TheLegendsLeague | Bryan Espiritu

This is my last week of P90X before the FINAL Recovery Week!

Starting weight: 177lbs
After week 12: 159lbs.

Here’s how the week went.

The Workouts:

Day 78:
X Stretch, Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, Ab Ripper X

I really needed to stretch today. My body has been feeling really, really sore, partially because I haven’t had 2 consecutive days of straight rest in 3 months and because I haven’t been doing X Stretch on my rest days or going for any massages to iron out the kinks. So I decided that I’d do X Stretch before my actual workout today to get myself warmed up, relaxed, and ready to get into my last attempt at Chest, Shoulders & Triceps.

Like last week, the resistance workouts that I’m doing this week are the last time I’ll have to do them over this 90 Day duration so I’m hype about getting them done and really pushing myself to get great results. Last week I absolutely murdered myself getting through the resistance workouts and I was really stoked about doing the same today. Unfortunately, this workout was tough and I really didn’t make too much progress although I did outdo most of my results from my previous Chest, Shoulders & Triceps workout.

There are a ton of exercises in this workout, so I’m not gonna go over all 24, but I’ll say this – by the time I got to exercise #16 – One Arm Push-ups, I was so tired that I could only do ONE. That’s on both sides. I did ONE on my knees with my right arm, and couldn’t even do a single one with my left arm. I was very disappointed, but I knew it was because I was fatigued from upping both reps and weights on all the previous 15 exercises.

At the end of it, I was happy. But I wasn’t thrilled. I equalled a lot of my numbers from the last time I did this workout, and reached my highest numbers for a lot of the other ones, but I just didn’t feel the same type of satisfaction that I did last week doing Chest & Back or Shoulders & Arms. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself. Who knows.

Once I was done, I felt pretty exhausted, but I didn’t want to take a break to get into Ab Ripper X. So I got right into it. And today was the best I have ever done in this workout, ever.

Here’s how I did:

In & Outs: Easy
Bicycles (forward): Difficult, took no breaks.
Bicycles (backward): Very Difficult, took no breaks.
Crunchy Frog: Very Difficult, took no breaks.
Cross Legged Sit Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
Fifer Scissors: Very Difficult, took no breaks.
Hip Rock & Raise: Hard, took no breaks.
Pulse Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
V-Up Roll Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
Leg Climbs: Hard, took no breaks.
Oblique V-Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
Mason Twist: Hard, took no breaks.

Yeup. I did it. I completed Ab Ripper X from front to back without stopping, taking breaks, or skipping reps. I took the exercises that I usually had problems with and approached them a little differently to get them done. For example, for Bicycles and Crunchy Frog, the fatigue in my legs caused me to take breaks, but when I focused on smooth movement and calmed breath, I was able to get through them. For Fifer Scissors, arguably the hardest exercise for me, I bent my knees slightly to give myself greater range of motion in my hips and allow me to have my leg nearly vertical. Then as I switched I calmed my upper body and acted nonchalant about it rather than gritting my teeth throughout the exercise. Once I got past Fifer Scissors I knew that all I had to do was get through Oblique V-Ups in order to do the whole workout without breaks, so when I got there, I was just determined. By the time I was at Mason Twist, I was so hype to get it done that during the bonus 10 seconds of Mason Twist, I did it double time for the extra oomph.

Today was great. A little bitter. A little sweet. But I did it.

Day 79:
Plyometrics

Damn. I remember the day after I first did Plyo. I couldn’t feel my legs as I walked, and even walking DOWN stairs was painful. Weeks later I was still struggling, but got a message from someone on facebook saying that by Phase 2 it would get easier. And it didn’t. I just got stronger and more used to the pain. And today I finally got to my FINAL day of Plyometrics. I was hype.

Obviously I was enthusiastic about this workout. Like I’ve said in the past, this is the hardest DVD in the whole program and knowing I’d never have to do it again over this 90 day project was encouraging. I knew I was going to try to push myself, but I was also worried about gassing out too early, so I was smart about when I threw in the modified version of moves. I really only did the modified version of 180 Run Stance Squat Reach Pick-ups, or whatever those are called. I find that I get so fatigued doing those that I end up doing really poorly at the end of the sets, so instead I used the modified move to keep good form and maintain the same intensity throughout the move.

I can really say that I did today’s workout with a huge amount of confidence and partial relief. And as much as I feel like I still get tired and gassed during Plyometrics, my heart rate is a good 30bpm slower than it was when I used to do this workout. My legs don’t feel like Jell-O the following day, my breathing is more focused, and the pain turned to discomfort and the discomfort turned into me understanding how good this workout is for me.

When I was done I felt amazing. I kept up really, really well and even when I was feeling ridiculously gassed I didn’t pause the DVD or take an extended break. I just kept going through it as long as my heart rate was low enough for me to not have to worry about getting a heart attack. lol.

Last Plyo is done. I’m feeling fantastic.

Day 80:
Missed Workout

Man. I was so busy and exhausted today that I missed my workout and decided to do 2 workouts tomorrow. I have a feeling I’m gonna regret this.

Day 81:
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X, Yoga X

Back & Biceps:
Damn, today did not get off to a good start. I needed to get Back & Biceps done early if I wanted to have enough energy to do Yoga tonight, and I started a good hour and a half later than I had anticipated. But I got into it as soon as I could and got to work.

I noticed today that I was really, really tired. In weeks passed I wasn’t working as much as I am right now and I was sleeping more, so my energy during the workouts was higher. Now, my confidence is high and my enthusiasm is there, but physically I’m exhausted. As much as I tried to gain 3 extra reps on each exercise or push my weights up by 5 lbs, it was very, very difficult, and I found myself having to use lower weights in some cases or do strip sets to make up for low reps. This really brought my confidence down a bit, but I knew I was pushing myself to my limit and I couldn’t ask for much more. It was more the fact that I knew this was my last official Back & Biceps workout that had me bummed about the whole thing.

Ab Ripper X:
After Monday’s performance, I was stoked about doing Ab Ripper X today. Here’s how I did:

In & Outs: Easy
Bicycles (forward): Difficult, took no breaks.
Bicycles (backward): Very Difficult, took no breaks.
Crunchy Frog: Very Difficult, took 1-2 breaks.
Cross Legged Sit Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
Fifer Scissors: Very Difficult, took 3 breaks.
Hip Rock & Raise: Hard, took no breaks.
Pulse Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
V-Up Roll Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
Leg Climbs: Hard, took no breaks.
Oblique V-Ups: Difficult, took a break but completed 25 reps.
Mason Twist: Hard, took no breaks.

I felt confident about being able to finish Ab Ripper X front to back again today, but clearly I wasn’t able to. I like that I still struggle a bit with this workout because it gives me motivation to continue with the program and get stronger.

Yoga X:
I waited until the evening to get into my Yoga workout because I was tired throughout the day from Back & Biceps and I had an interview with Pound Magazine’s Latin American chapter today for Ideall Clothing. As soon as I got into it though, I tried to look at it as a moments rest and clarity from all the hectic things going on this week.

I shut out all the lights in my place, turned off the fans and did Yoga X today without looking at the screen at all. I was focused on getting through every move, breathing, and clearing my mind for the hour and a half duration of the workout. I was very tired and very stressed throughout the week and I needed to be calm for a minute on my own, and today really did that for me. I mentally counted each push-up to downward dog movement, knowing there is a total of 24, and that helped me not feel fatigued as each sequence passed. The heat in my apartment was a factor today, but I enjoyed it as if I was doing hot yoga. I was sweating to the point that the inside of my hands were getting wrinkled. It was crazy.

I felt a lot of pain in my right leg again today and noticed my knees have been really sore, probably from sitting at a desk all day and not taking breaks. This affected my ability to do Warrior Three comfortably, and I decided to just stay in Crescent Pose throughout the moves that follow Warrior Three. I also had to stay in Prayer position during the Standing Leg Extensions because it was putting too much strain on my feet and shins. I knew I would be exhausted tomorrow for Legs & Back and I didn’t want to push my luck.

Getting into Yoga Belly 7, I was a little nervous since I had already done Ab Ripper X earlier today. It was fine, and although I was fatigued, I did really well and kept up with the performances of the past few weeks.

I honestly can’t believe that I chose to do all of this in one day. A couple of weeks ago I had to do Legs & Back and Kenpo X in one day and it knocked me out for hours. lol. Today’s workout was honestly 3 times as hard as that. I can say I’ll never do this to myself again, but I’d probably be lying.

I’m feeling tired. But accomplished. And excited to be done this week.

Day 82:
Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

I was pretty excited that this was my final Legs & Back workout of my 90 Day project. I hate working on legs, and with the increased work I’ve gotten over the past week or so, my knees have been very painful and shaky. I woke up today sore as hell from my insane day yesterday, but I knew that if I worked out in the evening I’d be okay. I got into it and tried as usual to beat my previous weeks numbers.

I noticed right away that I was pretty exhausted. There were a couple of things to factor into this feeling of being tired. My sleeping has been cut down because of work, and my eating habits have been less consistent because of work and this combination makes for depleted energy when working out obviously. I started to feel a little discouraged after the first set of lunges and I could hear things moving around in my left leg as I performed the first exercise.

My numbers in the pull-ups weren’t extremely different from last weeks. I did a rep less here and a rep more there, and ended up with nearly the same totals. I did do my best to outdo myself, but like I said, I was exhausted today.

After I was done I got into my final Ab Ripper X workout of P90X!! Here’s how I did:

In & Outs: Easy
Bicycles (forward): Difficult, took no breaks.
Bicycles (backward): Very Difficult, took no breaks.
Crunchy Frog: Very Difficult, took no breaks.
Cross Legged Sit Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
Fifer Scissors: Very Difficult, took 2 breaks for 1-2 reps each.
Hip Rock & Raise: Hard, took no breaks.
Pulse Ups: Very Difficult, took no breaks.
V-Up Roll Ups: Difficult, took no breaks.
Leg Climbs: Hard, took no breaks
Oblique V-Ups: Very Difficult, took no breaks.
Mason Twist: Hard, took no breaks.

I was worried that after yesterday and working on legs today I would be in a lot of trouble with Ab Ripper X, but I actually did pretty good. Without revealing too much of my future plans I think I’ll be able to do this all out every time without breaks in a few more weeks.

Good workout today.. I’m feeling things come to a close and I’m a little upset but a lot happy. ;)

Day 83:
Kenpo X

Man, Kenpo for me today was a break from work. And I needed it. I focused on 1 thing today: breathing only through my nose and not gasping from my mouth. I thought about this as I started the first sequences and got into the first break. Fighters don’t breathe out of their mouths until they’re tired, so I wanted to see how long I could just maintain good breathing patterns before getting physically tired. I got through the whole thing without having to breathe through my mouth. During the breaks I took a deep breath here and there, but not during the actual routine. This made the workout a lot easier and actually had me feeling like I hadn’t done anything. lol. The intensity of everything was perfect for my day, but I’m concerned that this workout is just getting too easy and I need something a little more.

Day 84:
Rest or X Stretch

I was way too busy with my online sale to do X Stretch today, but I needed to. I hate missing this..

The Diet:

Man, my diet has been lacking lately and it’s really showing me how I used to eat in the past and WHY I ate like that in the past. I’m too busy working that I forget to eat.

In terms of the kinds of foods I’m eating nothing has changed. At all. I’ve added a lot of cereal and fruit into my diet which has been great, but my vegetables have been dropping a lot. I’m supposed to be eating a lot of carbs right now but haven’t been doing that either. I think I just got into such a good swing in the first month that I’ve been slacking on the dietary changes moving into Phase 2 and 3. It’s not that I’m eating bad things now, I’m just not following what I’m currently supposed to be pushing up towards in this Phase. I really gotta get it together..

Closing Thoughts:

This week was a ride. My workload is just getting out of hand and I am tired. I am really, really exhausted and knowing that this was my last resistance week I was wanting to push myself to do really well. Unfortunately your body can’t always respond to what you demand of it and fatigue slapped me in the face a lot. On Monday I was terribly depressed and couldn’t seem to leave my house and it set off a trend throughout the week of me just being the gloomy guy that I am sometimes. Like I said, I wanted more out of this week, but I didn’t have it in me to push how I wanted to. It’s an honest statement and I can’t make any excuses for myself.

Yes, I am working more often.. but I feel a loss in confidence in a lot of things.. I hope this changes very soon.

Welcome To The Legends League.

Read The BS of My Life / P90X:
Intro
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Day 30 Results
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Day 60 Results
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11

- Bryan 'be.' Espiritu