Husband here:
So I can officially say, the second week of P90X has started off a lot easier than the first week. We are both tracking our reps and weight pretty closely where applicable, and I learned to pace myself on Chest and Back so I would have enough energy to give the last 30 minutes of the workout my full glory. My muscle endurance was better than last week, for sure, but I still have a lot of work left.
What I am realizing, however, is that I’m going to need some more weights if I want to get serious on the few exercises that require them. Most of P90X is about body resistance, cardio, ab workouts, mobility, and endurance, so on and so forth — in fact, needing so little equipment to get started and even to maintain the program (and even travel!) is a large part of its appeal — it’s really an elegant system. Before starting P90X I was probably using $50,000 worth of gym equipment at Gold’s Gym, but now I’m using about $100 worth of equipment in my own home and having my butt handed to me.
Still, a few of the chest, back, shoulder and arm exercises do benefit from extra weight. For some people just looking to trim fat and tone up, the resistance bands may be enough. However, I’m guessing most guys who want to bulk up some will start getting into the 25lb+ weight range with dumbbells before too long if they haven’t already transcended wussy manhood. I bought an adjustable set of dumbbells, and they will scale up, however, in my dreams I would buy this set of PowerBlocks:
These Bowflex SelectTech dumbbells look like a dream as well:
Generally the idea is to save space and make switching out weights super easy. However, you have to break the bank to do so unless you can get lucky on eBay or Craig’s List.
Anyway, week two is off to a great start. Tomorrow is Shoulders and arms, which is a little easier. However, Yoga X looms too close in the horizon, and I’m already trying to brace myself.
Tags: abripperX, chest&back, equipment, Plyometrics
Well, weights are expensive, the Powerblocks Sports 9.0 Stage III set put you back 897 dollar in the US, over here in Sweden?
2310 dollars!
I really like how some companies make up their own exchange rates ..
On the other hand I can probably get Eleiko weight plates cheaper than people in the US ;D
And now I got the reason for the high price (and it was 14900 sek for a complete set = 1902 dollars shipping and vat included.)
The price is fixed by the european distributor.
Fuck them =P
I don’t remember if the Bowflex went all the way up to 60 kg, don’t think so. And even if you don’t need as much weight they are still really wide even if you don’t have much weight on them which may be an issue for things like shoulder presses and such.
If you want a third more sturdy alternative, cheaper than the Powerblocks, more sturdy than the Bowflex but not as fast as either you can also look at the Ironmasters:
http://www.ironmaster.com/store/Quick-Lock-Dumbbells-c-1.html
Johan, thanks for the tip on the ironmaster. I hadn’t seen those yet! The wife and I are seriously considering the investment in some adjustable dumbbells, so we’ll add those for consideration. Having to change out weight is a MAJOR pain, and I think having something more adaptable would help us refine our lifting a lot.