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 31 – X3 Yoga

I woke up with my legs feeling sore from yesterday’s Triometrics. So, X3 Yoga really hit the spot today. This is a great little routine that stretches, relaxes and heals the body quite effectively in such a short period of time. It may not be as great of a workout from a difficulty or calorie burn perspective compared to Yoga X and X2 Yoga, but that does not stop it from being one of my favorites in P90X3. I was feeling so good towards the end of the workout, that I paused the video during the short Plow section, so that I could spend a little more time in it. I also added in some Frog and Happy Baby for good measure, before finishing up the routine with Tony and the gang.

P90X3 Day 27 – X3 Yoga and Transitional (Recovery) Week Review

X3 Yoga was the perfect way to close out P90X3’s transitional week. Yoga always leaves me feeling loose, relaxed and refocused on future workouts. Needless to say, I am really excited to get into Block 2 of the program and try out 5 brand new workouts next week. X3 Yoga will be the only workout that carries over from Block 1.

As far as a review of the transitional week between Blocks 1 & 2, I thought it was designed quite well. 4 of the 6 workouts had you down on your yoga mat, but they were all very different from each other and focused on different aspects of recovery. However, the week was still quite challenging physically, with Accelerator and CVX, not to mention how tough I found Pilates X. Overall, I actually liked the P90X3 recovery (or transitional) week better than P90X’s. P90X’s only featured 4 unique workouts versus the 6 here and had you repeat Core Synergistics and Yoga X twice. On top of that, 3 of the workouts were brand new to me, while P90X’s recovery week only introduces one new workout. Plus, even though the P90X workouts are longer, I actually found the intensity of P90X3’s recovery week to be greater. However, the week has still left me feeling recharged both physically and mentally for the week ahead, which is everything you want in a recovery week.

P90X3 Day 17 – X3 Yoga

I am a big fan of Tony Horton’s yoga workouts and this one is no exception. Out of the 5 I have tried (Yoga X, X2 Yoga, Fountain of Youth, Patience Hummingbird and X3 Yoga), this one is the easiest, since you only hold each pose for a few seconds. So, don’t expect to be dripping in sweat by the time the 30 minutes are up. However, X3 Yoga has a great flow to it and leaves me feeling amazing every time I complete it. X3 Yoga does an amazing job of loosening up all the muscles in the legs and upper body, so, that your body is fully recovered to close out each of the P90X3 weeks strong.

P90X3 Day 10 – X3 Yoga

Today, was my second time doing X3 Yoga. I really enjoy how this workout flows. It never feels like you are resetting yourself, or wasting motion. Every move flows right into the next one. I am also quite impressed with the breadth of this routine. Even though, this one is half the length of X2 Yoga, I actually feel like you hit more different areas with this routine than you did with that one. Really, the only pose that I miss in X3 Yoga is Wheel. However, the cost of creating such a well rounded yoga routine that is only 30 minutes long, is the depth of the workout. You only hold each pose for a few seconds, so that burning sensation you may be used to from the Warrior poses and Vinyasas in Yoga X or X2 Yoga is not here, because you literally only hold each Warrior pose for a few seconds before moving on to something else. I think the PiYo routines, especially Sweat are much more effective as a workout, but X3 Yoga is great for stretching you out and recovering your body and mind. My favorite part of this routine is the balance pose section. Balance is one area of fitness that I have been working on improving this year, so it is great to have a few minutes dedicated just to that.

P90X3 Day 3 – X3 Yoga

I have been a big fan of Tony Horton’s yoga routines, since I first tried Yoga X more than 4 years ago. The biggest complaint people had with that routine was that 90+ minutes was just too long to fit into the average person’s schedule. Well, that excuse is a thing of the past with X3 Yoga, which like all the P90X3 routines clocks in at 30 minutes. My initial impression with X3 Yoga is that sacrifices needed to be made to condense this thing down to 30 minutes, so I do not think it is quite as effective as Yoga X, which is more than 3x longer or X2 Yoga, which is more than twice as long, but it is still very well rounded. I did however enjoy X3 Yoga more than either of the One on One yoga routines I tried, which were Fountain of Youth and Patience Hummingbird Yoga.

Like I said this routine is very well rounded, so just like Yoga X there is a Vinyasa flow / Warrior section, a balance pose section and a deeper stretching / relaxation section. However, unlike Yoga X or X2 Yoga there is no Yoga Belly (abdominal focused) section. The flow / Warrior section is only around 15 minutes long, compared to 45 minutes in Yoga X and 30 minutes in X2 Yoga. This is where I thought the majority of the sacrifices needed to be made. I only remember one Warrior 1 and 2 per side and you don’t really hold any of the poses for more than 10 seconds or so. I felt like this took a lot of the burn in the legs out from the routine and turned X3 Yoga into more of a purely recuperative routine, than an actual sweat inducing workout. However, I really liked having the balance pose section in there, which was something I felt was missing from X2 Yoga. It had been a while since I last did Tree Pose, so I lost my balance a couple times while trying to hold it.

Most of my favorite poses were present in X3 Yoga, including Plow, Triangle, Crane (now Crow), and Shavasana. However, I did notice Wheel was absent, which is a pose I have been trying to improve on for a while. All in all I enjoyed X3 Yoga and it is great to have a short all around yoga routine to rotate in when I do not have time for something longer.