CHALEAN EXTREME DAYS 12-15

(Originally posted May 4, 2009)

To those who've been following my updates, I apologize for not posting anything the past few days. It's been extremely busy!! I had Deltacappella gigs on Thursday and Friday, a church retreat up at Pickwick on Saturday, and then a day trip with Katie to Arkansas on Sunday. I'm definitely exhausted, and I have to say that I wasn't able to fit in every workout that I was scheduled to I'm afraid.

Thursday night was supposed to be Burn Circuit 3, but I wasn't able squeeze it in before the DC concert that night. Then on Friday, I was SUPPOSED to do one of ChaLean's cardio routines, but instead did Burn Circuit 3 to make up for missing it the night before. Saturday didn't see me workout either, but I didn't feel quite as bad about it since Saturday is technically supposed to be my "off" day anyway. And then last night I went ahead and started Week 3 by doing Burn Circuit 1 again.

Other than that, things have been going pretty well. And I can definitely see some Chalean results in certain areas...particularly muscle size. But I sadly have started slacking a wee bit in the dietary dept as well as the ab-work dept. I'm eating bigger portions than I have been and I've gotten bad about remembering to tag on the additional ab workouts after the Burn Circuits....and I have started to be able to tell! I'll have to work on a bit more self-discipline I suppose moving forward. Anyway, tonight is technically an "off" night, but I might squeeze in one of Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer cardio routines just so that I feel better for missing my workout last Thursday. We'll see.

*Lastly, next week begins Week 4 of ChaLean, which is technically just like the first 3 weeks. However, I think I might switch things up a bit by substituting in a P90x-style recovery week, which would let me do some extra core work and even some yoga which it feels like I haven't done in forever.

P90X2: Phase 1 recap

As of yesterday, Katie and I are officially finished with Phase 1 of P90X2!  I don't think I've mentioned this really as yet, but P90X2 is broken into 3 distinct Phases: 

1. Phase 1: Foundation (3-6 weeks)
• All about the core!  The phases that follow will depend on you having built up a strong enough core that you can actually do the exercises without injuring yourself.
2. Phase 2: Strength (3-6 weeks)
• Essentially is like the original P90X (hardcore resistance workouts) but with balance and core incorporated into everything
3. Phase 3: Performance (3-4 weeks)
• Incorporating some of latest data from exercise science (evidently), this phase focuses on performance and athleticism.  Post-Activation Potentiation is the name of the game.

Up to this point, we've really enjoyed the P90X2 program...a good bit more than the original P90X in fact.  The moves are more varied, the core is engaged throughout, the program is more flexible, and Tony seems to have improved his coaching style a bit (Katie actually seems to like him, which was not exactly the case for the original P90X).  Plus the foam rolling sequences, which are an entirely new thing to the P90X series, are fantastic.  It's like a free deep-tissue massage every time you do it!

Oh, and just as an overall update on our experience with Phase 1, the workouts become much harder and more effective once you've actually done everything once and have a good sense of what the moves are.  To that end, I would highly recommend actually sitting down and "skimming" each workout before you actually do it so you're not wasting time trying to figure out what's going on.

As it stands, we are going ahead and starting Phase 2 today since our schedules will get crazy with graduation, etc., in a little over a month, which means we went one week shy of the recommended length of time dedicated to Phase 1.  We're not doing this with the explicit goal of killing ourselves with the new Phase 2 workouts, but it's definitely going to be a challenge in case we haven't sufficiently built up our core muscles.  I tried a few moves yesterday from today's Chest + Back + Balance workout as a preview, and there are a few moves I simply CAN'T do!  I don't think that's ever been the case before with a P90X workout.  Sure, there are moves that I've been sloppy on at first, but this time it looks like I may just have to throw up the white flag on a few.  I'm expecting a humbling experience for certain, but as Tony Horton would say..."Keep Pushing Play"!

Insanity Day 14: Rest Day

Ok, just to fully round out the first two weeks I thought I should at least reference today's rest day.  Very needed!

I'm still extremely sore from doing the Chest, Shoulders & Triceps P90x workout the other day, but today it was all relaxation.  Spent most of the day at school actually, but the evening involved some end-of-day networking/hanging out, and then finally a night out with friends to celebrate the 'ol birthday...complete with ANOTHER gluten-free/dairy-free cake courtesy of the Mrs.  I am extremely lucky!

Till the new workouts come to the Insanity rotation in a couple weeks, stay tuned.