It’s a great feeling to know that I’m back on track with the P90X regimen after spending so much time sidelined with an injury.
I’m back, though! I’m not quite fully back into the swing of things, but that will come in time. The easiest parts of the week were, of course, anything having to do with the upper body. I could fully train my upper body while I was limited with leg exercises, so this was to be expected. Yoga has once again resumed kicking my butt (who didn’t see that one coming?), however the flexibility in my upper body has begun to astound me.
Years of not stretching has led to a severe decrease in my range of motion and flexibility and I am just now starting to see the signs of it all returning. This leads me to believe that two things are happening simultaneously: My muscles are gaining flexibility and my muscles are actually losing mass. Neither of these are unexpected or viewed as negative from where I stand. I’ve always been a big weight lifter and always had a lot of upper body mass. I’ve also realized that, for me, my passion is no longer to see how big I can get, but to live a healthy, active, and fit lifestyle, which, I decided 8 months ago, would mean a loss in muscle mass. The P90X program is simply keeping my muscles strong and creating a toner, slimmer, and (dare I say it?) sexier me. So, I realize I may be the only one, but I’m glad to see smaller muscles.
Now, my biceps have increased in size and my shoulders and triceps have reduced their size but maintained their strength. My chest has gotten a little smaller but I still maintain a high bench press max (315lbs) so, I’ll sacrifice that little strength dip for overall fitness, flexibility, and agility.
My legs for this week are a completely different story. My ankle stayed strong and seems to be well on it’s way to being back to it’s old ways, however, my legs have taken some time off since their last full training session. Plyometrics didn’t kill me aerobically as I thought it would, but my legs felt like they were going to give out at any moment. I’m actually quite thankful this coming week is a Recovery Week. It will give me time to get my legs back in training shape. Also, I have lost quite a bit of flexibility in my hamstrings from a lack of full on stretching due to my ankle injury.
Aside from those updates is seems that everything is in full swing to wrap this bad boy up, provided there are no more freak injuries. I do find my mental state about my ankle more daunting than the physical state of my ankle. I’m very afraid of pushing my ankle although I know my ankle can handle more. It’s just a mental block that I’ll update you more on in the next post. Bring on the Recovery Week!
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