Legs and Back

This is a review of the Legs and Back workout, part of the P90X program. To learn more about the program and see reviews of the other workouts in the program, click here.

In order to put the Legs and Back workout into perspective, you need to first imagine how tired you likely are from doing your first 4 workouts from the week. You’re thinking, “I’ve made it through so far. How bad can it be?” And then you begin this workout. About half way through the first exercise, you realize, “Oh man, this is gonna be rough.” That’s how I would describe this workout.

The overall premise

So, for this one, you’ll be doing 2 leg exercises followed by pull-ups, for a total of 8 rounds. The good news is that,although it starts out a bit on the rough side, the workout quickly becomes manageable due to the length of each section. Please understand, this is not to say that the workout ever gets easy. It certainly does not. It’s just possible to wrap your head around it all and push through. It’s really quite similar to other workouts like Chest and Back and Shoulders and Arms in this respect.

The pace

Where this workout sets itself apart from others is in its pacing. Because there are very few max rep workouts (meaning, once you’re done, you’re done, and you have the rest of the time given for that exercise to rest), you will experience a pretty steady transition from one exercise to the next. Sure, if you can’t do many pull-ups, you will get some rest there, but, if, like me, your pull-up bar is in the other room and you’re doing a pretty good number of pull-ups, you will often show up a few seconds late for the next part.

Finishing…

The roughest part of this workout comes at the second to last exercise: Debbie Siebers Speed Squats. I’m not really sure who Debbie Siebers is, but I don’t like her. On this squat exercise, you have the option to go extreme and jump at the top of each squat, and this is what I always chose to do. While I guarantee that doing so helped me to get in better shape, this exercise has a way of leaving you gasping for breath as you go into your last pull-up set. I was always amazed at the overall cardio effect of this non-cardio workout.

Image from Gregor Rohrig.