An abrupt change of plans

I decided that I'm going to start over on P90x. Basically this means that when I am better prepared, I am going to act as if that week was Week 1 again.

I was reading a little bit online about P90x yesterday. Previously, the research that I had done was basically to see if it really worked. Once I established that it did, I just kind of jumped right in, not knowing what to expect. Yesterday, I looked to read up on tips and advice that people had, and I wanted to get answers to some of my questions (I'm going to have to skip a day every now and then inevitably - what are the major consequences? After a skip, should I do the workout I should have done the previous day, or should I move on to the next day? What's the deal with the nutrition guide - is it really necessary?)

While I was finding answers to those questions, I also confirmed a couple of other things that I had suspicions about in my mind. One was that several people mentioned beginning the workouts and just doing them to get a feel for them before they actually started the program regimen. That way, their benefits wouldn't be compromised by being so out of shape that they wouldn't be able to do the full workouts, like I've been experiencing. Those people said that by doing a casual week or two of the workouts to just get their bodies adjusted to the idea of working out, they experienced much better results from Phase 1 of the program. I myself had been wondering how beneficial it would really be to have two throwaway weeks out of four in Phase 1.

Additionally, I'd mentioned before I have a couple of other problems. One is that I didn't have a pull-up bar, which is crucial for one of the workouts in Phase 1, and for two of the workouts in Phases 2 and 3. Another is that I just don't have the motivation (yet) to get up 40 minutes earlier every day that I have to do the Yoga workout.

So my plan is this: for the remainder of this week, I'm going to do some low-impact pilates stuff. I'm realizing that my weaknesses at the moment aren't in cardio, because I get through that stuff okay. Don't get me wrong - I'm tired after - but where I really fail is in the stuff that requires strength. So I'm going to do some pilates stuff to jut work on muscle control. In the meantime, I'm ordering the P90x chin-up bar online. When that gets here, I'll think about starting up the program again, but - I'm pushing back "Day 1" such that Yoga X day falls on a weekend. I'm potentially going to have to make adjustments during the recovery week and subsequent phases, when yoga will fall on days other than 4 like it currently does, but I'm hoping that by the time I get there I'll also be more mentally prepared for the routine and I'll be able to motivate myself to get up earlier.

I always knew getting on an exercise routine was as much of a mental challenge as a physical one, and I'm really learning that the hard way now. I've never liked "working out," so training my mind as well as my body is doubly difficult at this point in time.