P90x Day 4: Yoga X

I was told by several people that Yoga X was difficult. In my mind, I thought they were crazy. How can stretching and doing random poses be difficult? Turns out, I was wrong. Very wrong. This workout is the longest of the set at 90 minutes and Ricky & I made it 42 minutes in before we were in a heap on the floor complaining about how tired we were, how our extremities were sore, and how sick of Planks we were. It was at this point that we wanted to quit. We hadn't quite gotten to the Balance Postures (we were like 30 seconds away) so it just seemed like it was going to be too much. But thanks to some cheering and pleading from our "Sore Muscles" group on Facebook, we agreed to continue on. I kept thinking to myself, "You don't stop when you're tired. You stop when you're done."

At the beginning of the dvd, Tony was saying something about how Yoga takes "strength, balance and coordination", I turned to Ricky and said, "Well, you've got one of those three things going for you!" I love him, but he really lacks balance and coordination. (Except when he's on the roof of a house. Nimble on a roof, tripping over himself on the ground. I will never understand him...)

I enjoyed doing the first half of the dvd, but towards the end of the first half it became sort of monotonous. I am quite content never doing another Plank, Upward-Facing Dog, or Runner's Pose. The second half was better, just like I was told it would be. The Balance Postures were quite fun. One of my goals for these 90 days is to be able to do the Standing Leg Extension with a finger lock instead of having my hand on my knee/calf.

The Floor Work was pretty enjoyable as well. Ricky and I were actually able to do The Crane pose. Ricky did it first with the dvd, then we paused it so I could have him help me. I was determined to at least attempt it. At first, my legs were pinching the skin on my arm which was pretty uncomfortable. Eventually, I was able to hold it for about a second before falling. I'm sure we were doing it incorrectly, but we have time to work on that. I'm just proud that we were able to get our feet off the floor! I was pretty sure that I could to Wheel, and I was right. I used to do that all the time, I just called it a back-bend.

I can't remember what the name of it is, but the one where you keep your shoulders on the floor and lift your legs and back off the floor was impossible for me to do the other day during Stretch X. Just like The Crane, I had Ricky do it first, which was no problem to him at all. He's bendy. Then we paused it so he could help me. He helped me to get my legs up, but I was able to hold the pose and do the variations all on my own. I was actually more flexible than him in some of those poses. The competitive side of me smiled a lot when that happened.

A common occurrence throughout the whole dvd was Ricky and I tripping into each other. We looked like we were drunk. The more I concentrated on keeping still, the more I would move and eventually fall over. We crashed into each other several times. There was even one time that I fell over into the couch and Ricky tried to catch me but his reaction time was a little too slow. It was a valiant effort though.

One thing that kinda confuses me is that some of the moves are difficult and I can really feel them stretching me. Then there are other moves that seem easy, too easy. I wonder if I'm just more limber in that particular pose, or if I'm doing them incorrectly.

This is Ricky's least favorite of the series so far. But I think that is because he knows it is longer than the rest and he seems to have the most difficulty with it, with the difficulty balancing and being uncoordinated. I think, with time and practice, that he will come around to enjoying this one. If I can push myself to see past the monotony of the beginning, I think this one might be my favorite so far.

-BritneyMarie