Working Out -- Day 18

Dear Readers:


As you can probably tell from the lack of posts, I haven't been working out lately ... or at least not doing my P90X workout program. 


While on vacation for Thanksgiving, as mentioned, I took along my workouts on my iPod and did do one of them, but it turned out to be more difficult than I thought.  The bands weren't affective for many of the shoulder and arm moves and without the chin-up bar doing chin-ups (or using the ands to simulate them) wasn't easy.  It also was couter-productive to take an hour away from my family to workout on my own.  Instead, every day my mom and I walked over 4 miles at sub-15 minute pace.  The time we had together to talk was very special and to me that's more important than following a program that took me away from that.


I returned home late Monday night and yeserday was filled with rushing around trying to catch up on the work I'd missed Monday, as well as preparing for a big project I have that begins tonight.  So I haven't worked out since returning home either.


The interesting thing in all this is that the walks and not doing weights allowed my muscles to rest and slim down a bit ... a welcomed situation.  Yesterday I found that my jeans were fitting better than they were before I left (even after BIG eating over the holiday).  I also found that my appetite subsided substantially ... which was a good thing.


I hope to get back to the workouts later today once all my prep work is done for my event.  Tomorrow will be a tough day to get a workout in as I'll be on-site at my event all day ... but I won't be idle.  My work involves putting on LOTS of miles (last time I did this event I did over 15,000 steps and burned over 2,000 calories in one day!). 

Yesterday I talked with my former trainer ... he's even getting ready to start the program ... and discussed with him my difficulty with push-ups.  He explained that "the girls" are affecting my ability and that I just need to back-off my expectations and do my best ... I love this guy!  His recommendation was to not try to do any straight-leg push-ups (also known as military) and focus on getting as low as I can while on my knees.

I also contacted my friend that has been doing this for 6 months and asked her about the push-ups and chin-ups (since I can do neither).  She said she started out as I have ... using the bands for chin-ups and doing the best she could on push-ups.  Even after 6 months she can't keep up with all the push-ups, but is just doing her best.  She said she has progressed to using a chair to support herself with the chin-ups ... so there is a light at the end of the tunnel!


By Friday I should be back into my routine ... YEA!  I'll post when I get started and let you know how my "rest" affected my ability to complete the exercises.


Thanks for your patience and understanding.

So I'm 18 days in, but I still have 79 to go.