Workout Schedule, Equipment, and Phases

Workout Schedule, Equipment, and Phases

Tony Horton's P90X2: The Best Weight Loss Program and Excercise Video My husband and I had been doing the original P90X for a year and a half when P90X2 was released.

We decided our bodies were ready for a change and bought the new program. I was extremely happy with the program and it was a great 90+ days!

Among other improvements, P90X2 focuses more on core and multi-muscle work, an area that the previous program didn't emphasize as much. In fact, the whole first month is dedicated to core and multi-muscle workouts! For women especially, I think this workout is absolutely one of the best I've ever done.

Below you will find a complete P90X2 schedule, an explanation of each phase in the 90-day program, and a description of mandatory and recommended equipment.

By the way, If you haven't already done P90X, I recommend starting there before jumping into P90X2. That way you'll be more familiar with the program and will able to take advantage of everything it has to offer.

How P90X2 Differs from P90X Just like P90X, P90X2 is a 90-day program split into three different sessions and includes a nutritional plan. However, unlike the original program, P90X2 incorporates more schedule flexibility.

For example, the first phase (Foundation) can be from anywhere from 3-6 weeks depending on what you need. The program also allows you to take a recovery week whenever you need one. Since you know your body better than anyone else, the program emphasizes that you should listen to the cues that it gives you and adjust your workouts accordingly.

Personally, I love this philosophy and stayed in the Foundation Phase for a week or two more than planned because it was so good.

Below, you can hear Tony himself describe the differences between P90X and P90X2.

How P90X2 Differs From P90X3 P90X3 was specifically designed to cut down on the length of the workouts. The promise of the workout series is that it will get you ripped in only 30 minutes a day.

If you're short on time, then you might want to consider looking into the P90X3 series. Just know that it won't be easier - only shorter!

Okay, let's dive in!

P90X2 DVD: Phases and Schedule

The P90X schedule is divided into 3 Phases: Foundation, Strength and Performance (in addition to a recovery week).

Phase 1: Foundation The Foundation Phase emphasizes core and balance exercises and is usually the first month or 30 days of the 90-day program. Many physical therapists complained about the number of injuries they saw due to the program schedule in the first P90X. The new version addresses this issue by spending more time building up your core muscles to help prevent injury. Plus, you can spend extra time in this phase if your body needs it.

Phase 2: Strength The Strength Phase begins to incorporate more of the original P90X routine into your workouts but with an added twist - instability! The Strength Phase is usually the second month of the program. By using instability in your workout, you engage your core muscles as you work other muscle groups and end up burning more calories. While the Foundation Phase had very little weight lifting, the Strength Phase begins to incorporate more weights and the use of medicine balls. The Strength Phase includes Plyocide (similar to P90X Plyometrics) as well as chest, back, and balance.

Phase 3: Performance The Performance Phase emphasizes all the tools of Phases One and Two to increase your performance and is usually the last month or 30 days of the 90-day program. This phase incorporates repeated movements along with weights and plyometric exercises. It is the most intense of the phases and will increase your power and strength.

I've included the workout sheets below. I've found them to be a great resource! The app is also an easy way to keep track of your workouts and progress.

P90X2 iPhone and Android Apps If you want an easy (and paperless) way to keep track of your workouts and nutrition, you can download the P90X app from Beachbody. It can be used for any of their P90X series workouts (P90X, P90X2, and P90X3).

It's available for both iOS and Android from either the App Store or Google Play. I bought the app when we were doing the old P90X and found it really useful.

It's now been updated and you can use it for everything from syncing your program with your calendar, recording your sets, reps and weights, to scheduling your own workouts like running, hiking and swimming and sharing your results.

Now let's get into the P90X2 workout schedule.

P90X2 Phase 1: Foundation The Foundation Phase is the first phase of P90X2 and is usually done in the first month. It should be between 3 and 6 weeks depending on your overall core fitness.

Listen to your body. If you need more time in this phase, take it. It's better to spend an extra week or

so here than suffer injury in the next phases because your core wasn't strong enough.

Personally, I love these workouts. I can really feel my body, especially my core, getting stronger with each one. That said, they can be awkward at the beginning. For those that aren't used to balance poses or aren't flexible, they can be even more challenging and you may need to spend more time in the phase if you need to work on these areas.

I highly recommend the X2 Recovery DVD. It feels amazing to stretch and use the foam roller to work out the kinks in your body!

P90X2 Phase 2: Strength The Strength Phase is the second part of P90X2, and is usually the second month as well. This phase focuses on using your core along with large muscle groups and is recommended for 3 to 6 weeks.

In this phase, like in P90X, we are back to doing Ab Ripper three times a week. This wasn't needed in the first phase since it incorporated so much core.

Phase 3: P90X2 Performance Phase The Performance Phase of P90X2 (the third month and last phase) is the most difficult because it incorporates everything you've already done and pushes you even farther. For all of the athletes out there, this will feel familiar.

Unlike P90X where the third month of the program just blended the first two months by week, this phase has all new exercises and challenges that incorporate strength and energy-intensive, explosive moves.

Expect to be sore after doing these workouts, even if you have been a P90X workout master. It's hard, but in a great way. Phase 1 and Phase 3 are my peresonal favorites!

(By the way, P.A.P.'s are explained below the workout schedule) What Does P.A.P Stand for in the P.A.P Upper and P.A.P Lower Workouts?

P.A.P. stands for Post-Activation Potentiation. Basically, this means incorporating explosive movements after heavy resistance training.

This type of training has proven to be effective in maximizing performance of explosive-based activities like jumping, throwing, sprinting and weightlifting.

What Equipment Will you Need for P90X2?

The equipment in P90X2 is very different than in the original P90X. If you have already done P90X, you will continue to use your pull-up bar, weights, resistance band (if you don't have a pull-up bar or weights), yoga mat, and yoga block.

Though they talk a lot about being able to do the workouts even when you're traveling with just the resistance band and a hand towel, I recommend buying some if not all of the equipment.

Don't forget to your P90X workout or log sheets, or the app. It's important track your workouts so

you know where you need to go next! Here's what you will need to begin P90X2: P90X vs. P90X2 We've done both P90X and P90X2, and personally, I'm partial to P90X2. Here's why: For women, there is more core work and less straight lifting.

You are working the whole body rather than just one muscle group, e.g., biceps.

There is more flexibility in the scheduling (you can take more time in the Foundation Phase, for example).

For men, you still get the lifting in the P.A.P Phases.

YogaX is a lot shorter in P90X2. The other yoga was too long and difficult to do if you had time restraints.

I feel like my entire body is more sore and taxed from P90X2, which in my mind is a good thing!

Less pushups and pullups, but more plank and plyometric exercises.

If you haven't done P90X, I would recommend doing one 90-day round before doing P90X2. You will be in phenomenal shape after the 180 days! It really is the best DVD workout program out there!

P90X or P90X2 vs. Insanity Insanity is an entirely different workout. It is mostly cardio and plyometrics and has no weight training, which can be appealing for some women. My husband and I combined P90X with Insanity before we started P90X2 and we really enjoyed it.

We combined them by substituting Insanity on the cardio and yoga days of P90X, which allowed us to benefit from the cardio of Insanity and the strengthening of P90X. Personally, I prefer a program that combines weight training with cardio and feel that P90X2 does the best job of this. I also add in a running day on one of the stretch days which I find helps me achieve my cardio goals.

In Los Angeles? Drive by the Beachbody Headquarters where P90X2 was developed

3301 Exposition Blvd. Third Floor Santa Monica, California 90404 UNITED STATES Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA [get directions] Beachbody Headquarters "lat":34.026478,"lng":118.471565,"zoom":13,"mapType":"ROADMAP","markers":["id":"28415","lat":34.028751,"lng":-118.4

71794,"name":"3301 Exposition Blvd. Third Floor Santa Monica, California 90404 UNITED STATES","address":"Santa Monica, CA 90404, USA","description":"Beachbody Headquarters"]