P90X3

Today wasn't the best of days. I didn't have a great start. I woke up a bit late and then rushed to get my kids breakfast and my son off to school, then while my husband kindly did dishes for me I decided to begin folding laundry that was left last night until my daughter woke up. So finally she woke up and then it was a madhouse. My sons were fed but she woke up quite distressed so I needed to nurse her/change her then she was demanding actual breakfast, so I needed to make her oatmeal while I tried so hard to make myself a smoothie. By the time all this was said and done it was just after 10AM and I still needed to prepare my dinner in the crock pot since after I pick my son up from school it seems to be "all hell breaks loose" so I didn't want that stress.

I didn't manage to even sit down to my smoothie until about 10:20AM (when I finally got my roast in the crock pot) and of course by that time I should have already had a snack. sigh. see what I mean? not a great start.
I quickly chowed down a 7-grain granola bar from "Kashi" and then off I went to pick up my son, came home and then it was the lunch rush.

I'm a busy mom of 3 and my life doesn't stop because I am exercising and trying to eat healthier, sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you just have to roll with the punches and do your best. I got back on track at lunch, made myself a ceaser wrap with apple slices on the side.

For my afternoon snack I had cottage cheese, sugar snap peas and an orange.
Supper was delicious it was a slow cooked roast which I threw in celery, yams and carrots and spices of course. My family just loved it!
(recipe for my roast rub: take a bit of dijon mustard and rub the roast, sprinkle rosemary, thyme, italian seasoning on top. Add one package of lipton onion soup mix. Add to it 3 cups of beef broth. Then add your vegetables. Cook on low 8 hours)

Well I was left on my own for working out tonight as my workout buddy isn't feeling well. I could have done a Jillian Michaels workout but instead I opted to try the P90X3 workout that I managed to get my hands on.

I will never ever ever complain about another workout at Joelene's house again. Holy crap, I can't even put it into words what that was. I did it though. I mean seriously, I DID IT! I don't know HOW but I did. That is a special place in exercise hell only insane people would go.

It is 30 minutes of incredibly intense exercise. Like INCREDIBLY INTENSE!

Ok so now that I've got that all out, I bet you all are wondering: "What the heck did she do that was so hard?"... I will tell you what I did, although you may have to google some of the moves as I am not sure I can really describe it. I will say that each exercise is 1min 10sec long and he does double time twice in that time frame:

My workout tonight:

1. Start with something called a "Speed Salutation" (1:10sec)
2. "Twist and Pivot" (1:10sec)
3. "Foot Pursuit" or "High Knees" but bringing your hand from cheek (bum) to cheek (1:10sec)
4. "Get up/ Get Down" get down into a plank, then stand up and repeat fast (1:10sec)
5. "Jumping Jacks" alternating with "Punch Jacks" <-- where you punch the air above (1:10sec)
6. "Balance Burpees" sumo position, then do a plank and twist one arm in the air each side doing a push up in between each arm switch at some points (1:10sec)
7. "Slalom Hops" take two towels about two feet apart side by side and you hop in the middle between, then to the outside, then back to center, then to the other side (1:10sec)
8. "Mountain Climbers" (1:10sec)
9. "Spin Stops" twisting squat jumps tapping the floor briefly (1:10sec)
10. "Plank Walks" pretty much what the name is, you walk to whichever direction he calls while holding a plank position the whole time, left/right/forward/backward etc.. (1:10sec) At this point you are allowed a 30sec break
11. "Joel Jumps" Right leg. Stack your towels in a line, start on right foot and jump to opposite side of the towel and tap, jump back to start position and repeat. He calls FREEZE! during this move and you literally freeze in a position you are in. (1:10sec)
12. "Plank Circles" oh yes, exactly what your thinking. You hold a plank position and you turn into whichever direction he calls and you go in circles. (1:10sec)
13. "Road Runner" you hold a lunge position and alternate slowly like you are running in slow motion, arms are bent and moving along side like you are running, then you do double time when he calls it out (1:10sec)
14. "Double Trouble Climbers" or "Plank Twists" you hold a plank position and you bring opposite knee to opposite arm under, you will feel this incredibly in your abs, then you lower yourself to your forearms (sphinx position) and bring each knee to each elbow, then back to plank etc.. (1:10sec)
15. "Diamond Hops" put a face cloth or towel in the middle of the floor and you hop around each side to whichever direction he calls (1:10sec)
16. "Swimmer's Planks" you get into a plank position and you raise opposite arm/opposite leg, if you can handle the harder move of your raised arm does a "back stroke" or "breast stroke" (1:10sec)
17. "Speed Skater" (1:10sec)
18. "Plank/Sphinx Combo" alternate planks and sphinx position and raising a leg when in sphinx position (1:10sec)
19. "Squat Hops" hold a squat and shuffle from side to side, and then hop from side to side (1:10sec)
20. "Donkey Kicks" (1:10sec) ok these I could NOT do. You basically have to be able to do a hand stand, or at the very least kick your both legs out (out or up in the air) and then you take your left leg and twist it under you to your right side and do the same to the other side. I couldn't do the 'kick' part so I just did the opposite legs under me similar to the plank twists but with a straight leg under not a bent knee.

So it is 30min of pure cardiovascular gearing it up, gearing it down. This over 1min moves is intense as I am only used to 30sec moves and there is no break in between each move either, its just pounding it out. I am SO proud of myself to say that I was able to do one of the P90X3 workouts. There are like 16 different types of workouts on the DVD's. That is only one. I would be interested to see what all the rest were like. For my feedback on this I would say it wasn't my favorite. It was really hard on my wrists to do all those planks and my knees for the other moves. I also get frustrated when I am doing a workout and I am unable to do what they are doing and the "modifier" is still something I can't do. There is always an "easy" person to follow with most workouts you will do, well in this one even the "easier" version at the end with the donkey kicks, he was still doing that! I had no idea what I could do instead. I don't want to let my heart rate slow down so I can't just stand there for the entire time watching them. So I just did the best I could and tried to keep in mind to just keep doing something physically exerting.
My husband is such a sweetie he actually did the P90X3 with me. He is SO out of shape but he wanted to support me and so he did as much as he could along side me! <3

All I can say is if that T25 program is anything like this, Lord have mercy on me! This was so hard. In fact I can say for certain that it was the hardest workout I have ever done! By 10 minutes in I was sweating so bad, he really kick starts your heart rate.

So on top of this of course I did my 24 day AB challenge. Today was Day 14:

• 86 crunches
• 42 leg raises
• 55 sec plank

Oy! Yet even more planks/ab moves. I am one tired girl.

I am walking proof you don't know what you are capable of until you try. I never in a million years would have though I could do something like that at my size, yet I did it. I struggled, and wasn't able to go the whole time, and had to modify some of the moves or take a quick breather but bottom line is I did it!

Protein shake time! Have a great night all.