P90X: Day 1 - Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X

Date: 01/22/2011
Workout: Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X
Day 1

My goodness! Ab Ripper X is one heckuva workout! I thought I’d always been good with abdominal exercises, but this one set me straight. Not so good. However, after about 45 minutes of cooling down, showering, and eating lunch, I’m starting to feel a little better; but don’t get me wrong – my midsection was burning! As for the Chest & Back workout, it was definitely tough as I expected. However, it seemed to go by quickly. It’s definitely beneficial having the countdown timer on the bottom of the screen to serve as some encouragement as the workout goes on.

One of the main lessons I learned, and I learned it early on, was that I need to pace myself. I had watched the video yesterday and also today, and I had heard them preach pacing yourself. However, I wanted to make sure early on that I was getting the most out of my workout, and I found myself going to failure instead of getting an amount of reps that caused a burn but not exhaustion (yet). My numbers the second half of the workout definitely decreased, especially the pull-ups. However, I still made sure I worked on them and used the chair as much as possible, when needed.

I was pretty nervous leading up to the workout. I wanted to get new pictures taken since the ones I took before my Fit Test didn’t come out very well (poor lighting, bad focus, etc.), so my parents came over on their way home from the store and helped take the photos. I was very pleased with those. My parents stayed over for a bit, and my dad and I watched Ohio State’s basketball team beat Illinois. I put off the workout until I was done watching the basketball game on TV, and once my parents left it took me a few more minutes to finally say “Alright, it’s time to get started.” However, I’m glad that I did it. Now that I know what I’m getting into, it may be somewhat difficult to get the DVD going every day. However, I can guarantee that the burn and intensity of the workout has me 100% convinced that the results you see on the television and on the internet are REAL and can definitely be achieved through this program as long as it is followed correctly. I have worked out enough in my life to know what a good, effective workout feels like, and P90X absolutely fits that title.

Going forward the hardest thing will be finding time to get my workout in every day when 1) I have a basketball game on a week night or 2) I am staying at my girlfriend’s apartment on the weekend. However, I think as long as I don’t need a pull-up bar, I’ll be able to move weights in my car to wherever I’ll be to make sure I can perform the exercises. Right now I am filling up with a banana and some approved protein foods to refill my body within my diet as set forth in the nutrition guide. I am not going with the P90X supplements since I’ve never been high on any supplements in my life. I’ve always wanted to be “all natural” and get the best “all natural” results as possible without any abnormal assistance.

We’ll see how tomorrow goes, but I’m feeling good about this!