Day 6: Kenpo X

The Boyfriend and I went for this together and what can I say – it kicked my ass, hard core. We managed to keep up with Tony’s pace for most of the exercises, although I took a few breaks. The Boyfriend loves it because it doesn’t stress his bad back/knees, or make him stretch in any way - and punching stuff (even air) makes him feel like a total badass.

I was an absolute WRECK on Sunday – my legs were SO sore from the combination of this and the Leg workout, and frankly I don’t see much Stretch X in my future at all – the day off is just TOO nice.

Day 5: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Pullup bar at the ready, I dove into my first “real” go at Legs and Back. Unfortunately, having done Yoga X a mere 12 hours prior, I was already pretty exhausted. Regardless, this video has a couple of issues for me and other unfit people like me. First, I found myself getting so cardiovascularly winded that I wasn’t able to do some of the reps even though my muscles could have handled it, and second, many of the leg moves require you to squat using just one leg. If (like me), your legs are too weak to do a full-depth squat on just one leg, you may feel like you’re not getting as good a workout as you probably should be. I’m hoping that this will improve with time, but I feel that I might get more out of it if I modify and do more two leg squats with added weight until I’ve built up my strength sufficiently to do at least a few reps with proper form and depth on one leg.

That said, I know my legs got a decent workout. How do I know this? The pullups told me so! I can’t do pullups unassisted, so I used the lowest step on my footstool for assistance. By crouching low, I was able to fully extend my arms and “hang” on the bar, then when it was time to pull up, I pushed up out of the squat to assist. It’s hard to know how much of my weight was being borne by my legs, but going from what I was able to pullup the last time I used the pullup machine at the gym, I would guess I was using my legs for around 60% of my weight. At first it was no problem, but by the end my legs were threatening to give out with every pullup. Oh, and speaking of pullups – screw you, Tony Horton. It is unnatural to expect a woman of any reasonable size (i.e., not that skinny bitch Dreya) to be able to pull up her own body weight! I am 6’ tall and I weigh 190 lbs, which I am relatively certain is MORE than you, Tony. So suck it!!!!!!

My second go at Ab Ripper X was slightly more successful than the first (164 total reps), but no less painful. Really, there are no words for how ridiculous this video is.

Day 4: Yoga X

I didn’t have time for this in the morning due to a doctor’s appointment, so I had my whole work day to anticipate what I now believe is the hardest workout of the whole series (or at least of the videos involved in the first week of P90X Lean). GOD THIS VIDEO SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! You keep looking up, thinking you’re almost done, but the clock never seems to budge. I will say that after the first 45 mins of moving asanas, the second half is (mostly) easy, although make no mistake, you are still working. Tony’s love affair with Warrior and then of course the horrifyingly difficult half-moon series are just killer. I was sweating, shaking and nauseated afterward, and I only did about 80% of the hardest stuff. I must always make time for this in the morning because I HATE working out in the evening and the length of this makes it extra painful.

The Boyfriend simply refused to try this and went for a long walk instead. Next week, he’ll do it, even if I have to keep my foot in his ass for the full 90 mins.

Day 3: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

This was still a bit of a fact-finding mission as I wasn’t sure what weight I should be using for all of the exercises. I guessed pretty well for the most part, though – 8s for anything bicep related, 3s for triceps, and 5s for other stuff. Some of the shoulder exercises required 10s. Yes, I know these are small weights. Too goddamn bad. I’m a girl, and I’m not looking for bulk, and fuck you Dreya for being half my size and using 12s for everything. These weights allowed me to do around 15 reps of each exercise, which was my goal.

Due to time constraints, I skipped the bonus round and cool-down and moved directly to Ab Ripper X. I’m happy to report that I didn’t reinjure my tail. Sitting on a pillow for exercises that hurt alleviated the problem. I did a total of 146 exercises, or a little more than a third of the video. I am no longer able to roll over in bed, balance on the subway, suck in my gut, or possibly, have children. Yes, it hurts that badly.

The Boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed this video – a) because his arms are already pretty strong, b) because he sees fast results when he does arm work and c) because he skipped Ab Ripper X. He will not get away with this next time.

Day 2: Cardio X

Thank you Jeebus that this video is only 40 mins long. Doing this today at 100% capacity left me barely able to move. My abs were already sore from Core, so the Superman/Banana at the end pretty much didn’t happen. Oh, and that knee-to-elbow move? The Halfback or something? That also didn’t happen much – about 15 in and I was gasping for air. The most annoying thing about this video, though, is how NOT out of breath Tony and his minions are. That and the fact that he loves to stick it to you at the end by putting all the really hard stuff last. Suck it, Tony!

Day 1: Core Synergistics

In the extreme spirit of P90X, I decided to give this my all today, taking breaks only when I thought I might throw up. This happened several times. What can I say? This is, as it’s supposed to be, a challenging workout. I think the name is a bit of a misnomer, though – I would call this cardio with a core emphasis, rather than just core. It really works everything – there are plenty of lunges and pushups in addition to core stuff, but the real challenge is the cardio aspect, at least for me. I used 2lb dumbbells for everything and found that to be plenty of weight at this point. The Boyfriend was NOT impressed with this video – which means he needs to do it more! His bad back makes some of the exercises difficult and painful, but all that much more necessary.

Fit Test

Fit test day! No big surprises here. The fit test isn’t really difficult, and IMO doesn’t really prepare you for the reality of the videos. I mean, 2 minutes of jumping jacks? Please. That’s the warmup for most of these videos. But anyway, The Boyfriend and I did the fit test – I passed everything but the pullups, although my pushup technique is very questionable (and I do them on my knees). The Boyfriend did not fare as well – he failed the flexibility, pushup and pullup portions. However, he has much more upper body strength than I do and will no doubt improve quickly as we move along. We both “failed” the ab section as well, but we weren’t doing the exercise correctly and I think if we had been we’d have been fine. We bought a pullup bar so we’re ready to go!