The first time through Power 90 (then and now)

Posted by oaknd1 on December 23, 2009

This post was written almost a month ago right after our first trip through P90. I never posted it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I am absent minded and tend toward lazy. The bright side of not posting this earlier is that it allows me a chance to sort of revisit my original thoughts in the sharp light of five or so weeks later, so I've gone back and broken this post into "what I wrote then" sections and then reactions to what I wrote then from my current perspective.

First, let's talk a bit about the P90 program, which will, hopefully give some context to the rest of this post.

Power 90 is broken into two sections: Sweat which covers cardio and abs and Sculpt which is weight training with free weights or resistance bands. You alternate programs daily for six days and then have one day off.

This post discusses the cardio/abs section, which takes about 45 minutes from start to finish and is broken down as follows: A stretching period leads into about five minutes of Power Yoga, followed by two rounds of what I call "Knees." This section is broken down into knee lifts, then outside knee lifts and finishes with cross over knee lifts.

Immediately following Knees is a segment I call "Run Lunges" which features jumping jacks followed by running in place and finally running lunges. Like Knees, this segment repeats and then leads into "Lateral X-work" which is variations on running in place designed to work the muscles of the lower legs.

A (very) short break gives over to two rounds of kicking (front, knee thrusts and side kicks) and then two rounds of punching (jab/cross, hook/uppercut and body blows).

The program finishes with cool down, stretching and then about ten minutes of crunches in a separate section called (appropriately) Ab Ripper.

What I wrote then:

Power 90 session number one is in the books. I'm not going to lie: for a large person, it wasn't easy. There was much sweating and breathing heavy and my wife and I had to pause the DVD several times so that we could keep up, but we did every exercise, and I'm rather proud of that, thank you very much.

What I would tell 5-week ago me today:

Stick with it. It gets better.

What I wrote then:

I had the most trouble with the Power Yoga section. It's a completely new and unfamiliar set of movements. A particular sequence that gave me fits was the movement from Downward Facing Dog, to a high leg lift and then back into the runner's pose. The motion was very awkward for me, and I'm not very flexible to begin with. I kept tangling my sneaker in the yoga mat with comically predictable results.

After 5 weeks:

Power Yoga isn't "easy" but it's way more doable now that I'm used to the motions and my muscles aren't screaming in blinding agony anymore. Now I kind of look forward to this section of the program.

The movement that I referenced above, which requires a very high leg lift and then a somewhat awkward swing into another pose also got easier as we worked through the sessions. Now I can do it with relative ease. Tangling my sneakers in the yoga mat I also solved by simply not using a yoga mat. I didn't find it all that useful. (I still use it for the ab-ripper section).

What I wrote then:

We had watched through the DVD once, so we were not surprised by what was thrown at us during the workout. Having said that, since this was the first time we'd actually done the exercises along with the disk, we had no clear idea of how to pace ourselves. We kept up pretty well through the Yoga and knee lifts, but spent too much energy. The running in place / lunges section kicked our ass. We had to pause a lot in this section, but rallied. We were able to keep up pretty well during kicks and punches.

What it's like now:

Pacing is important while working through this program. If you're not careful you can expend all your energy too early and then sort of dog it through the middle section of the work out. That's sort of a waste. I've been concentrating on trying to get through as much of the workout as possible at a slower pace in order to cut down on pauses. I've found that it helps to do the "Knees" section of the work out looking away from the TV. When I'm watching the screen, I reflexively fall into their pace and then I can't make it through the whole segment. If I consciously slow it down, which Tony repeatedly assures us beginners is OK, I can make it.

Running Lunges still kick my ass, though. Not once have I been able to make it all the way through two progressions of the Jacks/Run in Place/Lunges segment. I'm getting better, but it's tough.

What I said then:

Power 90 is an interesting concept. None of the exercises are particularly complicated or challenging (Yoga notwithstanding), it's the stacking of the exercises one on top of the other with little down time that makes the work out intense. A friend of mine once told me that lifting a can of soup will make your arms feel like they're on fire if you lift it enough times. I think there's a little of this philosophy at work here.

When the last crunch was finished I felt light headed and weak. I laid down on the floor to catch my breath, had some water and managed to stumble to the shower and get cleaned up. I am happy to report that an hour or so later, I'm sitting here at my computer, feeling great.

It was hard, it was challenging. I couldn't do all of it right out of the blocks. That's cool: by the end of 90 I'm going to be kicking ass and taking names.

What I think now:

Practice makes perfect, I guess. P90 is timed to take just over 38 minutes (not including abs), but it seems to go a lot faster than this after doing it a couple of weeks. Easily the two hardest segments of the program, which I call "Knees" and "Run Lunges" are over early, and fairly quickly. The workout is paced such that before you know it, you're into the midpoint break and then on into Kicks and Punches, which, though no picnic, are still a lot easier then Knees and Run Lunges.

That's a long-winded means of saying that where I was once wiped out and light-headed, now I can feel myself getting stronger and better equipped to handle the whole program.

What I said then, and continue to think now:

I will get through this.