P90X Day 29: Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

(Originally posted Feb 5, 2009)

This is an update for yesterday's workout. For those who've been following my little notes on P90x, you'll know that last week was a "recovery" week.... a bit of a vacation from any resistance training. That's not to say it wasn't difficult! Replaced my weight-training workouts with extra yoga, core work, and cardio; not a walk in the park!

Anyway, yesterday marked the official start of Phase 2 (aka Month 2), and with it come two new exercise routines: 1) "Chest, Shoulders & Triceps" now takes the place of "Chest & Back"; 2) "Back & Biceps" now takes the place of "Shoulders & Arms". 

Well yesterday's new "Chest, Shoulders & Triceps" workout, despite the many fears I had leading up to it (particularly because I had read that the first exercise involved "slow motion pushups"), was actually pretty enjoyable as far as exercising goes. It'll kick your butt, but it's a heck of a lot more fun than Chest & Back was....primarily because of the fact that none of the 24 exercises from the routine gets repeated. Having that kind of variety makes this sooo much more engaging.

Basically, the workout consists mostly of traditional and not-so-traditional shoulder and tricep exercises (lots of shoulder press and fly moves, and lots of tricep extensions), as well as some of the most bizarrely difficult pushup moves I've ever seen. I almost threw my remote at the TV screen when they started donig one-armed pushups (at the END of the workout) and plyo-jump/clap pushups. Ugh! I'm just thankful there weren't any dive bombers like from the "Chest & Back" routine! I would have been toast

I think overall I had a pretty strong workout even though it's definitely not as sweat-inducing as some of the other weight routines. However, I usually find that I take longer than normal breaks when I'm starting a new workout for the first time so that I can see the different moves before I have a go at it myself. Hopefully next week I can keep the rests down to a minimum.

Ok, so here's the routine! (Any non-weighted exercises like pushups or dips is done to failure in terms of reps. Everything else is done as either 8-10 reps or 12-15 reps depending on whether you're looking to build muscle or just get toned)
- Slow Motion Pushups 
- Shoulder Fly In & Out 
- Chair Dips 
- Plank Pushups 
- Pike Pushups 
- Side Tricep Rise 
- Floor Flys (side moving pushups) 
- Scarecrows 
- Overhead Tricep Extensions 
- Alternate Speed Pushups 
- Y Shoulder Press 
- Lying Tricep Extension 
- Side to Side Pushup 
- Pour Flys for Shoulders 
- Tricep Extensions 
- One Arm Pushups 
- Weighted Shoulder Circles 
- Throw the Bomb 
- Plyo or Clap Pushups 
- Slow Mo Throw 
- Tricep Extension 
- One Arm Balance Pushups (pushups w/ a yoga-esque rotation at the top) 
- Fly Row Press 
- Dumbbell Cross Body Blows