Creating a P90X rotation from Cathe workouts

J

jane_grace

Cathlete
Those of you who have done the P90X workout - is it possible to create a P90X rotation from Cathe workouts?

Are Cathe workouts as intense? What about using the Slow and Heavy workouts for the weight and Kick Punch & Crunch for the kickboxing piece?

Or should I just take the plunge and buy P90X? My interest was piqued when I saw the infomercial this weekend.

How many times a year does one go through the P90X rotation?

Thanks so much!

-Jane
 
Hi Jane!

Yes, it is possible to create a faux P90X rotation. A few of my check-in friends did one while I did the actual P90X workouts. I'll search for it and get back to you.

As far as the workouts go, I'd say Tony was more intense for strength workouts and Cathe is more intense for cardio workouts. You could use Slow & Heavy or other Cathe strength workouts. With P90X, you have your choice of going heavy (8-10 reps) or going for endurance (12-15 reps). Depending on which way you want to go, you could choose your Cathe workouts accordingly. If you're going heavy, I would say Slow & Heavy and Gym Styles. For more endurance, you could go with Muscle Endurance and Power Hour. You could substitute KPC for Kenpo. Kenpo wasn't a bad workout but just not intense enough for me. But I think as someone else mentioned, the cardio workouts weren't supposed to be too intense as to not make you lose the muscle you're trying to build through the strength workouts. I pretty much did the 90 days as is although I did substitute quite frequently for Yoga X. Yoga X is a very long practice which many days I didn't have time for and I feel there are better yoga instructors out there.

By Phase 3, I started to get a little burned out doing the same workouts. I did sub once for Plyo X with Amy Bento's Hi/Lo Xtreme and I subbed Tracey's Staehle's Cardio Sweatfest for Kenpo once or twice. Cathe's IMAXes would be a good substitute for Plyo X but I think the IMAXes are more intense than Plyo X.

I did P90X from April to June of this year. I don't think I will do it again until next year. P90X takes a lot out of you (especially during Phase 1) so it's not a set of workouts that you would want to do over and over. There were a couple of people from my other check-in that did back to back rotations of P90X and it got to be too much and they didn't get the results they were hoping for.

In closing, I would definitely recommend getting P90X. It was one of the best fitness investments I've made.A

Marcy
 
Jane:

Here was the rotation we used:

Faux P90X using Cathe"

Heres a rotation using the Cathe PS and GS series. I (with a little help from my friend )tried to copy P90X as best I could, My DH will be burning the workouts onto one disk for GS chest and back and GS shoulders bi tri and the PS series I will just do mix and match features. Also, If you're not familiar with the different pushups you can just alternate with decline one set and standard for the next.

Hope you all like it....
Faux P90X rotation using Cathe
Push ups to failure
Weeks 1-3
Day 1 GS chest, back and abs
Standard push up
Dumbbell row
Military push up
1 arm row
Wide fly push up
T-back squeeze with the band
Decline push ups
BB pullover
Diamond push ups
Back extension
Dive bomber Push ups
back side rotation

Dumbbell row
Standard push up
1 arm row
Military push up
T-back squeeze with the band
Wide fly push up
BB pullover
Decline push ups
Back extension
Diamond Push ups
Back side rotation
Coremax alternate 1, 2 and tough abs

Day 2 Imax rotate using 1, 2, 3

Day 3 GS shoulders, bi, tri and abs
Overhead dumbbell press
Barbell curl
Close grip press
Overhead dumbbell press
Barbell curl
Close grip press

Lateral raise
Dumbbell partial curl
Dips (weight on lap)
Lateral raise
Dumbbell partial curl
Dips (weight on lap)

Band lateral raise
Concentration curl
Lying extension
Band lateral raise
Concentration curl
Lying extension

Band front raise
Curl turn down
Overhead extension
Band front raise
Curl turn down
Overhead extension

Rear dumbbell flye
Hammer curl
Cross body extension with weights
Rear dumbbell flye
Hammer curl
Cross body extension with band

Band rear flye
Wrist curl
Kickbacks with dumbbells (both arms at once)
Band rear flye
Wrist curl
Kickbacks with band

CTX kick box and ME abs/ PH and SJP abs

Day 4 Yoga
Day 5 B&G leg blast premix- w/o heavy weights, L&G, LM blasts only & KM leg drills
Day 6 KPC or CK
Day 7 off

Recovery weeks 4, 8, & 13
Yoga
Coremax (2 segments) or Pilates
Stretch
KM boot camp
Pilates
Yoga
Off


Weeks 5-7
Day 1 PS chest, shoulders and tri and abs
Decline pushups (3 sets)
Arnold press (2 sets)
Close grip press (3 sets)
Bench press (1 set light, 2 sets heavy)
Clean and press (2 sets)
Dumbbell French press
Flye (2 sets)
Standing side laterals
Cross body extensions
Incline chest press
Reverse flyes
Kickbacks
Incline chest flyes
Seated laterals
Dips with barbell in lap
15 min ab work of choice

Day 2 Imax 1, 2, 3

Day 3 PS back and bi and abs
T bar rows (3 sets)
Bent over rows (3 sets)
Barbell curls (2 sets)
Seated dumbbell curls
Shrugs (2 sets)
One arm rows (3 sets)
Negative curls (2 sets)
Concentration curls (2 sets)
Coremax alternate 1, 2 and tough abs

Day 4 Yoga
Day 5 B&G leg blast premix- w/o heavy weights, L&G, LM blasts only & KM leg drills
Day 6 KPC or CK
Day 7 Off

Weeks 9 & 11
Same as weeks 1-3

Weeks 10 & 12
Same as weeks 5-7

Marcy
 
Hi Marcy,
I will very much appreciate the rotation information. I may still pick up the P90X but at least I can get things moving along that way until I do pick them.
Thanks much!
-Jane
 
If you do a search in the "rotations" forum (way back, about 2 years?), I posted a P90X-like rotation using mostly the GS series. There are other "p90X-like" rotations there as well.

One suggestion: whatever Cathe workouts you use, put longer breaks between sets (except for S&H) to allow more recovery time for each muscle group---something that is done in P90X by setting up exercises as push-pull or in a circuit fashion, then taking a break after each circuit is done.
 
>May I ask How long of a break?

Long enough so that you feel ready to do the next set at the same (challenging) weight (and have caught your breath, after moves like step-ups and other lower body work), but not too long. For some exercises/workouts, I just take a few seconds longer. For others, 2x as long as the break on the DVD. And for others,3x as long. Once you've done this for a while, you'll get the feel for what works best for you. (This makes it more like working out in the weight room, where time between sets isn't determined by someone else, but by how your body feels).

It really depends on the workout and how heavy you are lifting (and your personal recovery ability, which varies with the individual. I saw a program about Lance Armstrong, and how his physiology is such that his muscles clear out lactic acid faster than most people, so he needs less recovery time than they do). Anywhere from 30 seconds to 90 seconds (but usually around a minute).
 
Regarding your rotation (which looks AWESOME, I might add!) When you say GS, back and biceps, for example, do you do the whole video plus the exercises you listed? (or are the exercises you listed in the GS series?) Does that makes sense? Thanks so much!

jen
 
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