P90X + PLUS Review

So back in December I became a graduate of P90X. I felt and looked great and the only question I had was, "What's Next?"

According to Tony Horton and his BeachBodies cronies the P90X + is what was next. So, I did some low impact cardio exercising for about a week and jumped into the PLUS

Now take this review for what it is and that would be an incomplete. The reasoning is that I re-injured my left shoulder two weeks into the PLUS and unfortunately had to stop out of fear of really harming myself. Now that my shoulder appears healthy I am going to start again but not with PLUS, I am going with the good old P90x Classic.

After going through the PLUS exercises twice I came to the realization that I did not like them as much as the P90X routines. To me they felt a little forced and at times awkward. I liked the fact that they were only 40-45 minutes and that the downtime between exercises was reduced making the video even more fast paced than the original. But, the flow of the PLUS felt forced and the exercises seemed like Tony was just making stuff up to show how EXTREME he was. Sometimes doing a regular old push-up or chin-up in not a bad thing? I also realized that Beachbodies had two workout schedules floating around for PLUS which makes me believe that others felt the same awkwardness that I did about the PLUS. Having a background in Marketing my experience would lead me to assume BeachBodies released this product to early or before it was adequately tested and had to make an adjustment. Unfortunately most products do not recover from these types of adjustments.

Now does this mean I hate the PLUS? No, I actually really like Interval X, Kenpo Plus and Total Body Plus. I'd be happy if I never see Upper Plus or Abs/Core Plus again. What this means is that I think some of the PLUS routines would be nice to mix in with the original P90X but as a stand alone product P90X PLUS would get a failing grade from me but since I didn't do the full 90 days it will get an: Incomplete.

As always, this is just my opinion and it is a limited opinion based on only two weeks so take it for what it is.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Feeling Pretty Good ... Time to Start a new Round of the X

Hey y'all!

Well, I have been taking the cortisone pills and I am feeling wonderful!

My shoulder pain is pretty much gone. So is every other little ache I have ever had in my body! This stuff rocks! I can see why people become addicted to pain killers -- they are great. So everything bad I ever said about Brett Favre and Rush Limbaugh and their pain pill addictions I take back.

Now that I am feeling great I am going to do another round of P90X Classic. I wasn't really digging the PLUS all that much so back to the original it will be. I am excited to start because last time I was in pretty awful shape conditioning wise. This time I am starting at 165 lbs and about 17% body fat. I already found out how P90X works for fat out of shape guy. This time we will see how it works for someone who is in decent shape. AND I am using dumbells instead of the bands this time. Should be fun.

Also, fellow P90X blogger Joc over at Bring It! is going to start the new BeachBodies workout called ChaLean Extreme. It looks pretty intense and really focuses on weight lifting and building muscle through lifting as opposed to a lifting/cardio mix. So, I figured since Joc already ordered it we can all follow her progress and she can be our fitness guinea pig! Thanks Joc!

I will be done with my Cortisone cycle on Saturday. I will then begin a new creatine cycle and start on Monday the 19th --- I cannot wait!

So why am I going back to P90X Classic instead of P90X PLUS? I'll save that one for tomorrow's post. I have to go watch Jack Bauer waste some terrorists on the Tivo! Also some exciting changes are going to happen to the blog, once I get all the details I will post the info here ...stay tuned!

As always thanks for reading and I'd also like to apologize for my sporadic postings while I was dealing with this injury. But I am back now and am excited to Bring It again!

Jeff

What the Doctor said ....

So, I went and saw my doctor about my shoulder. He doesn't think that the injury is anything more than a strain and I am praying he is right! He gave me some Cortisone tablets to help with the pain and inflammation. He wants me to take them for 7-10 days and see how the shoulder responds. If the pain goes away then I am good, if the pain doesn't significantly reduce then I am supposed to go see a specialists because if could be a rotator cuff. So, to sum it up: The doctor thinks it should be fine but he isn't sure. Lovely.

The good news is that the last time I was at the Doctors in October of 2007 my weight was 185lbs and yesterday it was 165lbs. A 20lb loss baby! And my blood pressure was high during that October appointment and yesterday it was a quite normal 128/74. I was pretty happy with that. Also, when I took my shirt off the Doctor asked me if I was doing "serious body building"... I thought that was a nice compliment, so Thank You P90X.

Okay, so my plan is to take this cortisone for the next week and if it goes well I'd like to start another round of p90x next Monday. My shoulder is not hurting at all as I type this so maybe the cortisone is already working? I also seem to have a much better range of motion and I actually woke up this morning and was sleeping on the shoulder - which I was unable to do the last couple of weeks - all good signs.

I'll keep everyone updated and thanks to those who have send emails wishing me well!

Jeff

Doctor on Thursday

Thanks to everyone who has sent emails wishing me well!

First off, I have an appointment with my Doctor on Thursday to look at my ailing shoulder. It seems to be doing better. I can raise my arm up in the air again and the pain has subsided tremendously. I am hopeful that I can jump back into the program after the Thursday meeting and I will keep you all posted.

I am also considering moving my blog to a health and fitness site. They have contacted me and want me to become a regular writer on their site. I would keep the same format and everything would look pretty similar except the site would be ..com, instead of .blogspot.com. They would also like me to try out some different exercise programs. I've decided to hold off any any decision until I know how the shoulder injury turns out!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Just Checking In ....

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years!

I wanted to drop a quick post about how everything is going with the shoulder injury. Unfortunately my Doctor is closed until Monday so I was unable to make an appointment. So, I basically took the last 6-days off and did nothing but rest. I still have been maintaining the healthy eating. I have dropped my calories down to about 2000 a day and am only have one to two portions of carbs. I reduced the calories because I felt I didn't need as many since I was no longer doing P90X PLUS.

The good news is that my shoulder feels somewhat better. I can at least now raise my left arm in the air without excruciating pain so I have that going for me! I have been in a bad mood and a little on edge since the injury so it is affecting me. Starting Monday I am going to hit the treadmill and stationary bike at least 4 times a week.

I was thinking about changing the content of the blog around to focus on maintaining health and fitness while dealing with an injury. Especially if the Doctor says that it is long term or surgery is needed. I am planning on begging him for a cortisone shot and if he complies then I'll jump back into a new round of P90X if not I'll probably change the format a bit.

Keep on Bringing It and thanks for reading!

Jeff