DAY 6: Feeling Kinda Less Broken

Workout: CVX

• Duration: ~25min Completed 3 Sets 
• Condition: No Weights
• Body Feels Like: 3/10 Abs are really sore from a workout a few days ago
• Mind Feels Like: 2/10 Feeling kinda down

Last night I took my good friend out clubbing to celebrate his birthday. I had three bottles of IPA and a Jack and Coke. Music was pop-house with heavily redundant beats with drowning bass. Normally I would bounce around the floor until my lungs give out (around 3 to 5 minute bursts followed by 10 min rest). Last night however, I more or less waddled around in boredom and wondered why the music was so dang awful. I used to love dancing but I was/am so out of shape. My friend had a great time however, so I was happy for him. 

I am a bit broken and need to fix me. 

CVX Customized Sets and Routines: 

For those of you that are unfamiliar with P90X3 CVX, it is a 30min cardio-strength training workout that includes 4 sets of 3 routines, repeated twice per set followed by cool down. Weights are incorporated anywhere from a water bottle to 10lbs and recommended, but not required. You can find some great homemade videos on YouTube for reference. 

As this is the first week of resuming workouts, I like to ease my body by doing only cardio for the first couple weeks (10-14 days). This is my way of warming my joints and muscles to prevent injury and mentally prepare myself for what is to come. It takes awhile for me to mentally commit.

CVX Breakdown

• Warm Up: None
• Set 1: Done - no weights, jumping jacks mixed in with press jacks
• Set 2: Done - no weights, focus on form especially with squats
• Set 3: Done - no weights, no towel on hops STOP
• Set 4: NOT TODAY!
• Cool Down: Done

As I waddled around at the club, I pondered about things that matters in life. Like, what is important to me and what can I do without? How do I make the most out of my shitty situation? 

P90X IS NOT INSANE

I want to take a moment to discuss the stigma and common misconceptions regarding P90X. Whenever I bring up P90X with friends and colleagues, their immediate response is almost always with a cringe and comments like, "I heard it's brutal" or "OMG that's super intense" or just a simple "Eek". Even veterans of P90X that I seldom met often sighed with an intense look and confessed that they either tried it and quit or completed it but hated it. Nobody loved it. 

If you follow the program exactly as instructed P90X is crazy tough (even at its easiest level). It is however an amazing tool if you improvise the workout and routines to meet your needs. Think about it. The '90' in P90X is meant for 90 days. It is a workout program designed to make you super fit in 90 days. However, what happens on the 91st day? What about day 2745? Although the program suggests that you continue the workout after the first 90 days to maintain fitness, I don't think it's sustainable. 

So how do I improvise? Let's take jumping jacks for example. Remember when we used to do jumping jacks in P.E. and hated it? I still hate it and so will you. But let's say I have to do 60 jumping jacks but gas out after 10 reps. What I do is I stop jumping after the first 10 reps and complete the remaining 50 reps using only my upper body by flapping my arms up and down.

If I cannot jump at all on the first day, I will flap my arms 60 times. On day 2 I will flap and maybe try some kicks. Day 3 I flap and hop and Day 4 I will attempt a few jumping jacks and return to flaps and hops, and so on until day XYZ when I can finally complete the 60 jumping jack reps.

This isn't anything new or groundbreaking as even Tony encourages you to do what you can. His workouts include 3 individuals performing each routine 3 different ways to illustrate varying degrees of difficulty. I take this very literally. 

Related thoughts on life: If you hit the jackpot and never have to worry about money for the rest of your life, what would you continue doing that you are doing today? What would you stop doing? Vice versa, if you're financially comfortable but one day lost it all, what would you do and not do? 

Cool-Down 

Today was harder to get my butt to gear as I contemplated a lot of things before my exercise. The depression is still lingering and though I cannot express it properly in words, last night made me feel a lot of sad things. However, the endorphins and sense of well-being after my workout is staving off some of it for now. Knocking on wood for a brighter tomorrow.