R2 Day 90 - ARX

So I've reached day 90. I just did Ab Ripper X tonight because I was tired, but I am real conscious of letting the last week slide, and I don't want to do that. I'll do Cardio X in the morning, I think. I've got a week of recovery, and then that's it! Another round of P90X done. This one didn't seem as tough as the first round, I think for a number of reasons. First, it's not as hot as it was when I was doing the first round. The cardio workouts made me sweat, but not like the worrying levels they did during the first round when it was 35 degrees. Second, I was a little more relaxed with the schedule. My rest day was flexible. I think I only missed one Yoga somewhere, and that's it, but some weeks it got a little confusing as to where I was at. But if I couldn't start my workout before 10 at night, I didn't do it, whereas in the first round I did a lot of late night workouts. It's a little easier on the system, but I think that if I did another round with this system of being flexible with the schedule, I would just fall away and not be able to complete it. Third, I'm fitter and stronger. Plyo isn't the bitch it used to be. In fact, I can kind of cruise through Plyo now when I couldn't before. Cardio X is refreshing, Yoga is nice. They used to destroy me. The resistance workouts are tough, only because I'm lifting more weight and doing more reps and pull ups than I did in the first round, and they take longer because I need more time to do the reps (especially pull ups) and I take breaks between the exercises instead of trying to rush through them. Some of the resistance workouts seem really rushed. I don't know why this is, maybe they wanted to keep them all under an hour. But I take an extra five or ten minutes to do a resistance workout that I used to.
What could I have done better? My workouts could sometimes have been more intense, but honestly, I have been very pleased with the consistency of my intensity. When I felt good, I worked harder, and when I felt tired, I just did it, or I didn't and went to bed early. Usually I felt good, and I improved on everything. Weights went up, reps went up, cardio workouts became easier - I felt fresher in the last twenty minutes of the workouts than I did in the first round and I could really push it at the end.
I could have definitely eaten better. This food thing is tough, and it reminds me of smoking, though not as scary. I have had two cans of beer in the last three months, a couple of fast-food meals (Mos Burger, which blurs the boundary of fast-food and downright gourmet cuisine) and a couple of cans of soft drink. Way way down from before. But the chips and coffee are a problem, and chocolate too, which is strange because I never used to eat chocolate. I'll have me 2 fun-size Kitkats after lunch, and that's fine, but if there's any chocolate in the house, I can't help myself and I will eat it all.
When I look in the mirror these days, the thought of loosing the six-pack and all the other muscles I've got now makes me sick. All that hard work could be gone in a couple of months of taking it easy and not paying attention to my health. That's why getting the food thing right is so important now, because if I do stop working out, the chips and coffee and chocolate and junk will just destroy any of the gains I've made in the last year so quickly it will be frightening. But if I eat right, then I might lose some tone and muscle mass, but I won't be battling to keep slim. I've said it so many times, but food is where it is at for me now.
My left shoulder, left knee, and right hip aren't 100%. Probably from all the golf balls I hit growing up. Just wear and tear. They feel so much better than they did two years ago, though. My asthma comes and goes, but again, sooo much better.
So what now? After my recovery week, I might do a week of Yoga and stretching, and then do a hybrid of P90X and Insanity. Like I said before, the cardio workouts in P90X have become a little less challenging than they used to be, enabling me to kind of coast through them. Insanity will fix that, for sure. But I don't want to do just cardio, so I'll keep the P90X resistance workouts. I will do Legs & Back only once in a while, because I was so glad to see the end of it yesterday I can't tell you. I can do either alternating days, or alternating weeks. I think I'll do alternating days like the guy from Fitbomb is doing.
This guy gives the best review of The Phantom Menace I have ever seen.