June 18, P90X3, Week 6, Day 4-Eccentric Lower.

June 18, P90X3, Week 6, Day 4-Eccentric Lower.

Got a lot of sleep the previous night. Felt really good today. Was able to get my workout in in the morning so I was happy about that.

I was able to get through all the moves relatively well with a good struggle on the last few reps. I was able to up my weight on about half the moves by 1.25 - 2.5kgs. But I found that when I went deeper into the lunge or squat and increased my range of motion, after the eccentric 3-count the explosive move was not as fast in the first couple inches. But once I cleared the 90 degree angle, I could explode. My question is this, on the eccentric workouts, should I reduce my weights so I can explode the concentric move, or should I keep my weights heavy and work up to that explosiveness?

The first three moves, I went from 17KgsX2 to 19.5kgsX2. The next three moves I stayed at 10Kgs. From then on, I went up and kept the weights a few times.

I accidentally did the Cross Reach wrong. I held the weight in the wrong hand. I noticed when the move switched to the left so I just kept the mistake and will fix it next week. The Hip Flexor Splits is still somewhat of an enigma to me. I'm afraid to use the push up stands because mine might break under my weight. Also, it sort of looks like Tony is sitting on the stands, but from different camera angles it looks like he is supporting his weight with his arms. For now, I've been doing that move on the floor.

The Side Kick move seems easy, but getting my leg up there is so tough. I can't get it much higher than parallel to the ground. I tried today, and my butt almost cramped up so I let it down a bit. It is weird, but when I have my right leg up, my left butt-cheek feels like it is getting more of a workout. Is it supposed to be that way?

My range of motion on the front kick is just terrible. I can't get my leg anywhere near parallel to the ground when extended plus the weight. My hip flexors need a lot of work along with my hammys.
Great workout today. I'm so thankful that this routine is only 13 moves. I don't know how much more I could take.

Have a great day!

June 17, P90X3, Week 6, Day 3- X3 Yoga.

June 17, P90X3, Week 6, Day 3- X3 Yoga.

Another great round of Yoga. Felt really good through the whole routine. I also needed this routine because I was really sore from the two previous workouts.

All the moves felt really good so I was quite happy. The one move that was just terrible was the Extended Leg with Toe Bind. I just kept losing my balance and couldn't get my leg extended at all. I need to really work on my hamstring flexibility.

I was a little pressed for time today, so again, very thankful for the 30 minute routine!

June 16, P90X3, Week 6, Day 2 - Triometrics.

June 16, P90X3, Week 6, Day 2 - Triometrics.

I was ready for this workout today. I got a good 8 hours of sleep the night before and woke up ready.

After a good Cold Start, I felt good going into the workout. I was able to hang for most of the first half. I had a little trouble with some of the balance moves, but took no extra breaks. But going all out on the Sumo Kick then the three Squat combos that follow, I had to take a breather just before the Slater Squat again. The Iso Squat is much more than it seems. Really tough, especially for Level 3.

I was very happy not to screw up on the Kablam like I did last week. I was really confusing the moves, but this time around I kept up and did the right sequence all the way through.

Thank goodness the burnout was only about 30 seconds, but still got really winded by the end. Great workout and great sweat and great burn. I still contend that Triometrics is more intense than Plyometrics X.

June 15, P90X3, Week 6, Day 1-Eccentric Upper.

June 15, P90X3, Week 6, Day 1-Eccentric Upper.

The question today was not if I would do my workout, rather, how long I would put it off. My human nature took over a little this morning. Last week was tough and my body didn't want to feel that pain again, but my body knew that I needed it so the internal battle was on from the morning. I usually would have started around 9am, but I poopooed around for a long time wasting time. Finally I asked my wife, "Should I do my workout now, or in the afternoon?" Her immediate answer, "NOW!". So, with that kick in the butt, I prepared and did my workout. I was very pressed for time now, because we were planning to go out for shopping and a Father's Day celebration at 12pm. I finished my workout and was ready to go at 12:20pm. Late, but luckily everything worked out.

The workout was as expected, HARD, TOUGH, GRUELING! I started with Cold Start as usual and I really need this every time. It is a great warm up.

There were ups and downs in this workout as compared with last week's workout. Like last week, I made it through all the push up variations with the struggle on the last few. I had to lower my weight per my notation from last week for the Military Press. Went down to 15.75kgs from 17kgs. Still had a struggle with the last few, but I was able to keep my form a lot more stable. No arching my back.
I also went down on two other moves, with the Rocket Launcher Kickback, I went down to 5kgs from 7.5kgs. It was still really tough on the last few. Then with the next move, Flip Flop Combo, I went down to 10kgs from 12kgs. Again, I still had to struggle on the last few, but kept good form, or should I say better form.

I had a bigger split with my Chin Ups, Last week I did an 8-2 split. This week, I did a 6-4 split.
The one up was on the last move, Kneeling Preacher Curl. I went up from 7.5kgs to 10kgs. I think It was a too big a jump. I couldn't get the weights all the way up on the last two reps. I put the weights down before the 10th, then on the 10th, almost got it all the way up, but just missed the mark.
I was able to get through the whole Burnout last week, but I couldn't get through the last doubles set this week. My arms were just burned out. Got a great burn today. I totally felt the heat in the following couple hours.

Hope all had a great Father's Day!

Was a little "Sinful" when we went out for Father's Day! Had some sweets and some pizza. But also got a lot of good stuff, too. When I got back home, I played some catch with my daughter for about 45 minutes. Worked up a good sweat and burned off some of the previous meals stuff.

June 13, P90X3, Week 5, Day 6- MMX + Tennis.

June 13, P90X3, Week 5, Day 6- MMX + Tennis.

I understood that MMX was the martial arts routine. I was thinking something like Kempo X or Kempo X+. Great workouts which I love. This was SO NOT like them at all. MMX really ups the ante on P90X series of martial arts workouts. This by far is the most intense of all the MA workouts I've done.

The first round was basic punch and elbow combinations which I had seen before in other routines. Piece of cake. The first move in the second round, I should have seen as the harbinger of things to come. Every move after that was an insane combination with the killer sprawl. Those double punches, the Superman punch, the Gladiator I LOVE THOSE MOVES. So cool!

Every following round got harder and harder and more intense with each move. The one thing that sort of got me was the "Jab/Cross/Sprawl/Scramble" move. I actually got a little dizzy during the scramble so I had to slow down considerably. I was diagnosed with Meniere's Syndrome so I get dizzy relatively easy. First time doing this workout I didn't know what to expect. Next time, I'll have to modify for sure.

Another move I had a little trouble with was the "Push Kick/Snap Kick". Not that it is a difficult move, but without something to actually push, it was difficult for me to not have my push kick look a lot like the snap kick.

Several of the moves made me feel really uncoordinated. Namely, the "Superman Punch/4-punch Scramble/Sprawl" and the final move, "Gladiator/Sprawl/Jab/Cross/Sprawl/Hook/Uppercut". I hope to get these moves down next time. I was trying to concentrate on getting the form down, but I was off balance and the double sprawl was killer! Oh, the move with the crescent Kick, also really made me look stupid. LOL!

I was looking at some coaches reviews of MMX and this workout was generally rated as a low intensity workout. I was like, "WHAT? NO WAY?" I don't know how they did this workout, but this is definitely one of the top 3 for intensity in P90X3 in my opinion. I love this type of workout with a real world application, and as I imagined a fighting situation, the workout kept getting more and more intense. AWESOME BURN!

BIG MISTAKE before a tennis match. I was pressed for time, and I ended up finishing the workout a lot later than I had anticipated. I had to rewind the video several times to learn the combinations. I was hoping to have about a 20 minute break before my tennis match, but I ended up having no break. I had to get right into the match.

My legs and body were so tired and worn. And it showed in my play in the first set. I dropped the first two games. If you know anything about tennis, on low balls, you have to get down with your knees, not bend at your waist. But I was bending at my waist and was netting a lot of balls. We played a lot of deuces, and I eventually got to 4-4. By then I was feeling a lot better and adrenalin had started to take over. But my energy came in bursts, which resulted in my game being somewhat erratic.

However, I noticed that whenever I got into a lull. I was able to get out of it much faster than I previously had. I ended up getting back in the groove and took the match. Final score: 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0. Total calorie burn, and time of exercise. 2 hours 28 minutes, 1704 kcals burned. I am SO ready for my off day tomorrow. Have a great weekend everyone. And it is a bit early, but HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you dad's out there! PEACE!!

June 12, P90X3, Week 5, Day 5- Incinerator.

June 12, P90X3, Week 5, Day 5- Incinerator.

For some reason I thought that this workout was without any equipment. Then I looked at the guide and thought, "Here comes the pain!" And I was right.

Most of the moves are not new, but for some reason, this grouping of moves and Tony's "commentary" brings the old alive. Again, with the knowledge that the routine is only 30 minutes, that, in a way frees the body from being reserved and it is easier to just go for it. The pace was a lot faster than what I am used to when working with weights. So, yes, I had to do some pausing and rewinding. 
 

Pull ups, push ups, curls, variations were nice. The only really new move was Monkey Pump. I was really trying to keep my arms parallel to the floor. I was just using 5kgs in each hand, and I was struggling to keep parallel near the end. Also, I was unable to bring my elbows together before the press. Not sure if my form was off, or if I lost strength due to the weights. I was able to bring my elbows together with the almost same move in the warm up. I need to get stronger.

I was a little wary of using really heavy weights, so I thought I should go a little lighter than my limit. However, this was my limit. I was able to hit the 10th rep on most moves, but on the Arm and Hammer move, I totally failed at 7 reps. So I shook it out and did the last three.

I was very thankful that the burnout wasn't as fast as the, say... "Think Drills". But with a minute left, the sweat was pouring.

This was a good Old School workout with a twist. The total 18 moves + Burnout gave me an even more intense feeling and hotter burn than some of the other P90X/2 workouts in a shorter amount of time. Very happy with that. My arms were like rubber at the end.

June 11, P90X3, Week 5, Day 4- Eccentric Lower.

June 11, P90X3, Week 5, Day 4- Eccentric Lower.

I normally would have done this workout in the morning, but I had my school health check today, so I couldn't eat anything so I went in early to work. I ended up doing my workout in the late afternoon. Thank goodness for the short workouts because I was really pressed for time. I ended up being about 30 minutes late for a class. hehe. My workout had priority.

This was a KILLER workout. All the moves were moves I had done before, but NEVER in an Eccentric way. The pattern of my progress, or should I say regress was that the first 2-3 reps were relatively easy and could explode concentrically. But as the move continued, my concentric move got slower and slower. I was afraid to tweak a hip flexor like I had done in the past by pushing too far, so I just tried to keep in check.

In other workouts I would usually go really heavy (for me) on squats. Something like 25kgsX2 (that is the limit of the dumbbells I have at the moment). However with the eccentric component, I could only handle 17kgsX2. For the other moves as well, I went down about 20% of what I would have used with the normal move.

I could feel my muscles burning on the slow half, then springing back with the fast return. The kick moves were in interesting addition to this type of workout. My leg wouldn't go any higher than parallel on the side kick, and got up just under parallel on the front kick. I have absolutely terrible range of motion on the Bridge Kick move.

The final move, Calf Dog, was surprisingly easy. Either I have very strong calves, or I'm doing it wrong. And I don't think my calves are that strong. I'll need to check my form more carefully the next time I do this routine. At the end of this workout, I was shaking. Again, like Triometrics, going down the stairs was tenuous at best. It was like my legs were used pipe cleaners.

I was glad there were only 13 moves. The 30 minutes went by really quickly. I had to take a little extra time adjusting my dumbbells. If I get one more set, I'll be golden. I may have to invest in one more set, but space is an issue. I wonder how sore I'll be tomorrow.