P90X Day 1 - Reboot

They say the first step is the hardest.

I respectfully disagree.

This will be the third or fourth time that I've started the P90X program. I've had the DVDs in my possession for more years than I'd like to admit, and I've never made it more than 1/3 of the way through. There are many reasons, of course, from legitimate injury to plain old laziness, but it always comes down to one thing more than any other.

Commitment.

The slogan for Beachbody (the company who makes P90X) is (or was) "Decide. Commit. Succeed." For me, the first step is the easiest one. I decide to start lots of things. Just ask the two novels sitting on my computer, or the three screenplays. Check how many books I have on my shelf with bookmarks halfway through. Heck, look no further than my mileage from this year. It's barely moved since February, but it looked really good until then. I'm often motivated to start, but maintenance has always been my problem.

Still, that time I made it 1/3 of the way through the program, I was pretty well built. Probably the best shape I've ever been in, from a purely physical perspective. For various reasons, some pictures of me during that time have been surfacing in odd corners of the internet, and it's reminded me just how spectacular that felt. Since I haven't been running all that much recently, I thought that perhaps a change in workout style might be the shake-up that I needed.

And then I missed day one. In my defense, there was pizza.

Today, I made it happen. Day one is chest and back, which is a lot of pushing and pulling. I paced myself the first time through the workouts, and nearly duplicated my numbers (though with substantially more effort) on the second round. While these numbers are not particularly impressive just yet, it meant that I was actually pacing myself appropriately, which is its own little victory.

The Ab Ripper X workout at the end of these days has always been a problem for me. I go as long as I can and usually break down halfway through. This time around, I simply aimed for lower targets. They were doing 25 of each move, and I did 10. On all but 1 move, I easily could have done more, but it gives me somewhere to go in the coming weeks without discouraging me every step of the way. Once again, I paced appropriately.

So all my problems are solved, right?

Not hardly. Because as I mentioned, the first step has always been my favorite. Let's see if I get around to step two tomorrow. I think, at least for now, there's a pretty good chance.

As long as there's not pizza.