Round 3 / Day 71: P90X+ Upper Body Plus + Abs / Core Plus (+ ChaLEAN Extreme - I've Got Abs!)

I struggled a little bit during my morning session of Upper Plus. Every time I cycle off of a Recovery Week, I come back feeling a little...off. This was most evident in my pull-up sets -- I petered out much sooner than I expected. After finishing the workout, I decided to take a raincheck on Abs / Core Plus.

But feeling guilty, I decided to knock off Abs / Core Plus tonight, after the kids had gone to bed. I felt much better this evening; not only did I find Abs / Core Plus to be less than challenging (I much prefer Killer Abs from Tony Horton's One-on-One series), I joined M as she did the "I Got Abs!" workout from Chalene Johnson's ChaLEAN Extreme program. You wouldn't know it from Chalene's exercise garb (she's clearly a Bedazzler fan) or from the cheesy name of this video, but it delivered a pretty damn decent core workout.

Round 3 / Day 68: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Power 90 Road Warrior

I've read that the Power 90 Road Warrior video in the Tony Horton One-on-One series isn't super-intense, so I thought I'd check it out as part of my Recovery Week.



Now that I've completed it, I can confirm that: (1) Power 90 Road Warrior is nowhere near as challenging as many of the workouts we've seen from Tony, but (2) it's tough enough to rival Core Synergistics as a damn satisfying, full-body Recovery Week session.

More after the jump...

Round 3 / Day 28: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Recovery 4 Results

No X Stretch for me today -- I opted for the (shorter) Recovery 4 Results, which I skipped last week when I was stymied by the lack of a DVD player in my hotel room.

Oddly, though, I'm not sure I needed a recovery day today. The workouts I did this week didn't strike me as being as challenging as usual -- possibly because for the first time in months, I didn't have any Insanity sessions this week. It's also possible that I've just gotten accustomed to a more rigorous exercise regimen, and I shouldn't expect my system to be shocked like it was when I was new to P90X.

Which begs the question: Do I need a full week of recovery? I'm scheduled for super-low-key sessions for the coming week, but something tells me I'm going to deviate from the plan and squeeze in a couple of "real" workouts.

Post-Round 2 Recovery Week: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Fountain of Youth + Recovery 4 Results

I broke down and fed the Beachbody machine by purchasing both P90X+ and a bunch of "One-on-One with Tony Horton" DVDs (which I'll just call "1-on-1" going forward for the sake of my tired, tired fingers).

(The packaging, by the way, is mystifying. The four P90X+ DVDs each came separately in cellophane-wrapped, full-sized plastic cases. The pricier 1-on-1 DVDs in the Volume One set, on the other hand, come in a flimsy cardboard-sleeve booklet, just like the original P90X discs. Why the special treatment for the cheaper P90X+ discs? My gut -- and I hope I'm wrong -- is that Beachbody felt the need to gussy up the P90X+ packaging to compensate for the rushed-to-market, low-rent nature of the videos.)

Anyway, I decided to try out the 1-on-1 Fountain of Youth DVD last night. It's like manna from heaven: An abbreviated, greatest-hits version of the Yoga X workout. (Sadly, it doesn't include Crane.) Yoga X is great if you have 90 minutes to slowly work into each of the moves, but Fountain of Youth -- clocking in at just 48 minutes -- is a godsend for those of us with actual lives.



This morning, still feeling sore from swinging a kettlebell, I popped in the 1-on-1 Recovery 4 Results video. This one gets high marks, too. Tony crams in a good amount of stretching, yoga, and even some light cardio and resistance work into this 38-minute session.



I don't know if it's because both of these videos feature relatively mellow workouts, or because I'm starting to appreciate Tony more, but the douche factor is surprisingly low -- especially in light of all the lame jokes and excessive camera-mugging shown in the 1-on-1 commercials.

Post-Round 2 Recovery Week: RKC Man Maker + P90X Ab Ripper X

More test-driving today. On this morning's agenda: kettlebell training -- more specifically, Pavel Tsatsouline's "New RKC Program Minimum" from "Enter the Kettlebell!" As Tsatsouline puts it:

The New RKC Program Minimum will deliver

• The conditioning of a world-class fighter;
• Rapid fat loss without the dishonor of aerobics;
• A back of steel;
• Muscular, flexible, and resilient shoulders;
• A skill base for the rest of the RKC drills.

Regardless of your goals, a simple routine of swings and get-ups makes a powerful introduction to RKC training ... these two moves will give you the biggest bang for your kettlebell buck.

The New RKC Program Minimum consists of two simple but ass-kicking workouts:

1.  Twice a week, do 12 continuous minutes of "Man Maker" training. What's a Man Maker, you ask? "Its template is simple: alternate sets of high-rep kettlebell drills -- swings in our case -- with a few hundred yards of jogging. Do your swings 'to a comfortable stop' most of the time and all-out occasionally." Sounds easy, but it's hard as hell.

[UPDATED: Just to clarify, the Man Maker video clip below shows snatches, not swings. I'm not yet proficient enough to do rep after rep of snatches without something going horribly, horribly wrong.]



2.  Twice a week, do 5 continuous minutes of Turkish Get-Ups, switching hands with every rep. Get-Ups sound easy, but aren't: You start by lying on your back holding a kettlebell up in the air with a straight arm, and "without jerking or unlocking the elbow, stand up and then slowly lie back down."



I did the Man Maker today, but instead of running, I did jumping jacks. And even after adding Ab Ripper X at the end, my total workout time today totaled less than half an hour. But it was brutal nonetheless. Ab Ripper X wasn't any more challenging than usual, but the kettlebell swings were exhausting. This is classic HIIT combined with resistance training for the legs. By the end, my glutes and hamstrings were on fire.

Quite frankly, I was worried I wouldn't be made into a man.

Post-Round 2 Recovery Week: Original Turbulence Training Workout A + Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

And now for something completely different.

I know I'm only a few days into my post-Round 2 recovery week, but I got a little restless this morning and decided to give Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training a try.

The super-ripped Ballantyne (pictured above) -- a fitness trainer, author and entrepreneur -- has been developing and refining his Turbulence Training workout program over the past decade. Using his website, he sells downloadable e-books that guide users through various iterations of Turbulence Training; in addition, paying members can access Ballantyne's online forum (similar to the Beachbody.com forums) to get coaching, support and advice.

Knowing that some of you have had success with one or more of Ballantyne's programs, I started looking into Turbulence Training a while back. Initially, I was turned off by the sheer ugliness of the Turbulence Training website -- it's cluttered and difficult to navigate, and its dizzying use of various font sizes, styles and colors made my eyeballs want to shrivel up like prunes and fall out of my head. Even more problematic was the fact that I couldn't differentiate between the products and packages offered for sale. Ballantyne desperately needs to hire a new web designer. (Of course, it's very possible that I'm just a tasteless idiot.)

But once I finally decided to plunk down $40 for the "Basic" Turbulence Training package and flipped through the materials, I was impressed by the content. Ballantyne's created a number of different exercise routines suitable for beginners and advanced athletes alike. Each workout combines brief (but intense) supersets of compound heavy-resistance exercises and interval training, giving users a full-body workout that doesn't eat up hours of time. Turbulence Training's greatest selling point is that it's meant to help you torch calories, burn fat, and build muscle -- all in a time-efficient way. Each workout is designed to take only about 45 minutes in total.

More after the jump...

Post-Round 2 Recovery Week: P90X Yoga X

How can yoga feel so good and so bad at the same time?

My hamstrings are super-tight, and my lower back is achy, so it felt great to stretch out and run through a billion sun salutations. But shortly after starting the 90-minute session, it quickly became obvious that my flexibility and balance aren't what they used to be. I couldn't even hold Tree position without wobbling, which is pretty pathetic. Round 2 was clearly yoga-deficient, and I'm definitely going to have to reincorporate yoga into my routine going forward.

Post-Round 2 Recovery Week: P90X Core Synergistics

I've sorely missed Core Synergistics, and was glad to kick off my post-Round 2 recovery week with this DVD. It's moderately challenging without being crazy-intense, and gave me a chance to recover while still getting a full-body workout. Along with Chest & Back and Yoga X, this rounds out my list of three favorite P90X videos.

100 Pull-Ups

It's the beginning of my final recovery week, but just for shit 'n giggles, I did 100 pull-ups today. Not all at once, of course -- I did them in sets of 10 or 15 reps each time I stepped into the garage and saw my pull-up bar.

It's a hell of a lot easier to crank out pull-ups when there's zero pressure to do them in the first place.

P90X Day 50: Yoga X

Yoga X is definitely getting easier, though it's by no means a cakewalk. I still wobble precariously every time I attempt the Warrior 3 poses (Warrior 3, Half Moon, Twisting Half Moon), and my version of Wheel looks more like a flat tire. But I'm tackling most of the other poses with confidence, even if my confidence is sometimes (okay, often) misplaced. I exercise the same way I dance: with too much enthusiasm and not enough coordination.

Now that Week 8 is here, I have mixed feelings about starting another recovery week: I've been looking forward to this break from the heavy-duty resistance training of Phase 2, but I also know from last time around that "recovery" doesn't mean "relaxation," and that I have a double-dose of Core Synergistics (and the dreaded prison cell push-ups) coming up. I know that it's important to give my aching body a week-long breather, but if my experience from last month proves consistent, the start of Phase 3 will be all the more difficult after taking it "easy" for a week. In anticipation of this, I've already penciled in "TOO FUCKING SORE TO MOVE" on my calendar for Week 9.

P90X Day 23: Core Synergistics

I was getting a little cocky, thinking that Week 4 -- "Recovery Week" -- wasn't going to be intense enough for me. I even told myself that I was going to try to work in a few sessions of Ab Ripper X or do some resistance training (either lifting or working out with my trusty old TRX Suspension Trainer) this week, so as not to lose the momentum I've built up since starting Phase 1 of P90X.

After this morning's Core Synergistics workout, though, I've learned that the "recovery" in Recovery Week doesn't mean "relaxation." Some of the exercises in this workout (yes, I'm looking at you, Prison Cell Push-Ups and Plank-to-Chaturanga Runs) are killer, and I'm thankful that I didn't try to squeeze in a round of Ab Ripper X or weight training yesterday. Core Synergistics is a great combination of chest, back (without the pull-ups!), legs, plyo and ab work, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep coming back to this particular workout even after I'm done with the P90X program.