This is a guest post by Heidi.
I’m glad that week 2 is over. I had trouble this week, but I still made it through. Not only did I make it through, but I’m improving, so that is encouraging. Improving slowly, but still improving.
I realized this week that I’m actually going to have to purchase some heavier dumbbells. For the record, I only had girly dumbbells, 3, 5 and 8 pounds before, so I’m not that strong yet, but it’s still progress. I found some 10 pounders at WalMart last night for a decent price, so I’m set for week 3. That sure sounds wussy when I see it in writing, but double-digit dumbbells are better than a double-digit wardrobe, so that’s my focus. Increase the number on the dumbbells and decrease the number on the tags in my clothes.
I’m also realizing that I have some definite favorite workouts, and some that are hard for me to look forward to. I prefer the less aerobic ones; chest & back, shoulders & arms, Legs & Back. Not only do I prefer the exercises on these days, but these are the P90X worksheet days, where I document how many reps of each weight I can do, so I can SEE the progress compared to what I did last week. Since I sucked so bad at the beginning, the progress is motivating. Even going from 6 girly push-ups to 10 gives me a sense of accomplishment. I tried doing the “real” push-ups last night, but I only did 2 and seemed to pull a muscle somewhere in my abs. It hurts, but I’m just excited to realize that there actually ARE muscles under there somewhere. I haven’t seen those in years, so having the pain prove that they’re still there somewhere was good – a good pain. Anyway , last night was technically the beginning of week 3, so I probably shouldn’t put that in here, but it seemed relevant. If I mention it again in next week’s post, don’t hold it against me.
Ok, confession time: I didn’t do the P90X plyometrics this week. Not completely because I don’t like that one, but because I rooted my droid that day, overclocked it, and then got carried away flashing new ROMs and my phone ended up in an endless logo boot loop. It took me a few hours to fix it, and the workout is what got canceled that night. No excuses, just the truth. But, my phone is super fast now.
I almost completed the whole yoga video this week. That is some HARD yoga, and I’m no yoga virgin. I took yoga for the first time when I was pregnant with my older daughter, and doing yoga from 5-9 months prego is no easy task. Balance issues galore. But, that’s when I was young. Now that I’m old and not as bendy, this yoga is HARD. There was about a 10 minute portion of the video that I just *couldn’t* do, and it was getting me discouraged. So, instead of completely quitting and turning the DVD off, I let it run while I spent some time on my pilates machine, watching the DVD, and trying to figure out how on earth some of that stuff is possible. Then, when they started doing things that I knew I could do, I jumped back in and finished it. So, 80 out of 90 minutes isn’t bad, and I didn’t just stop and sit there during the 10 “off” minutes, I kept moving and watching. I guess that’s kind of cheating, but I somehow convinced myself that it was ok since I was still working out. Hmmm, it sure sounds like I’m full of excuses this week. Funny how both of my excuses were on the days of 2 workouts I dislike. I think I see a pattern here. Now that I’ve caught my sly self, I’ll make sure I don’t let myself get away with it next week. My goal this week is to do both the plyometrics and yoga videos, start to finish, no cheating. I even told my kids to take my phone away from me if they see me fiddling with it on plyometrics day.
I know it probably sounds like I’m just a lame cheater at this, but that was only 2 of the 6 days. I’m kicking ass on the 
other workouts. I’m increasing weights and reps on almost every exercise. And, Ab Ripper X hasn’t made me want to kill myself once this week. That’s progress. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the Ab Ripper in my other posts – maybe because I had blocked it out, or maybe because it was just too depressing, I’m not sure. BUT, this week I’ve gotten much better at it. They do some sit-ups in there with legs straight on the floor. I couldn’t even do ONE when I started, and now I can do several. They also do these things called V-ups, pulse-ups, which are kind of a 2 step sit up, but they are HARD. I couldn’t do any of those until Friday of this week, and I was able to do 4. Mason twists are hard too.. that’s where you are sitting up, with your legs off the floor, and you twist from side to side, with your hands clasped, hitting the floor on alternating sides of your body after each twist. These are fast, hard, and exhausting. This is the first week that I’ve been able to do these successfully as well. I could do the twisting last week, but I wasn’t able to reach the floor with my clasped hands. This week I did it. Yea me!
I’m also making progress with the whole pull-up thing, though I still cannot do even ONE pull-up. I try to make myself feel better by reminding myself that at the gym, when doing the lat pull-downs, I could only do like 40-60 pounds, and a pull-up is heaving up my entire body. I’m not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but I weigh WAY more than 40-60 pounds. So… I’m using the resistance bands and dumbbells instead of the actual pull-ups during the videos until I can get to the point where I can heave 150 pounds off the floor. Wish me luck on this one. I’ve heard several horror stories recently of resistance bands breaking and smashing into people’s faces, so now I wear safety goggles when I’m using the bands. I look like the biggest dork on the planet, but I’m sure – now that I’ve heard the stories – that it will happen to me. Just like I’m sure my house will burn down if I don’t unplug the toaster and my kids will get kidnapped if I let them outside unsupervised. Yes, I know they are teenagers now, but I have issues. Anyway – it’s these issues that now have me wearing the safety goggles and looking like a complete idiot. Don’t look for pictures of this. The fact that I’m putting this in writing is bad enough.
So – that’s it for week 2. Looks like I have my work cut out for me this next week. As long as I keep making progress, don’t lose an eye or burn down my house, I’m good with that.
