Day 67

Week 9, Day 1 Decelerator done. Today is the first day of Block 3 and the final phase of P90X3. Decelerator is kind of hard to explain. You are doing similar moves to what you had been doing, but as he says in the intro of the workout "You don't get injured when you jump. You get injured when you land, so this workout is all about sticking that landing softly." Or something to that affect. Similarly to the Eccentric Upper and Lower, you accelerate through the move, but the deceleration is done controlled.

I am not sure if all the moves are really like that or not, but maybe in their way they are. The workout really is an isometric resistance workout. You only use resistance bands if you don't have the pullup bar and sub that out, otherwise it is all you and the ground and gravity. It alternates upper and lower body work, while keeping core engaged most of the time, so you could say this is a UML(Upper-Middle-Lower) type of workout. Since there are no true ab exercises in this I guess that would be a stretch. Regardless this workout will seem cardio in some cases at least it did for me, but I would think this is not a traditional cardio workout by design. The simple fact that it is all packed in 30 minutes and doing the exercises 1 min each would put it in that cardio or cardio interval training type of realm. All I know is that while duper 2 and joel jumps can be tough crawly plyo pushups and big brother burpee had me gassed compeltely.

My shoulder felt fine throughout the workout, so that is a plus. Planking this morning pulled it out of me since I hadn't really tried it in 2 days and 2:30 isn't easy for me still. I think I might abandon this as I have stayed at the level I have been around 2 mins or 2:30 past the time I was supposed to advance to 5 mins and beyond. My core is stronger, but not strong enough and with all the work I plan on doing for the rest of my life, I think I will hang this challenge up for now. I did plank for 30 days and then some, and I plank every workout. My side arm balance is very strong now and today had to show that off 2 times, once in the aforementioned big brother burpee. I don't feel discouraged by not completing it either, because I really did accomplish the challenge of planking for 30 days, just not to the times. I can do this again later when my core is stronger and be more successful then. I think though it is time to alter what I do for my own good.

Maybe starting a 30 day squat challenge or burpee challenge is the way to go. Something everyone can do if they choose and something that will either not interrupt the current pushup challenge or to go along with it like a squat challenge. This will have to be something to think about and maybe start it on next Monday. One thing I am not sure about is whether or not to add the 21 Day Fix workouts in or not. I feel I should just finish P90X3 as is and not try to add too much then do the 21 Day Fix for the 3 weeks and then go from there. Part of me wants to double up on the workouts and damn be the consequences... Well I know one thing, if I get injured doing that, whether a slight strain or a severe problem it will only delay me. I know that patience is something I might have trouble with, but I might also need to just slow it down a bit. There is no way I can do some challenge group and P90X3 and 21 Day Fix workouts on top of all that. I need to realize I have limits and to understand where they are not push beyond what my body will allow or I will be injured. At the same time, what are my limits? Where is that "do not cross" line? You have to push yourself to find it. Right?