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P90X2 Workout Review

April 23, 2012 landland 4 Comments

Tony Horton and the Beachbody crew are back with their latest home workout program, the sequel to the massively successful P90X series. It’s called…wait for it….P90X2! I just finished this beastly program and found it quite difficult to complete. There was definitely a lack of motivation with P90X2.

I started with P90X way back in the day. It was the first home workout program I ever completed, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Oddly, I never wrote a review for it for some reason despite it being such an excellent program. P90X2 tries to raise the bar, and Tony Horton mentions throughout the program that this is meant for P90X grads, but in reality you can do this program just fine without having ever done P90X or other similar programs.

Much like P90X, X2 is a 90 day program that consists of 3 phases. Phase 1 is called Foundation, phase 2 is called Strength, and phase 3 is called Performance. With the original P90X, there were very specific programs to follow. If you wanted to get lean, you would follow the lean calendar. There was also the classic calendar and doubles, both of which you would follow a very specific routine. With P90X2, you are given more leeway to decide on how long you want to stay in each phase. So for phase 1, you can stay in the phase anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks, phase 2 is anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks, and phase 3 is anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks. While some people might appreciate this flexibility, I am going to guess many will not. Many people who go through these programs like to be told exactly what to do. They want to be able to follow the calendar exactly and press play. With P90X2, the leeway is ambiguous enough to make people wonder how long they should do each phase for, as long as it adds up to 12 weeks. I ended up going with 3 weeks in phase 1, 5 weeks in phase 2, and 4 weeks in phase 3. This was largely arbitrary, except I wanted to spend the least amount of time in phase 1, because I feel I am in pretty good shape and didn’t need the extra time to “build up” to phase 2 and 3.

All workouts range anywhere from 50 minutes to 75 minutes in length. The longer days are the days that require X2 Ab Ripper. This will not be a shock to P90X grads who had to go through something similar in the original P90X. The workouts vary from phase to phase, but some workouts are used in multiple phases. X2 Yoga is used the most, as it is required in all three phases. Plyocide and X2 Recovery+Mobility are used in both phase 1 and 2. Workouts are 5 days per week with 2 rest and recovery days, which is 1 more day of rest per week compared to P90X.

The workouts in phase1 include X2 Core, Plyocide, X2 Recovery + Mobility, X2 Total Body, X2 Yoga, X2 Balance + Power, and Ab Ripper.

The workouts in phase 2 include Chest + Back + Balance, Plyocide, X2 Recovery + Mobility, X2 Shoulders + Arms, X2 Yoga, Base + Back, and Ab Ripper. In addition, you can substitute V-Sculpt for Chest + Back + Balance, and X2 Chest + Shoulders + Tris for X2 Shoulders + Arms. I did the substition for the last two weeks of phase 2 out of sheer boredom and curiousity.

The workouts in phase 3 include P.A.P. Lower (P.A.P. stands for post activation potentiation, which is a fancy term being thrown around fitness circles), P.A.P. Upper, X2 Yoga, and X2 Recovery + Mobility. There is also a random recovery week tacked onto the end of phase 3 should you need it, which is basically X2 Recovery + Mobility and X2 Yoga alternated every day.

Phew…that was a mouth full. It isn’t so confusing once you actually see the calendar and your options and start the program, though. The one thing that I believe is a big no no for this program is the sheer amount of equipment needed, which is tons more than P90X. You’ll need a mat, towels, tape, up to four(!) medicine balls, dumbbells of various weights, a pullup bar, resistance bands, stability balls, a plyo box, a foam roller, push up stands, and a bunch of other stuff that I’m probably forgetting. Conviently, Beachbody sells all of the stuff you need. I didn’t have all of the equipment needed, but I had most of it and made due. Tony Horton does emphasize that you can do this program in your hotel room if you are traveling, and thus don’t need all of the equipment. In other words, a lack of equipment should not deter you from starting the program. Nonetheless, it is always nice to do the exercises as they are designed for maximum benefit, but the sheer number of “stuff” you need for P90X2 makes this very hard.

I am not going into what each workout consists of individually (that would ruin the surprise!). Just know that there will be a lot of familiar stuff from P90X such as a warmup and cooldown, lots of pullups, pushups, dumbbell work, etc. But there will also be a crapload of new stuff including tons of stability ball work, medicine ball work, and foam rolling. I really liked the foam rolling, that was a nice touch, since I usually neglect foam rolling despite it being so important for recovery. The medicine and stability ball stuff was interesting, but also not really needed, in my opinion. I don’t doubt that the exercises were difficult, because some were (Impossible-Possible was one such move that destroyed me). But what did it accomplish aside from making me better at that particular exercise? That, I’m not so sure of. I’m not convinced that there is a skill transference to other activities, and I’m not convinced you can’t get just as strong or fast doing simpler exercises. But I digress, that’s neither here nor there. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Overall, this was a very good program. Tony Horton was his usual hilarious and whacky self, and most of the workouts were very good and left you feeling like you put in some good work. My results were pretty good as I leaned out some more while packing on a bit of muscle and got stronger. If you have the equipment or are willing to purchase them, this would be a great program. Alternatively, the original P90X is also really awesome, requires less equipment, and had more hilarious moments with Tony Horton. If you’ve never done P90X I would suggest doing that first, and if you are looking to try something new you can’t go wrong with P90X2. You can get P90X2 in both DVD and Blu-Ray. It comes in 3 sizes: Base, Ultimate, and Deluxe, which vary with the number of equipment included.

Blu-Ray: Ultimate, Deluxe, and Base.

DVD: Ultimate, Deluxe, and Base.

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If you liked this review, you may also like my Insanity Asylum, GSP Rushfit, Rip:60, P90X+, Insanity, RevAbs, or RMAX BER reviews

Me, Stories

The Day I was Forked

January 22, 2012 landland 5 Comments

I was having a conversation with my old University roommate the other day and he brought up the story of the time I text messaged him repeatedly in a non sensical panic. I had long since buried the memory. It was the day I got forked.

He was in the lab with a couple of friends doing some group work on an assignment. I was at the condo getting ready to eat dinner. I had made a stir fry using brown rice, some veggies, and chicken. It was piping hot but I was so hungry I just didn’t give a damn. I sat down with fork in hand, took a huge forkful of the stir fry, and proceeded to bury the fork into my mouth. I felt the heat of the food instantly burn the roof of my mouth. As I got ready to spit the food back out, I felt a sharp pain on the lower part of my mouth, inside the bottom row of my teeth on both sides. It was the fork. And it was stuck. I yanked a couple of times but the fork wouldn’t budge. It was literally wedged between the bottom row of my teeth. The heat of the food had caused the metal fork to expand at the exact moment I put it into my mouth. The heat, timing and angle had to be perfect for the fork to enter my mouth, expand, and decide to make itself a permanent fixture in my mouth. Mind you, the food was still burning the inside of my mouth. Too hot to swallow, I rushed to the bathroom, turned my head to one side, and proceeded to use my fingers to claw the food out. As I looked at myself in the mirror I couldn’t help but laugh. “What the hell are the odds of getting a fork stuck in my mouth?”, I thought. I carefully examined my situation in the mirror, wondering what my options were. I yanked and yanked a couple more times. Nothing. My mouth was bleeding. It wasn’t that funny anymore. I started to get a little nervous. I figured since the fork expanded that some cold water would cause it to contract. But it was too little, too late. That fucking fork wasn’t going anywhere. I started to think that I was in some serious trouble. I sat down on my computer and started Googling stupid shit like “How to remove a fork from your mouth?”. Unsurprisingly, nothing useful came up. I started to panic, and that’s when I started to frantically text message my roommate. Can you imagine getting text messages like “HELP ME. A FORK IS STUCK IN MY MOUTH!” and “YES YOU MORON I’VE TRIED TO PULL THE FORK OUT! TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL!!” while you are in a lab with group members. What would you do? Well in the case of my roommate he thought I was retarded, showed his group members so they all thought I was an idiot, and laughed it off. I kept sending him these messages until finally one of his group members called me to see if I was just messing around. I didn’t answer and wrote back “HOW CAN I PICKUP WITH A FORK IN MY MOUTH. GOD YOU GUYS ARE SO STUPID”. My roommate, after about 10 exchanges, finally started to sense the urgency of the messages, and agreed to come home. By that time I was so freaked out, I just figured I’d yank as hard as I could and lose a couple of teeth in the process. At least that blasted fork would be out of my mouth. And so that’s what I did. I yanked so hard that when the fork finally came out of my mouth I shot backwards and landed right on my ass. My mouth was a bloody mess but thankfully I didn’t lose any teeth. I rose in victory, did a little dance, and texted my roommate telling him he didn’t have to come home now. To this day he still thinks I’m an idiot.

Mindset

Making Decisions

January 16, 2012 landland Leave a comment

The ability to make decisions is a quality often overlooked as a character trait or positive quality because we make them so often. It is one of the most important abilities of the human species, and yet all too easily taken for granted. Decisions determine your life and the life of others in very big ways. Every second of every day people are making decisions that determine their lives and the lives of many others. Decisions are influenced by everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I’ve heard the process of decision making described through systems such as automatic and reflective, as well as rational and emotional. In other words, the situation, your mood, what you ate last, how you were raised, where you are, the colour of the pill you took and a seemingly infinite sea of other things determine how we decide. Perhaps we have less control over what we decide than we think we do.

What we decide as moral might depend on the weather or what we just read in the newspaper. It goes counter to how we think we decide, yet time and again this is what the science demonstrates. When was the last time you made a decision you felt you had full control over, without outside influence? Think wayyy back, because it probably has never happened. This is potentially depressing for some, but the reframe is equally powerful. Knowing this, can’t we make better decisions through self monitoring, being totally honest with ourselves, and getting frequent feedback? I think so.

Think about that the next time you are about to put that cookie into your mouth, buy that tablet you don’t need, and think that buying a house is a wise decision. What are you assuming? You might realize that you don’t even know what you don’t know. You are your own person, but the illusion of control, security, and knowledge isn’t something you should ignore. It’s the game being played around you that you don’t even know exists that is most dangerous.

Uncategorized

When it hits you…

January 8, 2012 landland Leave a comment

Have you ever felt that indescribable feeling you get when something jibes with you so much and to such an extent that you just can’t shake that feeling? Like a calling, of sorts, but not really. It’s bigger than that. It resonates with you, right to your core.

I’ve been watching this show called Departures and it does exactly that to me. I can’t stop watching the show. It was recommended to me a few years ago by a former co-worker and I was sure I wasn’t going to like it. I just brushed it off since I watch so little TV that it would just be some stupid travel show. Then over the holidays I turned it on, and watched….and watched….and watched. I have to physically force myself to stop watching and have limited myself to 1 episode a day. The good news, I guess, is that it is only 3 seasons long. But at the same time, I don’t ever want this show to end, and knowing that there’s an end makes me kind of sad. But then of course, everything ends and that’s ok.

There is something about it, though, that just has me hooked. My brother watched the first 2 episodes and hated it. Yet I can’t get my eyes away from the TV when it’s on. And not like, “Oh, this is a cool show, I’m going to watch this like Seinfeld” kind of way. It’s something much more than that, like I’m there in the show, feeling what they are feeling. It has hit me hard. I mean, sure it’s about 2 dudes who both remind me of myself in certain ways that go travel around the planet, but there’s tons of travel shows out there with hosts that go to wild and exotic places. I don’t even think travel is what draws me to it. The inner discovery, the trials and tribulations, the hardships, the rewarding victories, the way the story is told, it just grabs me by the balls. They are looking for something, but they don’t know what it is, yet they’ll know when they’ve found it. A ball grabber, for sure. What’s grabbed you by the balls, lately?

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” – Steve Jobs

Goals, Me

Happy 2012!

January 2, 2012 landland Leave a comment

Happy New Year! 2011 is over and I hope it was good to you. Let’s aim to make 2012 even better.

2011 was a good year. It was probably my best year in terms of learning. School gave me the opportunity to touch on subjects I wouldn’t have found on my own, as well as come across people whom I may not have been exposed to otherwise. These people were not only intelligent but helped bring new perspectives that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. School also allowed me the time to do my own reading. And I did a lot of it. I read over 50 books the past year. Although many people say that a rigorous MBA program doesn’t allow you to have a life outside of it, my experience has been the opposite. I found myself having adequate time to do the things I enjoy doing such as reading, working out, rock climbing, and jiu jitsu. These activities all contributed to my learning, balance, and well-being and were vital to my overall happiness.

There were a few disappointments in 2011, which included a large number of injuries. I threw out my back, tore cartilage in my ribs, messed up my right foot, aggravated my neck, etc. etc. in what seemed like a never-ending ocean of injury after injury. This made me very, very frustrated. I am hoping the lessons I have learned in 2011 will allow me to take the necessary precautions this year to avoid injuries while still doing the activities I love. I was also annoyed with my lack of output, which has always been my Achilles heel. I tend to consume a lot of input, hence the amount of books I read, but lacked creating any output of my own. This blog being an obvious example of that. I don’t have any excuses for this. I managed to do most of the things I wanted to do, and yet if I’m honest with myself I know I did those things so I could avoid doing what matters, such as figuring out how I will feed myself in the coming years. This annoys me to no end. There are certain activities I know I should do, but just conveniently never get around to doing them. My guess is probably because I find most of them uncomfortable. This is something I will address in 2012.

It will be a big year, with big changes coming up. I’ll graduate, turn 30, and leave Toronto, to name a few things. I’ll continue doing the activities I love, but will definitely have an emphasis on output. Have a great 2012!

Health and Fitness

Insanity Asylum Review

November 12, 2011 landland 1 Comment

I finished Insanity Asylum a little while ago and haven’t gotten around to writing about it until now. Here are my thoughts:

Insanity Asylum is a 30 day home workout program from Beachbody and hosted by Shaun T, the same dude that brought you programs like Insanity, which I found to be a mofo. This program is no different in that regard. Shaun T really likes to kick your ass. The program is designed for people who have already completed Insanity and want to take their athleticism to another level. It is designed for athletic performance.

Equipment Needed: You need a little bit more equipment in this one compared to some other home programs, including an agility ladder, jumping rope, dumbbells, resistance bands, and an optional pull-up bar.

Workouts: There are 6 workouts and 2 bonuses. The workouts are Speed & Agility, Vertical Plyo, Strength, Back to Core, Gameday, and Relief. The bonuses are the assessment, which you do before and after the program to show your progress, and a 15 minute overtime program, which you’ll wish you didn’t have to do since its after Gameday. Asylum also comes with a nutrition guide, worksheet to track progress, and a calendar.

You combine the 6 core workouts for 30 days, which goes by very quickly. You can also use these programs in addition to Insanity or P90X, but I imagine you would be very, very tired. Workouts are usually about 45 minutes, except Gameday which is closer to an hour and Relief which is a 30 minute stretching program you have to do a few times in those 30 days. Of the 30 days, you only get 2 rest days so plan your time accordingly.

I found Insanity Asylum to be pretty challenging and tiring. I have never used an agility ladder before and discovered how embarrassingly uncoordinated I was at the beginning of the program, but gradually improved over time. The movements might feel unnatural and complex at the beginning, so you may need to practice a bit before getting them down correctly. Shaun T stresses the importance of proper technique for maximum benefit of the program. The assessment did show a significant improvement in performance numbers in a number of exercises compared with my pre Asylum numbers, so I guess that means Asylum helped.

I did find that this program really strained my lower back. Especially after the Strength program, I would find my lower back aching the entire next day. My feet and ankles were also sore until after the program ended (I did the workouts wearing Nike Free shoes). Also, be aware that you will sweat a lot in the program. A LOT. I would suggest a towel to dry off any chance you are able to because if you are working out on a smooth service such as hardwood, concrete, or tile, you WILL start slipping. It happened to me a bunch of times and I almost landed right on my ass once. In the videos, they do the workouts on astro turf so never run into the issue. You have been warned.

Overall, I give the program a thumbs up. I felt it really helped with my balance and coordination, especially. I cannot say for sure if that translated to improved climbing or grappling, it could be all in my head, but I did feel it. If you are looking for a challenge and improvement in athletic performance, then definitely give it a try. You can get Asylum here.

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If you liked this review, you may also like my P90X2, GSP Rushfit, Rip:60, P90X+, Insanity, RevAbs, or RMAX BER reviews

Health and Fitness

Rushfit Workout Review

September 13, 2011 landland 12 Comments

I recently completed the GSP Rushfit workout and thought I would share my thoughts. I did finish late because I injured some cartilage near my ribs and needed to rest it up for a few weeks before I could continue. With that said, GSP Rushfit was a hell of a program and a lot of fun.

What is it?
GSP Rushfit is a home workout starring the one and only Georges St. Pierre and designed and guided by his trainer Eric Owings. GSP goes through the workouts with you and adds some hilarious colour commentary every once in a while, but most of the narration and coaching is done by Eric. I found the Eric/GSP combo to be quite refreshing as they complemented each other well. Each week consists of 6 days on, and 1 day off (rest day).

GSP Rushfit is an 8 week program with calendars for beginners, intermediate, and advanced. They do have a fit test assessment that you should do prior to choosing which calendar to go with but I wasn’t able to find it in the guides what numbers you should be shooting for to determine what program you should choose. I ended up going with the advanced program because when I did the fit test I was toe to toe with the champ with my numbers. Yeah!

As far as I can tell, the only difference between the beginner and advanced program is that in advanced you just do more workouts in the 8 week period. In the last half of the advanced calendar there are doubles (two workouts a day) almost everyday. On the calendar they have “Cardio” which is something you are supposed to do on your own. I thought this was a tad lame and lazy on the part of the designers but most of my days I was going to jiu jitsu training so figured that would do. There are 7 workouts to do over the 8 weeks:

Stretch for Flexibility, Balance and Agility (these were on the “Bonus” DVD), Abdominal Strength and Core Conditioning, Explosive Power Training, Full Body Strength and Conditioning, Strength and Endurance, and The Fight Conditioning Workout. The workouts all start with the same warmup and end with the same cool down. The warmup did an average job at warming up the appropriate joints. It should have focused more on the ankles and shoulders because those are used a lot in the programs. I did feel on a number of days that my shoulders and ankles weren’t sufficiently warm and felt some discomfort. The cool down is also way too long. It is only 7 minutes, but when you are doing doubles you really just want to get the heck out of there because you are so pooped. The workouts themselves are all 5 rounds to simulate a championship UFC fight except for the Flexibility and Balance and Agility workouts.

All of the workouts were great and varied to keep things interesting. What was really cool for me to see was watching GSP do his thing. You could tell he was really great at explosive stuff but really sucked at isometrics and flexibility movements. He cheated like most people do and Eric would call him out on it. It was rather entertaining. I found Full Body Strength and Conditioning to be the most challenging and by round 4 was pretty tired. Strength and Endurance was also pretty tough and had me gasping for air by the end of it. The Abdominal Strength and Core Conditioning workout was ok until round 5 when they had you doing bridges, which I couldn’t hold for the entire time until I was near week 7. My favourite workout was The Fight Conditioning Workout because it involved a lot of coordination involving striking, grappling, wrestling and judo components.

Pros of GSP Rushfit

Eric Owings is an excellent instructor. Very detail oriented, clear and concise
GSP cracks me up with his French Canadian accent and quirky sense of humour
Very good workouts that will leave you pooped but feeling alive
Good variety of movements and different body parts being worked that aren’t seen in other home workouts
Minimum equipment required. You only really need dumbbells.

Cons of GSP Rushfit

Complex movements such as the Turkish get up should not be in a home study course, in my opinion, because if done improperly could result in injury
Workouts are too long and there is too much chit chat between the warmup and the workout and the workout and cool down. Again, 6 days a week for 8 weeks is a big commitment for most people, at least make that time working out as efficient as possible.

Final Thoughts

GSP Rushfit is an excellent program that will whip you into shape. Like most of these home workouts, it does require a time commitment. It comes down to your priorities and what you value in life. If you are a fan of GSP and love mma and are looking to get a little more physically fit and lose weight, this is the product for you. I did feel some carry over strength that translated in my jiu jitsu training with GSP Rushfit. Maybe you will too!