CoachBioArt

It’s funny… if I had seen the P90X infomercial before I started the program, I would not have bought it.  It’s not that the infomercial is bad (it’s actually pretty good), but as a rule, I don’t like/trust infomercials that much… Thankfully, a friend told me about P90X and after visiting beachbody.com I bought it as my Christmas gift.  My wife was skeptical, but supportive (she’s happy now though!)

What a great program!

I started Jan 1st, 2009 and stuck to the workout schedule as much as I could (a couple of recovery days here and there, but pretty good for the most part).  I tracked my workouts in the beachbody club tracker (WOWY or “Work Out With You”).  Because of family and work obligations (and not being a morning person), most of my workouts were at 10:30 or 11PM.  It was easy to get into a routine to go down the basement and work out late at night.  It was really something I started looking forward to doing… and seeing the change in my appearance (and comments from others) kept me coming back for more.

So… does it work? YES! 90 days after I started, I was down over 30 pounds, and in the best shape of my life!  I was running like a madman in the rugby fields and keeping up with college kids during their breakaways (I’m a rugby referee).  I have since started doing P90X+ and some of the Tony Horton one-on-one videos to add variety etc.  I’m down almost 40 pounds and over 7 inches of waist at the moment (size 36 pants from size 42+).  I’ll review P90X+ and the other videos later.

I really enjoyed working out in a group when I was an active rugby player.  These videos mimic some of the same experience.  If you get into them, they are fun. Tony Horton is a good instructor and his comments would often made me feel like he was watching me… things like “Get lower on the squat”, “keep it up, we’re almost at a break” were really well timed and in places I usually needed the encouragement.

Here’s my quick take on the different P90X videos (I’ll have detailed reviews in the future, this is meant as a brief summary):

Chest & Back:

A good place to start.  Hard to do too many pull-ups at first, but I had an assisted pull-up station, so I could subtract up to 80 lbs from my weight.  I stopped using the assisted by the end of the program and routinely do over 40-50 pull-ups during a session now.  Lot’s of push-ups too.  Fun workout

Plyometrics:

Scary at first, but lots of fun.  This workout is probably responsible for my increased speed and agility.  You are moving and sweating the entire time.  Love it!

Shoulders & Arms:

Good upper body workout.  Easier than Chest & Back, but I can feel it after I’m done

YogaX:

The first 45 minutes of this (all movement exercises) are intense.  This video is about 1.5 hours… when I first started I didn’t know the last half is mostly stretching, so I thought I was going to die.  I had never done Yoga before this video.  I didn’t bend the way they did at first… Now I do.  Enough Said! Great workout.

Legs & Back:

It’s a good thing this is only once a week.  Lots of Squats, but great for your legs.  Back exercises are good too.

KenpoX:

I had never done Kenpo before (or anything besides Judo).  It was great to learn the moves and it is a good workout.  It took a while to get good at many of the moves, but I enjoy it.  Highly recommended to get a full-body workout (if you get into the moves).

XStretch:

A really nice change of pace on the rest day.  You still get to sweat a little during some of the stretches, especially the warmup salutations.  Very good to do if you are sore from the previous day.  Relaxing.

Core Synergistics:

Good change of pace on recovery week, but it is hard.  I thought recovery week was supposed to be easier (it isn’t).  Some of the moves are hard, especially because you only do them once or twice every 4 weeks

Chest, Shoulders and Triceps:

Three muscle groups one after the other and then back to the first muscle group.  Different exercises every time.  Really like this one.

Back & Biceps:

Similar as above, but different muscle groups.  Lots of involment of the other muscles too.

CardioX:

Haven’t done this one, since I prefer Plyometrics or the P90X+ workouts… looks good though

AbRipperX:

339 sit-ups/reps in 11 exercises… hard to do the full thing.  I could do at most 10 of each at the beginning, probably up to 20 of each by now.  Good workout, though hard to do immediately following the resistance workouts as suggested.  Good set of exercises to do anytime you have 16 minutes to spare