With the P90X Prep complete and having passed the P90X Fit Test, it is time for me to begin Phase 1 of P90X.

I wrote about the 3 Phases of P90X a bit in A Brief Overview of P90X.

Now that it’s time for me to begin Phase 1, let me go into Phase 1 in a little more detail…

In the previous post, I said, “the purpose of Phase 1 is to get your body accustomed to working out”. To state it a little differently, the purpose of Phase 1 is to make is through Phase 1 in 1 piece… which is why it’s called Phase “1″.

P90X, as the “X” signifies, is eXtreme. Whether you’ve been reading Great Books for the past decade (as I had been doing when I started my first round of P90X), or working out everyday, P90X is sure to physically challenge you in ways that you have never been challenged before.

P90X relies on a concept called “muscle confusion”, which, in brief, is about doing lots of different exercises. Regardless of past experience, you are sure to be doing some exercises with P90X that you have never done before. That, along with the fact that these exercises come fast and furious and that you will be performing a great many of them while fatigued, and perhaps not in the best of shape, means that the potential for injury is high.

Thus, the goal of Phase 1 is too learn how to do each exercise with proper form and make it through each exercise healthier than you were before you started it. Do this, and Phase 1 will have been a success!

At the end of each Phase is a recovery week. Although it is called a “recovery week”, this week isn’t easy. The point of it is to recover, but it is to recover from the hard resistance training that you had been doing for the three weeks previous. The way you do this is by focusing in on cardio, core strength, balance, and flexibility. In fact, particularly if cardio and core are weaknesses, you may find this week to be more difficult than the “regular weeks”.

With that… Watch out P90X Phase 1, ’cause here I come!