The following is an in-depth review of P90x (or P90X review), detailing each aspect of the program from workouts to equipment to diet to forums to the customer experience. And just to cut to the chase, yes, P90X works. The info in this review is designed to help you decide whether it's the right workout regimen for you. There's also some thoughts on options for what to do after P90x.
P90X is a 13 week fitness program for folks who already have (had) a base of fitness. Indeed, there's a p90x fitness test (pdf download) folks are encouraged to put themselves through before attempting the program. The program has a total of 12 workouts, provides a 13 week sequence for moving through those routines, offers three different versions of the program, as well as providing an intense nutrition guide.
This is a "get real" program for people who like to work hard but maybe have slacked off in the recent past (recent being relative), and may want some guidance (and encouragement) for that hard work to get back in shape.
If you have been fit or are fit enough to pass the course fit test and want to reclaim your body; if you like the idea of breaking a sweat, don't want to get bored out of your mind doing hours on a stationary bike or doing aerobics, or perhaps just don't find the idea of going into a gym either practical or appealing, P90X could be just the ticket.
The next parts of this review walk through the workouts, the presentation, the gear you do need for the course (not much), the diet and the inevitable "what next" question (90 days is only 90 days, after all).
(Added August '07: If you've already hit that post p90x period, and are looking for a next step solution, scroll down to the PostP90x section of this review or jump directly to a recommended routine for post P90X.
[Added Sept 09] I wrote the following soon after completing P90X, and updated it in the months following. Since then after studying well being, exercise and physiology more formally, my knowledge about the following has developed. And so i rather blush at some of the claims made for the benefits of P90X.
I'd encoruage anyone thinking about p90x to check out a more detailed, multi-part assessment of P90X at begin2dig. Bottom line: despite all the cool moves, it's an endurance program using circuit training amped up for calorie burn. If that's what you want, fabulous.
THe thing that has endured from this article is the section what about post p90x? from workouts to nutrition. [end of Sept 09 addition]
CAVEAT: it seems while the product is solid, the interactions with the company/customer service have been frequently reported as frequently less than stellar. I'll come back to this, too, at the very end of the review.
Overview
The approach to the course is refreshingly pretty old school: jumping jacks, push ups, pull ups. It also blends in stretch, core, plyometrics and a very intense yoga program - ya yoga. don't sniff until you try (to get through) it. The program includes resistance three times a week (this is a six day a week program - very intense), but that doesn't mean going out and buying a complete rack of dumbbells. First, most of the routines are bodyweight based - so no weights required - and second if you don't have a set of dumbbells for the workouts that optionally use them, you can also use resistance bands - particularly useful if you're on the road a lot. Those bands work.
This is not a program that promises stellar results in just 20 mins a day three times a week. This is a program that requires you to commit an hour twenty a day, six days a week for 90 days to "bring it" and reclaim your body. Astoundingly, that requirement is clear from the web site and from the infomercial (one i happily accidentally saw, and was blown away by it's frankness). Don't even think about this if you're not prepared to work. Daily.
The program does indeed deliver what's on the tin: get into the best shape of your life. It's not necessarily about dramatic weighloss so much as real, noticeable, measureable results in fitness: higher, faster, stronger, leaner - and fat loss too. To get a sense of the cross age/cross gender effects, there are numerous success stories on the site showing 90 day before and after shots. These stories include the owner of the company, the guy who was creative director on shooting and packaging the thing, many people from the pilot group. That's a kind of testament in itself: everyone who touched the development of this product got into it (see the "making of" vid). I recently finished a round of the X called "doubles" where the last two phases add a cardio workout. Phase two (weeks 4-8) adds three additional cardio workouts a week; phase three (weeks 9-12) adds five (you don't have to do this: the classic version is straight p90x no extras). And yes, i'd say "wow" about the results. There is now an answer of greater than zero for the question "how many pull ups can you do?" And while clothes fit better, most importantly, i FEEL better.
Walk Through the Work Outs
The workouts in the program are demanding, but the theme for the course is "bring it!" - in other words you get out of it what you put into it. The one piece of high tech gear the program recommends is a heart rate monitor, so that you can get some feedback during the workout on whether or not you're in your "zone" for optimal results or if you're just "dogging it."
Resistance Workouts
The cool thing about the resistance workouts is that they move through a variety of exercises - sometimes repeating a sequence - but still with enough speed and variety that you're doing a kind of circuit training - so there's a high cardio effect even on weights days - and that means more calories burned. Blissfully, there's also very little repetition in each set, so boredom does not have a chance to set in. Things move by at a really decent pace.
The legs workout is almost 100% bodyweight based. While the upper body resistance routines change every three weeks in the first 8 weeks, and then rotates each week in the last 4 weeks, the legs routine is the same throughout. Interestingly, it combines back with legs. Back in P90X means pull ups/chin ups. No chin up bar, no worries: you can use resistance bands hooked up to a door. That is work. And you really can simulate enough of the pull up with the bands that if you start unable to do any pull ups at the beginning, and use the bands, you'll be doing real pull ups after 13 weeks. At least one! (More on bands, below.)
Each resistance workout is also capped with a 16 min ab workout, tamely named "ab ripper x" - 11 moves, 25 times each. very core - not just abs. i've done this one so much not only is the workout etched in my brain, but so is the script "They're working hard; i know you are..." In time this will probably wear off.
Cardio
The cardio days are also anything but boring - they ain't aerobics and they ain't treadmill running. Kenpo-X goes through a kind of kick boxing routine - a lot of full body movement. This is one where i have to work to get into it - the whole kicking/punching thing doesn't move me, but it works a lot of coordination and balance skills and that's good.
What is refereed to as the "mother of all p90x workouts" is plyometrics. Plyo is jump training. Lots of sports use plyo to improve fast response of muscles and strength. When you see plyo discussions on the web, there's lots there about jumping up and down on boxes, over cones etc. No special devices here (besides really cushioned shoes with lateral support, and a nice thickly padded floor - a super thick yoga mat will do, or a regular one on carpet "land on you toes!!" that's part of the challenge: to build the muscle not just for the going up, but for the coming back down. Land softly! Land softly!! that phrase is stuck in my head. That and "hit with your hip and your body; hit with your hip and your body" from Kenpo-X.
One of the best things about plyo is that you can see/feel noticeable weekly improvements in endurance and performance: jumps get higher; hoping on one foot for thirty seconds starts to feel less impossible. It's the only workout where i have experienced true "runners high" afterwards. Man, if they could bottle that...
The presentation of this workout is superlative. There is the course lead, Tony Horton , along with a gal (Pam the Blam) who modifies the jumps to make them low(er) impact - so no bad back/knee excuses; there's a super wiry guy, Dominique, but most impressive in the "so i don't want to hear any excuses out of you" frame is Eric: "Eric will be performing on one leg today" - he has a prosthetic leg AND he's doing plyo. So everybody else: suck it up! It's bloody inspiring.
One other workout that's hard to classify as cardio, but is almost as intense as plyo, and where weekly gains are also noticeable is Yoga-X. Yoga-X is a funky blend of mainly Ashtanga Yoga moves, but more a hybrid routine than anything pure. More intense and again less boring than Power Yoga too. Folks who talk in the P90x forums about Yoga talk about how hard it is. This intensity is not just about lack of flexibility and needing to stretch - you don't - here as with the rest of the course, there are lots of modified options. What's intense is holding some challenging postures. You might be able to bench twice your body weight, but can you hold the one legged half moon pose for 20 seconds? How about crane?
The great thing about the intensity of the poses is that you really do experience weekly improvements: the pose was held longer; it was deeper; the balance was less rickety; the back leg was higher. And really EVERY week shows an improvement.
The one thing i wish that P90X brought forward from yoga yoga is more emphasis on breathing rather than the more gymnastics side of it. As David Swenson , a lanky texan who teaches ashtanga yoga, says about Yoga, it's not about gymnastics or stretching; it's about the breath. Someone with shorter ligaments, who can't bend as far as someone else who reaches wll past their toes, if they focus on the breath is doing yoga. There is a lot said about "breath in, and now breath out while bending forward" yes yes. that's good. but with all the other talk about technique in these tapes, a few more words about breathing rather than stretching might be nice? There's one move where one is bending forward from cobler's pose and Tony is saying "fight for inches, for milimeters..." That's some kind of stetching thing, there, dude - not the gentle "breath into the posture" you'll here in Yoga, or the "tense the muscles you're stretching, then relax them into the stretch" from Pavel Tsatsouline's Relax into Stretch.
But i'm quibling now.
Active Recovery
The fourth, eighth and thirteeth weeks are "recovery" - but these are "active" recovery weeks. In these weeks, the resistance goes, but the Kenpo and Yoga stay and are joined by an intense core workout. In fact, that core workout has what has to be the highest heart running minute in all of p90x, including plyo: - put a folded towel on the floor and jump over it, back and forth for a minute (don't do this or any of p90x without your doctor's ok!!).
This active recovery is a change of pace to be sure, but be on notice: you are still on the hop.
The People in the Room
The way Plyo is done is the way all the workouts are done: there's Tony plus 4 others - these four others are mainly P90x grads, or sometimes folks whom Tony's worked with, but there's always P90X grads in there, demo'ing various ways to do the moves for various levels of fitness. It feels like a great format. This is real people, doing real work. Despite all these folks being at a different level, they're all working hard; they're all sweating; they're all "bringing it!" - including the instructor, Tony Horton.
The Instructor:
Tony Horton is reminiscent of Jack Lalane - albeit without the german shepherd or the singing at the end of the workout. His energy and enthusiasm is just right for getting a person not only to stick with it, but to "bring it." He makes it clear in the videos that he's 45 years old. That's important because he is so NOT the typical 45 year old - even for california. Unless you're brad pit (44 ) great abs. Or Tom Cruise (44). But could either one of the them push up such that both their feet and hands leave the ground, get a clap in before they come down, and do this 20 times?
Could any of the folks that you work with? of any age??And that's part of the point: there's a sense that one can be "too old" for intense work outs. Phooey. There's a video log on the site of success stories, where people have charted their workout progress throughout the P90X session - there's an awful lot of mom's in their 40's who are making this thing work - inspired by the fact that they've seen it's never to late to bring it.
Horton joins in all the workouts, and he makes it clear that no one is going to out lift, out jump or out pushup him. Indeed, the way he can crank out pull ups - even compared to anyone else in the room in any workout that includes them - makes it very clear that this guy is passionate about what he does. As i've heard one person put it, "bet he doesn't have a girlfriend." :) The only place he gets a run for his money is in the Yoga-x video where you just know this is something he DOES have to work at. But how refreshing: he's human - he's not superior at all things, but he still works it. "Try your best and forget the rest" is another core mantra.
It's amazing to see someone work this hard and still able to offer concurrent, constant instruction without running out of breath. Clean living.
Nutrition - Eat LOTS; eat clean
Nutrition is stressed as a core component of this program. The thing is, if you already eat a reasonably balanced diet, you'll likely need to eat MORE on this program to lose weight. One thing i learned with a vengence is about "starvation mode" - if you don't eat enough, even if you're working out twice a day - fat loss will stall out because your body goes into starvation mode: it's not getting enough calories, so it hordes what it's got. This is not new science, but it's weird to get into the groove of saying so, er, i have to eat MORE? in some cases, a LOT more. The nutrition guide is very good at helping to determine what that more should be, but if you're not using its recipes the various ratios each month of protein/carbs/fats can be tricky to get. Indeed, these ratios change over the program: the first month is higher protein; reduced carbs to bootstrap the fat loss. But throughout the emphasis is on frequent eating of smaller meals.
It may be difficult to figure out what kind of stuff to eat when and how much to stay within the correct ratios. There is, remarkably, a free site called "fitday.com" that if you do feel like tracking your meals you can get a very good idea of the calories and proportions of proteins/carbs/fats. Remember, not all fat is bad. In fact the right kind of fat is vitally important. The fit day site also shows the grams of fiber you're getting - not a bad thing to know if you're really trying to clean up your system.
The nutrition guidance is very good in the program. The emphasis is on health, not rapid weight loss. So let's call it fat loss: fat loss is just a consequence of better workouts and better nutrition.
The only place i have a quibble in the nutrition advice of the site is about its stop eating after 8pm, and if you workout first thing in the morning, do it on an empty stomach. There are arguments in the fitness community about the wisdom of not eating anything overnight - especially if trying to build muscle.
In the bodybuilding school of thought, it's better to keep a low fire burning all the time than to let it go out entirely - hence an overnight fast will start to eat into fuels that should go into building muscle - and the only time muscle building happens is when you're asleep. So, eating some kind of slow digesting protein, like cottage cheese, right before bed - perhaps mixed with some protein powder, is seen to be a Good Thing.
Likewise, there are many participants posts on the P90X nutrition forum about the best way to work out in the morning is on an empty stomach, though the fitness advisors are suggest that you do eat especially if you feel like you're bonking, then have a banana. They still support the fast overnight idea, tho. Another school of thought says DEFINITELY eat before working out in the am - do it for your brain and for your pleasure
Science seems to suggest that a 4-1 carb/protein ratio is not only good for recovery; it's pretty dam fine for pre-workout calories too for that first thing in the morning go for it. So eating a banana - perhaps with a dollop of cottage cheese 20 mins before a workout is not a bad thing. I admit, i prefer something like a single scoop (half serving) of Endurox pre workout because it digests quickly, so that by the time i'm hitting the middle of the workout, that fuel is there ready for me. But lots of real people eat real food, like unsweetened granola, a cup of coffee and an apple.
P90X also advises a recovery drink post workout, to take advantage of the optimal window for the body to suck up nutrients after heavy activity. Now there are some folks who are serious fitness types whose only supplement is a vitamin pill and mixing some whey powder with their oatmeal. So maybe a recovery drink is a good idea, but it's not essential. I like it because it's fast and easy, and especially when i was needing to get up my calories, it was a great way to get 'em up, while getting a good nutrient mix. I also really like the taste of these things.
I'll also say when i'm doing cardio intervals on the bike, i have certainly noticed that having a carb drink like cytomax in the water helps me keep going - that is something i've compared: water vs water with carb drink. Then again, i may also be a pre/during/ and post workout drink junkie. I also eat my vegetables, so i'm getting my high fiber and real food digestion intestinal practice too.
In fact, eating healthy was the easiest part of this program for me. That can be a really frustrating thing for a person who's eating right, and just not lean. It's not fair! So, the only thing to add to that equation is upping the metabolism, and the best way to do that is improving muscle mass: more muscle, more burning, cuz those muscles like their constant fuel.
So ya, eat eat eat on this program. Eat frequently - also a challenge when at work. And Eat ENOUGH for what you're doing. Remarkably tough to believe, but wow, truer words were n'er spoke.
Progress
One of the reasons for the fit test is not just to see if you're "ready for the x" but also to bench mark where you are at the start. There's strong encouragement to take pictures every 30 days, too. The workout sheets show record weekly improvements for the resistance training. Measuring weight weekly, as well as taking measures of waist, hips, etc, is also a great way to see progress - sometimes the scale is more depressing than encouraging, but even when weight fluctuates, those inches will be changing.
Another great tool to measure progress is the Navy Circumference Method for determining body fat. There's lots of problems with any measure of body fat, but the Navy Circumference one is judged to be pretty solid, and has the advantage of being easy and something one can do for themselves.
On line Support
One thing the company behind P90X has done is to provide an online forum for people going through any of the company's programs, including P90X. The forums are there for participants to ask questions to their peers, or to look for workout buddies to start and share their program experience - be there for each other throughout the duration. There's also two forums, Nutrition and Fitness, that have two staff experts who will answer specific questions in that space. And there's also a live workout area where you can log in to say you're doing a particular workout, and arrange to meet someone else there at that time - so work out virtually together. All this infrastructure to provide the kind of support to help people move through the program. Free. This support infrastructure may be one of the best features of the program - especially knowing there are professional nutrition and fitness experts in those two spaces to answer queries. It's this kind of support that keeps folks motivated and confident enough not to throw in the towel - and these are regular folks - many of whom share their photos of their day one bodies - even before they have day 90 photos.
APPROACHES
The music; the set
The person who did the soundtrack for this series ought to win an award. It's actually good, and is done to a style to suit the type of workout being carried out. If you don't like it you can turn it off, but i think it works great. likewise, the set. It's film quality rather than sorta cheap video look of many fitness tapes - including some by this company. Plainly they spent money on it: the production quality does make a difference to the attractiveness of the offering. It's one long take each workout, but it's shot from multiple camera angles, and cut very well overall (a few too many shots through blue curtain in one workout not withstanding).
If you're interested at all in how this program was developed, from routines to packaging, check out the p90x site for "the making of p90x" This is a lesson in product development. It could be taught in business and marketing classes.
In any case, the DVD's are very (re)watchable.
With and without the dvd
Occasionally i've taken the workout sheets into a hotel gym, sans dvd and worked through the sets. It's nice to change up from the bands to weights once in awhile - it's a different kind of workout. When there's been no pull up bar in the gym, i'll use the lat pull bar set to close to half my weight, and use that for the pull up parts. What's actually interesting in a hotel gym is finding yourself as the only person who's doing push ups - oh so many varieties of push ups: planks, plange, sphinx, dive bomber, side to side, plank to chatarunga run. Nope, hard to get bored with P90X. Sometimes, as much and all as i am encouraged, guided and entertained by Tony Horton, there are times when hearing the same drill for the Nth time is just one too many. For me, this is in the Yoga-x vid. After doing it 6 times, i wrote it down and keep the list of moves beside me, with times for the longer holds, and do it on my own. For this workout i prefer that. The opposite is true for plyometrics. I like the motivation of Tony keeping track and keeping time to "Suck it up" (the only video where he says this - and before a particularly gnarly set of "rock star hops") and get it done.
Gear: Bands, Blocks, HRMs.
BANDS:
The best bands i've found are by LifelinesUSA.com (available in the UK, finally, at the Strength Company ), not just because of the bands, but also because of the handles. They are the same style as those in the p90x video, previously licensed to the company under their brand as "b-lines" - it's not clear they're still using Lifelines as their supplier. The thing about lifelines is there affordable, well made and those handles are golden. There is a newer version of the handles than the ones shown in the p90x vids, too: these ones can take three bands at once (see their TNT set up). So rather than having to have a bunch of different bands for different workouts or parts of workouts, you can blend just a few to get the resistance you want. One package comes with a good travel bag for 'em too, which is great for travel.
Lifelines also makes a funky chin up/ pull up thingy called a "Power Up Chin Up" that lets you turn a door into a chinning space. Mind you, a pair of mits or gloves, or putting a towel over the top of a door can convert it into a pull up machine pretty fast, but these do-dads take the pain out of the process, and keep the door stable (!). Super for travel, these handles make it possible to do hanging legups/knees to chest, which is also super for abs work (while hanging, pull knees to chest).
As an aside, Mike Mahler, another bodyweight kinda guy who's huge in the fitness/kettlebell space, has a set of workouts for the "road warrior" that just use bodyweight plus TNT bands.
DUMB BELLS:
The best set of dumbbells a person with limited space can get is a set of Power Blocks. These are selectable dumbbells. They just work, and as long as you don't drop them, they're pretty bullet proof. Changing weights is totally fast and simple. Playing around with other selecterized db's is both fiddly and lower value - they don't manage the range of weight that a set of PB's do. One set, called the personal pair, goes from 5 to 45 pounds; a set of optional handles lets them go from 20 - 65. They are NOT cheap especially if purchased outside the US: they're real steal and they're made in the US. You'll see the numbers in the dollar price being used for the pound price in the UK. Alas, changes in the value of the dollar to the pound have not seen a related drop in the price of these units in Europe/UK. Maybe in a couple months, prices will start to come down.
Heart Rate Monitors:
It's pretty clear that one of the fitness advisors doesn't put much stock in HRM's, but they can be had for relatively reasonable prices (some polar HRM's on amazon are about 30 bucks). I've used (the same) one for - oh - a very long time mainly in the very Tony Horton Way of seeing whether i'm "dogging it" or need to get going for a particular interval. Some of the bike drills i do were designed to be "hitting 70% max HRM now..." so it's been a very helpful training tool, if you're interested in that kind of "bringing it" approach. For instance, in Kenpo, i found that despite "bringing it" in sync with the video, i was not getting my heart rate into my zone. So, i started doing jumping jacks between moves while tony would be talking about the next move; or in moves where he'd start out slower and build up to faster, i'd start at the faster, again to get my heart up and burn those calories. Some folks use weighted gloves in Kenpo-x to get the same effect.
The Mat:
in the overview video, Horton talks about the need to have a good mat, not only for Yoga, but for plyometrics to help absorb impact. Unless you're working to the dvd outside on the grass, a good mat really is a good idea. Alternates are a thick hotel carpet - these are rarely squishy. Good shoes with lateral support (like any court shoes) are also important in plyo. Rubber gym flooring also works.
If you're on wood floors, you can always order a big hunk of rubber matting, or if you're not crazy about the permanence of that black rubber floor look, you can get a couple of heavy duty yoga mats. The mat recommended on the company web site is actually the one name brand product on that site - Manduka - and it's great. But shop around. there are much better prices out there than the p90x site price. Also, outside the US, there are a number of companies like EkoTex and Planet Sa Planet Sandhanadhana that use the same process and create the same mat without the same price as the Manduka. The main thing is to have some kind of shock absorbing surface that isn't spongy. It is really important to protect your joints: "soft landings; soft landings," as Horton continuely admonishes
BEYOND P90X
13 weeks is just that
P90X is a great foundation. The results are undeniable - there is even a noticeable difference between the end of week 12 and the end of week 13, that last recovery week. The question may then become, what next? There are another 39 weeks to go in this one small year. Indeed, coming to the end of P90X was quite disquieting. About week 10, i was seriously trying to figure out what next? I've made such progress, my inner voices were worrying: i don't want to lose it, to back slide. What am i gonna do after the last day? where's that structure going to come from? Searching the forums for similar posts, the fitness advisor's replies were generally if you're fit enough to have completed P90X - got through all the routines fully and completely, then you're fit enough to do anything - go ride a bike, take up a sport. He also noted that fitness tapes are some people's sports. Somehow this did not seem helpful to me.
I like to plan towards goals. This is something Tony Horton says: plan your workouts a month in advance. Set Goals. And that works for me. my concern is not whether i have the fitness to take up another activity, but HOW to take it up to keep getting the results i want. AHHH!! i don't want to fall back into where i was - getting too casual about whether or not to work out that day because there's nothing on the schedule.
So, just letting you know, you may hit week ten or so and be wondering "what next?" - be prepared for the post partem symptoms.
There's a ton of posts on the P90X forum of people starting up with P90X, looking for who may want to start together on a certain day, and posting their celebration of getting to day 30. These posts get tens and sometimes hundreds of replies. But a post on the P90X forum asking for folks who were finished or finishing and their plans for what comes next, only received replies from 3 or 4 people. I'm not sure what that means. I haven't checked for the ratio of people who post "just starting" actually celebrating "just ending" - but people do finish - don't they? (i did, dam it!).
This is the one place the great infrastructure kinda falls apart: where's the what next guidance that's a little more structured than "take up a sport"?? After P90X, there's nothing in that genre that's "harder" - no "masters version." Maybe that's a good thing.
Semi Alternate Schools of Thought
So forced to leave the supportive space of the P90X forum and forage abroad, i have been doing research on how to build my own what next to try to keep going. What i keep coming back to are things that resonate with much of P90X: bodyweight work rather than emphasis on having to have a lot of iron around; compound moves rather than isolation moves; cardio and resistance.
Take a look at owner Jon Hines's video for the Monkey Bar Gym whole body workouts - and you'll see we really must descend from apes. Also, i find myself returning to Clarence Bass's site, but from a different perspective than i did in 2001 when i first encountered it. Most recently, my research has turned to someone Bass has frequently cited: Pavel Tsatsouline, someone who also has a whole body approach and is very much a get your cardio through heavy weights, low reps, lots of sets with big compound moves. One of his books, the Naked Warrior, focuses on two moves, that's it: the single leg squat, called the pistol, and the one arm push up. A very very clean tight one arm push up (not quite what's shown on P90X).
That approach of doing only a few moves, but doing them very well seems at first blush to be the antithesis to P90X. But there's actually a lot in common with the fundamentals. There are two key difference between the P90X approach and Pavel's. First is the notion of reps to failure. In modern bodybuilding there's long been an emphasis on doing a set with a heavy enough weight that you go to "failure" in X number of reps. That means you can't do one more rep, no way, without your form going squirely - using your back to through up another curl or something. In P90X you'll regularly hear Tony say "you have to go till those last reps hurt: feel the burn."
Pavel comes from the opposite school of thought that says "why train to failure? why not train to success?" In other words, stop the reps in a set while you're still fresh - while you can still do more; do decent recovery. Do more sets with lower reps, higher weight. One of the first things i read about him was on Bass's site in his background to pull ups: the russian military approach. Do a few pull ups frequently throughout the day. Do ladders: you do one; your comrade does one. You do two; your comrade does two. You keep going till you're done, and then you go back down to one again, but not till you're fried. In one of his books he has some lovely diagrams about how muscle fiber grows differently based on these different approaches to muscle hypertrophy (getting bulked up). Pavels' view is that strength and power have more value than bulk - and frankenstein muscles. By which he means muscles that have been built using isolation exercises like isolating abs, or triceps of calves, rather than muscles that have been built to produce force together.
Muscle Confusion - or Not
The second, related difference between Pavel/P90X is with respect to "Muscle Confusion." The approach in P90X (and other fitness routines) is to be changing your workout routine regularly to avoid your muscles getting used to a given workout, adapting to it, and no longer growing. The alternate approach is to say that focusing on big lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press) and pulls (like pull ups) can also be done with infinite variety, waving the intensity/volume of training on these skilled moves to gain strength. That is, one alternates the volume and intensity over the course of a week, and over a period of time, and includes lots of recovery time. Brett Jones talks about this approach in a discussion of the benefits of practicing the deadlift. Likewise, looking at Clarence Bass's workouts in the gym, which are once a week, doing mainly big lifts, and then looking at his physique, one can see the value of thinking these post P90X thoughts.
These approaches are interesting food for thought in helping to address not only what to do next, but what are my actual goals (strenght, physique, health, etc), and what will help me achieve them.
Here's a more detailed critique of muscle confusion.
Post P90X Diet
And speaking of food, after all that hard work - what about what to do, diet wise, post P90x?
There are a variety of approaches out there that all focus on a few simple principles: focus on whole foods (not refined stuff like breads and pastas); eat small meals frequently and so on. The best guide i've found comes from Canadian (call me biased) John Berardi, with Precision Nutrition. I'll write a review of this soon (update: done - here), but in the meantime, the approach is more about good food habits (10 of 'em) and simple ways to make sure those habits work. My favorite favorite new food is Berardi's Super Shakes (scroll down the page)- that are more nutritional than most meals, can be made in a few minutes, and also stored in a fridge at work. This makes eating those five good meals a day far more doable (i have grown to love the Blender as Sublime Kitchen Tool) His whole "how to shop" video on the "no nonsense nutrition" DVD is practically worth the price of admission. But i digress.
Summing UP
The CBass/Pavel approach to compound moves/strength rather than muscle for the sake of muscle approach is currently the top of the my stack for thinking about shaping workouts. Does this mean that in hindsight i wish i'd found this approach before, rather than doing P90X? No. Indeed, ab ripper x is still part of my routine. Plyo-x, Yoga-x and core synergistics are also keepers as complete routines. I also like the legs routine. Variation is a powerful training tool, all experts in sports training seem to agree. I'm very glad to have these routines in the arsenal. Also, P90X's combination of structure, variety, hard work, and low gear requirements, all of which make it completely portable and doable, were exactly what i needed to get back in the game - and beyond, in some cases. It helped "get [my] mind right" as Horton puts it for getting through Plyo - the same can be said of the whole routine with respect to getting your mind right about getting into the mental zone for working out.
You may be in the same place and want an intense, well-structured boost to your system. From the production values to the workouts to the infrastructure supporting the product, this is an excellent program. If it sounds like the kind of approach that might work for you, it's easy to check out. There are sample vids from all the workouts on the web site, and folks on the forums will be more than happy to answer "pre90x" queries.
Good luck on your mission.
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[Update/Aside] Attitude: New Goals? Having trouble getting into them, or once in completing them?
If you're reading this article it may be because you're looking to start a fitness program or nutrition program. You may find, too, that there feels like there's a lot of *stuff* getting in the way between you and taking action on that goal.
I've been experimenting with an approach to help clear the crap out around goals - using it for myself, and in teaching my grad students about how to stay sane while doing their research ("how many of you are stressed out about your theses right now?" uh huh).
It's called the Sedona Method, and i have a prelimiary review of it at "begin to dig". The results have been pretty profound in terms of far more effortless engagement with training on the one hand, but the rest of life on the other, too. Stuff gets done with a lot more ease, i'm happier, my workouts are dandy and at work it's way easier to deal with the stuff that comes up and the folks who bring that stuff to the table (i've been asked if i'm doing elicit substances).
If you're looking for some help to get going with the goals you know you want to achieve like better health; feeling better about yourself; getting stuff done, please check out this review of the Sedona Method.
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Post Script: Three+ Months after P90X
Reconsidering workouts, diet and recovery
In the three plus months since finishing P90X, i've been working with kettlebells and yoga, and continuing to do pull ups as frequently as possible, whether with the most excellent Lifelines handles that can travel light and work on any door, or with a Gold's Gym Telescoping chin up bar that doesn't need to be screwed into a door frame (gofit.com makes a similar device) and hence is very portable even at 4.5 lbs. My workout time has gone from 1.25-2.25 hours, 6 days a week to 20-50 mins, 5 days a week. Not quite Bass's once a week with weights, but a good schedule. Results continue to improve.
WHY KETTLEBELLS: In continuing to read up on kettlebells, health and training, i've learned how both plyo and ab work is strongly incorporated into the form. So, if you're also thinking "but what about after P90X" or perhaps an alternative for same, i've written up this Review of Enter the Kettlebell, a book/dvd introduction/program for kettlebell work. The review is written specifically in the context of the P90X experience.
Update Nov. 07 If you've finished P90X and are looking for something *very* much in the same zone but dialed up a couple notches, strongly consider Art of Strengths Newport DVD (see review)
Diet: A huge part of P90X is diet. A huge part of any health regimen is also diet, so have to mention post P90X diet survival.
My weight started to fluctuate slightly up in the month after P90X by about 4 pounds. There are a lot of reasons for this: coming off an intense program after possibly over training is one. I also travel a great deal making diet a challenge.
The saviour approach to getting my weight back in line, and feeling like my body is getting fuel it needs, whether at home or on the road, has been the excellent, easy to use anywhere Precision Nutrition program (check out the free sample from the Gourmet Nutrition e-book for an idea of the approach). Some fans of kettlebells prefer the Warrior Diet, but i'm with Clarence Bass on his critique of the Warrior Diet: not a fan of working out without fuel, and i like eating more small meals throughout the day than going hungry. With Precision Nutrition, portion size etc etc is largely eliminated. It's just stick with the 10 Habits, like my fave (and most challenging) only eat non-veggie carbs (like pasta) if and when working out. Those delicious, tempting non-veg, non-nuts carbs are not eliminated (as with Mike Mahler's approach); they're just put in context. As Berardi says, just try to get into these habits before thinking about the details. 90% of the work is in following those habits faithfully 90% of the time. Plainly i need to write a whole review about this approach. In the interim, check out the freebies on the site.
(update: prelim review: here).
Restoration (aside):
One of the reasons i like the kettlebell approach is that it focuses almost as much on recovery as it does on the workouts themselves: don't recover properly, you effectively shoot yourself in the foot. While P90X strongly encourages the use of its recovery drink after workouts, not much is said about rest/sleep where muscle building and healing takes place.
A tip i've heard repeatedly from strength trainers is the sooner after a workout you can get real rest/sleep, the better. While that's not always possible to catch a nap for 30+ minutes of deep sleep right after a workout. About a month ago, Mike Mahler pointed to Centerpointe's Meditation CD's. Their approach is to induce deeper brainwaves, getting down to deep sleep brainwaves (theta), by using a version on binaural beats. This beat approach to induce altered brainwave states is something colleagues of mine have used for studying knowledge acquisition, so it's not bogus: you can find papers about the approach. I've been trying it for about a month, just to boost the restoration phase because i travel alot and sleep is frequently disrupted.
I leave it for you to explore their site about all the great things this approach does for building new neural pathways. My main interest is extra time in that optimal rest state for recovery/restoration as soon after a workout as possible. I'm not sure if the technique has been evaluated for muscle restoration, but i'm going to watch this approach for a few more months and see how it goes - that's why this part of the entry is an "aside" - early days yet, but because Mahler recommended it, it's worth a try. Worst case scenario, according to Centerpointe's research on participant effects: i become a better, more adjusted, creative, highly balanced person.
Again, good luck on your mission.
Two Plus years AFTER p90x After learning a heck of a lot more about how strength & conditioning & nutrition work, i've come back to take a look at P90X in a 3-part critique: can you get more in less time and effort from alternatives? ya. You still may decide to do P90X after reading this critique, but you'll do the workouts with more knowledge, and that's more power. And in physical culture, power is good :)
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Final Caveat: Impoverished Customer Service.
While i've had good experiences with this product, including the Forum and its two resident nutrition and workout experts, i and it seems many others, have had less than stellar encounters with the company. Links on the site that have asked for information, only to find out after the fact that the service is no longer available, or worse: thinking you've ordered one thing, only to find you're being charged for much more than you thought you'd ordered; huge delays in product delivery. While some folks have suggested others aren't following the instructions correctly, when it's that many people complaining of the same problem, it suggests there's either a design flaw or intent. Especially when people follow up with complaints about customer service refusing to refund multiple charges, or reporting on surly customer service reps, or replies to emails that are automatic and have nothing to do with the email request.
In my own experience, of the several emails i've sent to customer service, none that i've sent via the web site form have received replies, despite promises of 24 hour replies. My favorite so far has been the supposed online chat line to instant message directly with customer service representatives. This has yet to work. Last time i tried, i was told that no one was available; it was out of hours. The system meanwhile displayed the times the service was available, and amazingly also showed the current time of my request: well within the times agents are supposed to be available.
Ebay regularly seems to have new P90X packages available, and i've yet to encounter the tales of woe with ebay that are recorded throughout the net about customer service and billing issues from P90X's parent company. Now again, obviously from the number of folks on the forums, many people have had success getting the product and are happy. That's why this section is a "caveat" - a caution - not a big fat "don't" - but be careful ordering, and be prepared for poor customer service if you have a problem. Check the forum: you can see that people have raised such issues with forum staff employed by the company, and only when they have taken it up with the company reps in public, it seems issues have been resolved (though whether there's been resolution is sometimes hard to tell).
This kind of lack of care is the antithesis of that practiced by companies like LifelinesUSA or Powerblocks, products sited above, or Dragon Door (review) or Precision Nutrition (review) or Etymotic (review) whose products and product support i've reviewed elsewhere on this site. Their after-sales customer care is superlative. I begin to believe the value of the after sales support is an increasing factor when making a purchase decision, and makes it therefore difficult for me to endorse P90X as whole heartedly as i would otherwise be able. If your concern is for the whole package, from product to service, P90X, alas has enough of a reputation for not delivering that it gets this caution: buyers beware.
Posted by mc at May 2, 2007 2:47 PM