By Steve Edwards
When Alexander the Great reached the Indus River, rumor has it he broke down and wept because there were no more worlds to conquer. Such could be your feeling upon finishing P90X® and accomplishing all your fitness goals. But life goes on, and assuming we'd like to make it past Alexander's ripe old age of 32, we can benefit from a fitness strategy that exceeds 90 days. In this first of a two-part series, we'll begin with the obvious: continuing your P90X path with Tony's other workout programs.
The arsenal
Let's begin by addressing your possibilities. Tony has been making workout programs for years, and most can be effective additions to your quiver. However, there's only one series of videos designed to fit all of your post-X needs: One on One with Tony Horton. The One on One series is moving into its third installment of 12 monthly workouts. The only theme the installments share is that they're what Tony himself does to stay in shape. It's as if you're joining Tony for his workout on any given day. We'll go into depth about One on One in a moment, but let's look at Tony's other programs first.
P90X Plus. Touted as next-level X workouts, this series of shorter, more intense versions of the X would be the first thing most of you would add to your list. They're harder, minute by minute, than the original X workouts, but they're also shorter and less targeted. Some of their intensity comes from symbiotic sets of movements that train many muscle groups together. This makes P90X Plus more confusing to use within the traditional X structure of designing workouts because it's harder to set up a periodizational structure. Those who are driving toward gaining more mass tend to like them less than the standard X workouts. Those who are looking for more fitness in less time find them essential.
Power 90® Master Series. These were actually designed as a step between the original Power 90 series and P90X. They're set up as less intense versions of the X workouts. However, they're sometimes used as next-level workouts as well. In this series, Tony does a lot of movement instruction. This results in a lot of downtime between the various exercise movements, making the workouts seem slow, especially after you've done P90X (not to mention P90X Plus!). However, if you extend each exercise into the next movement's instructional segment, you actually get workouts that some say are harder than the original X workouts. This is admittedly a clunky format, but some of our customers love the versatility that Power 90 Master Series provides.
Power Half Hour®. Made right after Power 90, these are a few very intense 30-minute workouts. They're "old school," meaning low-budget and structured without a lot of preworkout planning. They're, however, great little workouts where Tony is funnier than ever (some say too goofy). He has now upgraded many of these within the One on One series, but having Power Half Hour around will always give you something to do when you don't have time for a full workout.
10-Minute Trainer®®. On the above note, 10-Minute Trainer is designed for those with even less time. Pure Xers often have a hard time with the "worthiness" of what you can do in 10 minutes, but these workouts are great to have around, even for the most serious trainer. They're short but also very well designed. Using these workouts to keep your program on track when your workout period gets interrupted is a luxury you shouldn't deny yourself. And for those periods in life when you know you can't commit to a full workout schedule, these will keep your fitness level surprisingly high.Power 90. The original series may seem dated and comparatively very easy within the post-X world. However, I still have customers who use it during times when they want a break from Bringing It. The upside to these workouts is that the structure is very simple: resistance one day, cardio the next. For Xers, the Power 90 workouts are maintenance/recovery level in intensity. Sometimes that's all you want.
One on One with Tony Horton. These can't be described thoroughly because they are still evolving. All there is to say about them is that if you want to stay as fit as Tony, you should have 'em. I have to admit that when I saw a recent survey we conducted showing that only 5 percent of our newsletter's readership owned them, I asked to write this article. ALL of you should buy them. Looking at a lifetime of fitness ahead, you'll want to have as many options for training as possible. This series should be your baseline because it includes anything we can think of that might fill a gap in your fitness arsenal.
We define a gap in the arsenal by your questions. For example, shorter yoga sessions are probably requested more than anything by Xers. The One on One series offers two so far, and another workout based on active recovery. What to do while traveling is another question we get, and One of One offers solutions. Mammoth UML (Volume 1, Disc 8 workout) eliminates all excuses by letting you use hotel furniture as gear. And the Power 90 Road Warrior workout (Volume 1, Disc 2) is the easiest way to keep your program on track while you're on a business trip. As I said, the series is still evolving, so keep asking questions and the solutions will be addressed.
The series also offers some shorter variations of each targeted P90X workout. These are never a step down. As you might expect, Tony's training evolves over time, and this includes ways to get the same results with shorter workouts. On the flip side, he also gets stronger. If you've always thought Chest & Back was a killer, just wait until you get a load of 30-15: The Upper Body Massacre (Volume 1, Disc 5 workout)!Besides filling in gaps, One on One offers creativity. As you probably know, Tony likes to use his fitness to play a lot of sports. To train for these sports, he'll often take systems that he learns and then he'll incorporate these moves into home workouts.The series offers unique training segments, like an upper-body workout done on one leg, an upcoming Budokan (a style of karate) workout, an upcoming Parkour (the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment) workout , and a spin on the traditional ab workout called Core Ball Sandwich (Volume 2, Disc 2).
Scheduling
For an in-depth look at how to schedule your workout program, read the series on customizing P90X (see the Related Articles section below). However, if all you do is use Tony's other workouts, it's fairly easy to do. You can pretty much just follow the structure of P90X (3 weeks of hard training followed by a recovery/transition week) and plug in workouts similar to one of the original schedules. That's the beauty of sticking to one trainer.
Here is a partial list of how to swap out P90X workouts with One on One and P90X Plus workouts. (The P90X Plus workouts all have "Plus" in the title; all other workouts are One on One workouts.)
Chest & Back: Upper Plus, 30-15: The Upper Body Massacre
Ab Ripper X: Abs/Core Plus, Core Ball Sandwich, Killer Abs
Plyometrics: Interval X Plus, Plyo Legs, Medicine Ball Core Cardio, Super Cardio, Cardio Intervals
Shoulders & Arms: Upper Plus, Just Arms, Diamond Delts, On One Leg
Yoga X: Fountain of Youth, Patience "Hummingbird"
Legs & Back: Bun Shaper
Kenpo X: Kenpo Cardio Plus, Interval X Plus, Cardio Intervals, Medicine Ball Core Cardio, Super Cardio, Budokan
Cardio X or X Stretch: Recovery 4 Results
Core Synergistics: Total Body Plus, Mammoth UML, Power 90 Road Warrior
Next time we'll look at other trainers' programs, including INSANITY®, and how to incorporate them with both P90X and One on One.
0 comments
Post a Comment