What I learned today while P90xing: do not drop weights on your face while lifting. Don't worry, I didn't do it. I listened to Tony Horton when he cautioned not to be a hero and to only use weights that are of reasonable size. For those curious, I used some 5 pounders, although in retrospect, I could have probably upgraded a whole three pounds to 8 pound weights during my arm and shoulder workout today. The fitness experts in the video used 20-30 pound weights but really, I'm not even going to go there.

A perk of this new workout is that I have so much energy. After the initial submersion of pain and sleepiness after day one, I am on the fast track to actually feeling healthy and not like a couch potato.

I am also trying things I've never tried before like lifting weights for more than 10 minutes and drinking milk with protein powder.

Not to worry, this is not me

But really, protein powder apparantly helps muscles recover after you spend an hour ripping them to shreds from doing exercises with ridiculous sounding names like the tri-bi-rise-kickback ... or something like that.

The biggest problem I have encountered, even with recovery drinks, is that my muscles don't necessarily recover. After plyometrics on Friday, I was essentially dead. I actually wanted to cry, yell and nap all at the same time while doing those exercises. I was even chided for cursing at the TV too much during workouts that hurt too bad and seemed neverending. My calves have never hurt so much. They still hurt today. nearly six days later.

I am hoping that I'll get used to this. In the meantime, I encourage others to jump on this bandwagon and embark on crazy workout adventures that involve them potentially injuring themselves and drinking vanilla flavored protein powered instead of eating a meal. Ok, so I'm a little bitter, but I promise, it's more fun than it sounds. And tomorrow is yoga, so I get to take a breather and balance my chi, hopefully weights have nothing to do with that.