P90X3 Block 2 Review and The Biggest Loser

Block 2 Review

I'm now into the Block 2 workouts, and thus far P90X3 has not disappointed. The workouts are fun and diverse, and the fact they're only 30 minutes and still work you hard has been a pleasant surprise. Here's reviews of each workout, including the transition (recovery) week work outs. 

Isometrix

This was a cool workout. It's a mix of isometric and instability moves that will help you build a rock solid core. In case you didn't know, isometric means that the muscles are neither shortening nor lengthening, and the joint angle does not change. This helps to build static strength. During the work out, you switch between a lot of plank and standing stability moves for 45 seconds each. By working on your static strength while adding instability, you will build a strong foundation for your other more active work outs. Some of the moves were difficult to hold, and for most people this will remind them of Yoga a little. 

4/5

Accelerator

Accelerator is a cardio based workout with two speeds: fast and faster. Tony switches speeds back and forth during the moves. It's a great calorie burner and will really work your legs and glutes. Nothing special or outstanding during this workout, but a tough work out to have during your "recovery" week.

3/5

Pilates

I've never done Pilates before, and before actually doing this work out I had no idea what Pilates really was. After completing the work out, I actually really enjoyed it. It was pretty tough and took me out of my comfort zone and  reminded me of when I tried yoga for the first time. If I had to describe Pilates, I would say it focuses on improving your core strength, stability, elasticity, and balance. There's a huge focus on breathing, which I'll admit was tough to initially get right during the beginning of the workout. You have to make sure you breathe in and out during specific moments, but by the end I was getting it right. My hip flexibility is terrible, and a day after the workout my hips were extremely sore. 

5/5

Onto Block 2 workouts.

Eccentric Upper

Time under tension is the key to muscle growth. You've probably heard of negatives in the gym, and every workout in Eccentric Upper revolves around slowing down the eccentric (or negative) half of each movement. Eccentric is when the muscle is lengthened, hence why you want to hold those moves longer in the eccentric phase rather than the concentric (shorten) phase, because you're recruiting more muscle cell motor units. There's going to be a feeling out phase here the first time you try the work out, because in order for the work out to be effective you have to find the right weights to use. This is where I wish Tony and Beachbody would make an improvement...usually during P90X workouts he only mentions what weight he or the other cast members are going to use for each exercise occasionally, meaning most of the time you're on your own in finding your "base" weight to start with. Sometimes I pick a weight too light or heavy...I take notes so I get it right next time, but it would be helpful if Tony added more advice around this. Body Beast solved this by using dumbbells with the number of the weight easily visible so you'd have an idea where to start. So, after this long rant, all I meant to say is that you will get the most out of this workout when you use the right weights...if you find the perfect balance, this is a hell of a workout.

4/5

Triometrics

Triometrics is meant to be the plyometrics of X3...the trio comes from the fact that each move has three different phases (each exercise lasts one minute, and is divided into 20 seconds of moderate difficulty, 20 seconds of medium difficulty, and and 20 seconds of advanced difficulty). The funny thing is that while the P90X and X2 plyometrics involved a lot of jumping, there's not much jumping done in Triometrics. Instead, you're doing a lot of squats, one legged stability/balance moves, with a little jumping sprinkled in. Don't get me wrong, this is still a great, tough workout, even without the use of weights. 

5/5

Eccentric Lower

Finally, the first great P90X leg workout. The leg workouts have always been my biggest gripe with prior P90X workouts. P90X Legs and Back was okay, but didn't involve using very heavy weights. P90X2 Base and Back involved no weights and just plyo moves. In my opinion, in order to properly balance the heavy upper body resistance work outs P90X has had, you need some strong weighted leg work outs. Body Beast has the best leg workouts out there. Eccentric Lower comes close to matching Body Beasts', but still falls short in some areas (specifically around calf exercises). Eccentric Lower has the same concept of Eccentric Upper: you spend most of the moves doing negatives. Again, you'll need to find the right weights here to make this difficult. I liked the work out overall, but it didn't really hit the calves very much, so I just add edsome weight calf exercises at the end.

4/5

Incinerator

My favorite work out thus far. Another upper body resistance work out that hits your chest, back, arms, and shoulders. This workout is designed to burn you out. It involves doing back to back moves on the same primary muscle, in which the first move is focused on hypertrophy, and the second focuses on pushing you to your max reps until you're spent. For example, for the chest, you'll do 10 reps of 50 lbs chest presses on the ground, and then immediately do as many plyo push ups as you can. Again, this is a workout you have to find the right weights for in order to push you past your limits.

5/5

MMX

Let me first say that I've never been a fan of "punch and kick air" work outs. I was not a big fan of Kenpo X from P90X. I bought the Les Mills Combat program and later returned it because it involved too many "punch and kick air" workouts. However, I absolutely loved MMX. Why? I'm not sure. You're literally going full force for 26 minutes (little longer warm up), with only a few 30 second breaks sprinkled in. But the moves are just fun, as well as the sequences. There's a lot of sprawling involved which gets your core involved, and this is by far the BEST cardio workout in the program. I was drenched at the end and totally feeling wasted. My back, abs, and shoulders were all pretty sore the next day. This is a work out you will want to watch before doing, as Tony doesn't take any time to explain the moves. He jumped right into them...I had to pause and go back to get the moves down a few times. Once you get the hang of it though it's easy to follow.

5/5

Bonus Disc: Ab RipperA

You can buy an additional three workouts to work into your schedule (Complex Upper, Complex Lower, and Ab Ripper). In my opinion, it's a little bit of a rip off, as the three cost $90 total (which is what you can get some normal Beachbody programs for), but with my coach discount I was able to get it cheaper. Complex Upper and Lower come into play during Block 3, but I have been doing Ab Ripper 3x a week to get some more core work in. I've always hated the Ab Ripper workouts, not because they suck, but because they're hard as hell. While Ab Ripper from P90X focused on reps and quantity, X2 Ab Ripper shifted to more isometric moves, where you hold the moves for longer counts. I would say X3 Ab Ripper is similar to X2's, but I think the move are much more fun. It's a great ab work out, and unlike the first two, flies by really fast. And most moves don't just work your abs but your entire core. Is Ab Ripper necessary for the program...I would say no. Most of the workouts have a core component to them, so you can still get great abs without it. I just wanted to add it for my own sake.

I'll end this review by saying that I love the program thus far. I decided that in order to give a true, accurate review of the program I would not do doubles (as mentioned in the Block One post) but instead stick to the classic schedule. I'm not expecting to gain a better physique or more muscle from the program, but I'd like to see if I can maintain what I have with only working out 30 minutes a day, with an added 15 minute Ab Ripper three times a week. The 30 minutes is a HUGE convenience...some nights I don't feel like working out, but when I know it will only take 30 minutes, it motivates me to get it done. 

The other thing I like about X3 is the variety and volume of the workouts. P90X and X2 only came with 12-15 workouts depending if you buy the bonus workouts. This caused some of the block phases to get stale because you're doing the same work outs each week. In P90X, by the last 30 days, you're doing the exact same schedule as the first 30 days. I could see why people would stop short of finishing the program because of the lack of variety. P90X2 remedied this for the most part differentiating their phases with different workouts. However, you still did plyocide and yoga every week, and those workouts got old to me quickly. Also, in their last phase, you did two of the workouts (P.A.P.  Upper and Lower) twice a week, along with plyocide and yoga...it got old quick. 

But with P90X3, every phase is fresh. With 19 workouts, you're seeing something new every phase, and you don't get that same redundancy as in past P90X's. Plus, I have to say all the workouts are fun. There's none where I say "Gosh I don't want to do this one". These factors will help people complete the program to the full 90 days.

My Block 3 review will come in about a month, followed by my final review of the program.

My 2 cents on the Biggest Loser controversy

I thought I'd mention real quickly my thoughts around the Biggest Loser winner and her extreme weight loss. First off, I've never been a big follower of the show. When I first heard of the show, I initially thought it was making fun of overweight people by calling them the Biggest Losers. Then I actually watched an episode and realized the concept of the name. However, I've always thought it was a morally terrible show. They're supposed to be helping these people, yet in one episode I watched they had a challenge of tempting them with terrible processed foods to see if they'll revert to their old eating habits. Seriously? These people's lives are in serious danger because of being overweight and we're making a show out of it to entertain the masses?

I'm not going to judge the winner of this season...I'll first say that I'm extremely glad for her that she turned her life around and lost that amount of weight. She says she feels healthy and strong, and maybe she is. However, after reading some details about her diet and workouts, I can't see how eating 1600 calories a day while working out 4-7 hours a day is healthy. That is too huge of a deficit, and in the long run, will have some negative effects on her body. 

My problem with the Biggest Loser is that it focuses way too much on the scale aka pounds lost. For people trying to lose weight, the scale is one of the worst tools to measure progress. Why? Because if you're doing a program like P90X that involves resistance workouts, you'll be adding muscle. Adding muscle will offset some of the fat you're losing. So sometimes people get frustrated because they're not seeing the weight loss they want to see on their scale initially. I'm coaching a few people right now who have started programs and were initially frustrated because they'd only lost a pound or 2 in the first 2-3 weeks. But by just looking at them, I could see a difference. They looked lighter, more fit. 

The focus needs to shift from pounds loss to body fat percentage, as that is a true and healthy indicator of the progress you are making. People can actually gain weight as their body fat percentage goes down because they're adding so much muscle. That's why I think if the Biggest Loser wants to recover from this PR nightmare, they need to get their contestants off the scale, and instead focus on body fat percentage to show true progress.

Just my two cents :)

Macro and Calorie Myths

People often make their weight loss journey more complicated than it needs to be. They stress out about how many calories they need to consume daily, how they should split up their daily macros (protein, carbs, and fats), and so on. Honestly, trying to figure out whether you should eat more protein than carbs or vice versa and how many calories you should limit yourself to can be confusing and is what often frustrates people the most when trying to lose weight.

I've never been much into tracking my calories or macros. I've only tracked calories when I've tried to gain muscle and weight, and the same could be said for macros. Right now I'm fully into functional fitness and just eating good healthy food that makes me feel good. I let my body tell me what foods it loves and which it disagrees with, and go from there.

But for those of you who want to lose weight and need a starting point, I'll make it simple for you. In order to lose weight, you need to expend more calories daily than you consume. That's it. Well, it's a little more complicated, like what kind of calories you consume, but you get the gist.

In all honesty, there's a lot of bullsh*t out there these days about calories and macros. For example, that protein is the superior macro (Truth: You need all three), that carbs make you fat (Truth: Nope), and starvation diets are okay (Truth: Anything under 1200 calories a day over a long period of time is not healthy for you). I hope to clarify on a few of these myths for you so you can live with a little less stress and enjoy your weight loss journey a little more.

1) A high protein/ low carbohydrate diet is superior for weight loss than a high carbohydrate/low fat diet or vice versa.

The truth is neither are superior for weight loss. Again, weight loss is achieved when your calorie intake is less than the calories you expend. Studies have been conducted on different diets, and each study has found that over one year's time the weight loss average is the same, regardless of the diet. People do initially lose weight faster on low carb/high protein diets than they do with high carb /low fat diets, but over a year's time the results are the same. You may have to experiment to find which diet works best for you, because some diets are harder to adhere to than others.

2) Carbs make you fat

False. Carbs are a necessary nutrient. They provide energy for you during and after your workouts (and throughout the rest of the day), and provide much needed fiber, minerals, and vitamins. The only time carbs will make you fat is if you over-eat your daily allowance, but the same can be said for proteins and fats also.

You have to choose the right carbs to eat. Avoid sugar, processed carbs, and high-glycemic foods. Instead choose  unprocessed whole food carbs such as veggies and fruits (and the right type of grains). Carbs are essential for your workouts to be successful.

3) If I exercise I can eat whatever I want

Your fitness is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. You can knock your work outs out of the park every day, but if you're still consuming more calories than you are expending, you won't lose weight. Approximately 3,500 calories equals a pound of fat. So in order to lose a pound per week, you have to have a caloric deficit of 500 calories per day. If you do the opposite of that (and have an overage each day), you will gain a pound.

4) Eating at night makes you fat

There's a theory out there that eating a large meal right before bed will cause your body to store the carbs as fat while you sleep. Again, whether you gain or lose weight will depend on how many calories you expend compared to how many you consume through out the day. If you had an active day and expended 2,000 calories, and only ate a small 400 calorie breakfast, and then came home and ate a large 1000 calorie dinner, you're still at a 600 deficit. Now, I still suggest not doing this because it will be harder to fall asleep as your food digests, and getting enough sleep is a huge part of recovering from your work outs, but don't stress if your schedule only allows you to eat later in the day.

5) I have to consume A LOT of protein to gain muscle and get big

Your body can only process a certain amount of protein. If you are consuming more protein than your total calories needs, it will get stored as fat. Yes, active individuals who are trying to achieve hypertrophy will need to consume more protein than an endurance athlete or even a sedentary individual. But the notion that you need to consume 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight is not true. Aim for .5 to .8 grams. Remember that too much protein can have negative effects on your body.

6) Starvation diets are the way to go

This is such a stupid belief I am not going to delve too much into why it's a terrible idea. Anything under 1,200 calories is not good for you, physically or mentally. You risk malnutrition, will get easily fatigued due to lack of energy, and overall will not feel good. You don't have to starve yourself to get in shape. Exercise, eat the right food, and again, consume less calories than you expend. If you still want to go the starvation route, please be monitored and advised by a medical professional.

If you're looking to lose some weight for 2014, here's some simple tips:

- Increase physical activity, decrease food and beverage calorie intake
- Shoot for 4-6 meals a day. I go for 4-5 (breakfast, AM snack, lunch, PM snack, dinner). This aids in keeping your hunger in check and provides energy through out the day.
- Shoot to spread your macros through out the day and for each meal.
- Do away with processed foods. These don't help in satiating your hunger and overall are just bad for you.
- Drink lots of water
- If you want to track your calories and macros, use the MyFitnessPal app. This will help you track you calories and macros through out the day and whether you met your goal each day.

P90X3 Initial Review

It's here, the third iteration of Tony Horton's P90X series. The big catch with P90X3 is that ALL the workouts are 30 minutes long. It was created with the intent to bust the excuse that people don't have the time to work out due to their busy lives. Here's some quick facts about the program:

1. All the workouts are 30 minutes long (as mentioned above)

2. The warm ups are 2 minutes and then it's constant work for the rest of the 28 minutes. There is usually a 2-3 minute optional cooldown after the 30 minutes is complete, so if you do that, it's around 33 minutes.

3. There is a seperate warm up exercise called Cold Start (15 minutes long) in case you want something longer than the two minutes.

4. P90X3 is a seperate program from P90X and P90X2...it is not a graduate program. Anyone can do P90X3.

5. The nutrition plan is much easier to follow than past programs.

6. There are 16 total workouts in the P90X3 base program. You can buy an additional 4 seperately for a total of 20 workouts. The 4 extra workouts are not necessary for the program.

7. P90X3 includes a new Pilates workout (never seen in prior P90X programs)

8 There are four different schedules one can follow: Classic, Lean, Doubles, and Bulk

9. 39 of the 40 people in the test group lost 10% of their body fat %

10. The program incorporates past moves from P90X and X2, with all new moves also.

11. Only equipment that is needed are dumbbells or workout bands. A pull up bar is also really useful to get the best results but not necessary.

12. Every move in X3 has a beginner/modifier move, inbetween move, and a higher difficulty version.

13. This new program is based on the science that the first 30 minutes is the most effective part of any exercuse routine, so they accelerated the workouts to create the most effective 30 minute routine.

14. Ab moves: Most of them are athletic in nature, some are standing up and many are front facing instead of being on your back.

P90X3 is already available (released on Dec 10), and the base kit costs $119.99. Initially, I was hesitant to get the program. Early in 2013 Beachbody released T25, a program by Shaun T (the trainer who does Insanity), in which the workouts are only 25 minutes long, 5 times a week. I never got that program simply because I didn't believe you could get a "great" workout in just 25 minutes. I heard mixed reviews...some people who are short on time loved it, while people who really love exercising thought it was a little too short and easy. It's also a very cardio focused program, which I'm not too big on.

So when P90X3 came out with it's 30 minute slogan, I thought Beachbody was now only tailoring their programs to people short on time or too lazy to put a full hour workout in. However, my Dad mentioned that he was interested in the program due to the shortness of the workouts, and so I got it for him for his birthday, which also gave me an excuse to try some of the workouts.

I tried the Total Synergistics (review below), the Eccentric Upper workouts, and the Pilates workout (which kicked my ass) and after them, I was convinced that the program was legit. I just watched the rest of them, and loved the uniqueness of some of the workouts. The program incorporates many moves from P90X and P90X2 (regular lifting, cardio, instability, balance), but also adds a lot of new cool wrinkles (weighted cardio, dynamic stretching, new core moves, etc). Also, just because the workouts are shorter, does not mean they'e easier. In fact, Total Synergistics is one of the toughest workouts I've done in a while and it came oh so close to making me throw up.

Here's the truth...a lot of P90X workouts could be shorter than they are. Many take long 1-2 minutes breaks that drag the workout out. I remember after a few rounds of P90X, I got impatient with how slow some of the workouts became, and skipped some of the breaks. P90X2 deals with the same issue...the warm up for most X2 workouts was 12-15 minutes, and the cooldown sometimes 10-15 minutes, meaning that you were only working out for 25-30 minutes anyway. So P90X3 eliminates a lot of drag inbetween and instead it's just GO GO GO. It's tough working out non stop for 28 minutes. I do now believe that people can get great results doing this program and just working out 30 minutes a day.

Still, I feel guilty only working out 30 minutes, so I've been doing the doubles schedule (2 workouts a day = 1 hour). Here's a review of the workouts in the first block. Once I finished the other blocks, I'll post reviews for those specific workouts.

 

Total Synergistics

This is a tough, total body work out involving weights. Reminded me of core synergistics from P90X and Total Body X from X2. You do pull ups, push ups, core moves, legs, shoulders, biceps, and triceps all in 30 minutes. I had to pause this one a few times, and like I mentioned earlier, I was spent by the end. I'm surprised they made this the first work out because it's going to kick some people's butts...but that's the same way Chest and Back was from the original P90X.

5/5

Agility X

This one reminded me of an Insanity workout (though it still doesn't match the intensity or toughness of those workouts). You put two lines of tape about 3 yards apart on the ground and these act as a guide for many of the moves. I would suggest previewing the work out before doing it, as many of the moves are tough to learn on the fly, and it may take a few tries before you get all the moves down. There's a lot of agility, balance, and plyometrics involved here. I was drenched by the end of the workout, but felt if it was a little longer it would be the perfect cardio work out. 

4/5

Yoga X

I was a little disappointed with this one. They tried to cram wayyy too many moves into the 30 minutes, and so the moves felt rushed, especially the stretches. By the time I got into a stretch move, it was time to move onto another, which I don't see how that helps with your flexibility when holding it for only a few seconds. They should have rather focused one one specific aspect of Yoga so you can reap all the benefits. The only positive is that this routine is a lot simpler than past P90X yoga workouts. I will probably do the X2 Yoga instead going forward.

2/5

The Challenge

This is a fun work out. 16 total moves, alternating between push ups and pull ups. You set the goal of how many reps you are going to do for the entire work out and attempt to stick with it. I decided the first time to do 30 push ups and 12 pull ups, which means I did 240 pushups and 96 pull ups in 30 minutes. It changes up the moves also, you switch from regular push ups, to military style, to wide, to staggered, and then for pull ups you do wide, narrows, chin ups, and staggered. They also add a 3 minute burn out sequence at the end to pump out as many as you can of any style you choose. You definitely get a great pump. My goal is to match Sean (one of the guys in the video), who did 40 pushups and 18 pullups each move (320/144 total), by the end of the 1st phase. 

5/5

CVX

I was not expecting this one to be that great, but it was an excellent workout. It's cardio based, but you're holding either a light weight or medicine ball the entire time, which means you're not only getting a great lower body workout, but a great core and upper body burn also. Holding a weight during these exercises the entire time is tough, and I was only holding an 8 lb medicine ball. Tony only recommends going up to 12, as going past would be too tough and you could hurt yourself. Each move starts out slow, and then you ramp up the intensity.Great routine

5/5

The Warrior

This is a body weight workout that Tony does on his Armed Forces Tours. No weights involved, just a total body workout that hits everything, though it focuses more on the upper body. There's a good amount of push ups, MMA type moves, and burpees. None of the moves are things I haven't seen before, which is why this workout was just good, not great. It's handy for if you are traveling with no equipment.

3/5

Dynamix

This is a stretching routine meant to be used on your rest day in case you wanted to get a work out in. I was actually pleasantly surprised as this is a tough routine that gets you sweating. It's a mix of dynamic stretching, core work, and some pilates mixed in. If you're looking to improve your flexibility, it would be good to get this in once a week or more.

4/5

All in all, I'm liking the program so far. I won't say yet whether it's on the same level as the first two P90X's, or Insanity and Body Beast, but it's definitely legit. You'll sweat, burn a lot of calories, and what I really like thus far is that most of these workouts are new and fun, meaning you won't get tired of them. However, I will say that you are going to get what you put into the program. If you don't go hard during those 30 minutes, don't expect great results. If you're putting in 100% and feel wasted at the end, you did something right. Like I said above, Block 2 and 3 reviews will be posted once I finish them, so stay tuned.

Life After Day 90

So you've finished your 90 days of P90X. You've gotten awesome results and you're flying high. So what now?

Yoga

The most hated workout in P90X has to be Yoga X. A lot of people love P90X, but can't stand the Yoga. The most common reason is that it's just too long. Indeed, especially for us Americans, trying to stay calm, focused on our breathing, and in uncomfortable poses and moves that are just HARD for a whole hour and a half is difficult to get excited for even if it's only once a week. We'd rather pump weights, jump around, and run for miles.

Supplements

Before I started P90X I never truly got the concept of supplements nor did I think they were necessary. In college the only supplement I really ever used was a cheap whey protein. It wasn't until I got into my fitness craze that I realized the importance of supplements and how they can take our results to the next level. 

100%

One of the alarming facts about P90X is that only 25% of people actually finish the program! So for every 4 people who buy P90X, only 1 person is completing the entire 90 days.