P90X Day 57: Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

Today is the first day of Week 9 and Phase 3 of the P90X program. As part of the "Muscle Confusion" the schedule takes you back to the week 1 workout sequence beginning with - Chest & Back!

And I had forgot just how difficult this one was! My arms and shoulders are aching as I type this and it has been 2 hours since I finished the workout! The workout is very focused and upbeat. you do push-ups the pull-ups and repeat. I was amazed at how many more reps I was able to achieve when compared to weeks 1-3. I increased basically every pull-up and every push-up and also used the Black (50lb extreme) resistance band instead of the lighter red and green bands. Here is the workout tracker if you are interested in seeing the gains!

ABX was difficult for me today. I made it through but had to take a couple of rests on Crunchy Frogs, Fifer Scissors and the Oblique Raises. My hip flexors were very tight for some reason and added a degree of difficulty on the moves listed above. However, I am glad ABX is back because I missed it during the rest week and am looking forward to doing it again on Tuesday!

Since I am in Phase 3 now the diet has become more carb focused to help with energy levels so you can Bring It as hard as possible. I actually started gradually adding more carbs on Friday and I can already feel the difference in my energy level as I ate the full ratios today (60%carbs/20%protein/20%fat). Here is what I had today: Breakfast was a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter and a glass of skim milk and banana, this was about 600 calories. I had a South Beach Diet bar for a snack, it is 19G protein, 26G carbs and 210 calories. For lunch I had a big sliced chicken sandwich on whole wheat with fat free ranch dressing and low fat mozzerella cheese with water to drink. This was about 600 calories. The midday snack was another South Beach bar with seven slices of apple. The bar was 210 cals and the apples were about 180 cals for a total of 390. I then worked out and had SuperPump before the workout - 100 cals. And after the workout I took the recovery formula Anabolic Halo - 240 calories. Dinner was grilled chicken (6 oz) on two whole wheat pita shells with carrots and celery to get in my veggies for the day. Dinner was about 640 calories. Quick math puts me at 2780 calories for the day and the carb intake was right at 60% of diet. Whew .... deep breath!

This was also the first time I tried the Anabolic Halo and it tastes no where near as good as the P90X Recovery Drink - in fact it sort of sucks - but it is heavy on Creatine and other essential amino acids that promote muscle growth and quick recovery. So, I am going to take it for the remaining 5 weeks of the program to try and maximize my workouts. Some of the reviews said that it makes you tired and I actually will echo that because I was bouncing off the walls before the workout today because of the increased carbs in my diet and I am ready to sleep now!

Tomorrow is the "The Beast" Plyometrics!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff