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Why I Love My P90X Workouts

Posted by Danielle Bean in Health on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 9:04 AM

Hallie sent me a tweet yesterday afternoon asking my opinion of the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program.

Turns out this was precisely the motivation I needed for finally getting around to writing up that review I’ve been promising all of you for so long. So here goes ...

Dan ordered the P90X program last October. When the 12-DVD set arrived, he rather sheepishly suggested that I might be interested in doing the program with him. I looked through the photos in the fitness booklet and laughed. The black and white shots of uber-muscular bodies did not look like part of any fitness program that was geared toward a mom of eight kids.

But then I flipped through the nutrition booklet and was intrigued by its “normalness.” It looked like a healthy, balanced, flexible kind of eating program that would make sense for anyone to follow.

So I asked Dan to put on one of the DVDs so we could check it out together. I immediately liked how the exercises switch up every couple of minutes to keep your body moving and prevent your brain from falling asleep. I decided to try it, and within a couple of days, I was hooked.

The simple review I could give you is this: I really like this exercise program.

But I don’t think it’s for everyone, so here are a few more facts for you.

1. P90X is intense. This is hard stuff. Especially for someone who has not been working out regularly for quite some time (That would be me in October), this program was a real shock to my system. I was so sore for the first few days that I could barely walk up and down the stairs. But ... maybe this sounds weird ... I liked that. I knew I wasn’t messing around and I was doing something active to improve my health and fitness. I liked the fact that this program appealed to my inner athlete and brought out some of that physical competitiveness I haven’t seen in myself since high school.

2. P90X has personality. Tony Horton is the man behind this program and he leads the session in each DVD. He’s a bit of a goof ball, but a lovable one. I actually can’t believe how much he reminds me of Steve Carrel‘s character Michael Scott in The Office. He’s totally corny, which might be annoying to some. He might be playing it up for the camera, I am not sure. But anyway, he makes me laugh.

3. P90X takes time. For the first 90 days you do the full program, P90X takes 6 days a week. The work outs are 60 minutes each, and there are two abdominal work outs thrown in the mix each week for an additional 20 minutes of exercise time. That’s a lot of time. When I first started doing these, I tried to “find” that time in my day, but I quickly realized that was nearly impossible and trying to pull it off was putting me in a very very very bad mood. Getting up earlier in the morning (6:30—not so bad) was the key for me finding time to do these. If I had done these years ago, when I was nursing a baby or when I had lots of very small children in the house, I think I would have chosen to do about half of this program—either skipping half the days or doing just 30 minutes of each work out. It’s a lot and many moms really don’t have that much time (or energy!) to spare.

4. P90X is flexible. Many of the moves in the work outs are adjustable, depending upon your preferences and fitness levels. The only equipment you need are a mat, some free weights (or resistance bands), and (if you want it) a pull-up bar. They have three participants besides Tony in each work out, and they demonstrate different levels of the exercises—from easier to extra-hard. You find the one that works and go for it. Tony is very positive and encouraging about “doing your best and forgetting the rest!” I like the forward-looking, non-judgmental approach—especially as I am dying doing push-ups with my knees on the floor.

5. P90X is all-over fitness. Every muscle gets worked out in this program. Even muscles you haven’t seen since grade school or that you never knew were there. I really like this part of the program because it feels so much more like all-over fitness than running, cycling, or walking. But I actually don’t like how much it works out my upper body. I don’t want manly biceps and, with a little bit of lifting, my body seems all too ready to start building some. The fix is easy, though. I just switch out some of the biceps/triceps workouts with cardio or lower body stuff. Not all, but some. I love the variety of workouts in the program—Kenpo karate, yoga, cardio, core synergistics, and plyometrics, and lots more keep all your muscles moving and interested ...

Have any of you tried the P90X program? Or do you have a different work out program that you enjoy? Please share!

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