P90X Review – 45 Days Done and Still Going Strong

I’m now halfway through week 7 of the P90X Program and am really starting to see some pretty great results. You can check out the Day 30 before and after photos here if you’d like. I expect far better results on to be posted on Day 60, as I’ll be freshly recovered and I’ll be getting into the bulking up stages of the program, but I still feel pretty awesome.

I only wish it was summer right now so I could get out and make use of my recent fitness gains.

Anyway, I’m nearing the end of the resistance portion of Phase 2. Next week will be a recovery week, which I desperately need. Don’t get me wrong. I’m still enjoying the heck out of the workouts, but I’m definitely sore and tired. I’m usually a pretty big humbug to be around this time of year, so the way I feel right now says a lot for my increase in mood from P90x.

Getting Through Workout Plateaus

While not all of P90X has to be followed to a T (the nutrition program is somewhat complicated) the one thing I really do recommend following is the tracking of your workouts on paper. The same goes for any workout program.

By writing down how many reps and at what weight you did them you not only have a reference for what you did last time, but you also have motivation to beat that record.

Far too often people will get stuck doing the same 10 reps at x weight for weeks and weeks. This is part of the reason so many people hit plateaus. You have to challenge yourself to bump up reps and weights if you want to see improved results. The same goes for cardio. You have to challenge yourself to get better each time. Tracking is a great way to do this.

Getting back to how P90X is going, over the past week or so I’ve noticed a pretty big bump up in my strength. This is probably due to my body getting used to recovering faster. It’s sometimes difficult to recover in 24 hours.

Specifically, I’ve noticed the most strength in my abs. I’ve gone from being able to do about half of the Ab Ripper X program to being able to complete the entire thing fairly easily. I even use a 3 pound medicine ball on the Mason Twist, and hope to bump up to a 6 pound by Week 9.

I’ll get full reviews of each program done soon and I’ll be blogging more once the holidays calm down a bit, but for now I’ll probably only post a few more until Day 60 or so, when the Day 1 / Day 60 Before and After shots will come.

Keep working hard out there everyone and Happy Holidays!