Bring It: P90X Day 49

P90X is one tough workout! It was created by Tony Horton and it promises to change your life, as well as your body around in just a short 90 days. You may wonder how. The idea of muscle confusion is what does the trick. With 12 different DVDs at your fingertips, a program guide, and nutrition guide, you have all the tools needed to get into the best shape of your life.

If you would like to start from the beginning of this series, please click here. If you want to read about my previous day with P90X, click here.

Feel free to leave you comments below. You guys have been keeping me motivated to make it this far and I look forward to sharing my journey with you. Thank you for your continued support.

Ah! Day 7 of the week. We all know what that means. It is a day of rest. Well, the P90X workout guide actually gives you the option. You can either do nothing or you can do XStretch. XStretch is a light version of YogaX. You won't sweat nearly as much, you won't curse nearly as much and you will still be working on your flexibility.

For most of my time through this workout series, I have usually choosen to do nothing. Mainly because I have been busy. But the last few weeks I have been incorporating XStretch in and I have found that I really enjoy it. It does carry some of the moves for yoga so you are still burning calories. However, the major downfall is that it is still an hour out of your day.

This week I have been struggling with being sore. Because of that, even though I did my workout later in the afternoon, I decided to take a break from all the stuff on my list to do and just stretch. It felt awesome. I was focused and I was really giving those muslces what they needed - a good stretch.

For the most part, whether you choose to do something or not, is completely up to you. But I highly recommend after a tough week of working out, you choose the stretch. Not only will you feel better, but you will decrease your chance for injury as well.

There are a couple different kinds of stretching involved in the P90X workouts. The kind most people think of when they think of stretching is static stretching. The other kind, another great way to warm up the muscles, is ballistic stretching.

Static stretching is the more traditional form of stretching and the one most people are aware of. This is basically when you bend over and touch your toes. You inhale as you go into the stretch and exhale while in the stretch. As you exhale, you try to pull yourself into the stretch just a little further. This is intended to increase your flexibility while allowing the muscles to let go. This time of stretching is done while the body is at rest and is usually held for a specific time period, such as 30 seconds or so. It is normal to feel a little uncomfortable during stretching, but the discomfort should only be mild. This discomfort is what will ultimately let your body adjust so each time you can reach a little further.

Ballistic stretching is a way to warm up the muscles by using the momentum of your body. You will often times see swimmers using this kind of stretch before they jump in the water. This type of stretching works well because a person is attempting to force their body beyond its normal range of motion. Most often, this type of stretching is used by athletes who are under supervision and know their body limits

So, now that you know the different kinds of stretches, which one do you prefer?

Click here to continue on to Day 50.