P90X - First timer

jane77

Yoga hard keep working it.
Trott27 day3 week 5 mad fun pummped felt great.

Bring It

ckintigh

I'm on the 2nd week of my 5th or 6th round (P90X/Insanity hybrid although I've done P90X 3x's) and I have followed P90X's nutrition plan 3x's. It's VERY effective although too many carbs for me. I somewhat follow the (P90X) nutrition but my current nutrition is more paleo (50-100g's carbs, max, per day).

I am on my second week of P90X, and think the carbs are way too high, also. I, too, do mostly paleo, however I have been adding 1/2 cup of refried beans with my breakfast after the workout along with 1 cup of 1% chocolate milk. I looked at the nutritional value of the recovery drink and energy bar, and the beans and milk are almost identical in carbs and protein. It's a lot cheaper, and makes a great addition to my breakfast of eggs scrambled with spinach and salsa. (That may sound gross to some, but it really is delicious and full of lots and lots of vitamins!)

ckintigh

I just bought a Polar FT7 for $107 at REI and LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! You can get a FT4 for $99 and it does almost the same stuff. I love th fact that it records not only how many calories I burned, but how much of my workout was in the fat burning range and how much was in the fitness range. You will see that on the resistance training days you will burn more fat calories (which is what we want, right?). It motivates you to keep working out with weights and doing the ab ripper X. I used to only do cardio, and am seeing the benefits of weight lifting.

cd_kc

Plyo again today. Whew! Second go-round. My lower back/buns seem particularly sore today.
Still having trouble getting up on time to do p90x as consistently as I would like, but on days that I don't have enough time, I usually will either do a shortened version or something else...so at least it's something. I agree with everyone that it does get easier with time (only my 2nd week this time around) and I LOVE having a HR monitor. Mine is very simple Garmin HR monitor I was fortunate to get from my sister in law. Keep up the good work everyone. Love reading everyone's posts.

bheimbrock

Today will be day 2 of P90x lean, and it's suppose to be the cardio portion. I'm apprehensive about doing it,and sore from doing the Core Synergistic thing (well, what I could do of it). I guess it doesn't help that I didn't sleep well last night. I'm really tired right now.

I keep on questioning whethe I am insane and should maybe do something lesser, like P90, but that looked really boring, and Tony didn't seem as enthusiastic in that.

Tony cracks me up in P90x.

Hey we are on the exact same schedule!!!! Hubby and I just started P90X lean on Monday as well...

jane77

yoga today for me. Not the best day but i keep pushing myself and did the whole dvd Yay good for me

have a great day you all:happy:

DaveGlasnost

Did Legs and Back last night. I had to skip Ab Ripper X as it was getting late. So I guess it's Kenpo and Ab Ripper night tonight. I really enjoy Kenpo so I'm hoping this recent string of being somewhat less fatigued means I will really be rockin' through Kenpo, because I already was doing really good my first week.

It's starting to look like the "lifting" days, with pushups and/or pullups, are going to be my biggest time consumers, going forward. Just doing the 56 or so minutes of Legs and Back took me an hour and a half, and that was without doing Ab Ripper X. (I'm not trying to do "their" rep numbers -- I just seem to need many more breaks.)

I am pretty sure I can whip through Kenpo now, since I have apparently improved dramatically on some aspects of endurance, if I can believe my big wins with Yoga (doing almost all of what they do at a good clip with many less breaks than last week), and especially considering Kenpo was immediately one of my stronger points in my first week. What sucks is that I owe myself that darned Ab Ripper X!

Going to *try* to have time to do X Stretch tomorrow, but not holding myself to it -- at least yet.

Oh, and sadly now that I have my chinup bar, I found out I can't do a single pullup unassisted. So I have to resort to assisted method using a plastic crate thing I push off against to help my arms (hopefully just enough and not too much). Gonna try to concentrate on decreasing the assistance I take from that but for now I just do 6-8 assisted reps and go as with as little assistance as I can.

Don't know how long my excuse of being 235lbs and high BMI will hold, haha.

DS13

I noticed that doing assisted pullups helped me improve a lot faster than using bands. Keep at it you will definitely improve!

Also I noticed that a lot of you have finished at least the first phase so far. Did any of you take before and after photos to see if there was any changes?

DaveGlasnost

I noticed that doing assisted pullups helped me improve a lot faster than using bands. Keep at it you will definitely improve!

Also I noticed that a lot of you have finished at least the first phase so far. Did any of you take before and after photos to see if there was any changes?

Hey DS13, for the pullups, yea that is what I am banking on. Next time I do them I plan on working real hard on the negative aspect of the pullup (where you let yourself down slowly). I literally did my first sets of assisted pullups on a real bar last night, after relying on my lat pulldown machine to mimic the motions. So, I find myself in "correct your form!" mode, trying to remember to go for max extension and controlled downward movement. I was a bit sloppy last night with all that not yet sunk in.

Are you doing any unassisted pullups yet? What are you doing for reps, either assisted or unassisted?

I'm still in phase one, myself. I took before photos as P90X program suggests. I occasionally take a couple of front shots but haven't yet done another set of shots in the P90X fashion. I plan on trying to do that at the 30 day mark. At the 30-day point I am not expecting a fantastical change, but I am hoping there's enough visible change to cause some rededication going through the next 30 days. The next 30 is where the changes are supposedly a bit more dramatic.

I'm a little less interested in regular photo ops simply because I kind of diverted my goal from strict calorie counting to just eating healthy and not looking at the scale except to record the journey. I'm well into my third week of virtually no weight loss and have been concentrating more on succeeding with P90X.

(Edit for clarity).

DS13

I'm able to do about 8 or 9 before I start struggling. That's if I'm rested. For the program recently I've been doing about 3 or 4 to start depending on which grip. I seem to have less trouble with close grip underhand vs the others. Anyway after I do them unassisted I continue the rest of the reps using assistance from a chair.

So just for example on Sunday for wide front pull-ups I did 4 unassisted, then 6 more with a chair. The second round I did 15 total assisted because I couldn't do anymore without.

I took pics before I started so I'm gonna do it again after the first phase is done. I can't wait to get to the next phase!

jkroc

What is it that I am doing wrong? I have the Polare F6 and never burn more than 350 doing P90X??!?!?

Creiche

What is it that I am doing wrong? I have the Polare F6 and never burn more than 350 doing P90X??!?!?

Which workouts have you done with the HRM? I only get up to 400-500 calories burned in Plyo or Kenpo...the others are all 150-350. You're building tons of muscle and increasing flexibility though!!

jkroc

What is it that I am doing wrong? I have the Polare F6 and never burn more than 350 doing P90X??!?!?

Which workouts have you done with the HRM? I only get up to 400-500 calories burned in Plyo or Kenpo...the others are all 150-350. You're building tons of muscle and increasing flexibility though!!

I started out doing lean and changed my program to classic at week 4 .Week 5 started today... So tomorrow will be my first time doing plyo...Thanks for your reply I am glad to know I am not the only one not burning BIG numbers! I wear my Polar F6 each time I workout. My husband burns so many more calories than I can.

Crowhorse

I decided that I LOVE the arm and shoulder workouts. I also decided that I HATE the Yoga workouts. Yoga is not for fat people. My stomach rolled up and got in the way of some of the positions and I found it hard to breathe. On the other hand, eventually I should have some arm strength.

Oh, and hate Abs. I can never get my feet straight in the air like they want you to. Again, I think I'd do better if I didn't have so much weight on me.

Hopefully it will come off and I'll improve and not hate it so much. Have yet to do Legs and Back or Kenpo.

jane77

What is it that I am doing wrong? I have the Polare F6 and never burn more than 350 doing P90X??!?!?

not a thing My polar use to give me those same kind of numbers (stopped working) got a timex it gives me really increase numbers that I know cant be right (lots of reseach). You are fine! I use my number of calorie burned but only eat about half back. I'm very dissappointed that the numbers are so high because I know there not real. If your working on know it, and you are working!!!!!!!!!

btotten

Hey, I am new to this site (I have been using the app on my phone to help with counting calories for a while now, but never went to the real site).

I am excited to see so many people doing the P90x especally ladies). I am on week four and am really loving it.

I saw on here that some people were doing a p90x & insanity combo thing, Is there a program that is designed as a combo or are you each doing your own thing? (I don't have insanity yet, I was just kind of thinking about doing it after finishing up with the p90x). Also is anyone trying the one-on-one tony horton thing? Are you just adding those to your p90x workouts or p90x/insanity workouts.

Just trying to get some ideas. I am doing the lean 90x now, so I figure I will probably just start the regular one when this is over, but my husband is already doing the regular version and doesn't have time for doubles, but I am sure would like to change it up sometimes.

DaveGlasnost

For now I do without the calorie count on Timex. I got readings like 1400 calories burned per workout in the first week, so I've been using it only as a HRM and am ignoring the values. I guesstimate at an average of 600 cal burned/workout. As an out of shape 235lb-er I think it is a fair guesstimate given that I easily can peg my HR at near max and have had to let it come down a lot through small breaks. (Once I see it over 170 I pause and walk it off.)

I haven't yet felt like really reading the little instruction book as my electronic microscope is on loan to a friend. Once I get that back I will see if there are some configurations for age, weight, height, etc., that I need to be entering in, in order to make the stupid 1400 calories reading into something a lot more reasonable.

DaveGlasnost

While on the subject of heart rate I think I am finally beginning to see a trend where it is actually getting more difficult to reach the point where I am over 170 bpm. Last week I reached mid-174 repeatedly and easily -- now when I think I am beating hard and fast I check my HRM and I'm actually almost always below 170. Yay! Even when I got pretty tired and needed to pause on Kenpo, I found within 15 seconds I was already recovered enough to hit play. Less pauses, shorter pauses, as observed in Yoga and Kenpo, and even ab ripper of late, yes indeed. Bring. It. On. (Except those darned pullups and pushups haha)

By the way, the 2 guys in the back of the Kenpo class can eat it -- often my form, pace, technique, and control is better than yours! Not bad for a pudgy guy I won't dwell on the girl who does her first jab and then leaves the arm straight out in front of her, or Tony's own messups, of course in his case he's trying to instruct and do the workout, so O.K.

(Sorry for that last snubby paragraph, I need to take some solace and build some confidence in my performance *somewhere* because I still have that huge, huge upper-body-strength issue!)

Crowhorse

I did Legs, Back, and Abs today and the legs killed. Had to do a lot of pausing. I'm already better with the Abs, but VERY far from being what they are on the video. I'm still lucky to do one of anything that involves legs up in the air.

My HRM said I burned 875 calories doing that exercise. I definitely got my heart rate up into the target zone (probably because I'm VERY out of shape). I don't trust the calorie count, so I put it as 500 cals.

Tomorrow is Kenpo X and then rest day. I'm thinking seriously about doing Stretch X because I can't straighten my legs well on some of the moves.

bheimbrock

Did Kenpo today and LOVED IT! I think it's for sure going to be my favorite workout. Said I burned 755 calories (I have a cheaper Sportsline HRM) so not sure about that number). However, I am overweight and my HR gets up into the 170s sometimes so maybe that is close to the real amount burned. Usually, though I don't eat those calories back. Like last night I could have had 350 more but didn't since it was already 10 by time I finished working out.

So, couple questions for those in Phase 2: Have you actually seen any differences in your body yet? Just wondering around what week I should expect to actually "See" my body look different instead of just "FEEL" it.

Do you still get REALLY sore? Some mornings, it hurts just to get out of bed! HAHA since my ab muscles are like jelly (Damn Ab Ripper X!)

Only on Day 6 so I hope by Day 30 I will start to see some change. Trying to stay away from the scale but so far, no weight loss

Crowhorse

Did Kenpo today and LOVED IT! I think it's for sure going to be my favorite workout. Said I burned 755 calories (I have a cheaper Sportsline HRM) so not sure about that number). However, I am overweight and my HR gets up into the 170s sometimes so maybe that is close to the real amount burned. Usually, though I don't eat those calories back. Like last night I could have had 350 more but didn't since it was already 10 by time I finished working out.

So, couple questions for those in Phase 2: Have you actually seen any differences in your body yet? Just wondering around what week I should expect to actually "See" my body look different instead of just "FEEL" it.

Do you still get REALLY sore? Some mornings, it hurts just to get out of bed! HAHA since my ab muscles are like jelly (Damn Ab Ripper X!)

Only on Day 6 so I hope by Day 30 I will start to see some change. Trying to stay away from the scale but so far, no weight loss

I have a Sportline, too, and the heart rate measurement is suppose to be really accurate on them. I did Kenpo X, and it was pretty good, aside from fearing I'd knock my uncoordinated self out with the complicated punch moves.

It said I burned less than I did when doing the muscle groups. I had a calorie count of 675ish, with some burn afterwards. I, too, was in the 170s a good portion of the time.

Toward the end, I was gettting tuckered out, so I wasn't doing as well on the punches, kicks (though I did like that 100 punches one--I was good at THAT).

I don't get very good work outs with the abs yet. It strained the small of my back trying to keep my feet in the air, but I already saw improvement the second go round. I actually was able to do one or two of the ones with your legs in the air. I was proud of that. Still, until my ab muscles get stronger, the small of back will probably pay for it.

I still can't do the reverse bicycle very well, either! I get all screwed up.

Anyone else have these problems?

DaveGlasnost

Lots of good comments to see, reassuring as I am seeing the same things you guys (and gals) are.

Still ignoring calories burned on HRM since I am too lazy to see if there's some settings I can change.

Not seeing any real outward body changes, still feel like I am imagining that my jeans are ever so slightly less tight. The general wisdom I am picking up is to basically ignore the scale, don't look for massive body changes yet, except to see easily-observable endurance, flexibility and strength gains.

What I am seeing (at week 3, day 1 complete so far) are changes in ability to get through the programs. I am taking less breaks, and no longer am close to needing the 2 hours to finish a workout that I used to need just to survive. Especially happy with yesterday's result: I really struggled with pushups in week 2 day 1, resorting to doing pushups on my knees the whole workout, but yesterday I somehow rebounded and did not resort to the knees.

The cloud to the silver lining is the fact that I didn't have good form on the pushups, and I didn't do terribly many. I'll be hoping to build on my rebound with good quality pushups next time. I'll take the fact that I got back up off my knees as progress for this time around.

Another real trouble area are pullups. I cannot yet come close to doing a single unassisted pullup. I did get my pullup bar only after week 2 started, so I have only just started trying "real" pullups. Doing assisted pullups and trying to make myself do negatives with little or no assistance, but concerns remain.

Ab ripper and similar stuff are putting strains on my back, as someone else mentioned is happening to them, so we can hope that will improve as our core improves. I am seeing my ab ripper rep counts either go up, or, if they fall, it's because I am consciously trying to reduce the pauses I take and finding my "reps when I don't take extra breaks" numbers.


So far Kenpo remains my favorite, plyo is great fun, yoga may actually be moving up the ranks after being a 2+hour ordeal in week, 1 because I did so much better and so much more in week 2. The weightlifting days sit at the bottom mostly because my pullups and pushups situation. Doing good on the other weight training work but these 2 are killing it for me at the moment.

Crowhorse

Today is my rest day from P1 week 1.

Tomorrow starts week 2. I'm hoping my one calf (which is REALLY sore right now) is not so sore by tomorrow so I can do a much better job bringing it! My lower back is still a little sore, but slowly going away, so hopefully that's gone by the next ab section.

I lowered my weekly weight loss goal to up my calories to help support these workouts.

bonboncito

Tommorow its the start of week 3 for me and so what hrm do you guys recomed their so expensive. Im just putting in 250 to 350 cal burn. So I really dont know how well im doin.

DaveGlasnost

Polar I hear is good HRM, I have a Timex which works fine for me. Except I ignore the calorie count. I assume 600 calories/workout but I never seem to be able to eat enough to reach the ~3K cal/day I am supposed to need according to the calculations, so I hope it all works out. (I do try for 3000 cal but rarely get close to 2800, sadly.)

Crowhorse

Did day 1 of week 2 today. I'm sick, and had a bad night last night.

I wasn't really feeling up to snuff, but made myself do Core Syn hoping it would make me feel better.

I did a few regular push-ups, which is an improvement from knee push-ups. Definitely can feel that my core is worked, but I just couldn't push very hard today. HRM said I burned about 560 doing this workout.

I just felt really sluggish and worn out today.

DaveGlasnost

Limped through shoulders and arms due to being somewhat unwell. I was subjected to some bad food I think and am glad to be back on the wagon after a couple days of having to entertain guests. Still am not at 100%.

My weigh-in today really suffered, too: I am now essentially right back to square one, though I guess I need to keep in mind it was a really bad weekend I simply could not avoid, and I probably picked up a lot of water weight. The weigh in, I hope, is just a temporary peak due to the weekend dietary snafus, since I have been hovering consistently at 235 plus/minus 1 lb for several weeks in daily readings. As discouraging as it is, it does not take away from the fact that I am still putting a huge effort into this exercise routine.

Shoulders and arms did go pretty well, when I could finally do them yesterday. I found some weights could be increased this week. I needed the usual handful of breaks but also got a fair number of mini-breaks due to having to change weights. I don't have the "dial in a weight" kind of adjustables so it takes me 20-30 seconds to make changes.

Ab ripper saw me struggling more than the last couple of times, since I did yesterday's round on less rest than the 2 previous times. Still, while sometimes I lost a couple reps, I was OK given the level of fatigue I already had and also considering some of the increases in quality of form I achieved.

With 3 workouts to go before "recovery week" I am just starting to look ahead to what's coming next.

I do think I am worried that I should stay in this first set of routines a little longer, because I don't do well on pushups, and, more worriesome: I can't do a single unassisted pullup on any of the varieties. Tony says you can go a little longer than 4 weeks on a given phase, but I don't know what is best -- how about some other guys (males): did you go into the recovery week and the next phase without doing any unassisted pullups in the first 3 weeks?

DS13

I finished Phase 1 and took pics like I said I was going to and compared to the first. I didn't see much change physically which sucks, but what doesn't suck is that I've dropped 5+ pounds(I'm not sure how much I weighed when I started, but remember being 233 early Feb). Also I'm much stronger now. Anyway here's a comparison pic! I would post the front and side pics, but I don't feel like censoring my man boobs.



Oh yeah, the left side is the current pic.

DaveGlasnost

Hi DS13, so you are at the 30 day mark?

If it's any consolation I am 22 days in and am not seeing fantastical visual results either. But then, and I guess this is important for both of us: it is consistently the case that people don't "see" much in the first 30 days. The wisdom is that you feel stronger, more capable, but you don't get the visual satisfaction till later in the program. I hear the last 30 days is where you really see a lot of change. I hope so, as with 30 days in, there's not much to see.

I do feel like my stomach is slightly flatter, but the measurement of my waist only kind of indicates that, depending on time of day and last meal thing. I have to stop measuring for now, hahaha.

Like you I do feel somewhat stronger. I am getting that little bit more able to do clean pushups as my form slowly improves. I find these little improvements in ability everywhere, mixed in with all the pausing and collapsing in exhaustion. I did Core Synergistics for the first time yesterday and it destroyed me, but it also allowed me to see some core improvements. The Dreya Roll thing I was introduced to, in yesterday's workout? Well it told me I might be able to do the one (slower, more controlled) yoga move where you lie on your back and get up on your shoulders with your feet in the air. I felt a new strength in my core that just might allow me to do this move next time. At least I hope, because so far each time I tried, I looked like a seal flopping about trying to get into that position!

On the negative side I still struggle with enduring these workouts. I also can't do very many pushups and can only go close to the floor on them a few times at best. Pullups are still completely out; I do assisted and negatives (with a bit of assistance too). I don't care that I can't (or won't) do every single exercise in the workouts I've seen so far (meaning some of the advanced yoga stuff) but I'll try to substitute in those cases. My concerns are endurance, pushups, and pullups, the rest is taking care of itself, or so it seems.

I hope I can bring myself to do 30-day pics here, especially if I have something worth posting. I hear you on the manboobs thing. I keep thinking how I went to a barbeque last summer, didn't think anything of having my shirt off -- but the pics afterward had me horrified! (BTW that moment of seeing those pics is one of my motivators!)

If I do post pics , I'll probably go right ahead and "bring it" exposing the sad beginnings including frontals, and hopefully showing improvement after 30.

Stefani74

My husband and I just finished Phase 1. My weight hasn't changed and I have only lost 2 1/2 inches but I do see a difference. My calves and thighs have firmed up, I am seeing some muscle in my arms again, and I feel great!! My husband on the other hand has lost about 10 lbs! We are loving the workouts and are both getting stronger and our endurance is building. Can't wait to see the final results!

Good luck!