P90X Workout Review: Chest and Back

Article by Clint Nolan

P90X Chest and Back is the major upper-body “push-pull” routine of the P90X Home Fitness package. The emphasis is on doing pushups, pullups, and rows at a huge variety of angles in order to tax the entirety of the chest and back muscles.

Time Required: 1 hourEquipment Required: Pullup bar, Pushup bars, Resistance bands or dumbbells

– At first it felt a little weird working along with a video, but I reminded myself to keep a beginner’s mind and just stick with the plan. Admittedly, Tony Horton’s bravado is part of the motivation throughout the workout. When you workout alone, staying motivated is critical and Tony does a good job here.

-The goal of the is to work to “failure”. Momentary muscular failure is the point where the muscles are so fatigued that they are burn like crazy and you have no further ability to grind out another repetition. This causes a reaction in the body and forces the muscle to adapt by getting stronger.

-The whole workout is 12 compound movements, involving multiple joints, performed in a modified circuit. Meaning, you do one chest exercise of max reps, then move to a back exercise that is also max reps. This allows the pushing body part (chest) to recover slightly while the pulling part (back) is working, and vice versa.

-Your body is taxed to an extreme level, yet it’s scaled to where you are right now, that your body has no choice but to evolve and adapt. Just make sure that you can pass the “fit test” at the beginning of the program and you’ll do great if you hang in there.

-Pushing movements include standard pushups, military pushups, diamond pushups, wide fly pushups, dive bomber pushups and decline pushups.

-Pulling movements include wide front pullups, reverse grips chin ups, close grip overhead pullups, lawnmowers, back flys, and heavy pants.

-It’s emphasized, as in every p90X workout, to keep track of your reps and weight, and to set a goal on every set. This is one area where many workout plans fail to progress, is not keeping track of their total workload to ensure that they are always moving forward. Tony Horton is constantly reminding you to record your progress.

In summary, P90X Chest and Back is a well planned and well executed example of how people can get a high-quality home workout that is equal or superior to going to the gym. If you’re not sore after this workout, you’re doing it wrong.

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