P90X Review: I HATE IT, BUT I LOVE IT!

First, let me start this off by saying that I am in no way affiliated with Beach Bodies or the P90X Program. I am not a Beach Bodies Coach and to tell you the truth I didn't even know they existed before I bought P90X. So, this is my opinion and my opinion alone.

A little over three months ago I saw an infomercial called "Get Ripped in 90 Days". When I saw this infomercial I was sitting on my couch at 11 o'clock at night drinking a beer and eating junk food. The infomercial got my attention because the people on it were normal everyday people just like myself and their results were awesome. They were using the Home Fitness Program called P90X. So, I grabbed the laptop and did as any other skeptical consumer would do and jumped online to begin my research about this crazy P90X workout thingy.

What did I find? Well, site after site of people praising this program and they all claimed it really worked. So, after a few more beers and a pep talk with myself I decided that I was going to change my life and "Get Ripped in 90 Days"!

Shortly thereafter I began my journey on the path to "rippedness" with P90X. I must admit I was a little overwhelmed when it finally showed up at my house. I got 12 DVDs, three resistance bands, a nutrition guide, a fitness guide, a pull-up bar, and a bucket of P90X Recovery Drink mix! Whew, where do I start was my initial reaction. Well, I sat down and started reading both the fitness guide and the nutrition guide. It all started to make sense. P90X was going to work in three phases that would shape my body and prevent me from hitting the dreaded plateau that happens in most work out programs. Hmmm...this thing might just work.

The next day I was off to the grocery store. The nutrition guide provided had a bunch of snacks and recipes for all three meals and daily snacks and I needed to buy them all! Being a typical guy I never really spent much time in grocery stores reading labels so this was an experience unto itself! So after spending 2 hours there and a boatload of cash on "healthy" foods and a thing called Whey Protein I was just about ready to go. I had my meals planned so now it was time to start the workouts.

After watching an intro disk with the love-able and ripped personal trainer Tony Horton, I was ready to BRING IT - P90X Style. Day 1 was a workout called Chest & Back. I thought for sure my new friend Tony would ease me into the program and Chest & Back would be a breeze -- I thought wrong .... horribly wrong!

Push-up, Pull-up, Push-up, Pull-up, Push-up, Chin-up ...etc. Tony made me do 12 different exercises on this workout and as I was lying on the floor drowning in my own sweat after completing the 12 workouts that bastard said we had to do it all over again. I did it .... barely... he is no longer my friend! Then Tony's big head comes on my TV screen again and is talking about something called Ab Ripper X. He says this about Ab Ripper X, "I hate it, but I love it"! You could do laundry on this guys Abs and HE hates it? What the heck was I in for??? One word describes my first experience with Ab Ripper X: PAIN. It is 15 mins/349 reps of core and ab destruction. I felt vomit in my mouth numerous times during Ab Ripper X. I did maybe half the reps. I wanted to die!

I woke up on Day 2 and my upper body was extremely sore and the workout was called Plyometrics! I was excited because I used to do Plyo workouts when I was in high school and college and because I didn't have to do any push-ups and pull-ups. I popped in the DVD and Tony and the kids were waiting for me to begin. We did this 10 minute warm up stretching out the legs and getting the body warm by running in place and jacks. I was pretty damn winded after the warm up and I was drinking some water and heard Tony say, "Some people call this THE BEAST"! I was frozen with fear. At this point I was thinking Chest & Back was THE BEAST? ... could it really get worse than Chest & Back? Yes, it could. It got much worse. That vomit that I tasted a little of yesterday became a full meal today. Plyometrics damn near ended me. It is fast-paced and explosive. It made me use muscles in my legs that I didn't even know existed. When I was finished with Plyo I could not even walk down my stairs to go take a much needed shower. It was beyond brutal .... but that was the weird thing ... I HATE IT, BUT I LOVE IT!

The first two weeks of P90X were excruciatingly hard. The rest of the workouts were as difficult as the two listed above. My legs hurt so bad that it was difficult to sit down. According to the nutrition plan I needed to eat close to 2700 calories a day and this felt like too much food for me. This was going to be hard to stick with. But a funny thing happened after I struggled through the first two weeks. It got easier. Not just the workouts but the nutrition as well. I was no longer sore after (or during) the workouts and I was actually hungry and looking forward to eating my meals and snacks and actually needed that many calories. And I was losing weight and could already see some definition in my shoulders, arms and legs. More importantly I had a ton of energy. I was always one who seemed to have a "crash" around 2 or 3pm and this was no longer happening. It was incredible.

Now after I have completed the full 90 days and, this blog as my witness, I followed the program as close to the letter as possible I can honestly say that P90X is one of the best experiences I have ever had. It did everything it promised and more. The nutrition to me is no longer a diet, but rather just the way I now eat. At the age of 33 I am in the best shape of my life and my energy level rivals that of teenage Jeff.

The thing about P90X is that you have to believe in it and buy into the program completely. Drink the Kool-Aid, if you will. People who are much smarter than you and me developed this program so listen to what they say and follow the nutrition and fitness guide. Do not skip days. Do not deviate from the nutrition plan. Do not deviate from the workout schedule. Do Bring It every single day. I have seen many other blogs start and not finish and make excuses like travel or work or whatever as to why they quit. During my 90 days I went through Hurricane IKE and was without power for 10 days, had multiple days of overnight travel for work, and strained a couple of muscles and still was able to follow the program and complete the 90 days. If you really want to see results you will make it work. Beach Bodies slogan is: Decide. Commit. Succeed. If you take on P90X with this type of attitude you will be successful.

So my review of P90X is that it is as awesome as you want it to be. Follow it to the letter and your results will show. Half ass it and that will show also.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff