post p90x plan
April 26, 2011 12:13 PM Subscribe
If P90X worked for you, what did you do after you finished the program?
I'm at the end of Week 12, and I love the workouts and what they did for my body. (Thanks, Metafilter.) For the short term, I'm going to keep at it, but I'm wondering what other P90X alumni did afterwards to continue towards their goals. I'm especially interested in adding muscle mass to my arms, and I assume there's only so much that pull-ups can do there.
I'm at the end of Week 12, and I love the workouts and what they did for my body. (Thanks, Metafilter.) For the short term, I'm going to keep at it, but I'm wondering what other P90X alumni did afterwards to continue towards their goals. I'm especially interested in adding muscle mass to my arms, and I assume there's only so much that pull-ups can do there.
The exercises in P90X will take you a year or two to plateau on all by themselves; I wouldn't worry about stepping up to some notional bigger time yet, unless you're finding the program hard to comply with, or feel like it's not getting you to your goals.
If you wanted to enhance focus on arm strength, you might try adding more weight to the arms-focused programs, and perhaps doing them three times a week. The 'arm' days are already pretty serious, but you can always make them even more serious by, e.g., doing weighted pullups (hold a plate or a dumbbell between your knees).
That said, P90X is pretty good about producing balanced gains, and I'd advise to stay balanced rather than getting giant he-man guns and little bitty legs.
Insanity is incredible for cardio but doesn't use weights, so it will make you super fit, but not as super muscular as programs including weightlifting.
One common addition to P90X is Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength, which is basic barbell exercising and 'the next step up' in heavy duty weight training.
posted by felix at 12:39 PM on April 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
If you wanted to enhance focus on arm strength, you might try adding more weight to the arms-focused programs, and perhaps doing them three times a week. The 'arm' days are already pretty serious, but you can always make them even more serious by, e.g., doing weighted pullups (hold a plate or a dumbbell between your knees).
That said, P90X is pretty good about producing balanced gains, and I'd advise to stay balanced rather than getting giant he-man guns and little bitty legs.
Insanity is incredible for cardio but doesn't use weights, so it will make you super fit, but not as super muscular as programs including weightlifting.
One common addition to P90X is Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength, which is basic barbell exercising and 'the next step up' in heavy duty weight training.
posted by felix at 12:39 PM on April 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
I think p90x is a decent program for getting lean when coupled with their diet recommendations. If you really like the program and would like to stick with it. Eat more and increase weight where possible.
I use a heavy duty "dip belt" with chain to add weight to my dips and chins\pullups. Holding weight between your knees gets old really fast, plus a 45lb plate + others is murder between the kness.
If you're looking add muscle mass I'd recommend eating more and starting Starting Strength or 5\3\1 by Jim Wendler.
I'm not sure if felix meant do P90X while doing starting strength but I would not combine any of these programs. It's entirely too much work and your recovery will suffer.
posted by zephyr_words at 12:51 PM on April 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
I use a heavy duty "dip belt" with chain to add weight to my dips and chins\pullups. Holding weight between your knees gets old really fast, plus a 45lb plate + others is murder between the kness.
If you're looking add muscle mass I'd recommend eating more and starting Starting Strength or 5\3\1 by Jim Wendler.
I'm not sure if felix meant do P90X while doing starting strength but I would not combine any of these programs. It's entirely too much work and your recovery will suffer.
posted by zephyr_words at 12:51 PM on April 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
I did Body for Life (12 week fitness program) about a year and a half ago with great gains in strength and muscle loss. I found after the first cycle I couldn't get the motivation to continue another cycle so I decided I needed to try something new.
Six months ago I took up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and about two months later I gave up lifting almost completely. Although I'm farther away from my maximum lifts than I was before I've noticed my muscle tone has gone up significantly. Plus, it's amazingly awesome and fun.
posted by Octoparrot at 8:05 PM on April 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
Six months ago I took up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and about two months later I gave up lifting almost completely. Although I'm farther away from my maximum lifts than I was before I've noticed my muscle tone has gone up significantly. Plus, it's amazingly awesome and fun.
posted by Octoparrot at 8:05 PM on April 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
Parkour!
seriously! it's not only exhaustingly, mind-bendingly fun, it will let you apply all that upper body stuff you learned in P90X to something you can build on close to infinitely.
not to mention you will build agility, grace, strength, flexibility and freedom of movement. You will learn how to swing on the monkey bars and jump on things all over again like an overgrown 6-year old, and you will dig it immensely.
I hate the gym and am bored silly by yoga but am super duper motivated by my weekly parkour class.
If you're in the U.S., start here on the American Parkour website.
posted by lonefrontranger at 1:46 PM on April 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
seriously! it's not only exhaustingly, mind-bendingly fun, it will let you apply all that upper body stuff you learned in P90X to something you can build on close to infinitely.
not to mention you will build agility, grace, strength, flexibility and freedom of movement. You will learn how to swing on the monkey bars and jump on things all over again like an overgrown 6-year old, and you will dig it immensely.
I hate the gym and am bored silly by yoga but am super duper motivated by my weekly parkour class.
If you're in the U.S., start here on the American Parkour website.
posted by lonefrontranger at 1:46 PM on April 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
P90X works even better if you keep repeating it. Some of the most dramatic results you'll find are from those who've done several iterations of it (usually at least 3).
Give yourself some ample time to rest between, but start with a fresh print-out, label it "Round 2" or "Mark II", and keep building yourself. Unless you feel like you've plateaued, I think you'll really like where you can go next.
I'm on my 3rd iteration myself. I started off pretty weak (nearly failed the fitness test, still need assistance on sequential pull-ups), and still have a ways to go, but I can safely say my better half loves the results.
posted by NBJack at 1:48 PM on April 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
Give yourself some ample time to rest between, but start with a fresh print-out, label it "Round 2" or "Mark II", and keep building yourself. Unless you feel like you've plateaued, I think you'll really like where you can go next.
I'm on my 3rd iteration myself. I started off pretty weak (nearly failed the fitness test, still need assistance on sequential pull-ups), and still have a ways to go, but I can safely say my better half loves the results.
posted by NBJack at 1:48 PM on April 27, 2011 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by corvine at 12:35 PM on April 26, 2011 [2 favorites]