Our recent travels have wrapped up, so now I have a long (90 day) stretch of time where I won’t be away from home for more than a day. That means it’s time for the next round of P90X, considering that I’m only a third of the way to my overall goal.

Today I started the Doubles routine. This routine is the same as Classic, except in Week 5 you start doing an extra cardio workout 3 times a week. In week 11, you start doing an extra cardio workout 4 times a week. I did the Lean routine last time, which added an extra cardio workout and replaced the plyometric workout with some additional core stuff.

During my time off, I didn’t do any workouts. I was supposed to do Yoga once a week, Ab Ripper once a week, and one other routine of my choice once a week. That would add up to less than 3 hours a week, but I didn’t do it. Well, one time I did ab ripper. I was very sore the next day. I went down stairs in the morning, and I couldn’t get back up stairs.

I bet you’re wondering how my pretest scores (and overall fitness) compare. Actually, I don’t care if you’re wondering, I’m wondering. So I guess I’ll share.

Resting heart rate: down from 108 to 92
Pull-ups: up from 0.75 to 2
Vertical leap: up from 15 inches to 21
Pushups: up from 19 to 40
Toe touch: up from -1.75 inches to 4
Wall squat: up from 1:08 minutes to 1:10.2
Bicep curls: up from 15 to 25, but decreased weight from 25 to 20 lbs
In and outs: up from 30 to 60
Heart rate immediately after 2 minutes of jumping jacks: down from 196 to 186
After 1 minute: down from 186 to 175
After 2 minutes: down from 178 to 161
After 3 minutes: down from 170 to 155
After 4 minutes: down from 168 to 143

And the summary: I’m in better shape. By a wide margin. My target heart rate, by the way, is between about 150 and 175.

If you’re wondering how my measurements did while I was on hiatus, well, that’s inconclusive. I lost inches in some places, and gained in others, in no particular pattern. I gained weight, but lost body fat percent. I decided to start using a more complicated method for determining body fat percentage, and it’s not going so well. I might need to stop by the gym and see if a personal trainer can show me how to properly use the body fat calipers.

So, today was my first workout. It was chest and back. That workout is slow paced, but grueling; you alternate back exercise with chest exercise. There are 6 sets. The chest parts are all pushups, in different formats, whereas the back exercises are a mix of pull ups and weight lifting. After you finish all twelve, you do them again. Then, you get to do the ab ripper. All exercises are done to failure.

Starting in week 5, you do the same routine in the evening, but do an hour long cardio that same morning. This routine is EXTREME. Hence, the X.

I am very sore. Tomorrow, I get to do plyo for the very first time. Starting in week 11, you do a cardio on Thursday, then a weight routine (varies by week) in the evening, then the next morning you do cardio again, and then Friday afternoon you do plyo. That…is…going…to…suck.

In addition to the workouts, I’ve decided to try my hand at the diet this go-round. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember that this afternoon, when I got a free lunch from a vendor presentation, and ended up eating a large gyro with all sorts of crap on it, and a basket of fries from Zorba’s. I’m making up for it with grilled chicken sandwiches for dinner, instead of my usual beer and an entire package of Zatarain’s.

Hey, when you’re working out to this extreme, you need your calories!