I've been posting my P90x progress in another thread but thought I'd make my own to strip out my thoughts and results a little more.
A bit of background on me & my wife.
I'm 34, she's 32. We've got a 4 year old and a 6 month old at the time of starting the program. We both work full time, my wife working close to 50 hours a week.
She never entirely got the baby weight off from the first baby, but wasn't in too bad of shape. The 2nd baby really put a hurt on her though. Had to have an emergent C-section 6 weeks early and was never able to nurse due to bleeding and extreme pain. Her body was never able to naturally recover from child birth and work off that weight and she was about 30 pounds heavier than she wanted. She's naturally...err...sturdy? framed. But she used to be in very good shape. All-state cross country runner and before kids would routinely place in her age group in 5k road races.
She started the program at 5'6 and and 156 pounds.
I'm fairly lean naturally, and was doing some basketball weekly to keep me honest. But I wasn't in great shape (squishy) but not carrying a lot of extra weight. I started the program at 6' and 178 pounds.
Both of our diets were kinda crappy. Having 2 kids, one of which that can't even walk yet is a huge time sink. Working full time+ hurts. And my 4 year old is a picky eater so we do a lot of really terrible meals just so that she eats something. Lots of individual things that add up to excuses to let ourselves slip.
My wife was really getting upset with how her body was looking and tried going to the gym after work but with trying to get out of work on time and juggling kids it just wasn't working out (bad pun).
We had heard of a lot of people that had bought P90x. Had talked to a lot of people that tried it for a day or two and gave up. Talked to even more that gave it a month and quit. And even a few that did two months and quit.
Being the stubborn, and competitive people we are, we got our hands on a copy from a relative and decided to give it a shot.
Once we get the kids tucked into bed at 8:30, we get changed, head to the basement, and hit play. 😎
We are now into our 2nd recovery week. We aren't following the plan exactly, but it's about 80% of the concept.
Here's how our week plays out:
Monday: I do 2+ hours of full court basketball, my wife runs
Tuesday: Back/Chest, wife does ab ripper, I usually don't
Wed: Plyo
Thur: Arms/shoulders: wife does ab ripper, I usually don't
Friday: Kenpo/Cardio X for me, run for my wife
Saturday: Legs: we're usually both too gassed to do abs
Sunday: rest
Diet wise we aren't following the diet plan, I don't count calories, but we have cleaned it up considerably. I usually make up some berry heavy, spinach, almond milk and whey protein shakes for us for breakfast. They are nutrient rich and satiating for a quite a while. Lunches for my wife are much better - she usally packs a salad. Then dinner wise we are usally a lot worse for quality, but we have greatly cut back on quantity consumed because we will be working out later in the evening. Plus now at nights, our alcohol consumption has been cut back probably 75% of what it orginally was so there's a natural calorie restriction there.
So far the results have been very impressive. There's nothing magical or revolutionary about the program. It's just a well constructed, well coached, and easily modified program to follow. It includes a huge variety of exercises and makes sure that all areas of your body are included. For me personally, the leg and plyo days have been a godsend for my lower body strength and endurance. My basketball playing has been hugely improved. I can run a full night and not feel weak or gassed. I still have lift in my shot at the end of the night. My box outs and ability to defend are vastly improved. I'm just a completely different player on the defensive side of the court. And the next day following ball instead of passing on the stairs and opting for the elevator because of achy knees I can almost bound up steps like I did nothing the night before. Truely incredible difference in my fitness than what I was 60 days ago.
I've kind of bounced all over for weight. Changing almost 10 pounds on a given week. I've kind of settled in a bit at 178 now. My pants are fitting a full size bigger than they were at the start of the program. So definitely trimmed a bit from the waist. And my shirts are fitting a lot more snug in the shoulders and arms. Definitely put on a bit more mass in my upper body.
Here's a couple before/afters of my pasty white ass 😀
https://hb5apw.bay.livefilestore.co...ToyxcisTpR7gCs/2012-08-20T14-26-37.jpg?psid=1
https://whmcqq.bay.livefilestore.co...ZNpPiUaNa5F4x5/2012-08-20T14-14-50.jpg?psid=1
Can definitely tell an increase in definition in my back. Waist has trimmed down, lats & delts are getting more defined, just a more athletic look.
My wife is a trooper. She's powered through this thing and actually probably even working harder at it than I am. She does the ab ripper routine after most lifting days while I wimp out. She's battled through a massive migraine that left her in the fetal position in a dark room for a few days and some other aches and pains from the c-section, doing high impact with extra weight, and just generally not being in great shape before starting.
After the first two weeks, she has continued to drop a pound a week. Her belly has shrunk down quite a bit, even to the point where she has a lot of people asking her what she's been doing and that she's looking great. Her face is slimming down, and she just feels a lot better physically and mentally.
Here's a profile of where she was at the start, and where she is now. Be nice...child birth, c-sections, and just being a working Mom are not good on the body. She's turned the corner on weight loss and really starting to make strides now. Instead of dreading working out now she's really looking forward to it. Plus her cleaned up diet has also helped with portion sizes and choices of food she makes. She's just a lot more conscious about what she eats, and how much of it.
Here's her day 1/day 60 profile:
https://whmcqq.bay.livefilestore.co...ZAIc4RIZIMqjCM/2012-08-20T14-24-26.jpg?psid=1
She's almost able to fit into clothes she hasn't worn in years. And while she knows she has a ways to go before she's where she wants to be, the results in just 60 days have been very helpful to motivation. Her body takes a long time to react to exercise and start getting into fat burning mode. I've lived with her for almost 12 years and just know how her body works. I pulled her through the first 6 weeks with not a ton of progress to show, but in the last 2 weeks things have really started to pay off. The next 30 days should be quite a ride for her as the muscle tone improved diet of the last 60 days starts kicking in and really burning calories for the home stretch.
We're really looking forward to "bringing it" the last 30 days and being the only people we personally know out of more than a dozen others that have tried but never completed it.
Once the program is done, we'll probably take a few weeks off and recover/enjoy some nights off or go for really long walks with the kids while the weather is still good. Then once winter starts kicking back in we'll probably look into the P90xPlus and work in some of those workouts along with the originals at night again.
And for the married guys/those living with significant others...let me throw this out there....if your love life was getting a little stagnant..working out at night with your S/O and then hitting the showers together afterwards has been quite the boost to that aspect of the relationship. She feels better about her body, she feels better after working out, and I'm in some of the best shape I've been in during my adult life. That's a good combination for a healthy relationship.
🙂
A bit of background on me & my wife.
I'm 34, she's 32. We've got a 4 year old and a 6 month old at the time of starting the program. We both work full time, my wife working close to 50 hours a week.
She never entirely got the baby weight off from the first baby, but wasn't in too bad of shape. The 2nd baby really put a hurt on her though. Had to have an emergent C-section 6 weeks early and was never able to nurse due to bleeding and extreme pain. Her body was never able to naturally recover from child birth and work off that weight and she was about 30 pounds heavier than she wanted. She's naturally...err...sturdy? framed. But she used to be in very good shape. All-state cross country runner and before kids would routinely place in her age group in 5k road races.
She started the program at 5'6 and and 156 pounds.
I'm fairly lean naturally, and was doing some basketball weekly to keep me honest. But I wasn't in great shape (squishy) but not carrying a lot of extra weight. I started the program at 6' and 178 pounds.
Both of our diets were kinda crappy. Having 2 kids, one of which that can't even walk yet is a huge time sink. Working full time+ hurts. And my 4 year old is a picky eater so we do a lot of really terrible meals just so that she eats something. Lots of individual things that add up to excuses to let ourselves slip.
My wife was really getting upset with how her body was looking and tried going to the gym after work but with trying to get out of work on time and juggling kids it just wasn't working out (bad pun).
We had heard of a lot of people that had bought P90x. Had talked to a lot of people that tried it for a day or two and gave up. Talked to even more that gave it a month and quit. And even a few that did two months and quit.
Being the stubborn, and competitive people we are, we got our hands on a copy from a relative and decided to give it a shot.
Once we get the kids tucked into bed at 8:30, we get changed, head to the basement, and hit play. 😎
We are now into our 2nd recovery week. We aren't following the plan exactly, but it's about 80% of the concept.
Here's how our week plays out:
Monday: I do 2+ hours of full court basketball, my wife runs
Tuesday: Back/Chest, wife does ab ripper, I usually don't
Wed: Plyo
Thur: Arms/shoulders: wife does ab ripper, I usually don't
Friday: Kenpo/Cardio X for me, run for my wife
Saturday: Legs: we're usually both too gassed to do abs
Sunday: rest
Diet wise we aren't following the diet plan, I don't count calories, but we have cleaned it up considerably. I usually make up some berry heavy, spinach, almond milk and whey protein shakes for us for breakfast. They are nutrient rich and satiating for a quite a while. Lunches for my wife are much better - she usally packs a salad. Then dinner wise we are usally a lot worse for quality, but we have greatly cut back on quantity consumed because we will be working out later in the evening. Plus now at nights, our alcohol consumption has been cut back probably 75% of what it orginally was so there's a natural calorie restriction there.
So far the results have been very impressive. There's nothing magical or revolutionary about the program. It's just a well constructed, well coached, and easily modified program to follow. It includes a huge variety of exercises and makes sure that all areas of your body are included. For me personally, the leg and plyo days have been a godsend for my lower body strength and endurance. My basketball playing has been hugely improved. I can run a full night and not feel weak or gassed. I still have lift in my shot at the end of the night. My box outs and ability to defend are vastly improved. I'm just a completely different player on the defensive side of the court. And the next day following ball instead of passing on the stairs and opting for the elevator because of achy knees I can almost bound up steps like I did nothing the night before. Truely incredible difference in my fitness than what I was 60 days ago.
I've kind of bounced all over for weight. Changing almost 10 pounds on a given week. I've kind of settled in a bit at 178 now. My pants are fitting a full size bigger than they were at the start of the program. So definitely trimmed a bit from the waist. And my shirts are fitting a lot more snug in the shoulders and arms. Definitely put on a bit more mass in my upper body.
Here's a couple before/afters of my pasty white ass 😀
https://hb5apw.bay.livefilestore.co...ToyxcisTpR7gCs/2012-08-20T14-26-37.jpg?psid=1
https://whmcqq.bay.livefilestore.co...ZNpPiUaNa5F4x5/2012-08-20T14-14-50.jpg?psid=1
Can definitely tell an increase in definition in my back. Waist has trimmed down, lats & delts are getting more defined, just a more athletic look.
My wife is a trooper. She's powered through this thing and actually probably even working harder at it than I am. She does the ab ripper routine after most lifting days while I wimp out. She's battled through a massive migraine that left her in the fetal position in a dark room for a few days and some other aches and pains from the c-section, doing high impact with extra weight, and just generally not being in great shape before starting.
After the first two weeks, she has continued to drop a pound a week. Her belly has shrunk down quite a bit, even to the point where she has a lot of people asking her what she's been doing and that she's looking great. Her face is slimming down, and she just feels a lot better physically and mentally.
Here's a profile of where she was at the start, and where she is now. Be nice...child birth, c-sections, and just being a working Mom are not good on the body. She's turned the corner on weight loss and really starting to make strides now. Instead of dreading working out now she's really looking forward to it. Plus her cleaned up diet has also helped with portion sizes and choices of food she makes. She's just a lot more conscious about what she eats, and how much of it.
Here's her day 1/day 60 profile:
https://whmcqq.bay.livefilestore.co...ZAIc4RIZIMqjCM/2012-08-20T14-24-26.jpg?psid=1
She's almost able to fit into clothes she hasn't worn in years. And while she knows she has a ways to go before she's where she wants to be, the results in just 60 days have been very helpful to motivation. Her body takes a long time to react to exercise and start getting into fat burning mode. I've lived with her for almost 12 years and just know how her body works. I pulled her through the first 6 weeks with not a ton of progress to show, but in the last 2 weeks things have really started to pay off. The next 30 days should be quite a ride for her as the muscle tone improved diet of the last 60 days starts kicking in and really burning calories for the home stretch.
We're really looking forward to "bringing it" the last 30 days and being the only people we personally know out of more than a dozen others that have tried but never completed it.
Once the program is done, we'll probably take a few weeks off and recover/enjoy some nights off or go for really long walks with the kids while the weather is still good. Then once winter starts kicking back in we'll probably look into the P90xPlus and work in some of those workouts along with the originals at night again.
And for the married guys/those living with significant others...let me throw this out there....if your love life was getting a little stagnant..working out at night with your S/O and then hitting the showers together afterwards has been quite the boost to that aspect of the relationship. She feels better about her body, she feels better after working out, and I'm in some of the best shape I've been in during my adult life. That's a good combination for a healthy relationship.
🙂
Last edited:
