Hi Guys, it’s been a couple of weeks since I posted about P90X, so I wanted to give you an update as to where I am in the workout and my thoughts on each of the workouts in Phase 1 now that I have a few of them under my belt.  Today is Sunday, which is the rest day and so far I am feeling great!

P90X, as most of you know, is split up into 3 phases.  The purpose of this is to continually challenge your muscles and system which leads to bigger and faster results.  Tony Horton calls this ‘muscle confusion’.  The idea is that just when your muscles get used to performing a particular workout you change it up and ‘confuse’ them which leads to growth instead of stagnation.

So, the first phase of the P90X workout is Phase 1.  This is a 4 week phase that consists of 7 different P90x workouts  per week (or 6).  I do six days a week and rest on Sunday, or you can do the optional P90X X Stretch on that 7th day.  I have just finished up 2 weeks of this phase.  Here are my thoughts on each workout so far:

Day 1: Chest & Back

This is quickly becoming my favorite workout of all.  As you can imagine, it is a workout focusing on chest and back muscles.  What this equates to is TONS of pushups and pullups in the 1 hour workout!  I installed a pullup bar in my basement especially for this program.  I could not get one of those in the door types (like an Iron Gym) to work on any doorway in my house because of the size of my doorways.  We have an older house with non-standard sizes.

I also purchased push up bars.  I am glad I did as these provide a great range of motion and alleviates the pressure on my wrists.  For some reason my wrists are not all that strong.

If you have followed my blog before, or have seen pictures of me on this blog after I did Insanity, you will see I am not a big guy by any means.  This means that pullups are HARD for someone like me!  So far, all of the pullups I have done have been ‘assisted’, meaning I am using a chair to help me during these exercises.  Hopefully by the end of it I will be cranking through pullups unassisted.

Day 2: Plyometrics

Tony Horton calls Plyometrics the mother of all P90X cardio workouts.  I call it a tamed down Insanity workout!  Plyometrics combines jump training and various other cardio moves to give you a full body workout that is guaranteed to make you sweat and work.  The second time through on this it was more challenging than the first, this is because I knew the moves better and pushed myself.  The workout is about an hour long which is really a long workout for cardio.  Compare that to the month 1 workouts during Insanity which were about 45 minutes long.  I was able to get a decent calorie burn by burning 630 and 650 calories respectively the two times I have done this so far.  But, my Insanity friends will agree, you haven’t done cardio until you’ve done Insanity!

Day 3: Shoulders & Arms

Part of what I really like about P90X is the variety of exercises.  Day 3 of the P90X workout is all about shoulders and arms.  I like this workout as well, but have not been able to perform it to its fullest due to not having all of the right dumbbells I needed to do this workout effectively.  I have just purchased the missing weights so I should get the most benefit from this next week.  My arms are pretty noodly after this workout.

Day 4: Yoga X

I will hand it to Tony, he is pretty well rounded to be able to teach a yoga class, but in my opinion he is not a true yogi by any means.  I tried this workout the first week around and I was impressed by how challenging it is.  I have done my fair share of yoga over the years and he does a good job combining movement and static stretching.  However, I will probably go to my local yoga studio each week on this day and get a bit more of a spiritual experience.  It’s hard to listen to Tony and really get my mind in the place it needs to be to practice yoga effectively.

Day 5: Legs & Back

My nemesis!  So far this workout is the one that has caused me the most pain.  A pain in my ass, literally! It sounds funny, but there are a few exercises in here that does something to totally rip up your hamstrings and glutes.  I am pretty sure it is the ‘legs on the wall’ exercise.  Looking at it that exercise doesn’t seem too bad, but it burns worse than anything else to me so far.  It takes me a couple of days to where I can sit down comfortably after doing this workout.  Oh yeah, and there a  ton of pullups on this day as well!

Day 6: Kenpo X

Kenpo X is a pretty unique P90X workout, at least to me.  It is the most interesting for sure and the hour long workout seems to go pretty fast.  The first time around I was a bit hesitant as there are so many different moves and it switches so often.  I spent a considerable amount of time just trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.  The second time around was a bit better as I knew the moves and was able to push myself a bit more.  However, I don’t know how the people in the video are getting their heart rates into the 160’s.  I don’t know if I ever got out of the 140’s during the entire workout.  But, i will admit this one is kind of fun.  It involves a lot of punching and kicking, so you can pretend to hit or kick anyone you want!

Day 7: Stretch X or Rest

Day 7, Sundays for me, is my rest day.  You can do the optional Stretch X on this day if you would like.  I have chosen not to do this and to just rest so I can’t really comment on what this workout is like.  I would imagine it is a low intensity gentle stretching routine, maybe I will try it one Sunday or for sure during the transitional week.

Additional Workout: Ab Ripper X

Ab Ripper X is a very intense P90X workout that will have your core muscles screaming for relief.  You are supposed to do this 3 times a week following Chest & Back, Shoulders & Arms, and Legs & Back.  I did this the first 2 times and my abs were in pain for a couple of days.  I have decided that I will do this once a week after Chest & Back.  For me I think this will suffice as I already have some abs and I don’t think I can ’stomach’ much more, ha ha!

Seriously though, this workout is intense.  It is only 17 minutes long, but there are over 300 ab exercises.  The people in this video are impressive, because some of these exercises seem utterly impossible to me right now.  Maybe when it’s all said and done I will feel otherwise.

So, there you have it!  That is what I have learned so far during this workout.  Please feel free to ask questions or provide advice, or simply comment on anything you have read in this post!  I look forward to the next couple of weeks of the P90X Workout.

Hello everyone!

It has been quite some time since I last posted.  I have been continuing to exercise with a mix of different things, but I seem to always do a couple days a week of Insanity workouts.  Well, I have begun a new commitment as of this week: P90X.  As you can see from my previous pictures I am a slim guy.  This time around I am looking to build some muscle mass and keep my all around fitness.  P90X looks like the perfect fit for me.

I started on Monday and am 3 days into it.  So far I am really enjoying it.  It is taking some getting used to as it is very different from Insanity.  I have only a few sets of dumbbell weights and am quickly discovering that I will need a complete set to do this effectively.  That was the one thing that was so attractive to me about Insanity was that I did not need any equipment at all. I will be doing some purchasing this weekend after I have done the 3rd muscle workout on Friday to figure out exactly what I need.

As many people who have done both programs before, I can affirm the testament that Tony Horton’s cardio workouts are NOTHING like what Shaun T puts you through!  They are challenging, but decidedly easier overall.  With that said, I did my cardio workout yesterday (which Tony calls the mother of his cardio workouts) and have to say it was satisfying for a couple of reasons.  First, I was able to do just about everything with the people on the DVD and second I burned about 630 calories!  The reason the burn is so high is the workout is about an hour long as compared to about 45 minutes for the month one workouts of Insanity. (Note: In month two of Insanity the workouts are about an hour as well and I was burning 800-900 calories during those!).

I have taken some before pictures, but I won’t post them until I reach day 30 and show you guys a comparison.  I am really optimistic about this workout as I am already in constant muscle pain   I figure the first week will be very painful as it was for Insanity and then hopefully it will taper off.

Oh, one more thing.  Anyone who has done or seen P90X videos, does Tony kind of annoy you?  LOL, he just is kind of dorky to me.  I love Shaun T’s personality on the workouts, he is tough but encouraging.  Tony, not really sure how to describe it until you see the videos!