P90x

Going to give the old P90x a go in a few weeks.

I have a longish (well long for me) trip to Dubai.....thought I'd give it a good start during the trip (using the DVDs and workout bands).

Over the last year or so I've been slowly moving to more intense/slightly shorter duration circuit workouts and have been enjoying them. I still bike a lot and I still lift but I've been adding these circuits in a bit.

*Circuit Example
25 sissy squats (no weight squat with heel elevated -- use dumbbell for heel)
25 dumbbell curls (double arm 30 pounds)
25 dumbbell side raises (double arm 20 pounds)
25 plank jacks
25 kettle swing/squat (25 pounds)
Do the above 5-6 times as fast as possible

Week 1 of P90x done....the workouts themselves are not that hard (a lot of hype I think). That said I was sore from some of the new moves. For me the 90+ minutes of Yoga was by far the hardest and of that its really only the first half that was really hard.

I added in a short bike ride, a spin class, about an hour on a stationary and a circuit class this week in addition to the 7 P90x workouts. Depending on my travel schedule I will probably add in a few workouts every week as I don't think the p90x is enough (I'd probably pack on a few pounds if I did it alone).

This week will be interesting as I have a trip to Houston (yesterday) and to Dubai (friday)....will have to work a bit to squeeze the workouts in on the longer travel days but I'm hopeful I can stick with it.

You might also want to see this thread re. P90X.

The fact that you're doing this is great, but it seems to me that doing anything for 60-90 minutes three to five times a week would produce results like P90X. As you noted, the workouts aren't that hard. It's more that they take an hour at a time.

I'm liking the structure to the workouts so far. I workout 6-9 hours/week normally and have for many years. My main problem is mostly diet related (fit and fat I always call it) the other is balance....when I workout on my own I tend to go in spurts of doing a lot of the same things....this program is probably more well rounded than what I do normally.

I also like the idea of 3 weeks to get use to the workouts, 1 lighter week (still 7 days but all cardio,yoga stretch) then move onto something else.

Its still early so we will see what results I get.....I need to focus up on diet for sure.

*its actually 6-7 days/week with the 7th being either rest or an hour of stretch X (I plan on doing the hour of stretch). I'm also adding workouts in on my own to keep my workout "totals" up.

It is a time suck for sure....here are the workout lengths for the first week:
Chest/Back + Ab ripper 68:57:00
Plyo 58:36:00
Shoulder/Arms + Ab Ripper 76:00:00
Yoga 92:24:00
Legs/Back + Ab Ripper 75:03:00
Kenpo 58:46:00
Stretch 57:32:00

Bit over 8 hours


The stretch and kenpo were IMO the easiest (actually nice to have them back to back to heal up a little) while plyo/yoga were the hardest.

A Beachbody coach suggested to me that if the time suck was getting too bad, I could fast-forward during the chitchat sprinkled throughout the videos. I could get Ab Ripper done in about 5 minutes less than the video. When you're talking about 45-90+ minutes, every minute saved makes a difference!

Do you think that you are trying hard enough? I don't mean to be rude but I am a little lazy in pushing myself sometimes (I think my fear of failure kicks in) and wondered if you might be doing a similar thing and just mentally checking the "task complete" box, instead of pushing your body to its max?

Could be

No fear of failure here. I'm not saying they are easy workouts....they are not. I've been plenty sore from them. Just know that I'm big into pushing myself physically (marathons, 100 mile bike rides) and have been doing boot camp style circuit workouts for a while. I think if someone went into this program out of shape or having just started working out it would be really tough but for someone who has workout out hard for a long time they are not these end all workouts as I think the marking hype would lead you to believe.


If you'd like a comparison just do the circuit from the OP and post your time for 6 cycles. I'm not in the greatest shape in the world but for my size I'm in pretty decent shape.

Ok, I understand better now.

No worries.

I hope to benefit from the structure of these workouts. Also for some reason its a ton easier for me mentally to focus on diet when I'm doing a formal program. I find on my own, while I still work out a ton, my diet really slips over the long term. I'm not sure why but I think its something to do with time line. On this I can focus on an "end" date of 90 (94 actually) days and then move onto something else.

I can totally see that. The phase I shoulders/arms is a PRIME example. They rest between each set of 3 exercises (6 sets) and spend a bit of time talking. I'm betting 5-8 minutes or more could EASILY be cut from this tape.


So you did the p90? What kind of results did you get? How long did you do it for?

Week 2 done...so far so good. I went up in weight for almost all the exercises this week. I also ordered an "orange" band to add to my set (its more resistance than the current black one).

We'll see what progress I've made in another two weeks (28 days is the first phase)!

My travel schedule fit nicely this week....no way I'd have pulled off the yoga or plyo after my travel to Dubai....luckily it was Legs/Back/Abs that night!

I made it to about Day 70 then quit (and it took me about 100 days to get that far). I can give you a million excuses, but I had two big problems:
1. I had a couple injuries that were "caused" or exacerbated by P90X. (I use quotes since I surely share in the responsibility.) For example, there was one yoga pose where I twice hurt my shoulder & had to take a few days off to rest, ice, etc. before I eventually smartened up & just skipped the pose. A couple of the higher-impact moves in plyo (or the plyo section of the Cardio workout) caused some hip & knee problems that also led me to have to take days off to repair.*
1. Given the time requirement & injuries, I would skip a day (ie, push the schedule back) on days I was slammed. So there were spells where it might take me 8 or 9 days to get in 4 or 5 workouts. Which is better: Running 5x a week for 30 minutes or doing P90x three times a week because I don't have the time to do it 6 days a week? Ultimately, I didn't feel as if I was getting the full benefit of P90X given the number of days when I couldn't work out.

* Just to be clear, these weren't the good kind of pain from sore muscles.

I'm 5'4" and was 40 years old when I did it. I weighed about 140 at the start & got down to about 132 within the first few weeks. Then the weight slowly started creeping on again because I was missing workouts. I didn't see a huge change in any measurements, but in the early stages definitely felt as if my fitness level improved.

I'd recommend it to anyone who has the time & hasn't had any serious past sports-related injuries. I think it can be tough on the knees, hips and rotator cuffs.

Week 3 ends tonight for me with the stretch X workout. So far so good. Weeks 2 and 3 I've been on the road the entire time with several travel days so only doing the P90 workouts and not adding in much other. I head home later this week and hope to pick up spin and stuff again.

I've not hopped on the scale but feel pretty good overall doing these workouts. I'll weigh in at the end of the cycle 1 (28 days) and post.

Week 4 is the "recovery/transition" week:
Yoga X
Core Synergistics
Kenpo X
X Stretch
Core Synergistics
Yoga X
Rest or X Stretch

I'll say that if the core workout is a hard workout it isn't going to be much of a recovery week (yoga is brutal!)!

Week 5-7 looks like:
Chest, Shoulders & Triceps,Ab Ripper X
Plyometrics
Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Yoga X
Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X
Kenpo X
Rest or X Stretch

So the chest/shoulders and back/biceps are new workouts.