Lesson Learned So Far...

ilikejam33

1. Read the whole book.
2. Do the DVD;s in order.
3. Do as much as you can and then modify.
4. Kenpo is helluva fun time
5. Meal plan is way too much food for me, im sticking with MFP and upping protien to 1g /lb of current weight.
6. Take a rest day, it makes a big difference.
7. Write down your progress (free fitness tracker sheets on Beachbody.com to print)
8. You dont need their recovery products, just get a good protein shake.
9. Weight loss will be slow to non-existant in phase 1, dont let this deter you, focus on the imrpovements you can see on your tracker sheet.
10. You will be soooooo proud of yourself every day, and amazed at what you can acomplish.

I hope that what myself and other who are a little in, can share can help motivate everyone, feel free to share what you have learned so far as well :bigsmile:

DKBelle

Thanks for sharing I am sticking to my protein as well and eating healthy homemade foods.
I hope that I will be drop down at least 2-3 kg the 1st month ))

Keely012012

Ilikejam33

Thanks for sharing! Did you finish the program? Did you lose weight or inches doing the program?

MeRevisitedAgain

Great advice. Thanks for sharing!

ilikejam33

Hello all,

Glad I could offer some advise, I am currently completing phase 1 (in recovery week). Using my workout sheets I can see I have developed strength and have more than doubled the number of pushups i can do. woo hoo!

A few of you asked questions so i will do my best to answer. I do not pretend to be an expert, but I have spoken to a lot of people (here and in real life) who were successful at p90x and coupled with my own experiance is where my info comes from.

First of all, congrats to everyone for starting, it was hard for me to get started, I was so scared i would fail.

If anyone is expecting to loose weight in the first phase you will most likely be dissapointed. This program is not designed for weight loss, now it does happen, particularily if you are quite a ways away from your goal; but it typically happens in the end of phase 2 and phase 3. the way it was explained to me is becasue your body is adapting and changing, and it tends to hold on to water to repair the muscles you are growing.

Before p90x I was a cardio junkie spinning my heart out 3-4 times a week and I was loosing weight steadily at about 3-5 lbs a month. For someone not "overweight" I was very pleased with this.

When I started p90x my loss stopped, and I have been the exact same weight (give or take .2lbs) since day 1.

Inches however are another story, I have lost almost 3 inches from my waist, my stomach is flatter and my love handles are going away. I have also seen muscle gainin my arms and back, (dont get me wrong im not huge...lol) but I can see more muscle and less jiggle. No joking, when i found out I had a visible tricep I showed everyone

My tip to you all is to focus on how strong you are getting, it will be hard not to be discouraged if you dont drop weight fast, ( i am still discouraged by this) but remember the more muscle you have the more calories you burn.

My long term goal is after P90x to go back to more cardio and shed some more lbs. then to do p90x again.

My short term goal is to finish p90x!

Above all else, emember that everyday you hit play you are a better stronger more fit person, and that is really the only thing that matter.

DaveGlasnost

The info here is pretty good, it is worth everyone here reading it.

I'm a grad, having done the program all the way through last year. I also had a few false starts on a 2nd round last year, ultimately ending up with me losing an uncomfortably large amount of my progress. The false starts were so bad that I did Core Synergistics for the first time yesterday, since, sadly, that last recovery week in May. Meaning, I never made it past week 3 after round 1.

My biggest takeaways on that first round (which I know is largely a repeat of what is already said):

1) I lost basically zero weight the entire first month. Subsequently, I dropped almost 40 lbs in the last two phases and bleeding over into the following month after finishing. It really is important to ignore the scale. Focus on ability gains at first. I know this can be hard, because even though I have been down this road before, I am right where I suffered despair the most, and I am still a little bit in that mindset. Illogical, I know, but it can happen. As logically aware of how this thing works, having done it before, I can't help but have that little bit of "hurry up and work you stupid program" still hounding me. (By the way, just as I am finishing out my first 30 in the next few days, I have barely managed about 1lb drop in weight so far!)

2) You have to eat well, and at least take the idea of what the nutrition plan is trying to accomplish to heart. Meaning, try to follow the profile in a way. Example, for Fat Burner, I adopted a goal of reaching 50% Protein, 30% Carb, 20% fat. I didn't follow the plan much beyond that. And, I never quite got to a 50%/30%/20% but at least I didn't have to invest time I didn't have, in trying to follow the nutrition plan to the letter.

3) You have to eat enough. Enough is probably more than you think, if you haven't really studied the materials. Drastic calorie cutting will have you hitting a wall.

4) As I was coached through this initial first month my first time, the coach was spot on: I was frustrated, angry, upset with how I looked at Day 30. He told me, "wait till oh, about week 6 or 7". And like clockwork the changes started coming, and rapidly. For me, it was a shock just as I was going into week 6, when I started to really SEE the changes.

5) I suggest "you don't need recovery drink, just get a good protein shake" should be modified to, "use chocolate milk, or eat an apple", or similar, to replace the recovery drink. These are the replacements I heard work *very* well. The idea of the recovery drink is to do a quick replenish right after the workout, help with soreness, replenishing energy resources, etc. A little different from what protein supplements do for you. (Disclaimer: I *do* use the Recovery Drink. If I give it up, I will try both of these ideas, for sure, to save cash.)

6) If you have to miss a day (My first round took me 110 days), make sure you are not hard on yourself, but pick it up the next day. You can either drop the workout and move to the next day's workout, or, like me, you shift the whole schedule a day. If you have a problem where you miss a few days of a given week (happened to me twice) you can "reboot" the week.

7) Especially early on, you can skip the stretch and take a full rest day. My whole first round I did the stretch routine maybe twice, tops.

8) Modify, modify, modify, and don't bite off more than you can chew. I went gung ho on weights for a long time till I realized I was burning myself out after like 5 exercises. I did an across-the-board reduction on weights for almost all exercises, just a small reduction, and it helped me power through and have gas in the tank near the end of workouts -- whereas before, I was almost always toast halfway through.


...there may be more points I would have liked to touch on but I need to be getting home to hit Kenpo X...

ilikejam33

Began phase 2 of p90x last night, was a little disapointed with the first workout, -chest shoulder, triceps becasue there were 2 things I could do zero of!

Pushups with claping in between, and one hand pushups. This makes me wonder if i did nt work hard enough in phase 1...should i be able to do these????? maybe its like chin ups and I need to work my way up to them....

I guess only time will tell, in the mean time I will keep trying and alternate with standard pushups when I cant do anymore.

Lesson learned from Phase 1: If you think phase 1 is tough, boy are you going to be suprised

DaveGlasnost

Began phase 2 of p90x last night, was a little disapointed with the first workout, -chest shoulder, triceps becasue there were 2 things I could do zero of!

Pushups with claping in between, and one hand pushups. This makes me wonder if i did nt work hard enough in phase 1...should i be able to do these????? maybe its like chin ups and I need to work my way up to them....

I guess only time will tell, in the mean time I will keep trying and alternate with standard pushups when I cant do anymore.

Lesson learned from Phase 1: If you think phase 1 is tough, boy are you going to be suprised

Gratz on starting Phase II! I start that same phase tomorrow. I just finished Phase I last night and just have rest/stretch today, but since last night was Yoga X and I couldn't follow through with the entire hour and a half, I only did the first half in its entirety, skipped to Yoga Belly 7, did that, then stopped, so tonight I am going to play around with the balance portion of that workout instead of the stretch/rest. So, Done With Phase I "for all intents and purposes!"

Regarding your questions: I wouldn't worry about the pushups with claps so early on in the program. My last round I never really did but a very few of them, and not until I was nearing 90 days. Just do regular pushups or what have you. If you really want to jazz things up, you can sometimes do regular pushups, or as an alternate refer back to your phase 1 workouts, pick a pushup type you had trouble with (diamond? dive bombers?) and do a little extra-credit work to improve on those. Go ahead and keep testing the waters if you want once or twice (but be careful) and if it's too daunting or you think it's going to be something you're likely to hurt yourself on, just modify to another kind of pushup. Trying these on your knees at first is a good idea too. Just give yourself time to build strength and technique to start doing them safely.

One hand pushups are actually a lot easier than you would think (don't mistake what I say to mean they are easy; when I first encountered these, I found for myself that they seemed impossible but turned out to be achievable, maybe not the first time I was exposed to them, but relatively soon I was able to push a few out -- I was quite pleasantly surprised). You may find right now you can do zero, but if you follow his instruction carefully you will find you can do one pretty soon. Again, be forgiving of yourself, safety first, etc., but when you do get to a point where you can start doing them, positioning your hand and body correctly will have as much to do with you scratching out your first successes, as your strength building over time will. Especially early on, doing them on your knees will get you on the road to success. (And, it's OK if you can't quite yet do them on your knees, either!)

In the general sense, it should take you a little time to adjust to new moves, so it shouldn't be too surprising that you can't do certain moves in the new workouts much if at all, even after you have phase I in your pocket. I guess it depends on one's general fitness before starting P90X, but if you are starting from nothing, you find challenges like this at the start of each of the first 2 phases (note that I don't say phase 3 too, because nothing new is introduced there).

Since you mentioned your lesson learned, I already am eager and at the same time worried about starting phase II. I do remember having my behind handed to me every time I did a new workout or entered a new phase. And this time is no different -- I started Phase 1 and felt like I had never done P90X before (a long, long time away will do that to you!), and when I entered recovery week (recovery? haha right!) Core Synergistics wiped the floor with me! So I am sure since I've not done Phase II since last March, I will feel like a gooey, out of shape newbie all over again.

ilikejam33

Thanks for the reply Dave, your words are very encouraging Gonna keep at it!

On another note did Plyo for the first time tonight, and I am very happy with it, (mostly becasue it kicked my butt! )

I had skipped Plyo in the first phase becasue I go to a spin class 3 times a week and was worried about overdoing the cardio.

I love this program so much I wonder why anyone would do anything else. Its challenging, and frustrating, and fun, I LOVE IT!!!!!

DaveGlasnost

....aaaand having just done the first Phase II workout last night:

I did the clapping pushups only and completely on my knees. I made one attempt to do a "normal" clapping pushup, but to take my own advice, it just felt like I was not strong enough (or still too heavy), not ready, and it felt like I would probably hurt myself, so I went to the knees. I did try to win out anyway: I went to my old notes and beat my first round's initial numbers, somewhat out of frustration.

With the one-handed pushups, it was once again the case that I did the "smart" thing and went to my knees. This time, I knew I simply didn't have enough left in the gas tank to even attempt to do a "normal" one-hander.

Being not yet physically strong enough to do a workout move is one thing, but trying out moves you haven't really been successful with yet, when you are running out of gas, is like double jeopardy, because form issues are amplified and injury is much more likely.

ilikejam33

Almost done Phase 2, and while I feel significantly stronger, I must admit I am getting a little frustrated at the whole not losing any weight thing. The scale has officially not moved, however just when you may think I'm about to give up......

I'm down a whole pant size. I went shopping for a new pair of jeans this weekend and was very excited to find I needed to go down a size. So while the scale reads the same, obviosly there are changes happening, even if i cant see them they are there, becases as we all know......


Denim never lies

DaveGlasnost

I'm also a little frustrated with the weight not budging, though I am only halfway through Phase II. All internals aside, I can't help but be impatient. Even though I've done this before, and found this in my results last year:

-- No weight loss worth writing home about, until after week 7 had come and gone (then it was all good news from that point on!).
-- If I look at the first full 7 weeks of the program last year, I lost a little over 2lbs over that entire time.
-- If I look at the next 7 weeks immediately following, I lost 24 lbs.

On the other hand, in the first 28 days I lost probably an inch in each of the chest and abdominal areas...I'm now down about 1 1/2" in both areas as of this week.

ilikejam33

Not much of a lesson today, just some general ramblings....

I officially began Phase three yesterday. The great news it that I needed to up all my weights, I have now moved from 8 and 10lbs for most things to 10 and 15lbs. Also switched to a new resitance band (red=60lbs)

Sadley, stil cannot do a pull up, and I swear that pull up bar is laughing at me everytime I walk by it.

The first workout in Phase three has you go all the way back to the first one, I was amazed at how much I have improved. I track how many push up i can do from my toes, then drop to my knees and track those as well. By the END of Phase 1 i was able to do a max of 7/10.

Now I can do 12/12! Crazy!

While I am seeing more definitionin my arms, and legs, I do admit the weight staying the same is frustrating, even though I know i should be psyched I havnt gained and can see more muscle definition, but that darn scale mentatlity is hard to get over.

I have decided that for the rest of the program I am going all out, heaviest weights i can do and really push myself to get the added strength.

After the program is done i'll give the weights a rest for a while and try a cut phase to get rid of that extra fat still hangin around.

I am also going to get at least 1 dang pull up!

I hope you all are still doing great, stay with it