Yooooogadthatsgonnahurttomorrow!

So, tonight I did P90X by myself.  With no one but the cat watching.  I'll admit here and now I only got through 20 min of the 90 min yoga work out.  HOLY CRAPANOLES Batman - it's just amazing what these fairly simple moves will do for your heart rate!!

Starts off nice and easy - with breathing.  HAHA.  Then goes into side stretches, also fairly easy altho I have to be careful or else I'll give myself a cramp.  And then they start in on it.  Have I mentioned how much I hate Plank pose?  Ahh good.  Well for the 20 min (23 min I think actually) I did it was 99% Plank Pose.  *(@#*%

So, you start off with a sun salutation.  Sounds nice enough, and it is.  You reach your hands up into the sky, then you put your arms out to the side, looking up as you reach down to the floor in what Tony (the P90X guy and I are on first name basis see) calls a Swan dive.  You keep your back straight and let your arms dangle,  then on an exhale you reach and put your hands flat on the floor (STRETCH!) and then you move into the dreaded Plank Pose. 

Pirates used to make people walk the plank to their death.  I'm fairly certain that's where this little bugger got it's name.  Plank pose is the beginning of a good old-fashioned push up. Except you stay up.  And hold it.  Keeping the back straight, holding your weight on your shoulders and HOLDING your stomach muscles IN (I forget to do that, WAY too easy to let the belly just hang). 

Then you do a push up (which I can't do yet) and go down into upward facing dog.  That is basically where you have your belly and legs on the ground and your torso, arms and head are as straight up as you can push them (arms killing you by now).

Then you do another pushup (which I am just lucky to get back into Plank pose so I skip it for now) and go back to Plank Pose and into Downward facing Dog.  That pose basically turns your body into an upside down V.  Balancing your body on your feet and hands. (all this time you are supposed to breathe in deeply and in a controlled fashion - not gasping like a guppie evidently...) Then you go BACK TO PLANK (oh the humanity!)

Part way through they change it up (usually you just repeat and reverse everything I just wrote out) and instead of starting over, you "swing" one of your legs up into the sky, while holding (you guessed it) Plank pose.  And then you're supposed to swing it through until it stands on the floor under your arm.  Ok, I cannot do that.  So I swing the leg back and up, then I just pull it underneath me until the front leg is bent and the back leg is stretched out straight behind you.  And you go into Runner's Pose, which you basically just let your arms dangle to the floor if you can, while balancing.  And then you sit up straight and push your arms into the sky into Warrior 1 pose.  Not so bad.  Warrior 2 pose is where the arms come down and one stretches out in front and the other in back of you.  And then?  Do it ALL OVER AGAIN.

Like I said, it goes on for 90 min and I only did 20 tonight.  But I did it.  With only myself watching and keeping me accountable.  Tomorrow I'm going to try to do it again, going for 30 min.   It's all about baby steps.  And oh my goodness I can feel this in my shoulders and abs.  YAY!

One day.  One pound.  One step at a time.

~N