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 :)
