P90X which is also referred to as “Power 90 Extreme” is easily one of my favorite workout programs on the market. It is promoted by the company Beach Body and was created by the super amped personal trainer Tony Horton. He had support from the CEO of Beachbody named Carl Daikeler, their fitness advisor Steve Edwards, and a professional nutritionist named Carrie Wyatt.
Plus Tony’s buddy Mason from Mega Mace productions did most of the filming for it. Anyways, that’s just a little background on the people that are behind the program P90X that you probably keep hearing about or have heard about. Below is my personal P90X review as written by me Andrew Pavelski… I hope you like it.
What is the purpose of P90X? (Muscle Confusion)
The reason that P90X was developed was to improve physical fitness in 90 days through a series of tough workouts. The program is designed to promote what is referred to as “muscle confusion.” The idea behind muscle confusion is to mix up exercise routines and types of weight lifting so that your muscles don’t get used to/accustomed to the same exercise. Someone that goes to the gym and does the same Bench Press exercises every day clearly doesn’t understand the concept of muscle confusion.
Jon Congdon Talks Muscle Confusion
An example of muscle confusion would be constantly mixing up exercises like doing an upper body workout one day, lower body the next, yoga the next, then maybe doing a hybrid of upper body and lower body the next all with different exercises. The goal is to basically not get your muscles and brain conditioned to expecting the same routine. This confusion for your muscles is supposedly designed to prevent a plateau in strength and physical fitness that limit most traditional workout programs.
Who is Tony Horton? “Bring It!” + “Do your best and forget the rest“…
Tony Horton is pretty much the P90X God – he created the program, designed the workouts, and is the loud, obnoxious, hilarious guy that’s on all of the workout DVD’s. He had me laughing my ass off with a joke or two in every workout and did a nice job at keeping the people entertained. His motto for the P90X DVD’s is to “Bring It!” and he keeps saying you’ve gotta “Bring It!” to the people at home. The other motto that he came up with was “Do your best and forget the rest.” He wants people to push their own limits and forget about comparing yourself to other people. I think that Tony really did a good job coming up with that one, even if it was a spontaneous statement.
Originally, Tony Horton was an actor, but ended up becoming a personal trainer. One of his first fitness training programs that he designed was “Great Body Guaranteed” with another Beach Body affiliate Debbie Siebers. He then went on to release the “Power 90 In-Home Boot Camp” which set the original foundation as a precursor to P90X. The goal of that program was to combine cardio with strength training and basically to get people in shape without them having to leave their house to go to the gym.
To make a long story short, the guy has been in the business a long time and knows what he’s talking about when it comes to fitness. He has released: Power 90, Power 90 Master Series, 10 Minute Trainer, P90X, P90X+, and One on One with Tony Horton. I have had the chance to try P90X, P90X+, and the One on One’s and they have all been kick ass and a lot of fun. So anyways, that’s a little bit about the guy that created P90X. All around he’s a cool guy and is receiving a lot of media attention these days for being one of the leaders in today’s world of fitness.
P90X Review: My personal experience with P90X
P90X is a program that I was originally introduced to in December 2009 by my brother. He actually did the program before me and I was kind of skeptical because I had seen infomercials for it on TV. Whenever I see a late night infomercial regarding a product, especially when it comes to weight loss, I usually think that it’s usually a total scam capitalizing on fat people’s weaknesses and the common American “quick fix.” Seriously most infomercials are full of shit when it comes to money and weight loss just playing on people’s problems instead of actually trying to help them improve.
Anyways, my brother had hyped this program up because he did the full 90 days and said that it was really tough. At the time, I hadn’t really been exercising much and he kept teasing me saying that I was out of shape or that I could never make it through one of these workouts. Being the fairly competitive person that I am, I decided to give one of the workouts a try that he had. He brought it to the weight room for me and I did the Day 1 P90X Chest and Back just to try so that I could see what it was all about. I thought that it was really tough and like I got a world class workout because the DVD was so damn motivating and the exercises were hardcore. I remember that my abdominal muscles killed after that first workout.
Well I went on to do a couple more random workouts before deciding to commit to the full 90 days on a Monday. I started the program in early 2010 and did it all throughout the second semester of my junior year at college. It got me into much better shape and I was noticing that I felt a lot better while I was doing the daily P90X workouts. Some benefits from doing these workouts that I personally experienced included:
- Better sleep at night – I was getting a lot deeper, more restful sleep instead of wanting to stay up like an insomniac and watch TV or play video games with peeps at the dorm.
- Mental strength – Pushing through these workouts was tough, so it definitely made me mentally stronger. If you do P90X, I know that you’ll finish more disciplined and stronger than before you started.
- Physical strength – This is the obvious benefit from doing P90X. When you workout for 90 days straight, you are going to get results. When doing an intense program like P90X, you are going to really notice an increase in strength.
- Weight loss – I wasn’t in bad shape before starting the program, but I know that I turned any excess fat that I had to muscle. I don’t think that I lost a ton of weight because like I said I was in fairly good shape before starting, but it definitely took my strength to a whole new level.
- Increased motivation – This program is a huge motivational boost, especially since Tony Horton is so damn pumped up and positive the entire time. Each workout made me want to return the next day because there was such an inspiring host.
- Improvements in concentration – Before P90X it was harder for me to concentrate on my school work, but doing these workouts kind of burned me out to the point where it was easier to concentrate in class, writing essays, and take tests.
- Reduced stress – If you are stressed out or anxious a lot of the time, the workouts in this program will really work well to help you just chill when you need to. Before P90X I was a little bit too stressed out slash hyper and it really calmed my ass down. If you always feel pumped up, excited, or are preoccupied with worries, doing P90X will help you chill out; especially during Yoga X.
Anyways, I was so impressed with how good the P90X workout system worked that I did another round right after I finished my first 90 days. In other words, I did 180 days straight with Tony Horton before deciding to move on to a different workout (Insanity). My first round of P90X really surprised me and at the beginning, kind of kicked my ass. I was sore from all of the workouts for like the first month until my body adjusted and built up strength.
After the first 30 days or so, I just kept plugging away focusing on one day at a time and before I knew it, I was done with the full 90 days. I went on to do another round and actually kept a journal documentation of every single day and posted them up on this website in the P90X category. I even got my roommate to do the P90X and he made it through the full 90 days on his own even though it was tough for him. I really have nothing but good things to say about this program; it’s definitely legit.
Explain the 90 day P90X program a little more…
P90X is a 90 day workout program, so you’ve got to be prepared to workout for about 3 months straight. Anyways, it is a challenging program that combines a variety of exercises including:
- Strength training – Push ups, pull ups, curls, dips, and more will increase your overall strength by the time you are done with P90X.
- Plyometrics (Jump training) – Plyometrics is done once every week on Tuesdays and is one of the most challenging home workouts that you’ll likely ever do. I had fun with the Plyometric workouts and I always felt like I burned a ton of calories by the time I was done.
- Cardio – Your heart rate will increase if you do P90X and you will get into the zone. Tony Horton has you do a nice warm up and you will definitely notice improved cardio through these workouts.
- Yoga – Yoga helps to improve your overall flexibility and peace of mind. Before the program, I thought the Yoga X workout was going to be a total joke, but it was actually pretty damn tough. Don’t think that Yoga is going to be easy, because even if you’re advanced, you can still add push ups between the Vinyasa sequences.
- Stretching – The stretching is a great way to recover after intense workouts and is really good for your body. Tony Horton explains the importance of helping your muscles recover during the stretch sessions.
- Core – Your abs will really improve by doing Ab Ripper X three times per week as scheduled by the program. Additionally, a routine called “Core Synergistics” is really good for targeting the core area and abdominal muscles.
There are a few “recovery weeks” built into the program in which exercises are less intense. There is also what is called the “X Stretch” once a week and you do it on Sunday at the end of the week after all of the hardcore workouts are done. The workouts themselves are very tough and will push your personal limits if you’re up for the challenge. Hopefully by now if you are skeptical about P90X, you get the clue that it’s actually a beastly home workout program and it’s not for amateurs. Sure anyone can try it, but if you’re out of shape, it might be overwhelming initially until you burn some fat.
Advantages of P90X
The advantages associated with P90X significantly outweigh any disadvantages, so I’m going to explain them for you in case you don’t know much about this program.
You can do it at home – Most people that live fast-paced lifestyles don’t want to have to drive to the gym every single day to workout. You obviously can do P90X at the gym, but most people do it at home or at a private gym. Having the option to workout at home is great for most Americans. The nice thing is that doing P90X is actually cheaper than paying for a 90 day gym membership at most places, so not only are you going to save money from not having to go to a gym, but you are going to save the drive, and will likely be doing a way tougher workout. Plus, what did you plan on doing at the gym? Walking on the treadmill or elliptical machine for a few hours? Seriously, P90X is 1000 times better than what I see most people doing at the gym.
It will get you in shape – If you want to get into awesome shape do P90X, period. If you want to stay fat or don’t want to lose weight, keep walking on the treadmill everyday and eating the same junk food thinking that something magical is going to happen. If you follow the workouts that Tony Horton has laid out for you in the program, I guarantee that you’ll get into a lot better shape than you’re currently in. So a warning for the skeptics: it will get you into shape.
You get out what you put in – Like most things in life, you’ll get out of the program what you put into it. There are timed sections where you’re supposed to do as many pull ups as you possibly can. Obviously you can do 2 pull ups, but if you’re capable of doing 22, then you’re not pushing yourself. It’s pretty easy to push yourself though when Tony Horton keeps saying “bring it” and telling the people that they’re capable of more. If you push yourself, you will really be surprised (maybe even shocked) at how good you’ll look and how much better you’ll feel after the full 90 days.
Easy to track your progress – With the worksheets that are provided, it’s really easy to see how you’re progressing as the program continues. The worksheets are organized by weeks and they are easy to follow. Tony gives you a few seconds after each exercise to write down your reps, so you’ll want to have a pen handy near your worksheets so that you can always take note of how many reps you’re able to do as well as what weights you’re using. Tracking your progress helps you track how your level of fitness is improving as P90X continues.
Motivational – The P90X program is very motivational, and in my opinion, a lot of the reason it’s so motivational is because of the highly animated fitness instructor Tony Horton. The guy knows what to say to keep you pushing yourself as well as what to say to make you laugh. I would always repeat some of the jokes from each workout to my friends and family afterwards. It has been about one year since I did my second round of P90X and I still remember some of his hilarious jokes.
Muscle confusion – There has been some debate regarding the concept of “muscle confusion” and whether it is an actual phenomenon. I explained it already above so if you want a recap, just scroll up and read about it. In my experience, whether muscle confusion is an actual phenomenon or not is totally irrelevant to P90X. If it is valid, you are going to get it with P90X, and if not, you are still getting a world class workout that mixes up routines and keeps things fresh for the person working out. You are going to get in shape by doing P90X because it is a total body workout and combines a wide variety of exercises.
It goes for 90 days straight – Although I have this listed as a disadvantage, I think that the fact P90X goes for a full 90 days is great. Having to stay committed to a program for 90 days seriously builds your self-discipline. Not to mention the fact that staying committed for 90 days will condition your body and mind into the habit of working out on a daily basis; a great habit to incorporate into your lifestyle in a society where there is way too much obesity. Another benefit of doing this program for 90 days is that it will build your confidence and you will feel very accomplished by the time you are done. If you can stick with a hardcore exercise program for 90 days, imagine what else you can do… I honestly didn’t think I was going to be able to do it, but took the program day by day and before I knew it, the entire thing was over and I felt awesome.
Disadvantages of P90X
I honestly was hesitant to list any disadvantages because I loved P90X so dang much, but I could see a couple of things people may have a tough time with. If you have actually done the program and can think of any other disadvantages, feel free to let me know.
It may be tough to do with other people – If you like to workout with a friend or “workout buddy” it may be kind of tough to do with P90X. People have definitely done the program with buddies before, but if you are working out at home, you may simply not have enough room to accommodate a friend; especially when the exercises have a countdown timer. Sharing a pull up bar would be kind of tough. Unless you have a big area and enough equipment, I recommend doing these workouts by yourself. You can always do Kenpo X, Yoga X, X Stretch, and possibly Plyometrics with a friend. It is a good idea to make sure that your friend or buddy is around a similar fitness level as yourself otherwise they might bring you down or encourage slacking on your part (which is not good); you want to be doing your best every workout.
It goes for 90 days straight – Obviously staying committed to any workout for 90 days can be tough for people. Fortunately, if you are traveling, you can bring a yoga mat or find a gym with the equipment necessary to do these workouts. Some people cannot handle a 90 day commitment because they don’t have enough self-discipline or don’t want to get into shape bad enough. P90X isn’t going to force you to do the workouts each day, that’s completely your responsibility.
It is not easy – Obviously if you are the type of person who can barely do a push up or pull up, then P90X will probably be too tough for you. The thing is that P90X is not some easy weight loss program and it’s not like the Shake Weight or other common gimmicks that you see on late night infomercials. It is what I consider the “real deal” because if you haven’t done it before, it will take you by surprise and really kick your ass into shape. If you think P90X is going to be easy, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening.
Diet guide can be difficult to follow – I’ll admit that I didn’t follow the diet guide exactly because it was tough to find some of the foods that they had listed in there. The meal scheduling and what you are eating will be challenging to follow if you don’t have access to fresh fish on a daily basis. If you live in a big city where produce and exotic seafood is readily available, it will be a lot easier to follow. I followed it pretty well, but not perfectly and I still got awesome results. If you are out of shape and follow the diet guide with the P90X program, I know that you’ll see even better results because they have you eating some great foods in smart portions tailored to fit your individual needs.
Can you use P90X to lose weight?
P90X will help you lose weight and build muscle. There are no tricks to this program, if you do the workouts and push yourself, you’re going to lose weight and build muscle. The reason that the program has you take pictures before you start the program is so that you can see how much better you look by the time 90 days are up. When I did P90X, I was in fairly good shape before starting, but it took my fitness to the next level.
If you are fat and worried about whether you’ll lose weight, I’ll tell you right now that if you do the full 90 days, you’re going to get great results. If you don’t do P90X and look for weight loss pills, patches, and take weight loss drugs from local pharmacies, you are going to end up with more problems than actually pushing yourself and working out. P90X encourages healthy eating, so you’re whole life will be transformed by trying this program as far as health is concerned. By the time you finish P90X, you’ll look way better than before you started and will have lost weight if you had some extra baggage.
What you get when you order P90X…
Official P90X DVDs – Obviously when you order P90X, you’ll get all of the DVD’s that it comes with for each of the workouts. There is a DVD for each workout and there are over 10 different workouts that the program uses to really push your limits. The DVD’s not only look badass, but once you pop them into your DVD player or computer, you had better be prepared to do some intense workouts.
P90X Nutrition Plan – There is a nutrition plan that comes with P90X that is tailored to fit your personal needs and goes along with the program perfectly. It is divided into three phases just like the workouts and provides super healthy recipes and foods to try while doing P90X. The first 30 days of the nutrition plan has you eating higher protein / low carb, the second phase involves adding more carbs, and the final phase has us eating an athlete’s diet with high carbohydrates. As you progress through each phase, you should be able to notice changes in your body and how your body is reacting to the food that you are giving it. The meals that are provided are top notch and provide your body with the fuel that it needs for these workouts and to build muscle.
P90X Fitness Plan – P90X helps you develop a total fitness plan of working out daily. You start by taking note of your current level of fitness and constantly work to improve each day throughout the program. After the first month of P90X, I experienced noticeable fitness improvements. The fitness plan is step-by-step and really easy to follow through Beach Body. It will help you stay on track so that you plan your workouts in advance and stay committed.
P90X Calendar – The official P90X calendar which lists off 90 days is one of the most rewarding and beneficial aspects of what is included with this program. The reason that I love the calendar is because each day you can look at what workout you have and cross it off when you are finished. Crossing off a completed workout helps you feel a sense of accomplishment and the calendar itself is a great reminder of how far you’ve come. Plus, putting the calendar in your room is a great psychological reminder to continue with your workouts.
P90X Worksheets – The worksheets that were designed for P90X are available online. You can print them off and as many copies as you need for the program. The worksheets allow you to keep track of what weights you used, how many reps you did, and more. These are really helpful and a must-have for anyone doing P90X. If you want to get results, you’ve got to be aware of what weights felt light so that you can increase weights for next time. Additionally, by keeping track of your reps, you will constantly trying to improve upon the previous weeks. The worksheets are essential and are a key part of P90X.
Buying P90X online and getting the best deal…
You likely have encountered tons of Beach Body coaches trying to sell workout products like P90X through their “coach” account when most of them aren’t even qualified to be a coach. The worst part about buying through Beach Body’s actual website is that it’s a pretty dumb idea. I’m not a Beachbody coach as of yet and they clearly don’t have better deals than anywhere out there.
How much does P90X cost? Well, it depends where you buy it…
1. Amazon.com (BEST DEAL): P90X through Amazon.com costs: $139.80 (Free Shipping) (ships within a few days)
*Note: If you’re a member of Amazon Prime, it will ship even faster…
2. Beach Body (AVOID): P90X through Beachbody costs: $139.75 + Shipping Expenses (1 week or more to ship)
CLICK HERE TO BUY P90X THROUGH AMAZON
The total amount of money that you’ll end up spending with Beach Body will be greater than going through Amazon.com because you are required to pay for shipping through BB. Amazon gives all people free shipping on these orders. Additionally, if you buy it through Amazon, you will get your product quicker than through BB.
Probably the worst aspect of ordering through Beach Body is that if something happens to your delivery (e.g. damaged, lost, delivered to the wrong person), you don’t get a refund. Obviously you’d probably be really pissed off and want to punch someone if this happened; I know I would. If you roll with Amazon though, you get a reliable Amazon customer service team to help you out and you likely won’t have any problems getting your P90X program.
I’m actually kind of laughing that Beach Body wouldn’t offer the product for an all around cheaper cost on their own website compared to Amazon, but for some reason they don’t which is why I recommend going through Amazon. Maybe BB will change their sales tactics in the future, but as of now, most (smart) people are buying their copies through Amazon.
P90X Equipment (Recommended)
Yoga mat
You need a yoga mat for P90X because if you don’t have one, you’re not going to be able to do the yoga workout. Yoga isn’t some joke of a workout either; it’s really intense and will require a firm grip on the floor with a mat. I mentioned during my documentation of P90X how much I hated my Danskin yoga mat so I’m definitely not recommending that particular brand.
Dumbbells
If you have the money, I’d just go ahead and get the Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells. If you don’t have the money, I’d probably just look on Craigslist or ask a friend if you can borrow some. The P90X crew uses bands and I ordered some bands thinking they would work well and be easy for transportation (which they were). The bands weren’t bad, but the weights were always better and gave me more of a workout. I highly recommend going with dumbbells instead of the bands. You don’t just want random light dumbbells that you have laying around your house either, you want weights that challenge you. You know how much you can lift… Get a set of weights that challenges you not just random light dumbbells…
Pull Up Bar (Door Mount)
You need to have a pull up bar somewhere that you can use. I bought a door mount pull up bar and it works awesome. You might think that it will wreck your door, but it really won’t at all. It will be able to easily accommodate your body weight and you will be able to do all of the required pull up exercises for this workout. Most pull up bars for this workout shouldn’t cost you more than $40. If you’re paying more than $40 you may want to shop around some more.
Push Up Stands
I went to my local GNC and bought a couple of plastic push up stands that worked well for P90X. You don’t need push up bars to do the program, but they are highly recommended so that you don’t put too much strain on your wrists. If you’ve ever had a wrist injury, then you’ll definitely want to make sure you have them protected with the bars. Additionally, I found that when I used the stands compared to just doing normal push ups on the ground, I got a way more intense burn. In other words, they will make the workouts even tougher. The nice thing about these stands is that they’re really not that expensive. The one’s that Tony uses are included in my link above for $58, but if you want to be practical, you can easily settle for something (A LOT) cheaper.
Lifting Gloves
Gloves are one thing that I wish I would have bought from Day 1 of P90X for the simple fact that doing a lot of pull ups can cause your hands to callus, and in worst case scenario, bleed. My hands were raw after the first few sessions of doing pull ups, so eventually, I invested in some weight lifting gloves. The gloves protect your hands from calluses and the best part about them is that they prevent the sweat build up on your hands from causing you to slip while doing pull ups.
Chair
You don’t need to buy a chair online for the exercises in P90X, you can use one from your house. You use chairs for dips as well as swing kicks in plyometrics. In some cases you may want to use 2 chairs for your dips (I was up to using 2 chairs and got a way bigger burn on my dips than using just one). So make sure that you have a chair around (most people should). Make sure that the top isn’t too sharp or wide though because you may end up not kicking your leg high enough in plyometrics and could end up with a sore leg if you don’t clear the chair on your kick across.
P90X Recovery Drink (Optional)
You definitely don’t need to buy the official P90X recovery drink in order to get good results. I have tried the drink and think that it tastes really fricken amazing. The powder itself smells to me like crushed animal crackers, but when you mix it up after a workout, it tastes great. If you aren’t worried about money and have the extra cash to spend, you won’t want to skip getting this stuff. Otherwise what you can do if you really want a post workout recovery drink is to get something from GNC that’s cheaper or just drink a glass of chocolate milk and eat a banana – that’s always a good recovery combo in my book.
Conclusion
I laid everything out for you in this review and if you are still skeptical, that’s your own tough luck. If you are overweight and use P90X, it will get you into shape. The real magic in this program comes from what you put into it and the fact that the workouts are both hardcore and fun. You can go through and read about each of my 90 days by looking in the P90X category on this website.
P90X Before and After Video
You’ve got to remember that simply buying the P90X DVDs isn’t going to get you into shape though. You have to still be the one that shows up each day, presses play, and the person that commits to a full 90 days. Buying the product should really be the least of your worries. If you aren’t yet convinced that P90X is a good enough workout, well then I have to say that it sucks to be you. The program is for people that genuinely want to improve their current level of physical fitness and improve their physical appearance.
If you have already done P90X, feel free to share your experiences with me, I love to hear from people and what they thought of the program. For me it has been one of my favorite workout programs that I’ve ever done. So what are you waiting for? The best body of your life is only 90 days away. Get your copy below today and see what’s up with Tony Horton’s P90X… It’s definitely not the only workout on the market, but if you haven’t already done it, you’re really missing out on something fun that will get you into great shape; it’s no joke…