Latest News

Clues beginning to emerge on asymtomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection
Back in November of 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was teaching an in-person microbiology laboratory. One of my students had just been home to see his parents, and they all c…
Read more
Could there maybe be better uses of genetics and probiotics?
Professor Meng Dong and his laboratory have created a probiotic that can metabolize alcohol quickly and maybe prevent some of the adverse effects of alcohol consumption. The scientists cloned a highl…
Read more
ChatGPT is not the end of essays in education
The takeover of AI is upon us! AI can now take all our jobs, is the click-bait premise you hear from the news. While I cannot predict the future, I am dubious that AI will play such a dubious role in…
Read more
Fighting infections with infections
Multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections are becoming more of an issue, with 1.2 million people dying of previously treatable bacterial infections. Scientists are frantically searching for new metho…
Read more
A tale of two colleges
COVID-19 at the University of Wisconsin this fall has been pretty much a non-issue. While we are wearing masks, full in-person teaching is happening on campus. Bars, restaurants, and all other busine…
Read more

News

P90X3 Impressions


 

This series of blog posts are going to be about the new P90X3 workouts. I thought it would be fun to write my impressions of the program as I did it, to give people a taste of what it is like. I just got the P90X3 discs and of course I went through all the material. This looks like it's the same top quality as P90X and P90X2; what else would you expect from Beachbody and Tony Horton? I bought the deluxe package to get the extra workouts. You have a nutrition guide (which I will cover later), the workouts, extra exercise bands, the energy and endurance formula and the DVDs. You also get a workout calendar (and an extra workout calendar for the extra workouts).

Energy and endurance formula

This is advice that I would give anyone, before you start a supplement, read the ingredients. One of the top ingredients is caffeine, and that does not agree with me. If I take in any caffeine it keeps me up at night, and I mean any caffeine. So this is one part of the package I won't be using. Your milage, of course, may vary.

The calendar

This is nicely done, giving you a chance to see what workout you need to do and also having a box to check whether you kept to your diet or not. It's a great motivator for anyone who is just starting out. Seeing those little check marks pile up helps to keep you going and adding the diet check mark is a nice touch. Put the calendar up somewhere and use it.

How to accelerate

This is the typical advice DVD that is the first thing you should watch. Even if you have done P90X and P90X2, watch this DVD. There is tons of great advice in the DVD that tells you all about the program. Yes, lots of it you have heard before, but pay attention for the golden nuggets of advice that Tony gives you that you have not heard before. The thinking behind the program is explained and that really helps you to understand why you are doing what you are doing.

Total Synergistics

And to end this post, I talk about the first workout. This is a perfect start to the series. It uses a bunch of fun and challenging moves. One of the weaknesses of P90X was that you began the process with Chest and Back followed by Plyomertics. These are probably the two hardest workouts in the series and may discourage people new to working out from continuing. Total Synergistics seems to have clearly learned from this and you are introduced to the series with a good workout, but it doesn't kill you.

For those of you that have done the other P90X series, total synergistics is what you would get if you mixed core synergistics with P90X2 and then crunched it down to 30 min. In the announcement video for P90X3 Tony says that he took everything he learned in P90X and P90X2 and used it to make P90X3. This workout already demonstrates that statement. So now on to the moves

This workout uses 16 moves that consist of exercises that work many parts of your body at once. The workout focuses on everything. One of my fears with the short workout time, is that it would be rushed, with no warm up, no chances for Tony's personality, no real time to change in between moves, and no cool down. I was pleasantly surprised! The pace is quick, but not frantic. Tony spends more time coaching, and not doing the moves, but I find that an asset, not a liability. This DVD also features the return of Dreya and I think that is great. The friendship between Dreya and Tony is fun to watch.

If you didn't like the balance moves in P90X2, you are not going to like this workout. When I first started P90X2, I was not a fan of all this balance work, but as you do it, you get better and now I love that stuff! These balance moves are based on the latest research, activating the entire kinetic chain, and if you force yourself to do them, you will get better. Be patient, you are going to stumble a lot at first. For you macho men out there wanting to move big weights, I advise you to put your ego on the shelf, and do these moves with lighter weights. There are also a bunch of yoga based moves in the warmup, the workout moves and the cool down. If you skipped the yoga in P90X, my friend you are going to do it now. As Tony would say, “Do the damn yoga!” He really wants people to do the yoga. If you want to see Tony go absolutely ballistic, join one of his online chats and ask him if you can substitute a different workout for the Yoga. It really is good for you, and you will learn to love it.

As for the specific moves, I won't say much. Except there are pullups (It is a Tony Horton routine) and on top of that you bring your legs up while doing them. Oh joy. These were tough! These are followed by easier moves that help you recover. By the end of the workout I was sweating and the pace made it a decent cardio routine to boot. I really likes this routine. I will post daily as I work through the first phase.