well I hope some good Samaritan scrapes me off the floor

[DianeR]

Yes, P90X+ is coming out this December. I should finally be done with my first go round with P90X by then. I had to start over twice, once after vacation and a second time after spraining my ankle (walking, not doing the program). So I've done 5 weeks, then had 4 weeks off, then 5 weeks, another 4 weeks off, now almost 4 weeks in again. I'll be feeling rather superstitious at the end of week 5 (for the third time).

Even with the breaks, I can really see changes in my body. Up three pounds, but the calipers say my body fat is down, so it is muscle. The only dimension change I can see is that my biceps are up an inch. The weight and reps I can do have really gone up and my muscles are firmer. (Don't worry about the weight gain, those of you who want to lose weight -- my BMI is now hovering around 18.5, before I would have been considered underweight.)

If you want to see some moves in the new program:
http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F61995F0F6E9AA45

Obviously I need to get myself a pullup bar. I don't see a band alternative for that pullup move.

[groundhogg]

OH MY GOSH!!!!

The regular p90x is plenty extreme for me...I think those L-chinups would be killer! I haven't been doing p90x since we completed the first time...we made a couple of false starts, but life is so busy we didn't continue on...I tried doing my one chinup I finally worked up to the other day and couldn't do it anymore , just after several weeks or two or three months off!!!!

I hope groundhoggie doesn't hear about this new one...she's so nuts about the old one, on her 3rd time going through it now!

I agree about the biceps...I have very solid, prominent biceps and triceps at this point...my quads are pretty good too...although I really think besides the weekly Legs & Back routine, I think that awful, terrible Yoga X was hugely instrumental in building up those legs. Groundhoggie has dropped the Yoga X on her Yoga days and has replaced it with another yoga video she found...it has two versions, stretching yoga, 24 minutes, and strength yoga, 24 mintues...so she can do the entire video quicker than that awful p90x yoga session...I figger when we ever get back to p90x again (probably won't happen until after Christmas, the way things look right now), we'll borrow her new yoga video and do the same...the hour and half horrible, unpleasant pp90x yoga is just too YUCK! The idea of it makes us all hestitant to even get into p90x.

Also...groundhoggie moved from Plyometrics to the cardio video in p90x (which they specify is an option)...afte r the first time through our p90x...all 4 of us groundhogs agreed that the plyo video is a little rough on the body...their cardio has just enough of the plyo to feel good, rather than harmful, as we all 4 assessed of the regular plyo, after having lived through that along with the other sessions of the first 90 day go at it.

Right now I'm just doing what I call Shovelglove Plus , in which i work through the Reinhard Engels' invented shovelglove, sledgehammer moves, then go on to do some pushups (which I've gotten good at and afraid that if I don't keep doin' them, I'll get back to not being able to do 'em)...maybe about 40 or 50 over the course of the workout...around 50 regular full sit-ups...50 Fifer scissors from p90x (doin' them faster than the 25 on the Ab Ripper video...so doing more) and some lunges and things that I also borrowed from p90x workouts. On the days I can't get to this, I try to either walk some on the treadmill, or increase walking distance with the dogs. This is abouth the best I can manage for now...but I do plan to do another full p90x during the winter...because...yeah...it's a real effort, but the results are blatant, undeniable...well worth it!

[DianeR]

Those pushups they were doing are what scared me. I can imagine falling on my head Maybe I'll be stronger when I reach that point.

Or I'll go through P90X a time or two more before I try this.

It is interesting that I seem to be as strong as even Dreya on the legs and arms. But my back and chest obviously need help. I can finally do the V up part of the situp/V up exercise, so I guess strength does finally come along.

It is funny about Plyometrics. At first, I thought I was having a heart attack. I had to stop and take all sorts of breaks. Now I do it and my heart rate isn't even as high as the folks who are doing the video. Maybe it is because my diet is better I was doing the cardio video instead in my second aborted attempt to do the program (when I tried the lean version), but I didn't like it as much. I think those superman/banana & Dreya rolls do me in. I also didn't like doing ab work so many days in a row.

One tweak I've done is to do Ab Ripper on the Kenpo day, rather than the Legs & Back day. That way it isn't abs 3 days in a row, then nothing for 2 days. My legs also seemed to not want to do all the leg motion in Ab Ripper right then.

What yoga video does groundhoggie have? There are so many. I have some at home but they always seem to have something I don't like about them -- omitted asanas I would like, postures I cannot do & no alternatives suggested, goofy metaphysics, skinny young women who are way more flexible than me I agree that the yoga thing does drag on. The other day, I was taking breaks, which helped (although you have to have the time to get back to it). I did the tape up to the balance moves, then did something else, then went up to the ab work. Actually, I think I skipped the ab work, come to think of it.

I wonder if the new P90X+ program will have a new yoga program.

It is interesting how one particular video can be something you dislike doing. I don't like Core Synergistics. Maybe this proves I need it the most. Oh well, I only have to do it one more time this week, then I won't see it again for 3 weeks.

[groundhogg]

I'm not real crazy about Core Synergistics either...but I really hated the yoga, because it's so time-consuming, and what we all thought was frustrating is that they get you into some horrid balance pose or something where you're just struggling, shaking, sweating, waiting it out, while Tony hops around showing us how everybody is holding their toes, etc. and then you just feel the seconds go by as you wait for him to get back and shut up and tell you it's okay to move outta that uncomfortable posture again, etc., all for an hour and a half...just too long, plus it FEELS very long too.

Maybe they will have a better yoga on the new version. The core synergistics I don't like, but at least you only do it twice (I think, was it?) during the recovery weeks...unlike the yoga...which just had me dreading Thursdays, BIGTIME!!!!

I don't know the name of groundhoggie's yoga video...I'll have to ask her.

The plyo was hurting our joints...both the young groundhogs and the old ones too...we were thinking it was just too long a time to be constantly slamming into our ankles and knees...I always work out barefooted, which people advise againts...but I do it anyway...and the bottoms of my feet...I mean the bones inside the bottoms of my feet, stayed a little sore from all the plyo slamming on them. The reason I work out barefooted, even on the treadmill, is because I feel that, being shoe-wearing civilized humans, our foot bones, musles, etc., get lazy...since their purpose throughout life to act as the first shock absorbers, sending the remain vibrations throughout knees, hips, and on up...I think lots of people's body problems (both soft tissue and joint, just in my opinion, of course) may be triggered or exacerbated at least by not allowing the foot muslces and bones to be accustomed to doing their first defense job, and redistributing the shock waves according to design.

So I try to do as much as possible barefooted, in the hopes that my body stays good at coping with normal, daily impact.

But even the non-barefoot groundhogs thought the plyo involved a lot of slamming that teetered a little bit close to possible damage, if it kept on hurting like that.

I had those "heart attack" feelings with plyo at first too...I mean, it is extremely demanding aerobically too...but I got better with that part of it after awhile.

[DianeR]

Maybe plyo isn't as much a strain on my joints since I have essentially no vertical leap

I certainly agree you shouldn't do something that makes your joints hurt.

Were you guys doing this on a padded surface or a hard one? I have a cushy rug PLUS aerobics shoes for shock absorbing. I always know when it is time to get new shoes ... my feet start hurting. I can see why you don't like plyo if you aren't wearing shoes.

[groundhogg]

It might be that I'm barefoot while doing it...but every groundhog seems to think it's a little rough on various body parts.