P90X Week 5...err 4? Wait...

So I missed the real Week Four of my P90X, but I'm doing it before moving on to Phase Two...so am I on Week Four (the P90X part) or Week Five (how long since I started the workout)????

Who knows!

This I do know, the recovery week is over and it's on to Phase Two. It was a good week...except...well, I didn't stick to the schedule exactly. I still had a little trouble getting back into the established routine. As a result I missed one day, and so I just took out the mid-week X Stretch routine. And then to add with my confusion, I looked at the calendar wrong! As a result I did the wrong workout one day, and so I ended up just switching things up a bit instead.

Here's what I was supposed to do:
1. Yoga X
2. Core Synergistics
3. Kenpo X
4. X Stretch
5. Cardio X
6. Yoga X
7. Rest or X Stretch

As I mentioned I missed one day, so I removed the mid-week X Stretch. I did Yoga X and Core and for some reason thought that Cardio X was next so I did that one. Then I looked at the calendar and realized that I was supposed to do Kenpo.

So to make it easy I could have just done Kenpo the next day right? Well I like to make things hard so did Plyometrics actually. Or I didn't...or...yeah. At the beginning of Plyo the instructor (his name is Tony...has a sort of Michael Scott from NBC's The Office personality which helps the workouts move along actually) talked about how Plyo was the "X" of P90X - meaning it was the crowning workout, it was the toughest, it was the most hardcore etc. I didn't think anything of that - he sort of says that in every workout though he stressed it a great deal more in this one. Plus the Cardio X routine has some Plyo exercises in it and while they aren't easy they aren't anything terribly hard either.

I pushed play and went to work on Plyo. The warm up was about 10 minutes - much longer than most workout's warm up. I was feeling ready to go when the real workout actually started. The first few were some of the same exercises that are in the Cardio X routine. No big deal I thought, I've done these a bunch now. Five minutes goes by and I'm feeling it in my legs. No big deal I figure - that's pretty standard in any new workout...I feel it in the area we're working pretty quick. Five minutes more though and I could barely stand!

I only did the first 20 minutes of the Plyo disc before I had to stop...and 10 minutes of that was warm up! I cannot believe how extremely tough that workout was within that first 20 minutes and I still had 40 minutes to go. I will have to try it again toward the end of the 90 days, but I think I believe Tony when he says it's the crowning workout of P90X. I've only experienced that kind of fatigue a few times that I can remember...the most recent being around mile 60-65 of the Sage Riders National this year. It was like all my strength just left me.

So the week got a little messed up and I ended up missing one day entirely, and only making 20 minutes another day. The Sixth Day I did Kenpo X which I was supposed to have done the day I did Cardio X. It's one of my favorites, and it's hard in its own right and after Plyo it seemed like a good workout to get me moving forward again.

This put me to Day Seven in the week with a choice of Yoga X or X Stretch. I'll be honest, I'm not a very big fan of the Yoga routine. For starters it's an hour and a half, and secondly, it's mind numbingly repetitive. I understand that that is a lot of what Yoga is about, but it's a hard workout to put up with when all the rest are changing it up often and are exciting. However the benefits of the Yoga routine are felt while doing it (if you don't feel them then you're doing it wrong...seriously), so I decided to do Yoga, and then just before bed the last day, X Stretch because that feels so nice at the end of a week. However time got away from me that day I ended up doing neither. So my recovery period was two weeks instead of one and not very much working out either...but what it didn't do for my body it did for my resolve. I'm heading into Phase Two with renewed commitment and dedication.

Things are moving along! Phase Two confusingly (as I have already mentioned) doesn't change a whole lot from Phase One, but I'm excited for the new workout - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. Two areas that I think need the most work.

More pictures after Phase Two is complete. Stay tuned!