This morning I decided to get some extra sleep, rather than roll out of bed and do X Stretch. I was up pretty late last night watching the Chiefs get their first preseason win since 2008 (yay), so I needed the rest. I may still do X Stretch tonight, or I may not. No biggie either way, really. I’ve done the optional X Stretch 5 times already, and my flexibility has gotten much better so I can afford to take this one off.

So there you go, my first missed workout in 40 days. Kind of sucks, but the timing was good. Kenpo X was the next day, and then a rest day after that, so Ab Ripper X could still be done after Kenpo without messing up my schedule.

Fast forward to this morning. I was feeling much better and completed it without any real issues. Hopefully I’m feeling well enough tonight for that missed Ab Ripper X workout, because it’s going to get done one way or another, even if I have to hit pause after every single one of the 339 reps.

As I mentioned, Kenpo X went well. I’ve started wondering if this was meant to be a lower intensity workout, or effectively a semi-recovery day. It’s just so easy in comparison to every other workout, not counting X Stretch. If that were the case, I’m curious as to why it would be placed right before a rest day, rather than switched with Plyo or Yoga. My guess is that this probably wasn’t the case, and it just turned out to be easier than anticipated. Too bad, I think I would have really enjoyed a super intense and hardcore Kenpo workout.

This morning’s Legs & Back workout went much better than the past two weeks, despite the fact that I wasn’t feeling great this morning. I managed to increase weight on most of the exercises, crank out 1-2 extra pullups in each set, and come away not quite feeling like I’m going to pass out (maybe one notch above that.)

Ab Ripper X tonight. I crushed it on Monday, completing all of the In & Outs, Bicycles (forward and backward), Wide-leg sit-ups, Hip rock and raises, V-Up rollups, and leg climbs. Unfortunately I missed a few reps on the Mason Twists at the end, but it’s all good. Fifer Scissors are still hard as hell.

Day 36 – Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps makes me feel like a wuss probably moreso than any other workout in P90X. I’m pretty good at pushups, just not when I have to do about 10 sets of them in about 40 minutes. By the last variation, I’m lucky to squeeze out 2 reps from my knees before collapsing.

Day 37 – Plyometrics
I’m noticing something crazy with Plyometrics. The first few times I did Plyo my heartrate was easily staying in the 180’s and even reaching the 190’s at times. Lately, I’ve started seeing it dip into the 170’s a lot more, despite bringing it. Hopefully this is my heart and lungs starting to think, “Just another day of work.”

Day 38 – Back & Biceps
This morning’s Back & Biceps routine went really well and I was able to increase the weights in most of the exercises.

Day 33 – Legs & Back
This workout killed me before the rest week, and killed me even more on Wednesday after not doing it for 2 weeks. I had to wait a few hours to do Ab Ripper X because I was so spent.

Day 34 – Kenpo X
Brought it with full intensity the whole time. I have to ignore the karate guy in the video, Wesley Idol. He’s kind of fat and really lazy with the moves for someone who helped create the workout.

Day 35 – X Stretch
Yikes. I figured I could get away with skipping my normal banana + protein shake before every workout since it’s just stretching, but I felt really drained considering how easy X Stretch is. I definitely won’t be doing that anymore.

Day 30 – Plyometrics
Whoa. One week without Plyo was enough to make me forget how brutal it is. Fortunately, my cardio didn’t seem to take a dip and I was able to complete it again without pausing. I also finished with collapsing to the floor and laying there for a few minutes as usual.

Day 31 – Back & Biceps
I actually did the Back & Biceps workout once before I started P90X, so it wasn’t completely new, though it had been so long ago that I didn’t remember anything about it.

One interesting note: at the very end of the workout, after already doing about 12+ sets of bicep exercises, Tony Horton was curling 45 lb. dumbbells. My arms were completely dead at that point and I was struggling with 12.5 lbs. That guy is an absolute machine.

Day 32 – Yoga X
Yoga X is awesome, and I feel like a million bucks when I finish it. That’s about all there is to say.

Around halfway through the workout, Tony Horton announces that it’s time to do one-handed pushups. I was thinking, “Is he joking?” Nope, he was serious.  I managed about six half-assed ones from my knees. Had that been the very first exercise, maybe I’d be able to squeeze out one or two legit reps (probably not).

I keep practicing crane whenever I think to do it. I must have held it for about 15 seconds at one point today.

X Stretch was what it was as usual: a lot of stretching. My flexibility is still increasing, though not as much as it did from weeks 1 to 2.

The crane pose from Yoga is starting to become a new obsession. I practiced 3-4 times last night, and then again this morning after I finished X Stretch. I’m feeling much more confident now that I’ll be able to do the full 60 seconds sooner than later. Maybe I’ll get it this weekend.

I even managed to do this for a good 6-7 seconds today:

That’s the crane pose. In the 90+ minutes of Yoga X, it’s the one move that I haven’t been able to do whatsoever. Not anymore. I’m confident the 6-7 seconds I managed this morning will lead to the full 60 by the time I finish P90X. Consider that a goal.

Tomorrow is a rest/X Stretch day and then I’m officially finished with Phase 1. Sunday, I will be exactly 1/3 through the program. Go me.

Yoga X tomorrow, Rest/X Stretch Friday, and then I’m finished with Phase 1 of P90X. Whoa.