P90X

plyoholic

Member
This is likely a redundant question, but could you all give me honest thoughts about buying the P90X series - the cost isn't an issue but rather whether I would like it, it would be effective and it would be motivating and to some extent - enjoyable. I love Cathe - and do her every morning (have about 20 of her dvds and rotate one day two muscle groups/core and next day cardio), but was thinking it might be nice to add some variation. How is the difficulty level (I like it rough and I like pushups and on a good morning, can crank out about 70 in 3-5 minutes!)? How is the fun level (I like Cathe and the girls because they are tough but light-hearted and real)? I have read on this forum that P90X isn't a great leg/glute workout - do you intersperse Cathe in for that? Any other random thoughts much appreciated. One thing I have read on this forum is that P90X works hard on pull ups. I do have a pull up bar and think the instruction would get me to at least put my hands on it. My vague fitness goals are to be generally very buff, develop a six-pack (only on about a 4-pack at the moment) and to do 10 pull ups (at about 3 at the moment).

Thanks all.
 
I really love the upper body workouts in P90X and also Core Synergistics. I think that they are fun and challenging workouts. I find myself excited to go back to these workouts after doing different rotations.

The Legs & Back workout is ok - I do it once in a while and substitute Cathe lower body workouts sometimes. I'm not a huge fan of Plyo X, but most people seem to like it. On the other hand, I do like Kenpo (I use weighted gloves), but that doesn't seem to be a popular workout. I found that Yoga X got me to do yoga once in a while - something I would never normally do.

I definitely recommend these workouts and think that they are worth the money.

Erica
 
Hi Plyoholic! You'd be a shoe in for P90X. Its very gym style feel to all the DVDs. You go at your own pace, log everything in, & you challenge yourself each week. Go for it! Kathy:D
 
Does anyone know where I can find a P90X rotation list using Cathe workouts? Or is Cathe so totally different it would not work to sub her tapes?
Valerie
 
>Go to Video Rotations and look for P90x using GS & Intensity
>Series.

OK, thanks! Of course, I don't own the GS though. I wonder if some of Cathe's other workouts could sub in for the GS????
 
>Does anyone know where I can find a P90X rotation list using
>Cathe workouts? Or is Cathe so totally different it would not
>work to sub her tapes?
>Valerie

Here is a rotation I made up using the Hardcore series:
http://69.0.137.118/dc/dcboard.php?...opic_id=2340&mesg_id=2340&listing_type=search

For the recovery week, I actually did other-than-Cathe workouts for the most part, because IMO her workouts don't fit into recovery week (except for Stretch Max, but I got rid of that DVD pronto, and Core Max for core work, though it's less "core" oriented and more "just abs" oriented than P90X core workouts). Another modification I made was to do 1 upper body workout on day 1, then legs on day 3, and the other upper body on day 5, to put more recovery time in for the upper body.

You could also use this as a general template and substitute any Cathe 3-Day split routine (S&H, PS) for the Gym Styles.
 
I had been intrigued by P90X for a while. I had the opportunity to purchase 6 of the DVD's (all the strength ones, which all include Ab Ripper X at the end so it's like I got 7 of the workouts) from a swap site. I'm in the first week of the Classic rotation. Here are my thoughts to some of your questions.

1. The weight work is a tough as you want it to be. You are encouraged to lift as heavy as you can and to set for yourself a rep total using that weight. If you go really heavy, you might only get out 8 reps before failure. If you lift a little lighter, you'll get out 12-15 reps. What I also really like about the weight work is that you aren't doing the same body part for more than two exercises in a row. By constantly mixing up which muscles are used, I found I can stay with my heavy weights for longer and really fatigue the muscle. I have some major DOMS this week, and it's felt good!

2. Tony has a pretty goofy persona in these workouts. Some people find this fun and engaging, some people find it annoying. I'm personally not bugged by it. I can only speak for the strength DVD's, but I'm working so hard that most of the time I'm not noticing what Tony and crew are doing. I had heard a lot of mixed opinions on the cardio workouts so I opted not to buy those. Instead, I'm doing Cathe, Christi, CIA, or whatever I enjoy for cardio. This is keeping the fun factor there for me. If I had to do the same 12 DVD's for 3 months, I might go insane. Knowing I can pick and choose what cardio I want to do will keep me sane!

3. Even though P90X only has one leg workout, I have read on other forums that if you buy the full set that PlyoX is such that it really works the leg, so it's like having a second leg workout. Since I don't have PlyoX, I'm counting my step workouts (in place of PlyoX) as a 'second' leg workout. I'm not sure that I'll be able to do Legs and Back the whole time and may substitute some Cathe lower body workouts later in the rotation.

4. I'm also not sure if I can do Ab Ripper X 3 times a week for the whole rotation so I may substitute Core Max segments or a couple of segments from Ab Hits in a couple of weeks. But Ab Ripper X is an effective workout, so I'll try to do it 2 times per week, and substitute the 3rd time.

5. Yes, P90X is pull up intensive. I'm using the heavy band anchored from a high point option. What's nice about the back exercises is that Tony has crew members demonstrating how to do the exercise with the band, and how to use props like chairs to do the pull ups while you're building up to unassisted, full pull ups. I would be TOTAllY surprised if you didn't meet and exceed your expectations for pull up development using P90X.

IMO, if you really lift as heavy as you can, clean up any eating infractions, and work in quality cardio, you'll definitely see the benefits you're looking for from this series!

Good Luck!
 

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