P90X

I am one who believes that the only way to truly gain anything is through hard work. If I want to learn something, I spend time understanding the topic and then I try to apply it in the real world. Only then am I able to internalize the knowledge. I play golf. The only way to get better at golf is to continually practice and work on weak spots. I own a company. The only way to grow a company is through long hours and hard work. Very little worth while is ever easy.

As such, I always have found infomercials amusing. Just spend five minutes a day working out on some silly machine and you can have a rock hard body. Or you can buy a "special" program that will allow you to lose weight without having to do anything. The never ending supply of wonder devices and diet schemes never fail to amaze me. Thus I was surprised when I came across the infomercial for P90X. It didn't promise that you could have an amazing body working out 10 minutes a day. It didn't promise some miracle weight loss program. It only promised one thing. If you worked your ass off, in 90 days you could be in the best shape of your life.

At the time, I had been looking for a way to get in better shape. I have never been in bad shape, but I wanted to drop a few pounds, put on some muscle, and be in all around better shape. The call for hard work appealed to my nature. Here was potentially a program that would fulfill my need. I did some research on the product and concluded it wasn't a scam. I decided to give it a shot. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I have made. Below is my review of the product.

The P90X program comes with a set of 12 professionally constructed workout DVD's, some documentation on how the program works, and a strict but detailed eating plan. In addition to the DVD's one must get a set of free weights, a pull up bar, a heart monitor, a yoga mat, and a yoga block. I had a pull up bar that came with my Solo Flex, but I had to buy the rest. I purchased PowerBlocks for the free weights and found a heart monitor, a yoga mat and a yoga block at a local sporting goods store.

The program consists of eating the recommended diet and performing one of the DVD's every day for 90 days. The hardest part for me was changing my eating habits. I was one of those guys who ate fast food or whatever else was available. I didn't really care what I ate. That had to change. I had to start eating better foods if I wanted to get results from P90X. So I stopped eating crap and started eating better. I also reduced my intake of alcohol since it is nothing but empty calories.

The first DVD for day 1 is "Chest and Back". The workout consists of 6 different push ups, 4 different types of pull ups, and two more back exercises with free weights. The push ups and pull ups are all maximum reps. After completing all 12 moves I was exhausted. But the workout wasn't over, I got to do the 12 exercises all over again. It was crazy. I have never done a workout anywhere near that intense. It was at this point, I had wondered what I had gotten myself into.

After Chest and Back, I still had to do "Ab Ripper X". ARX consists of 12 different moves. Each move has 25 reps. I know the math is fuzzy but it comes out to a total of 350 reps. After the first couple of moves, I was lucky to do a third of the reps. I was exhausted and sore (a good sore). At the time I thought it was possible to complete Ab Ripper X.

The Chest and Back workout is about 1 hour long and includes warm up and cool down stretches. One of the really nice features of all the videos is that each of them provides a series of warm up stretches before the workout and a series of cool down stretches after the hard stuff. The more difficult aspect of the program is the length of time it takes to do the daily workouts. Almost all of the workout videos take around 60 minutes to complete. Ab Ripper X is shorter and adds an additional 15 minutes to complete. I knew from the length of the workouts that it was going to take a commitment to work out 60 - 90 minutes every day. That can prove difficult to do every day for 90 days.

Day 2 is "Plyometrics". Otherwise known as jump training. It is another 60 minute workout that is killer. It is considered the mother of all of the workout programs. It kicked my butt. Heck the warm up almost wore me out. The main part of the workout consists of different hi cardio squat and jump exercises. I was quickly breathing hard and my heart rate was sky high. It wasn't long before I was struggling to keep up with the video. I had to pause numerous times just to catch my breath. The most sadistic part of the workout are the 30 second breaks they take after each set of moves.

Day 3 is "Shoulders and Arms". Shoulders and Arms is another weight training video. This one rotates between a shoulder, bicep, and tricep exercise. You do 15 different moves in all. Like the first DVD, each move is done twice. One of the difficult parts the first week was determining what weights to use. I had no baseline to decide which weight to choose. So I guessed. Fortunately, they provide sheets to write down the number of reps and weight use. They encourage writing everything down throughout all of the workouts. It provides a baseline for future workouts and illustrates improvements. Afterward, I had to do Ab Ripper X again. I struggled just as bad as the first time I tried it.

Day 4 is "Yoga X". I always thought Yoga was something for wimps. Yoga X is anything but. It is a 90 minute Yoga session that is brutal. The first half is dedicated to moving asanas. These are a set of moves that are not only difficult, but take a good deal of strength. The second part is dedicated to balance postures and different stretching exercises. I sweated and struggled my way though the entire workout. My wife who has done Yoga before thought it was insanely difficult.

Day 5 is "Legs and Back". By the 5th day I had begun to get used to the intensity of the workouts, but they were still hard. The Legs and Back routine rotates between various squatting exercises and pull ups. My legs were wobbly by the end and I struggled to do some of the later moves. I followed it up with another round of Ab Ripper X. Ab exercises are not easy when one's legs are tired.

Day 6 is "Kenpo X". The routine consists of various punching and kicking routines. The cardio is easier than Plyo and is probably the easiest of the first six workouts. While it is challenging, I didn't have any problems making it through the entire routine.

Day 7 thankfully brings with it a day of rest. They include a "X Stretch" DVD that lasts about an hour and walks through stretching everything that can be stretched. It is a nice way wind up a difficult week of training.

That was just the first week. The program repeats the week for two more weeks before entering into a recovery period in the 4th week. The recovery period introduces the 8th DVD, "Core Synergistics". The Core routine is a tough workout that focus on the body's core muscles from waist to shoulder. Along with core, the program had me doing more Yoga X, X Stretch, and Kenpo X.

After the recovery week, the program moves into phase II. This time "Chest and Back" and "Shoulders and Arms" are replaced with "Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps" and "Back and Biceps". Otherwise it is the same rotation of workouts. Phase II goes on for 3 weeks before entering the second recovery week. Phase III alternates Phase I and Phase II weeks for four weeks. The program ends with one final recover week. All total, it is 90 day training program.

It is a tough program, but it works. As the 90 days wore on I began getting use to the pace and length of the workouts. By the end I could do Plyometrics without needing breaks. I could do all of the Yoga moves. In fact, I stopped using the video and did the routines from the book. It allowed me to better focus on the breathing aspects of Yoga. I slowly pushed harder on Ab Ripper X until I could do the whole routine without resting.

At the end I could tell I was stronger. I could barely do a pull up when I started. When I was done I could do 12. I struggled to do 25 push ups when I started. I could do 40 when I was done. I doubled my time in the wall squat, and found I could do more weight and more reps on a standard bicep curl. My resting heart rate had lowered to a 45. On top of that I had lost 10% body fat and 7 inches off my waist. I was definitely in the best shape of my life.

Two weeks after finishing round 1, I started up round 2. The results continued to accelerate over the first 30 days. Unfortunately, at the end of phase I had to go in for my surgery. I have been side lined from training for the last two weeks. I am itching to get back to it. I can't wait to see what kind of results I can get after two rounds of P90X. I definitely recommend this product to anyone who wants to get into the best shape of their life.