Round 2 / Day 73: Back & Biceps + Ab Ripper X

Why is everyone in this video so damn chatty? Bobby Stephenson, Timmy the Marine and Katie the Giggly Interior Designer all evidently feel the need to chime in with bad jokes, set-up lines for Tony, and other unnecessary commentary.

Shhhh.

(Admittedly, my tolerance level is especially low today because I'm under the weather -- one of the occupational hazards of being a dad to two little germ-magnets, I guess.)

Round 2 / Day 38: Back & Biceps + Ab Ripper X

This morning, I decided to up the weights I'm lifting, which meant my rep counts dropped. It wasn't fun to feel so inadequate, but if my goal is to build a little more muscle mass, I suppose I'm going to have to start pushing myself to go heavier (and eat more, too).

On another note: Katie doesn't ever seem to get less annoying. Today, it wasn't her incessant jabbering and overeager giggling that bugged me -- it was the weird squeaky grunting she emits during exercise. That, and the fact that she's decided that it's her responsibility to be the set-up man for Tony's douchey jokes. "What show is that, Tony?" she chirps when he smirks into the camera and launches into his "gun show" routine.

Both of you: SHUT. UP.

Round 2 / Day 24: Back & Biceps + Ab Ripper X

So after almost four months of P90X workouts, I finally tried the "Silence and Cues" feature on the DVDs. And I'm kicking myself for not checking this out sooner. It's the best thing ever.

With "Silence and Cues," there's no grating music. There's no commentary by Tony, other than a sentence or two at the start of each exercise to let you know that we're moving on. (It's astonishing how little time Tony spends on verbal instruction, and how much of his constant blabber is pointless and unnecessary.) Best of all, in Back & Biceps, you don't have to hear Katie's deranged giggling at all.

Another plus: You can listen to music on your iPod or soak in the silence during your workout. Or, if you're like me, you can turn on the other TV in the garage and catch up on old episodes of "Survivor" that are about to disappear from your TiVo -- all while doing Corn Cob Pull-Ups.

"Silence and Cues," I think I love you.

P90X Day 66: Back & Biceps + Ab Ripper X

In Back & Biceps, Tony calls Towel Pull-Ups "one of [his] personal favorites," but that's because he's superhuman (and a show-off).  Me?  I can't stand them.

First of all, there's the whole wetting-the-towel thing.  Tony recommends that you soak your already-damp sweat rag with water from your bottle, which means: (1) your saturated towel will be rendered incapable of soaking up the perspiration that's puddling in your bodily creases and folds, (2) you're going to have to refill your now-depleted water bottle, and (3) you're probably going to spill water all over your mat or living room rug. The alternative, of course, is to keep your towel dry, but it'll be much harder to grip.

Then, there are the actual pull-ups themselves. I have difficulty even throwing the towel up and over the pull-up bar on the first try.  And when I try to do a pull-up with one hand gripping the bar and the other one gripping the dripping towel, it feels like my puny forearm muscles are going to rip apart.  I have a weak grip (unless I'm giving a handshake, in which case I squeeze extra hard so the recipient will marvel at my manliness and hand strength), so I'm sure I'd struggle with Towel Pull-Ups even if they were my first exercise of the day.  But in Back & Biceps, Tony introduces these fuckers a half-hour into the session -- AFTER we've already suffered through three sets of pull-ups (including the obscenely crazy Corn Cob Pull-ups), three sets of various back rows, and six sets of bicep-blasting curls.  Bastard.

As you can probably tell, I crashed and burned with Towel Pull-Ups today, managing to crank out only a handful before having to finish up the set with my foot on the washing machine.

On the plus side: With the exception of the aforementioned disaster, I cruised through Back & Biceps without much trouble.  It helps that I now know what to expect -- from Twenty Ones to In-Out Hammer Curls.  So without having to concentrate on how to perform the moves, I can now focus on more pressing matters, like how Bobby Stephenson needs a haircut, and how Katie the Interior Designer needs to be quiet.

P90x Day 45: Back & Biceps + Ab Ripper X

Day 45 is in the books, which means I'm halfway through P90X! Cue the chorus of Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer"!

Plus, with the last Phase 2 session of Back & Biceps done, I don't have to hear Tony's hacky "gun show" joke or Katie's crazy-eyed-stalker laugh again for another three weeks.