[animlmthr]

Originally Posted by Emevas

Push-ups to replace pull-ups?

I didn't major in exercise science or anything, but...

I'm just saying the workout can be modified, like any other one out there.
I don't follow the workouts verbatim anymore.

and yes, I agree, push-ups =/= pull ups

[Emevas]

Yeah, it can be modified, I'd just do some sort of pull. Maybe a row or something.

[animlmthr]

Originally Posted by Emevas

Yeah, it can be modified, I'd just do some sort of pull. Maybe a row or something.

yeah, you're right.

I'll have to come up with an alternative; sometimes I just like doing push-ups between sets.

[theotherserge]

Originally Posted by Emevas

Push-ups to replace pull-ups?

I didn't major in exercise science or anything, but...

You haven't heard? Push-ups are the "new black"...

I think we'll have a good testimonial about wether or not P90x is an effective
strength&conditioning program. Two of my guys went on a 10-day training intensive in the Ukraine.

It's been 3-5 miles run in the am, weights, Sambo, eat&rest, soccer, weights, Sambo, eat&rest, run some more. Etc. Oh yeah, a shitload of rope-climbing.

I'll get my guy who was training in P90 to write up something. The interesting contrast will be dude#2 who's conditioning has been our Sambo classes, Muay Thai and some running.

[Valiss]

Originally Posted by animlmthr

ummm, I have some firsthand experience w/ P90X.

I got the system about a year and half ago and completed the classic series (albight modified due to MA classes). I was getting bored at the gym and needed some new exercises to work on. I also wanted to get off of heavy lifting and back to basics w/ body wieght resistance excercises. It was my experience that P90X gave me the desired variability that I was looking for.
Further, one of the great things about this program for me was it's adaptabilty. Meaning, working out at home was not a realistic option but P90X was very easy to bring to the gym. It's not hard to remember (or write down) the routines/workouts so you can do the workouts pretty much anywhere. Also the workouts themselves can be modified or switched around. For example, if I don't have access to a pull up bar or whatever, then I'll do push-ups of varying positions to supplement the workout. And so forth.
Tony Horton didn't re-invent the wheel at all with this one. It's basically is a cluster%^$& of workouts, including yoga, core work and yes, even the dreaded KENPO X! But the best workouts for me were plyo (it's unfortunate to hear that the nomenclature of 'plyometric' may be misrepresented by Horton. But in any case, the workout itself it definatly tough.) and the workouts that consisted of body weight excercises (push-ups, pull-ups, lunges, etc.) of variuos positions, where you alternated sets w/ sets of variations of dumbell curls/ lifts.
Anyway, I hoped that helped, if anyone cares. I say download it (I mean purchase it legally!!) if you're curiuos.
Good luck w/ the program, Valiss!

Thanks for the info. I'm actually starting week 3 of the program and so far it's a lot of fun. The hour workouts go by pretty quickly and since it's a different DVD each day it doesnt get boring. Like I said before, I cant get to the gym these days, so this is fitting my schedule and workout needs quite well.

There's definitely no 'tricks' - just hard work. A lot of push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, etc. However he does a lot of variations on those that I havent seen, which also keeps it interesting. Plus you chage up what you do pretty quickly (depending on the DVD) so you're not doing any given exercise till you're bored. And while the Kempo X dvd is just cardio kickboxing, it was actually pretty fun and I just did 'proper' punches and kicks (per my training). You could probably just use the DVDs you like and make you're own program, but I'm going to stick with thier schedule to get a feel for the overall program.

[Judobum]

Just noticed this thread and I'll chime in with my experience.

I picked it up because I was looking for something easy and no-brain to add to my routine, something that didn't take a lot of equipment or time. P90X has fit this bill quite well.

I'm not actively competing anymore so I'm quite comfortable with something that aims more for giving me a "beach body" rather than building strength or mass and that's the goal of this program. It's pretty intense though so I'm sure I've picked up a bit of strength gain along the way though definately less so than a lifting program I'd do for that goal.

I did it for a month religiously (the exercise program only, not the diet though I eat quite healthy anyway) and then got off-tracked due to vacation and then some stuff that came up. In that month I definately noticed results. Not so much weight loss, maybe a pound or two but I lost a good two inches off my waist and had noticeable improvement in my muscle definition in my arms, back and butt (according to my wife).

In terms of my prior fitness I'm a fit guy with a bit of a belly. I was already exercising pretty much every day during the week with 1-2 hours of judo, volleyball or squash depending on the night. I maintained this for the month and did the P90X during the day. I work shifts, weekends only and if I was on nights (12 hr) I just put it on hold and started where I left off the next week.

I like the resistance training days. Lots of push-ups and pull ups, you work hard and do tons of reps. It's a good caloric burn if nothing else and I was sore as hell the first week. The cardio is meh. Plyometrics day was okay and I liked the Yoga routine, even if it's a bit long at 90 minutes. The Kempo workout was not particularly appealling and I usually skipped it in lieu of doing some other cardio work.

Starting back now and this first week back is really hard again. The weather is nice now so I don't plan on doing their cardio, probably do the three days of resistance and the yoga on the weekend. I'm plenty active now that I can get out on my bike and running around with my kids during the day.

So if you're looking for something easy to do that'll burn some extra calories and help tone you up, this is a good workout in my opinion. It's not going to bulk you up or give you significant strength gains but that's not really the point of it. It'll make you fitter if you put the effort into it.

One caution would be that you do need to have a decent level of fitness before you start and a good pain tolerance. Most of the people I've started it with have all dropped off due to lack of ability to get the work in and been turned off by how hard it is.

[kwoww]

I'm starting P90-X with a bunch of dudes on the crew team. Three days in, I can tell you that if nothing else it'll hurt both during and after the workout.

I'm not really a fan of the shoulder/arms day or the Ab Ripper X, which together made me yearn to go press something really heavy over my head instead, but I'm gonna stick with it since I could use some more muscle endurance and cardio, which I can tell this definitely will help with. Besides, looking cut never hurt anybody.

Another thing that's annoying is setting up your resistance bands and having to feel out the resistance as you're working out, but I guess that's just a result of starting a new program and not having a full set of dumbbells.

[animlmthr]

Originally Posted by kwoww

I'm starting P90-X with a bunch of dudes on the crew team. Three days in, I can tell you that if nothing else it'll hurt both during and after the workout.

I'm not really a fan of the shoulder/arms day or the Ab Ripper X, which together made me yearn to go press something really heavy over my head instead, but I'm gonna stick with it since I could use some more muscle endurance and cardio, which I can tell this definitely will help with. Besides, looking cut never hurt anybody.

Another thing that's annoying is setting up your resistance bands and having to feel out the resistance as you're working out, but I guess that's just a result of starting a new program and not having a full set of dumbbells.

I had the same problem wrt figuring out what weight was adequate for what particular exercise (see shoulders/arms or that goddamn chest/shoulders/triceps). That's why I like the chest/back or legs/back routines the best, no brainer workouts.

[nbella]

I personally used p90x about 6 months ago for the whole 3 month program and i had good results, lost 2 inches around my waist, and gained 15 pounds of muscle. It really helped with strength and stamina. But its not mma specific, and since im training for amature mma fights i dropped alot of the stuff that didn't apply specificly to mma. But if your looking for something to get you in shape quick its pretty good (if your willing to go through the killer workouts and follow the strict diet).