P90X Challenge: Week 4 Recap

By Kelly Turner on November 17th, 2009

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P90X phase one is complete. On to phase two.

Week four of P90X is the last week of phase one (of three), and it was a recovery week. Don’t get too excited, though–you still have to work out everyday. The recovery workout schedule for week four is as follows:

Yoga X
Core Synergistics
Kenpo X
X Stretch
Core Synergistics
Yoga X
Rest

Yeah, that’s a lot of yoga.

So basically, rest means less strength training and more cardio and flexibility. It was a nice week, all the same–even though weights are my fave–switching up the routines and getting a change of pace.

The only new DVD was Core Synergistics which, if you aren’t familiar with fitness vocabulary, can be misleading. It’s not a core or ab DVD (core does not mean abs!! Sorry, a pet peeve of mine…), but it’s a full body workout that uses multi-joint exercises synergistically (all together).  Core comes in because your core is responsible for transferring momentum from your lower to upper body and vice versa. Thus, it is trained when doing upper and lower body exercises simultaneously. Overall, this DVD is probably one of my favorites–which a lot of people who do the program claim–because it has a little bit of everything.

Injuries, sigh. I’m actually surprised nothing has been bugging up to this point. I’m pretty prone to injury, well, past injuries flaring up, and with the intensity of this I’m shocked it’s taken this long. I honestly think it has a lot to do with the way the whole program is planned out (a huge compliment) as it’s setup in a way that each muscle group receives adequate rest.

I have been having a lot of knee pain lately which I attribute to the impact of the cardio routines, and my upper back and neck have been killing me as well. The knee I can handle, because there are always modifications. Plyo bugs it the most, so when the DVD is doing certain moves I know will kill it, I just jump around like an idiot to keep my heart rate up. Viola! Results, but no pain.

The neck thing, however, is a different deal altogether. It’s killing me, day in and day out. I have back issues to begin with, but this one is creeping up into my shoulders and neck and giving me migraines. I haven’t had this until I started the program, but I think it’s just exacerbating a preexisting condition. I changed my pillows, and went and got a massage, which helped tremendously, but I feel a lot of it has to do with the overload of shoulder and back work in the program. Again, isolated situation. I’m not saying this is going to happen to everyone, but working out so intensely is a shock to the body, so expect some unexpected issues.

Q & A Time! If you have any questions about the program or my progress, leave it in the comments section and I will answer it in the following recap. Now for last week’s questions:

Are you using any supplemental equipment?(e.g. floor mat, exercise ball, etc)
or
just using the free weights/resistance bands and pull up bar?  -mj

No supplemental equipment. There are a few things you can use for individual exercises, but they aren’t necessary. You need a stool to do the leg swings over, but you just need something hip height, so I actually use a free standing space heater, of all things. Yoga blocks can help, but aren’t necessary. A yoga mat, though, can be quite helpful, at least for me, as I tend to slip around on the carpet a bit. You can also use pushup bars, but they tend to be for more advanced pushups, or people with wrist issues, to keep them neutral.

But, again, it’s all just extra. I don’t even have a pull-up bar–I use a resistance band and dumb bells instead.

How often are you supposed to do the cardio dvd’s? Do you recommend doing additional cardio along with the program? -Julie

The DVDs are programmed out for you, that is it tells you which one to do and on which day. STRICTLY cardio DVDs are about twice a week, but if you are pushing yourself as hard as you should be, even during the strength training DVDs your heart rate should be high enough to be considered cardio as well.

There is one extra cardio DVD you are supposed to do one time a week at your discretion, so basically three days of intentional cardio. If it doesn’t sound like enough, there is a different option that I lay out in the program overview post that is called P90X Lean, where you do more cardio and less strength training.

You can do more cardio on your own if you want too. For example, I take my dog for long walks because if I don’t, he pees in my shoes. I also hit the treadmill for a bit at work when I have cancellations (I’m a personal trainer), but I would be impressed if someone could find the time (the workouts are about one hour to one and half hours a day) or the energy (and they are rough!).

Miss anything?

P90X Challenge: Program Overview

P90X Challenge: Week One

P90X Challenge: Week Two

P90X Challenge: Week Three