Well, I made a little switch to my schedule. I swapped Thursday and Friday around. I had forgotten that I had moved Pickle-Ball to Friday, but even though there would be no Pickle-Ball this Friday, I wanted to keep the schedule. I also wanted to snag two off days from resistance training over the weekend. Upper body was still feeling the effects of The Challenge, especially in my Triceps. So I really wanted to do some focused lower body work. ChaLEAN Extreme is more of a synergistic program working both lower and upper body in each routine. But Tony focuses way more on one or two muscle groups with his resistance routines. From counting the worksheets, P90X3 has 6 resistance routines, Total Synergistics, Incinerator, 2 Eccentric, and 2 Complex. If I stick with my regular schedule, I hope to go through all six at least 3 times. Today was my return to focusing on my lower body. To sum up the experience... "OUCH!!!"
As I started, I looked at the bottom of the worksheet and saw "13" on the last move. I was thinking, "Ha! Only 13 moves, no wonder it's only 30 minutes. Easy stuff." Famous last words. I was also thinking that I wouldn't go too heavy with the weights. Which is why the first move is only 17kgs. I will go heavier next time, but I was thinking of this move as still a warm up move. I went down a little for the Lunges. And what I failed to see is that 10 of the 13 moves are double moves so I'm actually doing 23 moves. Anyway, back to the Lunges. Tony said at the beginning of the routine that Range of Motion is key, so I decided not to cheat on my range of motion. So, I went down until my back knee touched the floor. Going down that far was tough, but I was still fresh. Sumos were fine, and this time I went up to 22kgs. But it was easy because it was only with one dumbbell. Weighted Pistol worried me. This move looked really tough on the knees. I felt really unstable and I wasn't able to go down as far as I would have liked. Weight was average, but since my balance was off a bit, I was tilting and twisting at a weird angle as I went down. Also, I wasn't really able to "EXPLODE" up. I felt good on the first three moves, but the slow "3-count" then the exploding up on the Weighted Pistol move was almost impossible. I was able to come up faster than going down, but no exploding. Oh, I also mixed up the worksheet switching the weight number and rep number. Like an idiot, I did that for the next few moves. The next two moves were of the Cramping variety. They seem easy, but holding my leg up for that long, and then pushing the range of motion, I came recklessly close to cramping in my glutes.
Is there a difference between Albanian Squats and Bulgarian Lunges? They both have one leg back and elevated. I would guess that the Albanian should have the leg elevated but to the side instead of the back. But I went with Tony and just about hit a cramping failure again. And again, no exploding up. I could explode up if I didn't go as low as I did, but then again, working on range of motion. Almost cramped up with move 8. Adductor Lunge. I was breathless after both sides on this one. Holding those weights and controlling the movement so slowly, MAN, that is BRUTAL!!! Cross Reach was the one move in the later stages that I actually felt good and clean about... That is until about rep #8. From rep #9, the near cramping started to set in, and my lower back started screaming. But I muscled out the last couple reps. Thank goodness there were only 10 reps. Move 10. TT Plus was like move 9. fine to begin, then almost cramping on the last few reps. That cramping feeling came on so quickly especially on the left that I was losing my balance in side plank. TOUGH, TOUGH, TOUGH!!! I am not happy with Bridge Kicks. I feel I should be able to do that move better, but I just don't seem to have that big a range of motion on that move. I can't even get straight from my knees to shoulders. The dumbbell weight didn't really matter, I just wasn't opening up. Form seemed fine, just not open. For the Hip Flexor Splits, I didn't use my Push-Up Stands. I stayed on the floor and it became more if an Ab routine, even though I was trying to focus on my outer thighs and glutes. If there is one issue I have with this routine, it is this, it just doesn't have enough Calf work. Move 13. Calf Dog is a nice move for beginners, but there was hardly any resistance even with my opposite leg stacked. I was playing with my angle to try and get more tension, but no big change. But there was a little something something at the end, but not much. I wish there were just maybe, a couple more moves that targeted the calves. But other than that, WHAT A WORKOUT!!! My legs were like jelly. I took a little extra time today to stop, watch, and learn the moves, AND for quick breathers. By I was out of breath several times during this routine and need that extra few moments to recover. Also, to shift around my weights. Take a look at my worksheet.
I moved quickly into Abs. I was sort of in a time crunch so I sped up the routine a bit. I still did the moves on the slow count, but I cut short the stretch breaks and chatter periods. I made it through the first two rounds just BARELY without any extra breaks, but I only made it to 6 reps on the "Spicy" V-Ups. I tapped out then went to 10, took a breath, then finished it out. The second "Spicy" move was fine, but the last move wasted me. I just barely made it to 6 reps before collapsing back. Also, I got back to using the 4kg dumbbells so my arms and shoulders were really feeling it. Good Cramping style in 12 reps today.
Moving into the Flow, everything started off normally, but doing the Flow with good stable form was very difficult. My quads were just laughing at me as I Flowed. My legs were quivering like a wet poodle. But I made it through without falling on my butt!
In the end, I torched another modest 650+kcals. I hit what I wanted to hit so I was happy. Upper and Lower bodies are coming back into balance.
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