P90X3 Day 41 – MMX

As much as I enjoy CVX, I must admit that MMX has become my new favorite P90X3 cardio routine. This workout burns boat loads of calories and leaves me completely out of gas, in just 30 minutes. Comparing the MMX to Kenpo X or Kenpo Cardio Plus, there is no comparison, this one blows those two out of the water. Between all the sprawls, jump kicks and lunging punches, you will feel like you are in the middle of a Kung-Fu movie during this routine. Plus, I like how all the punching and kicking dynamically stretches all of my tight muscles back out, while burning calories. MMX is definetly going to be a workout that I revisit long after I am done P90X3.

PiYo Day 50 – Drench

Today, was my second to last time doing Drench as part of PiYo. I feel like I just did this routine, because I did the day before yesterday, so I must admit my motivation to get started was not very high. But, once I pushed play I got a great workout. Today, I noticed just how much deeper I am able to get in my squats and lunges, which was one of the big things I wanted to work on with this program. Honestly, just the increase in mobility that this program has given me has made the last 50 days worth it. I can’t wait to see how this translates into better form when doing a program like Body Beast again.

P90X3 Day 40 – Incinerator

Today, was my second time doing Incinerator and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite P90X3 routines. One thing no one can deny, is that Tony Horton knows how to make great upper body routines. This one has you alternating between a 10 rep weighted exercise, followed by a max rep exercise targeting the same muscle, to complete the burnout. Compared to last week, I was able to increase my weight on four of the exercises, Renegade Rows, Pterodactyl Flys, Popeye Hammer Curls and Rocket Launcher Kickbacks. Those exercises target the back, shoulders, biceps and triceps respectively. I was even able to knock out more push-ups and reps on the body weight exercises this time, so it is awesome to see that my entire upper body is getting stronger, thanks to P90X3.

PiYo Day 49 – Strength Intervals

Today, was my last time doing Strength Intervals as part of PiYo. This workout may not be as hard on the legs as many of the other PiYo routines, but it sure burns a bunch of calories. I really like the change of pace this routine provides. Most of the other workouts burn you out by making you hold poses or pulse in them, to really isolate the muscles. While, Strength Intervals has you moving around a lot more, burning calories through cardio. I will say that the fact that it is one of the shorter workouts, also is a plus. Since, today was my last time doing this one I pushed myself as hard as I could and really got my heart rate up. By the time I was done by legs were completely cooked, though the fact that I did Drench yesterday, probably contributed to that as well. Now that this workout is complete I am officially into the last week of PiYo!

P90X3 Day 39 – Eccentric Lower

Today, was my second time doing Eccentric Lower as part of P90X3. In my opinion this is the best strength based leg workout in Tony Horton’s arsenal, and I have done 10 Minute Trainer, P90X, P90X+, P90X2 and even some of the One on Ones. It is slower paced than PAP Lower from P90X2, so you may not burn as many calories, but you are lifting heavier weights, so trust me, as long as you are using appropriate weights your legs will feel like jelly when it’s time to cool down.

I love the mix of exercises in this routine, which target both the large muscles as well as the smaller stabilizer muscles. Ironically the hardest exercises for me today were not the squats or lunges, but rather TT Plus and Bridge Kicks. TT Plus is not even a weighted exercise, but it had me begging for mercy by the time it was over. Overall, I really enjoy this workout and plan to challenge myself more next week, by increasing my weight on a lot of the exercises.

PiYo Day 48 – Drench

I am really into the home stretch of PiYo now, with only 7 workouts to go, after today. Today’s workout was Drench and it was tough. The biggest struggle for me is keeping up with Chalene and the gang during the Flow section. However, I do feel like I am making progress, and I still have 2 Drench workouts to do, so I am hopeful I can get there by the end of PiYo.

P90X3 Day 38 – X3 Yoga

Today, I had another refreshing session of X3 Yoga. I am a huge fan of yoga and X3 Yoga is a great quick routine. However, unlike X2 Yoga from P90X2, the more and more I do this routine, the less and less I feel like it is an adequate replacement for Yoga X or any other full yoga routine. While, I found X2 Yoga hits the sweet spot in terms of effectiveness, without taking too much time, I find myself wanting for more at the end of X3 Yoga. As crazy as it may sound to some of you, I wish there was more Warrior 1 and 2. Those poses feel so good in my shoulders and hips and the 20 seconds or so you spend in them during this routine, just does not get it done for me. I also wish there was more time in Plow. Plus, I miss that there is Happy Baby and Frog. I even kind of want the deep breathing and Oms back at the end.

Personally, the last couple weeks I have been pausing the routine right when you get into Plow, to supplement with some additional poses myself. But, I will likely go back to X2 Yoga as my go to routine, once I finish P90X3.

P90X3 Day 37 – Triometrics

Today, was my second time doing Triometrics as part of P90X3. Last week I was really impressed with how great of a body weight leg workout this one is. But, I am still a little disappointed that there is no fast paced jump training workout, like Plyo X in P90X3.

A couple of my favorite moves today were the Speed Skaters and the Warrior 3 Squats. Speed Skaters get used a lot by Tony Horton, but I really enjoy the three levels of variation here. When it finally gets up to the triple one legged hop across the room, it’s just so much fun. Warrior 3 is one pose I have been trying to improve my balance on for some time and so, I relish any opportunity to work on that. Adding a one legged squat to a pose I already struggle with, is just the icing on the cake. I also really enjoy the burnout, which simply has you jumping side to side and bringing the knees up to add intensity. It is quite satisfying to finish this routine out of breath, even though I feel like it is a little weak overall, from a cardio perspective.

One the other side of things I really struggle with the Kabalam, which has you start in a lunge and jump back and forth from lunge to squat to lunge on the other leg. I have been working a lot on improving my squat form in this program and PiYo, But, when I jump into the position it feels kind of weird, since I am used to setting my feet in position first. But, hopefully over time, as I improve with this exercise it will feel more natural.

PiYo Day 46 – Buns

Today, was my second to last time doing the Buns workout in PiYo. I really enjoy the makeup of this workout. The first section gets your heart pumping with burpees, coupled with lots of squats and lunges. The second section burns your legs out, by having you hold and pulse in lunges and bowlers. Finally, the Last Blast has you down on the ground isolating your buns, with some hardcore Pilates style movements. Even though this is a buns workout, I feel this one in my entire lower body, along with my core. I am glad I still get to do Buns one more time next week, because this is one of my favorites.

P90X3 Day 36 – Eccentric Upper

Today, was my second time completing Eccentric Upper, as part of Block 2 of P90X3. Last week, this was my first workout coming back from a neck strain, so I played it safe and went conservative with my dumbbell choices. This time however, I pushed myself and got a lot out of this routine. I was able to increase my weight on all the weighed exercises, except Pterodactyl Flys and Lateral/Anterior Raises, because my shoulders were completely cooked about half way through the routine. Also, last time I was a little concerned that 10 push-ups was not enough per set, so this time I joined the gang by keeping one leg off the ground during the Military Push-Ups and that really turned up the heat. Next week, I will try and keep one leg off the ground for all the push-ups, except the Plyo.

One thing I did notice during the workout, was that my counting started to speed up towards the ends of sets. If you are not familiar with this workout, the premise is to take 3 full seconds on the negative or eccentric part of the movement and then explode through the concentric part of the movement in one second. So, to stop myself from speeding up I went back to the old school Mississippi way of counting and everything became so much tougher. So, please make sure you don’t just speed count your way through this routine. Focus on counting properly, so that you get all that you can out of this upper body blaster.