P90X...some claim it's a steady climb up the stairs to a heavenly body, others insist that it's one downward dog away from the depths of hell...
Only a week and half into my personal X journey, I can't quite decide which side I'm on. However, what I did learn as soon as I took the plunge and pressed play for the first time: Whether you're spending three months in the midst of your worst nightmare or your best dream, a few things are for sure. There will be a LOT of time spent in the kitchen preparing meals. There will be even MORE sweat and burning muscles. Pizza, cake (or in my case, the icing), and BREAD will look better than ever. But after it all, I hope, so will my body.
The eve before my roommate Emily and I started X, I was in the kitchen...painstakingly chopping, mincing, sautéing and measuring every morsel for our Friday breakfast and lunch. It was a recipe for disaster: 6 egg whites, 1 1/2 ounces fat free mozzarella, 2 tablespoons green onions, chunk of middle finger, pinch of salt...
I felt lighter already.
As far as cooking extravagantly on weekdays goes, that first day was also the last day. After a hurried breakfast of mushroom egg white omelet that was launched into my mouth so quickly I could've put any MLB pitcher to shame, it was decided that two of the "allowed" meals would become the frühstuck staple: soy sausage english muffin MWF, protein shake TR. Weekends were the time to enjoy the omelets, scrambles, and delicately prepared fruits. Assuming, of course, that I would wake up in time for breakfast on the weekends...and we all know about assuming.
The first night's workout was "Arms and Back". For a few of the workouts, including this particular one, I had purchased a pull-up bar that hung dauntingly from our kitchen door frame, right beside the fridge that was covered in pictures of disgustingly perfect Victoria's Secret Angels; their defined abs and long legs as inspiration to stick to the diet. Personally, I think the pictures would have been much more effective hanging in front of my face as I punched and kicked my way through the street fighting/karate/kickboxing DVD, Kenpo X. Anyways, Emily and I flopped around like fish on a line attempting to do at least one pull-up. Fail. But on the bright side...there's only room to improve.
The workouts in general are awesome. Seemingly perfectly planned and executed, Tony pushes you hard from day to day, but in a way that makes everything possible and interesting. After one workout my legs were so sore that I literally shuffled around the office the entire day and refused a seat when speaking with my boss in his office because I knew that eventually, I would have to get back up again. I dreaded the workout that night. But instead of killing me and driving me into a frustrated rage, it seemed as if Tony knew the state I was in, and we did 1 1/2 hours of "Yoga X"; intense stretching that left me feeling like a new person the next day.
Tonight I'm rediscovering my Yin and Yang for the second time with Emily, Tony, and Em's fluffy Persian Lacey, who will undoubtedly spend her evening smirking at our attempted prayer pose from a cushioned leather couch throne...
Bis später~
