P90X Round 2 Day 27: Cardio X

I slept in a little this morning and it felt wonderful. I managed to roll out of bed around 7:30am and make myself an always delicious Whey Vanilla Protein shake and a whole wheat bagel with organic peanut butter. After that I had some errands to run and some chores to do. While out and about I had a Balance Bar (15G protein/21G Carbs/200 calories) and an Atkins Chocolate Shake (15G protein/160 calories). I came home and made myself a chicken sandwich on whole wheat with an apple. I worked in the yard for about an hour - we have been in the low 70's for the last week or so and it is time to get the fertilizer down and the landscaping in order. I love Texas weather this time of year. Not rubbing it in on you northerners -- I lived in the cold for 28 years - I am just stating a fact!

After the lawn work was done I came in and did Cardio X. Now that I am in round 2 of P90X, Cardio X has become a lot like Kenpo X to me - average. They are both very solid workouts but at this point my body is looking for more. So, I slipped in the Arms & Shoulders DVD and did this entire workout! Another Doubles day on what is supposed to be my recovery week? If you are new to P90X I wouldn't recommend doing this but Tony always says listen to your body and my body said to Bring It! Another reason I did this workout is because I bought another set of dumbbells today - 35 lbs - and really wanted to try them out. I used them on the alternating shoulder presses, the congdon curls, and the swimmer presses and they were awesome.

I mentioned in my last post that I Tivo'd the new BeachBodies infomercial ChaLean Extreme. It is very similar to the P90X infomercials that run 24 hours a day. It took real people like you and me and showed before and after results. The program is three-phases that occur over 90 days and has 15 different DVDs, including an Ab and stretch workout. It uses a lot of dumbbells and looks extremely well produced and Charlene Johnson seems like she would be a fun person to be your personal trainer. However, the infomercial really focused on weight loss. Charlene kept talking about how this program turns muscle into fat and I believe that it would do just that. I am just not sure if ChaLean Extreme is for someone like myself who has gone through P90X, P90X + and now another round of P90X. I am down to about 14% body fat and really don't have much left to lose. The infomercial did not really touch on if the program will help you grow your current muscles. That is one of the cool things about P90X, you can use it for weight loss or you can use if for muscle gaining. Just alter the amount of weight and reps and you are all set to go! And they say this time and time again in the P90X infomercial. I am going to Twitter Charlene and ask her this very question and I will let you guys know the response.

Tomorrow is a rest day. I am going to write about something that has been on my mind for awhile: Steroids and PEDs. I know this is a P90X site, but it also a fitness site so I figured it is relevant and hopefully I can make it entertaining.

Until then....

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff