Oldline70 Takes On P90X.

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oldline70

Well-known member
OK, this is my first go around with P90X. I've been on here a long time but never had a blog. I got P90x (just the discs) about 2-3 months ago, but due to a lot of personal things going on this summer, I'm just now in startup mode.

I am gonna TRY to keep a blog. Don't know how successful I'll be or how long it will last, but it can't hurt to try, can it?

First off, my initial 'forays' into P90x involved me doing one or two isolated workouts, not the whole thing, and not every day. I'm gonna give it a shot. I don't anticipate going 6 days on and 1 day off, but I do anticipate/hope/plan that I'll do it 3 on, 1 off with rest as I need it.

I'm 46, will be 47 in October. I've got a varied involvement in weights and fitness going back to age 14. Never hit 300 in the bench, always wanted to. Never squatted max. Never deadlifted for a max. I figured, at worst, P90X will get me back to some semblance of a 'routine' and after that, who knows.
I'm technically 'middle aged' now, but I truly don't feel much different than I used to when I was 25 and around 200-210. But I can't run a lick anymore, get winded walking up 2 flights of stairs and generally my diet needs some work. I'm working on all this as I go along.

I'm about 6-0 or 6-1, 235 and some other stats: More to be added as I get them.

Weight- about 235

Arms, waist,chest & legs-don't have these measurements, will have to get them.

I wear a 38 waist pants on a 32 inseam. I remember the day I was a 32 w, 32 L. 'Course, I was 16 at the time. But 38 waist is too darn big.

Bodyfat-I got one of those GNC calipers and I've figured I'm about 30% BF. I'm no skinny minny. But I'm not fat. I prefer the term "fleshy".

General health/fitness-I'd define myself as 'active' if not necessarily 'fit'. I can probably do about 25-50 situps, unanchored, till my stomach muscles lock up and I'm unable to straighten. I can probably do about 30 more-or-less 'form' pushups. I can probably bench 250 right now. I probably can't run more than 400-800 yards (that's 2 laps on the high school track, folks). This from a guy who ran a 5:49 mile in high school and who walked out the door at Hudson High at a lean 185 the day I got my diploma.

Anyhow, on to my first couple go-rounds with the workouts, which I've eased into over the past week or 2: I thought what I'd do is try each one in kind of a 'round robin' format till I got the feel for what each workout is, and what kind of energy each one requires, as well as the equipment needs and setups of each workout. So it's a loose variant of P90X for now till I dive in.

I realize this is kind of "loose" but I needed to do this to get the feel for what I'm in for. So here's my quick take on my first 'trial' effort with each of the workouts:

Chest & back - first tried this right out of the gate when I got the discs and it torched me. I'm used to heavy weights but lots of rest. Cycling immediately between multiple reps and sets of pullups (assisted) and pushup variations, I found, burnt me out quick. So I vowed to try and improve and come back better each time. I've done this one about 2 times and found it gets a little better so far.

Plyo-couldn't make it thru the first time about a month ago. I'll post how I do on it this time, this week when I attempt it again. Metcon stuff kills me at 235.

Shoulders and arms - this one was tough but I swallowed my pride, dropped weights down significantly and made it thru. T-shirt was drenched when I got done. Shoulders smoked and felt it in my biceps the next day

Legs & back - this one has you doing one-legged squats and wall-sits and all sorts of squats. I didn't make it all the way thru this one the first go-round.

Kenpo-this one made me sweat like a dog but I made it thru. Some of the advanced ounch combos had me flailing around like a wild man. But it again drenched my t-shirt.

Tomorrow, good Lord willing, I'll try out Chest & Back and try to get some semblance of a training routine going for real this time.

Yoga-haven't tried it yet.

Ab Ripper X - haven't tried it yet - I've been too chicken. Will try it soon and just try and make it thru.

So that's my first run-thru of the workouts. I hope to pick this up in earnest, starting this week. I know I'll face derailments and challenges as I go, and just try my best to work thru them.

News after I get done tomorrow.
 
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I'm also gonna lay out some goals, realistic or not:

Weight - I'd like to get down to about 210-215. Based on the calipers I'm about 30% so about 210 is where I'd need to be, by my reckoning, to be in the low teens.

Bodyfat % - Don't know how low I can go here. Never really tracked it, never really knew what mine was, even when I was 25. I'd guess I've never in my life been in single-digit BF% and don't know genetically how reasonable this is, so I'm going to see where this goes before committing to something unreasonable. I've got a big frame, not a fat guy, but if you saw me you'd say I was a big guy.

Running - I'd like to run a 10k again someday. In my 20s I could pump these out like it was nothing. Now I doubt I could run a mile all the way thru. It's one of my goals. Beyond that, maybe someday a half marathon...full marathon, let's not get carried away. Just yet.

Biking - I'm a big biker but at 235 I'm big, all right. Not fast - I think at my best I average 16-18 mph (which as all you cyclist know, isn't fast-anythin under 22-25 mph is not fast!). Last big biking event was Pedal to the Point 3 seasons ago, summer of 2006. Since then I've marginally been involved with the bike.

Weights - someday, SOMEDAY, I wouldn't mind aiming for a 300 in the bench.
Beyond that, maybe a 300 lb squat and a 350 deadlift would be something to shoot for. But that's down the road.

All in all, I just want to get back an active lifestyle...playing softball and league basketball, and being the active man I know I should be. I want to be doing it when I'm 70, too!!

Have I mentioned I'm an active professional with a family who doesn't have a ton of extra time?

We'll see where this thing takes me. Till next time, cheers.
 
Tonight it's chest and back.

Right now I'm at about 15 pushups in all their variations. I do assisted (band) pullups, which consist of a couple of McMaster-Carr 1-1/2 inch pallet bands strung over a pullup bar to provide some assist. That, and a slight hop at the beginning/bottom of the move, is what propels me over. I'd say I do about 10 pullups in this fashion and break down to 7 or 8 at the end when I'm tired.

Lawnmowers and Heavy pants, I'm at about 25 lbs...yeah I know it's feeble, but in the couple times I've tried this workout I find I'm already able to 'think about' moving up 5 lbs. I envision I will add a lot of resistance on the lawnmowers and heavy pants, especially since they're moves I am used to.

Will see. Diet's under construction. Overall I eat pretty 'clean', but not by any kind of bodybuilding standards. I drink very little alcohol. I do enjoy an occasional treat' and try not to deny myself TOO much.

News tonight when I get C&B done! Hang tight everyone.
 
Chest & Back is in the can.

Chest and back tonight...

Overall felt pretty good tonight. I was gassed and didn't get started till 8 pm. But I was able to get into this program and get up and moving on it pretty quickly.

Just a quick breakdown of notes on the 12 moves over 2 rounds: I won't post weights and reps as that would take me all night.

-most of the pushup variations I was able to move up about 5 on. I managed about 20 on each of the styles except diamonds, which just torch me. With standard, military, wide and declines I was able to hit 20 the first round and had to drop back to 15 on some of these in the second round. I'd say the second round about half the pushup variations had me at 20 and the other half I did 15.

Pullups just ain't my gig. I've noted I used pallet bands and do highly assisted versions of the pullups. Even so, second round I was down to about 7 or 8 even with a slight hop and with the band assist. I've made the commitment to improve my pullups and I'm sure if I can drop some baggage, even 5 lbs, my pullup numbers will go up by a lot.

I also hate the divebombers. It's at best awkward; at worst I'm flopping like a beached whale. I try my best but in the second round I got maybe 3 or 4 halfway decent ones. I'll try to mod these or sub something else till I can get the hang of them. IF you've ever watched Navy SEALs, these are those kind of pushups they do...down low under the fence then up high toward the sky.

I was most happy with my lawnmowers and heavy pants. I went up to 30 on heavy pants and lawnmowers and even went 35 on the second round of lawnmowers with 20 reps. Clearly I need to move up the weight here, substantially, as I should only be getting, in my mind at least, 10-15 reps. I could have done 35 for more reps, I do believe. I'm trying not to go crazy and move up too fast, though.

All in all this workout's hard but I feel my cardio is getting better; just the process of transitioning the exercises and moving between sets is getting easier. I'll have to speed up. I may end up either working faster or doing more side stuff. I felt almost like at times I was resting TOO much...did I really say that? All I can say is, first time I did this I was turning purple and gasping for air...now, I'm still gasping but I can form logical thoughts in my head, whereas before I think I saw purple elephants dancing across my garage floor.

Plyo tomorrow..get your puke bucket ready. MY goal for plyo tomorrow is "survive". I've never made it thru plyo yet, so I want to pace, pace, pace and push 'pause' if I have to.
 
Tony Horton is a great motivator. Corny as all get out, sure! I think I can recite his jokes before he even says 'em, just a few workouts into the program...but that kind of stuff doesn't bother me, and there's no denying it works. If I can stick this out, there's no doubt it will yield results. The key for me is gonna be 'diet'. I may do the best I can first round then really tweak this in later weeks/rounds.


But, dude's in shape for a 51 year old man.
 
I'm still here, but this week the spaghetti's hit the fan. That's the trouble with working out...life goes crazy, then it's impossible to keep things going.
I will pick this back up. But doing Plyo at 10pm after a 12-13 hour day is counterproductive, to say the least, to me. So ONCE AGAIN, I've had to back off.
 
Starting to wonder if maintaining a regular (and sane) workout schedule is within the capabilities of a 46 year old busy professional with a family. It's got me bugged right now, not sure what the answer is, and I'll get back on the saddle soon.
 
I'm almost wondering if there's not a "layup" workout I can do on those crazy0busy days, just to keep "in it" yet not have the pressure to do 60-90 minutes when you don't have 60 to 90 minutes to give.
 
Back on the saddle today.
I did plyo and this was really my first time thru this one, all the way.
All I can say is, it's a butt-kicker for a large mammal like me. I sweated and grunted and hit 'pause' when I needed to...I have a HR monitor and it topped out over 150 several times.

As tanked as I was at the end of the workout, I think once I'm in some semblance of shape, I'll be even more crushed at the end. I simply didn't have much juice today and my goal was just to make it all the way thru. I certainly didn't "light it up" in any way, and some of the hopping movements made me feel like a walrus.

Some of the movements I suspect I will get much better at as I work thru this a couple times. I know that any kind of jumping movement that had me switching 180 degrees, fron to back, pretty much blew me up in nothing flat. A lot of this stuff reminds me of the old football rope drills and agility movements we used to do. Trouble is, have I told you that it's 30 years later?

I can see some of this might be tweak on the ol' knees so I'll have to watch this closely. Maybe some assistance work on the leg extensions will help here. It's a lot of lateral twisting and jumping and landing, so I'll have to monitor. Still, there's no denying this workout blew me up, and my t-shirt was drenched all the way thru at the end. I'm thinking this one, once a week, will be just what I need.

Anyhow, on to the next week. I think it's yoga tomorrow if I'm not mistaken.
 
MY bad. It's not yoga, it's shoulders and arms.

I made it through this workout OK last time, nothing special. We'll see how it goes tonight.
 
Thinking about this more, I think what I'll end up doing here is, I'll~attempt~ to follow P90X to my best ability this first round, with some mods and adjustments thrown in...meaning, on the days I can't make it, I'll try my best to sub a smaller, quieter, easier workout in.

Hey, something is much better than nothing.
 
I know this makes me a P90X heathen, and it's probably why I'm only moderately fit, but I gotta take a night off. IT doesn't make me Olympic material, but I'll pick it up again tomorrow night. Job's going crazy with 11-12 hour days and mentally I just am not there. So I'll pick up the ball again tomorrow.
 
Boy, this thread should've been titled "Oldline70 Makes Excuses for Not Doing P90X"...I'll get back on the horse as soon as I can. I know enough at this stage in life not to beat myself up TOO badly.

Want to get some motivation? Google "Mike Barwis" and look at a couple of his videos and read about the man. That man motivates ME.
 
And, in other news, Oldline70 takes on P90X and gets creamed!

Did chest and back last night. Managed to move up several reps on most of the movements. The only one that's not really improving THAT much is the pullups, or maybe it's just not that obvious to me yet.

On lawnmowers and heavy pants, moved up another 5 lbs each as well as more reps. At this rate I will need a small bus with a handle on top to do these exercises before long. Tony's not kidding when he says eventually 50 pounds might not be enough for this exercise! I can definitely see 90-95 lbs in the realm of possibility some day, good Lord willing.

Pushups-got better; starting to be able to 'jam' on these

Divebombers - got better. Finally figured out part of what I was doing wrong was that I did not have my feet wide enough apart. Form tweak.

Also I realized I've been doing the back flyes wrong since the start of P90X - arms are supposed to be virtually straight! This will cut the weight considerably. I've nver been a fan of flyes of all types for this reason-can't handle very much weight - but I'll go with the flow for the sake of 'ol Tony and the gang.

Also I checked out Ab Ripper X and it's going to be a butt-kicker - Made it thru a couple exercises and basically locked up my stomach, which is nothing more that I expected. Get the puke bucket ready!

I gotta get more 'regular' with this. Too many missed workouts. Oh well, I'm doin the best I can. More later...
 
Want to start adding Ab Ripper X to the end of the workouts as prescribed. I haven't been doing ARX because I think it's too much for me...but I know full well the only way to get better is to lose the ego and humble thyself.

I can definitely see 34 jeans in my future IF I dedicate myself to this ARX routine.
 
Also, I can see how it's possible to finish C&B before the DVD is completed...because I'm not in as good of shape as Tony and gang, I don't do as many reps on many exercises thus finish faster...I'm going to try tweaking the amount of rest in between sets, walking a fine line between controlled agony and total blowup.
 
I'm still here...but the working out isn't what it should be.
I'm not 21 anymore and can't dedicate hours a day to this goal, passionate though I may be.
I'm still figuring how to make this work without either a)dying in a pool of my own bile in the middle of my garage floor or b) totally giving up the ship and taking up badminton. This has been a historic problem for me, one that I have a hard time dealing with (apparently many of you out there, also). It's just darn hard fitting in being a full-time CPA with being a full-time husband, dad, and homeowner. There just doesn't seem to be enough time for everythig, but I can promise I'll be back soon to try again.

I haven't given up, but I have to "find the line" and find a way to just push play.
 
Maybe the answer is a modified 4-day a week plan. But that seems like the "wuss" way out. I'm still not sure what the right answer is.
 
Did 30 minutes of cardio DVD last night with my honey. This was the "Biggest Loser" video with the show's Bob Harper. This is my 'fall back' workout; it's not an hour, and it's not P90X, but it's SOMETHING to get this going again.

This DVD can be a butt-kicker if you let it. Picked it up last year in the clearance isle at Wal-Mart for under $10 but it does the trick, if you put in the effort (isn't it funny how all these DVD programs ACTUALLY WORK if you put in the effort?? LOL) Right now I'm at the 30-minute option to get something on the books for a workout. It's all cardio, aerobic, metcon type stuff with not real heavy dummbells where they use them - the routine's too fast moving to hoist any kind of serious weight - but still, at the end I'm sweating like a pig and sucking serious air. The 'fast feet' portion really gets the blood pumping. For all you old football/wrestler type dudes, you know the drill...stand in place, get into breakdown position and chop your feet quickly..then 'jump' 180 degrees and do ti the other way-for a couple intervals. Man, it gets me going every time.

I think I'll make this a 2 or 3 time a week option and try to do P90X the rest of the time.

Side note- my honey noticed the improvement I had on THIS video, from having done P90x - her comment was "man honey that P90x must be working for you - you were moving around and keeping up with the video much better than last winter when we did this" - which was back last winter when I wasn't doing P90X. She was noticing the difference in my build and body composition just from the limited time I've done P90X. Flatter belly, more muscle definition in hte shoulders and arms, even only after several times on the P90X program.

Imagine what could be achieved on the P90X program if I did it full-blast, like I should be doing??
 
Checked out the Concept2 rowing ergometer at a local Y last night...love those things. This MIGHT be on Santa's list for this year. Another cardio option is never a bad thing.
 
Chest and back tonight.

Yeah, I know...dude, do something in P90x besides C&B all the time!
But I HAD to get something going tonight, after what amounts to a short layoff, and I wasn't thinking cardio was the way to go. I needed some strength, so I did this one.

Gotta admit, I've been less than regular about the whole P90x program, and I was down a bit in reps and overall energy level from my previous high a week ago. Don't know if it's the layoff, or if it's the job, or what...but I definitely wasn't jamming quite like I did in the last workout with the pushups. I try to justify it and say maybe my form was better? But I really am not sure that it was.

Did go up 5 lbs in heavy pants. Raised reps at same weight in lawnmowers. But pushups were flat to slightly down, and pullups continue to challenge. I won't complain, though, because the workout still whipped my butt and I was challenged. I think my main thing that I have to work on here is timing. I am not doing 30-40 reps on some of the pushups so I get more rest in between the pushup-pullup phase of this workout which lowers the intensity.

I'd like to be more regular about this whole P90X thing but it IS demanding. Some nights it's all I can do to get something in. Still continuing to strive for more though.

EDIT: Gotta start looking for heavier dumbbells than the 40's I have now. Looking at making some 45s-50s-55s on up, or finding a real good blowout sale on hexes somewhere, even (or especially) used.
 
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Man, I am amazed of how different I feel the day after these C&B workouts!

I've just GOT to find a way to stay hooked into this, just got to!
 
Got another one of those 'man what are you doing, you look different' comments yesterday.
I think I like this P90X thing better all the time.
 
Legs and Back last night.

This was actually the first time I've tried the workout. I tried this one about a month ago and couldn't make it through at that time. This time I vowed to stick with it and see what the outcome would be.

And the outcome was, it's a kicker. All sorts of squat and lunge variations that had me sweating like a dog about halfway through-so much so I had to change t-shirts.

I'll be totally honest, I didn't use ANY weight this first time, this being my first real go-around with L&B. I wanted to a)see if I could make it through and b)not have the pressure (literally and figuratively) of trying to use a weight when I'm not that familiar with some of the variations. I'm not crazy about weighted lunges when you're not familiar with the special nuances they have you doing.

The wall-sits killed me. I think I'd have cried if it would have done me any good. Those 'lunges' where you use your toes instead of the heels and extend your arms were awkward, not sure I dig the 'up-on-the-toes' part, I may just sub out a standard lunge - seems too tweaky on the knees. But we'll see how it goes.

Pullups - ah those were about the same-and it wasn't about getting a lot of pullups in this workout for me, it was about finishing and experiencing L&B and making it through.

Chair salutations nearly killed me - man, my flexibility in getting my arms overhead has to improve!

Overall I felt like I had to modify about 25% and I didn't use weight. But I DID make it through.

Those lunges have me torched, though. Think I'll keep going on this. I'm an old man so I don't think every day is the right answer for me, but maybe 3-4 times a week till I get the hang of this, and it might take some time, coming off what's been a sedentary existence recently. I'm feeling 'different' already. I might do some kind of active rest day in between P90X to keep it moving without having to pound 2-3 hard exercise days back-to-back, which might be over the top for me, at this point anyhow.
 
Can you say "DOMS" (delayed onset muscle soreness)?

I think I'm worse off today than I was yesterday. My legs ain't functionin'.

Gonna try to get something on the books tonight. I was gonna go last night but I couldn't...I just couldn't.

EDIT: Two full days later, as I write this, my calves still hurt like ****.
 
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Finally on the wagon again yesterday with Kenpo.
Look, I know this first 'round', if you can call it that, is not exactly what one would call "P90X". Doing a limited routine, maybe twice a week, is not what's intended. I'm fine with that. I know enough about myself that I need a long runway before I take off on stuff like this.
Even with the limited involvement I've had with P90X I can see changes, and that's what I am looking for, changes. I couldn't keep doing my usual multi-sets of bench presses, curls and triceps extensions, with 30-60 minutes on an exercise bike, year-in, year -out and expect to see anything different.

I think one of the major 'things' un-fit, obese people have to overcome, and I am one of them, is the inertia to just get in there and get in A workout. Not THE workout, not a PERFECT workout, but SOMETHING. That's what drove my hesistancy with P90X to begin with, and it's something I am working thru now. Just get in there and do your best! YEs, it will suck, but probably not as bad as you think. At one point in my life I knew this but I've had to re-learn it.

Anyhow, with that said, todays Kenpo wasn't too bad. In some ways I find Kenpo probably the easiest of the DVDs and I needed to get something in the books so I started with this.

Lots of punches and kick combinations - I'm not real good with any of them yet but they make me sweat like a dog in my garage. I have trouble with the more advanced punch and kick combos, especially when they start slow and by rep 25 they are going screaming fast. I feel at a disadvantage becuase it is obvious a lot of Tony's crew on the video obviously have some martial arts background. Other than talking about my flailing around, there's not much to talk about with Kenpo, though. Great workout and today as I write this, I feel the stimulation in my shoulder girdle from all the punches and my hips feel the kicks.

Going to TRY plyo today if all goes well. Trying to ramp it up, in other words. More news later.
 
Got plyo in the books today with my honey.

I don't think this one will EVER get easy. I had to push 'pause' a couple times and modify some of the exercises - I'm not exactly an airborne animal - and those 180 degree twists aren't quite my cup of tea just yet - so I did the best I could and was drenched in sweat at the end. Some of those squat jump combos are h*** on me so I do the best I can. At 230 plus (I'm guessing since I haven't weighed myself lately) I am not a jumping, twisting machine QUITE yet.

I think what I am most thrilled about is that we are back on track with this, and I got 2 consecutive days in the books. Will try and build on this for next time. Aiming for 4 times a week till I'm ready to add more.
 
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