P90X Thread

[Colonel M]

I'm pretty sure there are some people that have heard about this program before (personally I heard it over the radio station that I listened to often), and let's be frank: I'm not the thinnest guy on earth and I'm definitely in an unhealthy condition. With my grandfather dying at 43 due to a heart attack and my dad having a close call (no heart attack, but if he did), I figured that I would attempt to shape myself up and make up to a healthier lifestyle. Of course, after hearing about this program from others I decided that I shall take a spin on it starting February 1st of this year. There's of course the extra challenge for me to quitting my terrible soda habit, but I'm hoping that it's not as hard as I'm thinking it will be. Vitamin Water will help.

Anyway, I figured that we could discuss it. There's cardio and yoga within it. Well, from what I heard of. I've heard a lot of people complain about the yoga and, to be frankly honest, I'm not a huge fan of yoga myself so I'm probably just going to do the cardio.

So yeah, I'm looking for the P90X fans and looking for some advice on the journey of a healthier lifestyle with it. I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[JabbaTheGriffin]

i'm technically on day 4 right now (i have trouble doing it every day, but i'm trying to buckle down)

yoga is definitely ridiculous if not just for the fact that it's an hour and a half long, i heard it's pretty crucial to the workout though so if other people doing it could weigh in on what they think that'd be nice since i would love any excuse to skip this.

i know a few smogoners are doing this but are just as terrible as me as keeping on schedule. it'd be nice if we could keep each other motivated though so we can be the sexiest pokemon site on the internet.

also i'd love to see you guys topless. before and after pictures anyone?

 

[Colonel M]

Yeah, it'd be great to get motivation from this too. I remember when I lifted weights for a short time I didn't really get into it because the only person to motivate me was myself. My lifting partner was kind of a twig and all he ever wanted to talk about was freaking WoW or Runescape. That and he never lifted much past 25 lbs and the bar. <_<;

 

[jwoozie]

I haven't actually done the whole program but I do have the ab section. It's called Ab Ripper X and if you keep the pace set on the video it is intense. I can definitely see how keeping up with the program could produce some great results.

As for motivation, unless you have great self-discipline it is hard to motivate yourself, so if possible maybe another person in the household or a friend could do the program with you. Just having someone there that you are comfortable working out with will help your motivation vastly.

 

[DM]

I did P90x from August to November, never missing a single day. On day 90 I was in the best shape of my life, so yes, it works. I can also answer any questions you may have about the program.

#1: don't you fucking dare skip Yoga. It's absolutely essential to your overall fitness, and yes, it's hard as hell. The last time I did it in November I still couldn't hold all the moves as long as they did in the video, but I was close. My balance was superb and my leg strength and endurance was exceptional. All the other workouts are great, but Yoga is the one that ties everything together. Trust me on this.

#2: doing it every day will be difficult. I did it every day for 90 days, and it was next to impossible to do that around school and work and having a girlfriend and social life. Don't get down if you miss a day (I would actually double up sometimes if I missed a day), just get back on the horse the day after. If you ever need motivation, just go on YouTube and look at before/after videos. Shit WORKS.

#3: speaking of which:

Keep in mind, I did not have the diet guide, nor would I bother to follow it. I ate healthy but I wasn't about to go all stupid and cut everything out of my life. I love food too much.

 

[Colonel M]

/me cracks knuckles.

K, so while this is going on I'm attempting to quit the pop. Stocking up on Vitamin Waters (somehow) since they at least have something going for them other than flavor. I'm more so afraid of those caffeine headaches and the temptation. Thankfully I can get past the latter. I went to Subway and got a Sub. Put the drink right under the Coke and stopped myself, put it under the Powerade, said "nah" and just got the Water.

So I'm getting the P90X stuff ready. I get a paycheck Thursday so I can get the supplies. The only question I have are:

- Recommended dumbells to get.
- Yoga Mat: Yes or no? I have carpet in the basement and upstairs (basement would be the place I'd like to do it, but if all else fails I can do it upstairs). I'm guessing it's far from necessary.
- Anything to help numb the soreness. Allow me to recall that I work at a job that requires me to stand up all the time. I'm guessing a shitload of Protein and Potassium would help (Potassium mostly for random cramp attacks). Anything else perhaps?

Any other advice is welcome of course.

As for motivation, unless you have great self-discipline it is hard to motivate yourself, so if possible maybe another person in the household or a friend could do the program with you. Just having someone there that you are comfortable working out with will help your motivation vastly.

I'm a weird guy that actually is the opposite of that. Namely, I actually feel like I lose motivation when I work out with people around me.

As for the whole "do pictures and what not", I'll join up. I know I look ugly as sin, but I can do a weekly progress and what not I think. I mean, anything to help me keep the motivation going and all.

 

[popemobile]

I'm not a fan of p90x but I'll leave that for the physical fitness thread.

My advice to you is to not drink vitamin water because the stuff has a lot of calories. If anything get the stuff with no calories, but I'd recommend just straight up drinking water because I lost a lot of weight doing that. Losing weight is pretty much all calorie intake and drinking vitamin water won't help that.

 

[Colonel M]

I'm not a fan of p90x but I'll leave that for the physical fitness thread.

My advice to you is to not drink vitamin water because the stuff has a lot of calories. If anything get the stuff with no calories, but I'd recommend just straight up drinking water because I lost a lot of weight doing that. Losing weight is pretty much all calorie intake and drinking vitamin water won't help that.

Ugh... fine... I'll just pull it if I desperately need something for a sweet tooth.

The real reason I was drinking it was because it kept me away from the pop. That's the thing that's troubling me.

 

[mtr]

Meh, I pirated P90X and looked into it, but really, wasn't too impressed. It works because it's a very comprehensive program, but if you've already developed muscle mass and neural connections, you could do just as well with a traditional cutting program.

 

[Xaqwais]

How good is it for building muscle mass? To give you an idea of my situation, I'm 5'7'', and 105 pounds and at max 4% body fat last time (more likely around 3%, I don't recall) I stepped on one of those inaccurate scales to do so. I tried using a caliper to get my percentage 2 years ago, and the one they had in my health class didn't even have markings for people as skinny as I was.

So my question is to anyone who might know if I'm better off just going with straight and standard weight training at a gym or would something like P90x?

I'm not looking to get ripped (knowing my body stature, I'm not gonna get too much mass any time soon) but moreso to gain the ability to be useful. I'm not a dead weight when moving tables or desks and stuff, but I'm pretty dang close.

 

[Oglemi]

From what I heard, Muscle Milk and/or Gatorade is the stuff to drink if you plan on working out with P90X.

I personally don't work out, thanks to my amazing metabolism, but everyone I know would always drink Gatorade if they were going to do anything that required physical activity.

 

[mtr]

How good is it for building muscle mass? To give you an idea of my situation, I'm 5'7'', and 105 pounds and at max 4% body fat last time (more likely around 3%, I don't recall) I stepped on one of those inaccurate scales to do so. I tried using a caliper to get my percentage 2 years ago, and the one they had in my health class didn't even have markings for people as skinny as I was.

So my question is to anyone who might know if I'm better off just going with straight and standard weight training at a gym or would something like P90x?

I'm not looking to get ripped (knowing my body stature, I'm not gonna get too much mass any time soon) but moreso to gain the ability to be useful. I'm not a dead weight when moving tables or desks and stuff, but I'm pretty dang close.

P90X won't help you at all. It's not designed for hardgainers who want to gain mass, it's designed for bodybuilders looking to cut, and works for average Americans who want to improve their physique. You should do something like Rippletoe's Starting Strength, Madcow, Stronglifts, or Wendler 5/3/1 (the last of which I'm doing).

 

[popemobile]

How good is it for building muscle mass? To give you an idea of my situation, I'm 5'7'', and 105 pounds and at max 4% body fat last time (more likely around 3%, I don't recall) I stepped on one of those inaccurate scales to do so. I tried using a caliper to get my percentage 2 years ago, and the one they had in my health class didn't even have markings for people as skinny as I was.

So my question is to anyone who might know if I'm better off just going with straight and standard weight training at a gym or would something like P90x?

I'm not looking to get ripped (knowing my body stature, I'm not gonna get too much mass any time soon) but moreso to gain the ability to be useful. I'm not a dead weight when moving tables or desks and stuff, but I'm pretty dang close.

My problem with p90x is because it's way way less effective at building muscle mass than a standard strength training program, which I think are significantly better for beginners. Also, you can get just about as big as you want as long as you eat enough.

If you want a program send me a PM or go to the physical fitness thread and ask there

edit:

P90X won't help you at all. It's not designed for hardgainers who want to gain mass, it's designed for bodybuilders looking to cut, and works for average Americans who want to improve their physique. You should do something like Rippletoe's Starting Strength, Madcow, Stronglifts, or Wendler 5/3/1 (the last of which I'm doing).

yeah this. I do Stronglifts so that's what I'd recommend to you, or go with Starting Strength which is easily as good a program if not better. Madcow and 5/3/1 are generally for more advanced lifters so you shouldn't really worry about them right now.

 

[Thorns]

does it work for underweight people who need to gain enough weight before the age of 18 otherwise they'll be considered unhealthy and go on a special diet where they can't eat salad or something and take blood tests and shots like every day

 

[popemobile]

p90x is not good for gaining weight

if you want to gain weight, eat a ton and lift heavy stuff

 

[Xaqwais]

Hm, lifting heavy and eating a lot, neither of which I can do. Thanks for the suggestions mtr and pope, I'll look into different things. I'll probably end up asking my brother's friend (bodybuilder, personal trainer and Lifetime) for pointers 'cause I'm not helpless to the point of not knowing how to operate machines or dumbbell lift, but once I get to a gym, I kinda get lost in what to do first.

 

[popemobile]

Hm, lifting heavy and eating a lot, neither of which I can do. Thanks for the suggestions mtr and pope, I'll look into different things. I'll probably end up asking my brother's friend (bodybuilder, personal trainer and Lifetime) for pointers 'cause I'm not helpless to the point of not knowing how to operate machines or dumbbell lift, but once I get to a gym, I kinda get lost in what to do first.

obviously you would start light and work your way up, in fact the program recommends you start with an empty bar for every exercise. Eating a lot is easy. Drink lots of milk, too. There's the ever popular GOMAD you could try (Gallon of Milk A Day). Read here:

http://stronglifts.com/gomad-milk-squats-gallon-gain-weight/

Basically you're giving up way too easily I think. The program is completely structured and tells you everything that you need to do, which you said is a problem for you. So it should help. Here's the program I use:

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/

I really urge you to try it

 

[IK.]

i have tried it before but it's really hard to stay motivated.
hoping to get on it again when i have more time

also, vitamin water isn't really good for you since it has a lot of sugar, just stick with water

 

[popemobile]

Ugh... fine... I'll just pull it if I desperately need something for a sweet tooth.

The real reason I was drinking it was because it kept me away from the pop. That's the thing that's troubling me.

The problem is that it's basically as bad as pop, at least from a "losing weight" perspective. Give it up completely and just stick with water.

 

[FlareBlitz]

To the OP:

Have you thought about vegetarianism?

Don't freak out >_> Vegetarianism is an absolutely fantastic way to get heart problems under control, because you won't be eating nearly as much saturated fat or cholesterol, which reduces LDL and prevents your arteries from getting all clogged up.
Meat is ingrained in the diets of most people, obviously, so full blown vegetarianism is probably going to be difficult to pull off. In that case, I would recommend transitioning to healthier meats (chicken, fish) and matching every serving of meat with two servings of vegetables. Avoid all fast food! Something that a lot of people fail to understand is that your diet is as, or more, important than your workouts, and I would focus on fixing that first before trying anything else.

(And don't let anyone tell you that vegetarianism prevents you from putting on muscle, I'm 6'2 195lbs with 12% body fat and I haven't had any meat, ever)

 

[THE_IRON_...KENYAN?]

I always had a feeling you were asian FlareBlitz

 

[popemobile]

vegetarianism is for tossers

edit: but yeah I agree that diet is incredibly important for losing weight. You can do all the cardio in the world and still gain weight if you eat too much. I'd still put strength training as more important than dieting but it's definitely second

 

[FlareBlitz]

I always had a feeling you were asian FlareBlitz

Because of my large penis right

And I'm not a tosser :(

 

[ivar]

My advice to you is to not drink vitamin water because the stuff has a lot of calories. If anything get the stuff with no calories, but I'd recommend just straight up drinking water because I lost a lot of weight doing that. Losing weight is pretty much all calorie intake and drinking vitamin water won't help that.

seconding this: if you're gonna drink vitamin water, you might as well drink actual soda, since both are loaded with sugar and calories. for example, take a standard multivitamin, mix it with a can of coke and voila--you have more nutritional value and less sugar than a bottle of vitamin water (the vitamin water has a larger portion to be fair, though).

drink water and for some flavour make a smoothie with bananas, strawberries with milk or whatever flaots your boat. said smoothie cover your entire sugar intake--that is, if you're interested in losing weight.

@Xazwais

haha i don't doubt that you're skinny but you're not 3% body fat. that's like auschwitz level body fat, i.e. you're getting like 200 calories a day and barely alive body fat percentage. you're probably about 7-8 with very little muscle

 

[iDunno]

#3: speaking of which:

The only difference I see is that you grew about an inch and you got a tan. Thats it.