Day 3 was a recovery day, so it was corrective ankles from 645 and the two recovery routines from Lift 4.
I definitely had some knots in my quads this morning that interestingly did not come back when I did the Lift 4 foam rolling in the evening. And, I did not really have any knots in either of my hamstrings. So, I think when I do the lower body foam rolling routine on Friday, I will try using the rumble roller for most of it.
Day 2 of Round 2 was corrective hips from 645 and Back and Biceps in Lift 4.
The back and biceps routine (which was the circuit routine with no HIIT) was very tough. You go from using a heavy weight for the back exercises to lighter weights for the biceps without any rest in between so you get tired quickly. By the time you get through the three sets of the bonus round, it is hard to even lift your arms.
Day 1 of Round 2 was corrective shoulders in 645 and Chest and Triceps, 50/50 in Lift 4.
I will not describe the workouts again since I described them all in detail during round 1. It was interesting going back to Day 1 of Lift 4 because, while the workout was easier than the week 8 workouts, it was definitely not easy. That is because if you do a second round of Lift 4 immediately after the first round, you start out using the same weight you ended with, and since you are still not getting much of a break between exercises, it is just as challenging as it was on day 1 of round 1.
The program is 8 weeks long and has you working out 4 days a week. It also includes two optional recovery workouts, a foam rolling routine and a stretching routine that each lasts about 10 minutes that you can do on the off days. Each workout has you lifting and/or doing cardio. During the first six weeks of the program, you work out for two days (doing chest and triceps and then back and biceps), then you get a rest day, then you do shoulders, and finish out the week with legs. The lifting workouts generally fall into one of three categories, a 50/50 workout in which you do half lifting and half cardio, a circuit workout in which you just lift, but do four exercises in each block with no rest in between them, or a circuit workout in which you do two lifting exercies followed by a 30 second HIIT exercise. Every other week, the leg workout is a leg-focused HIIT workout (so no lifting). Each workout ends with three sets of core in which you alternate between two or three core-focused exercises.
The final two weeks are "shred weeks" in which you switch up the exercise combinations (Chest and Back, Legs, rest day, Shoulders and Arms, and Full Body HIIT). The Full Body HIIT workouts consist of three rounds, each with two exercises, then a bonus round in which you do all six exercises. In the first round, the duration of the exercise and the breaks are the longest and in the third round, they are the shortest. In the bonus round, you do each exercise for 30 seconds with no breaks in between them.
The idea behind the workouts is that you lift as heavy as you can, mostly doing just 10 reps of each exercise. You get very little rest between the exercises (about 15-20 seconds, max) and a little more rest between sets and blocks (30 seconds between sets and however long it takes Joel to explain what you are doing in the next block). Usually, the circuit workouts will include a burnout round in which you do two exercises back to back for 30 seconds. There are 10 cast members that appear throughout the workouts. Most of them are young (in their 20s or early 30s) and very fit. Some of them clearly have a fitness background. One of the female cast members is probably in her mid to late 30s and there is one older guy who is probably in his 50s who is fit but is the most "regular" looking of all the cast members. In each workout, only 4 cast members appear (until the last workout of the program) and one person is always a modifier for the HIIT and core moves. One plus is that the workouts are fairly short. The longest is 39 minutes and the shortest (not counting the two recovery routines) is about 28 minutes. So, it is an easy program to fit into most people's schedules. Even when you are modifying the workouts are tough. And, as you get in better shape the harder you can go so it is good regardless of your fitness level. You can tell that is the case because all of the cast members end up modifying at some point in the program, regardless of whether they are the designated modifier for that particular workout.
The one drawback to the program is that you will need dumbbells to do it. There are no band modifications like you get in some programs. And, you need a decent selection of weight as you will use light, medium, and heavy weights, whatever that is for you. The lightest weight I used was 3 pounds (for the shoulder exercise he calls swimmers) and the heaviest was 45 pounds (for the calf raises). This is definitely a workout in which you need to check your ego because, since there is so little rest between exercises and sets, you will very likely end up having to use lighter weights than you would doing the same exercises in a program like P90x where you get a lot of breaks (comparatively). The benefit to the minimal rest, however, is that even on the days when you are not doing any HIIT moves, you are still getting a cardio workout.
Overall, I would say it is a good program for a beginner who is in decent to good shape, but probably best for someone who is at an intermediate or advanced level. There are a handful of "before Lift 4" workouts that are shorter versions (each about 20 minutes long) of the regular workouts that you can do if you want to try pared-down versions of the workouts and see what it is like before committing to the full program.
Day 60 was lower body foam rolling and the final day of Round 1 of Lift 4. That meant doing full-body HIIT.
The Lift 4 workout had the same format as last week. You do three rounds, with two exercises (one that is a lower-body-focused exercise and one that is an upper-body-focused exercise). In the first round, the duration of the exercises and the amount of rest between exercises are longer (60 seconds, 45 seconds, and 20 seconds rest between them). By the third round, the duration of the exercises is shorter (30 seconds and 15 seconds) and there is almost no rest (just 10 seconds) between the exercises. Each round has three sets. Once you are done with the three rounds, you do a single burnout round in which you do all of the exercises for 30 seconds with no rest between them, and then you finish out with three sets of core, this time alternating between three exercises.
The Lift 4 workout is tough, but not as bad as last week's version (mainly because there is no triple bear this time). The entire cast (minus Steve, who was on vacation) participates in this workout, as does Joel (for the vast majority of it). The workout goes quickly (it is just 32 minutes long), but you definitely work the entire time.
I have decided that I am going to do another round of Lift 4. My goal is to do as much unmodified as I can, then switch to the modifications once I cannot do the unmodified versions. I have been doing that for some, but not all, of the exercises during the HIIT and core portions, and this time I plan to do that for all of the HIIT and core exercises. For the next couple of days, I will do the recovery workouts and then start up with Day 1 on Monday (as well as continuing to do the Lift 4 corrective workouts.
Day 59 was upper body foam rolling in 645 and Shoulders and Arms in Lift 4.
Today, I actually did the Lift 4 workout first immediately followed by the upper body foam rolling. That actually worked out pretty well and acted as a good cooldown. The Lift 4 workout was another circuit workout, so there are two quad blocks of 4 exercises (two shoulder exercises, a biceps exercise, and a triceps exercise) done for three sets. Then you do three sets of the burnout which includes swimmers, full curls, and triceps push-ups, each done for 30 seconds. And, of course, you finish with three sets of core. That was a tough workout and again, doing four sets of weights with no rest in between the exercises is very hard. I definitely had to use a lot lighter weights for some of the exercises than I would use doing the same exercises in P90X because there you get much more time between the exercises than you do here.
Day 58 was the corrective ankles routine in 645 and the two recovery routines in Lift 4.
I absolutely needed the foam rolling today. Even though the corrective ankles routine has you foam rolling your calves and quads, I still had a bunch of knots in my calves in the evening when I did the Lift 4 foam rolling. Thankfully, I got them out so that when I did the stretch routine I was getting deeper into the stretches.
For Day 57 I did the corrective hips routine from 645 and Week 8 legs in Lift 4.
This week, the Legs workout is another 50/50. During the lifting portion you do the same exercises as last week, but switch up the order. Then, in the HIIT portion, you again do three sets of three exercises (jump sumo squats, triple bear, and catchers with the jump), each for 30 seconds. Then you finish with three sets of core, alternating between flutter kicks and high-plank leg lifts.
The leg workout was brutal. It was very hard and I could barely do anything with good form by the end of the workout. But, I was able to keep lifting the heavy weights during the lifting, and even increased the amount of weight I was using on the pulse squats.
For Day 56 I did the corrective shoulders routine from 645 and week 8's chest and back workout from Lift 4.
The Chest and Back workout was another circuit workout (so no HIIT) with two blocks of four exercises (two chest-focused exercises followed by two back-focused exercises in each block). Then you do a burnout round consisting of three sets of regular push-ups, back extensions, and wide push-ups, and, of course, you finish off with three sets of core.
The workout was tough and again because you do not rest between exercises (and are lifting mostly heavy weights) you are getting some cardio in even though there is no HIIT. I do not think the circuit workouts are as tiring as the intervals or 50/50 workouts, but they are definitely not easy.
On Day 55 I did the two recovery routines from Lift 4 again. I returned to using the "regular" foam roller for the foam rolling routine. I will probably go back to using the rumble roller from time to time and I hope to eventually get to the point where I can use the rumble roller for all of the foam rolling. I plan on foam rolling on a daily basis going forward, so hopefully by using the rumble roller once or twice a week to start with, I can eventually use it every day.
For Day 54 I just did the two Lift 4 recovery workouts. But, the twist was, for the foam rolling workout I actually used my rumble roller. For those who do not know, the rumble roller is a hard foam roller that has protrusions on the surface. The idea is that it helps with trigger points and myofascial release. Because I already had a regular foam roller, when I ordered the P90X2 kit years ago I paid a bit extra to get the rumble roller. But, since I did not foam roll regularly, I could not use it (there is a reason Tony Horton is groaning throughout the X2 mobility workout). This time, I figured since I have been foam rolling every day for 7 weeks straight, I would try it. It was definitely tougher than the regular foam roller, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. And, since the Lift 4 foam rolling routine is so short, it is the perfect one to try it out on. Once I got through that I did the stretch routine which went pretty much the same as it did on Wednesday.
Day 53 was lower body foam rolling in 645 and Full Body HIIT in Lift 4.
The HIIT workout had a bit of a different format than the prior leg day HIIT workout. There are three blocks and a bonus round, which is the same as the other workouts. However, in this one, each block has two exercises, one focused on the legs and then one that is focused on the upper body (basically the chest and/or triceps doing push-ups). The two "easiest" moves (single-leg plyo jumps and push-ups with a hop or step-up in between that you do for 60 and 45 seconds respectively. The second and third blocks introduce harder moves like triple bear, tricep to wide plyo push-ups, box squats, etc. In each block, the amount of time you do the exercises goes down but the amount of rest between them (which is never long anyway) goes down. Then you do one bonus set in which you do all six moves for 30 seconds each and no rest between the moves, and then finish with three sets of core.
The Lift 4 workout was tough. Everyone, including Niels, who never modifies, had to modify moves during the last block of HIIT and in the bonus set. It was that hard. The core sets actually felt like rest because the regular part of the workout was so hard.
Day 52 was upper body foam rolling from 645 and shoulders and arms from Lift 4.
This is the first workout that combines shoulders and arms. It was a circuit workout, meaning we did two quad sets consisting of a shoulder exercise followed by a biceps exercise, followed by another shoulder exercise, and finishing with a triceps exercise. You do three sets with no rest between the exercises. Then, you have a burnout round that has one shoulder exercise (swimmers), one biceps exercise (full curls), and one triceps exercise (triceps push-ups). You do each exercise for 30 seconds, and again have no rest between the exercises, and again do three sets. Then, as usual, you finish with three sets of core, this time alternating between dumbell drivers and weighted flutter kicks, doing each exercise for 30 seconds.
This workout was kind of another shock to the body. I would say it was a bit easier than chest and back was earlier in the week, but not much. I absolutely had to reduce the amount of weight I was using by the third set for some of the exercises and the lack of rest between sets made it very hard to keep going.
For Day 51 I did the corrective ankles routine from 645 and the two recovery routines from Lift 4.
I was surprised that I did not have as many knots in my legs today as I thought I would after leg day. I would not, however, say that my mobility or flexibility was any better today than it has been. I definitely have less pain in my IT band when I do the foam rolling than I did when I started Lift 4.
Day 50 included doing corrective hips in 645 and Legs in Lift 4.
This was another switch up, doing legs on Day 2 instead of Day 4. This was a 50/50 workout with a couple of twists. First, you do three exercises in each block (three blocks in all). All, back to back without any rest. Then, instead of the 60,45, 30, 15-second format for the HIIT, you just do three sets of three HIIT exercises (twisted mountain climbers, soccer sprints, and squat jumps) each for 30 seconds. Then, of course, you finish the workout off with three sets of core, alternating between prayer squats and bicycle twists.
This was another hard workout. You are still lifting pretty heavy (although I had to go lighter on a couple of the exercises since there was even less time between the exercises) and doing more reps in each block. Needless to say, my legs were toast by the end of the workout.
