Wow! You do not want to take a week off P90X Plyometrics. It’s literally like starting all over, again. In week 4, you do take a week off without a Plyometrics workout and you definitely feel the effects on week 5.

The Plyometrics in Phase II is the same video that you do in Phase I, however, in Phase II, it’s like you’re starting all over again from the week off between the two phases.

I did manage to make it through the DVD and muscle it out, but it wasn’t pretty.  I still love this workout and it’s probably my favorite in the P90X program, but you definitely need to push yourself a bit in Phase II, even though you’re used to this exercise video.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

P90X Chest Shoulders and Arms workout officially starts Phase II of the P90X program. This was a fantastic workout and completely destroys your chest, shoulders, and arms. I was already in good muscular pain by bedtime.

Phase II definitely steps it up a bit.  I know I mentioned that in Phase I, you don’t get a great triceps workout, but in Phase II, Tony Horton kills your triceps.  It’s really good to feel the muscle pain, again and know that the muscle confusion tactic works.  At the end of Phase I, you’re starting to feel like you’re getting a handle on it and not seeing the growth indicators as much.

I find that it’s difficult to move and my chest is on fire!

As of today, I’ve lost 22 lbs. on P90X, so let’s take a look at the stats for 29 days into the program.

• Starting weight: 243 lbs.
• Starting P90X weight: 232 lbs.
• Current weight: 210 lbs.
• Total weight loss: 33 lbs.

After Chest, Arms, and Shoulders, I did the Plyometrics DVD.  Of course, I love Plyometrics and I really liked the Chest, Arms, and Shoulders workout, so we have a great start to Phase II.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

I am combining all my reviews from the 4th week of P90X (Recovery and Abs Week) into one review to catch up. I’m a bit behind and want to get back to daily reviews of my progress.

I skipped the Kenpo X workout in the end of Phase I and found the ab focus week much better.

While P90X  calls this a recovery week, you still have workouts that can be intense.  You start out with Yoga X, do Core Synergistics which is a longer ab workout than Ab Ripper X, Kenpo X, a Stretch X Day, then Core, and finally Yoga, again before a rest day.

The Yoga X continues to bother my back, so I just did it once last week.  I felt like my body needed the extra rest.

Core Synergistics puts you in a lot of strange positions in order to work your entire core.  The first day I did it, I found it very hard to get into those positions and am not sure I got a quality workout on the first day.  On the second attempt, I felt much better about the exercises.

Kenpo X is something we’ve been doing, so it was the same as previous Kenpo workouts.  I did not do the Stretch X day, instead choosing to rest and of course, skipped the last day of Yoga X

Check out the video to see how I’m doing and how the P90X Recovery week works, right before starting Phase II.

As for weight loss, I’m down 20 lbs. in 4 weeks or roughly 5 pounds per week.  I’m very happy with these results, so I’m not sure I’ve been hurt by the extra days off.  In fact, I think your body needs the rest to avoid overtraining.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

20 days into P90X and I still hate Legs and Back. It’s staged so poorly for you to really get a good legs workout. You’re legs are still beat from Plyometrics, then you hit them again with Yoga X before you finally get to Legs and Back. I’m so fried by that point that I do a half-ass job at legs.

One of the primary downsides of P90X from other reviewers is the danger of overtraining. I think this kind of staging for the P90X workouts could easily cause that problem. Be careful to avoid overtraining, as it could kill your workout program in a hurry.

We’re moving into another phase soon, so maybe in that phase the staging of workouts will change in such a way that this issue disappears.

However, the one positive from Legs and Back is that I dropped two more pounds!!  I’ve been checking my weight every day.  I know that goes against all fitness advice, but I like to track the P90X results.  This means I’m down 15 pounds since starting P90X 18 days ago.  Pretty close to a pound per day, even though that’s not how the weight has come off.

As I mentioned in my first P90X post, I had lost a little weight before starting the program, so I use 243 lbs. as my starting weight.  Let’s take a look at the data:

• Starting weight: 243 lbs.
• Starting P90X weight: 232 lbs.
• Current weight: 217 lbs.
• Total weight loss: 26 lbs.

As I mention in the video, I’ve modified my diet quite a bit.  To summarize and make it simple, I’ve basically cut out carbs and increased fat intake.  It’s sort of a modified Paleo diet.  I like to call it primal, based on Mark Sitton’s site, Mark’s Daily Apple.

Some other sites that I’ve used to guide me on my diet include

• Free the Animal
• PaleoNu
• PaleoNu 12 Steps — This was an excellent jumping off point for altering my diet.

Take a look at the resources at all these sites to get a great idea of what you should be doing for your diet.  A lot of misconceptions about diet flood the media and the marketplace and these guys do a great job of debunking those myths.  Also, I read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes to start my diet changes.  EXCELLENT BOOK!  I highly recommend it.  Everyone should read this book!  Gary did a TON of research to write the book (almost half the book is just references to where he found the information).  If you want an easier to read, down-and-dirty version, you may want to check out his new book, Why We Get Fat.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

PLEASE NOTE: The post title a bit of link bait, HOWEVER, the P90X Yoga X workout did cause my back injury, last week. I’ve been feeling great, all week right up until I went into the reverse warrior position in P90X Yoga X. I felt the exact location I hurt my back twinge and hurt! I tried to complete the video, but most of the positions were causing a lot of pain, so I just stopped.

I’ve been doing yoga for years, off and on, and I’ve never had it hurt my back.  In fact, I find that it generally makes my back feel better.  I can tell it was they Yoga X workout that caused the problem as I’ve been great all week long doing P90X and as soon as I went into that reverse warrior position, I felt my back pain come screaming back.

NOW, I may have pushed myself too far or it could have been due to a combination of moves, not just the reverse warrior.  The reason I say it could have been a combination of moves is that reverse warrior is a very common pose.  Some of the others on the Yoga X program are not as common, so it likely occurred before that move and that just heightened the pain/injury.

I could have easily done this to myself and I’m sure my weight and fitness level have something to do with the injury. Regardless, I will be really taking it easy with P90X Yoga X, going forward.

As with any exercise program, you should take it easy and no matter how much you want to push yourself, causing an injury will not help your growth and success.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

Week 3 of P90X workout, Shoulder and Arms felt really good!  I can feel my shoulders and arms getting stronger!  I felt like the tricep exercises were not as good as the bicep and shoulder exercises, but maybe I just didn’t use enough weight or resistance.  Biceps and shoulders feel great the next.  You can feel the growth and the good “pain” from those exercises, but the triceps just don’t seem to do it.

Next week is a rest week followed up by the start of phase 2.  I can see that the arms workouts become more specific, so maybe then the triceps will get a harder workout.

Ab Ripper X followed Shoulders and Arms as it always does in the P90X program after a strength building workout.  I absolutely killed it!  My best Ab Ripper X, yet.

Next week, we start Core Synergistics; a more advanced ab workout in P90X.

To get your own copy of P90X: Click here!

I love P90X plyometrics! Well, maybe love is a strong term for something that puts you in this much pain, but it’s such a good workout. It works your legs, your abs, your abs….it hits it all in a quick P90X workout.

Also known as jump training, the Plyometrics workout is hard.  You get a lot of breaks, but you still work very hard.  Most people hate this workout for that reason, but I like it because I KNOW it’s producing results.

Even though it’s jump training and you do a lot of leg exercises, it also works your core almost as much as Ab Ripper X.  It’s a great all around workout.  I know I’m getting maximum benefit from this one hour workout.  Even if I didn’t continue through the whole 90 days, if I were to skip workouts or days, this is a workout I’d stick with and continue to do outside of the “official” program.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

After stopping short on Kenpo X because of a back injury and having the normal P90X rest day, I came back at it with a vengeance on P90X Chest and Back.

I’ve found that this is the “easiest” of the P90X strength workouts, if you can call it easy.  Obviously, though, my chest and back are the strongest areas of my body.  However, this week, I found the workout more difficult, just because I was able to do so much more, this week.

I know I mentioned my back injury.  I had a rest day after the injury and I jumped back in on the Chest and Back workout and didn’t have any problems.  In fact, all the pull-ups helped to stretch my back a bit and made me feel even better.  Since this workout, I haven’t noticed any more issues with my back.  However, I am going to be much more careful with the Ab Ripper X and Yoga X workouts, this week to ensure that my back stays healthy.

Definitely, the best Chest and Back workout I’ve done so far in the P90X program. Lots of push-ups and pull-ups. I noticed in this one that the workout became much harder because I could do so many more reps of each exercise! You really notice the results on the record sheets that you’re supposed to keep with the P90X program. You can get your workout sheets from http://www.beachbody.com/text/products/programs/p90x/P90XWorkSheet_090110.pdf

Great to see the progress, so soon with P90X.  Really keeps you motivated.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

Well, I attempted to do Kenpo X, today, in spite of my back hurting me. Was not a good idea and just made the back injury worse. I’m not sure if I hurt my back as part of one of the P90X workouts or not, because I have back pain, occasionally, anyway.  Likely due to the fact that I’m way too overweight to begin with.

Regardless, you must listen to your body. There’s a difference between the pain produced from muscle workouts and injury pain. I tried to push too hard with this P90X workout.  Now, I’ve pushed too hard and must sit out for one of the daily P90X videos and maybe miss more days.  Take it easy!  Modify, modify, modify and listen to your body.

Kenpo X is similar to boxing and is one of the more aerobic workouts in P90X. Because of the “boxing” style to the exercises, you end up moving your hips in twisting motions quite a bit and that’s what really started to irritate my back.  The pain became worse and worse until I could not stand up, even with modifying the exercises.  I knew it was time to quit, as much as I hated to do so.

Now, I have a couple options: (1) Pick back up, tomorrow (not likely) or (2) Take a couple days off and start back where I should in the program to be sure my back has time to recover (the smart thing to do).

I probably should not have done Kenpo X, today, as my back hurt before starting the DVD.  However, I was hoping it was just muscle pain and that the workout would help get the kinks out.  Unfortunately, the workout made the pain worse.  Tomorrow’s a rest day, anyway, so maybe I’ll be ready to go in a couple days.  I’ll let you know!

I know this is typically one of the favorites among people doing the program, but I’m not a fan, especially.  I like Plyometrics much better.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth

Without question, the P90X Legs and Back DVD limits my progress more than any other workout.  My legs absolutely burn throughout this entire exercise. I cannot wait for it to be over. When it is, though, you get a rest day the next day.

You do a lot of squats, lunges, tip-toe exercises, and the worst is the chair!  The back is not too bad, mainly just some pull-ups.  The legs part just kills you!  Well, at least it does for me.  Obviously, my legs are a weak point in my fitness.

To get your own copy of P90X: http://bit.ly/P90XTruth