It’s good to be back! These past two weeks I did not participate in one P90X workout. I did lift weights 3 days a week and I also went for a four mile run 3- 4 times each week. Two weeks might have been too long but I can tell you that I was eager to start this morning so I am not so sure I would have felt that way if I only took one week off.

Chest, Shoulders, Triceps – Wow, wearing a 40lb weighted exercise vest throughout this workout pretty much humbled me. I got crushed from today’s workout…and loved it! To be honest, I did a couple of sets of push-ups once my weighted vest arrived a few weeks ago and I initially thought “is this going to work, did I waste my money?” It’s somewhat uncomfortable to wear as it sticks out about 2-3 inches from my chest. I also think it’s mandatory to use deep push-up stands during the chest workouts. If I was not using Tony’s powerstands, I would not have been able to do a full push-up as my chest would have touched the floor after a couple of inches. The combination of the weighted vest and the power stands makes this workout a killer…my muscles were still shaking a couple of hours after this workout and it’s not like this is my first day either.

ARX (ab ripper x) – It’s been about three weeks since my last ARX session (rest week and two weeks off). I basically picked up where I left off…completing about 95% of it. I actually enjoyed doing ARX because I was able to take off that 40lb not-so-comfy vest I was wearing for the previous hour so I guess you could call that another perk of wearing it…the primary perk being “build more muscle”.

Nutrition – These past two weeks I ate well during the work week but I did not do so good on the weekends. I went out to lunch a couple of times as well as dinner and I pretty much ate what I wanted. I knew I was going to buckle down again on my nutrition this week so I think that played a role with not eating the best.

It’s too early to determine if the weighted vest will work out as well as it did today on the other workouts but I have to say I am quite pleased with it so far. Even though the vest is a bit uncomfortable to wear, I am hoping the pros (build more muscle) will outweigh the cons…

For more information on P90X MASS, click here

Yes, that’s  a sweatshirt…I found that wearing something thick makes the vest a bit more comfortable.