P90X Recovery Week

This is my second time doing the P90x program, and the Recovery Week  is still a love/hate relationship for me.  I love doing yoga twice a week, but hate that I have to set aside 90 minutes to do it.  I love the X Stretch day, but hate that I never make time for it and use it as a running day instead.  Finally, I love the calorie burning power of Core Synergistics but hate how hard it is!  For some reason, I just don’t enjoy that workout as much as the others, but it definitely gives me an amazing total body workout.  The video clip below is me doing the Lunge Kickback Curl Press exercise.  You’re supposed to choose a light weight (I chose 5 pounds) and do 20 reps.  Maintaining good form throughout the exercise is very important, so you don’t want to use anything that is too heavy.

P90X Recovery Week lined up perfectly with my marathon training recovery week.  I definitely still worked out a lot, but my running mileage didn’t increase, and my P90X workouts didn’t include many weight exercises or any pull-ups.  I think changing it up is definitely a necessary component of any long-term workout program (aka muscle confusion) so your body doesn’t get used to doing the same exercises over and over again, and your body does need rest at some point.

Normally I have 1 scoop of recovery formula after each P90X workout, but I decided to skip it one morning after Kenpo.  I know I’m still supposed to be burning a lot of calories, but I just didn’t feel like I burned enough to warrant those extra calories.  One day after yoga I completely forgot because I was so focused on fixing lunch.  Otherwise, I’m usually very consistent!  Besides, I love the way it tastes too.  Recovery formula and protein powder have definitely grown on me since I started P90X back in August 2010, and I can’t imagine my workouts and diet without them.

I’m surprised at how quickly P90X Phase 1 passed and am definitely ready to BRING IT during Phase 2!