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Salomon P.
Salomon P. Sendmail

P90X - Advice, Comments, Info?

asked over 2 years ago | Report

I've seen 'P90X' mentioned a lot and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with it.

Is it worth the cost and does it get results (assuming you put in the time and effort).

Also, what did you need as far as equipment goes? I've seen dumbbells and a pullup bar mentioned. The bar is easy enough but I use dumbbells up to and over 120lb (if I can find them) and need a large range. I've seen those 'weight-select' ones that are out there, any comments on those?

One last thing, is the included nutrition plan useful?

PS - I'm fairly fit and am probably aiming to start doing triathlons, but my #1 goal is to lose weight, increase fitness and become more toned/'ripped'.

Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

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5 answers

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  • Jeff P.
    Jeff P. Sendmail

    I'm with you Salomon. I've seen this lately and did a little research on YouTube, but I'm curious about other folks who are fit and want to get ripped or more toned. I hope we'll hear from others who have tried this and what equipment was needed to execute this.

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

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  • Kevin M.
    Kevin M. Sendmail

    Hi guys, hopefully I can help out!
    P90X does work really well, and I would really advise it to anyone looking into going from being 'lazy' to in shape. If you're already really active, the P90X program will help, but from what I've seen it's not really a long term or specific training program. Two of my friends are currently doing the P90X program, both of which are not very athletic by nature, and have seen tremendous positive results from the program. I was very skeptical, but from what I've seen, it's definitely worth the investment. It gives great advice and mini lessons on many aspects for gaining fitness, kind of like a personal trainer in a box. Even has yoga.

    You're right- the basic requirements for the program are only a small open area such as a living room where you have room to stretch out, as well as some dumbells and the pull-up bar. The included nutrition plan I haven't seen in detail, but from the changes my friend has made it seems to definitely be on the right track. Nothing spectacular advice wise, just focusing on eating 'healthy', which as a triathlete, you probably already do. Keep in mind that your dietary requirements will vary greatly from the P90X program's. You're going to be gearing up for long events and days; P90X focuses on muscle building and high protein intake, it's not really an endurance athlete's regiment, but is still good. If you want a cheaper alternative to hiring a personal coach or trainer, I would definitely recommend the P90X program. As I said, I was skeptical at first, but from the progress my friend has made, I'd have to say it really delivers much better than any other mail-order DVD or bowflex program I've ever seen.

    answered over 2 years ago |edited over 2 years ago |Report

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  • Mike F.
    Mike F. Sendmail

    Whats up, Soloman? I am also fairly fit and can move decent amounts of wieght in the gym. However, I started P90X on 01June09, and I have been soar ever since. The great thing about the P90X workout is you do not need real heavy wieght. for instance on shoulder and arm day, I normally use 65 lb dumbell to do shooulder presses, but I only used, or should I say I was able to use 30lbs to keep good form doing P90X. For what it's worth to you, I think the program works. I did not want to buy a bunch of wieghts, so I wrote the workout down out of the book that comes with the workout, and went to the gym. I got a phenominal workout in. Good Luck!

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

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  • Elizabeth A.
    Elizabeth A. Sendmail

    I bought P90X a couple of years ago and it definitely works if you stick to the program. I found the nutrition program to be pretty straight forward as well. It's a good balance of carbs/protein/fats. The ratios change as you move through the phases ending with a plan geared towards endurance athletes (60-20-20).

    I found the lower body workouts to be a bit lacking, but if you're an avid runner it's probably good not to kill your legs like other workouts do. Tony Horton can get a bit annoying after a while, but there are a variety of workouts so boredom really isn't an issue. Some people do multiple rounds of P90X because they like it so much.

    If you're training for anything longer than a 10K I don't recommend doing P90X at the same time. Something's going to have to give and I found my body got really worn down when I hit Phase 3 and also had to do 12+ mile long runs.

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

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  • Ben
    Ben Sendmail

    I'm a personal trainer and I'll give you my opinion on P90x. I believe that the P90x workouts are very good, but they are definitely NOT beginner workouts. If you want to use them, then I suggest you have a carb drink such as gatoraide or something with more carbs than that handy because your blood glucose level can get really low really quick if you are new to working out. And when that happens, then you will likely vomit. When I start training a new client, I require them to have gatoraide or a simple sugar such as a pixy stick candy thing that has dextrose in it to raise their blood glucose level quickly if needed. I learned to do that after making many, many people vomit on their first workout.

    Now with that aside, you need to decide what you want from P90x. If you want to gain lots of muscle mass, then P90x is definitely NOT for you. P90x is basically just HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). It's nothing new at all, it's been around for many many years. All they did was to organize it, make videos, and market it well so that now everyone knows what it is. The way it works is similar to the way sprints work to force your muscle cells to replicate their mitochondria, thus your muscles will burn MUCH more energy at rest, thus it will make your body burn more fat, thus showing your muscles more since theres less fat over them. But it is VERY hard to gain much muscle mass if all you do is interval training for several months in a row.

    It does work though, so I'm not knocking it. But you need to know what you want to get out of it. Some people want to be big, some people want to be big and super lean, some people just want to be big, and some people just want to look like a super lean and skinny shreaded race horse. If you are already fit, then try it for 2 months and see if you like it.

    But to tell you the truth, you can get the same fat loss effects by doing sprints every other day for about 3 months. It's all about the mitochondria.

    answered over 2 years ago |Report

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