My P90X Results
For those of you who haven’t tried it yet and are still interested in what kind of results you’ll get with P90X, I thought I’d post and let you know. I did the Classic Rotation for heavy lifting (8-10 reps).
My goals: To get stronger, have more “cut” arms, reduce body fat, lose inches (not necessarily pounds), be able to do one chinup/pullup, take a break from Cathe; gain back my flexibility
Measurements:
Waist - Lost 1/2 inch
Chest - Lost 1 inch
Hips - Lost 1 inch
Biceps: Gained 1/4 inch
Thighs: Lost ½ inch
Calves - Lost ¼ inch
Body Fat: Went from 23.7% to 22.7%
Weight: Went from 122.6 to 122.0
Resting Heart Rate: Started at 65; ended at 55
Accomplishments:
Went from Size 4/6 to size 0/2
Increased my strength, balance and endurance
Rediscovered love of yoga (found I need it much more and will try and include it in my rotations from now on)
10 reverse grip chinups
4 clapping pushups
16 one arm pushups
being able to hold wall squats for full minute and single leg wall squats for 90 seconds
Able to hold crane pose for 60 secs.
Plank to Chaturanga ISO held for full minute
Did towel hopping for 40 secs.
Toughest moves for me:
B&B - wide and corncob pullups; hammer curls, strip set curls
Core Syn - Plank to chaturanga run (the toughest), towel hopping, wall squats
ARX - fifer scissors, bicycles
CST - Pour flys, weighted circles, floor flies (these never got easier), 2 twitch pushups, clapping pushups
Toughest workout: CST
Favorite workouts: Legs & Back, Core Synergistics, Plyo X, yoga
Most Improvement in a Workout: Chest & Back
Biggest Surprise: Liking pushups! I never knew that many types of pushups existed.
My favorites: Wide Fly, One-Arm, Plange, One-Arm Balance and Diamond
Totals:
Chest & Back - 908 pushups
Chest, Shoulders & Triceps - 457 pushups
Core Synergistics - 296 pushups
For a grand total of: 1,661 pushups! (I guess these really helped because I went down a band and a cup size).
Legs & Back - 9 full chinups
Chest & Back - 1 full chinup
My Journey:
My journey did not start well as the day before I was in the hospital for an asthma attack and was also recovering from a slight shoulder injury. I was determined that the next day was going to be the start of my rotation and nothing was going to stop me. It was planned for months (along with a few other people) and I wanted to start off at the same time with everyone else. I did take it a little easy the first day - I only did one round of Chest & Back. The first week was a little rough but then I was back to normal.
I tried to increase my reps and/or poundage for each workout.
Phase 1: Very tough - was constantly tired and hungry and somewhat irritable.
Phase 2: A lot easier although workouts were harder for me. I had more energy and was less tired.
Phase 3: Felt good but really fell apart with my eating. I was a lot stronger and workouts got easier. Was able to finish workouts in less time. Got burned out on some workouts. Switched Cathe abs for ARX, did Amy Bento’s Hi/Lo Xtreme for Plyo X and substituted Tracey Staehle’s Sweatfest Kickbox for Kenpo.
I couldn’t wait for recovery weeks. Even though they were still tough, it was a welcome change from all the heavy lifting. Also, the workouts were shorter (with the exception of Yoga X) and I was able to finish without a problem.
Chest & Back: Liked this workout - tough, but liked push/pull method. Had more energy this way. Got up to 33# on Heavy Pants, 35# on Lawnmowers and 21# for back flys.
Plyo X: Not as intense as Cathe’s IMAXes but a good, solid workout with room to improve. I started to jump higher, do more moves double time and was able to finish workout in less and less time - definitely improved my endurance.
Shoulders & Arms: Liked this one too. Really liked alternating body parts (instead of exhausting each muscle group a la Cathe). For shoulders, I got up to between 13-19#, biceps - 15-17.5# and triceps - 16.5-19#.
Yoga X: I really did like this workout (even though it was a little long) but after all the wonderful suggestions from everyone, I had to branch out. I did Baron’s Next Challenge (really liked this one) and Ultimate Challenge, David Swenson’s Short Forms and 2nd & 3rd Series (toughest yoga workout I’ve ever done), Mark Blanchard’s Progressive Power Yoga, Yoga Zone’s Power Yoga for Strength & Endurance, Shiva Rea’s Fluid Power (vinyasa but a nice change of pace - you might like this a little more if you have some dance background) and Bryan Kest’s Energize, Tone & Sweat. Yoga really improved my balance and flexibility. Yoga was probably my favorite workout of the entire rotation.
Legs & Back: My least dreaded workout. Liked that it was mostly a non-weighted leg workout and that it stuck in back exercises at exactly the right point not to get too exhausted with legs. Wall squats and chair salutations were toughest for me but gradually improved. Yoga obviously helped with the chair salutations. I made the most gains with chinups/pullups with this workout. I also worked on my balance with the deadlift squats. I only used 5# for the calf raises and lunges.
Back & Biceps: Shortest workout but took me the longest to get through with all the weight changes. For some reason, the hammer curls really got the best of me in this one and there are quite a lot of them.
lawnmowers - 35#
elbows-out lawnmowers - 36#
reverse grip bent-over rows. 31#
21s & One-Arm Cross Body Curls: 16#
Standing Bicep Curls & One-Arm Concentration Curls: 19#
Open Arm Curls: 18#
Static Arm Curls: 15#
Congdon Locomotives, Crouching Cohen Curls and One-Arm Corkscrew Curls: 19#
Seated Bent-Over Back Flys: 21#
Curl Up/Hammer Downs, Hammer Curls, In/Out Hammer Curls: 15#
Strip Set Curls: 19#, 16#, 15# and 13#
Chest, Shoulders & Triceps: Toughest workout. Many different kinds of pushups. Floor Flys never got easier for me.
In/Out Shoulder Flys: 13#
Chair Dips: 45 with leg raise
Pike Presses: 15
Side Tri Rises: 30
Scarecrows and Overhead Tricep Extensions: 14.5#
Y-Presses and Lying Tricep Extensions: 16.5#
Pour Flys: 11.5#
Side-Leaning Tricep Extensions: 16#
Weighted Circles: 8#
Throw the Bomb - 15#
Slo-Mo Throws - 10-12#
Front to Back Tricep Extensions: 13#
Fly-Row-Presses: 12#
Dbbl Cross-Body Blows: 16#
ARX: Tough at first but got easier. First five moves were always tough for me, but I was able to put my arms up for these exercises at the end. Did 50 Mason Twists most times. Didn’t do this as much as I was supposed to. Ran out of time a lot so didn’t always get this done. Sometimes I was able to make it up and sometimes I wasn’t. I can feel a real improvement in my core muscles. This workout definitely helped with balance moves and I was able to hold yoga poses better with a stronger core.
Core Synergistics: Really tough workout but one of my favorites. Had a lot of different moves I never did before. I liked the Dreya Rolls - was able to do little jump at end of each rep by my last CS workout.
Kenpo: Not intense enough for me but still liked the workout. It moved along very quickly for me. I started to use 1.5-2# weights to add to the intensity and it did the trick. I liked all the blocking moves. This was not as intense for me as Cathe’s Kick, Punch & Crunch or Kick Max but was a good workout. I didn’t like all that stretching before the workout. I don’t like stretching cold muscles so I started jumping right to the main part of the workout and adding the stretching at the end. I didn’t do this one as much as I was supposed to since I dance for 3 hours a week, I didn’t feel I need so much cardio.
X Stretch: Nice, feel good workout. Definitely felt stretched out and more flexible from this one. I usually don’t have time for such a long stretch but this felt great during recovery week.
Cardio X: Never did this but might use it for a light workout day in the future.
I tried to follow the eating plan (I picked the eating plan from Phase 2) and was pretty good for the first six weeks but then really fell apart with my eating. I used the portion plan. The nutrition guide was helpful and I actually used a couple of recipes from it. The only thing that really helps me with my eating is writing everything down. Every time I stop writing things down, my weight goes back up.
I feel very happy with my results but I know with more clean eating, I would have had even better results. I feel I accomplished the goals I set for myself. I definitely plan on doing another round of the X but not for a little while (when I will try to be much better with my eating.) I am back on a Cathe rotation this month and am watching my eating carefully and am already seeing results. I've had DOMS every day this week. I still plan on inserting chinups/pullups in my workouts. I don't want to lose momentum and I feel they really helped lean out that back fat. I found I really missed Cathe's warmups and stretches.
I did this with a few other Catheites and it really helped checking in with everyone each day to share the ups and downs.
Marcy
For those of you who haven’t tried it yet and are still interested in what kind of results you’ll get with P90X, I thought I’d post and let you know. I did the Classic Rotation for heavy lifting (8-10 reps).
My goals: To get stronger, have more “cut” arms, reduce body fat, lose inches (not necessarily pounds), be able to do one chinup/pullup, take a break from Cathe; gain back my flexibility
Measurements:
Waist - Lost 1/2 inch
Chest - Lost 1 inch
Hips - Lost 1 inch
Biceps: Gained 1/4 inch
Thighs: Lost ½ inch
Calves - Lost ¼ inch
Body Fat: Went from 23.7% to 22.7%
Weight: Went from 122.6 to 122.0
Resting Heart Rate: Started at 65; ended at 55
Accomplishments:
Went from Size 4/6 to size 0/2
Increased my strength, balance and endurance
Rediscovered love of yoga (found I need it much more and will try and include it in my rotations from now on)
10 reverse grip chinups
4 clapping pushups
16 one arm pushups
being able to hold wall squats for full minute and single leg wall squats for 90 seconds
Able to hold crane pose for 60 secs.
Plank to Chaturanga ISO held for full minute
Did towel hopping for 40 secs.
Toughest moves for me:
B&B - wide and corncob pullups; hammer curls, strip set curls
Core Syn - Plank to chaturanga run (the toughest), towel hopping, wall squats
ARX - fifer scissors, bicycles
CST - Pour flys, weighted circles, floor flies (these never got easier), 2 twitch pushups, clapping pushups
Toughest workout: CST
Favorite workouts: Legs & Back, Core Synergistics, Plyo X, yoga
Most Improvement in a Workout: Chest & Back
Biggest Surprise: Liking pushups! I never knew that many types of pushups existed.
My favorites: Wide Fly, One-Arm, Plange, One-Arm Balance and Diamond
Totals:
Chest & Back - 908 pushups
Chest, Shoulders & Triceps - 457 pushups
Core Synergistics - 296 pushups
For a grand total of: 1,661 pushups! (I guess these really helped because I went down a band and a cup size).
Legs & Back - 9 full chinups
Chest & Back - 1 full chinup
My Journey:
My journey did not start well as the day before I was in the hospital for an asthma attack and was also recovering from a slight shoulder injury. I was determined that the next day was going to be the start of my rotation and nothing was going to stop me. It was planned for months (along with a few other people) and I wanted to start off at the same time with everyone else. I did take it a little easy the first day - I only did one round of Chest & Back. The first week was a little rough but then I was back to normal.
I tried to increase my reps and/or poundage for each workout.
Phase 1: Very tough - was constantly tired and hungry and somewhat irritable.
Phase 2: A lot easier although workouts were harder for me. I had more energy and was less tired.
Phase 3: Felt good but really fell apart with my eating. I was a lot stronger and workouts got easier. Was able to finish workouts in less time. Got burned out on some workouts. Switched Cathe abs for ARX, did Amy Bento’s Hi/Lo Xtreme for Plyo X and substituted Tracey Staehle’s Sweatfest Kickbox for Kenpo.
I couldn’t wait for recovery weeks. Even though they were still tough, it was a welcome change from all the heavy lifting. Also, the workouts were shorter (with the exception of Yoga X) and I was able to finish without a problem.
Chest & Back: Liked this workout - tough, but liked push/pull method. Had more energy this way. Got up to 33# on Heavy Pants, 35# on Lawnmowers and 21# for back flys.
Plyo X: Not as intense as Cathe’s IMAXes but a good, solid workout with room to improve. I started to jump higher, do more moves double time and was able to finish workout in less and less time - definitely improved my endurance.
Shoulders & Arms: Liked this one too. Really liked alternating body parts (instead of exhausting each muscle group a la Cathe). For shoulders, I got up to between 13-19#, biceps - 15-17.5# and triceps - 16.5-19#.
Yoga X: I really did like this workout (even though it was a little long) but after all the wonderful suggestions from everyone, I had to branch out. I did Baron’s Next Challenge (really liked this one) and Ultimate Challenge, David Swenson’s Short Forms and 2nd & 3rd Series (toughest yoga workout I’ve ever done), Mark Blanchard’s Progressive Power Yoga, Yoga Zone’s Power Yoga for Strength & Endurance, Shiva Rea’s Fluid Power (vinyasa but a nice change of pace - you might like this a little more if you have some dance background) and Bryan Kest’s Energize, Tone & Sweat. Yoga really improved my balance and flexibility. Yoga was probably my favorite workout of the entire rotation.
Legs & Back: My least dreaded workout. Liked that it was mostly a non-weighted leg workout and that it stuck in back exercises at exactly the right point not to get too exhausted with legs. Wall squats and chair salutations were toughest for me but gradually improved. Yoga obviously helped with the chair salutations. I made the most gains with chinups/pullups with this workout. I also worked on my balance with the deadlift squats. I only used 5# for the calf raises and lunges.
Back & Biceps: Shortest workout but took me the longest to get through with all the weight changes. For some reason, the hammer curls really got the best of me in this one and there are quite a lot of them.
lawnmowers - 35#
elbows-out lawnmowers - 36#
reverse grip bent-over rows. 31#
21s & One-Arm Cross Body Curls: 16#
Standing Bicep Curls & One-Arm Concentration Curls: 19#
Open Arm Curls: 18#
Static Arm Curls: 15#
Congdon Locomotives, Crouching Cohen Curls and One-Arm Corkscrew Curls: 19#
Seated Bent-Over Back Flys: 21#
Curl Up/Hammer Downs, Hammer Curls, In/Out Hammer Curls: 15#
Strip Set Curls: 19#, 16#, 15# and 13#
Chest, Shoulders & Triceps: Toughest workout. Many different kinds of pushups. Floor Flys never got easier for me.
In/Out Shoulder Flys: 13#
Chair Dips: 45 with leg raise
Pike Presses: 15
Side Tri Rises: 30
Scarecrows and Overhead Tricep Extensions: 14.5#
Y-Presses and Lying Tricep Extensions: 16.5#
Pour Flys: 11.5#
Side-Leaning Tricep Extensions: 16#
Weighted Circles: 8#
Throw the Bomb - 15#
Slo-Mo Throws - 10-12#
Front to Back Tricep Extensions: 13#
Fly-Row-Presses: 12#
Dbbl Cross-Body Blows: 16#
ARX: Tough at first but got easier. First five moves were always tough for me, but I was able to put my arms up for these exercises at the end. Did 50 Mason Twists most times. Didn’t do this as much as I was supposed to. Ran out of time a lot so didn’t always get this done. Sometimes I was able to make it up and sometimes I wasn’t. I can feel a real improvement in my core muscles. This workout definitely helped with balance moves and I was able to hold yoga poses better with a stronger core.
Core Synergistics: Really tough workout but one of my favorites. Had a lot of different moves I never did before. I liked the Dreya Rolls - was able to do little jump at end of each rep by my last CS workout.
Kenpo: Not intense enough for me but still liked the workout. It moved along very quickly for me. I started to use 1.5-2# weights to add to the intensity and it did the trick. I liked all the blocking moves. This was not as intense for me as Cathe’s Kick, Punch & Crunch or Kick Max but was a good workout. I didn’t like all that stretching before the workout. I don’t like stretching cold muscles so I started jumping right to the main part of the workout and adding the stretching at the end. I didn’t do this one as much as I was supposed to since I dance for 3 hours a week, I didn’t feel I need so much cardio.
X Stretch: Nice, feel good workout. Definitely felt stretched out and more flexible from this one. I usually don’t have time for such a long stretch but this felt great during recovery week.
Cardio X: Never did this but might use it for a light workout day in the future.
I tried to follow the eating plan (I picked the eating plan from Phase 2) and was pretty good for the first six weeks but then really fell apart with my eating. I used the portion plan. The nutrition guide was helpful and I actually used a couple of recipes from it. The only thing that really helps me with my eating is writing everything down. Every time I stop writing things down, my weight goes back up.
I feel very happy with my results but I know with more clean eating, I would have had even better results. I feel I accomplished the goals I set for myself. I definitely plan on doing another round of the X but not for a little while (when I will try to be much better with my eating.) I am back on a Cathe rotation this month and am watching my eating carefully and am already seeing results. I've had DOMS every day this week. I still plan on inserting chinups/pullups in my workouts. I don't want to lose momentum and I feel they really helped lean out that back fat. I found I really missed Cathe's warmups and stretches.
I did this with a few other Catheites and it really helped checking in with everyone each day to share the ups and downs.
Marcy
