P90X: Day 29

Well, with the problems I've been having with my shoulder, today's exercise could have been bad news. The schedule called for Chest, Back, and Shoulder. Pretty much everything in P90X that could potentially be bad for an injured shoulder is packed into this DVD. I made sure to stretch as thoroughly as possible before hitting play, and I'm so glad I did. I'm still very tender in the left shoulder, but I was able to do everything without any real problems. The workout is hard enough as it is, I'm not going to say I did everything perfectly, but I did my best and didn't let the injury hold me back. Of course, I was still careful. I think I'm pretty much in the clear now, and close to 100%. I'll still have to be careful, but with the proper amount of stretching and lots of focus on good form, I should be fine.

Anyway, the workout was rough today! My entire upper body really got the workout it needed, and I'm happy about that. I haven't yet done this particular workout, and it was a refreshing change of pace for the resistance portion. I feel like the triceps weren't really brought into focus throughout the first training block, with the exception of a few exercises and obviously as a secondary muscle group in many exercises. It was good to be able to work all my favorite upper body muscles at once though, and I really feel like it was effective. There were definitely lots of pushups in this workout, and towards the end they want you to do one handed pushups! I don't know if I could do those properly at the beginning of a workout, when I'm nice and fresh, let alone when my muscles are fatigued. I honestly couldn't even do them from my knees! I just had to do regular pushups during those parts, because otherwise I would be doing absolutely nothing with just one arm. I spent a good amount of time doing pushups from my knees today, but I always started out in standard position at least. That's somewhere I'd like to improve, and I would love to be able to bang out some one handed pushups as well.

Anyway, I feel like I've been hit with a bag of bricks, which is always a good sign on any workout day. I've got Plyometrics to look forward to tomorrow, and although it's extremely tough, it's a pretty fun and energetic workout to kick off the day. I know, I've been working out pretty late anymore, but with school starting back up on Wednesday, I've got to change over to a morning schedule. I won't be getting too much sleep tonight, as it's nearly 1:00 AM now and my alarm is set for 5:00 AM, but if I just do that for one day I'll be able to keep doing it afterwards.

There will be some definite benefits to waking up much earlier and getting my P90X done first thing in the morning. First of all, I feel like this will help me see better results. I've heard about all kinds of studies showing that you burn 300% more calories when you work out first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. I had to do this 5-6 days a week in the Army, and I know it worked well in that environment. Also, I'll be able to have an early breakfast after my workout, which will kick my metabolism into gear as well if I eat right.

Speaking of nutrition, I haven't been following the P90X nutrition plan. I've kind of just been modifying, trying to eat healthy and the right amount on my own. It hasn't been working for me, and I think it was naive of me to even try to bypass the prescribed nutrition guidelines that were designed to go with the workout. I spent a lot of time today going over nutrition, and I went to the grocery store to stock up on the right food. I then planned out a daily eating schedule that will allow me to eat small meals every several hours, which is generally the best way to boost your metabolism and lose weight. I am following the P90X Phase I (Level II) Portion Approach.

I know that it will be almost impossible to follow it unless I plan out my meals the day prior, so I spent some time planning out my meals for tomorrow. I know exactly what time to eat, so all I had to do was plug in the right amount of food and space it evenly throughout the day. Tomorrow will be the first day of some extremely serious dieting that will hopefully equate to drastic results. I've played the "feast or famine" game for far too long, and I'm using the new year and new school schedule as an opportunity to change the way I eat. I'll have an update on this tomorrow, and hopefully it will be all positive.

I'm coming at this with a serious attitude, because I'm so incredibly sick of being overweight and out of shape. I want to look and feel the best I can, and it's going to take a lot of work. I'm ready.