P90x Day 1: Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

P90X Day 1:

I survived the fitness test without problems and upon ensuring my Biofreeze (think Icy Hot or Ben Gay except Biofreeze works) supply was adequate and the hot tub was hot embarked upon Chest & Back. All the company's lawyers are probably screaming about right now, but with a baker's dozen of surgeries, lots of injuries from previous attempts at physical fitness now all explained away and fixed, I've got the docs' and physical therapists' clearance to go for it, especially if I can stick with it, basically anything that doesn't lead to another injury and the treating guys know that I know enough to prevent injuries by now.

WTH, feeling a burn during the warm-up? That's no fair! I'm not supposed to be regretting my decision before the first ten minutes!

I'm gonna get another dumbbell to make the push-ups easier on my poor wrists. All the push-ups I did on my knees (note, get kneepads or a thicker pillow), and I had a pillow under my chin, great for if I collapsed or when taking a break. I don't have my bands yet and can't do a pull-up to save my life, so I simulated the motion. On the heavy pants, I found ten pounds to be inadequate so upped it to 12.5 pounds (I'm not insane yet) and carried that 12.5 throughout the rest.

I'm not quite certain how to do the dive-bombers on one's knees, so I attempted them without being on the knees. I could do the up or the down, just not the slide. Fortunately, my fat required enough ground clearance to keep me from going too low. Having water available is a good idea, too, it makes there be less acid when you puke your guts out afterwards.

I thought I was doing wonderful, though wondered why we'd reached the end of the page and the video wasn't over with. And I'd been hearing the hints about there being a second round. Oh great...

I'm not doing this to get ripped right now. It'd be nice to have a sculpted body, but due to the numerous sculpting made by doctors to repair things, I'd just be happy to survive the program for 21 days. As many instructors have taught me, do something for 21 repetitions and it'll be a habit.

Halfway through the second round, in the middle of a push-up, both the bladder and the body gave up. Time to go, NOW! With a hot-flash kicker. The program has a pause button, alas, the bladder decreed I not take the time to press it. Fortunately, rewind and fast forward work. See, I can work up a sweat without doing anything!

I do like how the program mixes it up so it's not always the girl being a wuss by using the bands. Finally, at long last, not quite gasping for breath as I am not absolutely pushing it (next time through), I was done...

Or so I thought, again the program kicked me in the rear.... Ab Ripper X, WT*? I hit pause, check the schedule, and yeah, it's there. Okay, I've already got the stuff out, so here we go.

Put your feet in the air, and with a rope to support that? Are you supposed to see daylight between your legs and the ground for those moves? Twenty-five reps, hah! I did 8, 10, 5, none but sitting there laughing hysterically (hey, laughing hysterically uses the abs too!), but I tried every one of them.

Now, if I survive the night, I have Plyometrics to look forward to tomorrow. Eighty-nine days to go... Wait... 20 days to go, there, that sounds better.

I think everyone will enjoy the irony that as I suffered along with the program, my little iRobot was busy vacuuming the other room.