Day 1 of P90x was definitely pretty darn tough with the Chest and Back workout. This day is always a challenge because you are doing (in Tony Horton’s words, “maximum reps”) on each of the exercises. The nice thing about Chest and Back is that you get plenty of breaks throughout the routine. If I were to have done all of these exercises with no breaks, I don’t know if I would have been able to do any moves the second time through. If you “bring it” you probably will not be able to do much of anything after you are finished with this workout because it is very extreme.
Day 1 of P90X: Chest & Back Workout + Rolling with Green Gatorade (Absinthe Edition)
Having plenty of water around is necessary for this routine. I had a lot of green Gatorade for my workout, but no water – and it tasted like I was drinking syrup. I normally always have water around, but didn’t have an empty canister or bottle to fill up, so I used Gatorade. I felt like I wasn’t getting my thirst quenched at all (there is a lot of sugar in Gatorade) and it tasted thick. I am most definitely going to make sure I have water on hand for next workout.
My Workout Reps Were as Follows:
- Standard Push Ups: 38/22
- Wide Front Pull-Ups: 15/10
- Military Push-Ups: 14/9
- Reverse Grip Chin-Ups: 8/5 (+4 Extra with Chair)
- Wide Fly Push-Ups: 16 (+5 Extra)/16 (+5 Extra)
- Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 6/4 (+4 Extra with Chair)
- Decline Push-Ups: 16/14
- Heavy Pants: 15 (20 lbs.)/15 (20 lbs.)
- Diamond Push-Ups: 12 (+4 Extra)/9
- Lawnmowers: 12 (30 lbs.)/ 13 (30 lbs.)
- Dive-Bomber Push-Ups: 7 (+1 Extra)/8
- Back Flys: 16 (10 lbs.)/ 16 (10 lbs.)
The First Day of Doing Ab Ripper X
After the routine ends, you are required to do what’s called “Ab Ripper X” or “Ab Ripper Extreme” which involves a series of “core slash ab” exercises that are bound to get you ripped out of your mind. I feel the same way about doing this workout as Tony: “I hate it, but I love it.” The reason I hate it is because it is very hard; most people are not going to be able to do this without breaks on their first week. The reason that I “love it” is because it feels great once you are done. The satisfaction of completing “Ab Ripper X” is worth it – obviously whenever you finish something tough, it feels good.
I Did P90X Last Year: This Is My First of the Entries
UPDATE: I did this last summer and wrote a little bit about each workout after I completed them and I’m starting to post them up. Since you may wonder why the hell I’m posting up more than one P90X workout article on the same day, I’m just letting you know that I have been saving these writings from last summer because I didn’t have my website to post on. Now that I have it back, I’m going to fire up all 90 days as quickly as I can so that people can get an understanding of my experience with Tony Horton’s P90X workout program.