The P90X Program, while wildly popular (at least in the hope that it promises those that are lured in during one of it’s many showings on late night infomercials or now on QVC) is sadly leaving a large percentage of those that follow it in the proverbial pile of failed fitness products. Why is that?
Well, I’m going to tell you three of my top reasons why most people are not finding the success that’s featured so brightly on the commercials…and here’s a shocker…it’s NOT YOUR FAULT!
Did You Get Disqualified?
The Power 90 Xtreme Workout (P90X as you all know it) is definitely meant to be a more advanced workout program. Hell, within the first day or two they’ve got you doing 20,30,4o pullups in a workout! As a trainer who’s worked with some of the strongest and most elite athletes in the world I know that even some of those guys can’t manage to just jump right in and start cranking out pullups!
It’s one of the most difficult exercises to do and requires more than just good upper body strength. It requires a good strength to bodyweight ratio and also good core muscle stabilization so that the body can be lifted without swaying and wasting energy.
That said, right out of the gates the program has it has its own built-in funnel that weeds out the weak from the strong. But isn’t that what you bought the system for in the first place?!?! To get stronger!?!?
Sorry if I’m confused, but most of the people that are buying a program are doing it to better themselves and to progress from a certain level of fitness (often times a low one) to a higher level.
So why disqualify a large percentage of those that were actually interested in getting their fitness on track by asking them to immediately do things that they can’t do? But that’s just one of the reasons. There are two others that are even harder to understand.
No Recovery?
The P90X program has you workout (to some degree…and yes…even yoga is a workout!) for 90 STRAIGHT DAYS! Are you kidding me?
First of all, one of the biggest prerequisites for the body to get stronger and bigger is recovery. You tell me when you recover if you’re working out nonstop for 90 straight days. That’s straight as in S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T!
If you expect to do anything but burnout during a strength training program you better be accounting for some time AWAY from the weights or gym to allow the muscle recovery process to happen. I know that they claim to allow this “active recovery” by having you stretch for a day or do yoga for a day, but something…anything…is not nothing. And sometimes NOTHING is exactly what the body needs.
This is definitely one of the biggest mistakes this program makes and the biggest reason why the dropout rate is so high on it. Burnout is good during an individual workout…but feeling burned out when you wake up every morning for 90 straight days (after you’ve just had a full night’s sleep) is not a good thing.
DVDs Only?
Finally, how many guys actually work out in front of a DVD player? The answer is…very few. Most men prefer to work out in a gym following a program. When you have to bring with you a portable DVD player just so you can follow a routine that you haven’t committed to memory at that point, it just starts to border on unpractical. Oh yeah, and a point on trying to remember the workout.
Did you know that every one of them is 60-90 minutes long?!? Besides the fact that that is completely unnecessary and way too long to be working out, I’m not sure I know too many guys that could remember an entire 60-90 minute workout sequence, even if they had written it themselves!
So I’m not necessarily picking on the P90X program, as I have seen some guys benefit from it. That said, I can only imagine what their results would have been like had they not been chronically overtraining their body the past 90 days and had cut their workouts down to a more effective and efficient 3-5 a week for just 20-40 minutes.
I would be my last dime that they would have seen 2-3 x better results. And that’s just my two cents…or two dimes in this case!
Ready to start getting your body in the best shape of your life but don’t want to commit to the insane demands of 7 day a week training for 60-90 minutes at a time? Then consider following the only workout program developed by Men’s Fitness Magazine writer, trainer to the stars and former head physical therapist and strength coach for the New York Mets…the AthLEAN-X Training System.
This 90 days system is designed to get you lean, ripped and athletic muscle with few workouts, shorter workouts, and frankly more fun workouts than any system on the market. Try it yourself by visiting us and letting us know how you do. We are looking forward to hearing about your SuXXess on the program!
Jeff Cavaliere M.S.P.T, CSCS
Jeff Cavaliere is a Physical Therapist, Strength Coach and creator of the ATHLEAN-X Training Programs and ATHLEAN-Rx Supplements. He has a Masters in Physical Therapy (MSPT) and has worked as Head Physical Therapist for the New York Mets, as well as training many elite professional athletes in Major League Baseball, NFL, MMA and professional wrestling. His programs produce “next level” achievements in muscle size, strength and performance for professional athletes and anyone looking to build a muscular athletic physique.
