Worried that P90x Yoga is going to make me give up P90x prog

I had to ask friends a while ago if their experience with YogaX was worse than yoga class, and they agreed it was.

It must be crazy intense!!!

I love yoga, hope to be an instructor one day, so I like to remind people that it's harder for P90X than normal yoga. Yoga is supposed to be relaxing even while you work hard..

I think as several already mentioned, you could sub in Cardio, X Stretch, or Kenpo.... or maybe Plyo in place of Yoga. I personally would not pick Plyo due to the more high-impact-ness of it; I am always worried about shin splints and knee/back pounding that the 1x a week already provides me.

My experiences with it might suggest to you to stick with it, but I wouldn't say you were in the wrong to avoid it if it simply isn't or wont ever be your thing. Anyway:

The first week, when I did Yoga X, it was terrible -- a train wreck. I did the whole DVD, but definitely had to give up on a fair number of the moves. And, it took me two hours, pouring sweat, pausing seemingly every 5 seconds, to do everything (shoddily) up to the happy baby part, where I turned it off since it was getting late.

It was just so ridiculous for me: I had this stupid gut in the way of most of the moves -- made some of the twisting moves very frustrating. My leg swings forward into runner's stretch were pathetic. Sweat streaming from all over, hands sweaty and sliding around in downward dogs, unable to do those half-pushups into upward dog with anything like good control or strength, and the upward dogs were exclusively exhausted cobras. Balance? Forget it. Maybe passable on Tree but not much else.

Yoga X, therefore, was not a fan favourite for this fan, early on. Back then it was Plyo X, later it was Chest & Back, then Legs & Back.

Things have gotten better over the last 11 weeks.

Today I can swing my legs forward into runner's stretch with only a small adjustment (as Tony shows you). That gut is no longer in the way. I still sweat rivers (and don't expect that to change), but no longer does it cause nearly the issues it did early on. I am much better at the whole pushup into upward dog thing (I still don't do extra pushups!). Most of the movements feel much more natural to me.

I can just about make it from the start of the DVD till the point where he says take a break now if you like (I think around the point where you get to Warrior III and the half-moon moves), and then make it to the balance positions before I take another minute or so break. Then beyond that maybe a very short pause or two during parts of the ab portion of the workout.

There are still lowlights: All that Warrior III, half moon, twisting half moon stuff still is very difficult. Also when you have to reach under your leg and behind your back and get your hands together, my leg is usually in such pain, feeling on fire, that I can't do it because I have to come out of the stance. I still don't do crane, or sometimes take a stab at it but still fail to do it.

But overall, it is a much, much more doable workout for me.

Today, while my favorite workout has been a moving target, it is, strangely enough, currently Yoga X. I actually look forward to this workout perhaps more than any other. I hate parts of it while doing it, but for some reason look forward to the overall workout. Even though I don't get quite the sense of tranquility, etc., from it that many people seem to, I do feel more relaxed at the end, more limber, and I get the benefits of the exertion and the enjoyment of seeing real improvement, however slow that is.

P.S. I don't do the ohms and only sometimes go past Happy Baby. Even though I do like the relaxation of the moves leading up to the ohms. Also, I am glad I am sticking to Yoga X for another reason: I have been able to do X Stretch exactly once in the entire 12 weeks I have been at this thing, and flexibility is something I need a good amount of work on.

Gaiam has made some of their yoga videos available through hulu.com...I enjoy them on the days when I don't have yoga classes (and find them more instructive than the yoga available through netflix.)

I would consider the reasons (or the main reason, as there is always that one thing that makes you move) you started the P90X program in the first place. Let's not even talk about benefits of yoga, etc., but think about benefits of pushing through of what seems uncomfortable, but is a part of the program you decided to do and committed to doing...
Can't do 90 minutes of yoga? Do the first 45 of it or whatever you can. If so inclined, purchase one or two yoga routines form Tony Horton's One on One series (I particularly like Fountain of Youth yoga one, but there are several yoga disks).
You were worried about looking like a complainer in your original post, but it does look a lot like that... and I sincerely apologize for my statement. However, many of us need a good kick in the butt to get off that couch, so please consider that a friendly "off the couch kick"...
Most importantly, don't give up! It's great that you are seeking advice and not just shutting down, storing those DVDs in the basement somewhere, etc.

I hope you stick with it and good luck!

I can appreciate the sentiment behind the comments saying he should push through the Yoga X no matter what, but my personal experience as someone who has done three rounds of P90X is that that's exactly the advice I was guilted into following when my instinct was to do otherwise, and I regret it. I realize that may not be everyone's experience, but it sure was mine. I like doing yoga. In fact, I incorporate yoga into my workouts now. But I dreaded Yoga X (not because I can't do it; I can), and I almost threw in the towel on the whole program because of that. I know exactly what I want out of my next round of P90X, and I don't need to do Yoga X once a week to accomplish it. There's nothing wrong, in my opinion, with personalizing the program. If that means not doing one of the workouts, so be it. Your mileage may vary...

Can't do 90 minutes of yoga? Do the first 45 of it or whatever you can.

If you decide to try to stick it out with Yoga X, I would specifically suggest the following, rather than just doing the first 45 minutes:

Start the DVD, and try to go up to the point where Tony says take a break if you need it -- I think it is sometime around when you are introduced to Reverse Warrior or maybe Triangle poses, hmm, maybe it is right after the chair poses. Anyway, it's some time after when you've been introduced to Warrior II and Reverse Warrior and the like.

Then, fast forward or chapter skip to the start of the balance poses. After all the work you did so far these balance poses are actually easier on you in the sense of a lot less exertion. You can be pretty wiped out but these are still doable for the most part and you can recover your breath, heartrate, energy. Skip some of the tougher or more technical ones, but at least do Tree, Royal Dancer, the one where you hold your leg out in front of you, bridge (wheel is more advanced and can be rough early on, so stick to bridge), and table.

Depending on your mood and energy level you can go ahead and do Yoga Belly 7, or skip this, too. That will give you a little extra meat to your abridged Yoga X workout so I would try to work it.

Definitely do the stretching afterwards, some of the relaxation stuff, to bring yourself down, work on your flexibility, and relax a little especially right near the end. The ohms at the end you can take or leave -- I always leave, just not into that too much plus I have a houseful I don't want to scare.

Doing the above gives you a good chunk of the workout and also the variety of the workout, yet cuts it to size pretty well. Also, saves you from, or delays you from, having to buy another Yoga disk.

If you want to explore more of the workout, you can either build up to more and more of the DVD, or you can swap out different parts for other parts. For example, instead of starting like I describe, maybe just do a small bit of the beginning to kind of get in the flow of it and get some initial stretching, then skip *TO* that break I described after chair poses, and do that part instead of the warrior II, reverse warrior stuff.

i HATE the yoga with a passion...i find it so boring...but i still do it anyways

you can always substitute yoga days for a cardio workout, or some other kind of stretch??

Do the Yoga. Bring it! I know there's a lot of folks saying its ok to sub it for something Easier. Yoga x brings you pain like you've neverfelt before so its natural to look for a way out. Look for a way in instead and you will appreciate what you will accomplish. It's only 90 minutes of your life and it brings a sweat like no other.

Hard Right.....Easy Wrong. All the best!

You can sub it, but if you stick with it you will get stronger. It also sounds like it might help you with the mind over body issues we all have. It is considered ashtanga yoga so it burns a bunch of calories too. P90x yoga was not my favorite kind (and I do yoga) but I pushed through it and by the end I was able to pretty much master every pose--since it was so long and challenging it was probably my biggest mental and physical accomplishment of the whole program.

ETA: and now you have officially made me miss the binding poses...I'm mostly doing hot yoga now and there really are no binds. So yeah I'm going to have to do the P90x yoga sometime soon. thanks for the reminder

I've been doing yoga for about 10 years. Yoga is great because it conditions the body in ways no other exercise can and also reduces stress.

This is my favorite video and its a 60 minute workout.

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Yoga-Total-Body-Workout/dp/B0000A2ZQE

Like others have said, there is nothing wrong with subbing it for another cardio type dvd; eg: plyo, kenpo, cardio. I started p90x only doing the cardio dvds, once I felt good enough I moved on to the rest. Doing the cardiox dvd in particular really helped me get ready for the first bit of yogax.

I will agree that yogax is crazy difficult, but strength wise it only has a few really difficult spots that can be toned down or subbed with jogging in place. Such as the one leg superman kinda thing. The truly hard part is balance for me but I feel like there is no other way to really improve balance other than doing the yoga.

You should really try and go to some studio yoga classes, bikram is kinda situated the same in that you have half strength and have flexibility. Having a whole room of people, some of which are bound to be in worse shape than you, really helps to motivate.