P90X Review: Classic, Lean and a Sequel?!?

Like many Americans, I am out of shape. Or I was, until I found P90X. My husband and I are young (30s) and moderately active, but we let our gym membership expire because we hated waiting around for machines, and our exercise level dwindled. Then we saw the P90X infomercial one night and discovered that P90X is meant to whip you into shape, entirely in your own home, no gym required. What could be better? So, we decided to order the P90X DVDs, buy the few bits of equipment required (a few dumbbells, a pull-up bar and a yoga mat), and give it a go.

Once we received our P90X DVDs, we realized that we may have bitten off more than we could chew. We watched each of the P90X workouts, fear growing with each passing moment - they are so much more intense than anything we'd seen before for home use (i.e., any Jillian Michaels video, home yoga, etc.). There was NO way we could handle this! Luckily, Tony Horton and the Beachbody team give you several options when it comes to designing your P90X program: there's P90X Lean, P90X Classic, and P90X Doubles. With only two days per week of heavy lifting on P90X Lean, it seemed like the easiest option, so that's what we chose. The workouts are arranged in three four-week "phases," with three weeks of intense workouts followed by a recovery week. Each phase incorporates new and different workouts in a different order (hence muscle confusion, one of the main tenets of P90X).

Thinking that P90X Lean would be easy was our first mistake. P90X Lean is HARD, and requires the same time commitment (60-90 minutes a day, six days a week) as P90X Classic. However, it is a somewhat less intense program and therefore a good choice for those who are starting more or less from scratch. On P90X Lean, your cardiovascular endurance improves a bit more quickly than your muscular strength, but really, even P90X workouts that are cardio-oriented have a strength component as well. There are modifications for every exercise, making even tough things like pull-ups accessible to people of almost any fitness level. For more information, check out my P90X Lean blog: http://notanotherp90xblog.blogspot.com/

Once we completed P90X Lean, we were hooked, but it took us a while to get going with P90X Classic. We started a round of P90X Classic in fall 2010 but only got through eight weeks before the holidays interfered. We also realized that we needed more weight, so we purchased a set of dumbbells from five lbs to 50 before starting over - this really is a must if you want the best results from P90X Classic, especially for men. We are in the middle of the P90X Classic program now and are seeing huge improvements in our strength and endurance (I am well on my way to doing unassisted pull-ups, something I never expected). However, the scale isn't really moving much for either one of us, despite following the P90X Nutrition Plan, and many other followers of P90X report this as well. I would not recommend P90X (either P90X Lean or P90X Classic) if weight loss is your primary goal - but if you're looking to add muscle and really get fit, and you're willing to work HARD for it, P90X is ideal.

As for the P90X sequel - according to Beachbody, P90X:MC2 (which stands for Power 90 eXtreme: Muscle Confusion 2) will be coming out in late 2011 or early 2012. By that time we hope to have completed two full rounds of P90X Classic so that we're ready for the new challenge of P90X:MC2. Having experienced P90X I can only imagine how challenging P90X:MC2 will be - but we'll be ready to bring it!