Does P90X Work?

 

P90X is a training program made famous by Beachbody. The program is a sequel and the preceding chapter was Power 90. P90X comes with 12 painful workouts, a nutrition plan and plenty of documentation that’ll keep you busy documenting your progress.

The important part here is that the workout is not for everyone. Although the commonly prevalent feeling is that ‘you just pop in the DVD and do what the guys are doing’ but trust me, it’s not that simple.

You may start strong for the few initial minutes of each workout but once Tony Horton and his team starts to do 20 pull-ups in one set, you’re almost flabbergasted!

It’s not only about strength training, the Yoga X video is all about Yoga but the postures and the moves actually kill some parts of your body. You feel the burn then the burn gets into an even hotter sensation.

When you start with the workouts, you’ll probably think that the people who go through the 90 day period of this workout are pure lunatics but that’s not how the story goes. The workouts are hard and very effective if you survive them.

P90X is a very effective workout and you must have already heard stories and watched videos of people transforming from a block of flab into an absolutely ripped look. P90X is a complete workout.

The word ‘complete’ here means that the whole program focuses on all parts of fitness – flexibility, core strength, agility, cardiovascular health, muscle mass and even a bit of Karate! Here’s a brief summary of the workouts:

Core Synergestics – Focuses on your core and abdominal area. One hour of good calorie burn along with increased core strength.

Plyometrics – Jump training at its best. You’ll move up, down, right and left as you go through some really great moves.

X Stretch – This is alternative to actually taking a day off. Instead of a break, you do bit of a stretch in this program. This could be the easiest routine out of the 12 but it’s by no means, ineffective.

Yoga X – These could be the best 90 minutes you had in a very long time (provided you survive them). Some great Yoga postures have been included that work on flexibility, core conditioning, balance and coordination. Initially this could be a very tough workout but it gets easier as you get into the routine.

Kenpo X – Some really creative Jet Li stuff! This isn’t a boring workout as you’ll be punching, upper-cutting and kicking. It’s also a very good calorie burn but it also teaches some good defense/attack moves!

Cardio X – Cardiovascular training as the name suggests. It’s a very good calori burner and most of the time you’ll be out of breath. But that’s the whole point of the workout. The intensity is kept high on purpose so you may get results at the end of 90 days.

Ab Ripper X – It’s only 17 minutes long but it’s jolly hard! You’ll be cursing Tony throughout these 17 minutes! There are no breaks and each exercise keeps pounding your abdominals from all angles.

The rest of the workouts are based on resistance training. There are a lot of push-ups, pull-ups, rows, curls, presses, squats, lunges and dips. The muscle groups are targeted from different angles making this a extremely effective workout. Here are the rest of the 5 workouts. 

• Shoulders & Arms
• Back & Biceps
• Chest, Shoulder and Triceps
• Legs & Back
• Chest & Back

So the more important question here is ‘whether you can make P90X work for you or not?’ The credibility of the program is not under question here but it’s YOU who is under the microscope. Can you put up with the grueling workouts that may burn on an average, 400 Calories per workout?

Can you manage an hour and half everyday from your busy schedule? Are you as fit as Tony Horton himself? If you can make it through the 90 days, you can be absolutely sure that there will be a significant change in your body.