Does P90X Really Work?

Does P90X Really Work? © Tim Pannell Photography

A lot of my friends keep asking me…...does P90X really work? All I can tell them about is my experience.  I can’t guarantee that the P90X workout will work for anyone else given that not everyone else will use it the same way I have.

Not everyone will stick to the schedule.  I would say this though, anyone who truly sticks to the workouts will see results.  I would love to hear from anyone that actually did the workouts and after all was said and done believed that they got zero results.

I don’t believe that that’s even a possibility.  P90X workouts were designed for people that are already in pretty good shape.  I am not one of those somebodies.  In the past 19 years I’ve weighed as little as 185 and as much as 310 lbs.

I’m currently at 268 and have been plateaued there for a few weeks.  I know that some of you might be saying that P90X says it’s designed specifically to avoid “plateauing”.  So you say………….there’s proof that it doesn’t work!

Before you go thinking that it’s P90X that doesn’t work, let me assure you that in this case the “plateauing” was caused by none other than me not working.

We took a family vacation for a week and I lost most if not all of my momentum that week.  I wrote a post earlier about how easy it is to do P90X if you travel.  I should have clarified that post by saying “if you travel by yourself on business trips.”

We were visiting family and I did a lousy job of keeping up with it.  I only did 1 workout that week if I remember correctly and went golfing twice.

I love to golf, but come on, nobody ever got ripped from golfing.  Tiger has a great physique, but we all know that he didn’t get it by golfing.  He trains like a lunatic in the gym.

I have no one to blame but myself for that week, but it definitely took a toll on my momentum.  Thankfully, I got back into the swing of things once we got home.

The other struggle I had that week was what I was eating.  I took in a lot more fatty foods than I had been eating at home and I could really feel the difference.  I was pretty tired and lethargic for most of the week.

The big difference for me at this stage of having done the P90X routines for the last 3 months is that I’ve learned not to beat myself up for the days that I’m less than stellar.  The past is the past, tomorrow is tomorrow.  the only thing I can control, is what I do with my life today.

For many of you that might not sound like a big deal, but let me assure you it is.  In the past I would beat myself up for any missteps, and since my past is loaded with plenty of missteps you can imagine how negative my “self talk” became.

I still have 58 pounds to lose.  The cool thing for me is that I KNOW that I will lose it. The other cool thing for me is that I don’t have to get down to 210 lbs. to enjoy the benefits of P90X training.

I’m already enjoying them even though I’m still overweight.  I am pain free in my joints, especially my knees.  That’s HUGE!!!

I have gained muscle, especially in my arms.  I am noticeably stronger.  My resting heart rate is lower than when I started the program.  How many 268 lb. guys do you know with a resting heart rate of 58 beats a minute?  Not bad, right?

The biggest eye opener for me of how much better shape I’m in was this:

I hadn’t played racquetball in over 3 months because my partner hurt his knee.  Usually after that long of a layoff the first couple of days back on the court are excruciating.

After a couple of long drawn out points, I would be sucking wind so badly I couldn’t breath.  Mike and I played again a few weeks back and I never once was out of breath.

Now some of you might be picturing a couple of old bald fat guys swinging their racquets like Peter Pan.  It’s just 1 bald fat guy….me.  You may have seen guys dogging it on the court, hitting the ball underhanded as they jog to and fro like a couple of “english gentlemen” in  some kind of sick mama’s boy badminton experiment.
That’s not us!  We play hard.  Mike and I both hit the ball over 160 miles an hour and even though I’m big, I can move pretty quickly.  Mike has close to a 48 inch vertical leap and is faster than anyone else I’ve ever played.  He played collegiate volleyball, so diving on the floor to keep balls in play is pretty common stuff for him.

I have to hit absolutely perfect shots to beat him, he gets to everything….it’s infuriating!  No one should be allowed to be that fast.

In any case, there was an obvious difference in my fitness level when we hit the court for the first time in 3 months.  I’m impressed at how much the P90X workouts improved my overall health and  fitness levels over that time period.

I did not do this program like some kind of “uber-robot”.  In the past 3 months I have skipped days, I have done 1/2 the workout on some days.  Some days I’ve done 2 workouts.  I have not been as consistent as I intended to be, and my diet hasn’t always been spectacular, but I’ve experienced plenty of great results from P90X.

P90X really does work!