P90X XXXposed!
P90X. Heard of it? Tried it? Know someone who has? The P90X Program has everyone talking… and everybody doing?
The majority of people you speak to have tried it, or know someone who has, but finding someone who completed the program is a totally different story. For this article I asked a few trainers to give me their thoughts on the program. I’ve gathered some other information from articles about certain principles used to develop the P90X program and I’ve done my own research of the product (yes, I got the DVD’S!).
My goal with this article is to give you information from the professional world of fitness training. This program comes with a lot of red flags. I want to make sure that all my clients, their friends and family, and all the people who come upon this article who I haven’t met or worked with, have as much professional information about this product as possible before they begin using it.
For those of you who are not familiar with the program, it is 90 days straight of intense work outs to whip your body into the shape of a gladiator. The program also contains a 3 phase nutrition plan and has a thorough supplement plan as well. The P90X program claims that you will do these 90 days once and then you won’t have to work out very much in order to maintain your rock hard body.
From the get go I have a few problems with this program. In my practice as a fitness consultant and personal trainer, I have found that people who achieve results and who maintain them are the people who have health goals, not body image goals. The body image goals can certainly be a part of the overall goals, but my clients who want to get in shape so they can have more energy to spend with their children, feel confident in themselves, or want to keep healthy in order to have a happier and longer life, are the clients who lose weight and keep it off. Clients who come in just wanting a six pack, often find the labour involved with getting it is not worth it. Kri Chay, a trainer from Kansas City has seen many of his clients and friends try this program. On the issue of proper goal setting, Kri says,
This DVD set lacks accountability. The girls tried to keep each other accountable but when something came up or they were tired, they stopped working out. Why did this happen?? I’ll tell you why. It wasn’t that they couldn’t physically do it, but mentally they didn’t want it bad enough. Improper set-up. Short term goals weren’t set, long term goals weren’t set, and other factors.
My second immediate problem with this program is that it comes with a nutrition plan.Great in theory, however, this plan is in 3 phases and they are extremely specific to a weight loss and muscle building program. This nutrition program does not teach healthy eating habits for life, it simply works for 90 days and then you are back on your own. It only teaches you how to eat for 90 days so that at the end you look like Arnold. And my last immediate problem… the supplements. If it doesn’t come from nature you don’t need it! Our bodies do not need chemicals or even natural additives, what we need are the nutrients from a healthy diet… and that’s ALL. The only time I recommend taking a supplement is when your body is not naturally producing the necessary amounts of something. Supplements should never be used to replace a healthy diet.
The P90X program was developed in 2003-2004. Tony Horton is the trainer on the DVD’s and they are produced by Beachbody’s. Tony Horton and Beachbody’s had previously produced a follow along video called ‘Power 90′ which is an in-home boot camp workout. P90X was developed after many followers of ‘Power 90′ were asking Horton and Beachbody’s for a more advanced workout video. So, P90X was originally designed for people who were already in shape. This is not a program for beginners; in fact, this is a program that is tough even for people who are experienced and in the best shape of their lives. It is a downright HARD program!
Now on to the work outs. The program is based on the principle of doing a lot, all the time and the muscle confusion principle.
When you work out all the time without proper recovery time, you will run into some serious issues with your body. When we do physical exercise we create micro tears in our muscles. When we give our muscles time to rest these tears repair themselves. Now here is the trick; they don’t just repair to their original strength, they repair stronger so that next time you do that exercise or movement your muscles are ready for you! Our bodies are incredibly smart and know what’s coming. So, if you exercise every single day for 90 days, your muscles never have that chance to recover. Therefore, you are constantly making them weaker rather than stronger.
Now, if your exercise is completely different from one day to the next, that can help give your muscles a bit of a rest to recover. With the P90X you do different workouts, however, you still have ZERO recovery time between each work out which will overload your muscles, not to mention your immune system…
When we overdo things (work, no sleep, poor diet, increased stress load, too much exercise, etc.) our body starts to compensate. It will do whatever it possibly can to help keep you functioning at “normal” pace. This means that something has to give! We can only do so much!! So, we start to lose the ability to fight off things like a simple cold or a headache, our digestion suffers, our joint stability starts to go and we are at more risk for injuries. And, if you injure yourself while doing 90 days straight of exercise, that injury won’t be healing very fast.
Speaking of injuries, this program is clearly intense and does everything from Plyometrics to Yoga. The DVD’s show you how to do the exercises, but they can’t correct you. Michael Labuanan, a trainer from Maui, says, “I have seen and heard about many people getting hurt while using this program for one reason or another. One being that the individual is using improper form, and he or she doesn’t know it. How can a video teach you correct form without a hands on approach, yes, they can show it to you and try to explain the safety ques, but no one is there to correct you if you are doing it wrong.”
The techniques used in this program are advanced as they were designed to provide experienced people with a more advanced workout. The workout types are taken from a variety of principles and techniques and they are rotated throughout the 90 days. The issue then becomes, not only are you potentially doing yoga incorrectly and at risk for injuries, but also, abs workouts, arm workout, cardio, plyometrics and so on.
Let’s talk about muscle confusion. This theory states that it is possible to ‘confuse’ your muscles and that by constantly ’shocking’ them by always changing your routine your muscles will get accustomed to the exercise and will stop growing. This is a theory that is very controversial at the moment. Part of the controversy is around the interpretation of the term.
Mentally speaking, it is very beneficial for people to have a program that is varied and changes frequently. This type of program will keep the mind engaged and challenged which will make a person return to their program over and over again. Repeating the same exercises everyday for years will still produce results but it also produces a very bored person, one who is not likely to continue with their boring program. So the question is in the interpretation. Muscle confusion in the case of P90X is being interpreted as shocking the muscles. This principle is different from having a varied exercise program that keeps the mind engaged.
Confused? That’s the point! Let me describe a typical week in one of my boot camps. After our warm up we work through a circuit of 5 exercises. Each day of camp I have an abs, arms, legs, cardio, with one body area getting two exercises. The body and brain needs time with an exercise before it fully understands how to do it properly and get the full benefits of it. We rotate through the circuit 4 times so that the body has time to rest and use a different muscle group but also repetition to get the best results. Of course we always finish with a stretch and cool down.
The idea behind my boot camp is that I will, for example, do triceps push-ups on Monday and triceps dips on Wednesday. A FULL DAY of rest in between. So, although my campers do a different exercise on Monday as they do on Wednesday they are still working the same muscle group. The ‘confusion’ happens in the brain, not in the muscles.
So those are a few of the red flags with this program. For some people the P90X system could be exactly what they need, but I need to put out these warnings as my job is to promote healthy bodies. To read the full responses from Michael Labuanan and Kri Chay check out my blog at http://flygirlfitnessblog.com/. And finally I will say, PLEASE when deciding on an exercise regime, consult an expert, ask for advice, listen to what your body is telling you and don’t do something because it is the “new, exciting fad”. Make educated decisions before making your body do something. And, if you can’t afford to work with a personal trainer or take regular classes, I advise taking 1 or 2 classes of the style of exercise that you plan on doing with a video at home to get some basic techniques, working one time with a trainer to set up a personalized routine, or joining a reputable boot camp to get supervised workouts at half the price of one on one training. You only get one body, keep it safe!
