Bring It: P90X Chest & Back Workout Review

P90X, created by Tony Horton, is an extreme workout that is meant to sculpt and reshape your body. The system is built on three different phases. However, the entire program includes 12 different DVDS. Throughout the program you will hear a phrase that will become very familiar by the end. It is called muscle confusion.

Muscle confusion is pushing yourself through each rep (almost to failure) and giving yourself enough variety to avoid those nasty plateaus. While P90X has been set up to make this easy on you, it is also vital that you give 110%. The results will only be as good as your effort to put in.

After doing the P90X journey, I have realized each workout is very different. If you would like to follow my journey with P90X, click here to start at the beginning. This series, while documenting my own personal journey, is also filled with health and exercise advice, a few funny off the wall ideas, but most importantly, motivation and inspiration to keep on going.

When starting P90X, it is vital to first watch the introductory DVD and read through the program guidebook. This will give you the lowdown on the workouts used throughout the program. Some you will find to be painful to the point of stopping; others you will come to enjoy. The only thing you have to do is keep pushing play and remember to "Do your best and forget the rest!"

Chest & Back will be the very first workout you will encounter during your journey with P90X. This is nice because it isn't overly harsh compared to some of the others. If you are following the guidelines to the T, this workout will be on Day 1 of each week for the first three weeks. It will then return in the final phase again during weeks 9 and 11. So, throughout the entire 90 days, this workout will be done a total of 5 times. This isn't to bad, so if you don't like the workout just remember 5 times out of the entire 90 days is doable for just about anyone.

This workkout is 52 minutes and 50 seconds long. The duration of the workout is one of the shorter workouts through the entire 90 days.(This is to let you know what you are getting yourself into!)

The workout really only consists of 12 moves, all about pushing and pulling. This literally means that you will be doing a bunch of pushups and pullups. There are also a few exercises that require weights. Depending on your strenth will depend on the amount of weight you use. As a female, I started off with just 5 pound dumbells; males might want to use a higher weight, especially if they are looking to build bulk.

As an extra note, you don't have to use weights at all. Now you will get bigger results from using weights, but as long as you concentrate and really flex the muscle through the workout, you will find it to be effective as well.

Once you start, you will be begging for mercy before you even touch the tip of the iceburg of this wokrout. You will struggle, and that is what you are going to want. For every single pull-up and push-up, you will be doing max amount of reps. As an added warning, you will do 12 exercises and repeat. The second time they will be reversed. So be careful not to burn yourself out to quickly.

As in each workout with Tony Horton, it is recommended you write everything down. There are a couple of reasons for this. Throughout the 90 days, you will be able to see your progress. If you did 5 pushups on Day 1, by the end of the program you might find yourself doing 20. If you don't write it down, you will not remember what you did and have nothing to compare it to. In addition, this helps you set goals. If you did 5of the exercise last week, this week try to shoot for a couple extra, thus pushing yourself a little harder and building those muscles up.

The workout starts off like any other. It is an absolute necessity to do a warm up. This will help prevent injuries. You will start off with marching in place and some light jogging before you do your stretches. Then, in a matter of minutes, you will be slammed into the hardcore stuff.

Throughout the workout, there will also be a few breaks. This is to give you a chance to hydrate, but don't drink too much water otherwise you might get sick. It will also give you a few mini stretches throughout and a chance to towel off. You will be sweating and that burns when it gets in your eyes. Just remember to keep moving. You don't want to cool down too much - that also could lead to injury.

This is a back and forth workout. You will push and then you will pull. This will target and really focus on some of the biggest muscles in your upper body - the chest and the back.

1. Standard Push-up
2. Wide Front Pull-up
3. Military Push-up
4. Reverse Grip Chin-up
5. Wide Fly Push-up
6. Closed Grip Overhand Pull-up
7. Decline Push-up
8. Heavy Pants
9. Diamond Push-up
10. Lawnmowever
11. Dive-Bomber Push-Up
12. Back Fly

This may look fairly easy, but for those who haven't tried, you don't know how wrong you are. After you finish the first set, you repeat, only you do the pulling first followed by the pushups.

The workout ends with a cool-down. While you are going to be worn out and tired and barely in the mood to move anymore, I highly recommend you push through a little longer and do the cool down. This is a necessity. It will stretch you out and will lessen the soreness you feel in a few short hours.

After completing the P90X program, I have a few workouts that I absolutely loathe and a few that I absolutely love. This one is neither. It isn't my favorite but it isn't the worse out of the bunch either. It sits happily in the middle somewhere.

Personally, I think this workout is rather easy compared to the others. I am not a fan of pull-ups or push-ups for that matter, but it does go by really quickly. When you have followed the video enough times and know the routine, you can actually do this workout without using the DVD. This is beneficial because you can cut past some of the wasted time (ie. Tony Horton's dialogue teaching you how to do the workout; and the time wasted because you may finish up faster then the time alotted for those working out on the tape. Remember, they are P90X veterans and will probably be doing a lot more reps then you will be starting out!)

Be warned that doing this video without the DVD can also cause you to rush through. You will be trying to cut out extra time which also will make it so you are less likely to push the extra couple reps out to get to muscle failure. This will not help you get results. So regardless of whether you push play or just do it, remember to give it your best each and every time.