P90X-2 (X2 Shoulders & Arms): Day 17

This blog post is overdue (as is Day 20's Base + Back review), but Katie and I ended up taking a quick getaway this past weekend to Asheville, NC for some Biltmore sightseeing, brewery visits (NOT on the P90X diet plan), gourmet chocolate tasting, and general relaxing.  That meant that we had to do our Shoulders & Arms session a day earlier--swapping places with our normal Recovery/Mobility day--in order for us not miss any workouts.

In any case, X2 Shoulders & Arms was actually quite a fun workout, which shouldn't be too surprising given that the original Shoulders & Arms was one of my favorites from the P90X program.  For one thing, although the new version does incorporate stability throughout (e.g. for most bicep curls, shoulder presses, etc., you will be doing them while balancing on one leg), which means you'll be engaging your core, the Shoulders & Arms routine focuses mainly on exactly what you'd expect: your shoulders and arms.  This means that your legs, back, etc. (i.e. the BIG muscle groups), are getting a rest; as such, this is a workout where you can really pulverize the muscles you're targeting without your entire body feeling crippled by the end.  That said, due to the modest bit of balance work involved, you will probably have to drop your weight a bit from what you'd otherwise be cranking out.

Overall, I'd say X2 Shoulders & Arms bears probably the closest resemblance to the original P90X series in terms of feel and pace.  As a matter of fact, in the second half of the workout Tony basically decides to forget about all the balancing/core stuff that pretty much defines P90X2 and instead focuses on simply getting a great muscle pump.  I resisted that urge, but the very fact that you can even do that without entirely changing the exercise shows how similar these moves are to the original series'.

Overview

• Length (52 minutes)
• You'll be done with this one in no time as it's one of the shortest P90X2 workouts, and I for one LIKE that
• Structure
• Three sets of 7 moves, repeated.  Each set has 2 bicep moves, 2 triceps, and 3 shoulder moves, which is slightly different from the original P90X's mantra of "shoulders, bi, tri" on repeat. 
• Normally I don't particularly like repeat moves, but this simply didn't bother me in this workout
• Notable Moves
• Crazy Eights
• These are tough! Very reminiscent of P90X's "21's", this is basically a bicep curl move.  Stand with one foot off the ground with dumbbells in hand.  From there, keep one dumbbell static halfway through a bicep curl while the other arm does full curls.  Switch arms every 8 curls for a total of 24. 
• Y-T Fly
• These are probably some of the toughest fly moves I've ever done.  Lay your chest down on a stability ball with your feet extended straight out behind you.  From there, with light dumbbells in hand, do a normal back fly (the "T") followed by a movement where you bring your arms/shoulders up towards the front of your in a "Y".  

Summary

Love it.  Tony essentially took one of my favorite P90X workouts and added a dash of balance/core work to it.  Definitely one that you can heavy up your weight on to drive some muscle gains, but not one of those workouts that has a stated goal of killing you (some of them seem to have that!).