P90X Day One: Chest & Back

P90X Day One – Chest & Back

Equipment used: P90X Disc 1, Iron Gym Pull-Up Bar, PerfectPushups handles, PowerBlock Dumbbells, Chair.

P90X Day One is in the books!  Man I am tired but I feel GREAT!  However, after not working out for two complete weeks, I have to admit that this workout was the hardest I’ve endured in a very long time.  It’s amazing how your body can eat its muscles and fibers when you aren’t feeding it the right way.  I noticed that my strength was not where it was three weeks ago so it made it tougher to start big.  I had to start like a beginner which is not bad because I get to really start from scratch.

Areas I struggled in:  Wide Front Pull-ups, Decline Pushups and Dive bomber pushups.

Wide Front Pull-ups: I felt a twitch in my lats which told me I need to work that muscle out more in order to have more strength on my pull-ups.  Perhaps later I will incorporate some gym time to build up this muscle. 

Decline Pushups:  proved to be harder because of the stress you put on your outer pectoral muscles.  For me, this was possibly due to my chest muscle fibers not being stretched and loose as they used to be when I was doing Bench Presses.  Quick fix will be to do some additional chest workouts and get that body part conditioned again which I’m incorporating into my work out tomorrow. 

Dive bomber Pushups:  Since I was 16, I’ve had a nagging baseball lower back injury that comes and goes.  Over the last month, I noticed that I’ve been very sore on that region and it’s been hurting for a good 3 weeks.  Doing these pushups puts a lot of strain on the lower back so I was only able to do about 10 with good form and 5 on my knees. I am making an appointment with a Chiropractor soon to get adjusted.

Overall, the workout was a great one.  I do have a lot of work to do, but I hope by next Monday, I can surpass some of my initial reps for each exercise and get my body conditioned to kill the next 3 months! 

Notes:

• I was not able to complete Ab Ripper X after the workout (because I was exhausted!) but I will move it to my evening workout so I can complete all the reps with good form and stamina.
• Also, it depends on your style, but I noticed I don’t like to hear this guy talk anymore.  Hearing him count off on his pushups or talk to others can sometimes ruin your rhythm and make you try to catch up with him instead of working on your form.  
• Next workout, I’m going to use the “Cues only, no music no talking” option.

Sore areas: Arms!!

I finished with a 52g protein shake!


How was YOUR first day??

Tuesday Workout: Part III

My Afternoon workout before dinner was a P90X Chest and Back Routine.  If you have P90X at home, this is the first DVD of the series.  Since I'm not on technically on the program, I decided to throw in this chest and back routine on the same day that I did my arms an legs.  This way, I complete a full body workout.  The program alternates between push and pull motions.  My regimen was as follows:

60 Regular Pushups
15 Wide Front Pullups
50 Military Pushups
15 Reverse Grip Wide Chin-ups
50 Wide Fly Pushups
15 Closed Grip Overhand Pull-ups
35 Decline Pushups
10 reps w/ 50lb PowerBlock (Dumbbell) Arm Rows
40 Diamond Pushups
10 reps w/ 60lb PowerBlock (Dumbbell) Lawnmower (per arm)
10 Dive-Bomber Pushups
10 Back Flys w/ 25lb PowerBlock (Dumbbell)

Here is where the X comes into play on this program... I repeat the same exact routine TWICE.  Except the second time, I do all the back workouts first, then chest second.  For instance I start with Wide Front Pull-ups, then do Regular Pushups, etc.  As an extra challenge, I did all my pushups using the "Perfect Pushup" handles which gave me full arm rotation motion and worked out more muscle fibers in my chest.

Boy was I tired, but it hurt SO good!

For dinner I had 6oz lean flank steak, salad and some rice pilaf.

And yes, I still have one more workout to go later tonight.  The plan is either Kempo X or Wii Cardio.  We shall see!

-J