P90X Series: Legs and Back

I can sum up this video in ONE word: BURN!!!!

This video is chock full of squats and pull ups. My legs were on fire the majority of the time! It felt good though because all of the moves are do-able...no ridiculously hard moves here. It is just a matter of being strong enough to do them for the reps he suggests. The burn really came through when we did wall squats...my line sisters know about these crazy exercises!

This video has the best calf workout I have ever had. I never felt like I engaged my calf muscles like I did today. Granted, my calves are probably the most tone part of my body, so it's not like I need it..but it is always great to strengthen that foundation.

You also are supposed to write down your progress after every set. P90X comes with workout sheets, but I have mine in an excel file. I just press pause and type it in my excel document and then press play again.

Today was the first video using the pull up bar. Of course, they recommend you get the P90X Pull Up bar, but I got my Iron Gym pull up bar from Target. It was $29.99 and fits it most door frames. There is no drilling or screwing it...you just latch it over the door frame and go! Holds up to 300 pounds. In any event, I had to do all my pull ups assisted because I am not strong enough to do one pull up on my own. Since I am so short I had to put a box on top of my chair to really get it to work. If I didn't add the extra height I would basically be standing up and down, up and down, versus actually pulling up with my arms. I made sure to barely keep my feet on the box so that my arms would do the work and not my legs. I will say that with the Iron Gym you may have to tweak some of the pull ups due to the grip padding (ie, may have to alternate the wide grip with something else).

I have to admit..I was surprised at my strength. I did a good amount of assisted pull ups and I didn't think I would be able to. Once again, Tony emphasizes doing as many as you can. He tells you to pick a number and try and reach it..even if it is only 5. Many of the models only did an average of 12. In the video, they also show you how you can use resistance bands instead of a pull up bar. My sister is using the resistance bands and says it works great.

This is definitely a workout to follow up with your 'recovery drink'. By the way, I slept like a baby last night and woke up feeling less sore than I expected..GLUTAMINE ROCKS!

Okay. Off to shower and then to bed. I'm tired!