I have been using moderately light weights for this first week, and not doing a whole bunch of pull-ups. I want to be able to increase my weight amount and by the end of this month do 20 pull-ups instead of my current max which is 8.

After each workout I felt pretty good about how I did. Overall I was pretty happy with my first week, but of course I have a lot of improvement to make. During my workouts I had a Heartrate monitor to make sure I was working out to a good level. My goal is to always stay above 145, and during a few of my workouts I got as high as 160. My heartrate monitor also tracks the amount of calories I have burned and my highest amount was at 1155!

I take Body Fortress Creatine muscle protein drinks before and after each workout. I think that by taking them it really has made a difference in how quickly I was able to recover and do more than if I wasn’t taking it . You can also take vitamins to help your body recover and get the nutrients you need if you dont want to take protein shakes or purchase the P90X recovery products

Equipment for working out does not always have to be a huge total bowflex gym or other elaborate exercise equipment setup. For P90X there is not nearly as many pieces of equipment required than what I had been expecting. In fact you can get by most workouts with a set of resistant bands. These are the equipment that you definately should have or consider having for maximum performance and result in your 90 day P90X workout period:

1. A dvd player or something that you can set up to play the videos on. It is best to do it somewhere that you will have plenty of room to manuever around in.
2. Dumbells or Resistance Bands – If dumbells have a variety of different weights on hand. Depending the muscle group your working on, or the type of workout it is you can adjust accordingly between the different weights. If you use resistance bands you can get a set with different resistant bands so that you can increase your workout or lessen the resistant if your becoming to tired to keep proper form.
3. Yoga mat is very important – It is nice to have one when you do your Ab Ripper X, but the main reason is for Yoga X. I had a great deal of difficulty with Yoga X the first time I went through, but I was very happy that I had a Yoga mat.
4. Water and a Towel – you will really want water for these workouts. Try avoiding taking large gulps of water or drinking to much because it can cause cramps, or bloating. Towel is not as necessary as other things, but if you sweat like me you’ll want one!
5. Recovery Drink or some protein drink- In the P90X series you hear Tony always referring to the Recovery drink because it helps you rebuild muscle, become less sore, and help your body recover from tough workouts.
6. A pull up bar-  you can get a pullup bar that will mount above just about any door opening at your local sporting goods stores or big box retailer.  If you do not have a pullup bar you can utilize your resistance bands to simulate the same exercies

These are the basic pieces of exercise equipment you will need for the P90X home workout series

Tommorrow my workout is the Chest and Back, + the Ab Ripper X videos. I will be using 8lb dumbells for my first week to get the feel of things. I will also use the Iron Gym Extreme Pullup bar for my Chin ups and pull ups. These items are required for the P90X Chest and Back workout. They also suggest having a towel and water handy for every workout you do. For my Ab Ripper X workout I’ll have my towel and water, with a yoga mat.

Tommorrow I will begin my first workout in the evening. I plan on working out towards the afternoon. I will be following the Classic version of P90X, not the Doubles or Lean version. Classic means that it is the regular version, and not A.M./P.M. like Doubles and not working to lose weight like Lean. For the first few weeks though, all three types are the same.

With tommorrow being my first day I am eager to see how I will change in 90 Days. My goal is for a Six-Pack and bigger arms as well as pecks. I suggest to anyone beginning the 90 days of P90X to look up information on it and get a clear insight on what you’ll be going through before just jumping into it. I find it is better to have an idea of what is in store for me than just following the videos and having no clue of what I will be doing. This way you know what you’ll be doing and you can begin setting goals for yourself, and eventually surpassing them.

Today I have taken all my measurements and I did the P90X body calculations to see where I stand on my fitness level. My starting stats are:

• Weight – 143lb
• Body Fat -13.61%
• Fat Mass – 19.46lbs
• Lean Mass – 123.54lbs

These are the photos of myself before doing P90X:

In addition to the photo, I have calculated exactly how much body fat I truly have using the 90 workout calculator that I have for my power 90 fitness program.  It includes taking multiple measurements of your body including, height, weight, biceps, thighs, waist, chest and hips. Knowing these measurements will allow you to have something you can go back and check later to see how much progress you’re making with your weight loss, fat burning and muscle building during your exercise program.  Using these current statistics I was able to set some weight loss and fat reduction goals for myself and hope to achieve them using power 90.

Below are my stats when I started my 1st day of the Power 90 in home boot camp.

As you can see I have a substantial amount of body fat to shed.  My goal for this 90 workout program is to lose 20 pounds of weight, hopefully get off of my blood pressure medicine and maintain a more consistent diet to control not only my weight but my diabetes as well.

Before starting day 1 you should also have your diet planned out in advance.  The power 90 fat burning program is based around eating a healthier diet to optimize your body’s natural fat burning process.  The diet consists of a regular eating schedule, lean meats, lower carbs and smaller portions.  Understanding your calorie intake vs. the amount of calories you burn are all well described within the power 90 diet plan.  If you really want to track your daily calories you can create an online log at calories.about.com.  I highly recommend this site as it has made tracking my diabetes diet much easier.

1. Something to play the exercise videos on either a DVD player or a laptop with DVD drive. I have used both

2. Dumbbells.  In order to get the most out of the Sculpting 1 -2 circuit you should have some sort of hand weight that will allow you to do curls and other similar weight lifting exercise with.  I was fortunate in the fact my daughter and son had several light weight dumbbells already 5-10lb is all I needed to get started considering my physical condition.

3. An Alternative to dumbbells would be to use resistance bands.  Resistance bands are long elastic bands that come in various color coded sized equal to the various sizes of dumbbells that are available.  You can buy these through the Power 90 website but they are readily available at just about any big box retail or sporting good store.

4. Workout clothes – surprisingly I didnt own a single pair of shorts that I could use to workout in.  A decent pair of tennis shoes should be warn to support your ankles.

5. Nutritional supplements – Throughout the power 90 series you’ll be introduced to the many different nutritional supplements available to aid in your workout and recovery.  I decided not to purchase my supplements from the Power 90 company but instead bought a good multi-vitamin from my local walmart

6. Workout Mat -  If you have hard wood floors you may want to purchase a yoga mat or other padded mat for use when doing your ab ripper x and other aerobic exercises.

7. (Optional)heart rate monitor and or blood pressure monitor.  due to my high blood pressure issues I already had a blood pressure monitor that i used on a regular basis.  The biggest concern here is if you have medical conditions is to properly monitor yourself to make sure your not over doing it.  If you like me with both diabetes and high blood pressure you have to watch both your sugar levels and blood pressure rates.

That is about all the equipment needed to do the power 90 in home workout program.  If you dont have the money for dumbbells or resistance bands look around the house for anything you can hold in your hands that has a decent amount of weight to use as a substitute. Thrift shops are good places to find inexpensive exercise equipment like this as far too often people buy them with good intent only to give them away after never having used them

I started doing the ab-ribber x just one week ago, and I was only doing it every other day. I started noticing my dad was taking an interest in working out, and he was looking into doing the power 90 series. This really began motivating me to want to do the whole program with him, and together we decided we will both do our 90 days. His is the Power 90 of course, while mine is P90X, so we are  on too different playing fields, but seeing him work on changing his life and really become more active really makes me want to help in anyway I can. He wants to lose weight, become more active, and change some of his bad eating habits. My goals aren’t the same, I want:

• Lean Muscles
• Full 6-Pack Abs
• See my dad complete his goals.

Together we will help motivate each other, and hopefully each reach the goals we want. As we go through the full 90 days we will each give our first hand experiences of the program, and what results were seeing.

1. Im way over weight – maybe even considered to be obese
2. I cant walk up stairs without huffing and puffing
3. I was diagnosed as a Diabetic and my doctors recommended exercising regularly to control my sugar levels
4. I was watching my son do p90X and knew it would be too difficult of an exercise program for me to start unless I wanted a quick trip to the emergency room

As you can see making the decision to start using Power 90 workout series didnt take much effort on my part.  Actually starting the fitness series was a different story. I thought long and hard about how difficult it was going to be, the time it was going to take and whether or not I was even physically capable of doing it in the first place.  Like many people I started doing my research on google to find out exactly what all was involved in starting the power 90 workout series. I studied many different user testimonies and went to several fitness forums to find out what others thought about power 90 before making the commitment to buy the DVD’s and start the program.  To my suprise the results of the 90 day workout program that most experienced were far more than I had ever expected and soon began to really want to try it out for myself.

After many hours of research I finally broke down and bought the Power 90 Workout Series for myself and began reading the nutrition guides, workout schedules and watched all the videos just to find out what I was about to do to myself.  I had many concerns as I am a Diabetic with high blood pressure and wasnt sure how Power 90 would impact my sugar levels and blood pressure.  I followed the advise of Tony Horton , the author of the Power 90 boot camp , power 90 master series and the ever popular P90X workouts, and consulted my doctor about the exercise program I was about to undertake.  After receiving his blessing and some instructions on monitoring my blood pressure and sugar levels I was all set to get started.

Power 90 In home boot camp consists of 6 separate videos each with a specific fitness goal in mind. Below are the various videos you receive

• Sculpt Circuit 1–2 Easy moves that work to tone, firm, and strengthen your entire body. (29 minutes)
• Sweat Cardio 1–2 Fun, innovative cardio moves, kickboxing, Pilates, and more to burn fat and shed inches fast! (36 minutes)
• Sculpt Circuit 3–4 Next level for sculpting long, lean muscles! (38 minutes)
• Sweat Cardio 3–4 Accelerated fat and calorie blasting.
  (42 minutes)
• Ab Ripper 100 & 200 Two ab routines guaranteed to give you the flat, sexy six-pack abs you’ve always wanted. (4 minutes; 6 minutes)

I now had all the videos in my possession , i’d done my research and it was time to make the decision to start the Power 90 boot camp for myself.