An Honest P90X Workout Review – My 90-Day Results

I’ve been through the 90-day classic P90X workout by Tony Horton, and I figured it was time I put up my P90X workout review for all to see. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started.

P90X Workout Review Contents:

What is P90X? Classic, Doubles Lean Muscle Confusion What Equipment Do I Need? Diet Where To Buy P90X Online My Results

What is P90X?

For those who don’t know yet, P90X stands for the Power 90 Extreme workout, and it was created by Tony Horton and produced by Beachbody. Tony Horton is a very well-known fitness instructor and has developed a number of home fitness training programs. P90X is by far his most popular program, and has even spawned several other products in the same line, including P90X+, Power 90 Master Series and P90X One-on-One.

Here’s a quick video to get you pumped up about P90X:

Today we’ll just be focusing on the P90X original.

There are 12 DVD workouts:

• Chest Back
• Plyometrics
• Shoulders Arms
• Yoga X
• Legs Back
• Kenpo X
• Core Synergistics
• Chest, Shoulders Triceps
• Back Biceps
• Cardio X
• Ab Ripper X
• X Stretch

You are provided with a workout schedule to follow over the course of the 90 days, and a calendar to track your progress and results. You can use P90X simply to keep fit, or you can use it as a tool to lose weight and/or build muscles. You can get ripped or you can tone your muscles. It’s really up to you what goal you set. My advice is to write down your targets (on your calendar or elsewhere) and track your progress until you reach that goal.

P90X was actually designed to cater for a new market – people who already have a certain level of fitness, and wish to take it that bit further. That said, even if you are a beginner or you feel you are a bit out of shape, the P90X workout can still cater to your needs.

Classic, Doubles Lean

Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to P90X. For starters, there are 3 pre-set ways of going through the program. There is the ‘classic’ routine that most people will do. It’s a great workout and includes all of the DVDs and workouts.

If you are looking for a really tough workout, there is the ‘doubles’ routine. This involves doing an extra cardio workout after each resistance workout you do. It doesn’t have to be straight away; it could be later on in the day. It’s important you do the resistance work first however, because that takes the most energy. There is a risk of overtraining here, so only try the doubles if you are really ready to push your body.

If you are after a slightly easier workout, then the P90X ‘lean’ workout is for you. I’ve written on the topic of the before (opens in new window), so read that if you are interested. There is even a free download so you can see what the schedule is like.

The fact is, many people make the mistake of thinking this name refers to making your body more lean. This is not the case – the workout itself is lean. There are no plyometric exercises in the lean workout. However, my recommendation even to beginners is to try the classic first. It gives the best overall fitness workout and most people should be able to handle it.

Don’t worry about not being able to complete each workout. The key is to work to your own potential. Try not to feel the need to compare yourself to other people, as this can drain your motivation fast. This is why tracking your results is so important. You can visually see the improvement you are making, and you are only comparing against yourself.

Muscle Confusion

So what makes P90X unique? Tony Horton designed P90X around a simple technique for maximizing your results: muscle confusion.

Have you ever been training consistently, and suddenly found that you can no longer improve your fitness levels any further? It happens to all of us at one time or another. We hit the ‘workout plateau’, in which no matter how hard we train, our muscles are no longer growing or we are losing no more weight. Why does this happen?

The answer is in the workouts you are using. Doing the same exercises each week gets your body into a kind of rhythm. This is the fastest way to hit the workout plateau. You’ve probably worked it out by now – the way to get around this is to vary up your workouts, to ‘confuse’ your muscles.

P90X is based around muscle confusion for the simple reason that it works. Not only that, but it helps prevent against injury. When you suddenly change up your workouts, your body will react as if you are starting again from scratch. The important thing is that you work the same muscle groups, but in a different way. The best way to do this is by switching up what equipment you use, i.e. moving from resistance bands to free weights.

What Equipment Do I Need?

Which brings us nicely onto the equipment section. I’ve seen many people ask this question, and it’s a fair one. Many home fitness DVDs don’t require much equipment, or none at all.

For P90X, you can get away without equipment if you really want to, but you won’t be able to complete all the workouts. It is recommended that you first of all get the P90X Chin Up Bar, and either a pair of dumbbells or a set of resistance bands. This is some basic stuff, and if you are really dedicated to getting fit then you should invest in these. Check out my post – ? (opens in new window)

That’s it, really. It doesn’t have to be made any more complicated than that. If you like, you can grab a yoga mat and yoga block for your comfort. Those hard wood floors can be quite unforgiving, so it depends what kind of workout area you have at home. Working out from the comfort of your own home is fantastic and gives you great freedom, but you have to make sure it’s actually comfortable to start with.

Diet

In between workouts, you need to give your muscles time to relax, and most importantly, you need to give them the right fuel.

Nutrition is the key ingredient that many people gloss over, and they are wrong to do that. I knew that diet had to be a part of my P90X review. What you feed your body is equally as important as how you exercise it.

When you buy P90X from the official vendors (see the next section), you will receive a the 3-Phase Nutrition Plan as part of the package:

• Phase 1 – Fat Shredder. High protein diet to strengthen muscle while rapidly shedding fat
• Phase 2 – Energy Booster. Balanced mix of carbohydrates and protein with low fat to give additional for performance
• Phase 3 – Endurance Maximizer. An athletic diet of complex carbohydrates, lean protein and lower fat to get you in the best shape of your life!

These phases coincide with the 90-day workout, although you can always go at a pace that suits you and change the timing of the diets to suit your needs. As you can see, everything is carefully planned out. The experts at Beachbody know an awful lot about getting your body into very good shape, and they know that diet is a key component in that formula.

There are also many fantastic recipes, and even some ‘convenience food’ recipes if you don’t wish to get too involved in cooking. This video does a great job of explaining the nutrition side of things, so take some time and watch it through (it’s just 4 minutes long):

Where to Buy P90X Online

Before I get to my results, I’d like to show you my recommendation for where to buy P90X, and what you can expect to receive when you order.

I’ve already written a detailed post on at the cheapest price (link opens in new window so you can continue reading the review). So if you are close to buying P90X, that’s the place to go, but I’ll summarize it here for you as well.

Beachbody and Amazon are the only 2 places I recommend buying P90X from. They are both official vendors, and both include all the bonuses. Here are all the bonuses you’ll receive:

• 3-Phase Nutrition Plan
• Fitness Guide (everything you need to know about fitness and an overview of the P90X system)
• P90X Calendar (set your goals, track your progress and keep your motivation high)
• Free Online Support from a Peer Network and Fitness Experts (including Tony Horton himself!)

You’ll get these bonuses through Beachbody for sure. They offer a great payment plan option. You pay $39.95 each month for 3 months, plus a one-time shipping and handling fee of $19.95. You can also just pay the full price of $119.85 plus shipping, and it comes to the same total of $139.80. So there is no reason why you shouldn’t take the payment plan if you prefer to pay that way.

Right now, there is a deal to upgrade for free to express delivery so you can receive P90X within about a week. Highly recommended:

On Amazon, you can buy new, or used. If you buy new, you will receive the same bonuses as above for the same price of $139.80 including shipping.

If you are after a bargain, you may well find one in the used Amazon marketplace. However, always check the seller feedback, and check that they are including everything and that it is in good condition. You can always ask the seller first before buying to make sure.

Now there are also unofficial sites out there. You may well find some if you search through Google, and the prices are indeed lower. HOWEVER… I strongly advise you against taking up these offers. As I’ve said in other posts, if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is. If you want to save a bit of money, look on Amazon in their used marketplace.

The trouble is that many of these sites are not secure, and your credit card details could be stolen. That’s not a risk worth taking to save a few dollars in the long run. If you are really strapped for cash but want to try out the P90X workout, then take up the Beachbody payment plan offer. It allows you to test the system at a fraction of the cost, and if it isn’t right for you, then you can return it, no questions asked, for a refund. Beachbody are a very well respected company and you won’t have any problems in this regard. They know that keeping their customers happy is their number one priority.

My Results

Ahh, finally we get to my results. If you’ve made it this far, well done

I wouldn’t have written such a comprehensive review if I didn’t feel P90X was worth it, so you’ve probably guessed that I’ve had a good transformation from going through the program.

What’s impressed me most about P90X is that it gives you accelerated results. I review a number of exercise programs, and I don’t think any other workout could give the same results quite as fast as P90X. The muscle confusion techniques must be the reason for this.

Day 1 Measurements:

Body Fat – 17%

Weight – 215 lbs

Chest – 40″

Waist – 39″

Right Thigh – 26″

Left Thigh – 26″

Left Arm – 15″

Right Arm – 15″

 

Day 90 Measurements:

Body Fat – 7%

Weight – 198 lbs

Chest – 42″

Waist – 33″

Right Thigh – 25″

Left Thigh – 25″

Left Arm – 16″

Right Arm – 16″

I’m actually very pleased with my results. Of course, you may have greater ambitions and you can work towards those. The fact that my body fat dropped down 10% alone is incredible to me.

These are the kind of results real people are having, and you could be the same. Check out this story – it might be one you can relate to:

I hope you’ve enjoyed my P90X review and have been able to take something worthwhile from it. If you have found out something new, please 1 or ‘Like’ this page and bookmark for later. If you haven’t got your own copy of P90X yet, then I highly recommend you click through the links from this page to Beachbody or Amazon and order now so it will arrive as soon as possible. You’ll find while you’re waiting that you’ll be very excited.

Remember, P90X teaches you how to be fit and healthy on an ongoing basis. This isn’t a quick solution that fades away – it is a lifestyle choice. I hope you make your own P90X journey and it gives you your dream body and ultimate lifestyle