Archives for June 2008

What is strange about the P90X workout is it does not promote running. Sure you have the Yoga X, Cardio X, and the hardest P90X workout of all in Plyometrics but what happened to good old running.

You know running, its that thing you tell somebody they need to do to get into shape. Tell them to go invest in a good pair of running shoes and start hitting the pavement.

Over the past couple of years I have really been involved in the whole running scene. I’m happy that I finally did. I was that kid playing sports that had the talent to compete in whatever sport I played but just could not get into good shape so the other kids of less skill would out perform me on the field because I was just out of gas. After my college years I realized that I needed to keep myself in shape because this was the rest of my life and I did not want to turn into a tub-o. I decided to start running.

What really got me into running was when I moved from Detroit to Denver. Anybody with sinus problems that has moved from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains knows that breathing is going to become a problem. Running helped me get over the thin air so I could walk normally. I started with 1 mile, then 2, then 3. I actually did the 10k Bolder Boulder. It was the first time I ran 6 miles in one time and I felt proud of it.

Fast forward two years and I am back in the Detroit area still running. I decide one day that I am going to run the Detroit Marathon. This was quite a feat for me because the longest I had run before that was the 10k. But I found some good info about training and gave myself about 4 months to do it.

Well, I did finish the race in a blazing 4 hours 21 minutes and 1 second. Not bad for a first timer. Never mind the next day how much my knees were killing and reading about how some 72 year old man ran the marathon 5 minutes faster than me. That was a real eye opener seeing somebody who was 45 years older than me do that.

I know I went off on a tangent but incorporating running into your P90X is not that hard. I did not run nearly as much as I did pre-P90X as I did during P90X. I was doing at least 15 miles a week before and maybe 4 during. I was concerned that I was going to lose the endurance I worked so hard to build up but I stuck with the P90X plan.

Surprisingly my results came back better even with me putting on 10 pounds of muscle with P90X. What I learned is muscle memory is real. Even though my running was less than half of what I did before, the endurance was still there.

When I introduced the cardio workouts like Plyometrics, Cardio X, Yoga, and Kenpo it worked on my weaknesses. Over the 90 days those muscles grew stronger and now complimented my stronger ones that I worked on so much before. I remember being hesitant about going for a 5 mile run after completing P90X as it had been four months since I had last done it. My 5 mile time dropped by 2 minutes while carrying around 10 extra pounds of muscle. My legs felt great and did not hurt thanks to the P90X Legs and Back routine.

For any of you runners out there who are thinking that P90X will mess up their routine I can personally tell you that it will not. Your running will take a back seat for 3 months but in that time you will be working on muscle groups that need to be worked on to improve your times and limit injuries. Once you are done with the 90 days you will have a revamped body that is strong from head to toe.

If P90X is more than you are willing to spend then you should at least sign up for a Free Beachbody Account.

One of the most forgotten workouts in P90X is Core Synergistics. I have a lot of friends that have done P90X from start to finish and have never done it once.

The reason behind this is that its not in the routine manual until you get to doing P90X doubles. This is where you do a cardio workout in the morning and a regular workout in the evening.

A lot of people do not have the time for this so they skip the morning cardio and focus on the nightly workout.

After thinking about it the P90X Core Synergistics is introduced during the off week so you might have only done it once or twice.

What Moves Do You Do In P90X Core Synergistics?

What is unique about Core Synergistics is the variety of exercises you do. You start out by doing push ups with you feet stacked on each other and your hands staggered. Next one is the Banana Roll in which you roll onto your stomach and back engaging your abs.

There are some very goofy looking routines.

The Sphinx push up is one of the them. Picture lying on the ground looking the Sphinx in Egypt and doing a push up. The plank to chatarunga run is tough. You go back and forth from a plank position bringing your legs to your head in a push up stance and then dropping to the ground for ten seconds while still bringing your feet as high up as you can. This takes strength from your shoulders down to your hip flexors to be able to complete this one.

Any Weird Moves In P90X Core Synergistics?

Another favorite one is the prison cell push up. If you ever see any coverage of inmates at prison yards you will see this push up where they are standing up then drop to the ground, do a push up, bring their right knee to their head, push up, left knee to head, push up, then jump to their feet. Repeat this process for a minute. Its kinda fun because you are engagin so many different muscles and the name is catchy.

I did not do Core Synergistics all that much over my many rounds of P90X as I was content with doing the other workouts.

P90X Core Synergistics is a nice workout to switch things up here and there if you are getting bored with P90X Ab Ripper X. It is also a great cardio workout that is guaranteed to make you sweat. Its not a very long workout and it moves by very fast.

P90X Chest And Back is arguably one of the hardest P90X workouts. And the best part is it is the first workout you do in P90X.

Basically, if you do not feel sore the next day you did not do this routine correctly.

With so much effort put on doing push ups and pull ups your upper body is going to get the workout of a lifetime.

What Moves Do You Do In P90X Chest And Back?

The chest part of the routine involves doing standard push ups, military push ups, diamond push ups, wide fly push ups, dive bomber push ups, and decline push ups. You will do all of these workouts twice through out the one hour. Tony Horton demands you to go all out for each push up routine for at least one minute.

The back part involves lots of pull ups. The variety of pull ups and chin ups are wide front pull ups, reverse grip chin ups, and closed grip overhand pull ups and you do these twice. Your pull up bar gets a lot of use here. A couple of other back workouts are “lawnmowers” which is where you get into a lunge with a weight of your choice and pull it up like your trying to start a lawnmower.

Back flys are where you get a weight and sit on the edge of a chair with weights behind your heels and you bring the weight up pinching your shoulder blades together at the top. Heavy Pants refers to a workout in which you have one foot forward with bent knees and you lift the weights up in a motion like you are trying to pick up your pants.

How Did You Do With P90X Chest And Back?

My first time doing P90X Chest and Back I was able to do 8 total pull/chin ups during the entire workout. Before P90X my form of exercise was running and the only upper body workout I did was push ups. Usually I would do about a 100 total after a 3 mile run.

The chest muscles were there so during my many times of doing P90X Chest and Back my push up reps stayed about the same as I was in good shape there already. My biggest gains were with the back muscles.

First time I did “lawnmowers” I used a 30 pound dumbbell and did 10 reps. After my 90 days were up I was using a 52 pound dumbbell and doing 15 reps. Doing pull/chin ups became my favorite exercise. I was able to do 53 total pull/chin ups one time. That is quite a big gain going from 8 to 53.

After my 90 days were up I took a video of me doing P90X Chest and Back. In this video you can see how many push ups and pull ups you will be doing. I had to edit some of the workouts to make it fit in the 10 minutes given to me by YouTube. In this one I did 48 total pull/chin ups. It was not my best performance as I was a little tired that day but still very good.

P90X Chest and Back is in my opinion one of the hardest P90X workouts. With so much emphasis being put on the upper body you are definitely going to be feeling a little sore tomorrow regardless of how hard you pushed. It should not be long before you start seeing results. The P90X Chest And Back routine will push you past your comfort zone and give you a amazing upper body workout.

Its easy to say that any sort of working out will help with mountain biking. And that mountain biking will help with working out. Movement likes movement. But what if mountain biking is your thing and you feel you’re missing something. You can’t keep up with your friends or get through the trails as easy as you think you should.

I have a mountain bike but am not a mountain biker. Mostly because I live in Metro Detroit and there are no mountains. My Specialized Rockhopper does quite well on the trails around me which are mostly flat with some places to go off trail but nothing I would say is mountain biking. It’s mostly about missing pot holes and jumping curbs.

During my first couple of rounds of P90X the only biking I did was leisurely. It wasn’t til one day my buddy asked if I wanted to hit up a trail with decent hills thirty minutes from our house. All together it would be a two hour bike ride.

Ten minutes into our ride it was evident I was pushing my friend. And that’s with him being an avid rider.

It Was P90X

My baseline fitness was so much higher than the last time I did that trail and the time we rode together. I was hauling. Or at least what I consider to be hauling.

Cardio strength was way up. And my legs powered through each pedal. Balance was better which helped in tight turns.

All of the P90X’ing I did showed up in that ride with Legs & Back, Plyometrics, Ab Ripper X, and Yoga X being the workouts that made the most difference.

Going for long distance rides was much easier to do and I had something to build on now. My legs were so much more stronger.

Making The Most Of It

I’m a big fan of seeing an entire round of P90X through while cutting down on other workouts. This way you see the best results possible.

But if you absolutely want to get your mountain biking fix in then you should probably be ok with skipping Kenpo X, Cardio X, and Shoulders & Arms. This will free some time up during your week but you’ll still get Chest & Back, Plyometrics, and Legs & Back in. All of which should hit the areas you’ll need to help out mountain biking.