P90X Workout Review

My body was feeling a little sore from going to the gym yesterday and doing 10 miles on the bike, 3 miles running, and .5 mile swimming. I went back and forth about working out. I found some motivation to get off of my butt and do the P90X Legs and Back DVD. I do not know what it is about this workout but I always seem to be sore the next day even though I have been doing P90X for almost a year now. My legs are going to be sore tomorrow for sure.

Besides all of the leg routines the one thing I enjoy the most is the pull ups and chin ups. I had done legs and back 3 times since I set my first personal chin up record with out breaking it. Well, today I broke it. Last time I did 77 total pull ups and chin ups and this time I did 82. I told that pull up bar who was boss today!! Five more is quite a big improvement considering that I did not have a ton of energy today. Here is the breakdown from last time to this time.

Totals                     Last Time                         This Time  

Reverse Grip Chin Ups:  27                                26

Wide Front Pull Ups:     12                                    15

Closed Grip Overhand Pull Ups:  22                 24

Switch Grip Pull Ups:  16                                      17

                                  =      77                                  =   82

I was pumped to see that I did 5 more total than last time. My guess is that my upper body has been getting a little bit stronger from all of the swimming I have been doing lately. When I get out of the pool my shoulders and arms feel exhausted. All of those muscles used in the pool are the same ones that helped me do more "wide front pull ups."

Who knows, maybe I will be able to do 90 total pull ups in the near future. This just goes to show you that you can still get results with P90X after the first 90 days.    

I was doing the P90X Legs and Back DVD today. It was one of my favorite workouts when doing P90X. I think its because it is such a simple workout. The leg exercises are easy to do and for the most part all that you are doing with your back muscles is using them by doing chin ups. When I first started doing chin ups and pull ups I struggled to do just 1. I kept with it and started putting up some great P90X results.

I have been doing P90X for about a year now and still am showing gains when it comes to how many of something I can do or how much weight. Sure, I still take a couple days off when doing P90X here and there but I really need it. The rest is needed to be able to come back and "Bring It."

Anyways, my previous numbers from doing the P90X Legs and Back workout went something like this. I am not going to include the leg portion of the workouts. For the most part they are just a lot of lunges and very little if any weights are involved. I am only going to count the chin ups.

The four different chin ups/pull ups that are done during the P90X Legs and Back routine are "Reverse Grip Chin Ups," "Wide Front Pull Ups," "Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups," and "Switch Grip Pull Ups." You do each of these twice.

My previous workout I did

                                   First Time         Second Time

Reverse Grip Chin Up : 12                            12

Wide Front Pull Ups: 7                                  5

Closed Grip Overhand Pull Ups: 11               8

Switch Grip Pull-Ups: 8                                 8

                     Totals:   38              +             33 =   71 chin ups/pull ups

These numbers are very impressive for me. Some 5 weeks ago I did 59 total reps. Not bad for only doing this P90X workout once a week.

So today I stepped up to my P90X pull up bar and got busy. Here are numbers today.

                                            First Time          Second Time

Reverse Grip Chin Ups:               15                   12

Wide Front Pull Ups:                    8                     4

Closed Grip Overhand Pull-Ups: 12                  10

Switch Grip Pull Ups:                  8                       8

                             Totals:         43         +           34 =    77

You do not even know how excited I was when I got done. To see that I did 6 more pull ups than I did in a weeks time is a big gain. The one result that really stuck out the most was when I did 15 reverse grip chin ups. I do not know what got into me but as soon as I hit 12 I felt like I still had some more left in me and I cranked out 3 more.

Maybe it was all of the other workouts I have been doing like swimming and running that have helped me to get to this point. I can't say what it is besides some days I just dig down and bring it. My new goal with this P90X DVD is to get to where I can do 80 pull ups/chin ups during the workout. Now I am off to get a protein drink because I now I am going to be sore tomorrow.