Need some input on p90x

[Zachol82]

musicalmedic81, it's obvious that the p90x program works for you, according to your pictures.

I have been doing HIIT as well as weight liftings and I did drop a good 40lbs within 6 months and lost 5% in bodyfat. My endurance and strength increased dramatically, but I still don't look as toned as I'd like to yet. Seeing as how the p90x program made you look freakin ripped, I am pretty excited to start the program myself.

What would you say the hardest exercise for you is in the p90x program?

[musicalmedic81]

Originally Posted by Zachol82

musicalmedic81, it's obvious that the p90x program works for you, according to your pictures.

I have been doing HIIT as well as weight liftings and I did drop a good 40lbs within 6 months and lost 5% in bodyfat. My endurance and strength increased dramatically, but I still don't look as toned as I'd like to yet. Seeing as how the p90x program made you look freakin ripped, I am pretty excited to start the program myself.

What would you say the hardest exercise for you is in the p90x program?

Thanks man I appreciate that. I think the hardest workout is definitely Plyometrics. I think anybody whos ever done the program will probably tell you that. If you are used to doing HIIT then you may do pretty well with it. The first few times I did it I ended up lying on my back on the floor completely spent. The reason its so tough is that not only is it a cardio workout, you're also using large muscle groups, quads, gluts, hams, which speeds up your HR enough in itself. So throw in the fact that its about an hour long super-set with only a few 30 second breaks you have the makings of a serious ***** whoopin my friend. But it just depends on what your strengths are. Chest and back is hard too for a lot of people who arent so great at pull ups or push ups. That happens to be my bread and butter so I love that one. But you have to do everything to really tone your whole body, so if you are going to do it, commit to it 100%, dont just do the ones you like and slack off on the ones you dont. Thats my advice, I wish you the best with it man! Post up some pics of your progress when you get going!

[Itagaki]

Originally Posted by musicalmedic81

Thanks man I appreciate that. I think the hardest workout is definitely Plyometrics. I think anybody whos ever done the program will probably tell you that. If you are used to doing HIIT then you may do pretty well with it. The first few times I did it I ended up lying on my back on the floor completely spent. The reason its so tough is that not only is it a cardio workout, you're also using large muscle groups, quads, gluts, hams, which speeds up your HR enough in itself. So throw in the fact that its about an hour long super-set with only a few 30 second breaks you have the makings of a serious ***** whoopin my friend. But it just depends on what your strengths are. Chest and back is hard too for a lot of people who arent so great at pull ups or push ups. That happens to be my bread and butter so I love that one. But you have to do everything to really tone your whole body, so if you are going to do it, commit to it 100%, dont just do the ones you like and slack off on the ones you dont. Thats my advice, I wish you the best with it man! Post up some pics of your progress when you get going!

personally i find plyometrics rather enjoyable

yoga is the hardest for me...its long, difficult, and takes a lot of patience

[musicalmedic81]

Originally Posted by coyfish

I agree with a couple points you make. Let me attempt to clarify. First of all you are right, I don't know you. But I have been in amateur bodybuilding competitions and im a medical school student. So I understand the science behind how muscles work / respond. That being said:

Soreness isn't an indicator of the effectiveness of your workout. You get more sore when you work your muscles to fatigue through high rep / low intensity. That doesn't mean you are getting any stronger. You say you weren't getting results in the gym. I can assure you, unless your workouts were terrible (if you were working out for 10 years lets hope not) that means you weren't trying hard enough. I see it all the time and I have done it myself. People fall into routines in the gym, especially when they workout alone. Numbers are what govern their routines instead of intensity. You have to push yourself to exhaustion, squeezing out that last rep when you think you have nothing left.

I say its not for experienced lifters. What I mean is its not for people who are already in shape (I realize this is a relative term.) My mom does p90x and I did 4-5 workouts when I was home over the holidays. It was a good cardio workout but I wasn't forced to build anymore muscle. Why?? Because to get stronger you need to stress muscle. Doing push ups and pull ups only get you so far. Those paid advertisements are perfect examples. Here is a fun fact. Horton (creator) paid motivated (keyword) individuals to follow his program so he could prove its effectiveness. What he doesn't tell you is many of those people were trained seperately in gym's and did seperate cardio in addition to the p90x program. That is a fact.

And "muscle confusion" is BS lol. You can't confuse your muscle. Your muscles adapt when they are stressed. Simple as that. If you do wide grip bench press all the time you will hit more lats and outer chest. Then if you switch to closer grip 4 weeks later you will focus on inner chest / tri's. So changing things up is good but your not "confusing" anything.

Im not coming off as arrogant. Im just laying it to you how it is. I praise horton for creating an appealing program that simply restates what is already common. He has made millions.

"typical americans" are well . . . typical americans. Data shows that most americans are overweight / out of shape. There you go. A generalization . . . yes . . . but its true. Thats the crowd this program is geared towards.

In conclusion I wanted to illustrate that p90x is a business product just like any other. There is nothing special or unique about it. I think he does a good job making things fun and the DVD's are easy to use. But what you are paying for is essentially a workout routine. But if thats what it takes to get you motivated to push yourself . . . than its worth it.

I also think its great for beginners or people who don't have the time to hit the gym (which are few and far between). Or those looking to loose weight. Its not like im some superhuman bodybuilder anyway. Im only 5"10, 168, 8% BF. I can rep out 225 lbs 11 times so doing bodyweight exersizes / pushups wont net me results.

First of all I applaud your stats and your ability to maintain such peak form, especially while juggling the demands of medical school. Ive been in the medical field as a paramedic for almost 7 years and have my fair share of knowledge on the subject as well. You're still reading way too much into this though. The OP is not a bodybuilder. P90X is not for bodybuilders. Never said it was. Its a fitness program that focuses on so much more than just getting built and strong. Its strength, speed, agility, endurance, balance, coordination, core strength and flexibilty, which seeing how this is a tennis forum, and the OP was asking whether this program would improve his tennis I would have to say it would. And why not promote it if its done wonders for me?

I was at a point in my life where I wasnt getting results at the gym anymore. For one, all my gym buddies had bailed on me and I was working out by myself. That makes it extremely hard to stay motivated and keep pushing yourself as hard as you can. As you can tell from my before picture, I had lost a lot of my muscle tone and general fitness and was headed down the same path as many late 20 somethings who eventually get discouraged and fall off the fitness wagon into "past their prime" obscurity. When I found P90X that all changed for me and I can honestly say Im in better shape at nearly 29 than I was at 20.

Also, no its not geared towards out of shape, overweight people. If you go to the website and read about it, there is actually a fit test that you are supposed to be able to pass before they recommend you to try it. They make it very clear that P90X isnt for everybody, its for people who are already in pretty good shape who want to push their bodies to the limit.

Sure, beachbody, the company who made P90X, is business, its about making money. But isnt everything these days? Personal trainers, gyms, etc all that is about making money too. The bottom line like Ive said before is improving the quality of your life. P90X did it for me and I will continue to recommend it to anyone who wants to challenge them self and improve their overall athleticism and general fitness.

[coyfish]

Originally Posted by musicalmedic81

First of all I applaud your stats and your ability to maintain such peak form, especially while juggling the demands of medical school. Ive been in the medical field as a paramedic for almost 7 years and have my fair share of knowledge on the subject as well. You're still reading way too much into this though. The OP is not a bodybuilder. P90X is not for bodybuilders. Never said it was. Its a fitness program that focuses on so much more than just getting built and strong. Its strength, speed, agility, endurance, and flexibilty, which seeing how this is a tennis forum, and the OP was asking whether this program would improve his tennis I would have to say it would. And why not promote it if its done wonders for me?

I was at a point in my life where I wasnt getting results at the gym anymore. For one, all my gym buddies had bailed on me and I was working out by myself. That makes it extremely hard to stay motivated and keep pushing yourself as hard as you can. As you can tell from my before picture, I had lost a lot of my muscle tone and general fitness and was headed down the same path as many late 20 somethings who eventually get discouraged and fall off the fitness wagon into "past their prime" obscurity. When I found P90X that all changed for me and I can honestly say Im in better shape at nearly 29 than I was at 20.

Also, no its not geared towards out of shape, overweight people. If you go to the website and read about it, there is actually a fit test that you are supposed to be able to pass before they recommend you to try it. They make it very clear that P90X isnt for everybody, its for people who are already in pretty good shape who want to push their bodies to the limit.

Sure, beachbody, the company who made P90X, is business, its about making money. But isnt everything these days? Personal trainers, gyms, etc all that is about making money too. The bottom line like Ive said before is improving the quality of your life. P90X did it for me and I will continue to recommend it to anyone who wants to challenge them self and improve their overall athleticism and general fitness.

They say its not for out of shape people on the website to help avoid lawsuits when people break their arms falling from doing crazy kickboxing. I understand your point though. I have no problem with you promoting what you think works. I wasn't aiming my criticisms are you intentionally. I was trying to illustrate that p90x isn't a "magic" program. People get sucked in by false advertisements and fancy terms like "muscle confusion." Its the hard work and intensity that net results. It really doens't matter what you do.


What I said about people promoting the program who are ripped . . . is true. Many of them did seperate regimens to get "look ready" for TV.

You sound like you made an informed decision to buy the product. Thats applaudable. It just annoys me when people buy the product brainwashed by propoganda expecting some sort of miracle.

[Ripper014]

Originally Posted by Itagaki

personally i find plyometrics rather enjoyable

yoga is the hardest for me...its long, difficult, and takes a lot of patience

Same here... plyometrics is more about endurance and having explosive power on demand, which I have with my legs. I am good in strength to weight ratio with my lower body.

But I second YogaX... though I do get through it... it is long (the longest of all the workouts 90 minutes), and there are plenty of stretches I cannot do... it is a great workout for strength, balance and flexibility. Definitely not for the weak of mind or body.

[Ripper014]

Originally Posted by coyfish

They say its not for out of shape people on the website to help avoid lawsuits when people break their arms falling from doing crazy kickboxing. I understand your point though. I have no problem with you promoting what you think works. I wasn't aiming my criticisms are you intentionally. I was trying to illustrate that p90x isn't a "magic" program. People get sucked in by false advertisements and fancy terms like "muscle confusion." Its the hard work and intensity that net results. It really doens't matter what you do.


What I said about people promoting the program who are ripped . . . is true. Many of them did seperate regimens to get "look ready" for TV.

You sound like you made an informed decision to buy the product. Thats applaudable. It just annoys me when people buy the product brainwashed by propoganda expecting some sort of miracle.

I don't know if you have tried the program... but it actually works. I don't know about how ripped you are going to get... because like I mentioned eariler it is about how much you are going to put into the program (how intense you make it). When I was doing it, I got stronger quickly... and I did notice while playing sports I was stronger, quicker and much more agile. I also toned up quite a bit... a lot of people commented on it... though I did not notice that much of a difference. I guess you never do as the differences are so gradual...

My girlfriend who runs marathons and circuit trains hates workout videos... saying she has never seen a good one, actually has good things to say about P90x.

I am a supporter of the program... and if you can stick to it... even without the diet portion you will benefit from it. But like I said... it is about how much effort you are willing to put in... if you push hard you will get maximum results.

[coyfish]

Originally Posted by Ripper014

I don't know if you have tried the program... but it actually works. I don't know about how ripped you are going to get... because like I mentioned eariler it is about how much you are going to put into the program (how intense you make it). When I was doing it, I got stronger quickly... and I did notice while playing sports I was stronger, quicker and much more agile. I also toned up quite a bit... a lot of people commented on it... though I did not notice that much of a difference. I guess you never do as the differences are so gradual...

My girlfriend who runs marathons and circuit trains hates workout videos... saying she has never seen a good one, actually has good things to say about P90x.

I am a supporter of the program... and if you can stick to it... even without the diet portion you will benefit from it. But like I said... it is about how much effort you are willing to put in... if you push hard you will get maximum results.

Well it depends on what your goals are. Ripped is a very relative term. Unless you consider specific circumstances you can't gain muscle while losing fat. One of these circumstances is beginner lifters or people who haven't lifted in a long time. You will gain strength at a fast rate for a little while even in a caloric deficit. But this will plateau quickly.

That is why I think p90x is good for beginners. Lots of bodyweight exersizes and full body routines which don't overload you too bad at first. Then they gradually increase the intensity. Beyond modest limits though you will start to plateau. You could invest in a lot of dumbells I guess but you can only do so much with bodyweight.

[musicalmedic81]

Totally agree that the people in the infomercials results are a bit misleading. Some people probably buy it for the gimmick, but they will quickly find out that they have to put in some serious work or they're not going to see results.

Anyway, all is well, no offense taken

[Zachol82]

WOO! I just started my first unofficial day of p90x yesterday, I did the plyometrics and ab ripper x, since I heard plyometrics was the most intense, therefore I had to try it.

My opinion on it? Yea, plyometrics IS pretty intense. I wasn't able to catch my breath for the last 10 minutes of the video, but I was able to push my way through it anyhow. I also took an extra 2 minutes break in the middle as well. Other then that, I think I can handle the program. The ab ripper x after ward did kill me though, mainly because my legs, gluts, quads and all that were already dead from plyometrics.

I woke up this morning to pretty sore calves, somewhat sore hamstrings and EXTREMELY sore gluts. Everytime I have to bend over to pick up something...or even when I have to take a sh*t in the bathroom, is a pain in the *** (haha, get it? gluts, ass?...yea ok)

I will start my official p90x day 1 on Monday!

[Ronaldo]

Anyone try the Insanity workout by the same company?

[r2473]

Originally Posted by Ronaldo

Anyone try the Insanity workout by the same company?

[musicalmedic81]

Yes, I have tried some of the insanity workouts, found them on the pirate bay. Some of the hardest cardio I have ever done in my life. Makes P90X plyo feel like a walk in the park. Though insanity isnt as brutal on your legs as P90X is, it works your heart and lungs twice as hard. Will def get you lean and in fantastic shape, but wont do much to add muscle. I've been doing the resistance workouts from P90X mixed in with insanity workouts on the opposite days for cardio. They're no joke though man, its called insanity for a reason. And you'll find out why when you're down on your hands and knees about to puke and wondering how in the heck that guy is still going.

[Itagaki]

Never personally tried insanity, but it looks interesting

in terms of price and equipment, probably a better deal than p90x since it requires no weights as i understand

back on the topic of p90x, how's everyone doing on it?

I almost lost all motivation last week, workouts getting boring and repetitive, lack of results noticeable results

made me seriously want to go back to the gym and start strength training again

linear progression >> repetitive workouts with generally the same weights

core synergistics this morning pretty much renewed my motivation to keep going though

[Djokovicfan4life]

Originally Posted by musicalmedic81

Though insanity isnt as brutal on your legs as P90X is, it works your heart and lungs twice as hard. Will def get you lean and in fantastic shape, but wont do much to add muscle.

Not to mention that trainees on P90X may actually lose muscle if they're not eating enough. I'm no cardio hater, but I do chuckle a bit when I see that everyone seems to consider it to be the golden standard of fitness (not you).

[azbabolat]

I did it for one week and it tired me out too much for tennis

[SalvadorVeiga]

Originally Posted by coyfish

Well it depends on what your goals are. Ripped is a very relative term. Unless you consider specific circumstances you can't gain muscle while losing fat. One of these circumstances is beginner lifters or people who haven't lifted in a long time. You will gain strength at a fast rate for a little while even in a caloric deficit. But this will plateau quickly.

That is why I think p90x is good for beginners. Lots of bodyweight exersizes and full body routines which don't overload you too bad at first. Then they gradually increase the intensity. Beyond modest limits though you will start to plateau. You could invest in a lot of dumbells I guess but you can only do so much with bodyweight.

well... bodyweight exercises at a time you may plateau... just increase resistance then. I have no dumbells whatsover... nowadays i do my bodyweight exercises with 30 lbs backpack, and usually with some tube resistance along...