Revisiting P90X 20 Years Later

 

As readers of this page know, I recently did the original P90X program. The program, which was originally released in 2004 on DVD (and VHS), took the home workout market by storm. Before it came along, most at-home workouts (aside from the handful of other BeachBody workouts that existed at the time) were cardio-based and required little or no equipment. It was created by trainer Tony Horton and released by BeachBody (now BODI). While BODI has stopped releasing DVD workouts, the vast majority of the programs they have released over the years, including P90X, can be streamed through their websites and apps. 

P90X is actually a follow-up program to Horton's original Power 90 program. It contains some of the same exercises, but P90X has more workouts, and they tend to be longer. The program is structured into three phases, each lasting 4 weeks, with a recovery week between Phases 1 and 2 and after Phase 3. In each phase, there are three weight-based workouts, two cardio-based workouts (plyometrics and Kenpo karate), a yoga routine, and an ab routine performed on lifting days. There is also an optional cardio workout that can be substituted for the plyometrics workout and an optional stretching routine that can be performed on the rest day (usually Sunday). In the recovery weeks, you do the yoga routine twice, the stretching routine, the Kenpo workout, and a core-focused workout called Core Synergistics, which you also do twice. In each workout, there is a modifier who performs alternate (usually less intense) versions of the exercises or uses bands instead of weights.

Some things about the program are very good and hold up well over time. Other things are not. The overall mix of exercises and workouts is good, but because you do the same workouts over and over, they do get repetitive. Many of BODI's newer workouts are real-time, with a new workout performed nearly every day. This not only helps avoid repetition and boredom, but does the "muscle confusion" thing (basically switching up workouts so your body does not adapt to what you are doing, which was a big selling point for the program if you watched the P90X infomercials) much better than P90X does. Having a modifier to show alternative versions of the exercises was good, and there is enough time between exercises to get new weights (which some newer programs do not always provide). The things that did not age well over time (or were just silly) include:

First, the warm-ups in each workout were absolutely ridiculous. You do about 3 minutes of calisthenics warm-ups like running in place, jumping jacks, etc. (which is plenty), then 5 minutes or so of stretching. In the Kenpo workout, you do 11 minutes of cold stretching. In a different workout, Tony makes a point of saying you never want to stretch an ice-cold body, then does it in the Kenpo workout. The stretching would have been much better post-workout, and I usually skipped it when I did the program.

Second, the yoga routine was insanely hard and way too long. In Power 90, the only yoga was about 3 minutes of moving asanas (which is the warm-up in P90X) at the beginning of the cardio routines. There was no separate yoga routine. P90X then throws 90 minutes of yoga at you, with some moves so advanced you have no shot at doing them (even if you are in good shape) unless you have been doing yoga for years. Then, he includes a core routine toward the end, despite saying in the ab-ripper-x routine not to work abs every day, so each week you do abs three days in a row. It would be one thing if Power 90 had a 45-minute yoga routine with some of the easier moves included to prepare people for the P90X routine, but this is like going from a backyard kiddie pool to being thrown into the deep end of an Olympic pool.

Third, some of the scripted elements that were meant to be spontaneous were really cheesy. For example, during the shoulders-and-arms workout, the guy in the back "loses track" of how many reps he is doing, and Tony tells the audience to keep track of their rep counts. However, the first time he does it, Tony misses the cue, so he does it again on the next exercise.

Ultimately, P90X is a good program that helped many people get in shape. There are definitely things that could have been done differently or better. For example, I think they should have done totally new routines in each phase of the program, if nothing else, to keep people from getting bored with the repetition. I also think some of the routines could have been shorter, and the muscle groups being targeted in the workouts should have been switched up more. But, hindsight is always 20/20, and while it may not be the revolutionary program it once was, it is still worth going back to from time to time.