P90X - Day 10

10/22/2008

Day 10

Today was Arms and Chest, followed by my favorite enemy - Ab Ripper X.

It's Wednesday. I've been more tired this week, that's for sure, but I'm dead set on continuing to "Bring It".

I've also been pretty good on the diet, but I have snuck a couple 'allowed' foods at unallowed times. I blame the whole Sunday thing for these issues I've developed.

So I'm hitting all the crazy stuff that this DVD's throwing at me, but I feel like I'm dragging. On paper, though, I'm hitting better nubmers than I was last week on Day 3. Good reps. I do have a growing fear, though, that I'm getting to where I'm able to really hurt myself now. I can do more reps of everything and I'm definitely noticing a difference there. But that's the bad news, too. It's much easier to destroy your body when you do 20 of a thing that you were never supposed to do, instead of only 10. It's a vicious, vicious cycle.

Also, my keen pain receptors are noticing something. Something's weird here. I do these exercises that are supposed to really work my abs and I don't even feel it in the abs. I feel it in the lower back to the right and left of the spine. My back seems to tighten, then I can't really breathe, then it starts to really hurt and I feel like my spine's trying to become a 90 degree hinge from the pressure. Besides the typical ab workouts (like Ab Ripper X), anything where I have to raise a leg is causing some discomfort and increases difficulty. Particularly anything where I have to hold both legs off the ground (those are probably considered ab exercises, but I don't know because mine don't seem to be affected) causes a quick breakdown in the back and affects me in the other routines from that point on. I talked to another friend that's a certified personal trainer and he suggested that I simply have a weak back. I'm not too surprised, because I've had minor back issues since I hurt it when I was a kid. I think there's a warning before P90X that say something about avoiding this program if you have back problems.

Anyway, after making my whole body feel like it's a sandbag and it belongs on the floor, I get to do battle with the Ab Ripper. I actually keep up with the first couple routines - doing full reps and feeling like I'm "Bringing It". I'm not actually sure what "It" is, but I'll keep making sure I have "It" with me so when I get where "It's" going I'll be able to put "It" down and finally forget about "It". Short story long, after hitting the first few I start to lose momentum. My back is really slowing me down here. I find that even resting 5-6 seconds is enough, so I kind of plow through the rest in spurts. At the end, there's only my friend and I both lying on the ground - both motionless for a solid minute laughing maniacally.

Can't wait for tomorrow...