Team Beachbody ¡preestreno!Español Guest

A Year of P90X

Today (April 20) marks my one year anniversary of doing
P90X, and is a good time to reflect upon the change it has
brought me.

For years, I had fought a valiant rearguard action against
creeping decrepitude. Starting when I turned 30 and bought a
Nordic Track Pro, exercise had been (in various flavors)
part of my day. I enjoyed a lot of success with that
machine, and still have my workout records in a filing
cabinet somewhere. I felt better, I lost weight, I looked
better. I got married, bought a house, had two kids.
Somewhere along the way, the results were harder to see and
I began to find reasons to not get up in the morning to
exercise (I was always and “Early (e)Xer(ciser))”. I bought
some weights and a bench and mixed those in, but I was just
static-to-losing-the-battle. So I bought a Stairmaster (the
real-deal machine, like in a gym) hoping that its intensity
would bring the change I wanted. However, the scale
continued its steady creep upward, my energy was
nonexistent, and I stopped buying clothes, ashamed to be
buying the sizes I was buying and telling myself that I
would hold off and get some new threads when I was down to a
size I thought acceptable, and that buying “fat pants” was
going to be a waste of money, because in a month they would
be too big for me. My weight kept bouncing up near the 200
lb mark on the scale, and generally not dipping below 190.

In March of 2008, I saw the infomercial. Now, I have to
admit that I was seduced once before by an infomercial and
bought a product that I later regretted having purchased (it
was not an exercise or personal care item, more of an home
cleaning gizmo), so I was skeptical. I saw P90X again a few
more times, in bits and pieces, and became intrigued by it.
I looked online for reviews, and most all of them were
positive. A few dissenters lurked, touting similar and much
cheaper-to-free alternatives. By and large, though, I liked
it and it fit with my mentality. I'm good with clear
direction, especially in areas that are not my expertise. I
defer to “those who know” and looking at Tony and the cast I
figured that someone must know what they are doing, if only
by being excellent marketers. The road map was there, the
routine defined – I liked that. One night, I went online and
through the tedious order process (man, they try to sell you
EVERYTHING), popped in my Visa number and started my
internal countdown to how many days I had left where I could
return P90X and still get my money back. I even marked it on
my calendar in my cell phone so it would not slip my mind
when I gave up. I still hadn't made a “commitment to the
commitment”.

I can clearly remember how I felt when I got the product –
scared! I told no one that I had bought it because I did not
want to have to explain myself if I couldn't complete the
program. I did the Fit Test, put everything back in the box,
and that was that. The box stared at me from my dresser for
a week at least. April vacation rolled around, I took my
kids whale watching and we spent some time at the hotel pool
– I couldn't stand how I looked in my swim trunks. I
resolved to start it on Monday morning, April 21. I got up
early, headed for the basement (I now call it The House of
Pain) and put the DVD in for Chest & Back. I had no chin up
bar, 2 sets of dumbbells of 12 lbs and 25 lbs, some crappy
Gold's Gym bands I got at Walmart, a pair of Champs push up
bars I had for years, and a remnant strip of staircase
runner to keep me off the cold cement.

What scared me the most was the fear that I was going to
fail, or find that I was in such sorry shape that I would be
hopelessly out of my league. I did the Chest & Back warm-up,
the push-ups weren't too ugly, but the bands were a disaster
(for pull-ups). I couldn't find the right tension and I had
to keep pausing the player while I fiddled and the clock ran
closer to the time I would have to stop and still be able to
get to work on time. I can't remember if I actually finished
Day 1, but I did do ARX. I climbed those cellar stairs
feeling pretty humble! The entire first week was like that,
and culminated on Thursday's L&B when I snapped a band and
it put a huge welt on my forearm. I was hugely discouraged
and still mindful of when I would have to get an RMA number
so I could be refunded. I also remember just how sore I was
– I could barely walk!

Over time, things got better and I fell into the groove. I
installed a pull-up bar, bought some more iron weights, and
worked to follow the diet. I asked a couple of questions in
another thread, and my future coach Derek responded with
some very lengthy emails of advice and encouragement. I was
really impressed that there were people who would devote so
much effort to helping someone they did not know, and for no
renumeration other than the good feeling they got. My “last-
chance-for-a-refund day” passed, so now I was committed. I
hadn't bought any supplements so I started trying what I
could find at Walmart, and Derek helped me with amounts,
etc, faking some recovery drink, things like that. My
“actual” coach was in it for the money, he hadn't even DONE
P90X and after one email I never heard from him again. Each
week I felt a little stronger, my clothes fit a little more
loosely, and I felt better about myself. After 5 weeks, I
finally managed my first unassisted pull-up. One thing I
maintained though was the secrecy regarding what I was
doing, especially from those at work. Warmer weather came,
but I persisted in wearing long sleeves to work and would
casually dismiss comments or questions I would get from
coworkers asking if I had lost weight. I just didn't want
the added pressure of unreasonable expectations.

I finished my first round on July 19, while on vacation in
Vermont. My children and I spent a week at a water park (I'm
divorced), and just being able to walk around the pool with
no shirt and have some actual pride in my appearance felt so
good. I didn't really realize how strong I'd become until I
lifted my 9 year old daughter over my head and literally
threw her into the deep end, to her immense pleasure. She'd
come up for air and shout “Again!”. Another day, during one
spirited game of tag, I just plain out-ran her, and she lay
on the ground gasping with a stitch in her side, begging for
mercy while I stood over her, breathing deeply and steadily
and ready for more. At that point, I grasped just what Plyo
X had done for my stamina, just as the pool had shown me
what Chest & Back did for my upper body strength. It's one
thing to do another couple of pull-ups or some extra jump-
knee-tucks and it's entirely a revelation to see how that
impacts you in the 'real world'.

I did another round of P90X two weeks after wrapping up my
first, and midway through it my left wrist began giving me
twinges of sharp pain, during exercises that required an
open palm – reverse grip chin-ups, most curls except
hammers, etc. It came to a head when I dropped a 35lb
dumbbell on my foot during a set of crouching Cohen curls. I
nursed myself along through the rest of the round, afraid to
push myself, popping Advils and hoping for the best. I
assumed it was a touch of carpal tunnel that I had
antagonized and that the two week break would help. When I
came back to do my third round, I decided to go for Doubles,
which I started in November. It was evident right from the
start that this was not going to work, my wrist was in full
revolt now and I was looking for any answer I could find. A
couple of coaches told me to stop immediately – but I
didn't. I modified my chin-ups to always have my left hand
over the bar, not facing me, and all the curls on my left I
changed to hammers. Just as long as I didn't open my palm,
it seemed okay.

Looking back, I don't think I did the right thing, and those
rounds really weren't to be constituted as “Bringing It”. I
think I spent more time trying to avoid the pain than push
for gains.

I decided to take a P90X break after Round 3. I had access
to someone's Slim in 6 package that they had but not used.
Hey – it was free, what the heck? Ranae doubted I could even
do it! One thing included in it was a Beachbody B-Lines
band. I was band-shy after getting smacked by the broken one
back during Week 1, but it was part of the program – and,
like I said, I respond well to clear direction. The program
used a band, so I was going to use a band. Doing Slim in 6
(Si6) was an experience unto itself. If I thought L&B was
the last word in lunges and leg work, I had another think
coming. It was like Week 1 all over again – I could barely
walk! I also bought a full set of bands to go with it. Doing
Si6, I came to appreciate Tony even more, and admire his
ability to inspire me to greater heights, even after seeing
a DVD 10 or 20 times. Debbie's routine is hard, but it also
seems a bit saccharine. All the cast keeps smiling, grinning
like fools during the hardest parts (hey, I'm not smiling –
I'm struggling!), which seems fake, and I'm on the green
band while the “graduates” are only on the red band, and I
have to wonder just how hard they are working. With P90X I
can see Danny or Bobby on their knees after a set, trying to
steady themselves and regroup, or seeing Davey have to go to
his knees to finish one hand push-ups, and it makes me feel
that if they can struggle, I can struggle too, so I try even
harder. There's no shame in failing, only in not trying.
P90X just has that esprit de corps that other programs lack.
All that being said, I'm glad I did Si6 and I now make it
part of my new round of P90X (bye-bye Kenpo and Vanessa!)

As for my wrist – well, if I want relief I need surgery and
two months of recuperation. An accident of birth, my ulna is
longer than my radius. I don't know if I'm prepared for that
or not, so right now I'm just pondering it.

It's been exactly a year, and I am on Round 4 of P90X. I'm
doing it completely with bands this time, with the sole
exception of lawnmowers, which I do with two 35lb dumbbells
for a total of 70lbs. The bands allow me to open my palm to
the point where the pain starts and so far I'm happy with my
results. I feel those gains coming again, like in Round 1,
and the bands can be brutal in a way that free weights are
not. While I certainly don't feel like I've accomplished all
my goals, I know that if I commit to 'pushing play' and keep
fighting the fight, I will achieve them. I've been able to
redefine myself from being “that guy” I see in the mirror,
the one who looked unhappy with himself and couldn't change,
even when he tried. I now call myself a “work in progress”,
and at age 45 I know that I can keep getting better, and
that there is a clear path for me to achieve my goals – I
only need to follow it.

Aside from the physical changes it has wrought, the best
thing about P90X has been the continued support and
encouragement from people on this forum. Whether it's been
my coach Derek steadying me when I was frustrated, or
Ranae's 100% commitment to encouraging the rest of us (at 4
am no less!) , the people here are the ones who keep me
accountable. When it's 4:40 am and my alarm sounds, and it's
cold outside but warm under the comforter, and the absolute
LAST thing I feel like doing is drinking some creatine and
orange juice and heading down to a freezing cellar – well, I
know that when I do, I'm not alone and somewhere, in
Pennsylvania or Michigan or New Hampshire or good old Haddam
CT (this means you, Dino!), someone else is struggling with
the same decision and that they had the stomach to do it, so
there's no excuse for me not to get my butt in gear. And for
that, I thank everyone here, whether you are a newbie, or
one of us that has been here since Page 1, or someone in
between. You are the ones who have made this possible, and I
owe all of you my gratitude.

Peter