P90x-Pros and Cons?

misskris78

I agree with most of the posters that P90X is more resistance than strength training - but I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing.

I've done P90X, Insanity (to work off the rest of the jiggle) and a P90X-Insanity-Turbo Fire hybrid for maintenance. I have achieved infomercial worthy results with these programs although I admit it has taken a bit longer than 90 days.

For most average people, this is a good solid workout that is extremely scalable for a variety of fitness levels. It won't turn you into an olympian, or even help you make the cut for the Green Bay Packers. It will help you lose weight, get toned, and is an important step to establishing a solid fitness regimen. In reality, that's what most of us want.

I am a big advocate of trainers, but for a lot of average folks, spending $75+ per hour for a trainer, even in a group training setting, isn't feasible. I disagree with the poster that said "Most women are lifting these days". Certainly serious athletes are lifting, but many average women don't know where to start and are turned off by the high testosterone environment. As someone who has lifted at a time when women weren't really hitting the gym and leg warmers were in fashion, I can't say I blame them. I certainly consider myself average.

If you can drop the cash and you have the time, I 100% agree with the P90X naysayers: The gym is going to get you better results. For the rest of us (like myself) who are working out at 4:30 in the morning, the Beachbody videos are more than adequate.

psuLemon

I have already done P90X but now I am doing P90X/Insanity.. It is definitely a strength building exercise program. Anyone who discredits it, hasn't done it. I have consistently increase my weight/rep count over the past 10 weeks (I stick around 8 reps on all moves except push ups and pull ups). I will note, it's more of an anaerobic workout so it's much better for cutting fat as opposed to bulking up. Additionally, I have done a bulk series with it and gained 7-8 lbs of muscle of the 10 lbs I gained [for those who want to do the math I was 191 @ 12% body fat to start, and finished at 200 lbs at 12.33% body fat]. Is it as effective as some other programs like Strong lift 5x5... probably not. But I rather do these programs than go to the gym. And on top of it, I haven't lost any LBM during p90x or chalean extreme or even the p90x/insanity hybrid.

My first time around P90X, I was 205 @ 18% body fat, cut to 191 @ 12% body fat. Then did the bulk doing P90X as stated above and now I am working on a cut doing P90X/Insanity.

JNick77

Before everybody gets all bent-out-of-shape over any "nay-saying" of P90x, remember that the thread is called, TOPIC: P90x-Pros and Cons? The Con's just seem to take a larger focus on the conversations.

First, kudos to anybody for getting off the couch and doing something whether it's P90x or whatever. Additionally, I'll admit that I've never met anybody that went from doing nothing and did P90x. My experience is with those that were following a good weight lifting program and diet and then switched to P90 for whatever reason and those results were not good.

ilovedeadlifts

I had a friend who was as equally unfit as I was. but he had about 60 pounds on me.
I did the pretest with him and beat him on a few things, and was close on a couple.

I joined a gym, the did P90x for the duration of the program.
When he joined me back at the gym, I was stronger than him, at a lighter bodyweight.

I feel like the gym was a much more beneficial choice. I spent less cash in the 90 day period, got stronger, and i just felt it was better overall.

psuLemon

Before everybody gets all bent-out-of-shape over any "nay-saying" of P90x, remember that the thread is called, TOPIC: P90x-Pros and Cons? The Con's just seem to take a larger focus on the conversations.

First, kudos to anybody for getting off the couch and doing something whether it's P90x or whatever. Additionally, I'll admit that I've never met anybody that went from doing nothing and did P90x. My experience is with those that were following a good weight lifting program and diet and then switched to P90 for whatever reason and those results were not good.

I think it also depends on your goals.. I already have a lot of lean body mass @ 5'11" and really my only concern is cutting fat and these programs all have been effective. Once i get to 6%, I will adjust according to my new goals.

JNick77

Before everybody gets all bent-out-of-shape over any "nay-saying" of P90x, remember that the thread is called, TOPIC: P90x-Pros and Cons? The Con's just seem to take a larger focus on the conversations.

First, kudos to anybody for getting off the couch and doing something whether it's P90x or whatever. Additionally, I'll admit that I've never met anybody that went from doing nothing and did P90x. My experience is with those that were following a good weight lifting program and diet and then switched to P90 for whatever reason and those results were not good.

I think it also depends on your goals.. I already have a lot of lean body mass @ 5'11" and really my only concern is cutting fat and these programs all have been effective. Once i get to 6%, I will adjust according to my new goals.

Yes and no. Cutting body fat is more a function of diet than anything. You can drop significant body fat on diet alone. You can do P90x twice a day but if you eat at 2 to 3 times your TDEE you'll likely not accomplish your goal. With the right diet P90 and a solid weight training program can get you where you want to be but one will make you look differently than the other.

faithchange

OK. From my own experience. I'm on my last week of P90X now. I've had this workout program for over a year and this is the first time I've soulfully committed myself to the full 90 days. I disagree with many on here that say it's not strength training, ect. It has helped with what I've needed and I've gained much more than I could ever imagine from the program. I can do the ABS ripper (concentrating on your core/abs) and is tough. I can do pushes up better than I was able to day 1. I can do yoga and I even run faster (since I did the lean program). I've been on my weight loss journey for over 2 years and lost a huge amount of weight before doing P90X...but, I was in a plateau forever. I've lost almost 10lbs and about 15inches at least since day 1 of P90X. I've never looked better. Mind you, I'm not one to go to a gym for my workouts. I don't like lifting heavy or anything like that. I enjoy cardio and some strength training. Heck the most I use is a 10lbs. barbell. You do feel it though...trust me!

The con from my perspective as I was told is for myself to get a program like Turbo Fire or Insanity, because I love to workout for more calorie burn. Hence, why I also did my runs and other exercise in conjunction with the program.

I think reading your post, you would benefit from P90X if you are looking for a little weight training, and cardio. Hope this helps

Determinednoob

This month my work sets for squats and deadlifts have increased by 60lbs each. How does a month of P90x compare?

ceajules

Love it see my before and now pictures HUGE FAN!

psuLemon

This month my work sets for squats and deadlifts have increased by 60lbs each. How does a month of P90x compare?

This is a very subjective question which is based on the person... and if p90x only looked at two major exercise this could be answered. I can tell you that most p90x weight training days have 12 sets and i have increase 10-15 lbs per set within a 3 week period (all upper body moves). I can bet you arent doing 12 sets of any of those..

In reality, one is not better than the other its whats suited for your overall goals.

psuLemon

Before everybody gets all bent-out-of-shape over any "nay-saying" of P90x, remember that the thread is called, TOPIC: P90x-Pros and Cons? The Con's just seem to take a larger focus on the conversations.

First, kudos to anybody for getting off the couch and doing something whether it's P90x or whatever. Additionally, I'll admit that I've never met anybody that went from doing nothing and did P90x. My experience is with those that were following a good weight lifting program and diet and then switched to P90 for whatever reason and those results were not good.

I think it also depends on your goals.. I already have a lot of lean body mass @ 5'11" and really my only concern is cutting fat and these programs all have been effective. Once i get to 6%, I will adjust according to my new goals.

Yes and no. Cutting body fat is more a function of diet than anything. You can drop significant body fat on diet alone. You can do P90x twice a day but if you eat at 2 to 3 times your TDEE you'll likely not accomplish your goal. With the right diet P90 and a solid weight training program can get you where you want to be but one will make you look differently than the other.

I 100% agree. Resistance training just increases fat loss and maintenance of lbm.

Cappicorn

I really appreciate everyone's feedback on this topic!

The_Dude

Personally, sports I'd be interested in (wakeboarding, snowboarding, basketball, soccer, etc) the strength (and the flexibility) I get from P90X is far more useful than hardcore lifting.

Unfortunately your personal preference is incorrect in application of the above statement and been 100% disproven through research. You can reference work done by Zatsiorsky (Science and Practice of Strength Training), AS Medvedyev, Dr. Mel Siff, Joe DeFranco (specializes in preparing college football players for the NFL), Louie Simmons (Strength consultant to Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and owner of the Westside Barbell Club).

The type of "strength" training done in P90X is nearly useless in transference to sports. Granted if you've been sedentary up to this point than something is better than nothing and you will make some gains from P90X. But saying that because you've gained in P90x versus "hard core" lifting is more of a false positive. Much research has been done on which aspect of the Force Curve is most applicable to improving athletic performance and it is the maximal end of the Force Curve. Granted some repetition effort type work is done but when professional strength trainers train athletes the main focus in on the Maximal (strength) and Dynamic (acceleration). Moving heavy loads and moving them with force is most beneficial to an athlete.

and therefore build a different kind of strength there are a ton of moves that use weights and its up to you to pick heavy enough weights and do the lower reps if you want bulk, pure strength increases

With the appropriate diet lower reps can support hypertrophy gains but if your goal is purely "bulk" then you're going to be using more of a mid to high rep range, hence more of a bodybuilder type program versus a powerlifter / performance program.

My point wasn't that athletes don't do weight training or don't benefit from it. They obviously do. It was more a statement of the results I've seen personally and what I observed of the typical person lifting heavy at the gym. The first time I did P90X I felt like I was a more rounded and physically capable person at the sports that matter than when I was just focused on lifting heavy at the gym. Felt like the results were more real world. The biggest limiting factor in the sports I care most about is endurance strength rather than explosive force so that probably adds to the bias in my own statements.

I'm biased in that a lot of the P90X nay sayers I've seen who tout heavy lifting don't do comprehensive programs that include cardio exercise and routines designed to give flexibility so my mind automatically went to that stereotype in some of the naysayer replies in this thread.

I would probably think twice about which path to take too if I had to buy P90X rather than getting it unused from a family member. So to me its the far cheaper option over a gym membership.

Anyhow, the original poster probably got plenty of info from the discussion.

JNick77

My point wasn't that athletes don't do weight training or don't benefit from it. They obviously do. It was more a statement of the results I've seen personally and what I observed of the typical person lifting heavy at the gym. The first time I did P90X I felt like I was a more rounded and physically capable person at the sports that matter than when I was just focused on lifting heavy at the gym. Felt like the results were more real world. The biggest limiting factor in the sports I care most about is endurance strength rather than explosive force so that probably adds to the bias in my own statements.

I'm biased in that a lot of the P90X nay sayers I've seen who tout heavy lifting don't do comprehensive programs that include cardio exercise and routines designed to give flexibility so my mind automatically went to that stereotype in some of the naysayer replies in this thread.

I would probably think twice about which path to take too if I had to buy P90X rather than getting it unused from a family member. So to me its the far cheaper option over a gym membership.

Anyhow, the original poster probably got plenty of info from the discussion.

I know, my point was just saying that it's proven that athletic performance is best improved in this way and not through a P90x type way.

Just curious, what was your weight when you were heavy lifting and what's your weight now? What type of heavy lifting program were you doing at the time?

I'm biased in that a lot of the P90X nay sayers I've seen who tout heavy lifting don't do comprehensive programs that include cardio exercise and routines designed to give flexibility so my mind automatically went to that stereotype in some of the naysayer replies in this thread.

That's a pretty big assumption. I've never tried P90x or Insanity but I have done various Taebo routines actually among other similar things, types of circuit training, fat burning circuit training (yes I laugh at that now too), so I feel that I can speak to them to a certain point.

hdsqrl

Just wanted to highlight something previously noted for anyone else for whom this might be a concern - P90X is super high impact. I've never had trouble following an exercise DVD, but with ankle issues, I had to put this one away. Each workout is also pretty long - so be ready for an hour (or even 90 minutes) most days.

For whatever reason, I don't have an issue with devoting 90 minutes to the whole drive-to-the-gym, work out, drive-home process, but 90 mins of the P90X irritated me. I'm probably with the poster who noted boredom or annoyance with Tony, though, so that may have been part of it.

It did seem challenging for a new exerciser, though, I'll give them that.

Determinednoob

This month my work sets for squats and deadlifts have increased by 60lbs each. How does a month of P90x compare?

This is a very subjective question which is based on the person... and if p90x only looked at two major exercise this could be answered. I can tell you that most p90x weight training days have 12 sets and i have increase 10-15 lbs per set within a 3 week period (all upper body moves). I can bet you arent doing 12 sets of any of those..

In reality, one is not better than the other its whats suited for your overall goals.

o sorry i didnt run down the whole list OHP +20, Power Cleans +20, Bench press +20 Calf presses +110, seated calf press +40 And no obviously I'm not doing 12 sets of compound barbell lifts in one day.

In reality no matter what someone's goals are, they can be gottem more easily than with P90x.

The_Dude

I know, my point was just saying that it's proven that athletic performance is best improved in this way and not through a P90x type way.

Just curious, what was your weight when you were heavy lifting and what's your weight now? What type of heavy lifting program were you doing at the time?

205 lbs then with 10-12% body fat. Started a new round of P90X recently and starting measurements were 197 lbs ~20% body fat. Lifting program used to be what I view as the traditional somewhat casual lifter. Breaking up lifting into 3-4 days a week focusing on a major muscle group each day. e.g. chest day moves included bench press, incline bench, decline bench, dumbbell flys etc.

That's a pretty big assumption. I've never tried P90x or Insanity but I have done various Taebo routines actually among other similar things, types of circuit training, fat burning circuit training (yes I laugh at that now too), so I feel that I can speak to them to a certain point.

OK