P90X Update

Well, I've been participating in the P90X fitness program for about 10 weeks now. We did our final fitness test with the Boy Scouts for the Personal Fitness Merit Badge, so I thought I would give an update on my progress. I've had a week here and there that I haven't been able to fit in the full workout because I was too busy, but for the most part I've been pretty consistent. I've just extended the length of the phases to make up for the couple of weeks that I didn't do as well. The results have been notable.

After 10 weeks:

Sit & Reach: 8.5 inches (1/2 inch past toes) increased to 10.5 inches
Push ups: 63 increased to 92 (in one minute)
Sit ups: 49 increased to 66 (in one minue)
Pull ups: 18 increased to 36 (half pull ups, we didn't go all the way down)
Mile run: 8 min 15 sec decreased to 7 min 30 sec

Note that I have gone from 6 full pull ups to 12 during my home work outs.

My measurements have also increased.

Arm: 11.5 inches to 11.75 inches
Chest: 34 inches to 35 inches
Waist: 30.25 inches to 30.5 inches (Yikes! Too many holiday treats!)
Let: 17.5 inches to 20.0 inches

Needless to say, I'm fairly pleased with the results. I really enjoy the variety of the work outs and the results are notable in a relatively short period of time. I have not done the P90X diet, but Lena does a good job of making sure we eat healthy balanced meals. I do use a protein recovery drink mix from Walmart, which costs about 1/3 the price of the one recommended with the P90X program. I have found the recovery drink helps a lot with reducing the soreness after the intense workouts. I do get notably sore with the start of each new phase when the exercise program is changed up to produce "muscle confusion", but it's no where near as bad as the first week was.

I should be finished with the program in a few more weeks and then I think I'll run through it again. There are some other options to make it harder or focus more on cardio/calorie burning, but I feel like the standard program is about right for me.

Mike