Nicholas Pike

It’s been no secret that I have been working my ass off for over a year to change my physical appearance, and generally how I feel about myself.  Now that I have almost reached my first goal weight of 250lbs (down from 310!) its time to kick things into over-drive: P90X.

For those unaware:

P90X or Power 90 Extreme is a home exercise system developed by Tony Horton in conjunction with Beachbody. The program emphasizes full body fitness through cardiovascular, strength training, and stretching exercises, combined with an optional nutrition and supplementation plan.

P90X stresses the importance of “muscle confusion” (commonly referred to as cross-training) by switching the order of exercises, and incorporating new exercises during each phase. Muscle confusion prevents the body from adapting to the exercises over time and plateauing which has been considered a key factor in the overall success of the program.

(Taken from the Wikipedia article)

Usually someone starting P90X posts all their stats and Day 1 pictures online.. I will spare you the eye burning pictures and stats (You already know my weight from above).

Last night I came home and started Day 1 of P90X, which is Chest & Back.  Basically a crazy crazy amount of pushups, chinups, and some weight work.  There are several types of pushups for this day, and I am only able to do a few… and very low amounts.  For the sake of working on my form, and getting reps at the same time – I am doing “modified” pushups.

Chinups?  Well, I am only capable of doing a chinup once or twice before completely destroying myself, so I am using Very-Heavy resistance bands with a door attachment to simulate doing chinups (as instructed in the videos).  I also have not purchased a new weight set yet (my set is in my LA apartment), so am also using the resistance bands for that.  (they work pretty well, but unfortunately I need more weight).

I had pretty good participation on Day 1.  Following Chest & Arms on Day 1 is Ab Ripper x. Ab Ripper x is an hour (or so) of exercises designed to work your abs.  And boy does it hurt after!

Pretty sore after Day 1… tonight is Day 2: Plyometrics.  Pretty excited to try out this session.

I doubt I will post every single day, or every single week.  I will try to post semi-often assuming that I have the willpower to continue P90X.

Google around… the results for P90x by normal people seems to be pretty fantastic.  This doesn’t seem to be one of those fads, but a very very structured home fitness program similar to having a personal trainer in a gym.

My new goal weight? 210. See you there!