It’s been over one year now since I purchased P90X, so I decided to give a status update on the progress I’ve made with the program. I can sum up that progress with two words: complete failure.
Let me explain…
In January of 2009, I realized that I needed to start exercising. I even blogged about the benefits of exercising, which in summary were:
- Exercising will give me more energy to play with the kids. (Increased stamina.)
- Exercising will give me more patience. (As a dad and as a husband.)
- Exercising will give me a better chance of meeting my grandchildren. (Obvious health benefits.)
- Exercising will improve my marriage. (Healthier body, healthier marriage.)
- I’ll set a proper example for the kids. (To live healthier lives.)
So I was really excited when my P90X package arrived at my front door. I was so excited that I went out and purchased all the extra gear that I’d need to use the program. Basically I was set and ready to go!
The first week on P90X, I was really sore. I mean REALLY sore. I didn’t even know I had all those muscles that were aching. But I knew that was to be expected, so I pushed through it.
The second week of P90X, the initial soreness started to go away. I was getting into the program and started feeling a great sense of accomplishment. After all, P90X is a hardcore program. For an out-of-shape guy like me, it was no small task to get through each day’s workout.
The third week of P90X, I was really starting to just feel good in general. I think this is when the true effects of exercise were really kicking in for me. I was much more upbeat and positive throughout the day. I was beginning to notice an increase to my stamina and daily energy levels.
Except for One Problem…
Despite all the benefits, I was fighting against a huge problem. You see, by the end of each week, all those positive effects would be replaced by a generalized sick feeling.
I would have no energy.
Basically, by the end of each week, I’d feel extremely run-down and negative. I would have no energy. It would be a struggle at best to do the final workouts of the week. Eventually it got so bad that I just started skipping workouts at the end of the week.
After 5 weeks of doing great at the beginning of the week, followed by huge crashes, my body finally gave up. I don’t know if it was coincidence or the effects of the workout, but I got sick. I mean “for real” sick. I had to stay home from work and fight off the flu. Considering how I was feeling, I decided it would be best to rest up and recover from the flu before continuing with P90X.
The was the last time I exercised.
Basically, I gave up on exercising.
The entire past year, I haven’t been exercising or eating right. What do I have to show for it?
- I often feel too tired to play with the kids.
- I can get agitated way too easily.
- I had chest pains and ended up in the emergency room. (Fortunately it was a false alarm, but still…)
- I’ve been too tired and agitated at times to really contribute to my marriage as much as I should.
- I’m setting a bad example and teaching bad habits to the girls.
Basically the opposite of all the benefits I’d realize if I were exercising on a routine basis.
Ugh… This wasn’t how it was supposed to turn out.
What went wrong?
I believe the problem I experienced was simple and common—especially to people doing exercise programs like P90X. I simply wasn’t eating enough.
I simply wasn’t eating enough.
That might sound funny, but I believe it’s 99% of the problem I was facing. It was the reason I started to feel sick by the end of each week. I was burning more calories than I was taking in, and by the end of each week, this was catching up to me. Giving 100% effort to P90X burns a lot of calories, and it’s important to keep up. Yet in my case, that wasn’t happening. I think it was because I was trying so hard to eat right, that I simply refused to eat anything bad, or eat anything that would put my fat/carb/protein ratios out of whack.
Believe it or not, it can be very hard to consume enough daily calories if you’re not used to eating properly with the correct ratios of fat, carbs, and proteins. It’s especially hard if you’re staying active and working out. With P90X, it’s important to eat a lot of protein and limit the fat and carb intake. Easier said than done!
Most foods are so high in fat these days. I was doing my best to limit my fat intake to the proper percentages, but I was having trouble finding foods I could eat. Also I was struggling to find good sources of protein that weren’t high in fat either. This became really tough because I was on a limited grocery budget, and for whatever reason, healthy foods cost a lot more money.
What am I going to do about it?
For several weeks now I’ve been telling myself that I need to start exercising again. Yet I do nothing. So the first step in starting back up is self-motivation. I just need to find the strength of will to do it.
I’m going to focus on what I can do.
The second step is going to be lowering expectations. I’m not going to be as worried about eating perfectly. Instead I’m just going to focus on eating “better.” If I need to eat more carbs or fat in order to avoid crashing by the end of the week, then so be it! Also I’m not going to be as hardcore about the P90X workouts themselves. If I only have time for one set instead of two (half the daily workout instead of the full workout), then it’s better to do one set than nothing at all. My health will still improve eating better and doing the exercises I have time for, versus eating junk food and not exercising at all. In a nutshell, I’m going to focus on what I can do to improve my health while staying healthy.
I’m also going to find myself a fitness goal that will help keep me motivated. One idea I’ve had is to sign-up for the local MS Ride, which is a 150 mile charity bicycle ride. I participated in this ride for three years straight, but then stopped doing it the past two years. My hope is that if I sign up, I’ll be motivated to exercise since I’ll have a goal of preparing for the event. Plus it will help to mix things up, because instead of doing all of the P90X aerobic workouts, I can hop on my bicycle and go on a training ride instead.
Conclusion…
To wrap things up, so far my P90X experience has been a complete failure, but I really want to turn that around.
Do you think I can? If you have any encouraging words to share with me, please do. I need all the encouragement and motivation I can get! Thanks.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m kind of in the same boat.. I’ve done /several/ rounds of P90X, but after getting laid off last year.. my motivation took a steep dive. Getting back into the swing of things has proved to be quite difficult. I have restarted the program several times, and not even completed my first week before giving up. Getting my head straight is my biggest hurdle, I believe. I think I tend to dwell on all the past failed restarts.. I’ve just started to run. I hate running, but I am doing the Couch 2 5K.. It starts out slow.. so each day is a small accomplishment.. My plan is to increase my stamina through running.. then jump back onto p90x.
not all that motivating.. but I can offer a “Goooooooooo Team!”
@Critter – Thanks for the “Go Team!” motivation.
I know what you’re saying about the mental aspect. Not eating enough calories caused me to washout of P90X my first time around, but it’s the mental aspect that’s keeping me from starting it back up again.
I just need to remind myself what Tony Horton keeps saying on the DVDs: “Do your best and forget the rest.”
I stumbled upon your blog and I thought your story gave some good insight. I have been doing P90X for a year and know the importance of eating enough calories. The fact that you recognized that you weren’t eating enough was probably the reason why you had lack of energy and lost motivation. Did you ever get a P90X coach when you did the program? It helped me out tremendously because I had someone to help me stay on track. I liked it so much that I became one myself. Check out my website and let me know if you have any questions going forward.
Good luck!
Sean´s last blog ..Should I work out while I’m Sick?
@Sean – Yes, I got a random coach when I first signed up. However the guy was AWOL, so I found a new coach that was very good at communicating. Unfortunately, my new coach does it as his business, and while he’s a nice guy, he’s more about the marketing for new products than he is about the exercise aspect of it.
I found the Team Beach Body forums to be a much more helpful place for advice and encouragement.
@Jon: The team beachbody forums are great. I have my own topic on there…come by and say hi. http://teambeachbody.com/connect/message-boards/-/message_boards/message/19593569
Sean´s last blog ..Should I work out while I’m Sick?
The amount of workout load in P90X over an extended period of time can play a huge role in fatigue, sickness, what have you…I ended up in the same boat after two rounds of P90X. I didn’t feel like relying on sugary “recovery” drinks, eating every 2 hours, and carbo-loading like the P90X nutrition plan requires, and I got sick of stressing exactly what my nutrient ratios were on a daily basis, so I completely stopped the cycle, stopped P90X and started doing more functional, shorter workouts. I have more energy, I haven’t lost progress, and I don’t have to deal with Tony. The program is good for a 90 “quick fix”, but I think the company and products behind it are becoming very gimmicky and overwhelming. Too many “coaches” and spammers around the boards giving sales pitches instead of reasonable (sensible) advice. And no offense to those that actually do give good advice – but you’re few and far between!
I think if you’d like to continue the workouts, modify them. They’re too long to begin with and the extra length does little to add to the effectiveness. Lift heavy, lift with focus, lift for a shorter time. Go for a walk or a run, do some sprints, play a sport, just lift heavy things around the house! I thank a few posts and advice over at Mark’s Daily Apple (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/) for getting me steered in a more sensible direction with my nutrition and fitness.
There’s a “devil’s advocate” sort of post on P90X that I enjoy here:
http://naturalbias.com/why-the-p90x-exercise-program-is-overrated/
Some of the comments provide even more insight than the article itself.
@Melissa – Thanks for those links. I’ll definitely give them a look. I agree with you about the business end of the coaches.. I’m a coach.. but I’ve only signed up for the discount it provides me. The jump on tactics that can be seen on twitter when /anyone/ mentions #p90x.. seriously disgusts me..
As for the length of the p90x workouts.. I agree with you on that as well. I usually fast forward through all of Tony’s talking, etc… I can get a 56 minute workout down to 36 minutes…
Yeah, no doubt. I was a coach for a while but ended up dropping it because of the goofy tactics and whatnot.
There’s a community of people at Mark’s Daily Apple (forums) that have some good advice on how to modify P90X and other BB workouts to avoid burnout and fatigue. I’d consider picking up the program again if I need some structure built into my workouts (or need more progress/weight loss) but for now I’m pretty content doing more free-form activity.
I too am a coach, but got into it because it was fulfilling. I enjoy helping people get healthy and fit. I am a big reader of Mark’s Daily Apple and I am now reading The Primal Blueprint. I first stumbled upon Mark because he was the main contributor for the supplements that P90X sells.
I am a big believer that health/fitness is all about trial and error. What works for one person might not work for the next. I am glad that you all have found things that work. The most important thing is continuing to live a healthy active lifestyle. I was disappointed that the author of the article you listed thinks that there is no way you can be “healthy” doing P90X. I would disagree. That being said, for me, P90X was a stepping stone to learning more about my own health and fitness.
Sean´s last blog ..Should I work out while I’m Sick?
@Sean – I agree it’s hard to jump to absolute conclusions about P90X. Clearly doing P90X is better than sitting on the couch.
That said, there is a lot of marketing hype behind P90X, and I can see where people would feel discouraged or let down if they weren’t able to keep up with the program. Clearly that’s part of the problem I faced. Like you said, it’s “trial and error.” If people are doing P90X and struggling like I was and find this blog post, I hope they know that they’re not alone, and that they should not give up on exercising altogether.
@Melissa – Thanks for sharing your perspective and also for the links to those other blogs. I just read the post at http://naturalbias.com/why-the-p90x-exercise-program-is-overrated/ and it has definitely given me a lot to think about.
The first thing that jumped out at me is that I’m not alone. I feel better knowing that.
Personally I do want to increase muscle strength (including arms) because I’m not very strong today. However I don’t want to become a bodybuilder either. So I’m going to look for a way to modify P90X to get strength training benefits. One thing off the top of my head is to just do one set instead of two, and skip specific exercises that are hard or overly strenuous. I’m also going to replace the cardio routines with other activities. Currently that will include 20-30 mile bicycle rides (takes around an hour) as training for the MS Ride later this summer.
I’m also going to completely disregard the P90X nutrition plan because it never worked for me. Guess I need to do my research to determine a better nutrition plan for me.
wow amazing info bro.
Hi Sean. I was wondering, since you have done P90X for a year, maybe now more time. Can you plateau by repeating the program? I have been doing it out for a year, a few months ago, I increased my weight, and workouts have become hard, again. I still can’t do Plyo complete… Can I plateau by repeating the program over and over? I change the order from round to round though.
Thanks for your help!
@Isol: Funny you should ask. I was just thinking about that. I really haven’t plateaued at all from over a year of P90X. What I did was stick to the phase system. I also incorporated some of the One on One dvds as well as P90X plus to keep things fresh. I still get sore from the P90X workouts, I still improve my numbers and add more strength. I haven’t done Legs/Back in 3 weeks and I just did it this last Friday. I don’t think I have ever been that sore since I first started. Its funny how these workouts have so much variety that you can keep doing them as long as you stick to the phase system.
Sean´s last blog ..P90X and Recovery
Hi Sean!! Now I saw your response. I really thought you never answered jajaja Well, you know I keep doing P90X, I just love it. But I have added other work outs, because the ladies need a little extra work in the legs, you know. I do a lot of things with my workouts. Some times I take a tony work out and I do it in circuits, I press pause, and do cardio for a minute. Excelent! My results are great, for a year I did it exactly as the program says, Is know that I have added other programs. I am getting a little bit skinny so I started adding protein and more calories. But I’m soy pleased with the results. I have some pics in facebook. Thanks for answering.
As long you don’t let Doug Gottlieb find out, you should be good. I hate disappointing Gottlieb.
LOL good point.
Hi,
I just stumbled across your blog because I just started P90X yesterday. I am doing the lean program. I found your post interesting and it is helpful to realize just how important eating enough is. I do not need to lose weight, so therefore I am not getting too strict about following certain % of protein, carbs and fat. I typically eat pretty low fat and I do NOT do well when I cut carbs back so far like Phase 1 says to do. So, I am just focusing on eating as healthy as I can and eating when I am hungry. I am hoping that I will be able to get through the program if I listen to my body and eat enough. Today, I have been hungry about every 2-3 hours so I’m thinking that is good
Good luck to you!
Kimberly
I will have to say to everyone that variety is definitely the key. Several months ago, I was able to convince my fiancee to give P90X a try. I also bought her Tony’s Ten Minute Workout DVD’s. Those workouts have been a tremendous alternative to doing P90 every day. We alternate between doing half a P90, to a full P90, to two Ten Minute Workout, to going for runs around the neighborhood. It has kept the fat burning without us getting bored by routine. I will just say to every one “Stick With It!!!!” The results will come. Also on the food thing, I cut down on fatty foods just by buying lowfat items of the things I love to eat (mostly cheese and using wheat or whole grain pasta/tortillas). This has been an extreme help and to be honest with you, I don’t even taste the difference anymore. I am an ice cream feign, so I started buying frozen yogurt, sherberts, and sorbets. Its just little changes that will make the difference. I can’t do the Michi’s thing and I’m not even gonna try.
I agree with Quincy, I added Hip Hop Abs and Zumba instead of some of the dvds I don’t like such as Yoga (which hurts my wrists the way they change positions so quickly) and Plyometric (bad knees)… I find myself sticking with it because I do the activities I enjoy rather than what I feel is a chore. I love lifting weights and I love dancing therefore, my routine now works for me. The key with Hip Hop Abs is to do 2 dvds back to back with arm weights, really feel it in the core then. Zumba comes with toning sticks that are light hand weights. 90 minutes of physical activity a day (i.e. walking, playing sports, etc..) + 30 mins or more of cardio and 3x a week of resistance training or weightlifting and eating clean is what helps the most.