P90X2: Yoga

Workout length (incl. warmup and cooldown): 1:06:00

Set: Pretty much the same as P90X (dark basement gym)

Background exercisers: Two girls and a guy. The guy to Tony's right is doing the advanced versions of the moves, and the girl in the back (Tony's chef) is doing the modifications.

Equipment needed: Mat, towel

Workout:

Unlike the other P90X2 workouts this one is a yoga practice that flows, so I was not able to write down the moves and what order they're in and they're not listed in the P90X2 worksheets (since yoga is not rep-based). Off of the top of my head, the routine features the following poses (not in this order): Forward bend, plank, chaturanga w/push up, up dog, down dog, Warriors 1-3, reverse warrior, half moon, twisting half moon, standing splits, splits, chair, side angle pose w/bind, triangle, crane (crow optional), bridge, wheel, plough, seated forward bend, yogi bicycle, split leg crunch, happy baby, frog, spinal twist, shavasana.

For those not familiar with P90X Yoga, P90X2 yoga is an athletic type power yoga workout. It does not have any woo-woo or new-agey stuff, and the majority of Tony's talking is to cue the moves and give pointers. The pace isn't too fast or too slow, it's more of a mix of flowing (which gets the heart rate up) and holding certain poses (which builds endurance).

The workout starts with Sun Salutation A, which is a vinyasa to warm up. A few of these are done before moving to Sun Salutation B, a vinyasa that ends in Warrior 1. A LOT of these are done before adding chair pose and other standing poses. Then he does a few ab moves, followed by stretches and ending in shavasana and seated pose. A few other flexibility moves are interspersed throughout the workout.

Workout level:

It's really tough for me to determine workout levels, especially with yoga, since balance is my weakness yet I am pretty flexible. I would say this is intermediate to advanced workout; someone who is a solid intermediate in yoga will be able to do the whole workout with some modifications. I would not recommend this to a beginner. I also got the impression that Tony does not give as many form pointers as in P90X Yoga, so only those familiar with the poses should do this routine.

Personal impressions:

I really like P90X Yoga so I was looking forward to this one. For those who like P90X Yoga, this will not disappoint. However, I found a few differences with P90X Yoga that have to do with the my pros and cons of this workout. First off, it's not 1.5 hours like P90X Yoga (though it's a tad over an hour), which is great for when I don't have time for 1.5 hours. However, there aren't as many poses as in P90X yoga, but to be fair, there's only so much yoga that can fit in an hour. There definitely weren't as many balance poses; I think only crane/crow and half moon/twisting half moon/standing splits. This routine is more flow-ey than the P90X yoga, which is good in a way. At first, I was annoyed at doing so many of the same vinyasas ending in Warrior 1 (whereas in P90X Yoga a new pose is added each time), but towards the end of the salutations my endurance was very challenged and I was almost out of breath. What I really liked was that he put the ab exercises almost at the middle of the routine rather than the end; the downside to P90X Yoga IMO was that the ab section was at the end AFTER all the nice stretching. I'd rather get the hard stuff done and the stretching at the end! I also prefer ab moves to be interspersed throughout the workout rather than at the end (as most workouts do for some reason). Overall I think this is a great athletic-type yoga workout. This was my first workout of the year and it is definitely a keeper!