Fitness Destinations

By Steve Edwards

Welcome to the Beachbody News Roundup, where we sit in front of our computers for hours on end seeking out the latest fitness and nutrition news so you don't have to!

Last month, we cited a number of studies showing how important exercise is when it comes to your health and longevity. This month, we're reminded that recovering from that exercise, as well as everything in your stressful lifestyle, is just as vital. Sleep was the headline of five different studies this month! (See the previous article.) And you can bet that none of them encouraged that you get less rest. Before we get to that, let's start with something encouraging—finally!—about the obesity epidemic.

1. Kids getting fitter? We may have finally turned the corner on the obesity epidemic. It looks as though all this yappin' everyone is doing (well, us anyway) is finally getting through. A study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has indicated that the percentage of American children who are obese has leveled off after increasing each year over the last 25 years.

   Even so, across the board, experts warned that it was premature to celebrate.

   "That is a first encouraging finding in what has been unremittingly bad news," said Dr. David Ludwig, director of an obesity clinic at Children's Hospital Boston, to the Associated Press (AP). "But it's too soon to know if this really means we're beginning to make meaningful inroads into this epidemic. It may simply be a statistical fluke."

   According to the study, roughly 32 percent of children were overweight but not obese, 16 percent were obese, and 11 percent were extremely obese. Those levels held steady since 2005–06 after rising without interruption since 1980. CDC data reported last year showed that obesity rates for men also held steady from 2003–04 to 2005–06, at about 33 percent after two decades of increasing. The rate for women, 35 percent, remained at a plateau reached in 2003–04. "Without a substantial decline in prevalence, the full impact of the childhood epidemic will continue to mount in coming years," warned Ludwig. That is because it can take many years for obesity-related complications to translate into life-threatening events, including heart attacks and kidney failure. Dr. Reginald Washington, a children's heart specialist in Denver and member of an American Academy of Pediatrics obesity committee, summed up the situation to the AP, saying, "We still have a long way to go."

   Source: Tanner, L. "Heart Disease Study hints obesity epidemic among US children has peaked." AP News Wire. May 28, 2008. JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org; CDC: http://www.cdc.gov.

2. Breakfast is back! The "most important meal of the day" is back, according to Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz, of the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas, Venezuela. She conducted a study showing that those on a "big breakfast" diet lost weight better than those on a low-carb diet. In the study, two groups ate low-calorie diets and lost similar amounts of weight during the initial phase. However, the low-carb group participants gained most of their weight back over time, whereas those who at a large breakfast continued to lose weight.
   And according to Jakubowicz, women who ate a big breakfast reported feeling less hungry, especially before lunch, and having fewer cravings for carbs than women on the low-carb diet. It's important to note that the "big breakfast" was highly nutritious, well balanced, and not "big" by most people's standards, around 600 calories—about half the daily caloric consumption of each participant.

   Source: "Big, Well-Balanced Breakfast Aids Weight Loss." Reuters. June 20, 2008.

3. Fresh news for freshmen. The good news is that the "Freshman 15" is actually the "Freshman 5," according to a study released by the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. The bad news is that those who do gain weight during their freshman year tend to follow this road to obesity.

   "It's still alarming because that happened over six to seven months," Dr. Janis A. Randall Simpson told Reuters Health. "If young women going to university continue to put on weight at that rate it could be very problematic."

   The most interesting aspect to the study was that these women tended to neither overeat nor drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Most of the weight gain seemed to come from reducing their amount of physical activity. Simpson suggested that this may be because most girls play a sport or participate in PE in high school, while in college, they may spend this extra time studying.

   Source: Harding, A. "Freshman 5 may put young women on road to obesity." Reuters. June 16, 2008.

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Click here to see my personal P90X 90 Day After Pictures!

If you’ve seen the P90X^® infomercial, gotten excited, and then asked yourself How does P90X work?, then this 12-part series is for you. Part 1 covers the P90X Chest and Back workout.

The P90X chest and back workout wastes no time in showing you how intense P90X can be. It tackles the basic “pushing and pulling” activities that many regular exercisers will be familiar with. Rather than splitting those activities into separate workouts, however, the P90X chest and back workout gives you a healthy – and intense – dose of both types of movements during this routine.
P90X Chest & Back

There are 5 primary reasons why this workout is so effective, and each of them are detailed below. Click here for the full review of the P90X Chest and Back workout.

Angles of Activation

The human body is made to perform in countless different positions, yet many workouts only target muscular activation from a small handful of different angles. The P90X chest and back workout pounds on the same muscles over and over again, yet from many different angles.

The push-ups that are part of this routine hit your chest and your shoulders from a total of 5 different angles, and the pulling motions likewise target the shoulders and the back muscles from many different directions.

Just as doing so provides a very well-rounded approach to working those areas of the body, you are also able to perform for longer since the constantly changing angles give you a constantly changing set of difficulty levels.

Intensity

Most of the movements in this routine are “compound” movements. In other words, you are forced to engage multiple muscles groups and often more than one joint (knees, shoulders, elbows, etc.) all at the same time. By targeting so many muscles and stabilizing joints in many of the exercises, you use a massive amount of energy, and your heart rate stays very elevated the entire time.

Examples of these compound movements include all of the different push-up varieties, several different types of pull-ups or chin-ups, and many back exercises that cause you to use more than one muscle group, or to at least use a secondary muscle group as a stabilizer while the primary muscle group does the majority of the work.

Range of Motion

Just as the many different angles of motion cause you to stimulate the same muscles and connective tissues from different directions, that same concept modifies the range of motion that is available for any given exercise. This allows you to strengthen the mind muscle connection while doing similar movements over shorter or longer distances, and it also strengthens the connective and supportive tissues more than would be accomplished by just doing standard movements.

A good example of this is wide grip push-ups vs. standard grip push-ups. When your hands are closer to your body, the stimulus on your shoulders, your chest, and your triceps (back of the arms) is radically different than when your hands are placed much further away from your body.

Doing exercises that work you through many different ranges of motion not only makes you stronger, but it helps to prevent injuries over the long-term as well.

Leverage

Leverage (with regard to exercise) is basically the ability to push or pull with more force because part or all of your body is braced against something immovable. The more leverage you have, the more force you can exert, and the more results you will see.

Looking at an exercise like push-ups (of which there are 5 varieties in this workout), your hands and feet are braced against the floor, so you can push with all of your might against the floor, and you don’t have to worry about keeping your balance. This allows you to focus 100% of your mental and physical energy on doing quality repetitions, rather than sloppy reps that won’t generate good results.

Combination of Weighted and Non-Weighted Exercises

As the entire P90X workout program demonstrates throughout the 12 different workouts that it contains, there are multiple ways to perform intense, effective exercises without using any equipment whatsoever. That is great because it means that you can still exercise consistently, even if you don’t have an entire room full of equipment.

At the same time, however, there are many very effective movements that can be done using dumbbells or resistance bands, and those movements allow you to stimulate your muscles in ways that are different (not better or worse) than body weight exercises.

Each of the P90X videos shows you how to modify the exercises based on your level of fitness and/or the equipment that you have available. To get the most out of the program, though, you should at least have a sturdy set of resistance bands. If you also have a pull-up bar and a good set of dumbbells, you will have maximum flexibility with the program. P90X creator Team Beachbody^TM carries all of that equipment in their online store.

Core Muscle Activation

The “core” muscles are basically the muscles of the torso, including your inner and outer abdominal muscles, your side abdominal muscles (obliques), and the muscles of your upper and lower back, as well as the muscles surrounding your spine.

The more you activate and strengthen your core muscles, the more force you will be able to exert (and control) during all lifestyle activities, not just exercise. In addition, a strong core will prevent injury, and radically eliminate the possibility of having lower back pain, which is one of the most commonly diagnosed ailments.

In the P90X chest and back workout, all of the push-up exercises use your core muscles, and the muscles in your upper back and spine are stimulated very effectively when doing the pull-ups, chin-ups, and rowing movements that are part of this routine.

Conclusion

All of the P90X workouts are intense in their own regard, but when it comes to gaining strength and building a fast, fat-burning metabolism, the chest and back routine is definitely right there near the top of the list.

As with all P90X workouts, however, always remember that P90X is a program that works because of the overall effect that the program provides, rather than just picking and choosing individual routines. P90X has 12 workout routines, and not only should you do them all, but you should do them all in the proper order as well.

By Joe Wilkes

It's almost summertime, which means you should fire up the grill and enjoy the great outdoors. It all sounds pretty healthy, until somebody shows up with a bowl of mayonnaise and potatoes, which, without a trace of irony, they'll announce as a salad. It's like calling a stick of butter a nutrition bar. A few side dishes like this, combined with some fatty hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips, and ice cream, and bathing-suit season can become caftan season before you know it. But if you only invite the neighbors over for celery sticks and tofu kabobs, you can count on getting the stink eye from everyone next time you're out mowing the lawn. The secret to throwing a great barbecue is to find ways of eating healthily without making it seem like last call at fat camp. Fortunately, with so many great foods available during the summer months, it's easy to plan a menu that will taste great and let you keep your figure.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when planning your outdoor culinary excursions, so you can picnic without the pounds, still enjoy good food, and keep you and your family and friends healthy.

1. Veg out. The cookout doesn't need to be a celebration of the weather being so good that we can now eat the unhealthy foods we used to eat in front of the TV in the backyard. It's summer, after all—the time of year when all the best fruits and vegetables peak. And grilling vegetables is a great way to get tons of flavor without adding tons of calories. Delicious on their own or as complements to another dish, grilled veggies are must-haves for a healthy cookout. Use them in salads, on burgers, or by themselves. Check out what's fresh at your local farmers' market.

   Good veggies for grilling include peppers, asparagus, artichokes, eggplant, zucchini, squash, scallions, and onions. Just brush them with a little olive oil, some fresh herbs, and a pinch of salt and pepper, and you're serving something healthy that you and your guests can load up on—guilt free.

2. Herbal remedies. Only the worst chefs need to rely on fat and salt for seasoning. Now's the time to stock up on fresh basil, oregano, tarragon, dill, rosemary, thyme, cilantro, etc. Or even better, grow your own. Oftentimes, a pot of living basil from the nursery costs less than a handful of leaves from your produce section. Use fresh herbs liberally in all of your recipes, and you can replace fat with flavor.

3. Hold the mayo. Nothing lays waste to the best-laid plans for a healthy barbecue like mayonnaise. A main ingredient in such picnic staples as potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw, mayo loads up enough fat and calories to make the fact that the dishes stay out in the sun long enough to cause salmonella poisoning your only hope of weight loss. Try substituting healthier ingredients like yogurt or low-fat ricotta cheese for mayonnaise, and adding fresh herbs and other ingredients. Instead of mayonnaise, use yogurt and fresh dill in your potato salad. Make a whole-grain pasta salad with cherry or grape tomatoes, fresh basil, and balsamic vinaigrette.

4. Don't be so starchy! There's no law that says every picnic "salad" needs to begin with potato or pasta. There are plenty of salad recipes out there that are so delicious, no one will miss their starchy, fatty counterparts. How about making that old-time favorite, three-bean salad? Or if you want something a little heartier, lentils, mixed with a light vinaigrette, a little onion or garlic, some fresh herbs, and a sprinkling of feta cheese, will fill you up and give you enough energy to play more than horseshoes and lawn darts later.

   Make some simple fresh vegetable salads. Slice up some tomatoes or cucumbers, and toss them with a bit of vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, fresh herbs, and onions or garlic. You'll have a refreshing side dish that will fill you up without filling you out.

5. Know your cuts of meat. It's not just a game on Letterman. While of course, substituting your rib eye with skinless chicken or fish would be the BEST nutritional decision, we know you're not made of stone. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a barbecue without the scent of grilled steak or pork in the air. But not all cuts are created equal. For beef, the best rule is to look for cuts with the word loin or round. Other great lean cuts are flank steak, skirt steak, tri-tip, and London broil. With pork, the leanest cuts are the tenderloin and loin chops.

   With both pork and beef, try to avoid anything involving the ribs, which have the fattiest cuts of meat, including rib eyes. And those baby back ribs will make you look like you're having the baby. Because of their low fat content, most of the lean cuts will need to be marinated for a couple of hours before grilling. Read on for marinade ideas.

6. Lay off the (store-bought) sauce. One of the main ingredients in most store-bought barbecue and teriyaki sauces is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Even the most casual Beachbody® reader knows how we feel about HFCS. Instead, bust out those herbs you bought or grew in tip #2, and make some gourmet marinades and sauces that won't send your blood sugar into a tailspin. By using ingredients like fresh herbs; citrus juices; olive, sesame, and canola oils; wine; low-sodium soy sauce; and various vinegars, you can liven up your meat dishes and save the sugar for dessert. And when you're planning your marinades . . .

7. Go global. Since the U.S. is one of the most obese nations in the world, maybe it's worth checking out what those in slimmer nations are grilling. How about a Cuban marinade with citrus juice and garlic for your chicken or pork? Or Indian tandoori-style skinless chicken thighs marinated in yogurt and spices like turmeric, curry, or cardamom? Try making your own Japanese teriyaki with sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, and honey, and skip the corn syrup of the store brands. Try out Greek kabobs, Korean barbecue, or Jamaican jerk-rubbed meat—whatever catches your eye or your taste buds. And throwing a barbecue with an international theme sounds a lot more appetizing than a barbecue where the recurring theme is "we're watching our weight."

8. Good dogs. Of course, not everyone is going to be keen on vegetables and treats from foreign lands. Kids, for example. So you're probably going to need some kind of hot dog for these less adventurous eaters. Pretty much anything can end up in a hot dog; but in most cases, hot dogs are tubes full of fatty meat and carcinogenic nitrates—yum! This is where it really pays to read the label. A regular hot dog runs over 200 calories and 18 grams of fat. A turkey frank has half of that. The fat, calorie, and sodium contents of numerous brands and types of dogs vary wildly, so choose carefully. For the less fussy, there are also several varieties of chicken and turkey sausages with gourmet ingredients that are delicious and low in fat and calories.

9. Better burgers. A friend of mine who is highly phobic of meat-borne illnesses like E. coli and mad cow disease had a great idea of asking the butcher to grind up a piece of sirloin or top round that she selected from the meat case for hamburgers. This limits your exposure to contaminants, as there's only one cow involved in the making of a steak, where there could be hundreds involved in the making of a package of ground beef. This also allows you to control the fat content that's in your hamburger. If you have a decent food processor, you could even grind your meat at home and blend in spices, garlic, or onion to enhance the flavor.

   If all this talk of cows and contaminants has put you off beef, you might give a turkey burger a try. But again, read the label. Many packages of ground turkey contain ground skin and other fatty pieces, resulting in a fat and calorie content not much better than ground beef. Try looking for extra-lean or all-white-meat ground turkey. And if you're worried about the bird flu, it might be worth giving veggie burgers another try. If you haven't had one in a few years, you may remember them as I do—some sort of reconstituted cardboard patty that smelled like feet. But there have been great strides in veggie burger technology. In fact, there are a couple of brands a vegan friend of mine refuses to eat, because they taste too much like meat. Try a couple of different brands. You may be surprised.

10. Topping it off. When you're putting together the topping trays for your grilled delights, you can also save a few calories. The traditional lettuce, tomatoes, and onions are great, but skip the cheese, mayonnaise, and corn-syrup-laden ketchup. Instead, try using some of those same grilled veggies from #1 on your burger or chicken breast. Or add a slice of avocado if you miss the creaminess of melted cheese. Put out a variety of mustards, hot sauces, and salsas, which are low in calories, fat, and don't usually contain corn syrup. Don't forget to look for whole-grain buns for your dogs or burgers, or try eating them open-faced or bunless, if you're trying to cut carbs.

11. Just desserts. Well, you've behaved admirably during the rest of the barbecue, so you deserve a little summer treat. Have a little bit of ice cream (although frozen yogurt would be even better, and plain yogurt better yet!), but heap a bunch of fruit on it instead of a dollop of fudge or a side of pie. After all, what we said about vegetables goes for fruit too. This is the time of year during which you can get your hands on the best fruit, at the lowest prices. Indulge in berries, peaches, oranges, melons, and all your favorite seasonal fruits. Make a huge fruit salad, or blend fruit with yogurt and ice for a smoothie. Or for those with ambition and an ice-cream maker, try making your own fruit sorbet. You may decide to skip the ice cream after all!

Hopefully, these suggestions will help make your summer barbecue a huge success. And in the worst-case scenario in which you end up being forced to partake in your neighbor's annual Salute to Mayonnaise, you can always use Beachbody's 2-Day Fast Formula® to minimize the damage before the next pool party! And, of course, you can also use Hip Hop Abs®, Turbo Jam®, Slim in 6®, or one of our varied programs to suit your post-mayo pounds.

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, just email us at mailbag@TeamBeachbody.com.

By Steve Edwards

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams. —Gabriel Garcia Marquez

As summer nears, the lure of sunshine, warmth, and poolside idleness becomes tempting. This is especially true if you've just spent the spring working on looking good in your bathing suit. But, keeping your toned physique through the summer months involves another challenge. As the temperatures soar, heat exhaustion becomes more a likelihood than a concern. Let's take a look at how to stay cool so you can ramp up your workouts, whether it's P90X® or Power 90®, even as the mercury rises.

What is heat exhaustion?

Heat exhaustion is one phase of hyperthermia, a condition that occurs when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it can dissipate. In its advanced state, heat stroke, medical attention is absolutely necessary because of the threat of death. Minor cases aren't life threatening and occur regularly, especially in warm weather, but should be treated seriously because heat exhaustion can quickly turn into heat stroke if allowed to progress.

The weather needn't be hot for hyperthermia to occur. Heat can be created artificially by drugs or medical devices or naturally through exercise or improper fueling of the body. But as the weather gets warm, your margin for error decreases, because your body temperature will increase without you doing anything active. This is especially true early in the year when you aren't used to the warm weather. Those coming off of a cold winter are particularly vulnerable.

By the numbers, it looks like this: Normal body temperature is around 97° to 98°F (36° to 37°C). Anything above 104°F is considered life threatening. At 106°F, brain death begins, and by 113°F, death is nearly certain. Since anytime you "feel hot" your body temperature is edging its way over normal, it's not hard to see that you don't have a large buffer before your condition may become serious.

Signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion

Sweating is your body's response to overheating. The process pulls heat from inside the body and pushes it out, where it will evaporate on the skin and cool the body further. So sweating is the first sign of overheating and should indicate that proper hydration strategies be adhered to in order to keep this process working.

When you're hot and stop sweating, your body is in serious trouble and aggressive measures (see daily strategies below) should be initiated. Prior to this, you would likely experience other warning signs. The most basic is feeling hot. This means that your sweating mechanism is being overworked or is not doing its job properly. The skin will then become red or flush. Headaches, stomach upset, feeling faint and/or an increased heart rate are all indicators that your condition is getting worse.

If not treated, your condition will decline further. Dizziness and/or nausea will likely follow. Your skin will change from red to pale or blue-ish. Feeling hot will be replaced by feeling chilled. Convulsions are a possibility. In this state, the body begins to fail and all priority should be placed on reversing the situation.

Thousands of people die from hyperthermia each year. A study, reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, followed the progress of patients admitted to intensive care units for heat stroke and found that nearly half of the patients died within a year—28 percent died after their release from the hospital. This shows that the effects of heat stroke put long-term stress on the body. But it also shows, most likely, that those who experience hyperthermia probably do so by making daily mistakes on the prevention side. So let's look at how to avoid hyperthermia on a daily basis and what to do when we slip up.

Daily strategies

Hydration is the key. A properly hydrated body will not be hyperthermic. But hydration can be tricky, especially as outside conditions change. Reacting to weather changes requires more than consuming your recommend 6 to 8 glasses of water per day. This is because water is only one side of the equation. Body salts, called electrolytes, are the other side. The primary electrolyte is one of the more misunderstood nutrients on the planet: salt.

Staying hydrated requires that you keep a balance of water and salt. As we heat up, our requirements for both of these increase. The standard requirement of 6 to 8 glasses of water per day can change to per hour under extremely hot conditions when you're exercising. Salt can be even more confusing. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for sodium is 2,500 milligrams per day. But a person sitting inside in cool temperatures may only need 500 milligrams per day, whereas someone exercising in the heat may sweat out 2,000 milligrams in 1 hour! This means that the RDA is a random number based on an average. How much salt you need is directly related to your lifestyle and the weather. The more you sweat, the greater your need for salt.

Too much salt and not enough water is a deadly condition that most of us are aware of, but too much water and not enough salt will kill you even more quickly. Since most of us have plenty of salt in our daily diets (and millions of us too much), we tend to focus mainly on water intake for staving off dehydration. But ensuring that you have a balance of water and electrolytes becomes vital as the temperature rises.

While confusing, this dilemma isn't all that hard to sort out. There is a great margin for error when it comes to hydration, and it's not vital to get it perfect, unless you're competing in a sport. For most of us, just being aware that we're drinking extra water and getting some salt in our diets as demands on hydration increase is enough. Sweating is an easy way to tell that you're getting this right. If you're sweating in the heat, you're doing something right. Beginning to cramp is a sign that you're out of balance one way or another and a simple solution is to add more of the one you've been consuming the least, be it water or salt. For most of us, it will be water, but if you exercise a lot or eat a low-sodium diet, it may be salt. This unscientific protocol is perfectly adequate to keep most of us functioning fine through the summer.

When it gets hot

We're pretty good at adjusting to heat over time. By far, we're at most risk when the weather initially changes. It takes around 5 to 7 days to adjust to living in elevated temperatures. During this period, your body undergoes a series of changes that makes continued exposure to hot conditions more endurable. If you handle the adjustment carefully, you're most likely set for the season, save for those times you choose to put yourself in an exposed situation.

Obviously, hydrating well during these periods is vital, but other methods of staying cool should also be considered. Covering exposed skin with light-colored, loose-fitting clothing is helpful, as is using sunblock liberally on all exposed areas. Nothing makes this transition more challenging than allowing your skin to get burnt on your first day in the sun. This is also hat season. Your scalp is susceptible, even if you have a lot of hair.

If you do get burnt, keep your skin bathed in lotion and out of the sun. If you're forced outside for hours on end, especially doing something physical, consider dumping water over your head or on your neck every so often. Continually exposing your body to something cold will keep your body core temperature low and cardiac drift (a state wherein you heart beats faster to keep up with a climbing body temperature) from occurring.

Dealing with acute situations

Once you've become overheated, you want to reduce your body temperature as quickly as you can. This has been debated over the years. In fact, during the 19th century, public pumps had warning signs stating that drinking cold water during excessive heat could kill you. Modern and recent studies have shown the opposite. First, that "it's quite difficult, if not impossible" to kill someone by cooling them quickly when they're overheated, and second, that the quicker you can cool someone off, the faster they will recover.

Cold-water immersion is the most effective way to lower a high body temperature. Of course, it's not always practical or possible but any step in this direction will help alleviate the situation. If nothing cold is accessible, use whatever is available. Warm water on the skin, or almost anything damp, will still create convection with the air and mimic sweat. Getting to the shade or covering all exposed skin helps, too.

If the situation is dire, or prolonged exposure to heat has occurred, medical advice should be sought out, even if the situation seems under control. Excessive exposure can cause trauma that's not always apparent, and some amount of medical support, like an IV drip of electrolyte solution, can keep the body from incurring any long-term damage.

Maurice Ndukwu, of the University of Chicago Medical Center, warns that heat stroke is more serious than it's often given credit for. In the Annals of Internal Medicine he states, "Classic heat stroke is a deadly disorder, more complex, more often fatal, and more permanently disabling than the literature on this order would predict. This [study] drives home the crucial importance of prevention and rapid diagnosis and treatment."

Source: Casa D. J.; McDermott, B. P.; Lee, E. C.; Yeargin, S. W.; Armstrong, L. E.; Maresh, C. M. "Cold Water Immersion: The Gold Standard for Exertional Heatstroke Treatment." Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews: July 24, 2007.

To find out more about heat exhaustion, check out this story from Beachbody Network News (BNN).

And for more health and fitness news stories, tune in to new episodes of BNN every Tuesday and Friday exclusively at TeamBeachbody.com.

Click here to see my personal P90X 90 Day After Pictures!

The P90X^® Back and Bicep workout is a fast-paced routine that pounds on the back and bicep muscles over and over again, providing an incredible workout in a short period of time. Done properly, this workout will effectively stimulate even the most stubborn back and bicep muscles, so if you have trouble growing or developing those areas, you’ll love this  routine.

Since the workout tends to move a bit faster than some of the other P90X workouts, it’s a good idea to make sure that you are setup in advance with all of your dumbbells or resistance bands, and your pull-up bar if you are using one. Also, since you will be using the big, strong back muscles in conjunction with the smaller bicep muscles, you will need a good range of dumbbells or resistance bands.

Exercises during this workout include: Wide Front Pull-ups, Lawnmowers, Twenty-Ones, One-arm Cross-body Curls, Switch Grip Pull-ups, Elbows-out Lawnmowers, Standing Bicep Curls, One-arm Concentration Curls, Corn Cob Pull-ups, Reverse Grip Bent-over Rows, Open Arm Curls, Static Arm Curls, Towel Pull-ups, Congdon Locomotives, Crouching Cohen Curls, One-arm Corkscrew Curls, Chin-ups, Seated Bent-over Back Flyes, Curl Up/Hammer Downs, Hammer Curls, Max Rep Pull-ups, Superman, In & Out Hammer Curls, and Strip-set Curls

For me personally, this is one of my favorite P90X workouts. The fast pace makes it all go by very quickly, the exercises work body parts that you can really push yourself to the max on, and the people in the video keep it fun and highly energetic throughout.

Don’t forget to do your Ab Ripper X workout afterward, though. At least your biceps will be getting a break!

See other related P90X Review posts:

• P90X Review Day 1 – Chest, Back, and Ab Ripper X
• P90X Review Day 2 – Plyometrics
• P90X Review Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms
• P90X Review Day 4 – Yoga X
• P90X Review Day 5 – Legs and Back
• P90X Review Day 6 – Kenpo X
• P90X Review Day 7 – X Stretch
• P90X Review Day 8 – Core Synergistics
• P90X Review Day 9 – Cardio X
• P90X Review Day 10, Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps