Mark's P90X Blog

My lower body is really aching today from plyo yesterday. I really wasn’t expecting that. I haven’t done that workout in a few weeks and although the workout itself went well, the day after is painful. I didn’t really feel like working out tonight. After having to clear the driveway twice and not feeling in the workout mood, this was the last thing I wanted to do. But I put my workout clothes on and put the DVD in and hit play. After I got going it wasn’t so bad but I did want to quit halfway through. Somehow I willed my way through to the end and I’m glad I did.

I officially started round 2 today. I took the past week off but did a few light workouts so I wasn’t completely stagnant but I didn’t do anything close to these workouts. Plus, I must admit my eating habits over the last week weren’t exactly the most healthy. Despite all of that, I didn’t gain any weight and I had a great workout today. In fact, I actually did better on this workout than I ever had. I didn’t lose anything from the last time I did it. Instead I improved on a few of the exercises which was a pleasant surprise. Maybe all the rest was actually a good thing. Maybe my body had a chance to regenerate.

Although I was very strict in the first round and never missed a workout and did the full 90 days straight, I do plan on modifying this second round a bit. As warmer weather approaches, coaching soccer, etc. I want to be able to do those things without feeling like I must do a P90X workout. I just won’t have the time and I’ll get frustrated. So I will probably miss one or two workouts a week depending on the week. I want to be able to fit these workouts into a “normal” schedule and build it into my lifestyle and trying to do it 7 days a week forever is just unrealistic.

Anyway, today’s workout is done and I plan to get plyo in tomorrow morning since I’m now working then.

Day 1 & Day 90 statistics and more comparison pictures can be seen in My P90X Progress section.

I’m very happy with the results that I’ve experienced in the first round of P90X. Although I don’t look like some of the huge muscular monsters you see on the commercials, I have definitely seen many changes in my body over the past 3 months. The top 3 changes I’ve noticed are:

1. Loss of body fat, especially around my midsection
2. Increased flexibility throughout my entire body
3. Much toner muscles, especially with ones I didn’t know I had!

I’m proud of myself that I didn’t miss any workouts during the course of the past 90 days. It was hard to do because on some days I just didn’t feel that great. But I put the DVD in and pushed play and off I went. Most workouts I gave it 110% and on some I just wasn’t feeling totally into it. But I “did my best and forgot the rest”.

The first week I started this my body was in complete shock. It was really tough and I was really sore. I had to modify a few exercises using Tony’s suggestions but over time I was able to do most of them without modification. Early on I noticed big gains in my flexibility, which was not something I was expecting from this program. Sitting down with my legs straight, I was about 3.5″ awas from my toes if I tried to reach them. Now I can reach 6″ past them. All over my body I’ve notice huge gains from stretching and I think it’s helped me a lot from pulling muscles which I seemed to do alot prior to this.

This is a great overall workout. You will exercise every part of your body. Muscles you didn’t know existed will hurt and grow. Fat will disappear. But it is hard work. It’s not a get fit quick program. It’s a work your tail off and you’ll get fit program. I didn’t follow the nutrition program, although I did eat reasonably well throughout. I ate mostly healthy snacks and meals but I will admit eating burgers and pizza and other not so nutritious foods. But I didn’t eat them in excess. I wanted to eat foods that I enjoy but in moderation and combined with other good foods. I know that if I followed the nutrition program I probably would have noticed much better results but I’m happy with my progress despite that. Although there are a variety of supplements they recommend taking, the only ones I took were multivitamins and protein power. I didn’t take a lot of protein powder since I had never used it before and wasn’t quite sure how much I needed. I didn’t want to spend a lot of extra money on supplements. I wanted to see what I could do naturally. I’m fairly certain if I used more of them in combination with the nutrition program I might have lost more fat and gained more muscle.

You can check out my pictures and determine for yourself if the program works. I also included some stats on my body changes. The highlights for me were losing 2.5″ around my waist which is now 33″ and my body fat % dropping about 3-4%.

What’s next? I’m taking at least a week off from P90X. I plan on doing a couple yoga or stretch workouts. I also hope to get a few cardio sessions in too, but nothing too strenuous. I want to give my muscles a rest and then I will start up a modified 2nd round. I probably will workout 6 days a week instead of 7 so the 90 day program will take me about 103 days. I plan on taking Fridays off completely since that was the biggest headache for me squeezing that in on a Friday night. I hope in the second round to get rid of all of my remaining body fat so I can see a true six-pack and also to add a bit more muscle to my small frame.

If anyone out there has been thinking about doing P90X, I say go for it. It’s definitely hard and it is a time commitment but you will look and feel better. I know some of you mentioned waiting to see what my results were before giving it a shot. Hopefully what I’ve described here as well as my pictures are enough for you to take the next step. On the right sidebar I included links to all of the equipment that I used for this program if you’re interested in checking it out. Feel free to ask any questions you might have about my experience.

Time to celebrate. I am now officially a P90X grad!