My P90X Experience: Day 1

Well, today I officially started P90X. I say “officially” because I’ve done a handful of the DVDs here and there in the past without officially starting the 90 day program. My husband purchased P90X last year and has completed it twice. So, of course I was curious to try out this beast. The DVDs I’ve gone through up to this point were Ab Ripper X and Cardio X. After struggling with those in the past, I was afraid to dive into the others. So, I kinda knew what I was getting into.

It’s more or less a coincidence that this beginning also aligns with the beginning of the New Year. The thing is, I’ve actually lost 10 pounds since Thanksgiving when I decided I was tired of my fat pants. So, I’m really about 45 days into a healthier mindset. I wouldn’t call starting P90X a part of my New Year’s Resolution, it just happened to work out that way.

I’m 5’1″ and in early November I weighed a chunky 133 pounds. Not cool. As far I can remember I’ve never weighed more than 130 pounds during my 33 years on this earth. And boy did I feel awful. When your body isn’t in shape you just feel tired all the time. I mostly blame my laziness and fondness for sweets and baking as well as Little Caesar’s Hot and Ready Deep Dish cheese pizza. Did you know that one slice has 300 calories? Whoa. After a busy day at work I could pack away four slices with only minimal effort and wash them down with a nice cold Coca-Cola. Yum. But that’s at least 1,500 calories right there. I currently eat less than that during the entire day!

Anyway, now that I’m 10 pounds lighter I’m feeling a lot better about myself. I have lot more energy too. It doesn’t sound like a lot of weight, but it makes a big difference. I lost the weight by eating less calories and working out. Kinda boring, I know. It’s really all about the calories. I only drink water. I don’t like diet pop and artificial sweeteners make you hungry. I learned that from the book YOU: On a Diet. Another thing I learned from that book is that HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) is the root of all evil–so I try to avoid that as much as possible. Anyway, drinking your calories really doesn’t make a lot of sense. I save my calories for food. I’ll try to write a post about my obsession with calories later on.

During the past month I’ve tried to workout at least 3-4 days a week. For me, a workout consists of 30-35 minutes of cardio mixed with a little strength training. I put in a CD with some inspiring music and try to mix it up. Some jump rope, squats, resistance bands, a little of this and a little of that. It seems to work. I sweat a lot. A problem I have with workout DVDs is that I get bored doing the same routine with the same music over and over again. I like to mix things up. To give Tony Horton credit, I attempted both Hip Hop Abs and Turbo Jam a while ago and couldn’t make it through the first workout because they were just so, well . . . cheesy and bad. P90X seems different.

To give you a little insight on my athletic abilities, I’m by no means gifted. I would place myself in the “average” category. During my youth I was never picked first by my peers to be on their team but was never picked last. I’ve never liked running (mostly because I’m terrible at it) but I did successfully walk 60 miles in the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk three years in a row. I can attest that my cardio has improved a bit since I started my hodge-podge workout routine. I think the jump-roping has a lot to do with it. A few months ago I really struggled with Cardio X but a couple days ago I seemed to do much better than I have in the past.

So, here I am now. I decided to take the plunge. I’d like to see just how far I can go now that I’ve got the momentum going. I wouldn’t have done this 45 days ago but now that I’m in the groove I can tell I’m ready. My goal is not to reach a certain weight, but to feel even stronger and healthier than I do now.

I decided to do the P90X “Classic” program. I contemplated doing the “Lean” version but for some reason it seemed like taking the easy way out. Today on Day #1 I had my first experience with the Chest and Back workout. I can’t do a pull-up so I did the substitution move with the resistance bands. The workout felt like it dragged on forever, but I think it was mostly because I kept pausing it to make sure I was getting the form right and I was only doing about 1/4 of the reps everyone else doing so I kinda had to wait for them to finish! It made me feel better at the end though when Tony mentioned (after he said he felt dizzy) that was normal for newbies. I didn’t break a sweat though . . . which seems odd. However, as I write this post my back feels kinda sore so apparently I did something right.

After Chest and Back I did Ab Ripper X (as directed by the schedule). I’ve done this DVD a couple times before. I was able to do a lot more of the reps this time. There’s still one move I can’t coordinate myself to do no matter how hard I try, and I can’t figure out if it’s because my body WON’T or CAN’T but hopefully I get it figured out soon. I can’t even do one rep in the set, which is frustrating.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

You can view a list of all my P90X posts here: P90X