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P90X Made Other Routines Too Easy

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here hasn’t it? Well I’ll give you an update on how things are going with me in terms of fitness.

I finished P90X way back in January and I felt great about myself. I didn’t see the massive results that the infomercials showed, but I felt stronger than I have in my entire life.

My arms were much bigger and I actually had abs again! I’ve always had knee problems too, but they were far less noticeable after building up the muscle in my legs. Here’s a picture of me about 5 months after completing the program.

Me before starting P90X

I have to admit that I didn’t follow the program to a “t” either though, so that might’ve helped me see greater results. I only stuck to the meal plan for the first month and I took one month off to do another routine after the second month, because I was getting kinda tired of the videos.

After completing the last 30 days of the program, I took a couple weeks off to give myself a break and then I started doing some routines from my Men’s Fitness magazines.

This is when I really started to realize how much stronger I had become.

I’ve done a lot of routines before starting P90X and they were always tough, but after P90X, they felt way too easy. I actually had to take my new routines and speed them just like how P90X works. No breaks in between each exercise.

It worked, but I just didn’t feel like it was working as much. This ended up making me not feel like working out as much anymore and I started to get lazy. I worked out here and there for the next few months, but definitely not regularly.

So I’ve decided to go through the P90X program once again. I actually did the Chest, Arms, and Triceps video this morning and I have to admit that my arms feel like noodles. I could barely lift my arms up to wash my hair this morning.

This feeling has me pumped!

I can’t wait to get started on the routine again. I can’t afford to stick to the meal plan, but I eat healthy anyway, so I should be ok.

Until next time!

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An Update on Holiday Fitness

So it looks like the holidays are wreaking havok on my diet and my fitness routine. My family came into town, as mentioned in my previous post about Thanksgiving, and all they want to do is eat. That’s just how my family spends time together so I knew it was gonna happen, but I’ve also stopped working out regularly, which is me just being lazy.

I actually did OK for Thanksgiving when it comes to eating well, but since then my eating habits have gotten out of control. I’ve eaten huge meals at various restaurants (Applebees, Chubby’s, Casa Bonita, The Butcher Block, etc.) with my coworkers, my family and my friends. The weird thing is that I almost never go out to eat, but I’ve gone out probably 2-3 times a week in the past month.

One thing I have going for me is that I don’t really gain weight no matter what I eat. I have extremely high metabolism so gaining weight is very difficult, but my real problem is that I want to burn the fat that I currently have and tone my body, and that isn’t gonna happen with poor eating habits.

I’ve finally started getting back on track with my meal plan though and I feel much better already. I just need to get back into a regular workout routine now.

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Thanksgiving Means Lots of Food

Today is Thanksgiving, so I’m sure what’s on all of our minds is the huge feast ahead of us as well as the regrets afterward and a couple of long strenuous workouts. That’s what’s on my mind anyway. To be honest, I don’t know what to do. I always read about how you’re supposed to just eat a small portion and stick to healthy snacks, but you have no idea how much disrespect my family would take if I did something like that. My family is full of cooks who are very proud of the food they make and they expect the family to eat it.

So my plans are to eat almost like I would if I wasn’t trying to stay fit, cut down a little, but still come home from my Grandparents house stuffed, and plan on working out hard for the next few days. I really hope I can push myself over the next few days though, because I have a feeling my diet is going to hell. Plus I have family from all over coming into town who I know are gonna want to have some drinks too, so the next four days are gonna wreak havoc on my body.

Oh well. It’s fun times with family I rarely get to visit with, and it only happens once a year. Well, sometimes twice a year, because the family sometimes comes out for Christmas too. I’m determined to keep the fat off though, so I just have to work that much harder during the holidays. I hope you all do better than I probably will. Let me know how things work out! Happy Thanksgiving and good luck!

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Preparing for P90X

I’ve been doing the P90X Extreme Home Fitness routine now for a month and my biggest regret is starting it without being prepared. Being prepared for this program is extremely important and you’ll realize this all too late if you just jump right in, which is what I did since I was so excited to get started.

First off, I didn’t have the appropriate dumbbells or resistance bands during my first week, but I did have some adjustable dumbbells, so it wasn’t too bad. It was frustrating changing the weights on ’em for all the various exercises and it felt like I wasting way too much time doing that, when I should’ve been working out.

I did buy a full dumbbell set the next week, but they were fairly expensive, so if you don’t have the cash, I’d definitely recommend the resistance bands. I paid about $250 for a used dumbbell set from Craigslist and then bought a few more dumbbells to complete the set from Play It Again Sports, which sells them for about .50 per pound.

I also had to build my own pull up bars in the basement, since the basement is unfinished and doesn’t have any doorways to install a regular pull-up bar. They came out good, but I barely got them done the night before starting the program. By the way, if you want to build your own, I got the idea from The Fitness Journey of FitGirl-ATX.

You also need a fairly good amount of room to workout in. I had to take my table out of the room in order to workout in the same room as my projector, because I like to have it on the big screen, and it’s still kinda hard. I work out with my girlfriend though, so if it were just me it would be more than enough space. I also put some gym flooring down, which I picked up at Dicks Sporting Goods. It’s a huge improvement from the rugs I had previously.

So those few things were a slight bother, but the biggest issue I had in terms of being unprepared was for the nutrition plan. Everywhere I read a P90x review or really just anything about P90X, people talk about how important the nutrition plan for the program is. I didn’t set aside the time to put it together for myself though and now I’m a month behind. I don’t eat unhealthy anyway, but I realize now that I’ve definitely been overeating and not eating proportionately. This really is a huge part of toning the body in this program too. See my poorly stocked fridge below?

So this weekend I finally decided to go through the P90X nutrition guide and now I’m realizing that I might not be able to afford everything on the list. I just went shopping last week and I didn’t buy anything on the P90X Market List so there’s a ton of stuff I need and I’m not sure if my budget can take the hit. I’m gonna go to the store tomorrow though, and try to pick up everything I can possibly afford. The way I see it is, that it’s better than nothing.

So if you are considering starting the P90X program make sure you have a few things in order. Here’s the quick list;

  1. An Budget Set Aside Specifically for P90X
  2. A Pull-Up Bar Installed
  3. Appropriate Sized Resistance Bands or Dumbbells
  4. Push-Up Grips
  5. A Sizeable Area to Work Out In
  6. The Food Required for the Nutrition Plan

So I hope that this article helps you prepare to tackle the P90X program yourself. It’s a hard-as-hell program that really kicks your ass, and the least you can do for yourself is to be ready for it.

Update: I’ve found that the portion plan is much easier for me to manage my diet instead of using the meal plan. If you don’t have time to cook, check out my post about the P90X portion plan and download the printable document.

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What is Mixed Fitness About?

Hey there, I’m Alex and this is my first post here, of what I hope to be many on my brand spankin’ new fitness website. We’ll be writing articles about everything we come across in the fitness world that can help you be as fit as possible, so you should definitely stick around and see if there’s something that can help you.

Michelle (my girlfriend) and I actually just started P90X three weeks ago too, so you’ll definitely be getting our input on the extreme fitness regimen throughout the process. I’ll be putting up photos along the way as well, so you can get a real idea of how our training goes. I have to admit though, that Michelle works out much harder than I do, and she really knows her stuff when it comes to nutrition.

I, on the other hand, have mostly done heavy weight training for the last year and a half. I haven’t put any effort into cardio until just recently, so I actually look a little fat still. I’m down to around 16% body fat though, and considering what I was a year ago, I’m really proud of the work I’ve put in. I think it’s from all the beer I drink on the weekends though, since mostly all of the fat is on my belly. 🙂

Anyway, stick around and join us during our learning process. I’m sure we can all teach each other something new. Michelle and I aren’t professionals, but we have a lot of experience in the last couple of years, so we’ll try our best.