July 7 2009 – Stretch X
I can’t think of a better way to end my first 2 weeks in P90Xland than to do stretch X. My body does feel a little beaten up I have to admit and I am sore in a bevy of places. However, I know that an easy day today will put me in a great frame of mind for tomorrow and my last week before rest week. I have been thinking about taking my P90X routine to the gym. I have the movements, I have the equipment and at least at the gym I would also have a proper place to do pullups. I wouldn’t risk doing the switch grip pullups on a door frame pullup bar and I have not had time yet to drill a new bar through the door frame to give me a really steady bar I could do anything on. I did however finish putting up all the mirrors yesterday and the gym is looking great! Hopefully I can get a picture of it and post it here just to show what you can do with a small space and a touch of  creativity!
So the stretch went well. I am fond of the workout rather than a rest day becasue I know I need to work on my flexibility. Regardless of what some of the idiots in the HIT community believe it really is possible to lengthen your muscle body and increase your flexibility with a little work. Point in case, my flexibility is improving already. I have about 2-3 inches increase in my two leg hamstring stretch and while my hamstrings are epically tight, this gain is still significant. Most of my movements are moving now as I breathe. Last week I was able to do some of the streches but my start and finish points were basically the same. This week as I breathe into the stretch each movement does stretch further with each exhale. The only problem really is the candle to plow or shoulder stand to plow. I can get the shoulder stand OK, but my back is so sore that when I attempt to go over into plow not much happens. I am not expecting my knees to hit the floor or anything but reaching my face would be nice. In time, I suppose.
Stretching, it’s not just for new shoes.