry bread. I thought it was a perfect start to the day- low sugar peanut butter, high fiber bread, a vitamin-rich banana and a dash of cinnamon. Sounds great, right?? It was so good. But maybe it set me up to be hungry for the rest of the day?! I don't even know... I guess it was mostly the late afternoon/evening that I was ravenous. I was good, though, and didn't eat a bunch of crap. I might've had a little bit of cinnamon Kashi cereal that I shouldn't have... and a little skinny spinach dip after 9pm... but considering how badly I wanted to eat everything in my snack drawer, I think I did pretty good ;] Here's to hoping I'm less hungry tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow, I've got core synergistics to kick my butt! Gahhh, killer workout. I'm determined to eat great tomorrow, drink tons of water and BRING IT! Two days left!!

Day 87

My last kenpo x session! Sad story!! I was looking forward to doing kenpo all day today. It's such a great cardio workout without being quite as insane as plyometrics. Plus, it goes by quickly. I was able to workout at a decent time, too. My stomach was empty but not hungry empty, if that makes sense. I had eaten two hours prior so I didn't get cramps during the workout but I wasn't starving either. Now that I think of it, I get cramps from being too full OR too hungry when I do any sort of cardio... I need to time my workouts juuust right and tonight happened to be timed rather perfectly. I love when that happens. I knew I would be pretty famished by the end of kenpo so I popped a few cinnamon dusted pecans before I started. Enough to let my tummy know I would be feeding it soon but not too much to disrupt my intensity level. Perfection. It was a great workout. The only downfall was that I was flying solo tonight since Jacob was at his internship all day. Sad story times two! But, that just meant I had plenty of space to kick and punch and I could workout with the window open! Wait, that sounds awkward... Jake gets cold easily when he works out; I, on the other hand, sweat like a roasting pig. Therefore, Jake insists on having the windows closed and the air conditioner on low and pointed away from us (our apartment is oppressively hot, thanks to good old radiators, so we run a floor unit a/c year round). Tonight, I opened the window, got some cool fresh air flowing and set the a/c to 72. It was so nice. I worked up a great sweat and kept an average HR of 156 with a peak at 175. It felt so good! My shoulders/upper back/neck still felt sore and tight throwing punches. The first few sets of punches were giving me a decent burn... my right shoulder/rotator cuff started hurting about 20 minutes in but nothing too terrible. I had to decrease my intensity with my right arm but I still brought it. I think my muscles just need to warm up a little more because it felt fine after that... Altogether, I enjoyed my final kenpo session! Plus, it confirmed my desire to do P90X over again if nothing more than to have more kenpo sessions, ha.

Tomorrow is going to be fantastic- x stretch. Mmmmmm. I'm a little more excited than I should be to spend an hour stretching out my muscles. I'm so tight/stiff/sore, I desperately need a good stretch. I'm happy to know that I'll be getting one tomorrow! Three workouts left! Bringing it! :]

Day 86

Core synergistics is a killer. Total killer. It totally kicked my butt tonight! I made the mistake of getting caught up with running errand this afternoon/evening and didn't eat very much. By the time I got home, I had to workout right away because if I ate I would be working out a lot later than I like. So, I worked out on a basically empty stomach... not a good plan! But I have to wait like 2 hours between eating and doing any sort of intense workout (which core synergistics is) and I just couldn't see working out at 8pm. If I had, I wouldn't have been done until 9pm and I wouldn't have been able to eat unless I wanted to break the "don't eat three hours before bed" rule. Gah, it was a catch 22. So, I worked out first then ate. It was rough and I definitely felt myself running out of steam from the get-go. I did it, nonetheless! And I did pretty well, too! While I'm doing core synergistics, I hate it. I hate it so much. Mostly because it's so intense and difficult and exhausting. But once I'm done, I love it, haha. It's one of those love/hate relationships. I feel great after I've gotten through the whole routine! I did 20 staggered hand pushups tonight and I managed to do 14 sphinx pushup things... I champed superman banana, too! That one bugs me, but I'm getting better at it. I can see some definite improvements from my first core synergistics experience! I love that I can see a difference in my strength and endurance. It makes me so happy.

On a negative note, my body is very VERY sore today! For some reason, yoga killed my lower back yesterday. I remember my back being super sore from yoga when I first started P90X but it had gotten stronger and less prone to insane soreness. Yet, yoga yesterday really did a number on me because I woke up with an extremely stiff back. Add that to my sore shoulders/neck/upper back and I'm just a hot mess! Haha. I took some Aleve and powered through my workout. My body is going to be verrrrry happy for x stretch on Wednesday! First, I need to get through kenpo tomorrow! It shouldn't be too bad. The punches might be rough on my shoulders/neck again, but I'll get through it. Just four days left!! I'm going to keep bringing it! :D

Days 84 & 85

FIVE DAYS LEFT!!!

Yesterday was a perfectly timed day of rest. My upper back/shoulders/neck are killing me lately. The muscles are all knotted and sore... I feel stiff and tight and just nasty. It hurts. Kenpo made this ache and pain blatantly obvious on Friday. I needed a day to let my muscles recover a little. Even though one day was not long enough to make my tight muscles completely better, it was nice.

Yoga tonight was as annoying as ever. My stiff muscles made this already annoying workout a little less enjoyable (who knew that was possible :P). I felt too tight for all the poses/balance postures. It was very uncomfortable. I was happy to get it over with. It's hard to believe that the next time I do yoga, it will be my final day of P90X!! Crazy! I also think it's a little funny that I started P90X with chest & shoulders and the ab ripper and I end it with yoga. In like a lion, out like a lamb! Haha. Not that yoga is a "lamb" but it isn't as hardcore as chest/back and the ab ripper. I definitely prefer hardcore strength workouts.

On a side note, I think I'm going to do P90X2! I told Jacob that all I want for my birthday next month is P90X2 and a new pair of cross-trainer shoes. That's it. I've been told that P90X2 is only five days a week (yay for two rest days!!), focuses on explosive strength moves instead of straight up cardio and has a significantly shorter yoga routine (65 minutes as opposed to the 93 of this program). One of the workouts in 2 is called plyocide, which just sounds ridiculously nasty! In my mind, anything ending in "cide" generally has to do with death (suicide, homicide) so I'm sure this workout is NUTS. It makes me nervous but at the same time I desperately want to try it!! The theme is "tear the roof off your limits" and I want to do just that!! I want to do it to prove that I can! That's why I started P90X to begin with- I didn't think I could do it but I wanted to prove to myself that I could. I'm ready to push myself even further and get even stronger, healthier, more fit... I'm so anxious, eeeeeek! However, waiting until my birthday to get P90X2 means I'll have a month of limbo between 1 and starting 2. I'm leaning towards just doing more weeks of P90X until I can start 2. I want to keep going and working hard... I might do x stretch instead of yoga for those weeks, though, haha. I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to do. Yeah.

Anyways, back on topic... Tomorrow is core synergistics. That workout is a total beast! A phenomenal full-body workout but tough to get through. In some ways, I'm ready for it- I want to scorch some calories and get a great workout. In other ways I'm not- it always kicks my butt and my muscles are feeling pretty rundown. I need to keep bringing it! 5 more workouts. I got this!