P90X - Day 1: Chest & Back

"I presently struggle with..."

All I can do at this point is laugh at myself. I'm taking a break before I hit up the Ab Ripper X part of this program...lol. Barely able to lift my arm to sip my recovery drink. My diet sucked today because no groceries to grub on - tomorrow all will be right with the pantry again...and I know that is going to be a critical part of succeeding with this.

I thought the hardest part of this would be the chinups...and they were - so hard that I am using the 20lb. resistance band (magenta) which allows me to get in a decent set of reps. The red band is waiting for me...but I think it will take another 2-3 weeks before I can move to that 30# resistance. So I feel good about those THREE exercises...lol.

Push-ups. Just let me say that I totally underestimated how friggin hard pushups were going to be. I never in a million years thought I would be reduced to modifying pushups on my knees.

Even modified on my knees my form was poor to fair - something I will really work on next time around. I had a hard time getting to the floor and concentrating on keeping my back straight. I've never done pushups on my knees before so that was messing with me a bit because it doesn't feel natural.

Plus, I see where its going to be absolutely necessary for me to go get a plushy workout mat if I am on my knees doing this...and I am also wondering if push-up stands would be easier.

Anyway...

• Standard was ok
• Military much harder
• Wide flys ok
• Declines - ummm, I hate to say impossible, but yeah...I couldn't do my four well
• Diamonds were ok
• Dive bombers...lol...WTF! I really couldn't do those modified on my knees with my grandma holding my butt up.

"There is no can't..."

"In this moment, I presently struggle with..."

I did do my two sets of each...right up to the muscle failure and burn...so that felt good because I have to be honest, when I was warming up at the fourth exercise (jumping jacks?) I was starting to think I might have gotten myself into something that I was going to regret. There was a lot of internal dialogue going on about how weak I felt, how did I let this happen to myself, etc...

I was able to shut that off and it helps that Tony talks about not letting your Ego get in the way and just doing as much as you can with good form. This is aligned with the same philosophy that Bryan Kest has in Power Yoga...so everything kinda clicks here. Every time my Ego crept in and that voice starting whispering in my ear...I just visually flipped the switch to shut it off...and pushed thru another rep or two.

Here are my heart rate stats:


RHR to start = 70 bpm
Warmup = Zone 2 - 115 bpm
Activity Range = Zone 3 - 135 bpm


I've entered my routine stats in the tracker and just need to go finish up with Ab Ripper X. Back in 20...