For those who don’t get the joke in the title: During every P90X and P90X2 workout, or most of them at least, Tony Horton recommends Beachbody’s Results and Recovery Formula (a powdered drink intended for use during or after a workout).
After giving it some thought, I need a break now that I’ve passed the 90 day mark. Actually, looking back at my notes, I started experimenting with the workouts a couple of weeks before I “officially” began P90X2, so it’s been over 90 days. I’ve only taken one recovery week in all that time, between Phase 2 and 3. It’s time for another one, before I take my follow up fitness test and determine my results.
Here are some difficulties I have faced during the past 3-4 months
Lack of sleep, or inconsistent sleep
I have been struggling with two sleep-related issues for a long time. The first is that I simply do not spend enough hours in bed, attempting to sleep, on a regular basis. That should be easy enough to correct, by figuring out my wake-up time, and subtracting eight or nine hours (to allow extra time for falling asleep). The other issue I have is waking up during the night and having difficulty getting back to sleep. That one is a little more difficult, and I have been reading about various ways to solve it, including relaxation techniques, a nap during the day, and the intriguing idea of “Segmented Sleep”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep
Overeating and/or macronutrient balance
I have never followed the P90X or P90X Nutrition Plans, mostly because I had previously established healthy eating habits and lost 50 pounds, so I figured I had that under control. Using the Calorie Count website, I can see how I am doing with my goals for protein, fat, and carbs each day, or over a certain time period. For example, here is a graph for the last 30 days:
As you can see, I am pretty consistently over the line for carbs (which should be 40% of my daily calories as per my preferences on the website), and for protein, which is a little better from the perspective of P90X, but my fat consumption is on the low side. Over time I am looking for ways to shift my calorie intake to fewer carbs but more fat. For me, consuming over 30 percent of my calories as protein does not seem realistic (my current goal is 25%). I would benefit just as much from eating more healthy fats, such as fish oil, avocado, coconut oil, etc.
According to the P90X2 Nutrition Guide, my calorie intake should be about 2200-2300 calories, with a different balance of carbs/protein/fat depending on what workout phase I am doing. As I said, I ignored the phases completely, but my calorie average for the past month is 2348 calories. I have gained two pounds, but maintained or reduced my waist size a little, which is fine for my goals of gaining muscle and finding that six pack.
Holidays and birthdays contributing to the overeating
I might have picked the wrong time to start P90X2, as the year-end holidays were coming up, followed the next month by my birthday, and my wife’s birthday the month after that? In reality, though, was it the wrong time? Maybe it ruined my chances at stunning before and after pictures (if I had taken those), but these workouts certainly spared me from holiday weight gain, and gave me the motivation to eat healthy most of the time.
No matter what day it is, I realize that what I eat is a choice, of course! I’m just trying to point out that there are a lot fewer special occasions at different times of the year. Hmm, maybe if I made a calendar with all of them listed, I could prove or disprove that theory? Maybe I could plan a little better?
Lack of proper supplements?
Times are tough financially at our house, so it’s difficult to justify the cost of a lot of supplements that might be beneficial for fat loss and muscle building. I am currently using the following supplements:
- Muscle Milk 100% Whey (sold at Costco in bulk)
- A men’s multivitamin from Vitamin World
- Kirkland Signature Vitamin D and Fish Oil from Costco
- Magnesium spray (magnesium chloride) from Ancient Minerals
- Melatonin for better sleep
Lack of clear goals
I’m already at a healthy weight. I’ve been doing P90X and Tony Horton workouts for a long time. I was excited about P90X2 because of the promise of new workouts, a different focus, and the possibilty that maybe this time, I would see that six pack (there it is again!). At the beginning of the 90 days, I also wanted to do push ups and pull ups with ease. Maybe that was too vague and ambitious. We’ll see when it’s time for the fitness test.
Conclusion
Despite the challenges I’ve listed in way too much detail above, I made it through about 100 days of P90X2, and that’s something I can be happy about. In my next blog post, I want to review my achievements and areas where I have improved.
As I was wondering what I could possibly write about my P90X2 experience, now that it’s over, I listened to this old episode of the Fat2Fit Radio podcast, titled “I Want to Look Like That Guy,” in which they interview two guys, a personal trainer (Jeff Willet) and his client (Stuart MacDonald), as the Stuart attempts to transform himself from the 40-something fat guy he has become, into a competitive bodybuilder. They produced a DVD movie of the same title which documents the entire process. Just hearing the interview, without even seeing the movie (yet), I feel a lot better about my current fitness level and how I look compared to “That Guy,” who obviously had to endure a much bigger commitment and more drastic measures.
