2 Wks of P90X - Comments and Questions

Soosan....really it is a bit too soon to tell about the PlyoX helping my running. I just started it this week. I am on the 5th week of the Lean rotation (lots less Chest & Back..:) ) I am glad your AbRipperX DOMS is getting better. My hip flexors feel the first 2 exercises the most.

I have so far liked all Tony's stretching. You will always hear different opinions on static and regular. As I get older I think that any stretching is beneficial and I try to do alot.

I will say that my core has improved greatly as I can finish most all of Cathe's plank work and stability ball pikes now...:)...Carole
 
This place would be really boring if only Cathe's workouts were allowed to be discussed. As so many other posters have already pointed out, this is the "open discussion" area and Soosan had every right to start this thread.

Soosan, you could also sub dumbbell work for some of the chest work. As long as you're challenging yourself, you will not be shorting yourself. I have the Door Gym and I love it. You don't need to install this piece of equipment.

Shoulders and Arms remains my favorite workout in this series. :)
 
Okay Susan, regarding pushups - please note I am upper body challenged (I'm a typical pear!) so though my gains are small, they were substantial for ME! LOL! (Remember I said nothing to brag about.) Here's how I did:

Standard: went from 1 to 10

Military: went from 0 to 1/2 (yes that's a half - does that count?)

Wide Fly: went from 1 to 17 (love these! my favorite)

Decline: went from 0 to 8 (my 2nd favorite - first time I did these I was just holding in plank)

Diamond: went from 1 to 7

Dive-Bombers: went from 0 to 12

I can't do military at all (but I kept trying)and with diamond I have to have my hands apart a little (like 6 inches). When I look at this all written out its better then I thought but I know others have had huge gains. My upper body is very stubborn about getting stronger but my legs beg for more! :) :) :)

Also, I just want to add I was really inspired from reading posts from Kathryn and others and was really giving it my all. I am not a slacker when it comes to my workouts but getting through Chest and Back was torture some days. I am pleased with my results!

Jo
 
Jo, if I improve my push-ups as much as you, I'll be THRILLED! How did you do it? When you can't do any more from your toes, do you drop to your knees or do you do negatives from your toes and then push back up from your knees? Do you spread your legs farther apart?

Militaries are the easiest kind for me, thanks to power yoga. At this point, on a good day, I can do 9. With the others, I can do anywhere from 2 to 5 with questionable form and often shallow ROM.
 
Hi Susan,

I was very interested to see your post because I just finished up week 6 of P90X, and love to read what others think. I, like you, am tall, and have a hard time with pushups.

Pull-up bar: I bought a Power Tower. Yes, it takes up a LOT of room. I still cannot do one unassisted pullup or chinup. I usually do the first set of each exercise assisted on the way up, and then do the negative unassisted. I then do the second set of each exercise with bands wrapped around the bar. I think the bands with a door attachment are the best option for you, because of your space limitation.

Horse stance: I point my feet in the same direction as my knees. It feels better....

Pushups: I have the same question as you; is it better to do the pushups with the limited ROM, or to modify to negatives or knee pushups? I do as many as I can on my toes, but my ROM is very shallow until I get warmed up. It seems like I can do more as I go through the workout. I do ALL diamond pushups and dive-bombers on my knees, BTW.

In general, I skip the strength workout warmups. I do a short cardio warmup before skipping directly to the P90X strength work. I love Chest/Back, Shoulders/Arms, PlyoX and Core Synergistics. Back/Biceps seems like biceps overkill to me, considering my biceps wear out and cause my pullups to be even MORE impossible! Chest/Shoulders/Triceps is OK. It goes very fast, and I am never sure if I got a good workout or not! YogaX is tolerable. I'm not a big yoga fan, but I see the benefits. I have substituted some other power yoga in its place when I don't have 93 minutes. CardioX is short and fun. KenpoX is just OK, and I've substituted Cathe's kickboxing most of the time. I have only done XStretch once, and it is long for me. I'd rather do 30 minutes, so I sub Karen Voight's Yoga Stretch. Ab Ripper X is TOUGH. I substituted Tamilee's IWT Abs#2 today, and it was actually EASY after doing ARX so often, so I know ARX is strengthening my core. My core is relatively weak, so I need a lot of work there. Have I missed anything????

Good luck with your rotation.

BTW, I've written down your 9 day week rotation to try when I'm done with the P90X. It sounds like just what I need to do.

PennyLaney

P.S. I'm REALLY looking forward to the Hardcore Series, and think that the negativity found at the beginning of this thread is unnecessary. I"m sure Cathe doesn't mind....


;) ;)
 
Susan.....I lied. I just completed chest and back this morning and I DO NOT kiss the floor on diamond pushups, what was I thinking. (I was thinking of the tricep pushups in CST P90X where you place your hands low and under your rib cage - much easier).

I'm sure this will interest everyone (smiley guy asleep inserted). I had this dream last night that Cathe was sick and tired of us posting about the P90X and she devised this intensely evil workout (ie HARDCORE) where she delivered the most sadistic sets which were done in such a way that we were all dying at the end--and in my dream some were literally dead**--and all along she had this evil grin on her face....and I could hear her thoughts "that will teach them to ever mention that P90X again".

Cathe is much too sweet for this right??????Hmmmmm makes one wonder........


Briee

**all except AJ - she seemed to be enjoying it.
 
Hi Susan!! You will improve on those pushups. What I do is I start out on my toes & then when I definitely can no longer stay on my toes I drop to my knees & finish until my arms are shaking & can no longer pull myself up. What helps also is to develop your triceps. I have big ones so that's why pushups are (sort of) easy for me. By the time you reach the very end of Phase 3 (its the most intense Phase of them all) take a gander at your workout log to see just how amazingly STRONG you've become.

Is there anyway at all possible to use bands instead? It appears that your not able to use the Door Gym or install a pullup bar:( I'm sure if you purchased an advanced band (I happen to have one) it would do the trick. That band HURTS! Keep BRINGING IT! Kathy:D
 
Susan, most of time I would drop to me knees (except declines of course!) otherwise I would try to maintain form and do limited ROM and sometimes that would entail just holding in plank position. The rest of the time I would be lying on the floor wondering if I'll ever improve! hahaha!

Now that we've been discussing this I think I should give P90X a go again! I've been inspired once again! :) I definitely need to work on those militaries some more! Who knows what lies ahead in the Hardcores?!?! I must get prepared!

Jo
 
KathyH - Thanks for the encouragement! If anything makes me feel like a weenie, it's push-ups! Actually, pull-ups make me feel weenier. When I did the fit test before starting P90X (I really geeked out by taking before pix and everything), I could do about an 1/8 of a pull-up. That's why I need to figure out a way to do them! For the past three years, I've set birthday goals and have accomplished difficult, seemingly impossible (for me) exercises. I'd love to be able to do a pull-up by December 2005 but I NEED A BAR! Maybe I'll get some bands in the meantime.:(

Jo - You go, girl!

PennyLaney - You sound a lot like me! Push-ups and core work are presently my biggest challenges. My core is getting stronger and stronger, though. Ab Ripper X is tough but doable. Some moves I do very well and others need a little work.:) I'm not the biggest Pilates fan in the world, but I really think that focusing on it the past few months has improved my core strength more than anything else. I combined it with Cathe ab work but Pilates seems to be just one more (very large) piece of the ab puzzle for me. Since I mastered the teaser during that 9-day rotation, I make sure I do a couple every day and they're getting better and better. My form on the roll-up/V-ups is remarkably good (for me) and I attribute that to Pilates.

Briee - Okay, since you lied about the diamond push-ups, I'll let you back into the Ectos. (You didn't know that I kicked you out after having read your previous post. You also probably didn't know that I had the authority to kick you out. Well, I don't, but STOP DOING SO MANY PUSH-UPS AND PULL-UPS!) I bet your dream does mean something. Maybe Cathe isn't as nice as we think she is and your subconcious caught on to it. Or maybe she has an evil twin that will lead the Hardcore Series. Maybe A-Jock's her evil twin...}( }( }(
 
I have for some time now believed Cathe and AJ to be genetically linked somehow....from some distant planet whose women have evolved into superhuman beings with cardio capacities the size of Texas. I just can't prove it.....yet }(

Thank you for readmittance into the ecto's....I would have missed you all so!! Although I would not have missed you enough to stop doing pushups and pullups....they are such fun :p :p :p :p please let me keep on doing them????

Question, I reread your assessment of Yoga X. Can you tell me how it rates to the other tapes that you recommended in a previous thread, now that you have completed it. Is it tougher, easier than your other yoga tapes. I am interested in knowing which would give me the back benefits that I have received by doing the YogaX in a shorter time frame possibly, although that may be a little tough to discern. Any thoughts?

Briee
 
Alright, alright, you can continue to do push-ups and pull-ups. Sheesh. I guess it gives a fellow-ecto something to aspire to.

I think Yoga X is as challenging as my favorite power yoga videos (Bryan Kest, Eoin Finn, David Swenson). The pace of the vinyasas in Yoga X is a bit slower (less challenging), but during sun salutations, Tony has you kick one leg up (in downward dog) and then go into runner's pose which is more challenging. The length of the workout makes it more challenging. I think if Bryan Kest's Power Yoga videos were 90 min long, they'd be much harder than Yoga X!

Would you elaborate on what you mean by the "back benefits" you received? Strength? Flexibility? Most (all?) of the yoga workouts that I do have a lot of poses for the back (twists, backbends, forward bends). One of the things I love so much about yoga is what it does for the back.

If you want some challenging, shorter yoga workouts, I suggest you get Bryan Kest's 1995 Power Yoga Series DVD which has 3 (approx 50 minute) workouts. The cheapest I've seen it is at DeepDiscountDVD for about 13.00 (shipping included). http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/search.cfm

I would also strongly suggest Eoin Finn's Power Yoga or Power Yoga for Happiness. Both are excellent and challenging, but PY4H is more versatile due to premixes of varying lengths and emphases. You can view a clip on his site: http://www.vancouveryoga.com/home.html Don't let the "woo-woo" factor of his site turn you off. (It doesn't bother me at all, but your previous questions about yoga makes me think it might bug you a bit:) ).

You might as well at least get the Kest series. You can't go wrong for about $4.00 a workout!
 
Susan, in the past I've had many times when I've had "tweaks", shall we call them, in my back. If I would turn quickly to reach behind me, I'd pull something that would hurt for days. When I was doing Cathe's strength, I frequently would have an area in my upper back that would give me trouble. But, since I've been doing the P90X Yoga, they have ALL been gone. If I go for more than two weeks without doing Yoga, I begin having them again. So although I hate doing Yoga, I HAVE to do Yoga it seems. Thank you so much for these web links, I will order tomorrow!!! You are so very helpful!

I FULLY understand why Cathe does not do Yoga as it is not her area of expertise, but my thoughts are....had Tony not have done a Yoga tape I would never have puchased one outside the P90X and I never would have known how Yoga could benefit me (my fault as I was ignoring your raving yoga reviews thinking you were all full of woo woo and yingalings...... so sorry - sometimes I'm a slow learner).

Regarding pullups.....my 9 year old has been struggling to do 3-4 pullups and this evening I told him I'd give him $5 if he could do 7 (all the way down and all the way up, feet never touching the ground). He did them. My analysis.....you can do anything with the right motivation. We'll give you Adam on a platter if you can do 7.....I'll be willing to bet you'd find "inner strength" correct??? (oh no, now I'm speaking in woo woo).

Briee
 
Briee - you are SO funny! I can't tell you how many times I've cracked up after reading one of your posts! (Loved your response in the "evil twin" thread.)

I didn't know "woo woo" was a language. And there I was bragging how Bobbi and I were fluent in all of the ancient as well as in several modern languages. Is "woo woo" ancient or modern?

Is your 9-yr-old an ecto?:)
 
I believe it's "outer"...and if you speak in it long enough your mind will quite literally disengage and float away.

I believe all of our kids are ectoish, although Luke (9 year old) may be stockier like dh one day, he was my chubby bunny when he was a baby, but he's currently on the scrawny side.

I haven't checked the evil twin thread lately, maybe I'll bop over there and see what's up. What would Cathe's forum be like without Aquajock? AND we all know the truth }( }( }( .

Briee

For the record, I could read threads from you and Bobbi all day, you guys always have me ROFLOL. It's always an adventure chatting with you guys!!!
 
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