The third week of P90X is behind us! Week 3 followed the same workout structure as Weeks 1 and 2.
Day 1: Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 2: Plyometrics
Day 3: Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper X
Day 4: Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 6: Kenpo X
Day 7: Rest or X Stretch
Week 3’s workouts were great! I know I, and I believe Ross too, saw improved changes in the amount of weights we were working with, number of repetitions, our general intensity of workouts and more. Awesome!
One thing that was interesting though, was that both Ross and I mentioned at different points this past week that we felt "puffy" (my words) and like our bodies regressed. It could have also been something else though, because we both felt off (I’m wondering if we had mild food poisoning or something – we weren’t sick, sick but neither of us was functioning right). What’s also interesting is that I found myself emotionally and mentally uncertain this week. Several times I encountered moments of, "I don’t know if I can expect to lose weight from this," "I’m probably just going to look the same at the end, I just will feel stronger," etc. I think it was more moments of trying not to hype myself up. I’m 100% honest here, and all of my regular readers know that I gained a lot of weight due to a medication and the process of getting that weight off has been very slow, practically non-existent. Nothing I’ve tried so far has made a huge weight loss difference, and I think it’s because I was so active, healthy, vegan, etc. before, and I refuse to starve myself on less than 800 calories a day like a doctor recommended. At the same time, I also feel like even if you just give a halfway effort with P90X, you’ll still see results. Basically, it’s just been a raw week for me, dealing with my raw and real emotions, life and goals.
I wonder if this time brings up a lot of emotions for others, which is why a lot of people seem to not progress past phase 1. (Ever see the shirts for P10X? lol). Just another musing. 
Regardless, I’m really looking forward to this upcoming week and next week. This week is our first recovery week, so all strength training is out (along with Ab Ripper…bummer 
). I’m interested to see how this week and next week changes things and challenges our bodies, since this is when the whole muscle confusion thing P90X is supposedly known for comes into play.
Stay tune for tomorrow morning as I have a special "truth behind P90X" post planned. Is it crazy balls to the wall every time? Is it an insane commitment? Will the high intensity make you get injured? Is it only for certain people? Is it a pointless routine that you’ll gain back all the weight and lose all the muscle after the 90 days have passed? If you have any questions, thoughts, doubts, or anything about the P90X program, please ask in the comments of this post and I’ll be sure to address them.
Exercise can bring up emotions…it is a therapy in a way and sometimes you get all kinds of negative and positive feelings flowing. My advice is stick with it even with the negative thoughts…this might be part of the process of breaking through the wall and finally getting your weight loss moving in the right direction. Sometimes progress is scary!!
Courtney
adventures in tri-ing
Oh, I’m definitely sticking with it, there was never any chance I would give up!
It was more just honest reflections of the raw emotions I, like everyone else, deal with. A lot of people view bloggers as these perfect people, and I certainly am not. I do struggle with thoughts of, “will I always be this way? Will I never fit in that piece of clothing again?”
Thanks for the comment though, we’re all in our individual journeys, here to support each other
oh very excited for tomorrow’s post and I’m wondering how often are you tracking your measurements through the process?
hey there! i love your blog. i read it often but i don’t really comment often at all. i just wanted to let you know that, having very very very loosely followed p90x, (i didn’t really follow the program, i just use them as supplemental workouts) i have already noticed a difference in my strength. it’s amazing! also–i see that you haven’t done the core synergistics dvd yet. having not followed the program, i’m not sure if will be incorporated later–but that one dvd made me fall in love with p90x–i love love love it! anyway–i just wanted to leave you some words of encouragement. you are doing so wonderful with the challenge and i know this program will do great things for you!
Honestly you might actually gain scale weight or stay the same or only lose a lb or 2……BUT if you stick with it, in actuality you are losing so much more – but you MUST track your MEASUREMENTS. The inches of your body parts will tell you WAY MORE than the weight number on the scale. You just need to get out of the scale mindset (which is very hard for us women).
to put it in perspective….last year I was 152 and size 10. I only lost 4lbs in scale weight BUT many inches so this year I am a whole size smaller!!
Hope this helps. Take your measurements every 2 weeks to see progress…I really hope you also took bikini photos – The CAMERA will also SHOW you visible progress every month. So you should be taking progress photos once a month.
email me if you need more tips/help.
I’ve had a LOT of emotional times during this workout. I’ve broken down in the middle of a workout before – and have yet to get through Core Synergistics simply because I lose it everytime. I’m not sure what it is..but I just get really emotional when I’m pushing myself to the core!
Glad to know I’m not alone!
I am loving these updates! I just started P90x too and am planning on doing a weekly update similar to this! Check it out if you get a chance – I’ve only done one week so far. I was happy to see that you added in a couple extra workouts, because I was contemplating that myself!
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