Tony Horton and the Beachbody crew are back with their latest home workout program, the sequel to the massively successful P90X series. It’s called…wait for it….P90X2! I just finished this beastly program and found it quite difficult to complete. There was definitely a lack of motivation with P90X2.

I started with P90X way back in the day. It was the first home workout program I ever completed, and I had a lot of fun doing it. Oddly, I never wrote a review for it for some reason despite it being such an excellent program. P90X2 tries to raise the bar, and Tony Horton mentions throughout the program that this is meant for P90X grads, but in reality you can do this program just fine without having ever done P90X or other similar programs.

Much like P90X, X2 is a 90 day program that consists of 3 phases. Phase 1 is called Foundation, phase 2 is called Strength, and phase 3 is called Performance. With the original P90X, there were very specific programs to follow. If you wanted to get lean, you would follow the lean calendar. There was also the classic calendar and doubles, both of which you would follow a very specific routine. With P90X2, you are given more leeway to decide on how long you want to stay in each phase. So for phase 1, you can stay in the phase anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks, phase 2 is anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks, and phase 3 is anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks. While some people might appreciate this flexibility, I am going to guess many will not. Many people who go through these programs like to be told exactly what to do. They want to be able to follow the calendar exactly and press play. With P90X2, the leeway is ambiguous enough to make people wonder how long they should do each phase for, as long as it adds up to 12 weeks. I ended up going with 3 weeks in phase 1, 5 weeks in phase 2, and 4 weeks in phase 3. This was largely arbitrary, except I wanted to spend the least amount of time in phase 1, because I feel I am in pretty good shape and didn’t need the extra time to “build up” to phase 2 and 3.

All workouts range anywhere from 50 minutes to 75 minutes in length. The longer days are the days that require X2 Ab Ripper. This will not be a shock to P90X grads who had to go through something similar in the original P90X. The workouts vary from phase to phase, but some workouts are used in multiple phases. X2 Yoga is used the most, as it is required in all three phases. Plyocide and X2 Recovery+Mobility are used in both phase 1 and 2. Workouts are 5 days per week with 2 rest and recovery days, which is 1 more day of rest per week compared to P90X.

The workouts in phase1 include X2 Core, Plyocide, X2 Recovery + Mobility, X2 Total Body, X2 Yoga, X2 Balance + Power, and Ab Ripper.

The workouts in phase 2 include Chest + Back + Balance, Plyocide, X2 Recovery + Mobility, X2 Shoulders + Arms, X2 Yoga, Base + Back, and Ab Ripper. In addition, you can substitute V-Sculpt for Chest + Back + Balance, and X2 Chest + Shoulders + Tris for X2 Shoulders + Arms. I did the substition for the last two weeks of phase 2 out of sheer boredom and curiousity.

The workouts in phase 3 include P.A.P. Lower (P.A.P. stands for post activation potentiation, which is a fancy term being thrown around fitness circles), P.A.P. Upper, X2 Yoga, and X2 Recovery + Mobility. There is also a random recovery week tacked onto the end of phase 3 should you need it, which is basically X2 Recovery + Mobility and X2 Yoga alternated every day.

Phew…that was a mouth full. It isn’t so confusing once you actually see the calendar and your options and start the program, though. The one thing that I believe is a big no no for this program is the sheer amount of equipment needed, which is tons more than P90X. You’ll need a mat, towels, tape, up to four(!) medicine balls, dumbbells of various weights, a pullup bar, resistance bands, stability balls, a plyo box, a foam roller, push up stands, and a bunch of other stuff that I’m probably forgetting. Conviently, Beachbody sells all of the stuff you need. I didn’t have all of the equipment needed, but I had most of it and made due. Tony Horton does emphasize that you can do this program in your hotel room if you are traveling, and thus don’t need all of the equipment. In other words, a lack of equipment should not deter you from starting the program. Nonetheless, it is always nice to do the exercises as they are designed for maximum benefit, but the sheer number of “stuff” you need for P90X2 makes this very hard.

I am not going into what each workout consists of individually (that would ruin the surprise!). Just know that there will be a lot of familiar stuff from P90X such as a warmup and cooldown, lots of pullups, pushups, dumbbell work, etc. But there will also be a crapload of new stuff including tons of stability ball work, medicine ball work, and foam rolling. I really liked the foam rolling, that was a nice touch, since I usually neglect foam rolling despite it being so important for recovery. The medicine and stability ball stuff was interesting, but also not really needed, in my opinion. I don’t doubt that the exercises were difficult, because some were (Impossible-Possible was one such move that destroyed me). But what did it accomplish aside from making me better at that particular exercise? That, I’m not so sure of. I’m not convinced that there is a skill transference to other activities, and I’m not convinced you can’t get just as strong or fast doing simpler exercises. But I digress, that’s neither here nor there. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Overall, this was a very good program. Tony Horton was his usual hilarious and whacky self, and most of the workouts were very good and left you feeling like you put in some good work. My results were pretty good as I leaned out some more while packing on a bit of muscle and got stronger. If you have the equipment or are willing to purchase them, this would be a great program. Alternatively, the original P90X is also really awesome, requires less equipment, and had more hilarious moments with Tony Horton. If you’ve never done P90X I would suggest doing that first, and if you are looking to try something new you can’t go wrong with P90X2. You can get P90X2 in both DVD and Blu-Ray. It comes in 3 sizes: Base, Ultimate, and Deluxe, which vary with the number of equipment included.

Blu-Ray: Ultimate, Deluxe, and Base.

DVD: Ultimate, Deluxe, and Base.

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If you liked this review, you may also like my Insanity Asylum, GSP Rushfit, Rip:60, P90X+, Insanity, RevAbs, or RMAX BER reviews