This morning I set my alarm to get up early and do the P90X Ab Ripper Xtreme workout. It’s just 16 minutes, no big deal, right?
It starts out with Tony Horton saying something like “this is not Abs 101. This is Abs 349”. Huh, wonder what he means by that?
Ab Ripper is basically situps, situps, and more situps. OMG, I did not know there were so many ways to do situps! 25 reps of each type. Some of them were actually doable. I guess my swim, bike, run stuff keeps my abs in half way decent shape.
Others were extremely difficult and I found myself gasping for breath in the middle of the set. One of them was called ‘bicycle’ where you sit in sort of a “V” posture, while spining your legs as if riding a bike. Ouch, that one hurt alot.
After about 10 minutes, I had to run upstairs and knock on my teenage daughter’s door to wake her up. She’s, um, not real motivated in the mornings, so I have to help her along. Grrr. On the way back to my workout, I stopped and tweeted:
When the workout was done, Tony Horton said “You have just done 349 situps”. I didn’t quite keep up with him, so maybe I did 200 today. Holy crap, that’s a lot of situps! I think the most I’ve ever done in my life before was maybe 50. The way he varied the moves hit every muscle in my core, and made 16 minutes of situps fun, in a masochist sort of way.
My final tweet:
My abs did not hurt me all day today. My shoulders and chest on the other hand are still killing me from Tuesday’s P90X workout. I’m sure the Ab Ripper will hit me tomorrow and I will be in extreme agony. Sore muscles remind me that I have worked hard. I like that feeling.
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i have started p90x like a week ago and was ready to quit halfway through the third workout but i decided to stick through it and i'm glad i did......the soreness means i'm doing something right and i'm already starting to see results
haha, i never quite got past that pain business. maybe i'll give it another go! good luck!
The Ab Ripper stuff will get easier after awhile. After 4 months, I can now get my legs more than two feet off the ground doing the oblique v-ups. At first, the best I could do was hold them a few inches off the ground and not even move them. Stay with it. Your muscles will adjust...all of them. Don't give up due to soreness. That too will lessen. Like you, I ENJOY it when I have some soreness for a few days in my arms, shoulders or legs, and that soreness is harder to get after you've been doing the P90X program for awhile.
Awesome play by play description Carol! I also love that sore feeling after working hard. It's a great reminder of the positive adaptations your body is doing. My workouts typically aren't from P90X though. I have tried P90X and think its great at time efficiency and muscle balance, but its most definitely lacking the type of resistance training specific to triathletes.
Ab ripper does indeed sound fun, but we do need to balance that feeling with the training adaptations we are striving for. Don't get me wrong, if you are training for fitness and well being, P90X may be the way to go for fun and inspiration. However, if you are training specifically for triathlons, and you are looking for specific resistance training for triathlons--whether it be in the off season or while rehabilitating an injury--I strongly suggest you take a look at this site that has the most specific triathlon resistance training exercises I have seen: http://www.thestrongtriathlete.com/ .
Specifically there is a great book that you can get called "Top 12 Resistance Training Routines for Triathletes." Any of you that want to challenge your muscles in a different way, that still makes sense for your point in training, and the type of training involved, check out the site and let me know what you think.
None the less, keep up the hard work with P90X in the mean time. Sounds like you all are doing awesome!
Ive been thinking of them too. Glad for the feedback, on ebay and ready to make a purchase!!
Wow. Ab ripper sounds like, uhm, torture. I can't wait!
So glad you are doing and reviewing the P90X workouts! I've been interested in them for a long time. My coworker has been doing them and is going to let me borrow some of the DVDs. I really just want a video like this that will push my ab training further. I think this sort of stuff will get me thru my injury period and in shape for when I can run again! Great post!
I love that sore muscle feeling too!! What does that say about us??? Hmmm...