After taking four years off from working out, I am back in the game with P90X. It’s a holistic workout program that is really well-organized and challenging so that you can meet your fitness goals in 90 days, however modest or extreme they may be. As a former gymnast and collegiate athlete, many of the exercises are familiar to me, and so even though I haven’t performed many of them in nearly half a decade (wow!), my muscle memory has served me well and I’ve been able to jump right back in.
Though we’ve never really exercised together before, my husband and I decided back in November that we wanted to do this together because we both were disatisfied with how sedentary our lifestyles had become. He wrote a blog yesterday about the actual workout content and cycle, which you can read by clicking here. After two weeks of 6-day-a-week workouts, I feel really good. I probably don’t look much different or weigh anything different, but I feel lighter on my feet and in better control of my body. I commented to Brian last month that I couldn’t even feel my triceps muscles anymore because they had atrophied so much due to inactivity (read: All school all the time isn’t exactly a prescription for ripped triceps). After just two weeks of P90X, they’re coming back.
One thing I love about P90X is the variety of workouts. When I was a gymnast, I got used to doing the same conditioning list with 3 or 4 sets of the same exercises week in and week out. With this program, we do 2 sets of max reps for time (e.g., 2 sets of 1 minute max push-ups), and I’ve worked harder than I would if I was doing, say, 4 sets of 15. The variety takes place not only in the sets and exercises within the workout for the day, but also across the six days of workouts. It’s a combination of strength workouts, cardio, plyometrics (“jump training”), yoga, Kenpo karate, and stretching. My body feels like it’s being worked at from all angles, and I like it.
The only thing I don’t like so far about P90X is that they don’t really work the back. Yes, they label one of the workouts as a “back” workout, but really, you’re just working the upper back muscles, the ones that are technically part of your back because they lie on the posterior side of the top of your trunk. I’m talking about doing pull-ups and push-ups and calling that a “back workout.” Sure, you’re working your lats and rhomboids (and many other muscles you could name off), but those aren’t the back muscles that help support your posture throughout the day. I want a back workout that will strengthen my entire back, including the middle and lower back (I know the lats are a HUGE muscle that go down and around the back, but I sure don’t feel it all the way down and around my back when I’m doing pull-ups, you know what I mean?). As an athlete, we spent a lot of time caring for the lower back because, especially in a high-impact sport like gymnastics, if your lower back (and lower abs) wasn’t strong, then it made everything a lot harder, and pain was much more likely to occur. So I wish that the P90X “back” workouts included exercises such as laying face down on the floor and performing arching, lifting, pulsing, and rocking motions. I also wish that P90X worked the lower back because, in the Ab Ripper X workout that we do three times per week, we work our lower abs in a few exercises. When you strengthen the trunk muscles, you need to strengthen opposing sides: left/right, front/back. If P90X is going to set up its program so that we’ll be working our lower abs, then wouldn’t they also want to include strengthening for the lower back to balance it out?
As a student of Occupational Therapy, we have learned how important it is to strengthen and maintain the postural muscles, because they influence the body parts above and below them. Strong core postural muscles (including the lower abs and lower back) contribute to efficient body mechanics and conserved energy, with the shoulders and head remaining in a neutral position which requires minimal energy to maintain. However, weak core postural muscles can contribute to inefficient posture of the shoulder and head, and this can translate into lost energy, compensation, and pain. All because the core postural muscles are not properly strengthened. And don’t we all want more energy and less pain?
However, for the most part, I am enjoying the challenges and benefits of getting back into a workout program. Hopefully, after the 90 days are over, I’ll feel even healthier and lighter on my feet than I do now, and I’ll want to continue to incorporate holistic exercise into my daily routine in order to maintain that.
So for now, Brian and I will continue to “BRING IT!”
Time to go do stretching for our day off!
), the more I realize that many of us fail to use our lives to make a substantial impact on other people not because we’re mean and selfish, but because we are notintentional about making a difference with our lives. We get distracted with our own pursuits, and then without an ounce of malice we steadily become less and less aware of those around us. The result is a society of individualistic, lonely people, and that is not God’s ideal for humanity. This movie will inspire you to look outside of yourself and be intentional about caring for those around you who desperately need to know that they are loved.
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