Day 1...UGH!

I finally started P90X Extreme Home Fitness today. I can't explain the trepidation I felt, the intimidation, going into this thing. I heard so many people tell me how intense it is. One of my longest-term friends commented upon my Facebook mention, "Get your old ass some ibuprofen and Ben-Gay!" And he is an extremely fit body-builder, two-time cancer survivor, muscle-head dude! If it was tough for him, then I'm really in for it! So I planned to start Saturday. Then I planned to start Sunday. Finally I sat myself down and gave myself a talking-to, got my head out of my ass and made myself promise myself that Monday I would, as the P90X workout trainer and all the literature stress, just push play.

It was a weird sensation as the DVD started. During the warm-up I felt this unexpected emotional surge, and I was almost in tears as I started to move! I don't know if it was just a dose of personal pride, or a sense of accomplishment (I finally pushed play!), or maybe the same sensation as on the first day of Air Force basic training: "What the hell have I gotten myself into?!" But I felt blubbery. ...Emotionally.

The first workout is chest and back. Naturally. The first day, and I would be running back and forth between the TV and the bathroom to do the chin-up bar exercises!

Along with the workout DVDs, I ordered resistance bands. They're used in place of dumbbells, since a full set of dumbbells costs as much as you would think a full set of dumbbells would cost. A couple of the chest and back exercises use the resistance bands where you stand on the band and adjust the stretch length between your foot/feet and hand(s) to maximize the workout. Thus far, with only one workout under my belt, the resistance bands are proving cumbersome, and they slow everything down...not like my fat carcass wasn't already slowing things down. I pressed pause so many times I think my remote felt like it was getting a workout!

And yes, the workout is intense. Tony Horton, the trainer on camera, instructs and directs, and he gives tips and breaks to those who, he realizes, aren't as fit as the people on the set with him. "If you need a break, take one!" "Proper form over number of reps!" Meaning, he'd rather you keep your body in the right, safe position or range of motion for the exercise and achieve a low number of repetitions than for you to try to reach the number of reps you set as your goal and risk injuring yourself. Of course, it's a little discouraging when the people on the set bark out their goal reps at "20!" or "30!" and I manage to grunt out seven.

Horton gives an out on the pull-ups by suggesting the use of a chair. With the chair a foot or two in front of you, and with one foot on the seat or the back of the chair, you can assist yourself in the pull-ups. It's a "legal" cheat, and it allowed me to complete several sets of the various pull-ups (wide set palms forward, close set palms forward, and close set palms rearward). But today, push-ups were my bane. He does six different types of those: standard, military-style, wide set, "diamond heart" (index fingertips and thumbs of either hand touching, to form a diamond- or heart-shape), decline (with feet on a chair), and "dive-bomber." The last is a wide hand and feet stance push-up, but, from the up position, you angle your body downward, nose-first, lower your chest to the floor, and rock forward, raising your head and chest while your pelvis lowers to the floor. It seems very sexual. He called out "under the fence!" as he did them the first time.

Yes. The first time.

There were about 12 different exercises (maybe more!) that he rocked through in 30 minutes. The workout is one hour long. So he goes through them again, in a different order! Important here is that he frequently tells the video viewer not to beat him- or herself up if unable to match the video exercisers' achievements, or even if unable to reach their own goals. He says that it comes with time and persistence. He added that the first month is brutal, and encourages the viewer to stick with it, and the improvements will come.

I got all choky again.

Finally the chest and back workout was over. He ends it with a brief cool-down and then a yoga-like breathing exercise on all fours. I crawled slowly over to the workout guide and looked at Day 1 and read, "Chest and Back; Ab Ripper X."

WTF?!

Sure enough, Ab Ripper X started a few seconds after the Chest and Back video ended. Sure enough, the Day 1 workout is both Chest and Back, AND Ab Ripper X.

I am so glad there was no camera on me today as I flopped and flailed trying to duplicate the exercises these people were doing on my TV. Already zapped from the Chest and Back workout, I could barely lift my legs or do a sit-up to even half the pace of the chiseled chunks on the video set! But I did feel the burn...or rather the muscle failure. In some cases it felt like I don't even have muscles in the places where I need them for the exercises! But I'm sure I'll feel them tomorrow!

By the end, the extent of my abdominal exercise was lying on my back and breathing heavily in a pool of sweat on my yoga mat. Getting up was optional after the workout ended.

But get up I did, and as I rolled up the mat, and Tony Horton was encouraging me to stick with it, I felt that lump in my throat again, and this time I almost lost it! WTF?!

I think it's just that I feel purchasing P90X was the right decision. The exercises are close to what George, my personal trainer last year, had me doing. There are no gimmicks beyond the occasional entreaty to use their dietary supplements, there are no fancy gadgets or machinery required to purchase in order to make the workouts work. It's just your own determination to "bring it" to your own home workout space, and your own dedication to see yourself through to the body and/or the level of fitness you want to achieve.



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