TheLegendsLeague | Bryan Espiritu

Starting weight: 177lbs
After week 3: 169lbs.

Here’s how the week went.

The Workouts:

Day 15:
Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X

I started today’s workout at about 1pm, after blogging a bit and having some breakfast. I was feeling a little bit low on energy, but I’ve been finding that once you start doing the warm up and stretches you’ve gotta get your mind into what you’re about to do.

My goals for today: Match my highest numbers from last week’s workout in both sets of this week’s workout and use foot support at a far distance to get the most out of the pull-ups and keep good form.

Right off the bat, the Standard Push-ups were far easier than last week. I easily matched my highest numbers, doing 30 in both sets. I was able to double my first week results on every single pull-up exercise, on Wide Fly Push-ups, and Dive Bombers, which felt absolutely amazing. For the Lawn Mowers, I’m gonna need heavier weight because I’m doing 20 reps with 20lbs and it’s getting a bit easy. I noticed that the rate of improvement is so steep that you get a little bit shocked looking at what you were able to do in the past in comparison to what you can currently do, and it’s only my 3rd time doing this workout. So crazy.

The one place that I wasn’t able to hit my goal with was the Diamond Push Ups. Last week I did 12 in the 1st set and 15 in the 2nd. So this week I strived for 15 in both sets. Instead, I was able to do 15 in round 1, but only 12 in round 2 before collapsing. I even took a midset break and tried for more, but literally couldn’t push myself off the ground.

The thing with these workouts is that as long as you push yourself to your absolute limit, you’ll feel a level of accomplishment. If I’m able to match what the guys and girl in the DVD can do by the time I’m done with this program, I’ll be ecstatic, but it’s not gonna faze whether I feel good about what I’m able to achieve.

Once again, I started to feel pretty obliterated after this workout and I needed to give myself a 5 minute break before getting into Ab Ripper X. But when I started, I had one thing in mind – get through the whole workout at the pace of the DVD.

I know what I’m getting into when I do these exercises now, so there is a little bit of comfort when I press play, but once you start going, it’s unreal. The 1st few exercises with my legs up are way easier than they were in weeks 1 and 2, but I still needed to take a break during Crunchy Frog. I know, it sounds funny, but if you’ve got the DVDs you know what I’m taking about. For Fiefer Scissors, I’m still not flexible enough in my legs to bring my foot skyward, and I need to literally keep my knee bent to do this exercise, or else it’s just retardedly difficult. This lack of flexibility has also made it impossible for me to do the Pulse Up section of this workout. Other than those 2 issues, I finally made it through Ab Ripper X without pausing the DVD!! I’m crazy, crazy stoked.

At the end you do the Mason Twist, holding your hands together with your feet and back of the ground, alternating punches to the ground on either side of your waste. You’re supposed to do 40, but the DVD stretches out to 50 reps. This week I started to bail around 30 and I fell over on my side in pain. When they reached 40, I got back into it and completed the last 10.

Honestly, I’ve got a lot of respect for anyone who can complete this, and I still am baffled by the strength of the individuals who are in these DVDs. It is crazy to see how strong and fit they are – flexible, lean, not bulky, but strong as fricken oxen. It’s insane.

At the end of the workout I had my regular protein shake and chilled for a bit. And strangely enough, after about an hours rest, I was wanting to do Plyometrics. This shit has me obsessed right now. lol. I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow I guess.

Day 16:
Plyometrics

I had some plans to meet up with an old friend from Vancouver today, and I’ve pretty much figured out that if you’re going to drink while on P90X, you gotta do it on a cardio day. Reason? Because if you try to do these cardio workouts the day AFTER drinking, you’re gonna die.

So I got my workout started this morning, got all ready, put the DVD in, psyched myself up, and the fucking thing skips. So I play it back from the beginning, get it going again.. and it skips back to the beginning. This happened like 5 times before I got pissed off and just played the shit off of my laptop as it sat on a stool in my living room.

Once I started the first 30 squats, I knew today was gonna be a hellish workout. I was getting beat up pretty fast. And by the time we got to the “Switch Stance Squats” I knew I was gonna be in for hell. I had to a lot of modified moves today. I’m not sure why, but my energy was feeling really drained and my legs were on absolute fire. At one point I rushed over to my kitchen sink and thought I was gonna puke. Thankfully I didn’t.

By the time Plyo was done I felt wasted. This workout is one that’s gonna take a long time to get used to. It’s just way too much to deal with. I mean, I get through it, and I do 99% of it, but there’s shit that I just can’t manage. If I can do this thing by August, I’ll be happy.

So after Plyo was through I had to move on to Ab Ripper X. Today’s goal: Complete the workout without pausing it. And guess what, your boy did it. I only had difficulty in 2 places – The Fifer Scissors are still really hard for me because of my hip flexors, and during the Mason Twist at the end I had to drop my feet after 30, continued through to 40 and brought them back up until we reached 50.

I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made and how strong I feel now that I’m in week 3. The workouts aren’t necessarily getting easier, they’re just getting more familiar, and I’m aware of what to do when I feel like bailing. Even after the Plyo puke scare, I’m still happy with today’s workout.

Now onto some drinks with an old friend.. lol.

Day 17:
Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

Aight, we’re back at my favorite of the week’s workouts. Last week, as I reported, I killed this DVD, so this week I was focused on matching my results or bettering them. I had it set in my mind that in the cases where I was hitting 15 – 20 reps, I needed to up my weight and just do 8 – 10 to push myself, and I did so without issue. It was a little bit harder, but if I can gain some size out of this change, I’m all for it. I’ve noticed huge improvements in this workout, and it’s definitely one of the days that I’ve grown to look forward to in the week.

Once I was done Shoulders & Arms, I moved onto Ab Ripper X.

I’m really finding that doing this workout has gotten a lot more focused for me. It’s far less difficult than it used to be, but it still feels pretty damn hard to get through. I want to be able to do the Fifer Scissors part properly, but I’m just having a lot of difficulty with the flexibility issues. I also noticed today that my back has been killing me and it’s affecting how comfortably I can do this workout. I got past it just fine, and again, was really happy with the work that I put in, but I definitely need a massage asap.

Considering this is the last time I’ll do Shoulders & Arms for a couple of weeks, I’m happy with what I achieved today.

Day 18:
Yoga X

Today was one of the biggest shocks of my whole P90X project. I noticed right from the beginning of this workout that I was far more focused than usual when doing the Yoga DVD. I was moving a lot slower than usual, but at the pace of everyone on the DVD. My breath was a lot more controlled, and everything felt a lot more concentrated than usual. I was back to doing a push-up before every downward dog, which I feel is a huge accomplishment considering how tough yesterday’s workout is. I found myself trying all of the poses that I’ve had difficulty with and getting through them. My flexibility was way better than it’s been in years, and I was able to grab my heels during the stretches after the workout – something that was a definite shock. Overall this workout felt amazing and has given my a great level of accomplishment.

The feeling of adaptation to the exercises has really started to kick in. But in today’s case it really did not feel like a bad thing.

Day 19:
Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

Last night I only got 1 hour of sleep. Needless to say I was not very excited about having to work on my 2 weakest points – Legs & Back.

Right away I was unable to do the full 25 single leg lunges, getting only 20 out of each leg. Even though my legs are a weak point, it was pretty disappointing to not be able to complete the first exercise completely. My weakness and fatigue continued into the chin-ups/pull-ups. I needed to use the stool to assist me, but still was really unimpressed with my numbers. On the last set of switch grip pull-ups I didn’t use the stool, but was only able to do TWO reps. Yeah, I know. Pretty pathetic.

Next was Ab Ripper X.

I gotta say, knowing what you’re getting into makes this workout a lot easier. I made it through just fine, with the exception of the Oblique V-up Roll-ups. I got pretty gassed during these and had to take a couple of breaks. I found that everything else has become a lot more methodical and I’m able to stick with it without much problems. Again, Fifer Scissors have been a bitch. But it’s a small deal in the grand scheme of things as far as I’m concerned.

Overall, today was a disappointment. But I have an excuse! It was my girl’s birthday, so I had a lot to do and so I woke up crazy early to get the workout done. Fair? Fair. Fuck it.

Day 20:
Kenpo X

Today was SUPPOSED to be Kenpo X, but since I’m celebrating my girl’s birthday with her, I took this as my rest day and will be doing Kenpo tomorrow.

Sidebar: I took a cheat day off of the food guide and made us both Toasted Marshmallow Nutella Milkshakes. Holy Crap. lol.

Day 21:
X Stretch

So as I said yesterday, rather than resting today I did Kenpo X. As soon as I started the warm-up I noticed that my heartrate felt far lower than usual. The workout started and I wasn’t feeling that gassed. I made the decision to do my best not to breathe from my mouth, (something tired fighters do), until the 30 minute mark. And I did this no problem. Like the Yoga workout, Kenpo has become somewhat routine, and I’m finding it a lot easier than past weeks, even a little boring. I didn’t take any breaks, did all the skipping, jumping jacks and X jumps with the DVD and I didn’t feel beat up. It was definitely a good workout, but nowhere near as difficult as it’s been in the past 2 weeks.

Just for the fuck of it, I weighed myself before the workout to see how much water weight I would burn off. My starting weight: 173, my finishing weight: 169. Crazy right?

The Diet:

I’ve gotten pretty used to the diet that I’ve stuck with, but the one thing that’s starting to piss me off is how much it’s costing. The deli meats go fast as hell, and the fruits and veggies get eaten up pretty quick. Also, a carton of soy milk goes pretty fast when you’re having a protein shake on the daily, and a loaf of bread can go bad faster than you think when you’re really only alloted 2 slices a day. I’ve had to throw out a lot of bread.

This week I had a cheat day – my girl’s birthday. We made these amazing Toasted Marshmallow Nutella Milkshakes and they were so fucking good. Bad part? We felt sick as fuck after because we haven’t eaten shit like that in a LONG time. lol.

I’ve already started to transition into buying light tuna to replace the deli meats, and counting a half tin as a single serving. It’ll save me a bunch of money, and tastes delicious.

It hasn’t been hard to stick to the diet considering how it’s helped make my body look. lol.

Closing Thoughts:

This week was all about improvement, making moves towards my goals, and coming to terms with a few things.

On a fitness level, I’m really happy. More happy than I’ve been in a long time. But on almost every other level, I’m a bit out of it. My relationships with my girl and daughter haven’t been this great ever, so I’m thankful. But there’s a lot about my relationships in general that have me questioning what I want and more importantly, what I don’t want. I was able to reconnect with an old friend this week, and in our reunion I was able to catch up with a bunch of other old friends. Their company was amazing. I haven’t seen my people at LiveStock in a while. I haven’t really gone out. I haven’t worked on my portfolio or tried to get work. I’ve just been in my own world, stuck in my own mind for some time now. I can admit, doing P90X has cleared my head a bit, but I’ve still got a lot to figure out. I know I’m on my way to being in the best shape of my life. But I hope that that truly means more than a physical state in the end of this all.

The workouts are starting to feel a little bit bland, but I guess that’s where the “Muscle Confusion” comes in. The impeccable timing of it all is pretty incredible. Again, kudos to those involved in creating this program. Thankfully, this week is a down week, filled mostly with cardio workouts, so I can maybe involve myself a little more in other aspects of my life that need addressing.

There’s a lot on my mind right now. I haven’t really blogged much at all. I have done a lot of writing but not a lot of sharing. I’ve worked hard on new Wholly’s. I am really and truly, just out of the Toronto mindset I was once in, and it’s driving me a little bit crazy. Who knows, maybe the answers are to be waited on.. or maybe I should start looking for them with as much determination as I’m taking into this program.

We’ll see.

Welcome To The Legends League.

Read The BS of My Life / P90X:
Intro
Week 1
Week 2

- Bryan 'be.' Espiritu