Cody's Fitness Blog: April 2012

This is my review to the sequel of the extremely popular workout DVD series P90X. P90X2 focuses on functional fitness by having you do a variety of moves in unstable conditions while engaging your core. The goal is to make you a better athlete by improving your balance, strengthening your stabilizers and core, and being more explosive in your movements. To reach these goals, you really have to focus on your form to maximize the benefits of this program. Being a recent graduate of the program, I will do my best to break down the components of P90X2 into the following categories:

· Motivation & Progress

· Equipment

· Program Design & Individual Workouts

· Nutrition

· Personal Reflections

Motivation & Progress

Again Tony Horton is the celebrity trainer of this program. Very much like P90X, Tony will crack jokes, be a little goofy, but also will give you words of encouragement during parts of the routines where you want to quit. I know some people find him annoying, but I’m personally I’m a big fan of Tony Horton. His enthusiasm about health and fitness are second to none, and he makes me want to really push myself during the workout routines.

Along with Tony, he has a cast of typically 3 other individuals who are doing the routines with you. Most of them are Beachbody Coaches (individuals like you and me who completed P90X and decided to dive into the business side of the company) as well as some of your old favorites from the original series like Dreya Weber and Bobby Stevenson or from the P90x Plus series like Mark Briggs and Traci Morrow. While all these individuals are very fit, they’re also human. So it was encouraging to see them struggle with some of the moves, because I was having my own difficulties and glad to see I wasn’t the only one.

To monitor your progress, you can go to teambeachbody.com and get the workout sheets. I find these crucial to be able to maximize your results and be able to push yourself to your limits. The workout sheets are very easy to use and can be printed out from your home computer at no cost.

Equipment

This may be one of the biggest cons of the program. Unlike the original P90X where you just needed some weights and floor space, P90X2 requires an initial investment to fully maximize the program. You will need:

· Pull up bar

· Assorted amount of free weights or bands

· 4 medicine balls

· Stability ball

· Chair or Plyo Box

· Foam Roller

· Mat

Now with that being said, they have one person demonstrate in every DVD how to perform the routines with just a set of bands, a towel and a chair. This is perfect for the people who don’t have the money to purchase the additional equipment or travel a lot for their job. You can also make substitutions for some of the equipment such as using a basketball instead of a medicine ball. Personally I purchased the additional equipment at a local sporting goods store (the 4 medicine balls & stability ball cost me about $160). You can also purchase the deluxe package when you buy P90X2 from teambeachbody.com which gives you all the equipment you need (except they only give you 2 medicine balls, but they sell additional ones as well).

Program Design

P90X2 is broken into 3 phases. Each phase is 3 to 6 weeks long (you get to choose how long you need to be in each phase) and you have 5 scheduled workouts each week with 2 rest days. This is a big difference between P90X where the phases were more structured and rigid and you had 6 scheduled workouts with only 1 rest day. Another big difference is that in P90X2, you get to choose when your recovery week occurs and for how long. Sometimes you may only need 3 days and other times you’ll need 10 days. The program is tailored to meet your individual needs.

Before each workout, you go through a dynamic warm-up using the stability ball and active stretches like the World’s Greatest Stretch and Inch Worms. This is quite different than the static stretching routine we became accustomed to in P90X. You also get introduced self myofascial release using a foam roller. It’s basically giving yourself a massage, but your working really hard on finding your tight spots. Honestly, I could use the foam roller all day. At the end of each workout, you either do some static stretching with the aid of the stability ball or neuro-integrating stretching using a band or a towel. Neuro-Integrating stretching is the concept of contracting one muscle to lengthen another. Tough to explain, so you’ll have to just try it out for yourself to see what I mean.

Phase One is the foundation phase. It’s your first introduction to doing moves on unstable surfaces using medicine balls, stability balls, and either on just one leg or one arm. You want to get pretty efficient at these moves before moving onto the next phase. This phase consists of 3 core workouts (X2 Core, Total Body, & Balance and Power) while incorporating a plyometric/cardio routine called Plyocide and a yoga workout. Many people love the original P90X series but one of the biggest complaints was the hour and half yoga session. Well Tony and the gang heard your complaints and shortened the yoga routine to just barely over an hour. X2 Yoga has a real nice flow to it and you don’t get that feeling of being in the Vinyasa phase for an eternity. I believe you’ll really like the improvements.

Here is my link to X2 Core:

Here is my link to X2 Plyocide

Phase Two is the strength phase. P90X graduates will be familiar with these moves except they add an added twist: they’re all done in unstable positions. Push-ups where your hands and feet are on medicine balls, bicep curls standing on one leg, pull-ups with a medicine ball in between your feet, and tricep kickbacks while your balancing your chest on a stability ball are just some of the crazy moves you’ll encounter in this phase. They even have a move called the Impossible Push-up. Trust me…these are ridiculously hard! You’re doing a diamond push-up with your hands on a medicine ball and your feet are on a stability ball. If you can even do one your first time trying it, congrats…you’ve done better than most. The base package comes with 3 strength routines (Chest, Back, & Balance, Shoulders & Arms, and Base & Back) plus you can purchase 2 bonus strength routines (V-Sculpt and Chest, Shoulders, & Tris) to add variety and more muscle confusion. That’s what I did and I extended this phase the full 6 weeks. After each strength routine, you also do a short abdominal routine called X2 Ab Ripper. 11 total moves that absolutely shreds your core. These are even tougher after you just worked your core during the strength routine. Along with your 3 strength routines, you round out the rest of the week with Plyocide and X2 Yoga.

Phase Three is the performance phase. They introduce a concept called Post-Activation Potentiation (or PAP for short) where you’re doing a weighted resistance exercise immediately followed by an explosive movement exercise. To perform these PAP workouts, they use Complex Training. Complex training is doing 4 moves with little to no rest going from one move to the other for 4 rounds. Each complex has your PAP component of a weighted resistance exercise followed by an explosive movement exercise, then followed by two exercises that focus on hip and shoulder instability. This phase is pretty simple. You have 2 PAP routines: an Upper and a Lower. You do these twice a week with X2 Yoga done in between. Each PAP routine has only 2 complexes (remember that a complex is 4 moves, 4 rounds for a total of 16 exercises), but you’ll be absolutely winded if you really push yourself.

Finally, on your rest days, you can choose to do active recovery, rest, or use the X2 Recovery & Mobility DVD. This is the equivalent to the Stretch X DVD from P90X. You do a lot of foam rolling during this disc. I highly recommend doing this disc on one of your two rest days to massage out those trouble areas.

Nutrition

The program comes with a full nutrition guide with a lot of variety depending on your fitness goals. Inside the nutrition guide, they have recipes, meal planners, food lists, calorie calculations, nutrition advice & education, as well as options for vegans or individuals who want to go grain free. You can tell a lot of thought was put into this guide. Sometimes when I hear people wonder why they’re not getting the results they were expecting, 9 times out of 10 I can link it back to their nutrition. If you follow the nutrition guide that comes with the program, you will get awesome results…guaranteed!

Personal Reflections

I’m now a P90X & P90X2 graduate. That’s really cool to say and I’m happy with my results. I started the program weighing 176 pounds and finished the program weighing 165 lbs. For my nutrition, I used a concept called Carb Cycling. To sum it up, I basically used the Nutrition Guide’s Fat Shredding plan for 3 days and then the Endurance Maximizer plan for 1 day. I would repeat that cycle throughout this 90 day program. I also incorporated Shakeology for the first time in my life. Shakeology is the number supplement used my Beachbody customers. Being a big fan of their workout routines for so long, I had to give it a try. To be honest, I really like it. When you’re on a low calorie diet, you have the temptation to snack to feed your body. But I always found myself full after drinking Shakeology which helped reduce those craving temptations. Some people make all sorts of recipes and add things to make it taste better, but I never had those issues. I would just mix it with water and I was good to go.

Because P90X2 is all about improving athletic performance, I got to see that first hand in a basketball league I was playing in while concurrently doing along with P90X2. I felt quicker, more explosive to the basket, and being able to out jump my opponents. That’s impressive to say since I’m 35 years old and playing against a bunch of 20 year olds.

The main advice I would give people doing this routine would be:

1. Keep your ego in check – Because you’re doing moves in unstable positions, you’ll need to lower the weight you’re lifting. So for example, if I’m use to doing bicep curls with 45 pounds, you may need to drop down to 35 pounds to do the move correctly.

2. Don’t cheat yourself – Form is king to get maximum benefits from this program. It will be tempting to sacrifice your form to do additional weight/reps, but try to resist that temptation and focus on doing every rep with perfect form. You’ll see the benefits of doing that in the long run.

3. Don’t quit – These moves are hard. People can get frustrated because they don’t have the balance or patience to stick with the routine. There may be some moves where you can’t even do one repetition. Please stay with it. Over time, you’ll get stronger and more coordinated to perform these moves at a very high level and get one heck of a workout. Trust me.

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this review. If you have any questions or see any changes/improvements I need to make on this review, don’t hesitate to ask. Keep going strong on your fitness goals and remember to always enjoy the journey, not get so wrapped up in the results.

Here are my before & after pictures:

Before After