P90X - Almost with a straight face

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I'm sure quite a few of the fitness oriented folks around here have at least *heard* of P90X, a Tony Robinsesque "EXXXXTRREEEEMMEE" series of videos. The theory isn't novel: work your ass off and eat better for 90 days and you'll look and feel better when your done.

After sliding downhill for essentially the entirety of 2009, my friend RobD and I are taking the plunge. If anyone feels like joining us, post your pain here.

It's not exactly cheap, but you CAN find the DVDs for about $50 bucks on sale, and the equipment required is quite minimal (a pullup bar and either dumbells or a set of resistance bands).

I'm day 1, and it kicked my ass, but in a good way. The dude is way less annoying than the infomercial stuff you'll see on the web, I actually kind of like him, and not just because he's a bit older and self deprecating.

Nutritionwise, I'm not following the fairly dirt-standard workout diet, rather just falling back on common sense and using livestrong.com's free food counter and 3 dollar iphone app to keep better track of what I'm eating.

I only post this here because I got a lot of twitter DMs when I posted I was starting, so perhaps I can drag some of you out of the woodwork.

A lot of guys at my Kung Fu school are using it. It's pretty popular among physical trainers here, too. It's hardcore and it works.

Rock on Rabbit! Hadn't thought about getting back in shape for a while, but now might be the time. Thanks for posting this.

My brother was|is doing P90x and was|is getting great results. He hasn't mentioned it lately though and has been clocking in a lot of game time so I don't know if he lost motivation. I personally stick with a mix of kettlebells, freeweights, HIIT, and running. This is my first winter here (out of three) that I'm continuing to make gains and my goal is to keep up momentum rather than bunkering down in front of the fireplace with scotch and not doing anything other than snowboarding. I'm thinking about picking up a nice heavybag as a late Christmas present to myself.

Keep us posted, particularly about time commitment. The biggest thing preventing me from even considering it is that I really don't want to spend an hour and a half a night working out. (These games don't play themselves, dammit!)

I loved doing it but by the end of the three months it got very repetitive and boring. I found that I hated the Yoga and always skipped it. I also never followed the diet guide because it just seemed so convoluted and the food looked terrible. I also found it hard to spend 40 minutes stretching. It felt like a waste of time to me.

I used it mainly because I was in between gyms and I mostly enjoyed my time with it. If I had more free weights in my house I think I would have gotten more out of it. Overall though it also kicked my ass. Especially those different types of push ups!

Its been a year since I was on it but I still do Ab Ripper X three times a week. That is the best Ab exercise program out there bar none.

Chumpy_McChump wrote:

Keep us posted, particularly about time commitment. The biggest thing preventing me from even considering it is that I really don't want to spend an hour and a half a night working out. (These games don't play themselves, dammit!)

Yeah, when rabbit was telling me about it, this was a big "woah, not sure I really want it THAT bad" moment. I'm married, in good health and am not limited in doing the things I want to do. I'm not sure 70 to 90 minutes a day is something I'd have the drive for in the long run.

I'm lucky, in that a lot of it has been worked into our KF school workouts. So I get the trickledown!

I don't know anything about P90X beyond the infomercials. But I will say this, regarding the time commitment: If you're thinking about the time put in in terms of the results that you get, it's never going to be worth it. If you're weighing the time required (say, 45 minutes) versus some tangible result (say, ever-so-slightly less flag on your ribs), then eventually, it will be easy to talk yourself out of it. Doing the exercise program for its own sake (whether that be running, weights, hitting the bag, or hitting another person) is the only mindset that will keep you coming back day after day, months from now.

My two cents.

CptGlanton wrote:

If you're weighing the time required (say, 45 minutes) versus some tangible result (say, ever-so-slightly less flag on your ribs), then eventually, it will be easy to talk yourself out of it. Doing the exercise program for its own sake (whether that be running, weights, hitting the bag, or hitting another person) is the only mindset that will keep you coming back day after day, months from now.

For me I sleep better and sleep less, plus feel more energetic and thusly more productive through the day. So working out effectively makes time for itself. I guess I'm an endorphin addict too because if I don't work out my mood really suffers.

Yeah, I currently do three days a week, 45 minutes a session mostly to keep my energy up. I could care less about popping my quads or whatever it is they pitch, but learning some new exercises would definitely be a good thing.

I've seen the Triceps/shoulders/chest DVD with a friend, and it should definitely work, however in my opinion there's a lot of wasteful exercises, but just the fact that it pushes you to almost failure will ensure muscle growth (if not optimal). Also the ab workout seems kind of excessive.

An hour and a half of exercise daily is ridiculous unless you need to be in top shape for something. Regularly I do 20-30 minutes of weights and bike 25 mins on the off days, and I'm fine.

P90X will obviously work if you stay with it, yet I think it is too "hardcore" for the sake of being hardcore, not for achieving a better body with less work.

Also I can't stand the trainer guy. =P

I'll be honest, once you get into your mid-40s (gasp) it stops seeming like an "optional" thing. For various reasons (cost being one of them, transport being the other) the gym wasn't going to work for me this winter. I hate running and cycling in the cold, and we have zero snow to ski on, so I needed something to get me through February. I can only ride the trainer and watch movies so much.

I'm more sore from Day 1 than I have been from anything in years, and Day 2 (plyometrics) was no picnic. Hard to blame a program when it's all entirely self inflicted, and they show you about 20 ways to cheat so you can just get through it.

Here's a place that has the DVD set for 50$, but I'm still not sure I want to pay that much if I don't get into it. Does anyone want to go in? I can neither confirm nor deny that I can make copies.

Just make sure you take your vitamins and eat right and rest so you don't get sick, if you don't have a gym it's a great choice of workout so good luck!

CptGlanton wrote:

Doing the exercise program for its own sake (whether that be running, weights, hitting the bag, or hitting another person) is the only mindset that will keep you coming back day after day, months from now.

Them's golden words. I've never had a particularly good exercise regimen mindset. Until I decided to run my marathon and paid the entry fee. Then I had a tangible goal that, if I didn't continue to work toward it, I would fail miserably. So I continued to work. Now that I finished that first one I scheduled another one in March to work toward to keep a tangible goal in sight. That seems to be my best method.

Let your own conscience be your guide, but if you buy from them directly, there's a no questions asked 90 day return policy.

This is one of those things that seems to have come out of nowhere to being all over my radar. Lots of folks at work are going through it, and then twitter pals, and now some of you guys. All within about a week. I've never attempted any kind of workout schedule, but I'm tempted to give it a shot out of fear that everyone on the planet will soon be able to kick my ass.

I've been on a eating-well kick for about 2 years now since I quit drinking. And, weight-wise, I'm right were I want to be. But, I've got a real lack of energy and have become really really inactive. I think i would feel 100x (90x?) better if I got some exercise in.

With winter arriving, I'm really curious. Especially since the cash outlay is almost nil - can get the discs from a bud at work, and the bands are like $40 for a basic set.

My only concern is noise - I live in a 120 year old building, and my landlord lives on the floor below. Is there much bouncing around, or is it mostly isometric? I checked out the back and chest disc, it looks like I could do most of it without making much noise.

edit: Also - for those wondering, the results seem to be there if you can stick with it. My coworker lost 30 lbs, looks and (says he) feels great. He's starting his second round of it now.

Plyometrics is literally all jumping. The strength routines are so far reasonably quiet. If painful.

Day 3: arms and shoulders. Every muscle in my body hurts, but in a good way. Walking down stairs is comical -- it makes my pecs and abs hurt!

rabbit wrote:

Day 3: arms and shoulders. Every muscle in my body hurts, but in a good way. Walking down stairs is comical -- it makes my pecs and abs hurt!

It's kind of awesome, isn't it? =)

My wife and I did "The X" for a few weeks and it tore us up. It was rather humiliating having the guy from Super Troopers, who apparently only has one leg, kicking your ass at plyometrics. It's a great workout and definitely a cut above your regular gym workout. I wouldn't try 90x unless you're already fit and looking for a way to push yourself further.

We loaned the set to my uncle so he and his girlfriend could try it and it got "lost."

Wasn't the P90X a gun from the original Deus Ex?

IMAGE(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/FN-P90.JPG/800px-FN-P90.JPG)

I need a bigger house. My hands keep hitting the fan and ceiling while doing the P90X warm ups.

edit: What is everyone doing for equipment? The stuff on their site is pretty expensive. $400 for those weights and $90 for a mat is a bit out of my price range.

We went to Academy and bought 4 sets of hand weights for ~$50 and I think we paid $20 a piece for yoga mats there as well. Not free, but still under $100.

Did you take "before" pictures?

There are places you can get this on the interwebs

I dropped about 30 kgs in 3 months using just the information I got in a health seminar, for me knowing the science behind foods and how everything interacts was enough to get me to change my eating habits, and since it's a change of eating habits and not a diet it's sustainable, Once i'd begun losing the weight feeling better made me feel like exercising and I started running( for the first time in my life) and I've been spending a lot of time swimming in the ocean. I'd suggest people that want to improve their diet research Glucogon and insulin and understand how the two interact in your body.

Prozac wrote:

I'd suggest people that want to improve their diet research Glucogon and insulin and understand how the two interact in your body.

This. The P90x diet plan is nothing but a classic weightlifter's cut diet: very heavy on the protein, calorie restricted. I KNOW the right eating habbits, and all Ive done is go back to them and ban the crap food from the house again, something we'd been slacking on for a while. Since I'm trying to actively lose a little bit of flab, I'm tracking my calories (in and out) pretty tightly at livestrong.com, and making sure I carry a deficit of a little bit every day. Since I'm lifting, I've added post workout chocolate milk and a can of tuna to my diet, which kicks my protein up over 1/3 of my calories.

As for equipment: I have a pullup bar, but you don't actually need it if you can anchor your bands in a door. I have this set of bands, and they're fine. Not great, but fine.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/pr...

I don't use a separate mat, but I did get a set of these to cover my concrete basement floor:

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/pr...

In both cases I paid a bit less than those prices at my local store this week, so my total outlay on "stuff" is about 70 bucks. You can do EVERYTHING, including all the pull-up exercises, using resistance bands.

Baaspei wrote:

Did you take "before" pictures?

Yes I did, I won't be posting them unless my 'after' ones are happy!!

bighoppa wrote:

It was rather humiliating having the guy from Super Troopers, who apparently only has one leg, kicking your ass at plyometrics. It's a great workout and definitely a cut above your regular gym workout. I wouldn't try 90x unless you're already fit and looking for a way to push yourself further.

There are many funny moments in the routines but the one-legged guy is the best. At one point Tony says "... and if you can't do these on one leg, it's OK to just do jumprope moves," and the one legged dude says "or, if you only HAVE one leg ..."

I think people get in trouble if they don't follow the actual advice of the book, which has a fitness test. It includes banging out a pile of pushups and pullups, and honestly, if you can't do jumping jacks for 5 minutes, and do the pushups and pullups, you need to do another program. They say as much in the instructions, and they're not lying. The pullups you can cheat (it took me YEARS to be able to do pullups), but not by much.

Day 4: Yoga. Just about what I needed. I've done a lot of yoga in my life, so there wasn't anything particularly new here, it's basically a longish average yoga class. First half is pretty active, the second half mostly balance/strength postures. I will say I laughed out loud at least 10 times during it.

Funny how Rabbit and I are on opposite ends of things. The upper body lifting is making me just a hint sore but nothing big but the pylo and yoga made me cry as I have no quad strength and my feet and calves like to cramp up on what seem to be minor routines. Today Tony kept talking about "breathing" during the yoga day. All I could think was "Is it OK to breathe like I've just been stabbed, because that's what I'm doing..."

4 down. 86 to go.

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