Day 18 - The Test *insert dramatic music here*

Didn't do crap yesterday because I had a fitness test today. It was just a diagnostic test and the results didn't matter, well unless you failed, but I was pretty curious how the P90X would translate into the Army PT test. The test consists of 3 events: 2 minutes of push-ups, 2 minutes of sit-ups, and a 2 mile run.

The push ups? Crushed it! Thanks for making me do hundreds of push-ups every week Tony! The absolute maximum score for my age group in push-ups is 72 reps. I knocked out 70 without pausing and once I got to 86 I still had a minute remaining. At that point I just got up. I feel pretty confident that I could have done close to if not 100 total but I'm brand new to the unit and it was kind of smacking of being show off since it was a diagnostic test. In my 12 years in the military this was the easiest that push-ups have ever felt, and that's really saying something since I probably had to do tons of push-ups when I was a private in the Rangers. I think the combination of the reps and an adequate rest period for recovery has made all the difference.

The sit-ups? Crushed it! I needed 82 in two minutes to max it and I hit 86 without too much effort. I didn't feel as strong as in push-ups but it was not an issue at all to hit the max. Ab-Ripper-X has strengthened my abs and more importantly my hip flexors didn't feel tired when I did the run. Gonna definitely stick with Tony's ab system.

The run? To max the run I needed to run two miles in 13:18. Yeah not so much. Two miles in 15:20 is pretty sad. It's well above failing which would have been 17:28, but still who wants to barely pass anything in life? To make it worse I watched a contestant on the Biggest Loser run a marathon last night. I've gotta get off my butt. To run you've gotta get out and run. I've been running MAYBE 4 miles a week. Probably not even that. Therefore it came as no surprise that I sucked donkey balls on the 2 mile run. All the jumping around, yoga, and playing ninja in the world will make you run fast if you don't actually get out and run. Even when I have gone running it's been pretty half assed. New plan is to run 3 times a week at a minimum. I wanna knock out 7 miles next week and then start adding up the mileage every week or increasing the pace every week after that. I've never been a great runner but hey that's why I gotta actively work on it. The only positive note is my form seems to be correcting itself from doing the barefoot running. I used to slap my feet really hard when I ran because I struck with my heel. I think the vibrams are helping to fix my stride.

We are having a recorded PT test around August and I plan on crushing that one. God I hate running but I suppose I've just gotta embrace my devil on this one.