Let me know what you think about the ideas I have here. For more information on Spinscape, go to www.spinscape.com.

You can click play to see a presentation I created, or just move around the map by clicking.

Week 9
Definitely had some improvements this week. It’s strange though, the Chest and Back workout kills me after the recovery week. Don’t know what it is, but cardiovascularly it wipes me out.

Plyo got much better, was able to really tear it up.

Yoga got much better too. Still dread Yoga Belly 7, but I feel SOOOOOOO good at the end of the workout.

Legs and back are still my nemesis. Had a decent workout, but didn’t see the gains I was hoping for…I think diet has an increasingly important role as you go through phase III. I don’t think I was eating enough carbs. Definitely solid on the protein side, but this time through I’m sure my carb intake was lacking.

Kenpo is going great. My kicks are getting snappy again and I’m getting good height.

Week 10
Chest, shoulders, and triceps: Rocked it. Actually doing some of the airbornes and more one arm pushups than ever. Feels good.

Plyo was great. Did it at home before I left for Tempe.

I was traveling this week so my workouts got a little screwed up. I still completed all of them, but I had to modify Back and Biceps. I was at a hotel in Tempe, Arizona where they didn’t have much in the way of weights. They had a Powerblock set but the weights were screwed up so I couldn’t really dial in the weight I needed. In most cases I had to do a little more weight than I wanted, or way less than I wanted. There was no way to do pull ups so I modified and did additional sets of things like Lawnmowers. At the end of the day, it was still a good workout, but I couldn’t follow it perfectly.

I took my recovery day a day early because I was flying home and did Yoga on the day I was supposed to recover. All worked out well. This week was interestesting. Travel really wipes you out. My diet sucked this week too. Eating out every day really takes its toll. I tried to stick to the best foods I could find, but a few beers did slip in.

I also hurt my left knee either during Yoga or during Legs and Back so I had to modify Legs and Back. At one point I stopped doing the leg parts that stressed my left knee so I just barreled through the back part one after another. Doing the back exercises one after another was interesting. My rep counts were definitely lowered!

Took it easy on Kenpo where I had to pivot on my left leg, but was still able to bring it. Was just cautious. No flying side kicks.

Week 11
Chest and Back: Definitely some improvements. Went through the workout before the dvd started the last 2 exercises. Strange, was just feeling it that day! Cardiovascularly I rocked it.

Plyo was great! Really starting to enjoy it. It’s still hard, but for some reason it is fun now.

Arms: Upped the weight in a few places. Felt great. Love this workout.

Yoga: Amazing….loving this now. Funny how I hate it at the beginning of p90x and now I’m growing to dig it again. It’s very long so that has some mental ramifications.

Legs and Back:
Knee was re-aggravated so I was careful with legs again. Did everything except single leg wall squats.

Kenpo: Like money. Brought it.

Week 12
Last weight week…trying to finish strong!

Chest, tris, and shoulders: Improved in a few more places here too. Really like this workout. It’s funny, by the time you get to one arm pushups you are wasted but somehow you dig deep and get it done. Airbornes are actually kind of fun now. The last one is a doosy though. I’ve almost smashed my face when my arms give out.

Plyo was fantastic this week. I brought it x 10. I need to make sure I keep this in my routine after p90x to burn a few calories and keep the legs in mountain biking shape.

Back and bis. Ugh. My forearms were literally on fire after this one. I went big. Upped the weight in a bunch of places. Kicked much ass. Will never forget how tight my forearms were by the end though. Was crazy, could barely hold on to the pullup bar or the dumbbells by the last 25% of the workout.

Yoga was again fantastic. I was able to go much lower and to get an amazing burn on Yoga belly 7. Still long, but worth it for that last 10 minutes of Yin.

Legs and back: Did all the back exercises very slow to get more range of motion. Still put up some great numbers. Skipped single leg wall squat again because I’m worried about my knee. The only other thing I did was leave out the chair on the balance lunges. Other than that, I was able to do all the leg exercises and really crush them.

Kenpo: Great as usual.

Week 13
Last week!
What a great way to finish off. I have grown to love Core Synergistics. You burn a lot of calories and get a nice burn in the process. I remember round one of p90x I despised it, but now I’m actually liking it a lot.

2 days of Yoga went great…kenpo was fun and stretching was good. I think stretching is a very important part of any workout routine, but this one seems a little long almost for the sake of being long. Seems like you could get the same or better stretch in half the time. Just my 2 cents here.

Well that’s it! I have published my rep results HERE if you are interested. I tried to put comments in where appropriate if I modified the exercise.

I will also try to take some measurements and put up some pics from my results this time. You can see some pics of my first round off the home page at www.salamango.com.

Thanks for checking in!

Traditionally Core Synergistics in the Recovery week has been my nemesis, but I actually enjoy it now. Call me crazy.

I’m feeling really great about my core these days. Complete confidence.

I have week 9 Yoga tonight. Did week 9’s Plyo on Sunday and totally destroyed it…was great. Had a bad-ass Arms and Shoulder workout last night. It was one of those great ones where you don’t feel like doing it because you think you will be weak. Then you motivate and get it done anyway, and oh by the way increase weight or reps in every exercise. Now that is p90x.

Saturday was Back and Chest. Was a little gassed at the end, but still managed to better most every exercise.

Still doing all the advanced exercises on the ab ripper workout…well…I’m rambling. That’s it for this update.

I gotta say I had a fantastic week. I improved everywhere. Even Kenpo had some height and intensity the likes have never been seen by this body. Plyo rocked, Chest/Shoulders/Tris were fantastic (all time best on one arm pushups), Back and Bis went well (bis better than back, but putting them together always wastes my forearms), Yoga was cake, and Legs and Back went smoothly. What else can I say. My diet was pretty good this week, although I partook in some frothy beverages last night. I have a feeling it will slow me down a little today, but oh well…gotta live a bit.

So the goals for this week are to absolutely bring it like never before. I’m thinking I’m going to try Tony’s crazy ass insane pushup/clap/spring off the ground move today and see how far I can get. The plan is to give that a shot and then modify if I can’t get too many. Piece of cake.

Anyway, the six pack is back and I’m lovin’ it! My core is definitely stronger than it has been and I’m super confident when it comes to any of the ab/core moves. I’m actually looking forward to Core Synergistics next week. I can honestly say that is the first time I have had that thought.

Well, that’s it for now. I will put up some pics when I finish Phase III.

Keep bringin’ it!

The first time through p90x I noticed that after the “recovery” week I had trouble getting going again. This week was no different. I’m not sure if it was the recovery week or if it was just the change in the routine, but I was absolutely crushed after each resistance workout. Legs and Back was the worst. I really struggled to get through it. Thankfully I made it. Here I am starting week 6 today and I’m still very sore. (My can especially!) This is good.

Definitely made some improvements…I was looking at where I left off with round 1 and I was able to keep up so life is good. Really looking forward to this week. Did more one arm pushups than ever…

Off to Ab Ripper X…

See ya next week.

So I just finished week four. Week four is the “recovery” week, but in reality there isn’t all that much recovering going on. The recovery week consists of two days of Core Synergistics (Tony says it may be your favorite workout, I totally disagree! ), two days of Yoga, one day of Kenpo, and then the recovery part…two days of X Stretch.

This week went quite well for me. I wasn’t feeling all that well through for the first day of Core, but I muddled through it and was glad I did. Kenpo was strong as usual, and I am starting to hit my stride with Yoga again. Day two of Core Synergistics I upped my weight a bit and was able to hang on through the whole workout. No pausing here!

So Phase I is done, and I’m looking forward to Phase II starting today. I’m minutes away from hitting Ab Ripper and then later I’ll move on to the weights.

Now, on to the second part of my post. I decided I was sick of using protein that had artificial sweeteners in it so I switched to one that has sugar in it. Would love to go with something that has Stevia in it, but they are super expensive. So I’ll deal with the sugar for now. Definite difference in taste, but really at this point I don’t care all that much what my protein tastes like. I just want to transfer the protein goodness into my body.

So I am now taking Optimum Nutrition 100% Natural Whey Protein. I think I paid about $39 bucks for it. Not too bad for a 5lb’er. I got the chocolate flavor. Taste isn’t bad. Pretty light tasting. I just like to know that I’m not completely rotting out my brain by pumping fake sugar chemicals into it.

My diet was pretty good this week with the exception of 3 beers last night. Hey, it was Friday.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to get some pics up here from the end of Phase I.

Thanks for all the comments through email, flickr, and youtube. I’m more than happy to help with any questions you may have about the routines.

Keep bringin’ it!

I still haven’t missed a day for round 2 of p90x. I just finished week 3 on Friday and am now on to the “rest” week. Rest basically means 2 days of Yoga, 1 day of Kenpo, 2 days of Core Synergistics (ugh…brutal), and 2 days of stretching.

Strange thing but the week after the “rest” week, I’m usually pretty gassed. Anyway, so far the routine is going great. I am improving every workout, just like I did the first time through p90x. While long, I still enjoy Yoga. After the first 45 minutes, it is smooth sailing. The last 6 minutes of the first half of Yoga is pretty tough. Yoga belly 7 is a good time too!

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the muscle confusion part where we switch up the routines a bit. I should be getting a pretty good gain from that.

I have switched the protein I’m taking to the Optimum Nutrition 100% Natural Chocolate. Not interested in all the artificial sweeteners. It tastes ok…not great, but honestly I don’t care all that much. As long as my body is getting what it needs.

Well, that’s the update. I’ll post all my results at the end of week 4.

Bring it!

Mark