What to Do After P90X

One of the most common questions from P90X graduates is, “What’s next?” They want to continue growing, but at the same time they want variety. Even Tony Horton has Variety as one of his 11 rules of fitness. So this blog has the alternatives and things to consider when making the critical decision.

First I have to say that I am happy there is a decision to be made. Unfortunately, way too many people don’t even complete P90X. But you did, so I congratulate you. I then have to ask you 1) What did you like most about P90X? and 2) What are your goals for the next 90 days or so?

Generally, I would have to say that there are 4 common alternatives: 1) Do another round of P90X, 2) P90X+, 3) Insanity, or 4) P90X One on One. I will be writing separate reviews and descriptions for each of the programs, but in the mean time, I am going to write a general overview, so you know what to consider. Before I go on, I should say that there will be P90X:MC2 coming out in late 2011. But until then, these are our options.

The Alternatives

Let me first give a 30,000 view of the alternatives. Clearly, you know what P90X is like, and you know what to expect. If you like P90X, it might very well pay to stick with it. I don’t really need to say too much about that.

P90X+

P90X+ is very much like Core Synergistics XXX. There are 5 workouts in the set and it uses most of the workouts from the base P90X set as well. Of the 5 workouts, there are 2 strength workouts that take up 3 of the days, Interval X+ which is somewhat of a Plyo X replacement, Abs/Core+ that replaces ARX, and Kenpo Cardio+ that replaces Kenpo X.

As mentioned there will be a more detailed review later, but essentially P90X+ is much more about muscle endurance than strength. The workouts move quicker and get you sweating more. The exercises are much more like Core Synergistics, where you are doing multiple moves in the same exercise for a time period. For example, there is one exercise where you do one pull up followed immediately one push up for two minutes. There are very few max rep sets.

The benefits are that it gets you sweating and the workouts are only 40-45 minutes each. They do provide variety. The downside is that you will potentially lose some size and strength. However if you like Core Synergistics, you might really like P90X+.

Insanity

Insanity in many ways makes P90X look easy. I describe Insanity as Plyo XXX 6 days a week. It is much more intense, as you are going all out from one exercise to another. It will definitely improve your endurance and leg strength much more than P90X ever could.

The workouts are shorter than P90X, ranging from about 30-41 minutes in Month 1 and 47-59 minutes in Month 2. You add an ab workout 1-2 days a week. The program is also only 63 days long, so there is less of a commitment.

The downside is that Insanity has relatively little upper body work. There are some Core Synergistics type pushups, but they are timed and not max rep. Additionally, it doesn’t help your flexibility as much as P90X doe. It can also be very taxing on your legs.

Here's a video of Insanity for those people who are not familiar with it. It is actually much harder than they make it out to look. The sweat is very real.

P90X One on One

P90X One on One are individual workouts that are released at a rate of one a month. As of this writing, there are 26 available. These are essentially videos of Tony Horton working out in his private gym. While that might not sound attractive, it does allow for versatility. One on One isn’t intended as a program with a specific schedule. You basically use the individual workouts as you choose to, ideally to add variety to the basic P90X set. For example, Fountain of Youth is essentially a 45 minute version of Yoga X. 30-15 is an alternative to Chest and Back. Plyo Legs can replace Plyo X. There is one called ARX2. The Volume 3 workouts are being used as the test kitchen for P90X2.

Here is a video of Tony describing the new One on One volume and how it relates to P90X2.

What Should You Choose

So if you want to know what to choose, it again comes down to what are your goals and what do you like. I have to admit that I strongly recommend that people do Insanity, at some point in time, as it provides incredible improvements for your legs. There literally is no comparison for that. You can potentially do a hybrid, where you combine P90X and Insanity to try to get the best of both worlds. However if you don’t like Plyo X, don’t bother with Insanity.

With regard to P90X+, if your primary concern is variety and you want to change things up, and you like Core Synergistics, this is potentially the program for you. However, you will maintain, as opposed to improve, in all areas, except weight loss and endurance.

One on Ones are definitely a way to mix things up. The workouts are very similar in nature to P90X workouts. However, you have to pick and choose individual DVDs, or just get all of them. With 26+ possibilities, there are clearly many options. However there are probably only a few you will use on a regular basis.

What Matters Most

In the end though, what matters most is that you do something that will.  It is great if it meets your goals and likes, but doing any exercise is always better than doing no exercise. You can very quickly lose your strength gains, while gaining back any weight, if you do nothing. P90X is great in that it keeps you coming back for 90 days. Ideally, you should keep coming back for a lifetime, no matter what program it is.

What is P90X?

The textbook answer to what is P90X is that it is a DVD based home fitness program featuring Tony Horton. That is like describing Michael Jordan simply as a basketball player. P90X is actually the most popular home fitness program every put together, with well more than 1,000,000 copies sold.

P90X is produced and distributed by Beachbody, which is the leading producer and distributor of home fitness programs, as well as nutritional supplements. As with all Beachbody programs, P90X has both fitness and nutritional components. While most people know P90X for the 12 DVDs that come with the program, a significant portion of the results come from eating properly.

For a detailed description of the different exercise DVDs, you can follow this link. Fundamentally though, there are 5 strength workouts, 3 aerobic workouts, 2 core workouts and a yoga and a stretch workout. The P90X schedule uses the Muscle Confusion philosophy, which essentially implies that the workouts do not repeat on a frequent basis, so your muscles do not get used to the workouts. The schedule has you do strength workouts every other day, three days a week. There is then yoga and 2 cardio workouts on the alternate days. There is also on optional stretching workout for your rest day.

The workout schedule is divided into three different phases of 4 or 5 weeks each.

One thing that is important to note is that P90X derives it’s name from Power 90 Extreme. Power 90 is an extremely popular program from Tony Horton, and a follow up program was a natural. Extreme means that P90X workouts can be extremely tough, and the workouts generally range from about an hour to an hour and a half a day. If you can take the commitment, it will provide results.

The nutritional program is also divided into three phases. The program starts out with a low fat/low carb approach and increases carbs and decreases protein in the subsequent phases. While more details will be covered in later entries, the surprising part of the nutrition plan is that it actually has people eat many more calories than they think they need. The high protein means that there is a lot of bulk to the food. Also, given that you are doing hard workouts for more than an hour a day, you are potentially burning an extra 1,000 calories a day.

In the end, what really makes P90X is Tony Horton. If you don’t like Tony, you won’t like P90X. If you like his corny jokes and overall energy, you will stick with P90X. There are plenty of workouts out there, but what made P90X so popular are the results of hundreds of thousands of people who spread the word. The reason they had the results is that they stuck with the program, and the only reason they stick with this program, above all others, is Tony Horton.

If you want to purchase P90X, you can follow this link.

Introduction

I started this blog, because I noticed that 99% of the questions to the P90X Facebook Groups and Pages have all been asked before.  P90X has been out for about 5-6 years now, and there are few if any questions that have not been asked about the program by multiple people.  Frankly, most of the questions have been asked hundreds of thousands of times.  That being said, what has not changed is the formal guidance from Beachbody, which produces and distributes P90X.

For that reason, I thought it would be helpful to write a book that supplements what Beachbody formally distributes.  I contacted Beachbody, which while enthusiastic about the project, doesn't currently have the time to support it.  There are also issues that we need to address as to how to fairly treat me as the author, while I am also an Independent Beachbody Coach.

In the mean time, I created an outline for the book, and I thought I would start to write the book anyway and post it as a blog.  This way I can make the information available to the people, and frankly it demonstrates my ability as a Beachbody Coach to others.  While being a Beachbody Coach implies that you are a sales affiliate, and doesn't necessarily imply additional competence in fitness or the programs, I pride myself on my fitness and nutritional knowledge and background, as well as my familiarity with the programs.  Besides of P90X, I have completed Insanity, P90X+, Turbo Jam, 10 Minute Trainer, and tried a few other Beachbody programs.  I also have a black belt in American Kenpo Karate (the style that Kenpo X is based on) and competed in martial arts tournaments around the world.  Admittedly, this also helps me to establish credentials in this area.

If at anytime you have questions, please feel free to contact me for answers or to recommend it as another chapter in the book.