Bring It: P90X Day 63

P90X was created by Tony Horton. It is a tough workout that uses simple to do exercises that are hard enough to be effective. This isn't a program cut out for everybody. In fact, most won't make it through the first week. However, if you can push yourself through, you will see incredible changes.

The success is because of muscle confusion, a concept adopted by Tony Horton that requires you to push yourself to the extremes, but switch it up enough so your body doesn't get used to the workout. It seems simple enough, but anybody who has ever tried to get in shape or just try to tone up, knows the work will be hard.

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 your comments below. This is intended to be an interactive hub series to get people serious about getting healthy. It isn't about the amount of weight lost, it is about living life and feeling good about yourself. So go ahead and share your stories and your tips and together we can keep each other motivated!

I did something right when i scheduled my P90X workouts so every Sunday I had StretchX. Let me just say, there is nothing than a good stretch on a Sunday. It isn't too horribly difficult compared to the other workouts in the DVD series and frankly, it is a great way to end the week.

When I first started the P90X, I would go back and forth between whether I should do the stretching or just take the day of rest authorized by P90X. The more that I push play on StretchX, the more I love the workout. For the most part, StretchX is basically a light version of YogaX.

The best part is stretching is good for you. It not only feels good, but it will help increase your overall performance for all the workouts in the program. And, it will also help reduce injury. So, the next time you are thinking of skipping the stretching session, remember the benefits far outweight the time it takes.

As my kids joined me for the last few minutes, my middle child asked me why it was I was stretching. This of course would be through her huffing and puffing and complaining about not being able to touch her toes. She also wanted to now why it was so difficult.

The key to becoming flexible is to practice. If you can't touch your toes right now, with practice you soon will be laying your fingers on the floor.

Do you want to know another reason being able to touch your toes is important? Touching your toes can directly relate to how flexible your cardiac artieries are as well. That is important especially during the holiday season when heart attacks are on the rise. While the reason so many fatal heart attacks happen during the holidays is speculated - extra stress from spending extra money, time with the family or maybe even the particules floating in the air from the romantic evening in front of the fireplace - it is important to make sure you have good heart health so you can see the next year. Stretching can help this.

In a study’s experiment, scientists from the University of North Texas and several Japanese universities recruited 526 healthy adults between the ages of 20 and 83 and had them perform the basic sit-and-reach test. The results of the test showed "a clear correlation between inflexible bodies and inflexible arteries in subjects older than 40. Adults with poor results on the sit-and-reach test also tended to have relatively high readings of arterial stiffness." There was no correlation found for those under 40.

Now arterial stiffening doesn't necessarily mean you are doomed to a heart attack. However, it does mean your heart will become less efficient, according to an article in the NY Times, "Phys Ed: Can Touching Your Toes Test Your Arteries?"

Now there are some early indications that increasing your flexibility mighten loosen up your arteries as well. During the 2008 study at the University of Texas at Austin, it was actually accidental this evidence was found. While the study was intended to test if weight lifting increased arterial stiffness, what it found was that even though "they were not expected to show any change in cardiac function, over the course of 13 weeks they in fact increased the pliability of their arteries by more than 20 percent."

So, the next time you are thinking of skipping the stretching... this is just food for thought. It is never to late.

Click here to get to the day you have all been waiting for... Day 64... Results day!