Tips for Starting P90X

P90X is significantly more than just a workout, and people realize that. For that reason, it is natural to want to know how to prepare for the program. I do have to admit that if you want to be successful with the program, which for many people means losing weight and getting ripped, you do have to prepare to a certain extent. For example, if you start off without equipment, you cannot do the workouts well. If your refrigerator is filled with junk food, there’s a good chance that you will eat poorly. Either situation will sabotage your success.

As the old saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

So if you want to plan for success, there are three categories of tips you should consider; Support, Equipment, and Nutrition. If you get nothing else out of this article, I want to be very clear that of all of the categories, if you want to lose weight, Nutrition is the most important.

Setting Yourself Up For Success

Perhaps the best thing you can do to enable success is to get an account on teambeachbody.com. The reason is that it provides some incredibly valuable resources. It allows you to record your measurements. There is a Body Fat Calculator and a Caloric Needs Calculator under Eat Smart > Nutrition Tools. The Body Fat Calculator will be invaluable to you as you should gain muscle and lose fat as you do P90X, so the scale will only tell you part of the story. Again, you want to do this before you start P90X.

Additionally, you want to take and upload your pictures. While I realize that some people will hate their “Before” pictures, you will find that it will be a source of pride later on.

As important, you can use the pictures to enter the Beachbody Challenge, which will get you a free t-shirt when you complete P90X. You can find info on the Beachbody Challenge through this link.

Also to keep you moving, teambeachbody.com will schedule and track the entire P90X 90 days for you. That feature is found under Get Fit > SuperGym and then you “Add a new auto-schedule”. As an added bonus Beachbody gives away $500 per day to a random person using that function.

While you can always contact me with any questions, teambeachbody message boards can also provide some answers as well, although the accuracy of an answer may vary.

Choosing and Scheduling a P90X Version

Before you start P90X, you have to figure out which version of P90X you want to choose whether you want to do Classic, Lean or Doubles. I can go into details, but the most important issue for people to know is that P90X Lean will not get you leaner. While the book, which was written about 6 years ago, does say it is intended to help you get leaner, the P90X Certificaion training I underwent stated specifically that Lean is for people who are not yet ready to try the full program. In short, think of it as P90X Lean = P90X Lite.

Click on this sentence to read my full article on which version to choose.

Then as mentioned above, you can let teambeachbody.com schedule and track your workouts for you.

Equipment

To get the best results from P90X, you do need the right equipment. While having access to a full range of equipment would be best, you can get by with a minimal set of equipment as long as it is the right equipment.

Click this sentence for my article about what equipment you need for P90X.

Proper Nutrition

As I said/implied before, if your goal is to lose weight, and especially get ripped, that requires proper nutrition. The workouts will get you fitter, but to lose weight, you have to eat the right amount of calories. Too much and you gain weight. Too little and your body will think you are starving, and it will try to save itself by burning muscle. The ideal calorie range for losing weight is approximately 750-1000 calories below your Maintenance Level. You can get the calorie range you need from the Caloric Needs Calculator on teambeachbody.com.

The one statement you need to remember clearly is:

Abs are made in the kitchen.

No matter how hard you workout, you need to eat properly to lose weight. Properly means healthy foods with the right number of calories.

Just “eating clean” will not do it. Again, you need to eat the right number of calories…not too much or too little. So clean out your kitchen and plan your menu.

You do not have to follow the P90X Nutrition Guide, but you do have to follow some healthy nutrition plan at the right calorie level. It can be a vegan plan, Body for Life’s nutrition plan, Weight Watchers, etc, but again it should be something that you follow and plan in advance.

Whichever plan you follow, you should by the food in advance, so that you have the raw materials for meals ready to cook, and more important, you have healthy snacks available. It is the snacking that usually kills your diet.

Supplements

A lot of people want to add supplements to their diet. The assumption is that supplements will help you get better results. If you eat well, you don’t need supplements. That being said, if you are not eating perfectly, there are some supplements that can help.

If you think you need energy before your workouts, a pre-workout drink would help. The common one is Jack3d, but it contains creatine and DMAA. Creatine is not ideal for women, and DMAA has been linked to some deaths for people with blood pressure problems. Beachbody has it’s own pre-workout drink that doesn’t have those ingredients, but does taste reasonably good and gives you an energy boost. Click here to learn more about that.

Recovery drinks are also part of the P90X Nutrition Plan and are especially good after a hard workout. Click here for my article on recovery drinks and the purpose they serve.

Many people also look to protein bars and meal replacement drinks for when they are short of time. As far as protein bars go, there are a wide variety of options. Frankly, they are generally candy bars with protein and a multivitamin mixed in. The P90X Nutrition Bars were recently redesigned to be somewhat healthier than the average bar. You however can do your own price/taste comparisons.

As far as meal replacement drinks go, most of them tend to be chocolate milk with a multivitamin. Shakeology is significantly different as it contains as much protein as many protein drinks, digestive enzymes, probiotics, phytonutrients, and a wide variety of other components that promotes overall digestive health. Most important from my perspective is that it is intended to be used as a base, so you can mix it with a wide variety of different ingredients to create a myriad of different flavors. I can go on, but the video below better describes the product. Also while I know that Shakeology seems expensive compared to most of the meal replacement drinks available, that is not the case and the article you get by clicking here explains why.



There are other supplements that some people want to consider like Omega-3 fats, creatine, protein powder, vitamins, etc. Those are individual concerns, so please feel free to contact me directly with questions by e-mailing me at ira@irawinkler.com.

Support

While everyone goes into P90X with grand thoughts, there will be ups and downs. There will be days when you are surprised by the scale, in both good and bad ways. You will also have questions about the workouts and the nutrition plans. For that reason, please consider having me assigned as your Beachbody Coach. Besides of having completed P90X, P90X+, P90X2, and other Beachbody programs countless times, I am a P90X Certified trainer, and can either answer your questions, or find you the answers.

If you want me as your coach, you can click here to set up a free account. If you already have an account, please feel free to e-mail me at ira@irawinkler.com.

Conclusion

P90X is an outstanding program that will work, as long as you work. While pressing play daily is critical, so is basic preparation. That preparation especially includes proper nutrition. Most important, remember that even if you started out wrong, you can change at any time and increase your results. P90X really means that you are adapting to a lifestyle of eating right and exercising on a regular basis.

Announcements From The Beachbody Coach Leadership Conference

There were a large number of announcements from last week’s Leadership Conference, with a couple of them long awaited by P90X and Shakeology fans. The major announcements are as follows:

• P90X Certification and gym classes
  
• Tropical Shakeology will be vegan
  
• Les Mills BodyPUMP available on DVD
  
• Tai Chi DVD program
  
• Four by Four program from Brett Hoebel
  
• 21 Day Cleanse available soon
  

P90X Certification

People will soon be able to receive a P90X teaching certification. Specifically, they will take both an online and a 2 day in person course and then be able to hold P90X licensed classes. The implication is that trainers will be able to teach such courses at gyms. The initial certification courses will be limited to Beachbody Coaches, so any personal trainers or gym owners who want to offer P90X courses can contact me to learn how they can get in on the courses by clicking here.

Tropical Shakeology will be vegan

Tropical Shakeology was announced last June and was undergoing shelf life testing. Beachbody was also working to create a vegan flavor. Beachbody was then able to combine both issues and reformulated the Tropical flavor to be vegan, which essentially means that they replaced the whey protein. It should be available early in 2012.

Les Mills BodyPUMP available on DVD

Many people know of Les Mills BodyPUMP program, which is taught in health clubs around the world. It is a high energy class that works the full body. It uses light barbells so you do lots of reps throughout the workout. It is a great alternative to people looking for variety from P90X. The Beachbody program will include a nutrition program, which the standard BodyPUMP class doesn’t typically include. It will tentatively be available in December. Also, if you are a BodyPUMP instructor and want to make extra income while helping your students more, please contact me and I will help set you up to sell the DVD program.

Pending Tai Chi program

While many people are not familiar with Tai Chi, for those who are, they will be very happy to know that Beachbody will soon be releasing a Tai Chi program. It will be available early 2012.

New Brett Hoebel programs

Brett Hoebel, the RevAbs and Biggest Loser trainer, will be creating two new programs. The first is Four by Four, which is a series of 16 minute workouts. He will also be creating an advanced RevAbs program. If you want to stay up to date on these and other programs, please register for a free account by clicking here.

I’m Here to Help

As you can see, Beachbody is constantly taking the fitness and nutrition industry to the next level. They are not resting on their laurels and continue to develop new programs. Please feel free to contact me at any time by e-mailing ira@xcompanionguide.com and/or register for a free account to have me assigned as your coach by clicking here.

Should I Do P90X Classic, Lean or Doubles?

The name, P90X Lean, makes people clearly assume that if they want to get leaner using P90X, they should do the Lean version. I actually had the same assumption when I decided to do P90X+Lean version. I soon learned I was wrong, and that P90X Lean was actually better named P90X Lite.


I believe that people think there is a much bigger difference between the programs than people think there are. The reality is that there are only a few differences between Lean, Classic and Doubles. However, there is a mystique surrounding the programs.

Before I go on, I want to clearly say that P90X Lean is not easy. It is just easier than P90X Classic version. You can definitely achieve awesome results with P90X Lean. All things being equal though, it is not as intense as P90X Classic.

What is P90X Classic?

P90X Classic is the base program. It is P90X as it was designed. At a very high level, you alternate days of strength and cardio work. I can go on, but really I recommend that you should start with Classic, unless the next paragraph applies to you. Even if you intend to do Doubles, Doubles actually starts with a month of Classic, so it is essentially the same early on.

Why Use Lean?

P90X Lean is a great program for people who are uncomfortable starting with the full version of P90X. Also, it does take less time over the week to complete P90X Lean than P90X Classic. The workouts you do are shorter 2 times per week. That is a big benefit for many people.

The Differences Between Classic and Lean

The major difference between P90X Lean and P90X Classic is that 1) you replace the Plyo X workout with Cardio X and 2) you replace one (1) strength and one ab workout a week with Core Synergistics.

Plyo X is a 58 minute workout that is rather intense. Cardio X is a 45 minute workout that actually starts out pretty slow. Depending on your weight, it is very possible that you can burn an extra 300+ calories with Plyo X than with Cardio X. Also your legs are more likely to develop better muscles with Plyo X, so you burn more calories throughout the day because of the extra recovery you need.

Core Synergistics is definitely an awesome workout and gets you sweating, but it is still not a strength workout. You will not get the extra burn that you get for recovery throughout the day. Additionally, since you are also leaving out Ab Ripper X that day, you miss an extra 16 minutes of a very intense stomach workout, so again you burn less calories.

So you clearly burn more calories, and therefore more fat, with P90X Classic.

That does however leave the question of people, primarily women, who want lean, not bulky, muscle. The first thing to consider is that a woman’s hormones will prevent her from getting bulky muscles in general. There are some women who are predisposed to larger muscles, but they still won’t grow huge muscles. More importantly though, as long as you do 12-15 reps, you will develop toned muscles over large muscles. Tony repeats this again and again throughout the program, and it doesn’t change anything by doing one more or less strength workout.

What is P90X Doubles?

There is actually much less to P90X Doubles that people think. In short, Doubles is just adding Cardio X 3 times a week in Month 2 of P90X Classic and 5 times a week in Month 3 of a round of P90X. That is it.

Specifically you do P90X Classic in Month 1, and then on strength days (Days 1, 3 and 5) of Month 2, you do Cardio X in the mornings and the strength workouts in the evenings. In Month 3, you add Cardio X on days 1-5.

As I already implied, Cardio X is actually a relatively light workout. On average, you would be lucky to burn 1/3 of a pound extra per week in Month 2, and ½ a pound extra per week in Month 3 following the P90X Doubles schedule.

It is a good way to lose a little extra weight. However, I recommend that if you are inclined to do extra cardio, you can do that whenever you want, even in Month 1. Also I recommend that you do any cardio that you want to do. Get outside. Ride a bike. Go running. Walk your dog. Various studies show that working out outside actually burns more calories anyway. When I do P90X, I find that I end up staying inside more than I otherwise would.

What if I Want to Switch Programs?

In short, just start the new program whenever you want. If you are on Day 14 of P90X Lean and want to switch to P90X Classic, just pick it up at Day 14. As stated, the differences are really subtle. Same thing if you want to go from Classic to Lean. If you want to do Doubles, all you have to do is start doing Cardio X. It really is that simple. As you will see in all of my blogs, you don’t have to start over. You achieve fitness through your lifestyle, not following a 90 day program.

What Program Should You Choose?

Again, I am in no way implying that there is anything wrong with doing P90X Lean. It is an extremely challenging program, and anyone can choose to do it for any reason. However, do not choose it because you are under the mistaken belief that it will make you any leaner than P90X Classic would.

However, if P90X Lean fits your goals in the ways I defined earlier, just do that. P90X Doubles is again just adding extra cardio, which is always a great idea. But in summary, I generally recommend you start with P90X Classic and then decide if you want to change to Lean or Doubles.

If you have questions about what is right for you, or how to adjust your schedule to your needs, please feel free to mailto:ira@irawinkler.com. I am happy to help.

What's the Difference Between P90X2 Sets

As is hard to miss, the long awaited P90X2 is now available. While it is very welcome, there are 6 (actually 12) different ways to order it, with prices ranging from $119-359, it is hard for a person to tell what they really need, let alone want. So hopefully, this article will make sense of all of it.

First, I should summarize the equipment that you need, as the options really depend on different levels of equipment that you receive. While the base equipment needs will be dumbbells and a pull up bar, you will be able to get away with just bands, as you can with the standard P90X. Again, here is an article for P90X equipment.

During the most recent webinar, Tony listed the following equipment needs for P90X2, and implies there was an order to them:

1. Resistance Bands
2. Chin up bar
3. Dumbbells
4. Balance or Stability Ball
5. Foam Roller
6. Chin Up Bar Supporter (elastic bands to use for assisting pullups)
7. Medicine Balls (ideally 4 medicine balls)
8. Power Stands

Another piece of equipment that wasn’t mentioned during the webinar, but was mentioned during the Coach Summit and shown in the sample videos, is a weighted bar. While it wasn’t listed, it seems like it will really help with the core and shoulder work.

Ordering Through a Coach Has It’s Benefits

The first decision point you have to make, that doesn’t cost you anything is whether or not to order through a coach, in other words ordering through teambeachbody.com instead of other venues. I am clearly biased in that, but Beachbody makes it an obvious decision. If you order through a coach, you get two bonus workouts that you don’t otherwise get: P90X One on One: 4 Legs and P90X One on One: Upper Body Balance. These workouts were specifically chosen as they enhance the goals and benefits of the P90X2 program. Likewise, they are a time saver when you might only have 30 minutes for the workouts they can replace. This is a $40 savings alone, so order through me or another coach at this link.

Blu-Ray or DVD

From a cost perspective, Blu-Ray is more expensive. For the Basic set, Blu-Ray is $149 vs $119 for standard DVD. When you get to the Deluxe and Ultimate sets, it is $60 more expensive for Blu-Ray. Clearly, this is an individual preference.

Three Sets to Choose From

As mentioned, you have there are three different sets to buy, that each have a different level of equipment. As will be mentioned more, the Basic set does not include the V-Sculpt and X2 Chest, Shoulders, and Tris workout. You will have to buy the Deluxe or Ultimate sets. While I assume that you will only need those workouts for one month of the 90 Day program, imagine P90X where you don’t have Back & Biceps and Chest, Shoulders & Tris. So you want to make note of that.

The Basic Set

The Basic set costs $119 for DVD or $149 for Blu-Ray and includes:

1. 12 P90X2 workout DVDs
2. How To DVD
3. Nutrition Guide
4. Fitness Guide
5. 90 Day Calendar

To order the P90X2 Basic set, click here.

The Deluxe Set

The Deluxe set costs $239 for DVD or $299 for Blu-Ray and includes:

1. Everything in the Basic set
2. The V-Sculpt and X2 Chest, Shoulders & Tris DVDs
3. Stability (aka Balance) Ball
4. 2 – 8 lb medicine balls
5. Foam Roller

To order the P90X2 Deluxe set, click here.

The Ultimate Set

The Ultimate set costs $299 for DVD or $359 for Blu-Ray and includes:

1. Everything in the Basic and Deluxe sets
2. The Foam Roller is a Premium Grade Roller
3. 2 Tony Horton Power Stands

To order the P90X2 Ultimate set, click here.

Will I Be Able to Buy Just the 2 Extra DVDs in the Future?

The short answer is yes. They will sell the extra DVDs for about $60, which is half the cost of the actual set, so they are pretty expensive. Another option is that you can get the P90X One on One DVDs of the V-Sculpt and Upper Body X workouts, which are the “test kitchen” versions of the X2 workouts. That would be about $40. However, they are rough and vary somewhat in quality. Given the cost though, if you need any equipment, it is probably cheaper to just get the Deluxe set.

So Which is Best For You?

Clearly if you want all of the DVDs, you should get at least the Deluxe set. You will need the equipment and actually a little more. As mentioned, you will need up to 4 medicine balls, so getting 2 good ones is not a bad idea. When Beachbody does sell equipment, it is always of great quality at a reasonable price. Clearly P90X2 will be great with or without those 2 DVDs, but I assume that most people will want the full workouts, and need the equipment anyone, so it is your call. Concerning the Ultimate Set, you have to likewise determine whether or not you want the power stands and the upgraded roller. The upgraded roller appears to be significantly better, but you should also want to buy the power stands, if you want to consider upgrading from the Deluxe to the Ultimate set. Whichever set you choose, P90X2 will take you to a new level of fitness and athletic performance. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an e-mail at ira@xcompanionguide.com.

My P90X/Asylum Hybrid

For my current exercise routine, I decided that I needed a program that was as effective in all aspects of physical condition as possible. In my opinion, you are never going to get a more comprehensive program than P90X. P90X’s downside is that it is relatively weak on leg work. For that reason, I wanted to combine it with Asylum, which possibly has the most effective leg work and endurance training that you can find.

The Asylum workouts also have the advantage that they are significantly shorter than P90X workouts, while definitely being more effective. For example, Plyo X is about 58 minutes, while Vertical Plyo is only 38 minutes and few people would argue that Vertical Plyo is significantly better than Plyo X.

So I was asked to share my program, which I believe is not only more effective, but frequently has shorter workouts. I also include some P90X One on Ones, which adds some variety and is also potentially shorter and more effective.

My Schedule

Weeks 1-3, 9 and 11

Day 1 – P90X Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Asylum Vertical Plyo
Day 3 – P90X One on One Shoulders & Arms 2 and Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 5 – P90X One on One Back & Base and Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Asylum Speed & Agility
Day 7 – P90X X Stretch

Week 4, 8 and 13

Day 1 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 2 – P90X+ Total Body +
Day 3 – P90X+ Kenpo/Cardio +
Day 4 – P90X X Stretch
Day 5 – P90X+ Total Body +
Day 6 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 7 – Rest

Weeks 5-7, 10 and 12

Day 1 – P90X Back & Biceps and Ab Ripper X
Day 2 – Asylum Vertical Plyo
Day 3 – P90X Chest, Shoulders and Tris and Ab Ripper X
Day 4 – P90X One on One Fountain of Youth
Day 5 – P90X One on One Back & Base and Ab Ripper X
Day 6 – Asylum Speed & Agility
Day 7 – P90X X Stretch

Alternative Workouts

As you can see, I make use of various One on Ones as well as P90X+ workouts. If you don’t have Fountain of Youth, you can use Yoga X or the One on One Yoga:MC2. If you don’t have Base & Back, use Legs & Back. If you don’t have Shoulders & Arms 2, use Shoulders & Arms. If you don’t have Total Body +, you can use Asylum Strength or continue to use Core Synergistics. If you want to add more One on Ones, you can V-Sculpt is a replacement for Back & Biceps and Upper Body X is a replacement for Chest, Shoulders & Tris.

Getting the Most Out of Your Workouts

So this is the hybrid I currently settled into so that I get the most out of what I consider the best Beachbody programs to get extreme results, while saving some time as well, specifically P90X and Asylum. Adding variety to your workouts is also important. It can get tiring to do the same routine for years, no matter how much you love it. You can potentially integrate in other programs, but if you want something that you can do for long periods of time, I would recommend that you generally follow the P90X schedule.

Weight Watchers Points for Shakeology

A lot of people who do Beachbody programs, like P90X, Insanity, Hip Hop Abs, etc., follow the Weight Watchers nutrition program. While Beachbody provides a nutrition plan with all programs tailored to the program, many people choose to use the Weight Watchers program as they like it and are familiar with it. As long as they adjust the points that they need to account for the increased level of activity, Weight Watchers Point system can provide great results. In response, I wrote this article about how to estimate the points to add to their daily intake.

Many people doing Beachbody programs use Shakeology as well. Therefore, it would be helpful for the many people who use the Weight Watchers’ system to know the point value of Shakeology. So to simply provide that information, here is the point value for Shakeology, both Chocolate and Greenberry.

Weight Watchers Winning Points: 2
Weight Watchers PointsPlus:     3

Remember to add the points for any other ingredients for any ingredients that you mix with the Shakeology, such as milk, fruit, nuts, etc.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at ira@xcompanionguide.com.

Kenpo Too Easy? or Should Kenpo Be in P90X?

One of the most common questions I see about the P90X Kenpo X workout is, “Do I really need to do the Kenpo workouts?” A similar comment is, “Kenpo X is too easy.” People seem to want to replace the workout with PlyoX or Cardio X, and want to know if there is a problem with that. I am biased, but I do think that Kenpo X is a critical part of the P90X program.

First I should say make the disclaimer that I typically replace the Kenpo X workout with Kenpo Cardio X+ from the P90X+ program. I do think I get a better workout with the +. Frankly, it is also shorter, and easier to fit into my schedule. I also think that Kenpo X is probably the least strenuous of all of the P90X workouts, with the clear exception of Cardio X, but that is a very relative term. It is still harder than most other exercise programs on the market. If you have any questions on P90X+, please ask.

Unique Benefits of Kenpo

First you should consider that Kenpo X offers benefits that the other workouts don’t. Kenpo Cardio X+, for example, is described as providing Endurance, Balance, and Agility. There is no doubt that Plyo X provides endurance and agility. Cardio X seems to help with endurance, but is not as good for agility. Yoga X provides balance. The Kenpo workouts provide another source for all of these benefits in a single workout.

As important though is that the punches, blocks, and kicks require people to rapidly extend their limbs, and cause the fast twitch muscles to fire. You don’t get that type of body movement or muscle use in any of the other workouts, so you actually develop quickness as well.

Also consider the placement of the Kenpo workouts at the end of the week. Kenpo X is frankly a great recovery workout. By frequently extending your limbs, it is essentially a form of ballistic stretching, which is a great feeling after Legs & Back.

More important though, there is a reason that Tony wanted Kenpo X in the P90X program. He could have easily just put Cardio X as Day 6, if he wanted to. I hope I captured the essence of Tony’s logic above, and he knows more about fitness than most of the people doing the program. So, I would tend to trust his judgment here.

Why Mess with Success?

Many people believe that Kenpo X can be replaced with a more strenuous workout to burn more calories. I guess that’s true. But again, you wouldn’t get the unique benefits of Kenpo X. There is more to fitness than burning the most calories, or you might as well rename P90X to Plyo90X.

However, the tremendous success people get with the program as is, more than proves people aren’t being hurt by the calories burned during Kenpo X.

Some people don’t like Kenpo X or Kenpo Cardio X+ and want to replace it with another kickboxing program. If that helps get you through the program, then you can probably do it. However, the Kenpo programs are already available to you, so why spend more money when you don’t have to?

Do What Works For You

While I hope I addressed the common issues, if at the end of the day you really hate the Kenpo workouts, and it affects your ability to stick with the program, do what’s best for you. However, they are a proven component to P90X.

The P90X Nutrition Plan Made Simple

Someone posted to the P90X Discussion Group asking for someone to simplify the P90X Nutrition Plan.  I responded and received good comments, so I thought I would post my answer for everyone.

The Response

Here is the essence of the P90X Nutrition Plan. The first thing you have to do is figure out how many calories you need to eat. There is a formula in the book, but there is a Caloric Needs Calculator on teambeachbody.com that is more accurate and doesnt require you to do all the math. It is under Eat Smart > Nutrition Tools. If you need an account there, here is a link for a free one:

https://teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=33357

Then based upon the calories you are supposed to eat, you look at the Level of the nutrition plan. If you are supposed to eat 2400 calories or less, use Level 1. If you need 2400-3000 calories, use Level II. More than 3000 calories, use Level III.

Then within the Levels are Phases. Generally you do Phase I in Month 1, Phase II in Month 2, Phase III in Month 3. The phases all have you eat the same amount of calories. What they change is the ratio of carbs and proteins.

Fat Shredder is Phase I and has you eating 50% of your calories from protein and 30% calories from carbs. The other 20% of your calories is fat. In Phase II the ratio is 40/40/20 and in Phase III it is 30% protein, 50% carbs, and 20% fat.

Generally the higher protein diets help to burn off fat more effectively. And I recommend that as long as you 1) Have enough energy to make it through your workouts, 2) Have enough energy throughout the day, 3) Like what you eat, and MOST IMPORTANTLY 4) Continue to get results, you can stick with the Phase that you like best.

If You Still Have Problems

Generally I recommend that people follow the sample menus in the plan for the appropriate Level and Phase.  That makes it simple for me.  However frequently people want a simpler plan.  In that case, I recommend that you consider the nutrition plan out of the Body for Life book.  The Body for Life Plan is generally similar to Phase II from the P90X Nutrition Plan, and should give you the right amount of calories.

Notes From the 2011 Beachbody Coach Summit

The Beachbody Coach Summit took place from June 17-19, 2011, and as expected there were A Lot of announcements to share with everyone. I normally mail updates to my customers, however a message with all the information would be overwhelming, so I thought I would send everyone a message referring them to this blog post if they want more info on the subjects. So, enjoy!

P90X2

P90X2 is supposed to be available for the 2011 Christmas/Holiday season. Preordering will hopefully become available in August, and you should take advantage of it, as Beachbody is trying to balance out the projected orders, and only does a limited run for new programs until they see the demand, so there is strong potential that it might go out of stock early.



As far as the program itself goes, P90X2 will be a 90 day program that you do 5 days a week. Yes I wrote 5 days a week. There will be 14 workouts that are part of the program, which will have 3 distinct phases; Learning, Strength and Performance, and it appears that you will do different workouts in the different phases.

Tony Horton and his advisors describe P90X2 as the most advanced program ever put on DVD. Note that they did not say the most intense. While it will not be as theoretically extreme or intense as Insanity or Asylum, the entire P90X2 program was scientifically designed to provide maximum gains in all areas of fitness.

P90X2 is not however a program for beginners. Doing pushups while your hands and feet are on balls requires very significant core strength for example. It is designed to improve all areas of athleticism, but needs a good base to build on.

The above also touched upon the need for some extra equipment. While there will be alternatives for people who don’t have the equipment, P90X2 will use medicine balls, stability balls, a weighted bar, and a foam roller.

One major change that you might or might not notice is that there will be no traditional cardio in P90X2. As all the work is essentially intervals, you are improving your cardio vascular fitness enough for functional health as Tony stresses. Tony and the people he works with believe that intervals provide more effective improvements, and you also don’t see a functional reason for the normal person to just keep their heart rate in an aerobic range for extended periods of time.

Just to answer another question you might have, yes there will still be yoga, but it will only be about 65 minutes long.

For those of you that care, it might be available in Blue Ray format.

There will be multiple nutrition plans available to accommodate the most common dietary styles, including vegetarians and vegans. Shakeology will also be integrated into the plans.

I will provide more info and videos later, but please let me know if you have specific questions on this.

P90X iPhone App

The long awaited P90X iPhone app should be available in August. This was the most secretive part of the whole summit, where they wanted all recording stopped. While it is still unclear as to what can tell you now, I will say that it has the workout tracking that you all wanted, and so much more. You will definitely be able to take P90X to the gym. From the little bit that we saw, I can tell you that the P90X app is AWESOME!

To answer other questions, you should be able to run the app on iPads, as well. There was however no information about Droid or other pending smart phone versions.

Active Duty Military Coach Fees Waived

As many of you know Beachbody actively supports the military and their families. To further that support, people who have an active duty military person in their family will be able to sign up to be a Beachbody Coach for free, which saves $39, and the later monthly fees ($15) will also be waived. This means it is essentially free for you to be a coach.

While this is clearly an outstanding opportunity for military families to create a second income with no money out of pocket, it is also a great way to get all Beachbody products at a wholesale cost. For example, Shakeology will be $90 per order for military families. You get all programs, including Insanity and TurboFire for the coach prices of $90, and it costs you nothing.

Please email me at ira@xcompanionguide.com if you are interested or need more information.

New Shakeology Flavor

The new Shakeology flavor was formally debuted at the summit, and is named, Tropical. They describe it as based primarily on Banana, Pineapple, and Papaya, and was designed to be a light flavor that is there to enhance the flavors of what you add to it. It was designed to be versatile. For the summit, they were blending it with pineapple, strawberries, yogurt, and milk, and the closest thing I could describe it as was somewhat of a bubblegum flavor. I don’t however believe that that description does it justice.

Many coaches were mixing the Tropical with Chocolate flavors and loved the combination. Personally, I love chocolate, and prefer the chocolate, but I definitely liked Tropical more than Greenberry.

While it is pretty much ready to go, Beachbody is a major stickler for all around quality, especially with regard to Shakeology, and they are still making sure that the formula will have significant shelf life and will not be impacted by adverse shipping conditions. They intend for the flavor to be ready to ship by the end of the year.

Vegan Shakeology and Other Flavors

Very ironically, all of the people who designed Shakeology are vegans, and given that Shakeology uses whey protein, it is not technically a vegan product. They all drink it though. Given the market, they are continuing to work on Vegan Shakeology, and have the product ready during the first quarter of 2012. While I realize this is not the news you want to hear, I get enough questions about this, so I wanted to give you a status that Beachbody knows of your concerns, and is actively addressing them. Apparently the holdup is that they have had difficulties finding a formula that has a flavor and consistency that will meet all standards of quality, which includes taste and consistency.

While there was no detail about this subject, there is also at least one additional flavor in the works that they hope to also have ready in the first quarter of 2012. It will not however be Vanilla, as many people hope, as that flavor was nixed last year as it was being ready to be shipped. Again, they could not get enough quality vanilla that was not chemically treated to have a good flavor as a lead flavor. They will not compromise their core beliefs even when the demand for the product is huge.

New Tai Chi Program

The only new program announced, besides P90X2, is a Tai Chi based program. I will have more information on that later in the year. For those of you not familiar with Tai Chi, it is a martial art that is essentially a slow movement of Kung Fu sequences. The program is designed for people of all ages, but is probably going to be more popular with people who have flexibility issues, difficulty with the harder programs, or just want an easier program for a change that strives for mental clarity.

The New $100,000 Beachbody Challenge

Beachbody has completed renovated what was previously known as the Million Dollar Body Challenge, and renamed it simply, The Beachbody Challenge. Now you can win up to $100,000. Everyone who enters gets a T-shirt for just submitting their story. While a huge transformation is outstanding, for just signing up and submitting your Success Story, you will get a T-shirt. The only requirement is that you have an account on teambeachbody.com. If you are my customer, or have a coach, you already have an account. If you dont have an account yet, please click here for a free one. If you want more information, please e-mail me.

If you are interested in this in any way, please contact me so I can help you. My e-mail is ira@xcompanionguide.com. I have helped many people make it through their respective program, and have decades of experience in fitness and nutrition, and I am more than happy to help you find the right program for your needs, and make it through the program with the best possible results.

Beachbody Continues to Grow and Improve

As you can tell, Beachbody continues to grow and expand their product lines to better serve you. They also have a special concern to supporting members of the military and will continue to support them and their families however they can.

I have clearly thrown a lot out here, so please feel free to personally contact me if you want details on anything mentioned here, or anything else related to fitness, nutrition, or Beachbody in general. I can again be reached at ira@xcompanionguide.com.

Asylum Review: Strength

Day 3 of Asylum is Strength. I have to admit it isnt necessarily what I was expecting, but it was an Asylum workout. I was definitely slowly getting worn away throughout the workout.

I guess I was expecting a P90X style workout, where you do sets of a defined exercise to exhaustion. The strength work was much more like Core Synergistics type of strength workout (to the extreme), where you are doing moves for a period of time, as opposed to a point that you are burned out. Also, similar to Core Synergistics, the exercises dont isolate a single muscle group, but combine multiple muscle groups.

The warm up is about 10 minutes, and uses dumbbells in a dynamic way. For example, holding a dumbbell, you do a squat, and then rotate it around your head. You also lunge to a side holding a dumbbell and then do a couple of rows. In this workout, you do repeat sequences of events. However as opposed to doing an exercise harder in the second and third sequence (as you would in Insanity), Shaun T makes the moves more complicated. This is how it is throughout the workout.

Again, there is a short stretch, and you go into the strength training. The exercises get progressively more intense. Again, as the time goes on, you get worn down. There aren't any max rep exercises. While a pull up bar is desireable, there is only one set of real pull ups. There is also a mountain climber set of pull ups, where you dont necessarily pull yourself up, but you hold yourself in position with your chin above your bar, and then you attempt to switch your hands into different positions. This is really hard.

While a pull up bar is desirable, there are non-pull up options for all exercises, so you really dont need a pull up bar.

I am assuming that there is some more strength work in the other exercises. At this point, I would describe this strength work as much more like P90X+ than P90X. If you are not familiar with P90X+, then consider it a much harder version of Core Synergistics. I know it will create much more muscle endurance, and to say I was profusely sweating is an understatement. Whatever you want to call it, it is a very serious workout that does work your whole body. However I want people to be aware of what to expect.

Asylum: Review of Sports Performance Assessment (Fit Test)

As I received Asylum today, I just had to do something. You are supposed to do the Athletic Performance Assessment, also known is Insanity lingo as the Fit Test, before beginning Asylum. Unlike doing Insanity, there is no time to waste with a Fit Test within the 30 days. Frankly, I dont even think there are more than 2 Rest Days in the program. As I intend to go through all the DVDs as soon as possible, I thought I would throw this review up asap for everyone else so that they know what to expect. If you want to read my future reviews, please feel free to Like this page.

Surprisingly, the Asylum Fit Test was not as strenuous as the Insanity Fit Test. There is more focus on functional fitness, like agility, as opposed to just cranking out numbers like in Insanity. Don't get me wrong. It isn't easy by any means. Most of the exercises involve the agility ladder in one way or another. There are a few fast feet exercises, where you zig zag in and out of the ladder. There is the Bear Crawl, where you crawl back and forth on the floor over the ladder. There are X Jumps, similar to P90X X Jumps, but deeper. There is also a set of pull ups or push ups at your descretion.

Again though, I wont dread doing this Fit Test as much as I do the Insanity Fit Test. Maybe I am in better shape, but the tests didn't seem to wear me down. I was sweating. I was somewhat winded at times. But, I look at it as more of a sign as what is to come. There will be a big focus on quick feet. There will be a bigger focus on moving exercises...and there will be pull ups.

Insanity: The Asylum FAQ

Now that Asylum is out, there are a lot of people who want to know how it differs from the other programs. Is it worth it? Which program should you pick? Etc? In short, Asylum is the most extreme program that Beachbody produces, and could easily be the most intense home fitness program ever. However, that by itself doesn't adequately describe the program.

What is INSANITY: THE ASYLUM™?

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM is the first in-home sports-specific training program based on drills used by pro athletes. During this intense 30-day program, you’ll practice moving like a football running back, serve aces like a tennis pro, score points like an all-star guard, and more. Your instructor, Shaun T, creator of successful programs like INSANITY® and Hip Hop Abs®, will help you spike your speed, coordination, agility, strength, and power to an elite athlete level.

That is the Beachbody description of the program. In short, it is intense sports condition that will take anyone to the next level of athletic performance.

The Basics

Asylum is a 30 day DVD based home fitness program. It includes 8 DVDs. The 6 main DVDs are generally 45 minutes each, with the stretch DVD being 25 minutes, and a longer workout being 60 minutes. There is also the equivalent of a Fit Test for 25 minutes and an Overtime workout being 15 minutes that you can do at the end of any other workout to add more intensity.

Unlike Insanity, Asylum is definitely a full body workout and requires a pull up bar and dumbbells, or bands. The Asylum Base Set contains the DVDs, an agility ladder, a jump rope and the supporting books and charts. There is a Deluxe Set that includes bands and a pull up bar. The sets are $89 and $179 respectively.

Why is it effective?

Shaun T built INSANITY: THE ASYLUM on three cross-training cycles. During Cycle 1, he’ll push you to master a series of core sports exercises. Once you’ve gotten those under control, the real fun begins. As you step up to Cycle 2 and Cycle 3, Shaun T challenges you to dig even deeper with more complicated sports moves and progressively tougher drills. This combination pushes you to use more muscles and develop skills that give you a measurable competitive edge.

What makes INSANITY: THE ASYLUM unique?

Elite athletes use proven sports training drills to sharpen their game-day skills and get into astonishing shape. Now with INSANITY: THE ASYLUM, you can too. With its included Agility Ladder and Speed Rope, you’ll train with more focus, concentration, and skill—just like an elite pro athlete. After 30 days, you’ll get faster, stronger, and more agile than you ever imagined—enabling you to perform any sport or activity with eye-popping speed and skill.

How does it work?

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM combines MAX Interval Training with progressive sports drills to push you to Dig Deeper® than ever. Shaun T will lead you through sports-based exercises that get progressively harder. So you’ll burn calories, build muscle, and unleash your inner world-class athlete. In just 30 days, you’ll be ready to compete, with dramatic, measurable improvements in your athletic ability.

Who Should Do Asylum?

Beachbody tells coaches that the ideal Asylum user has already completed P90X, Insanity, or another extreme program. It is also described as being for current or former athletes who want to take their performance to the next level. Shaun T basically told a group of us that it is basically for someone who is already an athlete at some level.

Who Shouldn't Do Asylum?

Here is the exact quote from Beachbody as to who shouldn't do Asylum:

Beginners; pregnant women; children; people who aren’t willing to work hard; people with back, neck, joint, or other injuries; or people who don’t consistently do high-impact exercise.
I have to admit that it is a peeve of mine when I hear people tell other people with pain or who are clearly beginners that they should take on an extreme workout. In my opinion, even assuming the person doesn't injure themself, it is unlikely that they will complete an extreme program and just waste their money. Please just accept that if Beachbody says you shouldn't buy their program, you shouldn't buy their program.

If You're Not Ready For Asylum

If you are hesitant to do Asylum, there is nothing wrong with doing P90X or Insanity to establish a base. P90X is a more forgiving workout that is great preparation for Insanity and Asylum. However, you will have a big wake up call, if you haven't done Insanity before Asylum.

Asylum Will Get You To The Next Level

Shaun T told a small group of coaches that he added 6" to his vertical leap after going through Asylum. If it can give Shaun T that level of improvement, just imagine what it can do for the average person. If you are ready for the challenge, then take it.

As always, drop me a message if you have any questions.

Using Weight Watchers for P90X, Insanity and other Beachbody Workouts

The Weight Watchers diet plan is really common, and many people who do P90X, Insanity, or the other Beachbody programs want to continue using the diet as they are already familiar with it. There is no reason that you can’t use the diet plan with these workouts. This information can be used for the Points Plus system.

The Problem With the Weight Watchers Diet

The problem with the Weight Watchers diet program is that the goal is to lose weight through a calorie restricted diet. It assigns people points to optimize fat loss, by taking people down to about 1,000 calories a day below their Maintenance Level. This gives people an average loss of 2 lbs of fat a week, which is the supposed maximum safe fat loss level. Any more than that and your body can go into starvation mode, where your body tries to save itself by hoarding fat and burning muscle. That is obviously bad.

However, when you add an extreme fitness program like Insanity or P90X, you increase your daily calorie burn dramatically. If you don’t add calories to your diet, you move from the safe fat loss level to starvation mode. While Weight Watchers assumes some light activity in their point calculation, they don’t anticipate P90X level activity. So if you are already on Weight Watchers, you have to add extra points/calories to your diet to maintain a safe level of weight loss.

What is a Point?

To write this column, I researched Weight Watchers’ patents to come up with an answer. A Point is essentially 50 calories. However not all calories are the same. For example, 50 calories of food high in fat is worth more points, while 50 calories of food high in fiber is less than a full point. So I can’t just tell people to figure out how many calories they burn and then add the appropriate number of calories. However you can roughly estimate that you should add 2 points for every 100 calories of exercise.

How To Calculate Extra Points To Add To Your Day

In reviewing the Weight Watchers patent, there is a formula for points to allocate to your exercise. Unfortunately, Weight Watchers even states that they underestimate the Points you might need, as they believe people overestimate their exertion. However, few people would describe Insanity, P90X or TurboFire as less than Intense. For that reason, I will modify the Weight Watchers’ formula to be in the middle.

If you are doing P90X, Insanity, Power 90, ChaLEAN Extreme or TurboFire, you want to use the following formula:

.1783 x (your weight in pounds / 2.2) x minutes of your workout / 75

So, if I am doing P90X and I weigh 154 lbs, I generally estimate that P90X averages about 70 min a day (with ARX). That means that it is:

.1783 * (154/2.2) * 70 / 75 or 11.6 points.

I round that to 12 points to add per day on average.

Simplified Math for P90X and Insanity

If you are willing to trust me, here is the overly simplified math for estimates for Insanity and P90X:

For P90X: Multiply your weight in pounds by .07564

For Insanity Month 1 and Recovery Week: Multiply your weight by .04214

For Insanity Month 2: Multiply your weight by .05943

Less Intense Workouts

While I don’t intend to downplay the level of effort involved in Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Abs, Slim in 6 and other programs, they are not at the intensity level of P90X and Insanity. There is a slight modification to the formula for these programs as follows:

.0711 x (your weight in pounds / 2.2) x minutes of your workout / 75

The other programs vary to much in length of workouts to give a more simplified number. Again, you can average the length of the workouts, so that you are not using different points every day.

Let Me Know If You Are Stuck

I realize that this can seem complicated. If you get lost in the math, feel free to send me a message at ira@irawinkler.com.

These Are Estimates

As I said, these are estimates. You need to watch your results and modify as appropriate. Ironically, I will say that if you stop losing weight, I recommend that you add points. Again, on Weight Watchers, you are already bordering on starvation mode. If you stop getting results, you very possibly put yourself firmly into starvation mode, so you should probably add about an extra 1/3 of the points you added for exercise.

Weight Watchers is a very established nutrition plan, but again it does focus on calorie restriction. P90X and other Beachbody programs focus on a holistic combination of exercise and nutrition. It can however be safely modified for the Beachbody programs.

How to Choose a Home Fitness Program

Since Beachbody offers a lot of great home fitness programs, I am frequently asked, “Which is the best program?” I don’t know why people are surprised when I answer, “There is no single best program.” The reason is that every program has its own unique benefits. Some people would prefer one trainer over another. Some people hate Tony Horton, while others love him. Some people want an extreme workout, like Insanity, while others haven’t worked out for a decade and need a program, like Project You: Type 2. Some people run frequently and want to improve their upper body. In short, the best program depends on you.

Factors to Consider

There are a variety of issues to consider when choosing a fitness program. These factors include the program goals, trainers, program focus, program philosophy, length of program, your current condition, among other factors. Too many people go for a program that is the most popular, or listen to success stories, and that is how they make their decisions. All too often, the person will give up on the program and just waste their money. So, stop listening to the infomercials and let’s take a logical look at what to consider.

Program Difficulty

P90X and Insanity are the most popular programs out there, specifically because they are extreme. The infomercials promise that they will push you to your limits, and people think the fat melts away. They want to make the radical change in life that these programs can deliver. If that works for you, that is great. However, I contend that if you are not in good condition to start, it is probably better to be able to do 80% of an easier program like Power 90, than 40% of a harder program like P90X.

Similarly, if you want a cardio based program, Insanity is the extreme program, but you might find it easier to get through a comparatively easier program like TurboFire. It is not just that you can physically get through more of the program, and therefore burn more calories, it is probably psychologically better as well. You are more likely to continue with a workout that doesn’t make you feel like a failure if you can’t do most of it.

So in short, yes, you can get through a harder workout, but getting the most out of the process is more important than stumbling through a harder program.

Trainers

The style of a trainer can make or break a program for most people. If the trainer annoys you, then you are much less likely to finish the program. Personally, Shaun T’s style in Hip Hop Abs was hard for me to take when I did that workout. However, he is awesome, to me, in Insanity. While most people love Tony Horton’s sense of humor, there are many who hate it. Chalene Johnson is definitely the iconic aerobics instructor with all of her energy and constant smile during the hardest workouts. Many women love that style, while some men despise it on principle. Look at the sample videos and see if you appreciate the trainer’s style.

Program Focus

The Tony Horton workouts that include P90X, Power 90, and 10 Minute Trainer are full body fitness programs, as is ChaLEAN Extreme. Insanity, TurboFire, Turbo Jam, and Hip Hop Abs are cardio programs. Project You: Type 2 is a workout for diabetics and pre-diabetics. Body Gospel is a Christ-based fitness program and is ideal for Christians who want a faith based program.

Length of Program

While P90X is possibly the most effective program out there, it does take the largest time commitment. P90X takes an average of 75 minutes a day and runs from 60-90 minutes 6 days a week. Then you have the other extreme of 10 Minute Trainer. With workouts that are 10 minutes long, you really have no excuses not to workout. The other programs fit somewhere within that range. The best fitness program for you is clearly one that you have time to do. Just keep in mind that the longer the workout, the better your results will be.

Making Your Choice

You need to chose the program that is best for you. If you choose a program you don't stick with, I contend that it is the program's fault, and not your's. Take advantage of Beachbody's return policy, and exchange it for a program that better matches your needs.

I'm Here To Help

I realize that this can all be overwhelming. However if you want help making your decision, or to return a program and get another one, please feel free to send me a message. I have tried all of the popular programs, and can help you make a better decision. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me at ira@xcompanionguide.com.

Comparing and Contrasting P90X and Insanity

Recently, I was asked by a Facebook friend to compare and contrast P90X and Insanity. I believe the person was a P90Xer who was considering Insanity, but the answer can be generalized to someone who is considering one or the other program. I hope you find it useful as well.

My Answer

P90X is generally the best all around fitness program you will find. It works out the whole body and seems to be best for overall slimming. It is about 65/35 Upper/Lower Body.

Insanity is great for legs, speed, endurance, and agility. It is about 20/80 Upper/Lower body. If you have ever done P90X, it is easiest to describe it as Plyo XXX 6 days a week, with some Core Synergistics floor work thrown in.

The weakness of Insanity is that you wont see a lot of upper body gains from a strength perspective, unless you potentially add the v Upper Body Workout from the Insanity Deluxe edition. Also, as you go through P90X, you generally get stronger and feel better. This is primarily due to the yoga and stretch work and periodicity of P90X. Periodicity means that you are getting rest of your body parts throughout the program, so you can continue the program indefinitely. Insanity is pretty much all out for the length of the program, save a week in the middle of it, and you can get burned out towards the end.

Insanity however has its own benefits. Again, your leg strength and endurance will explode. The program is only 63 days vice 90, so you have a quicker deadline. Insanity workouts are generally shorter. You generally need to allocate 60-90 minutes a day with P90X, but only 30-60 minutes a day with Insanity.

While Insanity is definitely a full out exercise for most of the workout, P90X is definitely not easy. While full out circuit training, which is really what P90X is, provides periods of rest between sets, doing weightlifting sets to exhaustion should be as hard as Insanity. You just get the rest between sets.

The big potential drawback for Insanity is that it is non-forgiving, and can cause injury. Many people are forced to stop Insanity because of shin splints, knee pain, or similar issues. If you have good leg constitution, you will be ok.

What It Really Means

In the end, there is no better program. The best program is the one that best meets your goals. I personally cycle between the programs and generally do a hybrid. Again, I think I get the best overall gains with P90X, but after doing Insanity, P90X cardio can be weak.

The Reason Behind the P90X Recovery Drink

There are a lot of questions about the P90X Recovery Drink. People want to know if they really need it. Why is there so much sugar in it? Isn’t all that sugar bad for you? Can’t I just use a protein drink? Etc. These are frankly all good questions, so I put together a discussion of the science behind recovery drinks in general

Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Exercise

I previously discussed this issue when I talked about heart rates. To quickly summarize though, aerobic exercise is when you are exercising below 80% of your maximum heart rate. At this level, you are basically doing what most people consider cardio exercise. You are using oxygen to create energy. You will be able to talk and exercise at the same time.

With aerobic exercise, you are primarily using fat as your energy supply. Think of carbs as the kindling to get the fat, which are the logs, burning.

With anaerobic exercise, your heart rate is above 80%, and you are using carbs as your primary, and possibly only, energy source.

Carbs Are Only Stored In Muscle

The heading isn't totally accurate, but mostly accurate. For the purposes of muscle energy, carbs, specifically glucose and glycogen, are stored in muscle for immediate anaerobic energy needs, as well as the kindling for burning fat. While it is safe to assume that a person has a virtually unlimited supply of fat, they have a very limited supply of carbs.

The amount of carbs stored in the muscle varies by the individual, however the average person should have about an hour’s worth of carbs available for anaerobic exercise.

Carb Crashes

You might have heard of a carb crash, where an athlete collapses during exercise. You might see a marathon runner or triathlete just collapse. Someone lifting weights might just sit down and pass out. This is because they ran out of sugar to power their muscles. Also, the brain runs primarily on carbs, so this is why they are incoherent as well.

This is why they provide Gatorade or similar drinks only during longer runs or competitions. While distance athletes are engaged in aerobic workouts, if they go on long enough without taking in any carbs, they will eventually run out. This is also why someone doing P90X or Insanity may become weak or nauseous during a workout.

P90X and Insanity Deplete Your Carbs

Insanity’s interval training has you workout anaerobically for extended periods of time. P90X is essentially circuit weight training, which means that you are in an anaerobic state for long periods of time as well. All of this means that you are burning up the sugar/carbs in your muscles for an hour or more at a time. This is why Tony Horton and Shaun T sometimes recommend that you have recovery drink during your workout; to replace the burned up carbs. If you have a very hard workout, you might burn up your carbs even before they hour.

This is Why You Need Carbs/Sugar

When you look at the ingredients of the P90X Recovery Formula, you find that it has 39 gms of sugar. The reason for all of the sugar is that simple sugar is quickly absorbed into the blood, and can quickly replenish the burned up sugar in the muscles. If you don’t replace the sugars, you will drag, and also be slightly mentally impaired until your body breaks down stored fat into sugar. Breaking down fat takes a relatively long time.

Protein Drinks are Not Good for Recovery

As you can see, you need carbs for recovery, not protein. Protein is in the P90X Recovery Drink as it is absorbed later and does help with muscle building and repair. However, protein is absorbed in the small intestines, and it takes about 30 minutes before the protein is absorbed into your blood. Either way, it will not replace the carbs in your muscles will not satisfy your immediate energy needs. Protein has its place in muscle repair, but not as a recovery drink itself.

Even more important is that studies indicate that when you have a lot of carbs within 2 hours of working out, it increases your glycogen synthesis and storage. This means that you will be able to workout longer and harder in future workouts.

Recovery Drinks Fill The Purpose

While the P90X Recovery Drink is built into the P90X Nutrition Plan, you don’t necessarily need it after every workout. If the workout is not strenuous, then you can skip the recovery drink. I would say that if you are going to look at alternatives to the P90X drink, you need to make sure you are looking are making the right comparisons. For example, some recovery drinks advertise 30 servings for $30. However, they only have servings of 110 calories, so it is actually $30 for 15 servings since the P90X recovery drink has 220 calorie servings to adhere to the P90X Nutrition Plan.

P90X and Insanity Gift Guide

As the Christmas shopping season picks up steam, I thought I would offer a few gift ideas for P90Xers and Insanity fanatics, and those who love them. Some of these gifts are obvious, while others might actually be more interesting as trivia than gifts. Either way, consider those who will appreciate them most.

First, you might want to review my post about what to do after P90X. It has several potential gift ideas already. However for less obvious ideas read on.

Bring It!

Bring It! is the long awaited book from Tony Horton, due out on December 21, and is a great present for any P90Xer. I can go on, but this is probably the best present for the Tony Horton fan in your life.

Insanity Fast & Furious

If you are a fan of Insanity or P90X, Fast and Furious is a great workout to add to your library. It is a quick plyo workout that is a great to use for P90X Doubles, or in case you miss one of the other cardio workouts. At only 23 minutes long, it still probably burns more calories than Cardio X, and is definitely a great option when you are short on time.

P90X One on Ones

After you have done P90X, you can get tired of one or more workouts. The One on One workouts are P90X like workouts that you purchase individually and primarily used to add variety to a round of P90X. They can also be used to add upper body resistance training to Insanity. The Fountain of Youth is possibly the most popular workout in the series as it is a valid 45 minute version of Yoga X. The latest workouts are samples for the upcoming P90X:MC2 program, and can add both variety and increased intensity to the workouts they might replace. For Insanity owners, 30-15 is a great upper body workout.

Pull Up Bar

While P90Xers probably have a pull up bar already, Insanity fans probably don’t and will definitely need one for Asylum. Asylum is the going to be the Insanity graduate program, but won’t be at least until late February. It is going to be a full body workout and include pull ups. So get your Insane relatives psyched for the new workout, and get them a pull up bar.

The Gymnast and A Marine Story

Dreya Weber naked. For many men, and some women, that is the only description necessary. While many people know that the “Gorgeous Dreya Weber” from Legs and Back, Core Synergistics, etc, and P90X cover model is an aerialist, who appeared in Pink’s Grammy performance, Michael Jackson: This Is It, and other venues, few people know that Dreya has starred in two award winning movies. The Gymnast was her first movie, where she stars as an aging gymnast, who realizes she is a lesbian. This is probably a topic of conversation itself, but her husband, Ned Farr, director of P90X, is also the director of the movie. It is definitely a unique gift for many P90Xers. A Marine Story is a similarly themed movie that you can preorder now.

Super Troopers and Beerfest

Another P90X celebrity that few people know is Eric Stolhanske, the one legged guy from Plyo X, who is a member of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe. Broken Lizard is behind several popular movies, at least with some groups of people, like Super Troopers and Beerfest. So, enjoy Eric at his non-plyo best.

Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells

If you really want to make the P90Xer, or for that matter the Insanity fanatic, in your life happy, nothing beats a single set of dumbbells. Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells are an adjustable set of dumbbells that meets the needs of just about any Beachbody need. Tony heavily endorses this product in P90X+.

PowerBlock Classic Adjustable 5 to 45 lb Dumbbell Set

The PowerBlock Dumbbells are similar to the Bowflex dumbbells, but has some advantages and disadvantages. There is more limited range of motion with the PowerBlocks, but they are more compact. It is a personal choice, so I list both.

PowerBlock SportBlock 24 3 to 24-Pounds Dumbbell Set

The other adjustable weight sets might be overkill for women, but the PowerBlock SportBlock 24 Adjustable 3 to 24-Pounds per Dumbbell Set seems perfect. It accounts for the required weight range of about 95% of the women who do P90X, and is a lot easier to move around the house. These are also significantly less expensive than the larger sets of adjustable dumbbells, so they can also serve the needs of about 75% of men’s weight needs for P90X. You can supplement this with a good, strong band for exercises that would require more resistance.

Shakeology

While I realize that many people over pitch Shakeology and sell it like snake oil, I do not know a single person who uses it daily as a meal replacement and has not lost significantly weight within several weeks. It is a great way to jumpstart someone’s New Year’s resolutions in a very easy way that can save a lot of money when you consider the cost of the food it replaces. If you want to know how to get it for as low as $2.30 per serving feel free to send me a message here. I have used it for a long time. My family uses it. My kids ask for it, and I still have every single friend and business acquaintance I sold it to. I think that speaks for itself in this day and age. There is even a money back guarantee.

Body Gospel

Insanity and P90X are not the right program for everyone, so if you have someone in your life who might appreciate a Christ-based fitness program, Body Gospel might be perfect for them. While still challenging, it is designed so that even people with more than 70 lbs to lose, will get a great workout.

Bowflex Strapless Heart Rate Monitor for Women

Both Tony Horton and Shaun T recommend the use of heart rate monitors to insure you are in the right calorie burning zone. Also, many people want to know how many calories they burn in a workout. The Bowflex Strapless Heart Rate Monitor for Women is non-intrusive and great for women looking for this type of function.

Bowflex Strapless Heart Rate Monitor for Men

Without going into too much detail, the Bowflex Strapless Heart Rate Monitor for Men is basically the same heart rate monitor as the 10S mentioned above, but styled for men.

Bowflex Heart Rate Monitor with Strap

While the functionality is basically the same, the Bowflex Heart Rate Monitor with Strap model has a chest strap that is used to measure the heart rate, vice the watch component. Besides of being less expensive, many people find straps to be more accurate than their non-strap competition. Some people find it annoying, but many people say they get used to it, and like that it is more accurate. All models are presented for your convenience.

Fitness is a Great Gift Year Round

While this list was made for the Christmas season, the fact is that fitness is a great gift to get for anyone, for any reason. Don't wait for New Year's to start a new fitness program. Beachbody's programs are available to you, whenever you need them.