So you’ve been diligent with your round of P90X or the Summer of ABS Challenge? You hit every workout. Never once wandered from your nutritional plan. You’ve been doing it all! Phase 3 starts tomorrow, what can you do to get the most out of Phase 3 and really end the program well? As you draw to the finish line of your first round, here are some tips to make the most of Phase 3.
Set Personal Bests in All Workouts During Phase 3
Let’s take P90X as an example – you can really do this with any workout.
You have now completed every workout you will see in Phase 3 of P90X. You also have records and notes on all the workouts. Set the goal of beating your rep and weight totals from the first two phases. If you did 20 pushups from round 2 of Chest and Back in Phase 1, set the goal to do more each time in Phase 3. If you did a total of 100 pull ups in Back and Biceps, beat it! Go for 105. You don’t have to beat every rep of every set, but you should really be pushing yourself to make improvements and gains each and every workout. Hopefully, you’ve been doing this the entire time, but at least now you know what to expect. No excuses!
Use Advanced Techniques to Do More
By Phase 3 you should have a pretty good base of fitness. Now these aren’t really complicated, but they will make your level of fitness advance. Really drive Phase 3 home by pulling out all the stops. Add a weight vest or back pack with plate weights for push ups and pull ups. Do push up and pull up drop sets. Finish as many reps as you can unassisted and then go right to your knees for push ups or place your foot right on a stool for pull ups. Now finish the set with as many push ups or pull ups as you can handle. (If you choose to use this technique, you may want to save it for the second round of the exercises. You will be really toasted after doing drop sets like this!) Finally, make the reps count. If you can’t afford more weight, do more reps. You need to be struggling on the last three reps.
Dial in Your Nutrition
Hopefully by this time you are rolling with your plan, but make no mistake, things happen. Set your eyes on the finish line at the end of Phase 3 and don’t compromise. Setting out to eliminate every bit of sugar you can is a worthwhile task. Drop dairy if you are still using it and be accurate with your portions. Look at all condiments you are using, do they contain sugar? Phase 3 is not the time to let anything slip.
Make the most of every day and stick it out! Hit your budgets dead on! Weigh every single portion. No cheating here! The finish line is so close so no extra bites, no tastes, not anything. You have been running your deficit for a long time, fight the urge to up the calories just yet. You will get tired in the evenings (that is why AM workouts are perfect). The longer you can stay with your deficit the better. You may even want to get extreme and maintain your protein budget while stripping away extra carbs (-100 calories). If you absolutely feel that you need to, move to 40%P/40%C/20%F, but stay at your same calorie goal. Phase 3 is almost over!
Here it comes! The end of Phase 3
I have sent this to a few members of teamRIPPED, but I believe it is good to shared with everyone. The idea of a race is powerful here. This first round has been a race. You’ve been running against the old you. Now the finish line is approaching. What runner sees the finish line and slows down? NO runner in their right mind does that! What do they do? THEY SPRINT! Give Phase 3 everything you have. Your final recovery week will feel so good when you know that you gave it your all. Then you can truly hold you head high knowing that you did everything you could and you are the absolute best YOU that you can be. Nice work, phase 3 is over, have a good night of rest… the next round starts tomorrow and you are ready!
Need a coach?
My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com
IG: @wayne_wyatt
