The Asylum Vol. 2 Workouts:
- X Trainer. (50 minutes) – this workout’s best match would be Speed & Agility from Vol 1. Get ready to practice your moves. While Vol. 1 took some coordination, the sequences in Asylum Vol. 2 will take complete focus and a lot of practice. To really maximize this workout, you are going to need to have the footwork down. Then you can get in the zone and DIG DEEP. The Moving Matrix Pushups are crazy! Your chest, shoulders, and core will be burning on that 60 rep set.
- Upper Elite. (60 minutes) – you might think this is just a new version of Strength, but you’d be wrong. Shaun T. broke away from a total body strength day and instead has a couple great resistance days (this being one of them). Upper Elite focuses really heavily on chest and shoulder work. There are tons of dumbbell presses and lots of push ups. The one arm assisted push up sequence is great. As you become able to hang with it the entire time, your chest will have no choice but to grow!
- Ab Shredder. (20 minutes) – this is an intense 20 minutes of ab work without crunches! Lots of planks and holds. This will be a great addition and a welcome change to those that are only used to Ab Ripper X. This workout does not show up in the calendar until week 3 (Back & 6-Pack has dedicated core work before that).
- Power Legs. (55 minutes) – “…the point of this workout is to increase speed and power in your lower body.” Power Legs is going to do that for you without a doubt. Again, your ability to master some more difficult footwork will help you get even more out of this workout. Just like in Vol.1, remember that you have to stay in control. As you master the Asylum Vol. 2 workouts, you will then be able to really push. Your Power Bands will become your best friends in Power Legs. Grab the red band and go hard. A fun addition to this workout is dumbbell squat and kettlebell work. Don’t think you need to go out and buy some kettlebells, you can easily use a dumbbell.
- Back & 6-Pack. (40 minutes) – This is an awesome upper body workout. It hits you HARD with pullup exercises and alternates them with some rough Ab work and core work. You have the option of subbing dumbbell moves for the pullups, but I did the pullup option and it really smoked me. This is one of my favorite of the A2 workouts. Between this working the back and bi’s, and Upper Elite working the chest and shoulders, you don’t have to worry about a lack of resistance work with A2.
- Championship + Bonus! Fit Test (Sudden Death OT). (60 minutes) – Championship from Asylum Vol. 2 may not be quite on the same level as Gameday from Vol 1. Shaun T. spends more time talking and it just doesn’t seem as hard. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find a way to bring it and make it harder. This is just my initial feelings. I am sure that when I am more comfortable with the workout, I will be able to turn up the intensity on my own. Watch out though — the sudden death fit test will kill you if you are bringing it! Track your rounds through Sudden Death and see how you improve.
- Off-Day Stretch. (30 minutes) A great way to stretch out your muscles, which will be sore as heck from these crazy intense workouts! Nuff said!
The Asylum Vol. 2 Nutrition Guide (Get Shredded 2)
Just like in Vol. 1, the nutrition guide for the Asylum Vol. 2 leaves a bit to be desired. It is a collection of meal choices and recipes to be used during the 4 weeks. It’s no secret that I am not a fan of this style of plan. I feel you get the best results from tracking exactly what you eat. I also feel it is more realistic to track what you normally eat and have time to make. If you have time to make these recipes and track their macro nutrients, that is great. You will have some amazing meals. It’s just not as realistic for me to make all of these meals and snack, 5x a day, for the 4 weeks. The plan does taper its carbohydrates like Vol. 1. By the fourth and fifth meals, you will only be getting carbs from vegetables. It is fairly high protein throughout.
For those that are going to track (which I hope is all of teamRIPPED!), here are my recommendations. If your goal is to get shredded, the first given is a deficit. The Asylum Legends who got the best results all committed to a calorie deficit to cut body fat. They ran the deficit the entire time, and that is tough work! Most people can stick with the guides recommendation of 1800 calories and be set. I would then follow the spirit of the plan. Taper your carbs throughout the day, avoid dairy, and set macro goals of 40%P / 40% C / 20% F (or Fat Shredder if you are really crazy!). If you can dig deep and make stick to only 1800 calories at 40/40/20, you will GET SHREDDED!
*Gear for Asylum Vol. 2*
The Asylum Vol. 2 makes the assumption that you have already completely Vol. 1 when you purchase Asylum Vol. 2. That means that the necessary gear (agility ladder, speed rope, and strength bands) do not come with the program. It is also assumed that you have a decent selection of other gear by this time too. To get the most out of the program, it would be best to have a pull up bar and a good selection of dumbbells. Hopefully you have a round of P90X in your past and those tools are already in your arsenal. Click here if you need replacements or new gear for Asylum Vol. 2.
Conclusions from Asylum Vol. 2
Asylum Vol. 2 is an awesome program. It has several workouts that will be in my list of “favorites” for future hybrids. If I had to put together a list of my favorite workouts from Volume 1 and 2, I’d list the following =
From Vol 1:
Speed and Agility
Vertical Plyo
Gameday and OT
From Vol 2:
Upper Elite
Back and 6 Pack
Power Legs
X Trainer
With those Asylum routines, mixed with some Beast, P90X, and X2, I can imagine some vicious hybrids coming in the New Year!! Can’t wait!!
Remember to come join our teamRIPPED Asylum Crazies facebook group if you are doing either Volume 1 or Volume 2. Feed off each other and me as we enter the Asylum!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
