But… there are a few exercises that require (or are  easier to execute) with an exercise bench. Which exercises you might ask? Well for me the key ones are bench press, inline and decline. Now you’re probably saying “Push ups do all that” and you’re right. Problem is, I have something going on with my right shoulder and it really shows up when I try to do push ups. With push ups you can’t really adjust the “weight” so I thought that using a bench and dumbbells would let me continue to work the muscle but fine tune and adjust the weight.

Where to find a weight bench. You should know – I’m cheap. Additionally I believe that the more sports equipment costs, the more you are paying for branding and marketing. Let’s face it, my tennis game would not improve 5% if I played with Rafael Nadal’s racquet and he could beat me like a rented mule using a $15 junior racket from Walmart. So my hunt started at Walmart.

I liked this one http://www.walmart.com/ip/CAP-Strength-FID-Bench/8145312?findingMethod=rr

I also considered making one and this one had a very utilitarian vibe going for it.  http://www.instructables.com/id/Weight-Bench-5-positionFlatIncline-doubles-as-/

But ultimately I found one on Craigslist and grabbed it up for $35.

So with winter in full force (tennis balls don’t bounce in the cold) I am limited to Monday morning early-bird indoor tennis on Mondays (6:30 AM – uuuuugggghhh) so it’s 3 days of strength and a couple of days of cardio (treadmill or bike).

But remember “The pain of being overweight is far worse than the pain of working out”.

Diet? Definitely eating much better than pre P90X but certainly not the full P90X diet. Again, probably 75% good stuff but I do really watch how much I eat.

I like that I took pictures along the way because it allows (forces?) me to step back and see if I’m slipping, making progress or holding my own.

The gallery below shows my “Just finished P90X” pics versus my pics from today which is approx 16 months later. All in all I’d say I am holding my own. My weight has gone up about two pounds from my P90X finish and is basically where it was when I started P90X. Weight loss was never my goal. It was more a desire to replace about 5 pounds of fat with 5 pounds of muscle.

Well there you have it. I am pretty happy with my long-term results. So..how have you fared since ending your initial P90X experience?

1) I now have a forehand: After self teaching myself tennis as a youngster (early teens) I taught myself some very bad techniques particularly my forehand. It was an attempt at a loopy forehand ala Bjorn Borg – yes I am that old. Let’s just say that only Bjorn Borg can hit that forehand and it is not a stroke that any beginner should try to emulate.

I mentioned in an earlier post that my two-handed backhand has always been terribly consistent. While my forehand always felt loose and inconsistent. So I thought why not go two hands on both sides? It would give me more stability and it would essentially allow me to use the same motion on both sides.

I committed to the change about a year ago and it has really started to gel. In the last couple of months I have beaten three guys who I have routinely lost to over the last three years. It comes down to less unforced forehand errors. I am able to extend rallies, be patient and capitalize on a short ball or weak shot from my opponents.

2) I am running these guys in the ground (courtesy of P90X conditioning). My style of play is called being a “Retriever” which means I just keep getting the ball back until my opponent makes an error. My new increased consistency combined with my new cardio ability (Thanks to P90X) has these guys huffing and puffing – which makes them impatient to end the points – which leads to them force shots that often end in an error on their part.

Plus I get to EVERYTHING which frustrates the heck out of these guys.  Knowing that I move so well forces them to aim deeper or closer to the lines which leads to increased errors for them.

Lest you think I am getting overly confident in my game – don’t worry. I still don’ have the power I want,  still have more work to do on my forehand and volleying is a whole other area to work on but…I am getting better.

For the strength days I rotate through:

• Chest and Back
• Shoulders and Arms
• Chest, shoulders and triceps
• Back and Biceps

For cardio it is either tennis singles – I do early bird indoor tennis on Mondays at 6:30 AM before work – or 45 minutes on a Stairmaster or treadmill.

I hope to get some comparison photos shortly. I think I’m holding (or improving) my own but there’s nothing like an object photo comparison to tell the tale.

Diet:
Eating a few more carbs than I should but overall I am still eating well.  Latest plan is to make sure I get plenty of protein and really try to keep overall caloric intake in check.

Odd note:
I know there has been some muscle increase and / or improved definition in my upper arm. Want to know how I know. As I was running on the treadmill the other day I went to wipe sweat off the right side of my face / side of my head with the shirt sleeve covering my bicep/shoulder.  And guess what? I couldn’t get a good full wipe because where my bicep and should meet didn’t touch my face. Weird. But it’s just one of those things that makes you realize that you are making progress/changes.

I have settled into a pretty good routine. I basically work out 5 or 6 days a week. I follow the order of the P90X routines but am picking and choosing a bit. I alternate resistance days with cardio or leg days.

In addition to my cardio improvement I’ve also noticed that some of the ab exercises that I thought were crazy hard have started to be do-able. I’m no “Adam” by any stretch but the V-up roll makes sense now. My abs have developed enough that I can actually execute it with good form. Initially I simply could not do it. On “Heels to Heaven” my legs are now staying vertical and mostly straight.

I am basically back to the weight at which I started round one but that’s fine because I can see that I have added some muscle mass. I’ve added back a bit in the gut from my lowest but I’m 47 and life’s short. My diet is much better than when I started but not nearly the hardcore P90X diet. I have to say I learned a lot about eating right through the 90 days but I’ve found a workable alternative – One I can live with long-term.

Watch this space as later today I may need to post a rescue notice from my desk at work once my legs seize up with soreness.

Chest and Back plus Ab Ripper. Push ups went well – all types. I’ve seen a real increase in my ability to do some of the “unusual” push ups – Decline and Dive Bombers.

Pull Ups. A challenge. Starting off with one foot on a chair. Trying not to use it to push up, just taking the weight of the leg out of the equation. My plan is to get to about 12 reps (currently getting 6-8) using one leg and then go to “real push ups” at that point.

The last few days with round two looming I didn’t just fall off the wagon. I jumped off with full intent!
CiCi’s pizza buffet today after church. Bought a dozen KrispyKremes for our house guests and I put away more than my share. But that’s ok. I planned to let it go for a couple of days for tomorrow I begin round 2.

I may have added back 3-4 pounds but maybe it’s muscle – hard to tell. Plus I am not as pasty white as before. On October 4th I will jump back on the P90X bandwagon on a full time basis. I do anticipate making a few changes.

1) I don’t think I’ll do the phase 1 and 2 diet piece. I’ll probably stick with the phase 3 diet but try to stick much closer than I did over the Summer.

2) I will include Yoga albeit an edited version this time around – I plan to skip certain sections of the yoga video (yet to be determined) to get the work out down to an hour length. While I am by no means muscle bound I can see some increase in muscle mass and I am noticing some minor loss of flexibility. So I guess I have to say “Tony was right”.

3) New weights! I picked up a set of Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells on Craigslist. What a steal! The guy bought them and never – I mean never – even used them. I got the dumbbells and stand for $300.  I had been looking for PowerBlocks or SelectTechs. After having used them a half dozen times I can say they are great.

The stand makes a world of difference (didn’t have one w my older 25lb set from round one. The weight adjustment is super quick and easy and the glide right back into the holder. The plastic coated weights are designed so that you can sort of line things up and the guide themselves right into place.

I was concerned about the width of the weights but it really is not an issue. A standard metal dumbbell would obviously be more compact but having one super nice adjustable set is the way to go. Plus they are just cool looking.

4) Pull ups: I am going to do them. For round one when working out in my garage I had no where to put a pull up bar. For this round I have moved into a bedroom vacated by my Freshman War Eagle and bought a door mounted pull up bar.

Resistance bands and even universal weight machines which I used this Summer are good but do not replicate a pull up. As I recently read somewhere – If you want to get good at pull ups you have to do pull ups. I have attempted a few recently and they are hard. Looking forward to seeing my progress this round.

So there you have it. Round 2 – here I come.

• Good for you
• Cheap – really cheap
• Filling
• Wrapped by the good Lord for easy transport
• Biodegradable wrapper
• No refrigeration required
• Plays well with others – sliced on cereal for example
• Requires no teeth – and advantage for babies and old folks – I’m just sayin’

P.S. That whole slipping on a banana peel is WAY overblown