Day 2: Cardio Attack

Hello, my captive audience :).  I have completed day 2 of P90x, and I feel that I need to visually illustrate my emotions as I was going through this workout.  One day I'll record a video of myself very ungracefully almost falling on my face and groaning in pain, but for now post workout sweaty selfies will do.

So, day 2 is plyometrics.  I've been through a few different plyo programs in my day and they are seriously killer.  Like they are usually short and get the job done.  I don't usually enjoy a plyo workout, but I appreciate how effective it is so I just grit my teeth and get it done.

P90x plyometrics is 58 MINUTES LONG!  Like holy mother of all that is good in life.  How can I actually survive an hour of intense hell?

This is how I looked after I finished.

Super sweaty and like I wanted to drop, but still able to function.  There was a lot more emotion involved throughout the process, however.

Backing up to the beginning..... this expression explains how I felt after the first 2 sets in round one....

Like...dude, this is highly unpleasant but I am going to soldier on through

About halfway through I was thinking this would never stop.  Like seriously, every other plyo workout I'd ever done had ended by this time and...how was I going to keep going?

I dug deep and kept going.  Sweating buckets I made it to what I thought was the end and then he threw in an extra set.  Like, for real?  Why, Tony??? WHY?????

But I finally got to the stretch section and was actually pretty proud of myself.  All in all, it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated and I think I probably burned exactly 5,642 calories during that 58 minutes.  I think I can repeat that one again next week without too many nightmares.

Also glad that I'm not as sore as I had figured I'd be today after that crazy workout yesterday.  But I feel it in a way that makes me know I'm getting some good benefits from this program :).

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - But It's On

Alright, so day one - DONE!  Like exactly 4,612,923 people on the planet have completed the P90x program, so my blog posts wont be some revolutionary thing - like the first people on Mars reporting about the climate or anything, but here are my honest thoughts on day 1.

First of all, I am doing the Classic P90x program.  You can do 3 versions...classic, doubles (if you want more cardio) or lean (if you want less bulk - but honestly I'm not worried about bulk, I want the challenge so I skipped this one altogether).

The very first program you get into is Chest and Back.  And dude, Tony Horton went THERE. Straight to the push-ups.  Like 8 varieties of nonstop push-ups.  I have to say that push-ups are right up there with burpees as my least favorite exercise on the planet (Earth, not Mars...but probably Mars too if I ever get there.  Future blog idea....).  Between those and the pull-ups (which I modified with an exercise band), I was WEAK.  Like by the end my arms felt numb and I was cautiously modifying my sets as to not injure myself.  I was pretty sure I was going to fall on my face at the end of the decline push-ups where you prop your legs up on the chair for maximum effect.  But I stuck through.  Even with modification on my knees I gritted through to the end.  I wanted to give you guys a visual of what my arms and back feel like right now, and I am so owning my "thirtysomethingness" with this comparison - a toy from my childhood, Stretch Armstrong.  I'm seriously jelly arms right now.  I drank a nice little protein shake, so hopefully I can get these muscles on their way to recovery stat.

So, when you finish Chest and Back you follow it up with this nice little 16 minute Ab Ripper X.  And as much as I need work on the abs, I have to say that I love a good ab workout.  It usually hurts SO GOOD.  But Tony doesn't mess around.  From the onset, it's like the fires of Hell descend upon your abdomen.  But .....in a good way????

I got through most of Ab Ripper X, and even though it was hard I liked it.  You add this in I think 3 times a week so I am looking forward to this little addition of pain to top off my workouts.  That sounds so wrong, I know.

Okay, so that's my commentary for the day.  Thanks for wasting 5 minutes of your life with me :).  More to come....

The Bare Naked Honest Truth

Alright, my friends.  It's just about go time on P90x.  As a Beachbody coach I feel this odd sense of obligation to complete this 3 month program in it's entirety, even if it is very "2008 of me".  It feels like this noble right of passage into the organization if you will.  So I'm #keepinitreal and letting it ALL hang out.  No, literally.  I am posting a "before" picture.  And I'm showing it all.  I could go all Perez Hilton on this photo and circle every area that I am critiquing in my head right  now.  Okay, I'll just say it...my glaringly pasty, non-six pack mid section.  This is no joke.  And I'm putting it out there to keep me accountable.  And this is my 4th Beachbody program I've had to take "before" and "after" photos for.  First was PiYo, second was Les Mills Combat (I also doubled up and did CIZE halfway through that program, which was only 4 weeks, and I finished it up a couple of weeks ago).  And this is the first time, in all of those pictures, that I've taken my top off to show the area I'd rather keep hidden for the rest of eternity.

As a point of reference, I just took my "after" pictures for Les Mills Combat on Friday.  Look at me, all confident and smiley in a gloriously covering tank top  that hid all of this nonsense going on right now in my midsection.  I will admit that Les Mills was amazing for my arms and legs, but I never reaped quite the benefit for the midsection that I wish I had.  I loved that program though and I'd do it again in a heartbeat FYI.  Rach, one of the main trainers, IMHO is a total badass.  But that tanktop...that dang tanktop is my source of comfort.  And I have to let it go so I can expose the areas I need to improve on.

So, I am planning on pushing play on P90x sometime tomorrow.  Usually I get my workout in during the morning so that's my goal :).  Wish me luck!  I have every intention on checking back in to report on how day 1 all went down.  See ya on the flipside :).

No Time Like The Present to Kick This Thing Off

Hello my readers (hopefully maybe 5 of you?) and welcome to my fitness blog journey! (And on a side note, I HATE the word journey.  I think that the same people who created buzz words and phrases like “synergy” and “think outside the box” started the use of the word “journey” to make them sound like wise old souls.  Trust me, I’m far from a wise old soul, definitely learning every day as I go.  This is your first #keepinitreal coaching moment).  Okay, so I have been contemplating starting a fitness blog for a couple of months now.  And suddenly, like a ton of bricks dropping on my head, it all came to me as I was taking a shower this morning.  So that means that this could pan out to be a really amazing idea, or a total bomb.  Stick with me and we will see which way it goes! (Kinda like a choose your own adventure novel!).  I used to blog many many MANY moons ago and it got away from me.  Funny because the reason I STOPPED blogging was because I started using my blogging time to work out.  Poetic maybe that I’m coming back around to it?  So, hi!  My name is Carrie and I am a normal thirty-something girl.  I love boy bands, Nutella and people who are kind of strange, smart and make me laugh (but ahem - this is NOT a match dot com profile).  I have had my ups and downs as I will probably explain to the most painful detail in this blog, but I have recently entered the world of personal fitness coaching and I am in love with it.  No, I’m not a personal trainer (more on that later as well) but I feel like I can’t ever totally express myself in my Facebook posts, and I want an outlet to SHARE even more (if you aren’t sick of my 500 daily Facebook posts, you can come HERE for MORE!).  I want to use this space as a place to share my advice, fitness progress, recipes, motivation and even my very real and ugly struggles.  If you know me in real life, I keep it real.  No frills about this girl here.  I intend to start the P90x program this upcoming week and I want to document my “journey” (oh, facepalm), as the starting point for this blog. So sit back and enjoy (or not) the ride!