P90X Update

Hello again,

Had a little bit of a blog break there, as have been ridiculously busy. P90X has not fallen by the wayside, but I’m definitely no longer on the day I’m supposed to be on, as I’ve had to abandon several days worth of workouts due to random and fun things, such as theatre trips, drinks with friends and roller derby practice.

So, let’s say I’m now on Day 17, even though it’s been more days than that since I started, and last week I definitely did not Bring It. Sorry Tony.

This week, however, I’m totally bringing it. Day 15 was the shoulders and arms workout, aka the horrid one with all the push ups and pull ups. Felt like I really pushed it though and am doing 2 extra reps on each round, hurrah. Arms felt somewhat like jelly afterwards though, and made cutting out silver with miniscule sawblades a bit tricky.

Day 16 was plyometrics, which I also pushed harder this week. This one is still completely exhausting, but all the leaping about and occasionally pretending to be a frog is fun.

Then, Day 17 was shoulders and arms. I have finally acquired some heavier weights, but rather over-ambitiously attempted to go from 3kg weights to 7kg. This, as it turns out, was quite foolish, as I couldn’t even lift them above my head. Pathetic. So, I switched down to 5kg, which was much better. I can do 8-10 reps with these, and my arms hurt rather a lot afterwards. But not in a bad, oooh, I’ve done some damage, kind of way.

So yes, still going, still detest the Ab Ripper workout, still hoping to one day be able to do a proper pull up. And it’s yoga tonight, which is my favourite, hurrah!

Some Jewellery!

What with all this waffling on about push ups and power yoga, you could be forgiven for thinking that I have abandoned shiny things. This is not so, and I shall give you a picture of work in progress to prove it.

P90X - Days 9 and 10

Since beginning P90X, I have gained 2lb. I am sure this is not the purpose of the program, but I have merrily ignored the large book of nutritional plans that came with it. Firstly, because I don't actually want to lose any weight and secondly because the recipes involve strange American things that I'm pretty sure are not stocked in Sainsburys, and weighing bits of food. I'm not a weighing bits of food kind of girl. Life is very much too short for that sort of thing.

I have, however, conceded that I should probably eat more protein and less cake. I have so far purchased a bag of nuts and a tub of protein powder from Holland & Barrett, which has remained unopened and glaring balefully at me from the corner of the kitchen. It has strange things listed in the ingredients and I'm a bit scared of it. I'm working my way up to trying it, really I am...

Day 9

Well, I can say with absolute conviction that doing plyometrics whilst wearing my new and exciting bouncy running shoes is much less painful. Plyo day is still exhausing, yet fun, but my feet and ankles are much less grouchy about the whole experience.

Day 10

Woohoo, I can still walk! The last time I did plyo, my calf muscles were agony for days. Today, they ache slightly, but that's it. Note to self - when the instructions say wear suitable footwear for high impact - pay attention.

It's the arm workout today. I still haven't gotten any heavier weights. Drat.

Tomorrow is Yoga X, which is still so far my favourite.

P90X - Days 7 and 8

Alrighty then, back to the ongoing struggle that is currently my life. Did that sound a bit drama-queeny? I'm having a bit of a horrid week, you see, so must be forgiven for being a bit emo.

Anyway, I've messed up all the days a bit on P90X, as I had a rest day when I shouldn't have, owing to being unable to actually move, so I think technically day 7 should have been the rest day, but whatever.

Day 7

Today is Kenpo X, which I've been quite looking forward to, as it sounds like fun. It's a martial arts/kickboxy kind of cardio workout. Involving absolutely no use of a pull up bar, yay!

It starts off fairly slowly, with some footwork and basic punching, which is all good. However, as soon as it gets a bit more complicated I am instantly transported back in time to the teenage nightmare that was our step aerobics P.E. class. Doing the foot bit is fine, but as soon as I attempt to put in the different punching sequences I lose control of my feet, and vice versa. Tony is enthusiastically yelling "jab, uppercut, punch", as I flail my arms around ineffectually and try not to fall over. The boy plugs himself into Civilisation and puts his headphones on, as apparently it's too painful to watch.

I'm a bit better at the kicking sequences, as they seem to require less co-ordination from me and by the end of the DVD I am slowly getting the hang of it. Although there is still a large amount of arm flailing. I do work up a sweat, however, so the cardio bit of it has done it's job. I may watch the punching sequences in slow motion, in the hope that something clicks in my fluffy little brain.

Day 8

And.... we're back to the beginning. With the pull up bar and all the push ups. Joy. I manage to do two extra push ups on each round though, which was exciting. Also, I swapped my pull up assisting chair for a high stool, as on the DVD they put their foot on the back of the chair rather than the seat. If I use the back of my chairs though, they fall over and I collapse in a crumpled heap on the floor. Using the higher stool made the pull ups more difficult and I could do less reps for each exercise, but felt like I was in a better position and getting more out of them.

This workout completely battered my arms and shoulders for two days the first time I did it, so intrigued as to whether it will be less painful this time around...

Graham & Green Pineapple Lamp

So, this getting fit and healthy thing is all very well, but it is sadly lacking in pretty pictures. Therefore, I shall introduce you to the latest object of my affections - the pineapple lamp from Graham and Green. Tada!

It is rather lovely, in an agreeably ridiculous way, no?

Sadly, it's also £95. And it turns out that's just for the base - the gorgeous butterfly shade that goes so perfectly with the bonkers silver pineapple costs extra. Booooo. I am still considering purchasing it though, but shhhhhh, don't tell the boy...

P90X - Days Four, Five and Six

Having failed entirely at Day 3, am now a day behind. Ooops. Not a terribly good start really...

Anyway, on with the review!

Day 4

Day 4 is entitled Shoulders and Arms, leading me to dread the reappearance of the evil pull up bar. But no! This workout only uses dumbbells and a chair, hurrah! I mainly find this one pretty easy. Which obvs means my 3kg dumbbells are way too light and am therefore cheating. Tony says you should be about to do between 8 and 15 reps, and the last two should be really hard, but I can get up to 20 reps on most of the exercises with no problems. Must get heavier ones...

Sadly, another round of Ab-Ripper X follows this. Boooooo. I still can't balance on my bum without falling over.

Day 5

Today, my calf muscles STILL hurt from the plyometrics. which was days ago now. Suspect doing it barefoot rather than wearing some kind of impact absorbing footwear was not a good idea. Unexpectedly, my arms also ache a bit from yesterday's workout, so I guess even my little dumbbells had some effect.

So, today is Yoga X, which I'm super-excited about. I really like yoga. And, the boy has agreed to do this DVD with me. Have bought him a yoga mat and everything, as I'm nice like that.

Yoga X is 90 minutes long, with the first 45 minutes being very intensive and exhausting and the second 45 minutes all about balance and calm. Am gratified to discover that my body seems to remember some of the 8 months of power yoga classes I took about 6 years ago. I'm very much liking Yoga X.

Sadly, the boy likes Yoga X a lot less than me. He had neglected to mention beforehand that not only has he never done yoga in his life, he's never even done stretching exercises pre and post workout, and this DVD is most definitely not Yoga 101. Anyway, about 20 minutes in the boy gives up and wanders off, muttering disparaging things about Tony. He then proceeds to sulkily clatter pots and pans around the kitchen during the peaceful/calming bit of the workout.

So far, Yoga X is absolutely my favourite of the P90X workouts. My calf muscles feel much, much better and I can do stairs again, yay!

Day 6

It's Legs and Back today. This involves the pull up bar. Arse. Have learned that I could not do a pull up without putting one foot on a chair if my life actually depended on it.

This one involves lots of lunges, squats and pull ups. There is a particularly horrid thing called a wall squat, which hurts rather a lot.

Not really much else to say about this one. It's pretty tiring, but I neither love it nor hate it particularly. It is, however, followed by another round of the Ab Ripper X, which I do hate. I can't do a full sit up and I still keep toppling over. I may spent a few minutes at the end of each workout simply trying to balance on my bum with my arms and legs out.

So, that's all for now. All of my muscles are aching, but in a good way rather than the pain of the first couple of days, and I'm feeling generally more energised.

The P90X Workout

In a moment of madness, I have decided to take part in a potentially suicidal fitness program, called P90X.

It comprises 12 different DVDs, each with a different workout on, and it’s supposed to make you super-fit in 90 days.

The blurb from the website:

"The secret behind the P90X system is an advanced training technique called Muscle Confusion™, which accelerates the results process by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus, and you never get bored!"

So, found the program on Ebay, acquired myself a pull up bar and yoga mat, and rescued my ancient set of dumbbells (purchased many years ago when I last decided I was going to get fit) from the attic of my old house.

I should point out at this stage that, whilst I am not a total couch potato, I am definitely in no way fit. I’m only little, but I’ve been reading a lot lately about how being skinny does not necessarily mean you are healthy.

I spend my day at work sitting at a desk. In fact we are actively discouraged from leaving our desks unless absolutely necessary. Then I go home and sit at my workbench. I do cycle to and from work most days, but I really don’t put a lot of effort into it to be honest. So, in conclusion, P90X may not be designed for the likes of me, given that it does seem to assume a fairly good level of fitness before you start.

Anyway, I thought I’d blog my experience with it, as (a) it will probably shame me into keeping going and (b) it may be interesting to see if a small, mainly vegetarian girl can get herself some guns!

Day 1

Day 1 is called Chest and Back. Followed by something called Ab Ripper X.

Chest and back is basically 50-odd minutes of different types of push ups, pull ups and dumbbell lifting. My dumbbells are 3 kilos each, which, I discover, is much too light for the purposes of this DVD, but I’m sticking with them for now and just doing extra reps.

The guy who will, to all intents and purposes, be your personal trainer throughout these DVDs, Tony, is actually not too irritating. He has very large muscles and is terribly enthusiastic about everything.

I discover that I am incapable of doing a single pull up, but that's okay, because Tony says I'm allowed to put one foot on a chair until I'm strong enough to do them properly, hurrah!

During the workouts, Tony suggests you write down the amount of reps you do on each thingy, so you can aim to do a little more next time. This is fine at the beginning of the 50-odd minutes and my notes are rather neat, but by the end of the DVD I can no longer move my arms properly and it therefore turns into illegible scrawl.

This is hard.

The Ab Ripper X (grrrrrrrrrr) is my idea of hell. There is a lot of balancing on your butt cheeks with your legs and arms raised. This generally makes me fall over. A lot. I am completely hopeless at this DVD. The boy made encouraging noises about it just needing practice, but I have absolutely no sense of balance and am therefore unsure about this.

Day 2

I wake up. My arms hurt. A lot. And my ribs feel like someone has punched me very hard. But today is plyometrics, yay! This is something I’ve been meaning to have a go at for ages, as it’s apparently really helpful for roller derby. It involves a lot of jumping designed to produce fast, powerful movements.

This is another 50-odd minute DVD. And it’s brilliant fun! I jump, I leap, I pretend to be a frog and I love it. I rather suspect the people who live in the flat under me love it a lot less. You are supposed to land super-quietly on the balls of your feet, but I own no trainers and am prone to generally being a bit stompy. Especially for one so small.

Anyway, the DVD finishes and I am unable to feel my legs. Sadly, the numbness does not continue and my legs start to gradually ache more and more.

Day 3

Ouch.

Walking is difficult. And painful. I like plyometrics a lot less today. Especially when I have to walk down stairs. Stairs really really hurt.

I am supposed to skating at rec league this evening, so I cycle to work with all of my skate gear. It is somewhat of a struggle.

I lurch down the corridors of my office like a small, grumpy zombie and am for once grateful of my firm’s policy of keeping us chained to our desks.

I’m afraid that Day 3 is going to be a big, fat fail. I have developed a vile headache half way through the day and think the likelihood of me cycling to Bermondsey, playing roller derby for two hours, then cycling all the way home again is exactly nil.

Sorry Tony, but today I am definitely not ‘bringing it’.