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Round 3 / Day 83: One-on-One with Tony Horton - Just Arms

No Turbulence Training for me today. My legs are beat, and I felt the need to rest 'em for a while. So this morning, I decided to try the "Just Arms" workout from Tony Horton's One-on-One series.

 It's just as advertised: Nothing but exercises for the arms. The session consists of 47 minutes of bicep, forearm and triceps exercises, broken up into three supersets and a bonus round.
  

None of the bicep or triceps moves are new to P90X grads, but for the first time in any of the workout videos I've seen from Tony Horton, he throws in a bunch of wrist and forearm exercises. (Good thing, too -- my forearms are puny.)

Without further ado, here's a list of the sleeve-busters Tony leads us through:

Superset One:

• Seated Bicep Curls
• Seated Forearm Curls
• Lying Triceps Extensions

Repeat the superset.
 

 Superset Two:

• Seated Incline Curls
• Reverse Forearm Curls
• Triceps Kickbacks

Repeat the superset.
 

Superset Three:

• Twenty-Ones (just like in P90X Back & Biceps)
• Three-Way Forearm Curls (rotations, standard curls and reverse curls)
• Side Tri Rises

 Repeat the superset.
    

Bonus Round:

• Crazy 8's (just like Static Arm Curls from P90X Shoulders & Arms, but you do 8 bicep curls before switching to the other arm, and each arm goes twice, for a total of 32 curls while the other arm is held at a 90-degree angle)
• Back Forearm Curls
• Hammer Curls
• Tricep Throws
• Crazy 8's (again)

And that's it.
  



Overall, this isn't a bad workout. It's standard, straightforward isolation weight training, pumping up your arms while still allowing the rest of your body to rest and recover.
   

But in the end, I felt a little unsatisfied in a way that I don't when I'm doing interval training or compound bodyweight exercises. Perhaps it's because I'm not looking to be a bodybuilder; working just one series of muscles in isolation doesn't hold much appeal for me.

     

But it's also because I feel totally inadequate watching Tony and coming to the realization that I can't lift nearly as heavy as he can. And he's in his 50s.
     

P90X Shoulders & Arms Review

After my first two days of P90X, I was worried I wouldn't make it through Week One -- let alone the entire 90 days. After all, my ass had been thoroughly handed to me by Chest & Back and Plyo. It wasn't until I encountered the Shoulders & Arms workout that I finally thought, "Hey! I can do this!"

After the jump: My review of P90X Shoulders & Arms.

Round 2 / Day 80: P90X Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Is it just me, or is Tony the only person in the Shoulders & Arms workout who hasn't shaved his armpits?

Could it be that Tony's the least vain of the bunch?

Round 2 / Day 66: P90X Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Even after upping my weights today, I found Shoulders & Arms to be a lot less challenging than it used to be. Or maybe I'm just tired of it.

One of P90X's strong points is that there's enough variety in the wokouts to keep most of  the routines fresh over a 90-day period. (Sadly, the shelf life of Tony's jokes is much, much shorter.) But I've been regularly doing P90X workouts for close to six months now, and while adding Insanity into the mix has helped stave off the tedium a bit, I'm definitely in autopilot mode now with P90X. I'm looking forward to the end of Round 2 not because I'm too exhausted to keep going, but because I can't wait to do something different.

Round 2 / Day 52: P90X Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

After more than five months of P90X, I finally noticed today that I've been doing Deep Swimmer's Presses incorrectly this entire time. Tony and the gang start this move with their arms bent at a 90-degree angle, with their forearms parallel to the ground; they return to this position after each press. I, on the other hand, begin each rep with the dumbbells up by my collarbone and my elbows pointing towards the floor, which makes it easier keep the weights up between presses.

It's a minor thing, but I wonder how many other moves I've been fucking up.

Round 2 / Day 31: P90X Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

I woke up late, and had to hustle through my morning workout. With zero breaks, my arms were pushed beyond exhaustion well before the end of the session, but it felt awesome to be challenged like this. I ended up shaving 20 minutes off of Shoulders & Arms, and another 6 minutes from Ab Ripper X -- yet I'm pretty sure I ended up with a more difficult workout overall. Good stuff.

Round 2 / Day 17: P90X Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Once again, I shortened my rest breaks, skipped the cool-down and didn't stop to listen to Tony's pointless banter, and managed to shorten the workout (while still doing all the moves) by almost 20 minutes.

Frankly, I just don't care how many reps Daniel Haas aims to crank out. Nor do I care about Dreya Weber's favorite soup or how much Tony thinks he physically resembles Joe Bovino and Bobby Stephenson. (By the way, they're all athletic white guys with dark hair, but only one comes across a total douchebag.)

Round 2 / Day 3: P90X Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

"Squeeze that thang! SQUEEZE THAT THANG! I wanna see the VEINS pop out of that THANG!"

Ah, Tony. I've missed you and your double entendres.

I didn't break a sweat this morning, but it's not that my arms and core didn't get blasted by Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper X. (The two sets of Deep Swimmer's Presses certainly were no cakewalk.) It's because this time of year, our garage gets icy cold in the early a.m. hours, and I feel like I'm exercising inside a walk-in fridge.

P90X Day 73: Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

I've completed my last scheduled Shoulders & Arms workout (in this first 90-day round of P90X, anyway). Given that this DVD's likely to remain in its cardboard sleeve for a little while, I probably should have pushed myself harder. Instead, I was content to match the reps and weights from my previous session -- in large part because I'm certain my arms would have violently detached from my body if I'd attempted to go heavier.

Adios, Daniel Haas. Smell you later, Joe Bovino. See you in Round 2 (assuming I don't flake out).

P90X Day 59: Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

This is more like it. 

I enjoyed the hell out of Shoulders & Arms this morning -- especially compared with Sunday's Chest & Back routine.  I didn't experience enormous gains in reps or weights today, but the workout was envigorating and tough without inducing barf.  By the end of the hour, my skin was stretched tight and my little arms were about as pumped as they can get.  I felt like Lou Ferrigno -- complete with green makeup and shitty haircut -- tearing through the very fabric of my shirt (but never, ever ripping the crotch of my pants).

[UPDATE: My morning Ab Ripper X session was interrupted by a sick, wailing, phlegm-spewing preschooler, but I finished it after dinner, and hit a new personal best: 100 Mason twists!]

P90X Day 17: Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Nothing new to report, except that I'm starting to slowly (VERY slowly) increase the reps and/or weights I'm lifting on most of the exercises in Shoulders & Arms.

Onto more scary news: I'm now able to recite some of Tony's lines (especially the really dumb ones, like: "What's WOW upside down? MOM!") before he says them. King Douche is invading my mind. If he were to start a cult, I'm afraid I might follow his lead. Thankfully, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't require us all to shave our heads -- he clearly cherishes his inky black helmet of hair.

P90X Day 10: Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

My arms are aching after this morning's workout, and it feels good. I'm in a groove.

I'm also getting better at making it through the Ab Ripper X routine without any breaks -- including the 40 Mason twists at the end of the workout. I'm starting to love it more than I hate it, which is saying a lot.

P90X Day 3: Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Today's workout seemed a bit less strenuous than Plyo or Chest & Back, but only because the moves were limited to my shoulders and arms, giving the rest of my sore body a much-needed break.

Initially, I was surprised that I couldn't lift as much weight as I normally do when I work my arms, but quickly figured out the reason: P90X's Shoulders & Arms program quickly marches through 15 different exercises targeting the same cluster of muscles, all performed to exhaustion, while my normal, pre-P90X routine was to sleepwalk through 3 to 5 different exercises, all performed while watching TV between sets (and sometimes even between reps). With P90X's Shoulders & Arms program, groupings of two to four exercises form a circuit, performed with little to no rest in between. Even after lifting lighter weights, I was pretty much spent (and a dripping, sweaty mess) at the end of the hour.

Lesson learned: This is circuit training, not traditional weight training.

Here's what I did this morning:

First Circuit:

• Alternating Shoulder Presses
• In & Out Bicep Curls
• Two Arm Tricep Kickbacks
• Repeat

Second Circuit:

• Deep Swimmer's Presses
• Full Supination Concentration Curls
• Chair Dips
• Repeat

Third Circuit:

• Static Arm Curls
• Flip-Grip Twist Triceps Kickbacks
• Repeat

Fourth Circuit:

• Seated Two-Angle Shoulder Flys
• Crouching Cohen Curls
• Lying-Down Triceps Extensions
• Repeat

Bonus Circuit:

• In & Out Straight-Arm Shoulder Flys
• Congdon Curls
• Side Tri-Raises
• Repeat

And after Shoulders & Arms were done, I had to get through yet another session of Ab Ripper X. I'll detail this particularly torturous workout in a future post, but for now, let me just say that I fucking dread the 300+ reps of ab exercises contained in Ab Ripper X. After an hour of huffing and puffing, the last thing I need is another 15 minutes of gut-wrenching twists and crunches.

Bye for now.