Day 29 - Chest, Shoulders & Triceps / Ab Ripper X
So today I embarked on the second phase and fifth week of my first P90X round. And with that came a new workout to get acquainted with. So there was quite a bit of an adjustment period after finally sort of mastering of some sorts the previous
sets of exercises, now it's time to learn a new set. No problem. Lets take a look at the numbers, then I will go into a bit of detail about the workout. Like before, the list is as follows: "Exercise: Number of Reps." Also, keep in mind that I retained using the Red band (35#) and Push-Ups are still done "Granny Style."
Slow Motion 3-in-1 Push-Ups: 12 (+5 bonus)
In & Out Shoulder Flys: 17
Chair Dips: 21
Plange Push-Ups: 18
Pike Press: 9
Side Tri-Rises: 16 left, 15 right
Floor Flys: 24
Scarecrows: 8
Overhead Tricep Extensions: 11
Two-Twitch Speed Push-Ups: 12 fast, 6 slow
Y-Press: 12
Tricep Extensions: 15
Side-to-side Push-Ups: 10
Pour Flys: 12
Side-Leaning Tricep Extensions: 10 left, 12 right
One-Arm Push-Ups: 10
Weighted Circles: 20 forward, 18 backward
Throw the Bomb: 11 left, 11 right
Clap Push-Ups: 10
Slo-Mo Throws: appx. 10
Front-to-Back Tricep Extensions: 5 left-front, 5 left-back/5 right-front, 5 right-back
One-Arm Balance Push-Ups 10
Fly Row Presses: 6
Dumbbell Cross-Body Blows: 24
Wow. This was some humdinger of a workout! Although I feel like I didn't give it as much intensity as I could've because I was doing a lot of these exercises for the first time and learning as I went along. But it was still quite a workout.
The Slow Motion 3-in-1 Push-Ups certainly got the ball rolling without a hint of ease. Even on the knees it was tough. My arms were trembling already and I was just getting started. I was wondering if I was gonna make it through the whole thing starting off like this. But I chugged along.I was familiar with the In & Out Shoulder Fly and Chair Dips because they were in a previous workout so I got through those okay. My hand position on the Plange Push-Ups felt a bit awkward, but I managed to get a few done despite that. The Pike Press was very challenging. I couldn't get down very low with it and I could feel my arms starting to buckle a bit, so I did as many as I could before coming out of it. And again Side Tri-Rise was familiar and on par with the last time I did them.
On the Floor Fly I opted to lift my wide hand instead of sliding. Got through the set surprisingly well, although I did have to take a short break about 3/4 of the way through. Scarecrow was a little awkward and kinda hard too. Only manged to squeeze out a few of those. Triceps Extensions was another one I was familiar with, so it was on par.
The Two-Twitch Speed Push-Ups were a bit of a monster. The fast ones were much easier to deal with than the slow ones. I had to break during the second slow set, then picked up again on the third fast set. Once I got my positioning down on the Y-Press, got a good set completed. Followed by a set of the familiar Triceps Extensions. Then a very, very much appreciated Ballistic Stretch break (or a Water/Towel Off/THEN Ballistic Stretch break for me).
The Side-to-Side Push-Ups were another set of challenge. I made it harder for myself by shifting my knees along with walking my hands from side to side. Next time I will keep the knees stationary and just walk the arms. Pour Fly was fairly done, even though I couldn't get my arms as high as I wanted. A good effort anyway. The Side Leaning was another one where I had to get my positioning with band settled before executing the exercise properly. It went okay after i got the swing of it.
I was quite dreading the One-Arm Push-Ups. But was sort of relieved that instead of consecutively, Tony has us switching the arms. That made it a little easier. I couldn't get very low, but I surprised myself that I was able to do what I did and made it to 10. Very happy with that. Raised the bands as far as I could on the Weighted Circle. Arms were about at 45 degrees, but there was enough band tension at that height to effectively complete the sets. Throw the Bomb was another one that I had to get my position bearings down before getting into it, but got a good set out of it.
The One-Arm Push-Ups gave me a bit of confidence going into the Clap Push-Up. Maybe a little too much as I nearly fell on my face on the first few. But I stopped, took a breath and focused. I know my back was way too high on this, but I rally wanted to make a good effort on this one, and I think I did. I got 10 fairly good ones completed. The Slo-Mo Throw, seated with the band was another one that was kinda awkward. I will need to work on that one a bit. Had to grasp the positioning again with the Front-to-Back Tricep Extensions, but pulled out a good set once I got it going. Could work on the upper arm position more, however.
One-Arm Balance Push-Ups is similar to the Reach High a
nd Unders from Core Syn, just without the reach under. So I again used my lower legs for leverage on the the sideways portion of this one. The Fly-Row-Press was not pretty at all. I had some real trouble getting the bands up in the press, so I only got a few of those done. A lighter band or free-weights would've come in handy here. And finished off fairly strong with the Dumbbell Cross-Body Blows. Could get a better extension on this one, and will work on that.
Ab Ripper X! Oh, how I (HAVEN'T) missed you!!! Yes, my old friend ARX makes its return after a recovery
week hiatus. This one was probably pretty much on par with the last one I did over a week ago. I did notice a marked improvement on the Wide Leg Sit-up. It's still a glorified crunch for me, but I got up much higher than I remember doing before, so that was kinda sweet! Even though I still tend to drop my lowered foot on the Fifer Scissor, I got through the whole set without breaking. Got a late start on the Hip Rock and Raise, but still managed probably my strongest set of those yet.I am still holding my legs on the Pulse-Ups, but getting a better "hop" on it. My Roll-Up/V-Up Combo is an ever evolving thing. I think I have done a different variation of it every time, so I am still trying to work that one out as I go along. I have sort of DEvolved on my Oblique V-Ups in that after starting to get my legs closer together before, they were wide again today. Probably because of the hiatus, I am sure I will get the closeness back again. The Leg Climb is one exercise that I haven't seen any real progress with. I would love to be able to get my upper body up higher, but so far it's still a struggle, so I just do the best I can here. And my feet are still on the floor during the Mason Twist, but I am getting closer to keeping up with Tony and Friends on this one.
A couple of tiny notes
Although I think I gave a good first effort on this workout, I found one thing very frustrating about this particular video. Tony & Crew would be well into each exercise before showing a good long clear shot of the guy in the back using the bands. Since I am also using the bands, I found myself having to wait to see what he was doing and then backtrack the DVD and then do the particular exercises. I am sure that after a few times I will have the motion down and this won't be an issue. It just sucked having to keep backtracking to make sure I was doing things correctly. It's a small gripe.
Todays song is "Understand" by Swing Out Sister. It popped into my head and wouldn't leave as I was typing this post, so I had to find it and share it. The video is just a still shot of the CD cover, but it's a great song. Enjoy! Plyo tomorrow!!
:^D
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