P90X3 Yoga Review & Moves
This review of P90X3 X3 Yoga gives information on the moves, materials, and what to expect when doing this home workout program from Beachbody. With pictures and videos, you will be ready to make the most of your next P90X3 Yoga day!
This blog post was originally written in January 2014, when I did P90X3 for the first time. To regain strength after last year’s shoulder surgery, I created my own custom workout plan. My plan includes my favorite P90X3 workouts, so I am updating my old photos and tips here for you!
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What is P90X3 X3 Yoga?
Typically shortened to just P90X3 Yoga or X3 Yoga, this workout is one of the 16 workouts included in P90X3. Tony Horton, the trainer behind the original P90X program, leads you through challenging workouts using muscle confusion to give you an amazing workout in only 30 minutes per day.
Here are the details on X3 Yoga:
Length: 30 minutes exactly. No typical warm-up. No cool-down. None needed.
Materials: I used a yoga mat. I do not own a yoga block, and I personally didn’t think I would need one. I didn’t use a towel either.
P90X3 Workout Program: Beachbody has discontinued the DVD version of P90X3, but it is available for streaming on Beachbody On Demand. Or you may be able to find a used copy on resale sites.
P90X3 Yoga Moves
Unlike my previous reviews, there’s no way I could give you a play-by-play on this one. There are a couple of reasons for that:
1. The moves roll together pretty quickly, in very much a flow yoga style. Sun salutations, to chaturanga to updog to downdog… and I’m not a super experienced yoga person, so I had to keep checking the screen to make sure I was staying with them.
2. I was way too into it to stop and write junk down. True story.
There were so many moves repeated and so many different things that couldn’t easily be shown with pictures. So I just got a few snapshots here and there to try to give you the gist.
Here’s the highlights.
After about 5 minutes of sun salutation sequences, we moved into some other poses. Down dog with heel pedals, then some single leg down dogs. Then we step through and reach up into crescent pose.
Airplane Pose
We then went into the first challenging move, airplane. You could stay in the “modified” version with just your hands out, or clasp your hands behind you and try to lower your head and upper body closer to the floor.
Balancing here was tough.
Then we repeated the moves on the opposite side.
Bound Side Angle Pose
A little flowy sun sal into reverse warrior, and then we were on to the next challenging pose: bound side angle pose.
You could stay in sort of a pyramid pose here with a good side lunge stretch, or wrap your arms around your knee and behind your back.
The challenge is keeping your top shoulder back and not letting your chest fall forward. (I don’t remember Tony saying this, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind.)
Some warrior 2 and “vinyasa” as Tony calls it, then we repeat the moves on the other side.
Chair Pose
Another challenge for your balance, chair pose is similar to a narrow squat with your arms raised out by your ears.
Since my darling teenager didn’t capture this pose in a photo, you’ll have to just imagine me doing it. Or watch the video below and see it there. 😉
Warrior 3, Half Moon, Twisted Moon, Standing Splits
These moves went pretty quickly, so I thought a video would best demonstrate them.
This entire sequence greatly challenges your balance – which is GREAT for your core and overall stability. It’s just TOUGH. But don’t quit – keep trying so you get better!
My biggest advice here is to get familiar with the moves first. You can see that I have to stop and look at the screen from time to time so I know what Tony is doing. Not ideal because it disrupts my flow (hehe).
You’ll also see that I noped right out of those standing splits at the end of the video. Those aren’t happening.
Next we moved into some wide legs, forward hangs, and triangle pose. Lots of good stretching that my legs and back needed.
Balance Series
As if we hadn’t already been balancing this whole time.
Starting with tree pose, which is kind of fun – you can increase the difficulty by looking up at your hands. It’s amazing how much harder it gets!
Then we move into an extended toe bind, which is not as fun to me – try to straighten your leg as much as you can, and don’t worry if you can’t pull your leg out to the side.
Ted’s Chair is next. I was good with the figure 4/one legged squat chair pose. Ted gets RIDICULOUS with his power yoga move. What even.
Crow is definitely more of an advanced move, but it’s always fun to try it! It takes a good bit of strength and balance to master this one.
Stretching Series
We then move into some more tame moves, all about the stretching.
- child’s pose
- cat dog (Tony says it’s no longer called cat cow, which is news to me – and you may recognize this move from my posture exercises)
- bird dog to dog dancer
- camel
- figure 4 series
- plow
- fish
And we finally finish with some nice savasana. I can do that forever.
P90X3 Yoga Review
When I first wrote this review in 2014, I raved about it. Now that I’m a little more experienced with workouts and have been a personal trainer and group fitness instructor… I have a different opinion.
It’s good for a basic yoga workout. If you just want to get in some quick flow moves and some gentle movement, it’s good.
Tony is not who I would turn to if I wanted any type of relaxing workout, as he personally starts to get on my nerves after a while and I lose focus.
I feel like there isn’t enough verbal cueing for you to do the moves without stopping to look at your screen, which is a bummer if your screen is elevated like my TV is. You don’t want to be staring up at a screen the whole time because then your neck/back will be out of alignment and that isn’t safe.
I know almost everyone who has done the original YogaX from P90X complained about it being 90 minutes long (I get it, trust me). But to me, you need much more than 30 minutes of yoga to really feel the benefits. So I guess if you want more – swap this one for Yoga X. Otherwise, 30 minutes of X3 Yoga is better than zero.
One last dislike of X3 Yoga – I don’t feel like the modifier really modifies. Tony even mentions a few times that she is going further into the moves than a true modifier would. I’d love to see someone with a different body type who shows MUCH more modified movements for people with less flexibility or high blood pressure.
Have you tried P90X3 Yoga? What did you think?
(a little throwback photo to 2014)
More P90X3 Support
If you haven’t already, make sure you check out my other P90X3 review posts. You can also see more P90X3 videos on my YouTube channel.
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MEET AMANDA
Amanda is a mom of 4 living a mostly crunchy lifestyle outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband, 2 dogs, and a cat. As a former special education teacher who also has her personal training certification — Amanda really enjoys teaching others how to do things!
When she’s not working, Amanda enjoys DIY projects, exercising, photography, hiking, and long walks through Target.
I like the P90X yoga videos because it’s a good workout. I totally agree about his lack of cueing and disjointed timing (he’ll be on one side forever and then only a few seconds on the other) is annoying.