P90x Day 15: Chest and Back

Last night's workout was tough. Mentally and physically. The kiddos spent the Sunday night with Ricky's parents because of our video game day and the fact that Monday was a holiday for the kiddos. Since the kiddos weren't here, I took the opportunity to sleep in after Ricky went to work. Ricky called around 9am and woke me up, but after our phone call I rolled over and went back to sleep. He called again at 1pm and woke me up again. It's not completely unusual for me to sleep that late when the kiddos aren't here, but the feeling I had after waking up was odd. I felt sluggish, weak, and my head felt kinda fuzzy. That feeling lasted the rest of the day/night.

By the time Ricky was home and the kiddos were heading to bed I really was not up to doing our workout. Honestly, neither was Ricky. While our workouts are a good way for us to spend time together, we are beginning to miss hanging out on the couch, watching movies/playing video games for a few hours before heading to bed. Our exercise routine is cutting into that and we are missing it. Last night we both admitted to each other that we felt that way. But we also agreed that we were not going to quit. We made a commitment to do 90 days and that's what we are going to do. I really want to do Insanity after we finish P90x, but I think we're going to take a couple weeks off before we jump into it. Another reason I think it was harder to get started last night was because we had missed a couple workouts. That makes more of a difference than I realized.

Round 1
Standard Push-ups: 10 on knees (I did 1/2 a non-girlie one, best attempt ever so far!) (R:10)
Wide Front Pull-ups: 8 with chair (R:3)
Military Push-ups: 7 on knees(R:6)
Reverse Grip Chin-ups: 8 with chair (R:7)
Wide Fly Push-Ups: 10 on knees(R:10)
Closed Grip Overhand Pull-ups: 5 with chair (R:3)
Decline Push-ups: 0 (R:5)
Heavy Pants: 15 with 10lb weights (R:12 with 20lb weights)
Diamond Push-ups: 3 on knees (R:5 with a wider grip)
Lawnmower: 15 with 10lb weights on each side (R: 20 with 20lb weights on each side)
Dive Bomb: 0 (R:4)
Back Flys: 15 with 10lb weights (R:20 with 20lb weights)

Round 2
Wide Front Pull-ups: 5 with chair (R:2)
Standard Push-ups: 6 on knees (R:10)
Reverse Grip Chin-ups: 5 with chair (R:5)
Military Push-ups: 5 on knees(R:3)
Closed Grip Overhand Pull-ups: 5 with chair (R:2)
Wide Fly Push-Ups: 5 on knees(R:7)
Heavy Pants: 15 with 10lb weights (R: 10 with 20lb weights)
Decline Push-ups: 0 (R:5)
Lawnmower: 15 with 10lb weights on each side (R: 15 with 20lb weights on each side)
Diamond Push-ups: 0 (R:0)
Back Flys: 15 with 10lb weights (R: 10 with 20lb weights)
Dive Bomb: 0 (R:3)

With not feeling well, I remember assuming that I was doing/going to do worse than previous Chest & Back exercise days. I mean, it makes sense. If you're not feeling 100%, you can't give 100%, so you won't do as well as normal. Well, even though there were few exercises that I had to sit down and skip, overall I still improved from last weeks workout.

If I didn't have Ricky working out with me I don't know if I would have stuck with P90x for this long. I have come across several of the reasons that other people have quit, but Ricky and I refuse to. We may miss a few days here and there because of life happening, but that is not going to keep us from continuing. Just like if you're on a diet and have a bad couple of binging days, most people just give up, but you shouldn't. You should just start where you left off and continue, because you're still doing better than you were in the beginning. You won't have to start over completely if you don't ever quit completely. Slowing down isn't the same as quitting. I know it sounds contradictory with my beginning statement about not knowing if I'd have stuck with it without Ricky.

I often have trouble sticking with things that don't show immediate results (as I'm sure a lot of people do). I've been seeing results in the form of increased exercise reps and my pants fitting better, but I can't help but wish for more. I want to see a lower number on the scale (even though I know that a higher number doesn't always mean more fat). I want to wear a size even smaller pants (even though I know that I'm working my way there by making the size I'm in now fit better). I want to be able to do a regular non-girlie push up (even though I can do more of one now than I was able to do 3 weeks ago). I have all these "goals" in my head that I want NOW that I know aren't realistic. I know that. But that doesn't stop me from wanting them. And even though I know they are unrealistic, not achieving them makes me want to quit. I have to remind myself daily that even though I'm not achieving the goals I want to, I am achieving the goals I need to so that I can get to achieving the goals I want to.

By comparing our reps week to week, we are improving, but on a daily basis it doesn't seem like much has changed. I am trying to decide whether I want to continue logging our progress strictly on my blog, or if I want to blog it as well as use the P90x Worksheets. By using the worksheets I can look at how we've been doing at a glance, and then I can push myself to do better by knowing what I did last time. But if I don't look at the numbers, then I rely on my ability to dictate the number of reps that I do. And it feels so good to compare them afterwards and see an increase. I just don't know which is better.

-BritneyMarie