Week Four of P90X

I officially challenged myself to doing 12 weeks of my own P90X version almost four full weeks ago. How's it going?

I've done well! The first week hurt, as did the second, but by the third week I could feel myself getting stronger. I started adding more reps to every set and even commented to my husband that I need some heavier weights now. Go me! I'm still not able to do all of the Ab Ripper workout. The goals it to do 25 repetitions of each move. My first week... I could only do 12-15. Now I'm doing at least 21 on them all!

The cardio days have consisted of 2-4 miles each time depending on how much time I had before it got dark (or how badly it hurt to walk, ha!). Now seems like a good time to ask:

AM I THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS WORLD WHO LOVES SPRINGING FORWARD AN HOUR THIS TIME OF YEAR!?

Sure, we lose an hour of sleep one night, but we gain an hour of sunlight for many days to come! To me it's TOTALLY worth the trade-off. Now when I get home I'm not rushing around frantically trying to get out the door to go run before it gets dark! I don't have to worry about wearing my dorky flashing light on my shorts to signal people that, "Hey, there's a live human being on the road here, please don't hit me!" I love waking up in the morning and it still being pitch black outside--it makes me feel like I haven't missed the opportunity to get something done that day!

Anyway, back to week four...

So far I've noticed ZERO changes to how I look. I feel stronger, I run faster, I breath better... but I still see no definition to my abs (after considering how ruined my stomach was after pregnancy, I wonder, "Will I ever have abs again!!??). My legs aren't "smoothed out" like I'd like them to be, my calves are rather puny, and my arms still look like spaghetti noodles. BUT... I feel stronger and I'm pretty proud of myself anyway.

This week has been a sort of "rest week" for me. The first 3 weeks are one day weights, one day cardio, one day weights, one day cardio... but week four consists of no weight training, only cardio and lots of stretching.  Next week will be the beginning of new kinds of weight training--which means I should really look these moves up before it rolls around!

What's cool about P90X is that you can go online and print out the worksheets for free and then, if you know what the moves on the worksheets are, you can do them on your own without buying all of Tony Horton's DVDs. I think the DVDs are worth it if you're a beginner and need the guidance, but if you're an expert like me (HA!) all you really need is a worksheet and some good YouTube videos that show how the moves look. After you've done them a few times you remember what they are without having to look them up.

It makes me feel pretty awesome when my husband is working out and has to ask me what a "deep swimmer's press" or a "crouching Cohen curl" looks like! Mhmm, that's right. Pretty legit.