Like 98% of the general population, one of my new year’s resolutions was to exercise more and lose weight. Thankfully, unlike most of those other folks, I actually have a plan and launched it a few days before new year’s eve.

I came across the P90X program via a Facebook status update from a friend from high school. Wondering what that was, I researched it a bit and found it to be a highly-rated workout routine. I spent much of 2008 trying (unsuccessfully) to establish better workout habits, so this was a great find and at the perfect time.

2008 was actually a pretty bad year for me in the exercise/weight department. While I’ve struggled since junior high to keep my weight in check (but only started working on it in college), 2008 more or less “fell off the wagon.” It was the 2007 Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s lazy, high-carb, sugary food fest trifecta that ultimately started things off. I actually gained about 10 pounds in a short period of time. Combine that with a couple of weightlifting-related injuries and a couple rounds of colds and whatnot, and I found myself losing the battle of the bulge. In fact, I did not lose a single one of those holiday pounds (and managed to gain a few more)…until this week.

I was excited and a bit apprehensive about launching into P90X as it’s quite a tough regimen – definitely not for wimps or for those just beginning to get into exercising (Body for Life – which Rebecca and I did about 8 years ago – is perfect for this purpose). But after completing the first week, I’m convinced that it’s an awesome program and I plan to stick with it for the full 90 days. As part of the program, I’ve completely revamped my diet, cutting out nearly all alcohol and other simple sugars (if you don’t know, I have an insatiable sweet tooth, so this hasn’t been easy). I’ve increased my consumption of veggies by what seems like a thousand-fold (by choice, I’ve had salads for lunch every day this week). I am still adjusting to reduced calories, though, and I need to regularly exercise willpower during those time in-between my mini-meals when my stomach starts to growl. Increasing water intake and lots of gum have helped take that edge off. I’ll detail what I’ve learned about smart eating in a separate post.

The first three weeks of the program include six highly varied workouts:

Day 1: Chest/Back – basically, an insane amount of pushups and pullups from every conceivable angle
Day 2: Plyometrics – an insane amount of squatting, lunging, and jumping (sense a trend here?)
Day 3: Arms/Shoulders – shoulders, triceps, biceps…repeat…again…and again…for an insane number of times!
Day 4: Yoga – I’m glad I’ve been doing Power Yoga for a while now, because otherwise I would have collapsed in the first 15 minutes of this insane routine!
Day 5: Legs & Back – An inordinate (I got tired of insane) number of lunges, squats, and pullups. Punishing!
Day 6: Kenpo-X (Martial Arts) – What, you think I get Saturdays off? No way! This is “X,” baby! A somewhat non-insane (but still intense) hour of yoga poses, punches, and kicks was a welcome cardio alternative.

Somewhat surprisingly, I’m already starting to feel the benefits such as increased energy throughout the day. While I haven’t expected to see major results yet, I am already seeing modest weight loss. More importantly (to me) is feeling, once again, the welcome muscle aches that tells me I’m actually doing something productive. In fact, the immense variety of exercises from a variety of angles has me feeling (good) pain in muscles I wasn’t formerly aware of! Now, that’s a good workout!