P90X3 and Me (First Three Days)

I will always credit the original P90X for getting me and Hot Stuff on the path to sustained fitness. I think we did P90X four or five times before moving on to other workouts like INSANITY and P90X2. Eventually we got involved with triathlons and became focused on swimming, biking and running and unfortunately I just didn't have the time for P90X.

Results from first 90 days in 2009

Actually, every once in a while I still try to get in a P90X Yoga-X workout, but I just don't have the time to do the full program and continue with my triathlon training. Something has to give, and when you have a 70.3 mile race looming in your future, you tend to want to give the race all the time necessary...not that it's a bad thing.

So Where Do I Find the Time?

2013 is almost over...I finished Barb's Race as well as my second marathon. Both races were a success in my book, but I have room for improvement. As I re-read through "The Triathletes Training Bible" I was once again confronted with how to incorporate strength training into my workout routine. Here are a few excerpts from the book...

"Although I advise many athletes to stop strength training during the racing season, women in particular benefit from year-round strength training. Unlike men, women tend to lose muscle mass more quickly once they stop working in the weight room." 

"Most women duathletes and triathletes are relatively stronger in their legs than in their upper bodies. Especially in need of strength are the abdominal muscles and arms. This weakness impacts climbing hills when on the bike." 

"Strength work for the upper body involves doing pushing and pulling exercises that use all of the arm joints plus the back muscles and abdominal muscles."

I could have always gone back to P90X, but most of the workouts are at least an hour long and on the days you have to do ab-ripper, that adds another 16 minutes. I could not see working, doing P90X, and then doing my triathlon training...just not enough time in my day.

Then, last week, Beachbody released P90X3. This is an entirely new approach and is not intended to be a progression from P90X and P90X2. P90X3 is a 30 minute workout developed to give you the results of P90X in 30 minutes a day. I was sold and ordered it the next day.

It even came with a hat for Hot Stuff!

The Plan

My intention is to do the full 90 days of P90X3 while maintaining my regular triathlon training. I hope to see a marked improvement in my body. Hot Stuff and I both took our "before" pics on Monday. Here is a sneak peak of mine...

HS was pissing me off, hence the lack of smile

In the picture above, I am roughly the same weight as I was at the end of the first round of P90X back in 2009. I think I was a little more ripped in 2009 which is a little surprising to me given all of the training I have been doing. I will post another photo at my 30 day mark.

After Christmas, I plan on getting serious with the nutrition side of things.

Here is a quick recap of the workouts we have done so far...

Day 1 - Total Synergistics

Ok, if you've ever done the original P90X, you are familiar with synergistics. In fact, the original synergistics was one of my favorite P90X workouts... it just seemed to work out everything and the time flew by quickly. Total Synergistics did not disappoint. Some push ups, some pull ups, some resistance training...I was pretty tired at the end of 30 minutes.  Finished up with a 3 mile run with HS.

NOTE: I am really out of shape in terms of push-ups and pull-ups :-(


Day 2 - Agility X

Next week I will wear a different pair of shoes. Tony recommended court shoes instead of running shoes and I didn't listen. There is a lot of lateral movement and Tony was right...don't wear running shoes. This particular workout was similar to something you would see in INSANITY:Asylum.  Finished up with a 5 mile run at Fleet Feet.

Day 3 - X3 Yoga

The original P90X yoga is 90 minutes. P90X2 shrinks it down to about an hour. P90X3 knocked it out in 30 minutes. In the original, Tony spends a lot of time explaining things which is helpful if it is your first time doing the workout. If it is the 87th time you have done Yoga-X, not so much.

In X3 Yoga, there isn't a lot of explaining. If you are new to the workout, you may have to hit rewind to figure out what to do...don't worry, once you've got the moves down, you will appreciate being able to keep going through the moves. Did not run today.

Abs and pecs were sore from Monday's and Tuesday's workouts...its a good feeling :-)

Tracking My Progress

Writing stuff down (especially food) has never been my strong point. I do wear my Garmin 910XT for most of my workouts and this data is transferred automatically to Garmin Connect. However, I have found another tracking system called Training Peaks. Training Peaks is a little more robust and it has the option of downloading training programs...hmmm, I wonder if any of them have P90X included in the plan :-)