Legs & Back– I felt really good today, I used the heavier dumbbells that I recently purchased on some of the leg exercises. I also stepped it up a bit and left the ground for all 60 reps of the “Debbie Siebers 80-20” exercise. I would also say today was my best pull-up day since starting. I was banging out 7-9 pull-ups each exercise which is an upgrade from doing 2-3 in phase 1 and 4-7 in phase 2. I will soon find out what my max is but I am thinking it’s about 15-18 pull-ups now.

Seeing that today was my last ARX session, it’s official…I could not 100% complete Ab Ripper X this round of P90X. I did go from only doing 25-30% of it in phase 1 to about 95% in phase 3 so I am happy with that. My goal is to complete it during my next round of P90X which starts March 1^st, 2010!

Yoga-X– I had to go into work a bit earlier this morning so I did not have time to piggyback cardio-x on top of the yoga workout. I am not a fan of working out at night so I brought some extra clothes to work and ran 4 miles at lunch. It is very convenient for me to run during the workday as I get an hour for lunch and my company has a small locker room with a clean shower to use. Not so sure it was the best idea though, today was the first day my legs felt normal since my last 4 mile run. I did not do this last time but I had the P90X Recovery Drink after my jog, I am hoping this will help my legs recover for my “legs & back” workout tomorrow morning. I mentioned this the other day but I have not gone jogging in over 7 months so I am using muscles that I do not normally use which explains why my legs were so sore from my last jog.

Also – If your plan is to follow the P90X Double routine, feel free to replace cardio-x with some sort of cardio related activity. The goal of “doubles” is to burn extra calories so if you prefer bike riding, walking,  basketball, etc…feel free to do that instead.

Back & Biceps – I’m back! Yesterday was a fluke, this morning’s workout was full of intensity. I am about 95% there as far as “ab ripper x” goes. I get stuck at the “pulse up / heels to heaven” exercise. Seeing that I only have one more ARX session to go this round, my guess is that I will not be able to 100% complete it….maybe next round though?? I used my heavier dumbbells for some of the bicep curls so I know my strength is increasing. I am getting stronger but I don’t feel like my biceps are growing…and the bi-weekly measurements confirm that. One thing that should help and I plan on doing during next round is to consume a protein shake (casein protein) before bedtime. Sleep is considered prime time when muscle grows so feeding them with protein throughout the night should enhance the growth process. I am going to give it a shot starting in March and we’ll see how my arms measure the following weeks.

Plyometrics– I hate to even admit this but this morning’s routine was the worst workout I have had since starting. Not only was I lacking intensity, I called it quits after 30 minutes. I am going to call today a “rest day” and perform plyometrics on my normal rest day.

I am not using this as an excuse (maybe a little) but my legs are ridiculously sore from my 4.3 mile jog on Sunday. They were a little sore yesterday but today they are killing me. I would like to totally blame my legs on today’s performance but after the first 5 or so minutes, my legs seemed to be warmed up and were no longer a factor. Either way, I am disappointed that that I could not fight through that mental barrier to finish the workout at a high intensity level. The only thing I can do now is to bring it hard during tomorrow’s workout.

On the bright side, not only are my legs sore but my chest, shoulders, and triceps are too! If you told me on day 1 that I would still be sore on day 79, I am not so sure I would believe you. You would think your muscles by now would get used to these exercises…wrong! This is just another reason why P90X is so effective, this is a prime example of “muscle confusion”. The P90X program makes it difficult for your body to adapt to these workouts which in return prevents your muscles from plateauing.

Chest, Shoulders & Triceps – I guess you can call this my last week of P90X resistance training as next week is a rest week. I am already getting geared up for round 2. Beachbody recommends you taking at least 1 week off before starting another round of P90X so my plan is to take two weeks off. I am still going to workout during those two weeks but I am going to avoid all P90X workouts. I figured a two week break from P90X will make me eager to do another 90 days of it. I will elaborate more on a different day but I just received my 40lb weighted exercise vest that I purchased to wear during my next round of P90X. I will most likely wear it during the chest and leg workouts to add more resistance to some of the exercises. Don’t get me wrong, both the chest and leg workouts are still tough but I am no longer getting my butt kicked by them so I figured wearing a 40lb weighted vest will do the trick. I may also wear it during plyometrics but we’ll see how that goes.

Both the P90X workout and nutrition piece (so far) went great today!