My husband, who out of high-school went into the Marines, is going to college this fall. He is taking 5 classes starting in September (and working full time) to get his first degree. We decided to use the last 90days of summer and his freedom to get into shape. My husband had been wanting to try P90x for a while, and I've been curious about it. Problem is, we cannot justify giving 90minutes of our precious evenings to a workout video rather than cleaning the house, seeing family and friends, and going to bed on time. However, we found P90x3. Instead of 90minutes a video, they are 30minutes. Much more doable for our schedule and life. While I am not completely sold that I will be "Ripped in 30minutes a day" or whatever they claim, I am sure the videos will do something. So June 1st, we put on the first video and dove straight in.
I was so NOT prepared.
The first workout (1 June) is "Total Synergistics." It claims it is: "A full-body resistance workout that triggers fast, powerful changes to your body's composition." I claim that it is Tony Horton trying to kill me with fitness and caring at the same time, but to each his own. It really is an intense workout and as much as I hated it, I loved it. It works everything. One hint, every time he says write it down, write it down or use the app to log it. It really is helpful when you do the workout again. You'll want to remember to go lighter next time because that one move is killer and you dropped the weight on the floor two reps in, nearly killing the cat, because your arms threatened to fall off.
The second workout (2 June) is my favorite of all of them we have done so far. It is Agility X. It is described as improving precision, flexibility, balance, and strength, but it is just plain fun. Hint: Put the tape down. We did not watch the intro video, so we did not have tape ready to put down, and we ended up laughing so hard at our efforts to pretend there was tape on the floor, that we had to pause the vidoe. You do A LOT of Simon says type moves where he calls out were to go at varying speeds and in no order. For example, there are two strips of tape with an x in the middle of each piece. He calls out Left Center or Right Top or whatever and you jump there, landing and staying on one foot. At one point he is just calling them out solid and trying to keep up is intense but I found it fun. It is cardio intensive and has A LOT of lunges and jumping. In addition, there is some optional booty and hip shaking that adds to the fun.
The third workout is Yoga X (3 June). Honestly, look up the pose list first, and learn the modifications from a good yoga website or book. I have been doing yoga for years now, so the modifications came easy, but my husband has never done yoga and he tried to get into bound side angle pose and strained a hip. In addition, the poses he chooses are VERY advanced. Crow pose, standing splits, and extended leg toe-bind are NOT beginner poses, not even intermediate poses. I spent most of the video helping my husband get into the pose properly or showing him modifications. It is a good stretch and you feel limber at the end, but I wish he would have scaled it down a bit.
The fourth workout, The Challenge (4 June), is Tony Horton's way of saying "Tomorrow, you will barely be able to lift your tea mug." The entire 30 minutes is a move on the pull up bar (or with the resistance bands attached to the bar while your husband uses the bar) and then a set of push-ups, then repeat. To add to the evil, the move on the bar and the type of push-up always work the same muscle to further your pain. You pick a number of pull-ups and a number of push-ups to accomplish each time. Hint: Go low the first time. About 5 minutes in, I deeply regretted the number 10. Also, because I am a weakling and 1 pushup is my limit, 2 if I'm on my knees, I modified even further with incline pushups on the edge of my desk.
The fifth workout is CVX (5 June), a resistance-plus-intervals for a full-body burn. Burn is the right word. This entire workout BURNS, but mostly in the legs. By this point, my husband and I are exhausted. Every muscle group in my body feels abused (in a good way) and now I get to torture my legs even further. In all honesty, for this workout, I gave the least effort, but the burn you feel almost the entire workout was still intense. I don't think I would have been able to walk afterwards if I had given full effort. I did love the "Globe Squatters" move at the end. You squat and then jump while doing a quarter turn, then after a few of those, he switches it to a half turn, and at the end you can try to do a full turn. We laughed so hard at our attempts to go the full rotation.
The sixth workout is The Warrior (6 June). My husband loved this one because it really is inspired by the military. It is a lot like the first workout in its intensity. Two words: Super Burpees. I just laid on the floor in surrender after the cool down.
The seventh workout is Dynamix (7 June). It is like Pilates and yoga combined. Stretching and toning type moves, almost all on the floor. It is optional, and you can take a rest day if you want, but we decided to take no rest days. It isn't hard, but it isn't easy. I really liked it and it was a nice way to end a Sunday.
Then we repeat the rotation for this week (8 June - 14 June) and the week after (15 June - 21 June).
So far this week, we have done Total Synergistics, Agility X, and Yoga X again. Doing Total Synergistics again, I really wish I had logged what I did the first time. Also, doing Agility X with tape is much more fun. I still think this is my favorite workout. Yoga X went better, but I still spent most of the time helping my husband not injure himself. Tonight is the challenge, and my arms JUST stopped being sore, so here we go again!
So far, I think this program is good for developing a good workout habit. It really is an intense workout, but at the same time, it is not time consuming. I feel like I put in a good effort to get through it and it tires me out. We are borrowing it from a friend, so I cannot really say anything about the cost of it. The only cost so far was me getting resistance bands so I could do the modification for pull-ups. Moreover, to get personal, I think our marriage is getting stronger. (No pun intended.) This forced 30minutes in hell together every night is bringing us closer together. :)
We shall see how I feel about in the next 10 days! Until then:
XOXO,
~Tessie T