I'm starting P90X on Wednesday...

[Jeff7181]

I've just gotta make some changes to my schedule and try it out. It would be rough getting up at 5 AM to work out before putting in a full days work and getting home between 6 and 7 PM but that seems like the only way I can juggle things without working out right after eating dinner or right before bed.

 

[Jeeebus]

I started p90x up again this morning. Had previously done a few weeks of it about 6 months ago, and am trying it up once more.

Made it about 45 minutes in before shutting it off and nearly having to puke. I really wished I could puke. Felt so awful. Tomorrow should be fun.

 

[Miramonti]

I start week 4 today, but am not really interested backing off this week from the schedule of the first 3 weeks as it suggests. I've improved quite a bit since the beginning and feel really good. It's great to see my legs survive the plyometrics and my cardio catch up to the point where kenpo has me wanting more. Overall, I wish there was more shoulder work and less pullups (16 sets/wk.)

 

[rga]

I've just gotta make some changes to my schedule and try it out. It would be rough getting up at 5 AM to work out before putting in a full days work and getting home between 6 and 7 PM but that seems like the only way I can juggle things without working out right after eating dinner or right before bed.

When I start work at 6:30am, I'm up by 3:30am at the latest to get to the gym. I do this every other day. I don't get to sit down at a desk all day either; I work a pretty physical manufacturing job. If I can do it, you certainly can. Judging by how many times you had/were going to start P90X, though, and by your "help me change my lifestyle thread," I don't think you really want to do it.

 

[Jeeebus]

I've just gotta make some changes to my schedule and try it out. It would be rough getting up at 5 AM to work out before putting in a full days work and getting home between 6 and 7 PM but that seems like the only way I can juggle things without working out right after eating dinner or right before bed.

Somewhat in the same boat, but the earliest I get home is 7pm. Add to that two kids (1 and 3) and two great danes, and it's certainly difficult. First time I stopped p90x it was due to the lack of time. I'm trying it again. Just difficult in the morning (wake up around 5:15) because inevitably, twenty minutes into the workout, someone is out of bed crying.

 

[Jeff7181]

When I start work at 6:30am, I'm up by 3:30am at the latest to get to the gym. I do this every other day. I don't get to sit down at a desk all day either; I work a pretty physical manufacturing job. If I can do it, you certainly can. Judging by how many times you had/were going to start P90X, though, and by your "help me change my lifestyle thread," I don't think you really want to do it.

You're somewhat correct, I think. I dislike feeling the way I do (physically and emotionally), I dislike the way I look. I really dislike having airport security raise an eyebrow at me when they look at me standing in front of them vs. my driver's license photo from when I was at 175 pounds. All that said, I haven't been able to get myself started and stick with it.

 

[drebo]

I'm throwing my hat into the P90X ring starting next Tuesday.

My wife is giving birth to our first child in November and I want to be physically fit enough and have enough energy to enjoy having a wee-one around.

My goal is to drop 30 pounds and gain energy by then. I'm 210lbs now. 12 years ago, when I got my driver's license, I was 150lbs. I put on a Freshman 60 in college and haven't been able to lose it.

I plan on following the diet as closely as possible, and tomorrow I will be cleaning out the fridge and pantry. I'll be giving away/throwing away all condiments and things I should no longer eat. I've got the nutrition guide and will be shopping and cooking for next week on Sunday.

My equipment just came in today: pull-up bar, resistance bands, mat, blocks, pushup bars, and heart-rate monitor.

I'm a little nervous, because I've never made a committment to get fit like this before.

My daily schedule, I think, is going to be something like this:

Wake up at 5:30am and eat breakfast (they're typically light and protein rich).
Workout from 6:15 to 7
Shower and go to work by 7:30

My fear about working out at night is that I typically don't get home until 6pm, and after cooking and eating, it's 7pm. If I work out and then have a snack afterward, it will be difficult to wait the requisite 3 hours before I go to bed. My other fear, though, is that I'll over-exert myself a puke my breakfast up.

I guess I'll just have to try it and see how it goes.

I'll update the thread periodically with my experiences.

 

[Miramonti]

I'm throwing my hat into the P90X ring starting next Tuesday.

My wife is giving birth to our first child in November and I want to be physically fit enough and have enough energy to enjoy having a wee-one around.

My goal is to drop 30 pounds and gain energy by then. I'm 210lbs now. 12 years ago, when I got my driver's license, I was 150lbs. I put on a Freshman 60 in college and haven't been able to lose it.

I plan on following the diet as closely as possible, and tomorrow I will be cleaning out the fridge and pantry. I'll be giving away/throwing away all condiments and things I should no longer eat. I've got the nutrition guide and will be shopping and cooking for next week on Sunday.

My equipment just came in today: pull-up bar, resistance bands, mat, blocks, pushup bars, and heart-rate monitor.

I'm a little nervous, because I've never made a committment to get fit like this before.

My daily schedule, I think, is going to be something like this:

Wake up at 5:30am and eat breakfast (they're typically light and protein rich).
Workout from 6:15 to 7
Shower and go to work by 7:30

My fear about working out at night is that I typically don't get home until 6pm, and after cooking and eating, it's 7pm. If I work out and then have a snack afterward, it will be difficult to wait the requisite 3 hours before I go to bed. My other fear, though, is that I'll over-exert myself a puke my breakfast up.

I guess I'll just have to try it and see how it goes.

I'll update the thread periodically with my experiences.

Let me update the first couple weeks for you in advance...

PAIN

And that's just the warmups. 😛 Myself I am starting my 5th week on Monday. I felt much better pain and endurance-wise the 2nd week to be honest, but I was only 9 months outside of playing a lot of basketball and not considered overweight.

That said, the program is worth it's time in gold imo, particularly for 1st-timers and people who aren't already hardcore exercisers. I've found that working out on my own, I take a lot of shortcuts that this program doesn't facilitate. Yet when told to, I'm more than happy to do things right.

Btw, workouts are 1 hour plus 17 minutes for abs on the days you do them (calls for 3 days a week), except yoga on thursday, which is 90 minutes. It's beneficial but I do not like spending 90 minutes on this, making it my hardest day (psychologically.)

 

[drebo]

I have no delusion about it being easy! I just want to get in shape before the baby comes.

I looked at another forum and people said it's OK to not eat before the workouts in the morning, so if I start at 5:30 and go til 7am, that'll be fine. As it is, a lot of times, I don't even get up until 7am right now. Hopefully as the program goes on, it'll be easier and easier to wake up at 5:30.

Also, I'm the same way with exercising on my own. I just don't do it well. If I have someone tell me what I'm supposed to do and a plan laid out, I should have no problem, though.

 

[Miramonti]

That's great. I couldn't get up that early every day, but I think you're right, it will get easier if your diet is good and you get enough sleep. After I long day like that, it should be pretty easy to get to sleep, lol. (and do get your sleep before the baby comes...😉 Sounds like an exciting time. :thumbsup:

 

[drebo]

Did my nutrition plan for this week!

Monday:
n/a

Tuesday:
Mushroom Omlet, Cherries, Yogurt
Protein Bar
Chicken Salad Wrap
1/2 Cup Pistachios
8oz chicken breast w/ sauce, mushrooms, snap peas

Wednesday:
Olive omlet, strawberry shake
Protein Bar
Tuna Salad Wrap
string cheese
Lemon-garlic chicken, red pepper soup, 1c wild rice

Thursday:
Mushroom Omlet, Cherries, Yogurt
Protein Bar
Chicken Salad Wrap
1/2 Cup Pistachios
8oz chicken breast w/ sauce, mushrooms, snap peas

Friday:
strawberry shake
Protein Bar
Tuna Salad Wrap
string cheese
Lemon-garlic chicken, red pepper soup, 1c wild rice

Saturday:
soy sausage muffin, Turkey bacon (3), juice (6oz)
Protein Bar
Chicken Salad Wrap
1/2 Cup Pistachios
8oz Salmon w/ sauce, 1c wild rice, red pepper soup, snap peas

Sunday:
Chicken Scramble, Turkey bacon (3), juice (6oz)
Protein Bar
Tuna Salad Wrap
string cheese
beef broccoli stir-fry, miso soup

My grocery list has never looked so...healthy... It does seem like it's a lot of food, though. Hope I'm not too hungry! I'm shooting for ~2100 calories/day with a focus on protein.

 

[iluvdeal]

I have no delusion about it being easy! I just want to get in shape before the baby comes.

Congrats on getting healthy and fit for your upcoming baby! Make sure to stay fit once you have the kid too, much easier said than done. 🙂

Here's some tips:
-Waking up early is hard at first, but once it becomes a ritual, it will become automatic like brushing your teeth before bed. Just make sure you sleep earlier of course.

-I tried not eating before my early morning workouts and my lifts weren't as good, so I made sure to eat something before weight workout days. Cardio days I was okay not eating before them. You definitely got to hydrate yourself before any workout.

-If dropping 30lbs is your main goal, your diet will dictate your results. Even if you do all the workouts, you won't see those testimonial type results if you only follow the eating guide half the time. Put as much or more effort into eating healthy as you do the exercises, it's not optional if you want great results. Write down everything you eat in the food diary, there will no mystery on why you lost weight some weeks and not others.

-As mentioned before, you'll be spending about 1hr 20min on weight days as they also include a ~20min ab workout. I was time limited in the morning and I felt really spent after the weights so I just did the weight workout in the morning and the ab workout in the evenings. Do what works for you.

 

[drebo]

Well, I started today. Did the Chest and Back workout and Ab Ripper. Wow. I wanted to die. But, an hour+ after I've finished the workout and eaten breakfast, I feel pretty decent. A bit tired, but that's to be expected waking up at 5:30am after a long weekend.

I need to adjust my meal plan, I think, though. I couldn't finish my breakfast today...there was just too much food. The 8 egg white omelet (roughly 4 eggs worth of egg) was huge with the 1c of yogurt+cherries. Maybe next weight day I'll try to eat the yogurt before I work out.

We'll just have to see.

 

[Jeff7181]

Nice, drebo. I'm going to try to start P90X this weekend. Trying to get used to getting up early this week and do some grocery shopping for next week.

Being the only one not in the pool or the only shirtless male on the boat over the holiday weekend was a bit of a motivator.

 

[Lounatik]

Well, I started today. Did the Chest and Back workout and Ab Ripper. Wow. I wanted to die. But, an hour+ after I've finished the workout and eaten breakfast, I feel pretty decent. A bit tired, but that's to be expected waking up at 5:30am after a long weekend.

I need to adjust my meal plan, I think, though. I couldn't finish my breakfast today...there was just too much food. The 8 egg white omelet (roughly 4 eggs worth of egg) was huge with the 1c of yogurt+cherries. Maybe next weight day I'll try to eat the yogurt before I work out.

We'll just have to see.

Try eating about half the recommended amount for the first week or so. Your metabolism is still low and your body isn't used to all the new and jarring things you are throwing at it. You'll know when your body will need the food. I weigh 160 and eat like a 200# person. I couldn't come close to eating the recommended amount at first, but it came to me, and now I can hardly eat enough. Been doing it for 3 years.



Peace


Lounatik

 

[drebo]

Try eating about half the recommended amount for the first week or so. Your metabolism is still low and your body isn't used to all the new and jarring things you are throwing at it. You'll know when your body will need the food. I weigh 160 and eat like a 200# person. I couldn't come close to eating the recommended amount at first, but it came to me, and now I can hardly eat enough. Been doing it for 3 years.



Peace


Lounatik

My daily calorie count is only about 2100. The breakfast mentioned was only about 600 calories...I'm just not used to eating as much as I did because I used to eat unhealthy (couple strips of bacon is 600 calories, heh).

I'm going to try spreading it out...eat half the breakfast as a morning snack a few hours later, the protein bar as an afternoon snack, and then the afternoon snack as an after dinner snack.

Did Plyometrics today. Holy shit I wanted to die. I could only get through about 35 minutes of it before I had to fast forward to the cool down. Hopefully each weak I'll be able to go a bit longer.

 

[Miramonti]

My daily calorie count is only about 2100. The breakfast mentioned was only about 600 calories...I'm just not used to eating as much as I did because I used to eat unhealthy (couple strips of bacon is 600 calories, heh).

I'm going to try spreading it out...eat half the breakfast as a morning snack a few hours later, the protein bar as an afternoon snack, and then the afternoon snack as an after dinner snack.

Did Plyometrics today. Holy shit I wanted to die. I could only get through about 35 minutes of it before I had to fast forward to the cool down. Hopefully each weak I'll be able to go a bit longer.

I'm in the 5th or 6th week and plyometrics are still a beast. The difference now tho is that I focus on good technique and doing them well, etc. As long as that is the case, I don't think one hour will ever get easy, especially seeing how the people in the workout are huffing and puffing yet are in great shape.

I'm obviously not an expert on this, but would recommend making whatever adjustments are needed to get thru the whole workout without fast-forwarding/quitting early. Even if you barely bend your knees etc. It may not seem like much, but I think your body will benefit atleast a little, but in particular, your mind. Knowing it will be an hour regardless (except yoga, 90 mins) helps the mind from drifting and wanting to hit the cool down early. That said, I quit on yoga the first time after 40 minutes because I was in too much pain from the first week and frustrated how difficult it was for so long under such conditions. I think that was the only time because I knew quitting early could be a dangerous precedent (atleast for me.)

Seriously, which newbies can possibly do 16 sets of pullups in the first week (over 2 workouts) without an incredible amount of assistance. It's a helluva leap for an inactive person to jump into, muchless most anyone that hasn't been doing regular pullups.

 

[rga]

I will wait until the weekend to post what I just edited out. Lol.

 

[drebo]

I'm in the 5th or 6th week and plyometrics are still a beast. The difference now tho is that I focus on good technique and doing them well, etc. As long as that is the case, I don't think one hour will ever get easy, especially seeing how the people in the workout are huffing and puffing yet are in great shape.

I'm obviously not an expert on this, but would recommend making whatever adjustments are needed to get thru the whole workout without fast-forwarding/quitting early. Even if you barely bend your knees etc. It may not seem like much, but I think your body will benefit atleast a little, but in particular, your mind. Knowing it will be an hour regardless (except yoga, 90 mins) helps the mind from drifting and wanting to hit the cool down early. That said, I quit on yoga the first time after 40 minutes because I was in too much pain from the first week and frustrated how difficult it was for so long under such conditions. I think that was the only time because I knew quitting early could be a dangerous precedent (atleast for me.)

Seriously, which newbies can possibly do 16 sets of pullups in the first week (over 2 workouts) without an incredible amount of assistance. It's a helluva leap for an inactive person to jump into, muchless most anyone that hasn't been doing regular pullups.

Good point. I might try that next week.

For me, my gut is too big to allow me to do many pushups/pullups, so I did the pushups from my knees and I used resistance bands for the pullups. I can definitely feel it now a day later, so something must have worked!

I don't ever expect plyometrics to be easy, but I was unprepared for how ridiculous it was. The warmup alone is taxing!

 

[drebo]

Day 3... quads, gluts, triceps, pecks, back, abs are all on fire!

But I actually feel surprisingly good. Hasn't been difficult at all to get up at 5:30am, which is very surprising.

 

[drebo]

Yoga Day...that was tough. I had to skip the last 3 positions that come off the downward dog because my shoulders were going to fall off. But I stuck it out and did the rest of them except for the ones where you go on one arm and one leg at an angle...those were nuts.

Feel pretty good. A bit sore, but in the right places. Been sleeping very well!

 

[Miramonti]

Nice. Yeah, I just laughed when I saw the bent over one leg stands. That was the second week, after I quit early on the first week, lol.

I found I can't do all those upward dogs and cobras either. They aggravate a recent lower back issue and are a setback to recovery. Otherwise I do what I can, and can get up on one leg now (can't straighten out very well yet, but is more of a flexibility issue)

 

[drebo]

Day 5 - Legs and Back...

I thought my legs were in relatively decent shape. Boy was I wrong. Wall squats are pure evil.

I'm looking forward to Kenpo and Stretch in the next two days, though.

If these last 5 days have taught me anything, it's that I'm very inflexible.

Ab ripper keeps kicking my ass, but I like it because I can feel it doing something. Doing 10 reps each this week. Next week I hope to kick it up to 12.

The soreness has started to die down and I'm starting to feel a lot better. I've already started to notice a ripple or two in the muscles that didn't used to be there.

85 more days to go!

 

[Druidx]

Ab ripper keeps kicking my ass, but I like it because I can feel it doing something. Doing 10 reps each this week. Next week I hope to kick it up to 12.

The soreness has started to die down and I'm starting to feel a lot better. I've already started to notice a ripple or two in the muscles that didn't used to be there.

85 more days to go!

I ended up editing the ab ripper workout into versions of 10,15,20 and 25 per exercise depending where I was at in the program. That way I could do all the exercises back to back without having to wait for them to finish the full set of 25. I also removed the Oblique V-up because they were causing back pain.

 

[Cookie]

Ab ripper keeps kicking my ass, but I like it because I can feel it doing something. Doing 10 reps each this week. Next week I hope to kick it up to 12.

Ab Ripper was where I noticed the most progress through the program. The first week I HATED it (in a good way). I did 15-20 reps and had to pause often. About week 5 I managed to do 25 reps, but with pauses when I needed them. The last 3 weeks I kept up with them the whole time, and with better form.

Keep up the good work. 🙂