P90X/Insanity Athletic Season Simulation
First College Update
Over a month has passed since my last blog post. I’ve been extremely busy doing homework and having lots of fun. The classes here are quite challenging, which is good since they will keep me on my toes.
Fall is already here, which means I’ll need to make a new tenlist very soon. I might not post it online for a few weeks, however.
P90X Round 2 – The Hybrid
According to a few Google searches, most people who complete the 90-day P90X program undertake a second round of the program with added workouts from another similarly-intensive program. From my research so far, the most popular one is Insanity, another one of Beachbody’s products. For my second round of the program, I intend to do the exact same thing.
Adaptivity Rate
The people featured in the P90X videos are either over thirty years of age or slightly younger. However, none of the videos feature people around my age (eighteen as of the time of writing this post), which poses a problem when it comes to following the “classic” P90X schedule – my adaptivity rates are higher.
I believe the P90X routines are generally written for older people. During the third week of my first round of P90X, I discovered that the “muscle confusion” concept wasn’t working quite as well as advertised since I had already adapted to the Block 1 workouts and could do them quite easily. That is when I came up with the idea of randomizing my workouts entirely, as featured in my “Reconfiguring P90X for Mass” post. For this second round, I intend to incorporate that same concept.
Athletic Season Simulation
For those who aren’t quite familiar with Beachbody’s Insanity, the product is basically an all-cardio, high-intensity-intervals-over-extended-time program. Traditional intervals tend to emphasize high intensity over a short amount of time. Insanity takes that same concept but adds a twist – instead of working hard for a short amount of time, Insanity pushes you to work hard for a long amount of time.
Before constructing this schedule, I previewed the Insanity videos and equated the fatigue felt by the video performers to the same fatigue felt during a high-stakes basketball or soccer game. I believe Insanity can be equated to a sports season, whereas P90X is more about strength and conditioning – generally what people do during off- or pre-season. The round 2 hybrid schedule below is constructed based on that idea: the first eight weeks involve lifting and light conditioning, the last six weeks involve high amounts of cardio balanced by prolonged stretching exercises to minimize injury.
The Schedule
Insanity workouts are italicized.
Week 1
Day 1: Chest & Back
Day 2: Plyometrics
Day 3: Shoulders & Arms
Day 4: Ab Ripper X
Day 5: Yoga X
Day 6: Legs & Back
Day 7: Ab Ripper X
Week 2
Day 1: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Day 2: Back & Biceps
Day 3: Yoga X
Day 4: Ab Ripper X
Day 5: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Day 6: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Day 7: Ab Ripper X
Week 3
Day 1: Cardio Power & Resistance
Day 2: Legs & Back
Day 3: Shoulders & Arms
Day 4: Cardio Abs
Day 5: Chest & Back
Day 6: Yoga X
Day 7: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Week 4
Day 1: Back & Biceps
Day 2: Pure Cardio & Abs
Day 3: Chest & Back
Day 4: Yoga X
Day 5: Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Day 6: Ab Ripper X
Day 7: X Stretch (recovery day)
Week 5
Day 1: Cardio Power & Resistance
Day 2: Yoga X
Day 3: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Day 4: Cardio Abs
Day 5: Legs & Back
Day 6: Core Cardio & Balance
Day 7: Shoulders & Arms
Week 6
Day 1: Ab Ripper X
Day 2: Max Interval Circuit
Day 3: Yoga X
Day 4: Back & Biceps
Day 5: Ab Ripper X
Day 6: Chest & Back
Day 7: X Stretch (recovery)
Week 7
Day 1: Max Interval Plyo
Day 2: Shoulders & Arms
Day 3: Max Cardio Conditioning
Day 4: Yoga X
Day 5: Legs & Back
Day 6: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Day 7: Max Interval Circuit
Week 8
Day 1: Back & Biceps
Day 2: Cardio Abs
Day 3: Chest & Back
Day 4: Max Interval Plyo
Day 5: Yoga X
Day 6: Pure Cardio
Day 7: Plyometrics
Week 9 (Insanity Season begins)
Day 1: Shoulders & Arms
Day 2: Max Interval Circuit
Day 3: Max Cardio Conditioning
Day 4: Core Cardio & Balance
Day 5: Max Interval Plyo
Day 6: Yoga X
Day 7: Cardio Abs
Week 10
Day 1: Core Cardio & Balance
Day 2: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Day 3: Max Interval Circuit
Day 4: Back & Biceps
Day 5: Max Cardio Conditioning
Day 6: Cardio Abs
Day 7: Max Interval Plyo
Week 11
Day 1: Shoulders & Arms
Day 2: Plyometrics
Day 3: Chest & Back
Day 4: Core Cardio & Balance
Day 5: Yoga X
Day 6: Legs & Back
Day 7: Ab Ripper X
Week 12
Day 1: Max Interval Plyo
Day 2: Max Interval Circuit
Day 3: Max Cardio Conditioning
Day 4: Core Cardio & Balance
Day 5: Max Interval Plyo
Day 6: Yoga X
Day 7: Cardio Abs
Week 13
Day 1: Max Interval Circuit
Day 2: Max Interval Plyo
Day 3: Max Cardio Conditioning
Day 4: Cardio Abs
Day 5: Core Cardio & Balance
Day 6: Max Interval Circuit
Day 7: Yoga X
Week 14
Day 1: Max Interval Plyo
Day 2: Cardio Abs
Day 3: Max Cardio Conditioning
Day 4: Max Interval Circuit
Day 5: Core Cardio & Balance
Day 6: Max Interval Plyo
Day 7: Max Interval Circuit
(Insanity Season ends)
And that’s the schedule. Note there might be some changes as time goes on.