P90X: Workout One - Chest and Back

Full Disclosure:  I could not do an unassisted pull up for love or money.  And I’m okay with that.

Chest and Back is the first workout in the P90X regime and there is no easing you into it.  The first time I did this DVD, in 2008, I could barely lift my arms for three days.

You will need a pull-up bar.  I have an Iron Gym, which could be the best $25.00 I’ve ever spent.  I also now use a pull-up assist (mine is from Lifeline, not the one sold by Beachbody).  The first few times I did the P90X program, I used a chair to assist with the pull-ups, but the newer pull-up assist products (basically a strap that hooks to the pull-up bar, that then has bands to provide the assist which attach to a strap for one foot) are MUCH better.  Until I had the assist, I didn’t realize how much I had been pushing up with my legs on the chair rather than pulling with my arms/back.

I also have some push-up stands (not the rotating ones) but frankly sometimes I use them and sometimes I don’t.  I’m not completely convinced they do that much for me.  Other useful equipment for this workout includes a mat and you do need a chair and a couple of dumbbells.

This DVD is structured with a warm-up, then the workout which alternates between push-ups and pull-ups, and ends with a cool down.   It’s about 50 minutes from start to finish and, other than being unable to wash my hair due to soreness after the first time, this is a great routine.  Push-ups and pull-ups are such essential gauges of fitness that doing this routine first almost acts as a ‘fit test’ so help monitor progress throughout the 90 days of this program.

Because this is the first disc in the P90X series, Tony Horton’s schtick is new and amusing.  After a while, though there were days when I would do the warm-up with the DVD, then switch back to live TV and do the exercises by following the outline in the fitness guide, and then going back to the DVD for the cool-down.  One very nice thing about the original P90X is the detailed exercise descriptions in the fitness guide which thus allows for that flexibility.

Chest and Back is a DVD I sometimes put in after I’ve been doing other workout programs because I just like the fundamental nature of the exercises.  Whether I’m good at them or not.