Workout Substitutions Revisited

One of my favorite parts of using Beachbody programs is the wide variety of workouts that are available to us. It’s been a a couple years since I orginally wrote about Workout Substitutions, and Beachbody has even more options now than when I last talked about this!  Not only do we have amazing programs that are pre-designed for us, but we can mix it up in many ways.

Since P90X is the most popular home workout on the planet, I often find that people finish a round of the X and then aren’t sure what to do for the next 90 days.  Do they simply repeat it?  This can get a little monotonous to repeat the P90X program start to finish again.  Do they switch entirely to something else like P90X2?  (that’s a nice solution if you like to plug and play with a set schedule).  Or do they mix things up with some variety from multiple workout programs?

As you know from my hybrid workout calendars, I have always loved doing hybrids with lift days from P90X and the Tony Horton 1-on-1 series, and cardio days from Insanity and Asylum. But now I can include Body Beast, Asylum Vol 2, P90X2, and many more. You can see my many hybrid calendars here.

Interchanging cardio days is fairly easy. You can substitute most of the Insanity, Asylum Vol1 or 2, RevAbs, Body Beast, Les Mills Pump and Les Mills Combat cardio workouts for any of the other cardio workouts based on your fitness level and what you prefer. So I won’t go into detail there.

Substituting lift workouts takes more planning considerations.  I’ve done P90X, P90X2, most of the Tony Horton 1-on-1′s, and Body Beast.  I thought it would be a handy reference for you guys to list the lift workouts you are familiar with from P90X, and the substitution options you have if you are looking to add variety to your routine:

Chest and Back (P90X) = This great workout has a couple very good substitutions you can use — Chest Back and Balls (1-on-1, Volume 3), 30-15 Upper Body Massacre (1-on-1, Volume 2), or Chest Back and Balance (x2).

Chest Back and Balls is extremely challenging (Tony says it’s the toughest workout he’s done). It does require some equipment though (4 medicine balls and a stability ball). Also, with Chest Back and Balls there are several pullup moves you will have to modify if you use a door mount pullup bar (he has a ceiling mount straight bar that allows him to do some things we can’t do on a door mount).

30-15 is all pushups and pullups and it keeps going and going and going until you are dead … and then it goes some more! This is a killer!

Chest Back and Balance is the refined, final X2 version of Chest Back and Balls. You will still need med balls and a stability ball. To get numbers of reps as high as you can in P90X, you will have to really work!

If you are crazy, you could stack Bulk Chest and Bulk Back together to get a complete Chest and Back workout… but watch out! That will be intense.

Shoulders and Arms (P90X) = The New Shoulders and Arms (1-on-1, Volume 3) obviously makes a great choice here. Again X2 has the finished version of X2: Shoulders and Arms. No additional equipment is needed for this one … just lots of stamina to go through the multiple sets of big heavy lifts followed by “fine-tuning” lifts where Tony can make your arms burn with very light weights by forcing you to use muscles you aren’t used to using! I like this one a lot!

You can use Body Beast here by stacking Bulk: Arms with Build OR Bulk: Shoulders. Get ready for a serious pump and swollen arms! Shampooing your hair might be an issue after stacking these.

Back and Biceps (P90X) = The ideal substitution for Back and Biceps is V-Sculpt (1-on-1, Volume 3) or V-Sculpt from P90X2. It has multiple pullup exercises and bicep exercises, but uses a lot of fun variety. You need resistance bands for V-Sculpt though. Many of the moves cannot be done with free weights. I really like the variety of this workout since I don’t use resistance bands in my normal lift days.

Body Beast again has two options: Build OR Tempo: Back and Biceps. You’ll need a pull up bar, dumbbells, an EZ bar, and an adjustable bench (or stability ball).

Chest Shoulders and Triceps (P90X) = Tony’s workshopped radical version of this classic is UBX (1-on-1, Volume 3), this became X2: C/S/T in the bonus advanced workouts of P90X2. This one requires medicine balls and a stability ball, and it’s a tough one! Just like the original C/S/T, UBX or X2: C/S/T will totally burn out your chest and triceps. But by using balls for stability, along with new moves you aren’t used to, it really challenges you on many levels.

Another option is  Build: Chest/Tris or Tempo: Chest/Tri (Body Beast). Here you will use straight up body building exercises. Your shoulders will not get direct exercises but they will be hit heavily as secondary muscles for the chest moves. Get your heavy dumbbells and bench ready to work with Sagi. Pick the Tempo disc if you want a serious pump and burn.

And if you want to substitute for even more of your P90X workouts, there is Plyocide (1-on-1, Volume 3 OR P90X2) which you can switch out for PlyoX, Core Synergistics: MC2 (1-on-1, Volume 3) which subs for the original Core Synergistics, and Yoga: MC2, X2: Yoga, OR Fountain of Youth Yoga (Vol 1 1-on-1) which substitutes for Yoga.

So as you can see, just with the above 1-on-1′s, X2, or Beast, you can revamp your whole P90X routine to add new challenges and moves to your program. And I didn’t even touch on a few more of the totally unique workouts that are unlike a specific P90X workout, which there are several of (Like Les Mills Pump, Combat, Asylum Vol 2, etc.).

Bottom line — don’t get bored! There is no excuse to get bored! You’ve got more workout options than you have days to do them! Keep it fresh. Add variety. It makes you better and forces your body to continue adapting and changing. And with change, comes results!

***If you want more discussion on creating a Beachbody Hybrid, check out Building Your Own Beachbody Hybrid!

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