P90X Week 5

Day 29//Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps   (&Ab Ripper X): This workout is hard.  Just when I thought it was getting a little easier, Tony pulls out one-handed pushups, 3-1 slow motion pushups, and some crazy triceps exercises.  The triceps are my biggest problem area, which I think is a lot of women’s problems… we have difficulties with the feeling of flabbiness.  I can tell you that if at least some of my flab isn’t gone by the end of the 90 days, I must not be doing something right.

Day 30//Plyometrics: It’s still the same plyometrics, and it is still hard, but I can get through it with more energy to spare at the end.  I love the swing kicks, they kick my butt and I can feel it in my legs and abs.  With the swing kicks you get a chair or a stool, and you swing kick your leg over it, then the other leg.  You do it again, and again back and forth for 1 minute. 

Also, I hate jumping jacks, so you can imagine how much I hate squat jacks.  You put your hands behind your head and start regular jumping jacks.  Then after about 3 seconds you jump down into a squat stance while still doing a jumping jacks style.  You do this for 30 seconds.  I hated jumping jacks when we would do them in kickboxing.  I don’t know what it is about them, but I would rather pull my hair out than do them. ^^UGH^^

Day 31//Back & Biceps (&Ab Ripper X): There are a lot of different workouts for your biceps surprisingly.  My arms were sore from Day 29 still and so that made everything harder to do.  When I did Ab Ripper X, I did more reps of each workout.  It’s only 16 minutes, but it’s 16 minutes of some serious ab work.  My favorite is the oblique V-Ups.  They are hard for me, but I feel like they really get deep into the love handle area.

Day 32//Yoga X:  I really don’t like this workout.  I did about 40 minutes of it.  There is so much downward dog crap, it gets ooooold.  I need to try just a regular yoga class to see how different it is from P90x yoga.  I went outside and ran for about 10 minutes, but it got so cold and my lungs were filling up with ice-cold air…  I went inside and played “just dance” for about 20 minutes.  It was nice to dance.

Day 33//Legs & Back (&Ab Ripper X):  Sneaky lunges are so hard, but it feels so good to do all 20 reps.  With sneaky lunges you stay on the tip of your toes the whole time.  You go into a lunge, lean forward, put your hands back then put your hands up and in front of you, and then you put them back again.  You repeat this 20 times.  It doesn’t sound hard, but when you put resistance and reps into it, it is a killer of a workout.

Day 34//KenpoX: I didn’t do Kenpo X because I felt like I needed a really good cardio workout, and Kenpo X just doesn’t do it for me.  I did 35 minutes on the elliptical.  I did the interval level, and I stayed in my fat burning target heart rate the entire time.  It was so good to get my heart and lungs really pumping.

Day 35//Rest: Technically I took 2 rest days in the middle of the week.  I worked 3 nights in a row and I can get up and workout the first night I have to work.  It is impossible for me to workout the two nights after that.  I go to bed around 9am and if I have to work I usually get up around 4pm. It doesn’t leave me enough time to workout, shower, and eat before I have to leave at 5:30pm.  I can’t get up at 3pm, because it’s only 6 hours of sleep, and I’m already exhausted from working nights.  If you’re thinking, “What’s the big deal?  That’s 6 hours.”  Turn it around to your schedule.  Go to bed at 9pm and wake up at 3am to workout.  It’s downright impossible, at least for me.  I like my sleep too much… oh and I like to be able to function safely at work.