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.



I used to be one of these people. When I first got P90X, I was actually excited to try Yoga. But after I tried it, I hated it. Why? Because of some of the reasons stated above, but because I was also terrible at it. The other workouts were tough, but I was used to the weight lifting and the cardio...I was not used to the uniqueness and difficulty of Yoga. Plus it was REALLY long, I will admit that. I tried Yoga one or two more times after the initial try, but after that I replaced it with other workouts.

It wasn't until two years later where I decided to give it another try and attempt to do Yoga every week, and it has made a HUGE difference in my overall fitness. Yoga has helped with my flexibility, strength, form, balance, stamina, and coordination. It really has helped me improve in my other workouts also. After finishing a yoga workout, I feel like I've gotten a full body massage and my body feels awesome. Physically you feel loosened up and strong, and mentally you feel much more relaxed and focused. When I wasn't doing Yoga, my lower back and certain joints would get really tight and sore. I was punishing my body with tough resistance and cardio routines and not giving it the proper recovery that yoga provides for our bodies. Now my back is hardly ever sore and my joints feel good.

Now when I say recovery I don't mean that Yoga is an easy day. In fact, Yoga remains my most challenging workout every week, because my body is still getting used to the challenging poses and moves. But I have seen leaps and bounds of improvement in my flexibility since using Yoga consistently. And if you're a guy, you shouldn't have the belief that Yoga is just for girls. If you're a non-believer, take a class or try Yoga X and you'll be struggling the whole time, falling out of poses and feeling sore the next day. But with Yoga, if you stick with it week to week, I think you get to really see major improvements every week. You may not be able to do many of the difficult poses to begin with, but over time you will see improvement and it's a great feeling.

Tony calls Yoga the "Fountain of Youth" for a reason. The guy is freaking 53 years old and is more flexible than a lot of the girls I know. Tony's even gone as far as saying that if he could only do one type of workout the rest of his life, Yoga would be it. I'd recommend Yoga to all ages, but especially to those middle age folks out there who are maybe starting to feel the aches and pains of getting older. And if you're younger, start Yoga now so you can enjoy the benefits of having a strong and limber body as you get older.

I agree Yoga X can be a little too long some days. But there are other options out there. Tony has come out with three new, shorter Yoga routines in his One on One series. Hummingbird "Patience" is 36 minutes long, The Fountain of Youth is 45 minutes long, and Yoga: MC2 is about an hour. So now you have no excuse if time is a factor for you. I've only purchased the Fountain if Youth and love it, it packs in a bunch of moves in 45 minutes and just seems like the perfect amount of time for a yoga session. I do try to do Yoga X at least once a month just to get a good hour and a half yoga session in once in a while, but otherwise I stick to Fountain of Youth every week.

Keep an open mind and try Yoga out, even if it's a class and not with P90X. It's really benefited me both physically and mentally and helped with my overall fitness and health.