P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program

P90X Reviews

Review by Colin South

$139.80 plus free shipping on Amazon.com here.

The P90X Extreme Home Fitness Training System has been designed by the celebrity trainer, Tony Horton, to take someone who is already in good shape to the next level.

For people who are not physically fit or have significant medical limitations, this fitness program may not be appropriate because of the real risk for serious injury. That said, the P90X can help increase your strength, coordination, balance, flexibility, and stamina, while shedding any extra pounds, in just 90 days. If this program sounds too advanced for you, check out Tony’s Starter program Power P90 In-Home Boot Camp.

In Summary

  • Progression from Power 90
  • 90 day duration
  • 12 varied Workout Routines
  • Muscle Confusion Strategy
  • Nutrition Plan

Muscle Confusion

The innovative edge the P90X has over other home fitness programs is a method Tony Horton has developed called “muscle confusion”. By relying on 12 different workouts, and limiting the number of times each workout is performed for a given period, muscle groups don’t have time to fully adapt before confronting a new challenge. This prevents muscle groups from reaching a plateau, increases the overall complexity of the training program, and ensures that a more comprehensive fitness level is attained.

The P90X Extreme Home Fitness Training System comes with 12 DVDs that provide six strength training workouts, three cardio workouts, one stretching session, one yoga session, and a workout for sculpting abs.

During the 90 day period, strength and cardio workouts are done on alternating days, except for weeks 4, 8, and 13 when only cardio and stretching is done. Muscle confusion is accomplished by the following:

(1) three different strength training sessions are used for the first three weeks and the other three strength training sessions are used for weeks 5 through 7,

(2) during weeks 9 and 11 the first three strength training sessions are repeated, and during weeks 10 and 12 the second three strength training sessions are repeated.

Using this schedule, the muscles are first conditioned during the first two months and then challenged during the last month with a two week rotating schedule that never repeats a strength training session.

The P90X System includes other training tools to help enhance your workout experience. These include a DVD that provides an overview of the complete system called “How to Bring It”, a detailed fitness guide containing training tips, a calendar for tracking your progress, and a nutrition plan designed by the celebrity nutritionist Carrie Wiatt that will maximize weight loss without robbing you of the energy needed to complete the workouts.

Customized fitness programs are also provided that allows you to focus on specific fitness goals. These include the P90X Lean for focusing on weight loss, P90X Doubles for performance athletes that need more than one workout per day, PlyoX to increase the difficulty of cardio workouts that will challenge both the heart and joints, and the Cardio X for a more sedate, low-impact cardio workout.

Does Power P90X work?

Based on the large number of customer reviews that have been posted, the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Training System is very popular. The vast majority (83%) of these reviews were from happy customers.

Probably the most common comment is that the P90X Training System actually works, if you’re able to set aside more than six hours every week for completing the workout sessions. Some customers also noted that the cost of the system is about equal to the cost of a three month membership at a health club, which is good news for anyone who can’t get to a gym. The bottom line is that the P90X is a good value for the money and works as advertised, which is no small achievement.

P90x Before and After


P 90X Complaints

There were a few cautionary comments by customers worth noting. A few customers didn’t realize until after receiving the P90X training system in the mail that additional equipment would need to be purchased. Purchase recommendations from customers included stretch bands or barbells (preferred), a pull-up bar, push-up stands (or simply use barbells that can’t roll across the floor), and a yoga mat.

Some customers also noted that following the recommended diet was probably more expensive than some customers might be able to afford, and another customer discovered meal recommendations three weeks into the diet that weren’t appropriate for diabetics.

The relatively small number of negative customer reviews helped paint a more realistic picture of the P90X training system. The P90X is no magic bullet, because a significant time and energy commitment must be made to take full advantage of what the training system can offer. The heavy reliance on pushups, squats, and pull-ups limits the amount of resistance that can be used for these exercises. Should these exercises become easy, increasing resistance can only be accomplished by joining a gym or purchasing relatively expensive resistance training equipment.

More than a few customers commented that the P90X is hard on people with joint problems, so consult with your doctor before you purchase the P90X if you have medical ailments that could be aggravated by the intense training sessions. Quite a few customers grew annoyed with Tony’s occasionally “cheesy” banter, while others seemed to enjoy it. For anyone belonging to the former group, relief can be found by silencing the DVD sound track and listening to your own. Some customers complained that detailed explanations for how to use barbells and stretch bands were lacking, but these types of comments seemed to ignore the fact that P90X customers should already be in good shape by virtue of having learned the basics of resistance training.

Customer Comments

Here are some comments from people who have already purchased this program:

By A.S. Montgomory…My neighbor bought this workout and got great results. I tried it out, I did every workout for 90 days and stuck to the diet 99%, two days I ate like I wasn’t supposed to. I have wrist, elbow, knee and back problems, years of basketball. At the end of the 90 days I had virtually no joint pain. I did not do the full range of motion early on, I worked my way into it.

End result, I lost 32 pounds and looked good enough that I put my before and after pictures on facebook. It is a difficult series to make it through and my wife can’t stick to the diet. She does the workouts 3 to 5 times a week and looks much better now than she did before she started. Very good workout to get you looking good and feeling good.

J. Schwendinger…This program is the real deal. I have been doing P90X for 30 days now (Just finishing phase 1) and I can clearly see results! I am almost addicted! It’s fun, and hard. Don’t be surprised, the workouts are tough, they will drain you, this is the real thing. If you are not willing to push through pain, this is not the workout for you. But, if you are, if you are ready to do your best (regardless of what that is) and push until you can push no further, than P90X is the program for you. I used to think I was fairly in shape, HA, then I did Plyometircs. I used to think Yoga was for sissies, then I did yoga X. This program will change your perception of fitness.

The diet guide is essetial to the program. You can pump as much iron and burn as many calories as you want, but if your not putting the right fuel into your body you will not see the results you are looking for. P90X is much more than a workout. It is a way of life. It is a commitment to change the way you do things in every aspect of your life. To “Do your best, and forget the rest” as is repeated over and over in the DVD’s. I love it, and i hope you do too!

Click Here for more Customer Comments

The P90X Extreme Home Fitness Training System can help anyone relying on exercise for weight loss to arrive at their goals more quickly. Experienced athletes in sports-specific training programs may be able to avoid burnout, and the types of injuries common to this condition, by including Tony’s workouts into their training. If you are simply stuck in a personal training rut, the P90X could be exactly what you need to break free and attain a level of fitness you may have thought impossible.

Buy for $139.80 at Amazon.com CLICK HERE
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P90X Plus Workout Review

P90X Plus Workout DVD Set

P90X Plus Workout DVD Review

Review by Colin South

$69.85 plus free shipping on Amazon.com here.

If you’ve gone through the 90 day P90X Extreme training program at least once and are searching for ways to spice up the workouts before embarking on the next training cycle, the P90X Plus Workout DVD may be just what you’re looking for. The workouts included on the P90X Plus Workout DVD are intended to be integrated into the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Training System to further diversify your “muscle confusion” training options.

The P90X Plus workouts are shorter, more intense, and dispense with any breaks between exercises. The absence of short breaks will prevent you from being able to take notes on the number of reps performed and the weight lifted, and even though this seems inconvenient and counterintuitive at first, squeezing a one hour workout into 40 or 45 minutes produces a more intense cardio workout that will shed any remaining extra pounds.

In Summary

  • Only Buy if you are a P90X Graduate
  • 5 new workout Routines
  • Each Workout around 40mins
  • Focus on Upper Body Fitness

What’s included with P90X Plus

The P90X Plus Workout DVD contains five new workouts. These include:

(1) Interval X Plus cardio workout that intentionally varies heart rate,
(2) Kenpo Cardio Plus Self-Defense workout intended to rapidly burn calories,
(3) Upper Plus workout that focuses on the chest, back, biceps, triceps, and shoulders,
(4) Total Body Plus workout that’s self explanatory, and
(5) Abs/Core Plus workout that involves doing abdominal exercises while in hanging, sitting, standing, and plank positions.

All workouts last between 40 and 45 minutes, except for the Abs/Core workout which lasts just 20 minutes.

Included with the P90X Plus is a Fitness Guide that provides instructions on how to incorporate the P90X Plus workouts into the P90X Extreme fitness program. The Fitness Guide also provides tips on improving form by professional trainers. The website offers downloadable worksheets to help you keep track of your progress and 24/7 access to an online peer community that includes chat sessions with the designer of the P90 fitness training programs, Tony Horton. The workout presentation has also been spiced up by relying on the musical and production skills of Jason Scheff, the lead singer for the band Chicago.


P90X Plus: A review based on Customer Experiences

The limited number of customer reviews revealed that most people who purchased the P90X Plus Workout DVD were satisfied with their purchase and would recommend it to others. A limited number of comments were a bit effervescent and made unrealistic claims that the combined P90X training systems would end the need for personal trainers and gym membership fees. In contrast to these few overstated comments, the vast majority of customer reviews were more measured.

Overall, customer comments portrayed the P90X Plus as a training tool designed to build overall fitness levels by focusing on core and upper body muscle groups at the expense of the lower body. The increased cardiovascular nature of the workouts also elicited many comments, primarily because customer expectations were based on the P90X Extreme training program. A few customers didn’t like the increased focus on cardio because they were hoping for more “muscle confusing” strength training workouts, while other customers valued this aspect of the P90X Plus series of workouts.

INTERESTING NOTE: Many customers found that a subset of the P90X Plus workouts were preferable to those offered by the P90X Extreme training program, the Kenpo Cardio Plus and Abs/Core Plus for example, and simply replaced the old with the new. The decision to dissect the P90X Plus training program by several customers created the impression that the DVD was being used as a workout library, rather than an optional integrated training regimen to be incorporated into the P90X Extreme fitness program.

P90x Before and After

Customer Comments

Here are some comments from people who have already purchased this program:

By Pamela F. Gray…I started with P90X and found it to be a wonderful workout that does work. It isn’t for those who aren’t regular exercisers and P90X+ is only for those who can actually do P90X. It takes your workout to another level. For those of us who can work out at home and enjoy weight training these at home workouts are FABULOUS! After having a personal trainer for years and having to give it up this really has taken the place of going to the gym. LOVE IT!

Scott…Great set of workouts and is consistent with the regular p90x. The workouts are a little bit shorter which i like and the intensity of the workouts have been increased quite a bit too. Overall, another great set of workouts and worth buying if you’ve already done the regular p90x.

Ronaldo…I have done many, many rounds of the P90X and purchased the Plus to augment the P90X classic. I am 46 and have been doing the P90X series for two years now. Most workouts are kept under 40 minutes. This is completely opposite from the Classic series where most workouts are 1 hr long. The difference in the Plus is that Tony keeps the participants moving from one exercise to the next one fairly quickly. This adds more intensity to the workouts. There is also a trainer’s track where Tony discusses the howto and purpose of each exercise.

Click Here for more Customer Comments

It’s obvious from the customer reviews that the workouts included on the P90X Plus Workout DVD are not for everyone, yet more than a few customers found the price of the DVD worth paying just to obtain one or two of the P90X Plus workouts. Regardless of which camp you may fall into, the intended purpose of the P90X Plus seems to have been poorly advertised by Tony Horton and crew.

The increased cardio intensity, due to the elimination of breaks or pauses between exercises, creates new challenges for the cardiovascular system and muscle groups. This is completely consistent with the “muscle confusion” theme of the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Training System. Buy it and use it intact. Doing so will force your body to take another fitness leap forward as you face the new challenge that Tony Horton has placed in your path.

Buy for $69.85 at Amazon.com CLICK HERE
(Free Shipping included)

Enhancing P90 Workout Programs with Diet

Diet and P90 Workouts

Like any other exercise program or a serious muscle building routine, nothing works correctly without a proper diet plan. This is because diet plans are essential parts of any exercise program, P90X included.

If a successful workout program is paired with the most suitable diet plan, wonders can happen quickly. This is because diet plans form a very essential component of any exercise schedule.

Commercial diet plans

There are a number of commercial diet plans that are perfect with the P90X workout program. From P90X vitamins and minerals to P90X proteins, there is always a suitable diet scheme for every user of P90X workout plan.

We can always use any one according to our own tastes, choices, and the availability of resources. The diet plan that is packaged with the P90X system is found to be very effective in avoiding excessive calories and gets the user in better shape without putting on too much on their bellies.

The following are random notes on some foods and their important nutrients that a body builder needs.

Fish oils

From the P90X experts, there is a wide variety of choices that include codfish, whitefish and anchovies. These foods are known to have the important vitamins and other nutrients that make people healthy.

Cod liver oil is a known anti-depressant and is found to be very good in muscle building. Salmon, on the other hand, includes an array of essential vitamins. Whitefish contains optimum quantity of fats necessary to help keep the body fatigue-resistant.

Lean meats

Fish oils contain Omega 3 acids which are needed by the body undergoing any muscle building program. With a rigorous workout program like P90X, however, the intake of food items with Omega 3 acids has to be just as rigorous.

Lean meat can address such a requirement, and in the quantity needed for P90 programs. Recommended items include chicken, steak chops, pork chops, tenderloin, sirloin and turkey.

Supplements

Our bodies which are into the rigorous P90X program would need ample amounts of vitamins and minerals to achieve peak performance. Getting the right balance of proper vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients make all the difference how your body grows and responds to your daily rigors..

While all these needed substances are found naturally in food, we simply do not eat enough of each vital nutrient everyday. Thankfully, science gave us some solutions in the form of multivitamins.

Most multivitamins have more or less similar amounts of key nutrients. They are not the same, however. Thankfully, the new trend in vitamin design today is in multi-pack packaging of several pills together.

Packing in all of these important elements into a single pill can be tricky. While many manufacturer claim they have the best formula, a few key elements are necessary.

For example, B vitamins are especially important for boosting energy, while vitamins A and C can truly boost your immune function. Your multi-pack must include antioxidants as well (to combat cancer-causing free radicals) and some cardio-vascular support.

These are some of the diet components that should be able to enhance the effect of such rigorous body-building program as P90X.

About this Site
This site provides an in depth review of the P90 Workout Program series from professional trainer Tony Horton.

Information has been compiled from product information, reviews and customer feedback found on Amazon.com and other websites. We have analysed this information for you to identify the features, benefits and potential drawbacks of each workout program in the series.

We are an Amazon.com associate. This means that if you follow one of our links to Amazon.com and buy something, we get a small commission. This helps us pay for the free information and reviews we provide on this site.