P90X: "Over and Over...The Mastery Learning Process" Day 45 of 90

Day Forty-Five.  Half-way.  Well, if I hadn’t modified my program I would be half-way.  For most P90X’ers that is the hallmark of day 45.  I actually will be doing 97 days at least.  In the second phase (of three) I moved from Lean to Classic and decided to simply count Phase 2/Week 2 in Lean as Phase 2/Week 1 in Classic.  It forces an extra week in Phase 2 to go through the adaptive stage.  Typically in the program, this would be my last week of Phase 2 with next week being recovery.  So, it is now P97X.

I have a week-long vacation coming up in April and I am still trying to figure out how I will handle it with the program.  I think I will go 'Recovery Week' that week as it requires no weights and I will be doing a lot of walking.  I will be seeking my coaches’ advice on this one.

So I am at the halfway point.  This is considered the doldrums of any Mastery Learning Process (MLP) for anything you ever do.  The four phases of learning for MLP are Adaptation, Execution (once), Repetition, and Mastery.  Mastery isn’t so much a phase as it is a final result.  It’s the ultimate test of your learning.  But when it is done, you still have decisions to make…like where you go from there.  Next level of fitness?  Coaching?  It’s all up to you, because learning is a cycle not a line.  It has no end point.

Why did I add a week to the program?  Because the Adaptation phase of the MLP is critical to the next steps of the process.  In Adaptation, you have to learn all the new work to be done and perform Execution.  You take notes, record your benchmarks, and perform everything once to get yourself ready for the first real week of Repetition, where you really up the intensity and push your limits.  If I would have tried to adapt to the Classic phase and drop a week of Repetition, I would have shortcut the MLP.  And you can’t shortcut and win.  Things will boomerang on you.

So here I am in the Repetition part of the Mastery Learning Process. 

The requirements for this process are, first and foremost, discipline.  You have to tenaciously stay with the program.  You take the exercises you adapted and executed once and then just keep doing them.  Over and over again.  You have to put into your mind that you will do this and trust the result.  Just do it.

The second requirement of Repetition is energy.  When you are repeating the exercises, do them with as much vigor as you did on day one.  Attack the steps.  Try to make improvements in technique and in process as well.  When you know you’re at the end of any program, your excitement gives you a burst of energy and you try to crush the sets.  Use as much vigor as day one and as much energy as the last day.

The third requirement is creativity.  Yes, I know that one sounds a little wacky.  Look, you know the exercises.  Some of these you have been doing every week for almost seven weeks.  It’s hard, but try to be as creative as possible to offset the boredom.  Learn more about your nutrition.  Use some of the more difficult postures.  Anything at all that can trigger small improvements through this phase is great.

That's it.  The three requirements of the Repetition Phase of MLP.

This isn’t just in P90X.  This is in everything you ever do.  When you are in the Repetition Phase of MLP, it’s discipline, energy and creativity.  You could be learning Karate or learning Math…same process.

I had similar things to say to my children, especially when it came to math.  Math, more than any school subject, follows this path.  You have to do the exercises.  You have to do the work.  If you don’t, when the time comes to take the test of mastery, you will stare at the problem in front of you and have to think about how to do it.  Then you may not exactly know the process for the particular problem, so you might try a couple processes.  When you finally get the right one, you do the problem and double-check your work, because you have no confidence, because you didn’t repeat enough.  Then by the time you move on, the next problem has less time, and so on, until you either rush and make mistakes or don’t finish completely.  Your grade?  “C”? “D”? “F”!?

But it's not just Math.  Take History.  You listen.  You record the important notes.  You mark the critical points in your text.  You go home and Execute that lesson once using all the tools you used in Adaptation of that lesson.  Then, based on how well you Adapted the lesson, you repeat the lesson over and over in your head.  What do you foresee as the result?

Larry Bird.  How many times do you think he shot a basketball?  Long before standing on the court while the crowds cheered him, there were many long hours spent alone just shooting.  Over and over again.  Repetition marked his path to excellence.  How many math problems do you think Stephen Hawking did?  How many games of chess you think Bobby Fischer played?  Anyone, anywhere, that ever achieved greatness took the step of Repetition to an art form.

You don’t have to go to the extreme as these hallmarks of excellence did…but you get the point.

 The good news?  When you get through this phase, you are done and ready to move on.  Come on…you've gotta love that!  Right?

[later that night]

Back and Biceps tonight.  It felt really good and I had plenty of gas to finish.  I got 100 lb bands for the pulls ups and wrapped them from the bar.  Many routines, that were using the 15 lb weights last week, were done with 25 lbs.  The reps came down a bit but that was okay.  So I kicked butt.  You know, there is really nothing more to say!  The weight does keep coming off, I continue to improve my eating, am doing a health quiz for Melissa, and can see results every day.  My wife asked me how long I was going to stand in the mirror...I said, "Until I see an improvement."  Funny...good night!