P90X is an intense, 13-week, in-home training program designed for those who are already at an intermediate to advanced level of fitness. The program includes 12 DVDs, each containing one strength, cardio or flexibility workout. Three workouts include exercises for your chest and back: the "Chest & Back" DVD, the "Chest, Shoulders & Triceps" DVD and the "Back & Biceps" DVD.
The Program
You complete six or seven workouts per week on the P90X program. Three to four sessions per week are strength workouts and two to three sessions are cardiovascular workouts. The other sessions consist of core or flexibility training. Before you start the program, you are encouraged to take the P90X fitness test. Because this is an extreme, high-volume workout routine, you should only do P90X if you are already relatively fit.
Chest and Back
The "Chest & Back" workout is the main upper body, strength-training routine in the P90X program. You do this workout during weeks one, two, three, nine and 11. The workout consists of 12 multi-joint, strength exercises for the chest and back muscles. You will need dumbbells and a pullup bar. If you don't have a pullup bar, you can do lat pulldowns with resistance bands instead of pullups. The "Chest & Back" routine includes several variations of pushups, pullups and rows.
Chest, Shoulders and Triceps
The "Chest, Shoulders & Triceps" workout includes exercises for the chest, but not the back. You do this workout during weeks five, six, seven, 10 and 12. The P90X program combines chest, shoulder and triceps exercises in one workout because many chest exercises also work the shoulders and triceps. This routine consists of 24 different upper-body strength exercises. For the chest, you do several variations of the pushup and a couple different fly exercises. The other exercises in the workout isolate the triceps or shoulders without involving the chest.
Back and Biceps
The "Back & Biceps" DVD includes exercises for the back, but not the chest. You do this workout the same weeks you do the "Chest, Triceps & Shoulders" workout. P90X combines back and biceps exercises because many back exercises also work the biceps. This routine consists of 24 strength exercises. The back exercises are mostly pullups, reverse flies and variations of the bent-over row. You will need a pullup bar or resistance bands for the pullup exercises.
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