P90X Chest & Back Workout Routine

In Phase 1 of P90X you'll do the Chest & Back with Ab Ripper X workout on days 1, 8, and 15. Total workout time, including Ab Ripper X: 1:12:58.

Tony Horton’s thoughts on Chest and Back:
“Chest and Back is push and pull to the extreme. What’s nice about it is the variation of hand grips, distance, push-up bars. If you can eliminate that mindset that ‘I can’t. I can’t do pull ups.’ Forget I can’t – say ‘I presently struggle with’ and if you keep that mindset then over the course of time, someone who’s dream was to do two or three could turn it into twenty and more! Some folks are gonna have to dig down and see what they’re made of for the second round of this thing. But in the end they’re gonna discover that this is a world class upper body workout – guaranteed!”

Equipment needed:
· Weights or Bands
· Push up bars
· Pull up bar or bands
· Chair
· Fitness guide and pen
· Water and towel

P90X’ers on the DVD:
· Tony Horton
· Moraine – Modified moves. P90X graduate. “She’s bad. She’s bad ass!”
· Scott Fifer – On the bands. P90X graduate. Wrote the copy for P90X website
· Bobby Stevenson – Advanced moves. Tony’s buddy. Also on the Power Half Hour DVD
· Martin – One of the cameramen!

Warm-ups – About 9 minutes
· Knees up
· Run in place
· Jumping jacks
· Run lunges
· Shakers
· Head rolls
· Chest stretch
· Toppa stretch
· Side stretch
· Arm circles
· Ballistic stretches: Shakers/Huggers
· Back/Front strokes
· Reachers
· Shoulder – Tricep combo stretch
· ‘Chicken wing’ stretch

Chest & Back Workout – 12 sets, repeated – About 40 minutes
1. Standard width pushups – Maximum number of reps
2. Wide front pull ups (hands shoulder width apart) - Maximum number of reps
3. Military pushups (hands directly underneath your shoulders) – Max reps
4. Reverse grip chin-ups – Max reps
*** 45 second water break!
5. Wide fly pushups (hands out past shoulders) – Max reps
6. Close grip overhand pull ups (about six inches in between your hands) – Max reps
7. Decline pushups (feet on a chair, hands on ground at regular width) – Max reps
8. Heavy pants (in a lunge position with a flat back, pull up weights or bands like you would pull up your pants) – If you are going for larger muscles, pick a weight that will let you do 8 – 10 reps. For tone, defined muscles do 12 – 15 reps.
*** 45 second water break!
9. Diamond pushups (With wide feet, your pointer fingers and thumbs come together to make a diamond shape. Hands are underneath your head. Pushup should be low – chest should make contact with your hands) – Max reps
10. Lawnmowers (from a lunge position, left arm rests on left leg while you pull up your weight or band. When finished with the left side switch and do the right side). 8 -10 reps for size, 12 – 15 reps for definition.
11. Dive bomber pushups (wide hands and feet with your butt in the air, dip down as if you are sliding ‘under a fence.’ Come back up in the same ‘under the fence’ motion.) – Max reps
12. Back flys (sitting on the edge of a chair, with weights behind your ankles, pull the weight up in a fly motion. Be sure to lift with your back and not shoulders (collapse your shoulder blades together)). 8 -10 reps for size, 12 – 15 reps for definition.
*** End of round one - 60 second break!
*** Repeat!

Cool down – About 4 minutes
· Shakers
· Huggers
· Front / Back stroke
· Side stretches
· Wide feet, touch the ground with hands
· Cat stretch (spinal stretch)
· Child’s pose

Immediately following Chest & Back is Ab Ripper X. Click HERE for the Ab Ripper X workout routine.