Going through two full rounds of P90X there are three steps that have helped me and many others on my team.  There are three items that you need to be successful and believe it or not the working out is many times is the easiest!!

They are:

• Workouts – These need to be challenging wether it is walking around the block or P90X.
• Nutrition – The fact is, if you are putting in more calories in your body then you are burning you will put weight on.
• Motivation – The hardest of the three in my opinion.  If you don’t have a goal and a reason for doing something, the chances of it happening is probably not going to happen.

1) P90X Workouts.
These workouts are hard so the most important thing is to Keep Pushing Play!!!

Phase 1 (Week 1-3)

• Day 1 – Chest & Back with Ab Ripper X (ARX) – Resistance
• Day 2 – Plyometrics – Cardio
• Day 3 – Shoulders & Arms with ARX – Resistance
• Day 4 – Yoga X
• Day 5 – Legs & Back with ARX – Resistance
• Day 6 – Kenpo X – Cardio
• Day 7 – X Stretch

The first week that I did P90X I pushed myself really hard.  I started on a Monday so my rest/stretch day would land on a Sunday. So day two I was sore but I had committed to doing the program and pushed forward.  So Wednesday my arms were feeling better but still hurt and my legs and butt were sore.  Day four I had something that the group I was working with refered to as ShampooX.  My triceps were so sore it was hard to shampoo my hair.  The yoga helped a lot on day 4, but when I woke up on day 5 I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to the workout.  But I pushed play and to my delight it used a whole different set of muscles.  Day 6 I felt like there wasn’t a muscle in my body that didn’t hurt.  Again I pushed play and KenpoX helped stretch my muscles out.

Week 2 was much better than week one though I was still quite sore and week 3 I felt like I was function normally.

Week 4 – Recovery week.  Don’t be fooled by the name it is tough but there is no resistance workouts.  The cardio will push you but this is when the body is building from the resistance workouts.

Phase 2 (weeks 5 -7)

• Day 1 – Chest, Shoulders & Triceps with ARX
• Day 2 – Plyometrics
• Day 3 – Back & Biceps with ARX
• Day 4 – Yoga X
• Day 5 – Legs & Back with ARX
• Day 6 – Kenpo X
• Day 7 – X Stretch

I personally like Phase 2 more than Phase 1 but they are fairly similar to each other.  After those three weeks you repeat the recovery week.

Phase 3 is one week of Phase 1 then one week of Phase 2, back to Phase 1 for a week and finally a week of Phase 2 followed by a recovery week and you are done!!

There are going to be days that you don’t feel like doing it but if you do it every day and watch your nutrition you will see results!!!

Do your best and forget the rest… Do get frustrated that you cannot stay up with the people on the disk. I have finished two rounds of P90X a round of INSANITY, and am finishing up a round of P90X2 and I cannot keep up and I consider myself in excellent shape, don’t expect too much of yourself. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t push yourself, just remember to “BRING IT!”

How do you bring it?

Follow the workout plan, this program has gone through a lot of testing to make sure that it hits on all areas of the body and while it is up to you if you need to change the workouts it is highly recommend that you follow the work layout.

Track your numbers and work to increase those numbers use the following link to print out the worksheet to track. Also it is highly recommend that you use a HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) to calculate you calories burned.

http://www.teambeachbody.com/get-fit/fitness-tools/workout-sheets

Recommend Equipment:

• · Bands or weights
• · Pull-up bar
• · Yoga Mat
• · HRM (Heart Rate Monitor)
• · Recovery Drink

2) Nutrition.

This is a very difficult part of the program. Someone said that they felt like this was a moving target and that is because it is!   Are bodies change as we get older as they also change as we get healthier.

I highly recommend calorie counting using a site like myfitnesspal.com (they also have a phone apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry), this site allows you to track not only your calories but also you protein/carb/fat ratio.

I like this for two reasons one because you see exactly what you are eating and second you don’t have to guess if you ate good for the day. I don’t plan to count my calories forever and at some point I know that I will be somewhere that I won’t have the wonderful phone app to look up how many calories something has so I need to learn how to generalize what food has calorie wise.

I personally think that myfitnesspal.com site does a good job with figuring out the correct calories and it allows you to change the protein/carb/fat recommend ratios. I personally recommend that you use the P90X2 ratios as they have been updated from the original P90X ratios.

Food Ratios

• Phase 1 50% Protein, 25% Carbs, 25% Fat
• Phase 2 40% Carbs, 30% Protein, 30% Fat
• Phase 3 50% Carbs, 25% Protein, 25% Fat

So how many calories should I be eating?

This is something that you will have to play with as everyone is different but I would start off going to myfitnesspal.com run through their wizard for a calorie amount and see how you feel (It looks like you should be around 1750 net calories). It will be up to you if you need to eat more as all the guides and sites are generalized to fit everyone needs and not a specific persons needs. I try to go off a couple of items to determine if I need more food, and those are energy and mood. If I notice that I am more irritable or I feel like I just  can’t get going,  those are another sign that I need to increase my calorie intake. This is another place where you will start learning to listen to you body.

If you are looking for a formula I use the Basal Metabolic Rate formula which can be found here: http://www.ehow.com/how_5503597_calculate-needed-maintain-current-weight.html

3) Motivation

First sign up for Team Beachbody here: http://beachbodycoach.com/coachgshort .  Schedule and log your workout every day for a chance to win $500!!!  That is huge motivation right there!!!

80% of people who start P90X will quit within the first 30 days. So how do you get past those first 30 days? Commit and become part of the group.

I run a thread on teambeachbody.com and I challenge you to come to the board everyday and if nothing else post that you did a workout and what you did. I would highly recommend that you post questions, concerns, complaints, and accomplishments. People will respond to each of these and be motivated by these and in turn you will become part of the group and be motivated to stay with the group.

Current Thread: http://www.teambeachbody.com/connect/message-boards/-/message_boards/message/151661872

Take measurements and pictures.  These pictures are for you and you don’t have to share them but I can tell you that there have been so many people who have finished their 90 days and have been saddened that they didn’t have their pictures.  Follow this video to take measurements and pictures.

http://www.teambeachbody.com/showcase/-/bcp/85185579001/96438?referringRepId=96438

 

I know that this is a ton of information so please either post or send me a personal message and I know that you will be able to get through these 90 day!!!