When I first started the P90X journey, my goal in blogging about it was to introduce another layer of accountability. I thought that if I knew people were interested in hearing about my progress, I’d force myself to actually make progress. Then, two things happened:

1. I grew confident that no one is interested in hearing about my progress; and
2. I realized that, even if they were, I wasn’t exactly thinking about having to answer to the anonymous masses when I occasionally made the decision to skip a workout and do a “double” the next day to catch up. (The whole “double” thing never ever materialized).

So I fell off the “blogging about P90X” wagon. But I committed to write about this project, and I figure that if I quit writing about it, I’ll eventually quit everything else. Which leads me to this recap post.

Generally speaking, I followed the program pretty religiously for the first 21 days. I missed a total of two workouts but made them up on what were supposed to be my off days. Through weeks 1 and 2, though, I didn’t feel like I was making myself go all-out in the exercises. And I wasn’t losing any weight or seeing any progress. So I made a mental rededication and really pushed it in week 3. It was a good week, and I regained some confidence and drive. Then came week 4: the recovery week. I was to do nothing but cardio, stretching and yoga (my three least favorite things in the P90X regiment) for an entire week. But I got sick and did not work out a single day. However, my lack of eating offset my lack of working out, and I lost some pounds. Phase 1 came to an end. I took some 30-day pictures. I looked at them. I was not thrilled, but I looked slightly smaller than when I started. So, moral victory?

Cue week one of phase 2. The first workout in phase 2 is triceps, chest and shoulders. It is, by far, the most difficult workout I’ve faced. It is also my favorite. I jumped in full-force, and about two-thirds of the way through I had nothing left. I made a mental note to pace myself next time and called it quits. Day 2 of phase 2 came and went. I did not workout. Then day 3 of phase 2. No working out. Then I got a call from my long-distance P90X workout buddy. He wanted to talk about how I was doing. I was honest, and he replied — to my relief — that he too had lapsed. We decided to take the entire week off (so that would make two weeks in a row for me) and start again the following Sunday, December 5th. And so we did. And I ate a cheeseburger or three.

Given that I am smack in the middle of it, I’ll wait until next week to tell you how the re-racked week one of phase two goes. I’ll also do my best to remember to take some measurements tonight and make some kind of chart to show differences (if any) from my Day 1 measurements.