Day 22 - Recovery Week (Yoga)

Today is the start of the recovery (last) week of Phase I.

I'm excited about having a "new" workout week having yoga, kenpo, and core synergistic. I still want to have all the pushing and pulling of weights that I've had the prior three weeks. But just like everything else in life: "Too much anything, good or bad, can kill you." While I know that P90X will not kill me, I know that I need to take this week to let my body recover from last week and get ready for the NEXT level of workouts in the coming week.

Today, was Yoga. Which, I might add, is starting to become on of my top workouts to do. I feel it making me stronger on the inside. My flexibility has increased; my stamina has increased; my balance has increased. Tony adds this phrase: "A longer body is a stronger body." Most people just want to push/pull and get "big", but in doing so they also get stiff.

After you have used weights (or other means) to overload and fatigue your muscles, your muscles retain a "pump" and are shortened somewhat. This"shortening" is due mostly to the repetition of intense muscle activity that often only takes the muscle through part of its full range of motion. This "pump" makes the muscle appear bigger. The "pumped" muscle is also full of lactic acid and other by-products from exhaustive exercise. If the muscle is not stretched afterward, it will retain this decreased range of motion (it sort of "forgets" how to make itself as long as it could) and the buildup of lactic acid will cause post-exercise soreness. Also, strenuous workouts will often cause damage to the muscle's connective tissue. The tissue heals in 1 to 2 days but it is believed that the tissues heal at a shorter length (decreasing muscular development as well as flexibility).

This is exactly why I look forward to Yoga. It clears my mind, and it helps my body grow by stretching and strengthening every muscle, tendon, and fiber in my body.

Yoga X is another great addition to the P90X program. Before P90X, I thought only women and old people did yoga. But now I know different, Yoga has/will help me in every part of my daily life from my posture, detox my body, improve my flexibility, and tone my muscles.

Can it get any better than that???

I'll be back tomorrow pushing play.