P90X: Real User Review

P90X User Review:  from someone who has used the P90X Program.  

As I mentioned before, I haven't yet had time to try P90X.  But one of my blogging friends has agree to write an evaluation for me.  Here's goes:

P90X – Busy schedules often don’t allow for time at the gym 3 to 4 days per week. I’m a busy person who is also Type 1 Diabetic with a Gluten Intolerance. Time for fitness is often not available.

I’ve tried a few types of workouts including all sorts of workout videos and Turbo Jam (BeachBody’s other fitness program – lots of fun); I’ve gone to Curves (circuit training) 4 days a week for 7 months (which was actually pretty good at the beginning, but it doesn’t take long to plateau); I’ve attended fitness dance classes which are generally filled with squats and big arm movements (I did 4 of those each week too, they are fun); I’ve even worked through most sample workouts from a fitness magazine (mostly squats, lunges, arm curls and crunches). All of these things that I have done have given me some successes but have not taken me much closer to my ultimate goal – a body that I can confidently wear a swim suit with.

The P90X videos are fun and if you smile through it, you’ll enjoy them; if you don’t, you’ll probably hate them. There are corny jokes and silly comments. They try to get you to do different things by challenging each other.

There is a lot of importance put into the Stretching as well as the Yoga sections. I thought that was interesting since I have found that although many fitness programs stress it, they actually do very little stretching. One entire video of P90X is dedicated to stretching and one of your workout days is a short workout then stretching (while another entire day is dedicated to Yoga). P90X is the only workout video I’ve ever heard the host tell you that you need to hold a stretch for 30 to 60 seconds and then actually do the stretch for said time.

We set aside time in our schedule for workouts and figured we’d give it a go. After the first month we began to notice results in our cardio, but it wasn’t until the end of the second month that we really saw success (inches dropping off in unwanted places, toning muscle sets previously considered “flabby”, etc).

My muscles always ached … I felt muscles I didn’t realize I had! While we did see more success with the P90X program than in any other fitness plan previously tried and tested, there were related problems (though mostly they revolve around time).

One of the serious disadvantages to this program is that you often need to do two video workouts per day … at 1.5 to 2 hours in length that could be up to 4 hours per day!* Not everyone has 4 hours per day to dedicate to working out. If we had that long, we would have gone to the gym and paid for a membership!

Anyway, this has been my experience. I would recommend P90X to others however if they don’t do the workouts or keep at it, I have no doubt in my mind that they will fail.

The author of this post has her own blog:
http://dogsdeservefreedom.blogspot.com
Her blog is dedicated to the ethical treatment of man's best friend.

*Note:  It is my understanding that you simply do one hour per day.  Perhaps this trainee felt she needed to do more. 

If you want to try P90X, here's what you'll need:

The DVD set (about 120 dollars; maybe less on ebay).
Dumbells (or resistance bands)
Exercise Mat
Chin-up Bar
Chair/Stool

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Thanks for the guest post!