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P90X Day 1

Its the night before I start P90X, and I am questioning my sanity.  Why do I think I can do this, why do I need to do this, isn't life ok the way it is?  The reality is I am 231 pounds and fall into the clinical definition of obese.  On New Years Day I was 236, but I started working the South Beach Diet plan, which in many ways is not to different from P90X's Phase 1 Fat Shredder plan.  I haven't been working out consistently for almost three years, and then it was only for about 5 months. I am 47, and I would say when I was 19 is when I was in the best shape of my life. I hate getting up early, and I like to eat.  So it feels like everything is stacked against me.

However, I took the pictures that they want you to take, the front, back and side.  When did I get so overweight.  I don't see it when I look in the mirror, but there I am in pictures looking larger than life, and definetly larger than I ever wanted to be.  I also feel myself becoming less able to do the things I want to do as a result of being to heavy, and to out of shape.  Sure I can hike miles, I can do an elliptical trainer, but I want to be able to run with my wife, play a little soccer with my adult sons, and feel like I can sit in a hot tub and not feel shame. So there is my motivation

So at 5:30 am my alarm rings, the disc goes in and I start warming up.  Not so bad.  I am huffing an puffing but doing it.  Soon the workout starts, and we do a few push ups.  I listen to Tony Horton say "Do Your Best," and to pace yourself.  He asks the people working out how many push ups they are going to do, and they are all in the range of thirty.  I think to myself 10, at 10 I am still feeling good and try two more before stopping.  Then to pull ups.  There is no way I am going to be able to lift this heavy body up and down for pull ups, so I opt for the bands.  Then they go back to pull ups, then bands, then pull ups, then bands, and on and on and on.  Pretty soon I am only able to do three or four push ups while on my knees, and even then my arms are shaking, but I push through with sweat pouring off me.  Of course Tony and company are still pumping out 30 at a time, but Tony states that a few of those on the video when they were newbies struggled like me.  There is hope.  I Did My Best and Forgot the Rest.  Then I realized I was suppose to do the Ab Ripper routine as well.  I tried to do the first set with them and realized I would never make it, so I turned off the video and vowed to do it after work.

A few hours later, knowing I had done my best, I couldn't forget the rest.  Soreness started to settle in to my arms..  At lunch I was having trouble lifting a glass of water to my mouth without feeling the pain. I hurt in places I didn't know had muscles.  In some ways it felt like two a days for high school football.  I laughed at myself and again thought, what is a 47 year old guy like me thinking.

I came home and tried the Ab work out.  At one point my stomach completely cramped up.  The muscles in my stomach were so tight I couldn't move.  After relaxing them a minute I went on to the next routine.  I did my best, stuck with it till the end.  I didn't do nearly the reps they did, but tried all the exercises.  I have survived day 1 of P90X.

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