Sprinkling Zumba into P90X regiment

Since that traumatizing day when I found out that I was not losing any weight, I haven't entirely given up the idea of incorporating more cardio into my workouts.  I'm still doing P90X, but I think I'll try to up the calorie burn by occasionally switching some of the less intense P90X workouts, such as Yoga, with other cardio workouts.

Which is why I love Zumba!  I bought the Total Body Transformation collection about a year ago, which contains 6 workouts but I would say only 3 are proper workouts (Cardio Party, Sculpt & Tone, and Flat Abs) while the rest are more fillers; there's the Basic video that teaches you the basic steps; the 20-minutes Express that is a quickie workout; and the LIVE! video which is more like a wild rave and gets kind of disorderly.   But I still love Zumba, especially the gorgeous female instructors in the video, Tanya, Gina and Asuka.  They inspire me; I dream of the day when I could also look like them....sigh, one can always dream.  

Even though Zumba is easier than say P90X but don't underestimate it; it's intense and fast pace, so your heart rate definitely gets up there into the 70-80% zone, but it's not "gasping-for-life" hard like Insanity.  With that said, I'm still able to burn about the same amount of calories with Cardio Party as with the Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit workout.  My Polar heart rate monitor was reading that I burned through 591 calories in 51 mins, which gives me a caloric burn rate of 12 cal/min; pretty good in my books.  

I've never followed the Zumba program as suggested, instead I used to alternate Cardio Party with Sculpt & Tone every other day.  But I think I'll actually complete their 10-day Accelerated Fat-Loss program and test if I can really lose one dress size!  Then I'll try out their 10-day Tighten and Tone program.  But, I want to stick with P90X a bit longer before I embark on Zumba again.

The nice thing about Zumba is that it's definitely better designed for the female audience.  The Latin-inspired music, dance moves truly make the workouts engaging and fun.  And the strong emphasis on cardio instead of weight training targets the problems women care most about, i.e., shedding that nasty fat and building "long," "lean" muscles.   The heaviest objects you'll be lifting here are 1 lbs toning sticks; yeah, a big difference from the 12.5 lbs weights I'm pumping in P90X right now.  P90X is also engaging, but I think it's all because of Tony Horton, love him! He's definitely key to making the entire program work; his goofy humour, and "Try your best, forget the rest" mantra always makes you want to push yourself a little bit more.  But overall, P90X definitely is more "testosterony."    

Which is what worries me.  I'm starting to think I've made a mistake in diving into P90X.  I should have focused on shedding my fat with some cardio-based program such as Zumba, then dive into a body sculpting program like P90X after I've shed most of my excess fat.  As oppose to trying to shed fat and build lean muscles at the same time.  If I had done it the other way, I could better align my diet with my development objectives.  For example, if I do the Zumba program during my fat-shedding stage, I could easily put myself on a slightly restricted diet without fear of burning out of fuel so that I can hyper-speed up the weight loss. Once I've obliterated a lot of the nasty fat, (hopefully, most in my hammy arms) then I can turn my attention to sculpting out my "dream" body by taking on a more resistance-heavy program such as P90X, whereby, I can up my caloric intake (finally, eat some ice-cream, woo hoo!) to compensate for the higher energy needs for muscle-building.     

But right now, on P90X I'm not losing weight, nor body fat (grumble, grumble), but I am building muscles. I'm scared to eat too much, for fear of gaining weight; I'm trying to restrict my diet, but it's hard because I end up feeling burned out.  Don't get me wrong, I'm confident that if I stick with P90X I'll still get good results, but I still believe the workouts would be more effective if I switch the ordering of things.  

There is also the fact that post-P90X, it's not like you can pat yourself on the back for a job well-done and close up shop.  You have to keep working at it; as the saying goes, "Use it, or lose it."  Like our brains, our muscles atrophy when we don't use them, and fairly quickly.   I had attempted P90X once before and I was able to get from 0 push-ups to 20, but then I stopped and very quickly I was back at 0.  As is true with gravity, the climb up is a lot harder and slower than the fall down.  So, starting Zumba after P90X could potentially lead me down this path given that there's practically no weight-training in it.  Ahh, what to do? what to do?

I don't know...

Tried out Insanity

Day 17:

I thought I would try out an Insanity workout today.  Why? I think it was due to temporary insanity.  I had an emotionally traumatizing experience today.  I had to weigh myself!  And everything that I was suspecting to be true was true.  I haven't lost a pound!  Not even a micro-pound, not even a nano-pound, nothing.  And if I include my weeks on the Lean Program, that means it's been 32 days, and I've gone nowhere.  Oh, the injustice!  I became frantic, crazed even, I needed to know why, I needed a solution.   I overthrew my better judgement and thought it's all the resistance training that's been fouling up my game.   And my mind seized upon the idea that I have to up my cardio workout. And so I remembered that I had the Insanity program, which I've never dared attempt before, until today....

I loaded the first video of the program, the Plyometric Cardio Circuit.  When it played it only read 45 mins, so I thought, "Bah! Piece of cake.  Am I even going to burn any calories with this?"  But everything went downhill from there.  A minute into the video, I thought I was going to have a heart attack or puke, or both! Insanity is not insane, it's dangerous! Which is why I would definitely recommend it, but only to those souls who like to torture themselves or are at Olympic-athlete-level fit.  So given I don't like to torture myself, and I'm far from qualifying for the Olympics, I'm going to put off Insanity for awhile.

But the program does burn a load of calories.  I burned 588 calories; yeah doesn't sound a lot but that's because it was only 45 mins, but my rate of caloric burn was 13, meaning I was burning 13 calories per minute. So far a caloric burn rate of 13 is the max for me; it means that my heart was working at 80-90% of my maximum heart rate.   Also, you get a good kick of after-burn with interval training, i.e., you continue to burn calories at a higher rate even when the workout ends.

But, to be honest, I could barely keep up; there was a lot of jumping, climbing, pumping, sweating and wheezing.  It's plyo, so the workout engages your legs a lot, especially from a squatting position (OUCHIE!), but there's also a lot of push-ups.  I'm not sure how I got through it, everything's a blur now.  I only know that I must have done it by the fact that I have a pulled hamstring and glutes.

Insanity has helped me return to my sanity, somewhat anyway.  I'm still upset about my weight, feeling very down, but going at Insanity full force is certainly not the answer.  So what is the moral of the story?  Don't try to stuff an entire cake into your mouth when you know you can only handle a bite.

Do the Lean or Classic Program?

Day 14:

I'm actually wrapping up my second week in the Classic program, so it's day 14, but I've actually been at P90X for 29 days now.  Why the discrepancy in days?  Well, it's because I started out doing the Lean program until my husband started making fun of the Lean program as being for pansies and challenged me to really BRING IT.  Not to be outdone by him, I switched over two weeks ago and I'm not counting the days I was on the Lean program.  And since starting the Classic program I can only say...ouch!  The P90X fitness guide says that all the programs are equally intensive, but the Classic program is definitely tougher.  (There's also the Doubles program, but lets not go there because it's not for mentally sane people).

I think if you're starting P90X and you presumably have not been the "athletic" type, it's a good idea to start with the Lean program.  Perhaps complete the first phase including the recovery week, then consider switching over to the Classic.  Trust me, it'll kick your ass as well.  The only difference between the two programs is that the Lean is a toned down version of the Classic program, i.e., there is less weight training and the cardio workouts are also less intensive.  However, the Lean program will help prepare your unsuspecting body for the pounding it's going to receive in the Classic program.  In particular, the demon-of-all workouts, plyometrics, which will appear like a lot of carefree jumping but your quads will seize up the next day, and Chest & Back, which will leave your upper body incapacitated for a few days.  (I couldn't even dress myself afterwards when I did Chest & Back for the first time!)

In sum, if you're starting out and haven't worked out before, start with the Lean program and then consider switching to the Classic after the first phase.  Otherwise, go with the Classic program as you'll see results faster, i.e., growth in muscle definition and weight loss.  I suspect they call it the Lean program because the overall effect is less, both in calorie burn and lean muscle gain.

Well, you may exclaim, "I don't want any muscle, I just want to be thin and gorgeous".  And I would say, "Don't judge muscles too quickly."  Building lean muscle is beneficial on many counts, which I'm not going to go in-depth in this post, perhaps another.  But in short, muscles uses up more calories and increases your metabolism, hence it'll be easier for you to burn that nasty fat, which we all know is the true enemy in your life, and second, who doesn't want to look like her? (You can be sure she does a lot of weight training, if you don't believe me check out Jamie Eason's workout program.)

Oxygen Cover Girl

Jamie Eason

If you're still looking at me with suspicion and think that pumping iron will make you end up looking like a female Arnold Schwarzenegger, you should read why women can't bulk up.  In fact, you can find countless articles (I did) that show that it is very difficult for women to "bulk" up, i.e., look like Heman in a dress.  Hardcore professional female body-builders such as Ms. Olympia, Iris Klye, achieve their herculean results by eating a load of calories, muscle-growing hormones and supplements and training like a madman (or madwoman).

Ms. Olympia 2012

Iris Kyle

In short, it's extremely difficult for women to bulk up and unless you plan to eat cheese burgers everyday and dope on steroids, I wouldn't be concerned at all.  I'm certainly no longer concerned, instead I'm looking forward to achieving the ultimate bikini-body like the models featured on Oxygen.    

However, one concern I do have about weight-training is actually "beefing" up, which happens when you've built up some lean muscle mass but failed to lose the fat. You end up looking very "husky" (you know what I mean) because now you have fat ON TOP of muscles, whereas before you only had fat. But, ultimately the real enemy is fat not the muscles.  So to achieve the Oxygen-Cover-Girl look you have to reduce your percent body fat.  That is the only way to reveal the lean, sleek muscles underneath that you've worked so hard to build, otherwise you'll just end up looking lumpier and manly!

To lower your percent body fat there is really only healthy dieting and exercise.  Starvation is pointless and will backfire because we're biological creatures born to eat, sooner or later you'll crack and binge on pizza and Krispy Kreme, which you'll wash down with double-thick milkshake, and then where will you be? Just fatter!  Trust me, do it right and commit to the right mindset, which means eating correctly, eating healthy and living well, and it will pay you dividends for the rest of your life.

Starting the P90X journey

Day 13

Yes, day 13, I've survived the P90X program so far, woo hoo!  And yes, this is my first post, I know I should have started on Day 1, but I was too busy nursing my achy muscles to do anything else.  For those of you who don't know what is P90X, here's the link to the site.  The "X" stands for extreme and trust me they're not exaggerating.  I have muscles hurting that I didn't even realize I had...and I'm loving every minute of it!  I can honestly say that P90X is the best thing, or one of the best things that have happened to me.

This exercise program kicks-ass, but if you stick with it day after day after day, you're going to feel like a million bucks.  And I think it's simply because you're pushing yourself to the limit; you're telling your inner lazy, couch-potato fatso to shut-up and instead you're finally doing something to take control of your mind and body.  It's at the same time freeing and self-redeeming.  Even though during the workouts I probably look pathetic with all the panting and wheezing, (those diamond push-ups are demonic, and hell, is plyometric even humanly possible!) but mentally I feel like I'm Hippolyta the Amazonian Queen, and physically I feel strong and confident, like a sleek, lean lioness.  Ok, perhaps I still have a ways to go before I become "sleek" and lioness-ish, but that's not the point.

This blog is going to document my P90X journey.  I don't know where the program will take me, I'm hoping it'll transform me into a super-hot bikini body, but even if it doesn't, it'll change my life.  I'm going to live a fit, healthy and full life.  The P90X challenge for me will not merely be testing my physical endurance, it will be the ultimate challenge as to whether I have what it takes to transform myself, ALL of myself.

I want to share my journey with the world, partly to keep me accountable to myself, but largely so that I can share my personal experiences, thoughts and knowledge that I gain along the way with those who, perhaps, are also on the same journey.