P90X and Search Engine Hits
I’ve been watching the search engine hits over the last few weeks and more and more traffic is coming to my site because of my P90X progress posts. I love that 🙂
I’ve been seeing things like:
– P90X Week 3 Yoga Still Hard
– Is it Ok to be tired in week 3 of P90X
– Deaf and P90X
-body stiff after p90x
P90X Week 3 Yoga Still Hard
Yoga is hard. I’m in week 6 and guess what, Yoga is STILL hard. I’m far from the most flexible guy around, so some of those moves leave me toppling over, shaking and at the end of the 90 minute workout I look like I’ve been hosed down. Yoga, for anyone that hasn’t done it before is in for one hell of a surprise, and even for those that have done it ( but are not proficient at it ), will find this challenging. Yoga experts may find this relatively standard fare or even easy. For me, when I hear Tony Horton say “Last vinyasa of the day” I am sooooo very thankful. Yoga is getting easier all the time for me, but it is still FAR from easy. Maybe by day 90 I’ll say that Yoga is “easy”.
Is it Ok to be tired in week 3 of P90X
Week is interesting for a few reasons. You should be hitting your plateau in terms of phase 1 and your muscles should be getting used to the workouts you’ve been throwing at it. By no means am I saying things are “easy” now, but they are somewhat easier than when you first started 2 weeks ago. Assuming you’ve been following the P90X diet or portion control plan, you’ve been REALLY restricting your carb intake over the last 3 weeks. This alone will leave you a little down in terms of energy. Depending on the amount of body fat to lose, you may be even more run down if you don’t have that much to lose and are instead focusing on building muscle. The other option here is perhaps you’re not taking in enough calories for the pressures you’ve been putting on your body.
Go back and make sure that you properly calculated what “Level” you are at in terms of your caloric intake, and make sure you’re taking in enough calories. Too few and you will be run down, you won’t see or really feel your body changing at all. You’ll have put your body into a starvation mode, and instead of building up the muscle you have been trying so hard to build up, it will break it down for the energy it needs to get through the day.
A number of friends have told me that “consuming that many calories, while doing it healthy is hard”. It’s not trivial, but it’s not “hard” either. There are a number of supplements from the protein shakes & meal replacement bars that beachbody sells, to things you can get at GNC or Vitaminshoppe or any local health food store. You want to aim for eating every 2.5 – 3 hours. You’ll have your breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and if need be a protein shake after dinner. You don’t want to go to bed with a full stomach but if you are really hungry and just can’t imagine going until morning without something to eat, a protein shake is EASILY digested by the body and the extra protein will help your body recover from the workout earlier in the day. I like a protein shake or a full meal within 30-45 minutes of my workout.
Deaf and P90X
As I am not deaf, I don’t know how to answer this. The P90X DVDs give you a number of sound/visual options but the “visual cues” are not real flashy. You basically have to watch the timeline to know when the time is up and to know what exercise is coming up. You could read ahead in the P90X workbook to understand the exercises ahead of time, but the part you miss out on is the “motivational speaking” that Tony Horton does during the workout. The general mantra is “Do your best, and forget the rest”, but he often gives little tid bits of information during the routine, specifically where you cannot see his face and he’s showing right vs wrong ways to do things. I don’t know what kind of sub-titling P90X has, I’ve never looked into that.
Body Stiff After P90x
This is going to happen, especially the less in shape you are to start off. There are a number of ways to reduce the soreness and stiffness you feel the next day. First, make sure you are properly stretching BEFORE and AFTER the workout. A good cool down from a difficult workout is NECESSARY. Don’t just eject the DVD, take a shower and plop down on the couch. If you’re still feeling really amped, or maybe your pulse is still too high, extend your cooldown an extra few minutes. You will thank yourself the following day when you are able to walk up the stairs without wimpering. Secondly, make sure you are getting enough protein in your diet. I like a light protein shake after a particularly strenuous workout. The extra protein seems to really reduce the soreness I feel the next day. I take this even if it’s only an hour before bed. The protein is from a water mixed shake is easily digested and won’t just sit in your stomach through the night.
Hopefully this helps some people 🙂