P90X

I had a good friend who just finished his 90th day of P90Xe .  H followed the diet perfectly and he got great results. He is a tall, lanky, soft fella and put on good muscle mass throughout his upper body especially his shoulders and back.

The results were pretty impressive.

Edited by hubcitytriguy 2009-01-15 9:45 PM

Before & After pics of me, only 3 weeks into the program:

http://www.milliondollarbody.com/suzannea

Suzanne, your day 30 pics are due!!

LOL. My 30 day pics are 7 months overdue!

I actually just got my box and was a little disappointed to see that my set was used. I haven't looked at the dvds themselves yet, but the packaging they're in is all scratched and slightly ripped. Clearly these were used before by someone else and returned.

A bit of a bummer for $150.

That's certainly a drag! The case does rip easily. What about the workout book adn the nutrition book? Be sure you triple check all the CDs for surface scratches. I wouldn't hesitate to call for a replacement.

But in the end...what's important are that the videos play and that you do the work. Cosmetic issues aside, it doesn't matter hwo pretty the package is if it doesn't get used.

Agreed. That's all I care about is that the DVDs will play. The books look like they were sitting on someone's countertop for a while as the backs of them are pretty scratched up, but the spines look unused.

I've always said that there's no such thing as a "used" book, so it doesn't matter that much. If someone asks, I'll mention it to them, but I'll otherwise be keeping quiet about it.

Feb 1 is my targeted first day, so I can have my "beach body" by May 1.

If you stick with it and follow the diet, you will have a beach body May 1...that's the good news....I will caution you, however, that it is a BRUTAL workout...at least IMO...a little HTFU in order for me? maybe. But it is really, really, difficult. Unless you have been lifting weights regularly, you WILL BE SORE!!!

A couple of tips.
-Burn copies of the progress sheets to write all over and for future use.
-If you are able to set up multiple sets of dumbells it will save you time. I originally had just two dumbell handles and was constantly pausing the dvds to change the weights. Between recording weight & reps and changing the weights, it was adding a lot of time to the workout. (I am hoping to get the adjustable dumbells to save space/mess with the weights)
-Don't forget the before pix!!
-If you are training for tri's as well, you might consider substituting your tri work in for the cardio days....Together, tri training and p90x is a lot of work....I will say that when I can keep throwing p90x in it does benefit my running and riding. No benefit swimming...I guess I will be > 2min/100 forever....
good luck!!!!

Thanks. Luckily I have been in the gym and working out for a few years now, and taking some tough conditioning classes as well. I'm mostly looking forward to the eating program as I can see hints of the beach body in there, it's just sort of smoothed over right now by cookies, cake and other yummies. So I'm looking forward to the new eating program to cleaning that up for me.

Thanks for the advice! It's always appreciated!

I have a full set of 1lb (rarely used) to 20 lb (also rarely used, lol) dumbells. I already had hlaf the set so buying the rest was actually cheaper than gettign the adjustable ones.

Yeah, it's a HARD workout..that's the point. LOL. HTFU in my book. As tony says, "Do your best and forget the rest". That's all he really asks is to do your best...but he doesn't give much room for excuses. IMO, Tony is a great motivator and keeps me going when I feel like quitting!

A chin-up bar (or resistance bands and 3-4 different weights of dumbbells, or more resistance bands.



I'm guessing it depends on what you're used to, but basically looks like Atkins for the first month with only 1 carb serving per day. The basic idea is lots of protein and fresh fruits and vegetables, eaten often. Small meals every 2 hours or so.

At least that's what I've gotten from it so far. They give you very detailed info on the meals, right down to exact suggestions with recipes!

IMO, some of the recipes are odd....but then again, I don't have a lot of imagination when it comes to my cooking. As posted above, it does appear similiar to Adkins for parts. It is broken down into phases, so some parts of the 12 weeks would be easier to follow..From my standpoint, when I am following it (p90) in addition to my run/bike/swim, I scrap the suggested diet in favor of one that will give me what I need energy/caloric-wise to train for tri's.. I can't go on one carb a day then expect to swim for an hour and maybe run as well...

Awesome.  Thanks so much guys for the feedback.  I really appreciate it.  It sounds very doable.  A friend of mine on here's doing that CLX.  Decisions, decisions.

For me the diet was harder to follow than the workouts...but not because of the nutritional breakdown of the diet, but because it calls for lots of veggies, fruits, fresh foods, and being ready to eat and/or snack every 3 hours. I had to do lots of shopping, prepping, washing tupperware containers, etc to be prepared at work to eat the right way.

It is not really like Atkins at all, as phase one is teh "fat shredder" portion, and has minimal fat in the diet. There is one "carb" servinga day in the form of a slice of bread, serving of rice, etc, during teh first four weeks, but there are plenty of carbs in the form of all teh veggies you get to eat.

I had absolutely no hunger during the first four weeks of the program, and damn I shredded some fat based on my photos!

People forget that veggies do have carbs and calories as well as tons of vitamins and minerals that you miss when you eat processed carbs.

The next phases add in more carbs for reasons stated above...to enable you to continue to work hard.

If you read the nutritional program carefully, it will easily accomodate lots of cardio in addition to the workouts...it teaches you how and where to add calories...they don't want you to starve, they want you to feed your body what it needs to thrive on this program and don't expect you to follow the meal plan rigidly.

In addition, they give you THREE different ways to follow the meal plan correctly, (by recipe, by portion or by meals - ie pick a breakfast, pick a lunch, pick a dinner, pick some snacks...) and offer three basic "caloric" levels of the diet to get you closest to your starting point, and you need to make small adjustments as you go to be sure you are getting the results out of the program. They encourage you to follow the fat shredder portion longer or shorter than the suggested time period in order to meet your goals.

Its pretty much teh best "diet" book I've ever read, as it teaches you a lot about how to fuel your body, and lets you discover how your body responds with different energy sources.

Have I said that I enjoy teh program? LOL.

here's my p90x blog, I occasionally post recipes that fit the p90x "lifestyle" ,and I'm pretty damn proud of some of them!

http://leandoc.blogspot.com/

if you click on teh links on the right side of the page it will take you to the products page and the club pages (there is a free club option) ... the cost is the same if you buy through their site, or through my links, but you'll get the benefit of having me as your p90x "coach"/motivator.




Edited by AdventureBear 2009-01-22 9:25 PM

I had a buddy let me borrow a few of the disks. I do the core workout on my off days. I think it's called synergistics or something. It is a killer core workout. I plan on just doing this some days when I am not training. Maybe after this season, I will try the 90 days if I don't get in good enough shape or slack off this season (my 2nd season of tris).

Yeah, I just did that one for the first time on Tuesday. When I was doing it, it didn't feel like much. Then yesterday, I noticed that my back and abs were really sore. After a couple minutes I realized, Core Synergistics X!

I'm just finishing up my first month, looking forward to month 2. When I see most peoples' 30/60/90 days photos, I don't notice much change after 30, but it starts to get dramatic after 60. I can't wait for the next month. I'm having fun with the workouts, but the eating is really difficult for me, as almost everything has carbs in it, and I can only eat so much salad and egg whites!

^^ I did the same thing. My neighbor got the plan and I borrowed the Core Synergy CD. I liked the workout. I did the workout and then went for a 9 mile run... Not Recommended! My shoulders are still sore this morning from that crazy push-up stuff (push-up position walking your legs then lowering your chest and still walking your legs - killer!). The guy in the video isn't too cheesy like some workout videos - especially those info-mercials. Plan on 'borrowing' a few more of the CDs for future use.

I am a noob here but am trying to participate. I have used p90x workouts for a year and a half (with time off for a lingering elbow injury) and think that it is one of the most thorough plans out there.

When I am tri training I have to combine the best elements of all the discs into an hour and half program I do twice a week. I used my heartrate monitor the last time I did it and it calculated (if you believe the accuracy of those things) that I burned 1200+ calories. Accurate or no, my combo of chest, arms, shoulde, abs finished off with 23 minutes of yoga and a few minutes of stretching leaves me blasted, pumped, and relaxed all at the same time. I don't really use the discs anymore since I have combined so many elements and can get through them faster without the discs.

P90X also has several aerobic/anerobic workouts like plyometrics, kenpo etc... that you can double up on as a replacement for a run or other aerobic exercise.

Obviously i like p90x. If anyone is interested in the 90 minute routine i do I can post the exercises in order.

ganze

Edited by Ganze 2009-02-26 9:13 AM

I'm no yogi, but after about 30 minutes of the yoga, both the astanas and balances, it gets WAY hard. Really advanced stuff. My core is really tight, so that prevents me from doing a lot, but I can't imagine there are very many people who can hang with that yoga dvd all the way through for the first 3 months.

I haven't done the cardioX yet, bu the Plyo and Kenpo are a lot of fun and go get a good sweat and heartrate going.

my 23 minutes is mainly that first section: warrior stuff, balance stuff and some floor stuff to finish it all off. It is hard, but after doing it a while, I can really tell the difference in soreness, flexibility and balance. The balance aspect of it is surprisingly beneficial.

It is definitely not an active rest day. I always feel it the next day; which is why I focus mainly on upper body, core and back stuff.





Edited by Ganze 2009-02-26 11:19 AM

I just finished up Phase 1 and dropped about 12lbs. I don't stick to the diet as closely as I should, but I make sure that I eat well. No junkfood. The biggest change muscle wise is that my triceps are starting to pop out.

The workouts are tough. I remember the first week that I was constantly sore and could barely move, but it has gotten easier. The first time I did Yoga I was falling all over the place, but now I can pretty much keep up and I can get through the Yoga without many issues. I need to be more flexible, but I can hold positions and I'm getting better and better.

It's a good mix of exercise and you don't get bored. Plus...the workouts go very fast. I'm doing this along with my tri training, however the tri training I'm doing is more maintenance training so I'm not overdoing it.

Edited by nighthawk 2009-02-26 5:06 PM