Monday, June 28, 2010

Day 107: CoreSynergistics + Final Week Review

"Add the toe, or not... add the toe, or not..." -Tony Horton- YogaX

1.Thursday - P90X Diet
2.Friday - P90X Exercises (Cardio)
3.Monday - P90X Exercises (Weight)
4.Tuesday - P90X Dedication
5.Wednesday - Tony Horton
6.Thursday - Results
7.Friday - Final thoughts (last day)

Lets talk about weight-training P90X workouts. I love pull ups and chin ups. I think they are fantastic ways to build muscle and tone your body. Most people don't realize the amount of core-strength it requires to do a chin up, but take it from me, it's there. There are 2 phases of weight training workouts, phase 1 which is Chest/Back, Legs/Back/, and Arms,Tris,Shoulders. And then there's phase 2 which is Chest/Shoulders, Back/Bicep, and Legs/Back. All of the exercises are followed by ab-ripperX and done every other day (alternating with cardio).

These weight training exercises can utilize a couple types of resistance; bands, weights, or body weight. Everyone's already heard my gripe with body weight exercises when you're losing weight... so lets move on to free weights and resistance bands. I found resistance bands were convenient, although not as effective as free weights. Free weights give you a wider range of motion and also give you more variety of resistance, where as bands there might only be 3 or 4 set resistances (which for the most part were too weak/light).

That being said, they both will build and tone your body, but in different ways. High weight low reps for size and less weight more reps for tone. Bands unfortunately give a more toned effect while free weights give you the option for size.

Legs/Back - If PlyoX wasn't "The Mother" this exercise would be! Legs and back is pretty much the only workout that consistantly makes me feel like I am going to pass out. So many pullups, so many lunges, so many squats. If you haven't eaten in a while, you might want to grab some carbs before you embark on this journey. The pullups come at you fast. So be prepared. Wall squats are critical to your fitness, and don't worry you'll do a lot of them.

Chest/Back - This is the start of P90X. You might say "What have I gotten myself into?" It's a hard first workout, but it gets easier over time. Plus, they are muscles a guy typically wants to work out to get a nice upper body. Dive bomber pushups anyone?

Chest/Shoulders/Tri - Doing the in/out shoulder flies is brutal with the bands. A lot of the shoulder exercises really need to be done with light weight. Don't try and be a hero or you will get fried.

Back/Bicep - This is by far my favorite strength workout. Back, double bicep. What a way to pump up those arms! We're talking spaghetti arms the next day. If you have free weights for this exercise, I'd highly suggest using them. Bands on this routine are very limited as far as rotating your arms for hammer curls and anything reverse.

Chest/Shoulders - I often did this one at the gym with my worksheet. It's nice because you don't need that much equipment for it. It's all your pushups and shoulder raises connecting the chest to the arms. Guys should gravitate towards this workout.

Ab-ripperX - You've done it a million times if you've completed P90X. I know the whole damn thing forward, backward, and word-for-word. "Aww Adam had to be a hot shot", "That's a face of a girl who's working", "They're working hard I know you are", "Flex the feet and straighten the leg", "I think I'm gonna say 11, and 11", "20- hit my hand, 21- HIT MY HAND", "He's working hard, and that's what I want to see you do", "Nobody go, I wanna show the folks the form", "Audra's going straight for the toe", and many other memorable quotes. Okay okay, enough. Aside from ab-ripperX being engrained in my skull, it's a good little 15mins of core. If there's one thing that I'll continue to do long after my P90X career is over, it's AbripperX. Don't be fooled though, even though it's short, you can still feel a good burn.

All of the exercises above are very well put together, with limited rest time. This keeps your body pumped up and feeling the burn. They tend to have more exercises packed into 1hr than I would normally be able to do at the gym in the same amount of time, so it really focuses on you burning calories while you work out. They are critical to building muscle and Tony does a good job delivering them to you and explaining the form.

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