In any case, last week was a bit of a circus as it was my last official week of business school classes and there was PLENTY going on to keep me distracted! That said, I was happy to be able to incorporate another new workout into the P90X-2 mix with "V-Sculpt", which is one of the included bonus workouts that comes with the deluxe version of the program. For me, being able to swap in a few non-scheduled workouts is key for helping me both stay off boredom as well as reinforce the ongoing muscle confusion. Those who read some of my reviews of the original P90X may remember that I purchased the P90X Plus+ supplementary workouts about halfway through to help spice things up, and so I was extremely appreciative to Beachbody for including a few extra workouts this time around:
- Chest + Shoulders + Tris
- V-Sculpt
- Tony Horton's 1-On-1 "4 Legs"
- Tony Horton's 1-On-1 "Upper Body Balance"
V-Sculpt is basically P90X-2's version of Back and Biceps, and it is an utter doozy with lots of new, often technical moves.
Brief Aside
One of the things I've really appreciated about P90X-2 is that it hasn't felt quite as static as P90X did in terms of the distinctiveness of each Phase. Part of the reason for this has to do with the fact that P90X really encompassed very similar workouts throughout the entire program, simply swapping in different sorts of moves, etc., to help keep it interesting. For instance, in P90X Phase 1 you'd do Chest & Back, but in Phase 2 you'd do Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. In P90X-2, the level of differentiation across Phases is much more pronounced (which I love!). In Phase 1, for instance, you start off your week doing X2 Core, which is a total body, core-centric workout that's all about the stability and medicine balls. Phase 2, however, gets back to the truly serious resistance work (including pullups) by switching over to Chest + Back + Balance. As it happens, there is not a single pullup to do in Phase 1 of P90X-2. In the original program, you do them throughout the entire 90 days!
Back to V-Sculplt
Anyway, V-Sculpt, as I mentioned is an absolute doozy. I really liked this workout overall, it destroyed my upper body in a way no other P90X-2 workout has done other than Chest + Shoulders + Tris, and it provided much needed variety for the program's second Phase.
That said, although I enjoyed it, it wasn't quite as appealing to me as Chest + Shoulders + Tris was. There are 23 completely different moves in the workout, and the rapid pace of this one makes it somewhat difficult to get you and your equipment ready from exercise to exercise.
Also, as I mentioned before, there are a few extremely technical, balance-heavy moves that are going to be tough to master. In particular, the many "renegade" bicep moves where you balance in a plank position with one hand on a med ball and the other curling a dumbbell require your core to be engaged in way that few of the other P90X-2 workouts have needed. Getting fried early on in this workout is more of an inevitability rather than a possibility, so use lots of caution when doing these moves and focus on quality vs quantity!
Summary
- Length (53 minutes)
- Not quite as ridiculously fast pacing as Chest + Shoulders + Tris, but for all practical purposes it's more challenging in terms of pace because there are no repeat moves and some of them have tricky setups (especially a moves that involve bands)
- Structure
- Typical P90X-2 warmup and cooldown
- The actual workout consists of 23 different moves, NO repeats. I tended to favor no repeat workouts in P90X, but that was partly because the moves were a little to set up for. 23 moves in P90X-2 is a lot harder since there's more set up required and the moves are a lot more technical in terms of stability, etc. Makes it a bit tough to keep up at times!
- Background Exercisers
- Cogan (sp?)
- This guy is US Marine Corps. "Was shot, and then got blown up in a truck." And now he's here in the background P90X-2, showing off how to do the modification moves using the bands. He doesn't talk overly much and seems pretty serious, but he definitely works hard.
- Collette
- A, well, extremely attractive young lady who apparently is an "Olympic Lifter," although I'm not quite certain what that is. She certainly doesn't look like a body builder or anything! In any case, she's actually also in the X2 Ab Ripper, and I have to say in both videos she does a great job going hard, demonstrating good form, and having a happy enough attitude to deal with Tony :)
- Sean
- I had actually seen this guy's Beachbody Coach website before (www.getrippedathome.com), and he seems like a solid guy. One of Tony's beach workout bodies, he rocks at pullups and seems to have a great sense of humor to help play off of Tony.
- Notable Moves
- Around the World Pullup
- Look a bit tougher than they are, but still quite tough to do well! Basically, starting from the hanging/resting position on your pullup bar, pull yourself up towards one hand and then at the top circle over to your other hand before coming back down to the bottom again. Repeat. They're somewhat similar to P90X's corncob pullups, but I liked them better.
- I was able to manage 9, which I'm hoping to bring up a bit going forward since it's the first exercise out of the gate! The right shoulder's been giving me some trouble on these though.
- Med Ball Renegade Curl
- This move can also be seen somewhat as a proxy description for several of the other moves in V-Sculpt. Basically, you start in a plank-esque position with feet extended behind you and one hand on a med ball while the other curls a dumbbell. Your core has to be incredibly engaged to not keel over on these! Plus, given the pose that you're in while doing the curls, you'd better lower your weight to something a bit more reasonable.
- Have never done anything like these before, so this was a humbling move. Managed 8 reps on each side @ 25lbs.
- Roman Band Curl
- Another move that can be seen as a bit of a proxy for other moves in the workout. Unlike most other P90X workouts, this move actually requires a band. Basically, you sit down on top of a stability ball with your legs extended out wide in front of you. Then wrap a resistance band around your feet and then curl the handles up and across your body towards your opposite shoulder. These were fun, but the band moves in this workout will require a good bit of tweaking to make sure I'm using the right band color, etc.
- No idea how many I did (just went till time was up). Used a 20ish lb band I believe, but that doesn't really mean anything since it also depends on how taut the band is.
- 21 Pull-up
- What on earth? Do 7 "bottom-half" pullups where you go from the bottom of pullup position up halfway. Then 7 more from the halfway position all the way to the top. Then 7 final normal pullups with full range of motion. I was only able to do 6, 6, and 2.
- Entman's Chin-Up
- So, essentially do normal chin-ups, but with a weighted med ball held between your feet.
- Did 6 reps with 6lb ball.
- Stability Ball Lawnmower
- These are tough and a bit awkward. You extend your feet out behind you and then lay down on a stability essentially, using one of your forearms to support you on it. Then use the other arm to row a dumbbell. Your balance and core will be tested here! I almost went flying off my ball more than a few times.
- 7 reps @ 30 lbs. Can typically do about 55lbs+ on normal lawnmowers, so these are much more precarious!
- Close Body Curl
- Very tough, but I really liked these. Killed the biceps! With your hands down at either side, gripping dumbbells, "curl" the weights up towards your shoulders. However, rather than the curl causing the weight to arc up towards your shoulder like in a typical curl, you instead keep the dumbbells tracking right along your torso so that your elbows extend out behind you. I guess at the end of the move your weights are more up towards your armpits than your shoulders!
- Managed 8 reps at 20lbs, which ended up being tougher than I expected.
Overall Thoughts
Really liked it, but it was way too fast for me to keep up this first time through. Lots of different moves with some complicated setups, especially when you're using adjustable dumbbells like my PowerBlocks. I would advise watching this one through first before attempting!
Also, some notes on the diet. Have been doing a good job for the most part keeping my calorie count up. However, I still need to shift my macronutrient intake a bit more towards protein than what it has been. We'll see how that goes over the next week! One other thing to note though is that although I definitely can tell the increased calorie count has helped with the muscle growth, it's starting to pack on a slight bit of fat as well. This is normal, but it stinks to deal with. I'll just have to burn it off in Phase 3!
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