I officially finished off my first week of P90X and wanted to give you my impressions of it, rather than a full blown review (which I’ll save for later).
First off, if you’re not already in pretty good shape, you’re going to be in for a rough time. The workouts are all about an hour (an hour and a quarter on the days when you do abs), and Yoga X is ninety minutes. So having enough stamina to make it through is important: if you don’t already exercise consistently, I’d strongly recommend starting with Power 90 like Jan and I did.
Second, you’ve got to follow the nutrition guide if you want maximum results! I can’t stress this enough. People get hung up on the workout aspect, but if you don’t eat right you’re simply not going to capitalize on your investment. You also need to eat enough: P90X isn’t a weight loss program, it’s an extreme fitness program. There’s a big difference. You need to eat a lot to keep your body fueled.
As for the exercises, the toughest ones for me are chinups. There are lots of chinups! There’s a good reason for that, though: they build muscle like crazy, but you really have to apply yourself.
But the workout that’s toughest overall in some ways is Yoga X. I have a lot more respect now for people who do yoga! A lot of it looks easy until you try it, and by the end of this workout I’m
sweating like a pig. But don’t blow it off: flexibility and core strength are critical to the overall progam.
So, there are a few thoughts for now. More to come later!
For more on my Beachbody experience, check out our site at FitClubToday!
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#1 by DEREK on June 30th, 2009 - 7:54 am
In the middle of my first week and i am a runner, not a bulky person. I did all of chest and back but ab ripper x i did bout 1/2 to 3/4 of every exercise. same with plyo..a lil after 1/2 way through i would do 20 sec instead of 30 sec..
Do you think that’s the way to go?
#2 by Michael R. Hicks on June 30th, 2009 - 3:40 pm
Derek – Don’t feel compelled to try and do every single rep if your body is honestly saying “Enough!” I’m the same way: I can only do about a third to a half of the exercises, but I try to do more each round. I’m actually restarting P90X, because I had several weeks when I couldn’t do it because of illness and vacation. But just like I did with Power 90 when I started this whole adventure a year ago, I could only do some of the ab exercises, by after about a month and a half I could do them all. Try to add one or two reps on each exercise every time, and you’ll get there.
The same with plyo or any of the others: do as best you can. Don’t feel like you have to keep up with Tony and the others on the DVD: remember, if we could do all the exercises right off the bat, it wouldn’t be “extreme”! LOL!
As Tony says: do your best, forget the rest!!
#3 by Derek on July 6th, 2009 - 9:35 am
I just started my second week! Week 1 felt good, lol, Ive never been so soar in that many areas in the same week. You mentioned last time through you had illness and vacation, did you just skip the workouts in general or hit a pause button and continue where you left off? What are your goals in doing P90x? Mine are really to stay/get fit/fitter, and make it to where my ribcage cannot be seen so much, lol.
Thanks for the advice last post! Hope all is going well if you have began your next round of p90x.
#4 by Anthony Martin on October 10th, 2009 - 3:46 pm
I’ve recently aquired a lot more free time seeing as how I’m deployed and don’t do much out here. Unfortunately for the last two months I haven’t really been that active but I’m not, by any means, a terribly out of shape person, just a little on the skinny side. I’m starting with the recovery week before I start the actual program to gain a little more flexibility and get back into the swing of things. I just did the Yoga X for the first time today and really only made it about half way through before my body said enough. Like you said, I have a heck of a lot more respect for people who do Yoga. It’s a rough workout to get through the first couple times but I can already touch my toes, which I haven’t been able to do since I was maybe 4? lol But thank you for posting the worksheets, that’s all I need to complete this program. I don’t have the bands because, to be perfectly honest, I couldn’t afford to buy this system so I’ve had to piece it together. Finally complete I will be able to start this extreme 13 week program in 7 days. Thanks again. Be well
#5 by Michael R. Hicks on October 10th, 2009 - 10:04 pm
Anthony -
Awesome! Good luck to you on the X! I’ve been tinkering around with some modifications to the P90X worksheets and developing/modifying some worksheets for Insanity, so if/when I finally get those done, I’ll post them here.
As for affordability, be sure to check out eBay and such. I’m not sure how that’d work for you being deployed, but I would assume folks should be able to ship to your APO.
Regardless, do your best, and forget the rest!!