Power90 - Week 6

This is the last week of Power90 for us. We're starting P90X on Saturday! As I mentioned yesterday, the box was waiting for me on my doorstep when I got home from work on Tuesday. I read through the manuals last night and I can't wait to get started! We're waiting for Saturday so that our off-days will be on Fridays. That seems to be the day that I come down with a major case of the "fuck-its," especially when things are super busy at work, like they have been lately. That way I can sit on the couch and watch TV or read a book and unwind without feeling guilty or having the workout hanging over my head.

So anyway, after completing 42 days of Power90 I'm a total Tony Horton convert. I looked in the mirror the other day and noticed that I have real arm muscles! I **might** have struck a few yoga poses to check myself out, because I'm kind of a tool like that. The only downside to the Power90 program is that it's repetitive. There are only two tapes and I'm SO tired of the cardio workout. That's what I'm looking forward to the most about P90X - there are 12 tapes and you rotate through. I think that will help prevent things from getting stale.

I'm most nervous about following the diet plan, or our modified version of the diet plan. I want to make sure that we aren't making a change that's too big for us, since baking and cooking are favorite hobbies of ours. We were going to take it in incremental steps but after reading the books C is all gung-ho about following the plan exactly. I'm most likely not going to follow that path with him.

I'm very much looking forward to watching C try to do the yoga poses! I have a feeling the Yoga X tape will provide me with some much needed comic-relief :)

It's Here!

Let the ass-kicking commence!

Tonight is our off-night from Power90, so I'm planning to read all of the documentation that came with the program. There are two large volumes. I'm geeky and love reading instruction manuals, so I'm rather excited to crack those books open!

Power90 - Week 5

I made the mistake of getting on the scale this morning, and I haven't lost anything. I know that doesn't mean much, because I don't have a lot of pounds to lose before it gets unsustainable. I also know that I'm making progress in other areas, as evidenced by the fact that I can do a ton more reps with heavier weights and that I no longer feel like I'm going to die by the end of the cardio workout. My upper body is definitely more toned than it was before. So the rational part of me is reminding myself that I need to be looking for progress in other areas that aren't as easily measured as stepping on the scale, but the quantifier in me wants to MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE!

C is still doing very well with it - his pants are noticeably looser around the middle and he's really happy with his results so far.

We ordered P90X last night so as long as it gets here next week we're going to start it on Saturday, February 27th. I'm going to start tracking my food intake because I'm pretty positive that I'm not eating nearly enough protein. I need to be better about that.

Power90 - Week 4

I can't believe it's only been 4 weeks. It feels like forever. I can recite almost every line from both videos now, including Tony's attempts at snarky comments. We missed one day last week because I was sick and I felt really guilty about it. I can tell that I'm still making progress because I've been able to bump up the weights on pretty much all of the exercises. Bicep curls with 8 pound dumbbells sounds weak, but when you consider that I've never been able to use much more than 4 it's a sign of obvious progress.

I still want to shake my fist and curse at him (actually, I do shake my fist and curse at him) when he reminds us that it's time to max out on our push-ups. I try until I can't even bend my arms anymore and then I try some more. Still mostly girly push-ups though, but that's ok for now. The workout buddy system is a big help. We're able to motivate and push each other and correct each other's form. We're still planning to start P90X on March 1 and I'm really looking forward to the change. Definitely not ready yet, though!

Power90 - Week 3

We're up to level 3-4 on both sculpting and cardio now. I thought I was going to die by the end of the new cardio routine when we put it in on Sunday - it's amazing how much extra pain a measly 4 minutes and 30 seconds can cause. I have pain in arm muscled that I never knew even existed!

My progress for this week included a few successful inverted push-ups. Go me!



I'm sticking to my original plan of not worrying about losing weight. Charlie, on the other hand, was very proud to tell me that he's lost four pounds so far. My own personal concern is that I can get to the point where my butt stops jumping when the rest of me does.

The only real issue I'm having with the program is that the "X-work" bothers my knee. It's a lot of jumping around. I know I'm going to get it a lot worse with the plyometrics that go with the P90X.

If you're interested in the Power90 and P90X programs, or any kind of fitness at all, check out the blog of my friend/co-worker/trainer at Coach Lynn Fitness. She is one seriously in-shape lady.

Power90 - Week 2

We've officially entered Week 2 of the Power90. It feels like a lot longer than that since we started doing Tony's other videos a few weeks earlier, but for the sake of the program we'll leave it at that.

Week 2. After running through the Level 1-2 Sculpting session we decided that we were good with bumping things up to Level 3-4 now, rather than waiting for the halfway point in the program. Holy hell, I don't think my triceps and chest muscles will ever forgive me. The first part of all four circuits is push-ups. 8-20 reps using various arm positions. I'm not even close to being able to complete them all, even in the modified position. Yes, that's right. As I said before, I'm a sissy and I do weakling push-ups with my legs bent. That brings me to my first note of progress, though - last night I actually did SIX push-ups with my legs straight out! SIX REAL PUSH-UPS! That's double the number I was able to do last week! I'm thoroughly impressed with myself, and it's certainly nice to have some kind of measurable progress going.

I'm not going to hop on the scale or whip out the measuring tape until we've been at it for a full month. I don't think that minuscule losses really matter all that much to me, so we'll just see where we net out. Even if I don't end up losing much in inches, as long as I can tell that my strength is increasing then I'm good with that. The goal here is health, not scary olsen-twins thinness.

Out with Jillian...

In with Tony Horton and the Power90.



I finally got to the point where I couldn't stand to listen to or look at Jillian anymore. My co-worker Lynn did the P90X a while back and loved it. She's actually just starting up as a coach for the program. I always teased her about it, but in the back of my mind I thought it might be something to try after my lactating days were over.

So here we are! C and I are doing it together, which can only help us to stay on track. I need that late-evening motivation when all I want to do it sit on the couch and watch TV. We decided to start with the Power90 rather than going straight for the P90X - figured if we jumped into something that was outside of our ability range then we'd be less likely to stick with it.

2 weeks ago we started circuiting through Tony's Power Half Hour series, and then last night we began the Power90 in earnest. I don't know that we'll go the full 90 days, we might jump over to P90X sooner than that. So far the sculpting on the first set of disks is way too easy. We're going to swap that part out for the Power Half Hour disks.

I'm not looking for (or expecting) any huge bodily transformation. I'm relatively happy with my shape and size, but certain parts could stand to be a little firmer. I've also resigned myself to the fact that my stomach will never be exactly as it was pre-baby no matter how many crunches I do.

Oh! And my first AW! Last night I successfully did THREE real push-ups! I've forever been a knees-bent push-up kind of girl, and I'm very proud of myself!