Six weeks of P90X are in the books. Another great chest, shoulder and triceps workout today. I increased all of my numbers except for the 1 arm balance push ups, just ran out of steam! Other than that, the workout was great. I feel like I am more and more motivated every workout I do. I think a big part of it has to do with the results I am beginning to see. Down 12 pounds so far!!
I also did a second workout today at our Pittsburgh Fit Club. We did a workout from the Turbo Fire system and man was it tough. It was the HIIT 30, which is basically 30 minutes of interval training, getting your heart rate up and then down. At the end of the 30 minutes, I was soaked! What a workout. I am definitely ordering it this week. Get it here if you want.
Lastly, just wanted to post a quick update video, where I give a quick update of my overall thoughts on the first six weeks P90X.
Another Kempo X workout in the books! I must say that this workout rocks. I probably have said that before, lol, but it does. Some of you may not know this but I actually have a black belt in Taekwondo and this workout is a challenge for me. I have spoken to a lot of people about this workout that actually have martial arts backgrounds. The majority of them were very skeptical about the routine, most thinking that it is just some run of the mill cardio kickboxing video. However, once they tried the video, they realized that it is not the average psuedo karate video you can pick up at target. It was tough, well thought out and the moves were dead on. So, to get to my point, I am a black belt and belive in this routine. my martial artist friends all believe this workout is a great routine. So, take it from some, as Tony would say, “Karate Men”, Kempo X is a great workout! I brought it hard today!
Ok, so for the bonus tip. Here is how I am intensifying my kempo x workouts. For the entire workout, I wear a 20 pound weighted vest. This really makes me sweat and gets my heart rate up quicker. For all the punches and blocks, I use 2 pound hand weights. By the time the workout is over, I am dripping in sweat and my shoulders are on fire. I think using the hand weights is really helping bring out the defininition in my shoulders. You can get the vest and hand weights at any walmart or target. I think it might have cost me around $50 total, but definitely worth it.
Yes, Yoga again. I know I said that I was liking the workout more and more each time I did, but recently, my head hasn’t been there and I have had a hard time motivating myself to do it. last night was tough. I had a busy day at work and din’t get a chance to do the workout in the morning, which is my usual routine. So, I had to do the workout at night after my duaghter went to sleep. 830 pm..ugh. A 90 minute workout at 8:30 at night after a stressful day at work? really? I was dreading it. However, my wife Laura is also doing the P90X program and she also had to do yoga. That motivated me. Having someone to workout with totally changes things. It is easy to say no to yourself but when someone else is working out with you, I find it tougher to quit. She helped push me through the workout and I am glad she did because when we finished, I felt refreshed and destressed. This is why it is great to have a workout partner, an accountability partner. Laura is mine. We both know that if we do not get the workout in, the other one will be disappointed. Moral of the story, get a partner. Either a workout partner or just an accountability partner.
You can sign up for a free Beachbody community membership so you can have that accountability….click here to join
Got through another Back and Biceps workout! I was actually able to finally do a few unassisted pull ups in the first set! That is a big accomplishment for me considering my surgery a few months ago. I did them during the wide front pull ups. After that, forget it. I was spent and had to use the chair. Even before I had my surgery, I had to use the chair a lot during this workout because you really blast your back and biceps and it takes a lot of energy out of you. Don’t get discouraged, this workout is extremely tough.
I did make sure I increased my weight for the bicep exercise and my reps for the back exercises. 7 reps for the corn cob pull ups (with a chair of course, but still hard nonetheless!!) Also, I finally completed all the reps in the Ab Ripper video, including the dreaded Mason Twists! Those are a you know what! Anyways.
Now after my P90X resistance workouts, here is what I have been doing:
Another day, another dollar. 5th plyo workout in the books! This was definitely a good one as I felt really good! It also may have to do with the fact that I got new shoes this weekend. See, I was wearing asics when I did my workouts, but the shoes seemed narrow and my foot slipped around when I would land from the plyo jumps. So, I found out that Under Armor shoes have a wide base and a lot of cushion when jumping. In fact, my feet did not hurt at all during plyo, which was a nice change of pace. I would recommend Under Armor shoes to anyone with wide, fat feet like mine.
So, since I had the new kicks, I really upped my intensity today. I made sure ALL of my jumps were at 100%. I made sure I did not dog it at all. My heart rate was around 165-170 the entire workouts, excluding warm up and cool down.
After I completed my workout, I was starving so I put together this little ditty below for lunch. It was AWESOME! See the recipe below for the Rocco’s Supercharged Veggie Mix-up!
Here is the ingredients recipe:
1.5 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red onion, chopped,
2 tbs chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 of Fuji Apple, chopped
minced scallions to tast
1/4 cup raw sliced almonds
Got to love it. Made it through 5 weeks of P90X only 4 month after having surgery on my torn pec. Not to toot my own horn, but I think it is awesome. Never thought I would be knocking out 30+ push ups 4 month after having my chest muscle reattached to my shoulder, but guess what, I can do them with ease.
I must say I had a great workout today. I felt good, pushed hard and increased my numbers again. I particularly bumped them up a lot in the push ups! The only one I still have a tough time with and must use my knees is the one arm push ups. Those are just TOUGH. No other way to put it. The other thing I want to mention is the seated throws. I am not sure what everyone feels about this exercise, but I don’t really enjoy it. I feel like it puts more stress on my shoulders than it should. Maybe it is just odd for me because I am a bigger guy but I would love to get peoples input.
Other than that exercise, I love the other 23 moves, even the Plyo push ups. Yes, plyo makes its way into this workout. Basically with this move, when you push up, you leave the ground. I haven’t done the clap version yet, but I knocked out 13 reps in plyo push ups today, which was a definite increase from last week. Another great workout in the books.
But wait, I got a second workout today! Yes, there is a Pittsburgh Fit club that started and we blasted through Interval X from P90X Plus! This was my first time doing this workout and man was it tough. 41 minutes with only 1, yes 1, break!!! Tony is insane! Although it was extremely tough, it was also a lot of fun. The moves were very different and easy to do. The routine moved fast since each move was only a minute. Definitely a great workout to add into any program for cardio.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, I finished my 5th week of P90X this week (after a modified schedule week). Legs and back was the workout and guess what, all of my numbers improved again. Every time I do this workout, I try to push a little harder, either adding weight, go deeper in the squats and just perfecting my form. I think in this workout, I tried it all. And I must say that I feel great after 5 weeks. I am down about 10 pounds, a lot stronger, have more energy and just really look forward to pushing play everyday. It is an amazing feeling!
For instance, tomorrow I have Chest, Shoulder and Triceps and I absolutely cannot wait to workout. Plus, I am getting in a second workout with our newly formed Beachbody Fit Club in the Pittsburgh area. Not sure what the workout will be yet, but I am psyched. I tell people all the time that it takes about 30 days to start seeing really good results so you have to stick with it. I am at day 35 and my body looks a lot different from day 1, and that is what motivates me. I know it is working so I just want to keep pushing play. Just me, stick with it for 30 days and you won’t want to stop!!!
Yes, the schedule was altered again this week. I had to travel to Cape Cod for 2 days so I had to flip things around a bit. Since there was no gym where I was staying, I decided to make Wednesday my rest day (should have been legs/back) and Thursday the normal Kempo X day. I will complete Legs and Back tomorrow.
I am definitely glad I made Wednesday my rest day because our meetings started early so I couldn’t work out in the AM and went pretty late. By the time I was back to my room, I was exhausted! I woke up this morning, however, ready to go. Hopped out of bed, popped Kempo X in the laptop and knocked out a good workout in my hotel room. Like I said many times in the past, this is why I love P90X…the program is versatile. You can flip-flop your days to work within your schedule. You can take the DVDs on the road when you travel. IT is awesome. I find it so refreshing to start my day with an intense workout when I am traveling on business. Doing so energizes me for the rest of the day.
The last thing I want to mention is eating on the road. Obviously, at business meetings, it is sometimes hard to get the proper nutrition in and eat completely clean. So, what I did was this. Start every morning with Shakeology in my room. It is easy to mix up and keep me full and during the day I made sure I ate a P90X protein bar. With those two things, I knew that I was getting good nutrition in my body at least twice a day. Although I didn’t eat that bad, there were not many healthy choices….but, I made it work.
I can’t believe I am already through 32 days of P90x!
Yoga again??? I must say that, again, I was not motivated to do Yoga X today and it definitely showed in my workout. Also, I have been pretty stressed at work and have to travel this week, so my head was in another place today. See, at the beginning of the yoga routine, Tony tells you to “clear your head,” which I never really thought much of until today.
During my workout, I had a million and one things running through my mind: work, packing, missing my kids this week, stress, etc. It really had an impact on my workout. All of my poses felt sloppy, my balance felt off and I just wasn’t mentally there. I guess everyone has these types of day but I hate when I do. It drives me nuts. To make it even better, my phone rang a million times during my workout and I had to take a call, cutting my yoga workout short . I was not happy!
Look, you will have days like this where things just don’t go your way. Remember, it is ok. Just keep pushing play, that is what matters most. (I feel so guilty for quitting early that I am going to try the Tony Horton One on One Cardio Interval video later….)
. I was not happy! 
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