P90X: Buffed and Then Rebuffed

I did the whole P90X workout program, and after ninety days, I finally have an eighteen year old body which covers  fifty-eight years of joints, bones, ligaments, and a broken heart too -- I'm still not over my ex girl friend.  But with P90X, I don't have to worry about hurt feelings when I can flex my muscles in front of mirrors at my health club. "Bring It!"

The P90X program is all about "muscle confusion" -- a concept I never fully grasped because I thought my mind was the only thing befuddled in my body.   But muscles too?  (Now that is material for a Stephen King novel.)  The P90X concept is quite simple.  If you do the same exercise over and over again, your muscles will get too comfortable and even bored.  As a consequence your body will never get to the next level.  "You plateau that way," says Tony Horton, the P90X guru.

But if, for example, you do one exercise followed quickly by an entirely different one, that would cause your muscles to say, "What's going on here?  Now why do you want us to do that? We're confused."   The net result is that your muscles will develop quickly and more efficiently.

Yesterday at my health club,  I had in fact just finished doing a set of push ups and I was ready for pull ups but a young guy (probably eighteen years old too) was already at the bar.  He was doing multiple sets which meant that he would be hanging around there for awhile. 

"Mind if I jump in for a quick set" -- a bit fearful that he would say "No." But the kid said "sure" and watched me as I churned out ten pull ups.  He then said, "Hey that's pretty impressive.  Nobody at my school can do what you just did."  I thanked him but acted like it was no big deal.  I went over again to the mirror and stared at my muscles growing right before my eyes.  Simply amazing.

After a second round of different exercises, I was scheduled again to do pull ups.  This time, two teenage girls were alternating sets at the bar.  "Mind if I jump in," I asked -- this time with much more confidence.  One girl responded, "Yes we do!"  And the other girl chimed in, "Aren't you a bit old to be doing this, anyway?"  I quickly left them.  

Wow, that really hurt!  Why are teenage girls so cruel?