Muddy's Right!

Not that he's wrong very often (actually according to him he's never wrong), but I absolutely agree with Muddy. The whole "and Back" means pull-ups, pull-ups, pull-ups. When I was younger I was one of those kids that was afraid of anything that seemed like you needed strength to do - pull-ups, rope climbs, etc. Somehow I was spared the pre-pubescent humiliation of not being able to climb the robe in gym class. Actually, it wasn't until a few months ago that I even tried to climb a rope. Thankfully at this stage in my life I was successful.

So anyway, when I see pull-ups on the workout I shudder a little. One of my instructors LOVES pull-ups, and when I trained with her I did (or rather attempted to do) more pull-ups than I care to remember. Well, P90X has eclipsed that number ten fold in just a single week of workouts. I guess I should be happy since regardless of how poorly I'm doing them I will be getting stronger, so hopefully one day I'll be one of those muscleheads doing 20 pull-ups without breaking a sweat.

I also agree with Muddy about the legs. Mine are in much better shape than my upper body because of what I do. I use them in a much larger range of motion than my arms (you pretty much only push when punching - pulling is pretty much non-existent) and the constant movement means they're in relatively good shape. However, despite my security in the strength of my legs this workout definitely took them for a ride. I haven't done a wall sit in a very long time, and the one-legged version is a lactic-acid inducing pain fest. One quad is burning from holding my tubby ass up, and the other is yelling that it can't hold my leg up. All the while my butt is wondering where the hell the chair is and my sweat glands are responding by bathing my body is copious amounts of liquid cooling.

While I know my legs are strong I knew there was a reason I hate working them out - it makes me sweat like nothing else. Honestly I sweat when I watch people working out, so working the largest muscle groups on my body results in a deluge of sweat pouring out all over my body. My favorite quote to describe my hyperhidrosis (yes, that is a hyperlink so you can learn more about it) is, "I sweat like a fat kid playing dodgeball."

Alright, I'm already hearing the groans. Yes, I know, I shouldn't make fun of fat people considering this blog is about getting in shape. However, I have a couple of thoughts on that:
1) In order to get through an undertaking like this you need to have a good sense of humor. If not you'll wind up becoming one of those workout pricks that no one likes because all you do is drone on and on about the benefits of weigh protein
2) Some of us succeed by using the negative outcome as the driver. For example, I want to be successful in my career and make oodles of money not because I want to live the life of a rich person - I just don't want to be eating cat food for dinner. Besides, I don't think cat food fits in the P90X diet (that was sarcasm... laugh).

Today was also a double-duty day containing Ab Ripper X. Since this is my third official time through the routine I'm starting to learn it so it moves a little faster. I am keeping up a little better, but I'm still being smoked by the dude with the 12 pack. Hopefully by day 90 I'll be faring a little bit better.

Most importantly, today was the first time in five days that I had a meal that I did not prepare. I went out to see Iron Man (for gadget geeks probably one of the coolest movies of all time), and I was starving and needed to eat. I was worried about being able to find something to eat, but I know in the real world that people go out to eat, so no time like the present to see if I'm up for the challenge. Luckily the restaurant we went to had a jerk chicken plate with rice and veggies - PERFECT! The rice definitely had some butter in it, but I'll take the extra fat. I didn't eat my avocado today anyway.

Here's a little recap on the past five days:
- 5 workouts in a row
- 5 days on the diet with no hiccups
- Several sore limbs
- More pages on this blog than necessary

So far so good :) add to del.icio.us saved by 0 users