So, what was good about today’s Plyo? Well, I pressed play, and I made it to the end, still moving.

What was bad about today’s Plyo? Everything else, pretty much.

I’ve had a bit of a sniffle and sore throat all day, not sure if I’m coming down with something. More likely I’m just unfit or having an off day. For whatever reason, today was a killer. I started strong, but then my heartrate kept zooming up, and I couldn’t cool down enough. When I paused, my heartrate dropped back down quickly, but then when I started moving – zoom! Back up.

So it was a very stop-and-start practice after about midway. I was seriously tempted to turn it off at 30 mins and just decide I was too ill. I was really, really tempted again at 40 mins when it was getting no better. But I am proud of myself for sticking with it to the end and doing as much as I could. I think that’s all I can really be proud of today.

So: tomorrow is Shoulders and Arms – I like that one. And Ab Ripper (fingers crossed). During the day tomorrow, I’m going to the Olympics with my son to see BMX. So worst case, if I end up carrying him for hours and being too tired to exercise in the evening, at least it’ll still have been an arm workout day.

Right, off to bed now, to collapse in a small sniffly heap and have (hopefully) nice dreams.

Quick recap: I started P90X last week, misjudged, got it wrong, and I’m starting again from the beginning this week. Today, Monday, is day 1. So how did it go?

For starters, this evening I really had to push myself to do the workout – it felt depressing being right back at the beginning again. In my head, I was trying to remind myself to “just press play” and do it without thinking about it. If I thought too much I’d have given up and gone to bed.

It was another late start – stuff to do earlier in the evening, so I started about 10:30, and only just finished now (00:30 ish), having done Chest & Back and the Ab Ripper.

BIG change from last week. Over the weekend, I’d had to carry my son on a train, holding him up in my arms for about 40  mins. He’s roughly 45lb. Now, after that train ride (and during that train ride) my arms were KILLING – way more than I’d put myself through doing P90X. But then, I was holding a (wriggly) weight solidly for 40 mins, which is also more than I’d do in P90X. So… to cut a long story short, I started with a much higher weight of resistance bands than last week.

Much, much better workout. And by “better”, I mean “OW! OW! OW!”, but in a good way. I think I’m going to feel this tomorrow. A lot.

For the bicep ones, I started with 30lb for the first round, but even that was quite easy, so I went to 43lb (30+13), and that was about right. For the back flys, I  have to use much less weight. And for the push-ups I’m on 1/4 pushups (from the waist not even knees). But putting my full upper body weight and doing reps ’til I drop. Whatever gets me there, that’s what I’ll do.

So, once I’d crawled to the end of the Chest & Back workout – Ab Ripper. For whatever reason, that was a lot better today than last week. Whether it’s just a good day, or more practice, or I’ve built some abs since last week – not sure. But it felt like a decent workout. Towards the end, I suddenly ran out of juice – just lost all energy – so I didn’t do the Mason Twist. But up until then, I was getting good work done.

So – reluctant start, but a really good workout in the end. Now for sleep!

Okay, I got derailed. Combination of too much caffeine, not enough sleep, and not enough calories, and I just crashed two nights in a row – missed days 4 and 5. And then yesterday I was at the Olympics football. I’m not going to call it a no-exercise day, as my biceps got more of a workout than I’d EVER do at home carrying my pre-schooler on the train – but I wasn’t in any state to do P90X when I got home.

Also, having lost NO weight for several days, I gave in and ate more at the weekend – and lost weight. Which tells me I’d probably dropped the calories too low, and run out of energy.

From here, I’m counting this as “lessons learned” and starting again. I’ve had my trial run for most of the workouts, and figured out roughly what weights I should be using, I’ve made a few mistakes and learned how to do it better. So I’ll try again. Maybe this time it’ll work, maybe I’ll figure out a few more mistakes. Doesn’t matter – I’ll keep trying until I get it right.

I’m not going to lie and say I’m as happy as I would be if I’d completed week one, but I’m still feeling motivated and still want to do this. And still think it’s achievable.

So – reset. Day 1 tomorrow! (Again).

Darn it. Missed a day.

Last night should have been Yoga, but I’ve been doing a few late nights recently and fell asleep before I’d done it. It’s a shame, but I’m not beating myself up about it too much, because I know I really needed the sleep.

Next steps: make sure I watch the yoga DVD at least, so I’ve done some of the learning/prep for next week.

And tonight: legs and back.

Correction: actually this workout is called shoulders and arms. Sorry!

Another strength training day today, after yesterday’s cardio break. The focus for day 3 (and 10, 17) is arms and back followed by Ab Ripper.

Arms and Back

So how did it go? Very much like day one – I spent a lot of my time trying to get the form right and find the right weights, and it took forever. There are some great exercises here. It’s also well structured in groups of three exercises rotating between shoulder, biceps, and triceps so you don’t work the same muscles twice in a row. I was being quite cautious to pace myself so I didn’t burn out halfway through but actually the rotation means you can push yourself pretty hard. Next week I’ll up the weights quite a bit for a lot of the exercises.

I think at this rate, I might treat this as a “learning week” and do an extra week in phase one to compensate.

Ab Ripper

So: arms and back work out good. How about the ab ripper workout? Well, still not a fan. I just don’t get a decent amount of work done. Even if I just pause the disk and take it at my own pace, there are a few exercises I just can’t do right now – because of balance mainly – and there’s no way to mod them so I still get a decent workout done.

This workout really doesn’t match the quality of the others in terms of ability to adapt it to your level.

I guess what I’m saying is that it’s too hard – but I’m not failing because my abs get tired, I’m failing because my legs get tired or I can’t keep the balance. And that’s really frustrating.

I think I’m going to keep trying it on the abs days, but do my regular abs workout afterwards so that at least I know I’m getting a proper routine done. If its not getting any better at the end of phase one, I’ll chuck it and just do my own abs routine instead.

So – next up is the yoga – really excited about that! Although the one I’m really looking forward to is the Kenpo on Saturday since I haven’t done anything like that before.

Ache Update

I said I’d do an update today to see how achy I was after Plyometrics. I’m pleased to say Not Very. I’m quite surprised, to be honest. I’m a bit stiff, but no muscles are actually painful. I’m attributing it to the recovery drink, which seems to have semi-magical properties for preventing next-day aches.

Recovery Drink

And while we’re on the topic of the recovery drink, I’m not drinking the Team Beachbody one. Nothing to do with cost, but I can’t eat/drink dairy or gluten as they make me ill. The “official” recovery drink has whey, so it’s ruled out for me.

But on their blog, Team Beachbody suggest a vegan alternative of soya protein powder in 340ml of apple juice. I couldn’t find gluten-free soya protein so I’m using hemp protein instead. With it, I take a couple of multivits, calcium tablets (as my diet is low in calcium, anyone else probably doesn’t need that), some omega-3 and a glucosamine supplement. Apparently the official one contains creatine too, but I was worried I’d start to rattle if I added any more tablets.

It seems to be working well so far. I tried it on my regular strength workout before I started P90X, and it got rid of my usual aches completely. With P90X so far I’ve only noticed slight stiffness and no pain.

A nutritionist friend forwarded me an article which seems to support taking protein within an hour of exercise for muscle growth, so I’d assume muscle repair would be related.

So, tentatively, I’m going to come down in favour of a recovery drink after workouts. Although I can’t say anything on how effective the Team Beachbody is compared to alternatives.

I would warn you though, hemp protein tastes HORRIBLE! I’m definitely stikl looking for a decent alternative.