August 9, 2010
p90x completed
Over the past few months (90 days, even) I have been doing an exercise program, the p90x. Finished it yesterday.
The program is a mix of resistance/weights training, cardio, martial arts, yoga, all combined into a full body ass-kicking. The workouts pack in a lot of variety and change over time. It works out at an hour to an hour and a half each day, with a fairly rigorous and restrictive dietary guide. The combination is what sold me, I think – it seemed comprehensive, in a way that infomercial stuff doesn’t.
After looking into all things body-modification a little, I went the whole hog on what seemed to work, taking whey protein and a recovery drink after workouts, and creatine as a supplement. In particular I have noticed the effect of the creatine – a definite initial feeling of being superhuman, and being able to go harder than maybe expected, and a definite slowing down on cycling off it. And the whey and recovery stuff makes hella difference post workout. (P90 has its own brand everything but I just found locally available equivalents.)
Over the course of the program, I gained 7 kg and my overall body fat went down 2%. My body is definitely a bit of a different shape beneath my ever shapeless clothes. And yeah, I must be substantially fitter, though it is hard to tell exactly without an external benchmark. Although there is a post- test to do, maybe that will give a clear picture.
The program is probably not for everyone. You need a certain level of fitness to start – not unreasonable, but not nothing. Sticking to the diet seems crucial, and is harder than the exercise. There is a lot of gear you need to acquire (though you get to keep it after, of course). And Tony Horton may get on your nerves as he yells motivating shit at you non stop for 90 days (although: respect. Mofo is seriously fit.), though I didn’t mind it. Depending on your actual goals something else may be better suited, but on the whole it seems like a good highly compressed program for total body fitness.
So yeah. Was good to do some intensively body focused stuff to hopefully balance out the writing etc. And hopefully I will keep active and maintain this as a new baseline of fitness.
Filed by billy at 8:20 pm under the moose
3 Comments
Eh gad! I looked into this briefly after some Australian dancers recommended it.
It looked pretty hard by my standards, not a kind of fitness I’ve had much of before.
It did seem an appropriate exercise program before getting into serious Lindd-hop ‘air steps’, so it still has potential to feature in my future.
d.
The first week *hurts*.
It is hard, but just takes discipline/motivation.
Oh, and the whole thing is quite adaptable/modular depending on your goals – can do it differently if you are trying to put on muscle, or lose weight, etc
onya! fitness of whatever flavour one likes is a really important part of a happy life