Nearly 40 and 40 pounds to lose - A Review of P90X Phase I

I have been an undergraduate student for over 20 years now. In that time my weight has been up and down a few times and with it my overall health. The last time I lost serious weight was shortly after starting here at UW. At that time I was just past 30 and in the worst shape of my life. I started slowly, with an exercise bike and riding 10 minutes a day; in under a year I was up to riding it 2 hours every day. Then I did Body for Life based on the book by Bill Philips. I went from 22.9% body fat to 11.9% in twelve weeks. Now it is 9 years later and I am in worse shape than ever before. I gained some weight after getting married and stopped working out as much, and then 4 years ago I tore my rotator cuff and spent 3 years off work, had a year of physiotherapy, surgery, and then another year of physiotherapy.
Over the last number of years I have read many books on health and fitness and though I learned a lot from them, I never seemed able to put anything into practice consistently. I tried doing Body for Life again. I tried some of the programs from Sylvester Stallone's Sly Moves. But nothing I tried seemed to last. Then a few months ago I was at the park with my kids. I saw some fathers struggling to keep up with their children, and while I was not there yet, I could see it would not be long before I would be in that shape. I am going to be 40 in less than 6 months and realized I needed to make drastic changes in my life. A friend at work has a fitness program he had bought and was not using - P90X from beachbody.com. It was one of those infomercial products, but it seemed intriguing.

P90X works on the theory of muscle confusion; it has 12 different workout videos and over the period of three phases you will use all of them but one. There are three phases to the program. For Phase 1 and Phase 2, the first 3 weeks you do the same exercises then have a recover week where exercises switch up. The 4th phase you alternate the workouts from phase 1 and 2 twice, then a recover week, taking you to 90 days. The workout routines are:

1. Chest and Back
2. Plyometrics
3. Shoulders & Arms
4. X
5. Legs and Back
6. Kempo X
7. X Stretch
8. Core Synergistics
9. Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
10. Back & Biceps
11. Ab Ripper X
12. Cardio X (used as a less intense alternative for Plyometrics.)
The program can be done in three ways - classic, lean or doubles. Classic is traditional work outs, lean is done to tone up more and doubles is for those already really fit wanting to push it to the limit. The host of the series is fitness guru Tony Horton, who has been bringing fitness programs to us for over 20 years. He is fun, quirky and intense. The videos are fun enough that you want to keep working out, and intense enough that you can start to see results very quickly. The second part of the program is nutrition. There are two ways to do the food - calculate what you need and then do a meal plan from their food lists and recopies or do a portion plan and do your own meals. I chose the portion plan and the classic P909X schedule.

I pitched this three part series while I was in my first week of the program. In part I wanted the extra motivation to stick to it, in part writing about the program and results could help other students think about becoming healthier and living more balanced lives while in school and keeping that balance as they graduate and move on to the next phase of their life. There is a lot of support on the beachbody.com website. You can track your workouts, plan your food, use member forums, and chat rooms to communicate with others and get tips and help throughout your fitness journey.
My results in Phase 1 were well beyond my expectations - see chart for complete details. But in summary I have gone from 34.7% body fat to 21.4 in 28 days. My resting heart rate has dropped by 10 beats per minute. I have reached 7 of 13 goals for the fitness test and 7 of 14 for measurements. Phase 2 will end on September 21st. The next piece in this series will run the week after that.

Over all I cannot believe my results so far. The workouts are a big commitment from between 50 minutes to 90 minutes a day, 6 days a week with an optional stretching routine on the 7th day. The follow-up pieces will run on September 25th and October 30th. Check back to see what transformation can take place with P90X. There are dozens of 12 week programs out there; this is just the one that came my way when I was looking to make changes, and based on the results from Phase 1, I am really glad it did. I feel better than I have in years, I have more energy, my sleep is more restful, and overall I am much healthier in just the first 28 days.
(First Published in Imprint 2009-09-04 the first in a three part series.)

(Graphic courtesy Peter N. Trinh.)
P90X Articles in order Phase I, Phase II, Gear, Phase III, Fitness Options.
(Disclaimer: I am asked frequently if I am a Beachbody Coach, no I am not, I am just some one who has used their products, P90X, 1on1 with Tony Horton and more and liked them and achieved good results. I am not paid by Beachbody or any of their affiliates. You can see my full disclaimer here.)

Other Fitness Articles:Fall 2011 Programs
Workout program March 2012
My Gear February 2012
Fitness My Retrospective

TRX Articles:TRX an Introduction
TRX Force
TRX Force Tactical
TRX Essential Flexibility

My P90X Series:Phase I, Phase II, Gear, Phase III, Fitness Options, P90X at 120 Days Out
Health & Fitness Book Reviews:The Primal Blueprint 21 Day Total Body Transformation - Mark Sisson
The Ten Commandments Of Lifting Weights - Jared Zimmerer
Toadally Primal Smoothies - Todd Dosenberry
Caveman Resurection - Jeff Pickett
40 Days to Optimal Health - Dr. Scott Morris
Eat Stop Eat - Brad Pilon
The Primal Blueprint - Mark Sisson
The New Rules of Lifting - Lou Schuler and Alwyn CosgroveBench Press by: Sven Lindqvist
Sly Moves by: Sylvester Stallone
Fit for Eternal Life: A Christian Approach to Working Out, Eating Right, and Building the Virtues of Fitness in Your Soul by: Dr. Kevin Vost
Body for Life 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strenght by: Bill Phillips Lose Fat Not Faith by Jeremy R. Likeness
Living The Good Life: Your Guide to Health and Success by: David Patchell-Evans
Dump your Trainer by: Ashley Marriott and Marc L. Paulsen