15 Years of P90X1,2,3 Series: Comprehensive Review 2020

Over the past 15 years, Tony Horton’s P90X series have taken over the world by storm and revolutionized the idea of “home workouts”. I came across the very first P90X series in 2010, when I was 18 years old. Struggling with weight issues during that time, I wanted to get into shape so I decided to give it a try.

Every P90X workouts always consists of Tony Horton and 3 more of his crew or P90X graduates. Out of the 3 additional crew, 1 of them will always be the “modifier”, showing you the easier way to do the exercises, which works well for beginners. But even with the modified versions, many people will also find the workouts challenging right off the bat.

P90X Xtreme Workout Series

Equipment needed:

• Weights or Bands
• Push-up Bars (Optional)
• Pull-up Bar or Bands
• Mat
• Stool or Chair
• Yoga Block
• Standard water and towel
• Fitness Guide and Pen

Consisting of 13 Discs, the videos are as listed:

1. How to Bring It
2. Chest and Back
3. Plyometrics
4. Shoulders and Arms
5. Yoga X
6. Legs and Back
7. Kenpo X
8. X Stretch
9. Core Synergistics
10. Chest and Shoulders
11. Back and Biceps
12. Cardio X
13. Ab Ripper X

There are 3 Versions of how you can go about doing P90X.

1. P90X Classic Version

• It is the standard version for the masses
• Most common

2. P90X Doubles Version

• Classic Program Plus
• Add doubles after 30 days (More cardio 3 days/wk)
• More for pro athletes

3. P90X Lean Version

• More cardio
• Less upper body resistance
• More popular with women

P90X coins the term “Muscle Confusion” as the main idea/driving force behind your transformation in 90 days. Just as your body is about to get used to a certain phase/routine, P90X introduces new dynamic movements to confuse the muscles, and in turn it will produce faster results.

However, P90X is not just all about weight lifting and pumping iron. Nutrition is a major key factor to giving you the best results that you want. The workout guide and nutrition guide work together to give you long lasting results and not yo-yo dieting.

Instead of all “calorie deficit” weight loss plans, they actually ask you to eat more while portioning food in terms of Protein, Carbohydrates and Fat.

The P90X Nutrition Plans also goes in 3 phases:

1. Fat Shredder

• A high protein-based diet designed to help strengthen muscle while rapidly shedding fat from your body.

2. Energy Booster

• A balanced mix of carbohydrates and protein with a lower amount of fat to supply additional energy for performance.

3. Endurance Maximizer

• An athletic diet of complex carbohydrates, learn proteins, and lower fat with an emphasis on more carbohydrates.

For each phase, there are also 3 Approaches you may take on:

1. The Portion Approach

• Designed for people who do not have a lot of time or patience to prepare a meal that involves more than 2 steps. Best for people who do not cook or follow recipes.

2. The Meal Plan Approach

• Might be the most tedious of all the approaches, this approach allows you to enjoy a variety of delicious, healthy and low-fat recipes that will provide you with proper amounts of nutrition and energy to get the most out of P90X.

3. The Quick Option Approach

• Best for “lazy” people, quick food options that require minimal or no effort.

While the nutrition guide goes into great lengths and details on how you can get the best out of your foods, you might feel it is too time consuming overall to read through and follow all the guides to a tee. Alternatively, you can check out how to detox and cleanse your body organically in 7 days here!

But as I tried out P90X back then, I found it almost impossible for my body not to feel sore and tired after every day, as it required 1 hour or even 1 hour 30 minutes for each training. Instead of 90 days, I only managed to do 1 day of workout and had to rest for 3. Nutrition was a problem for me as well because back then I did not have the means to do meal preps on my own, so I just ate whatever was cooked at home.

However, I had some initial progress such as stronger muscles and core, but the time commitment and intensity was too much for me “to bring it”, and I stopped the program after about 30 days.

P90X Summary

Pros

• Isolation of muscles to work on for each workout
• Clear goals and worksheets to follow and review
• Diet plans and nutrition guides will help in the long run and not just for 90 days

Cons

• Too intense for a beginner right off the bat
• Need to have the equipment
• Meal preps can get very tedious to follow

P90X2

And before I knew it, P90X2 was born in 2011. This is a whole new different ball game (pun intended) as P90X2’s main tools were Medicine Balls and Stability Balls. Stability and muscle mass retention were also the main focus of P90X2.

Equipment needed:

• Stability Ball or Towel and Chair
• Medicine Ball(s)
• Foam Roller or Bands
• Weights or Bands
• Chin-up Bar or Bands with Door Attachment
• Push-up Bars (optional)
• Mat
• Yoga Block
• Plyo Box
• Weighted Bar
• Tape
• Worksheet and Pen
• Water and Towel

Consisting of 13 Discs, the videos are as listed:

1. How to Bring It Again
2. X2 Core
3. Plyocide
4. X2 Recovery + Mobility
5. X2 Total Body
6. X2 Yoga
7. X2 Balance + Power
8. Chest + Back + Balance
9. X2 Shoulders + Arms
10. Base + Back
11. (Post Activation Potentiation) P.A.P Lower
12. (Post Activation Potentiation) P.A.P Upper
13. X2 Ab Ripper

P90X2 is broken down into 3 phases:

1. Foundation Phase — Developing more muscles focused towards the lower body.
2. Strength Phase — Similar to P90X, increases strength through resistance training.
3. Performance Phase — Post Activation Potentiation (P.A.P), more on atheletism, helping you to lift more, move faster, jump higher.

The Nutrition Plan for P90X2 also doesn’t hold back. The P90X2 diet guide was revamped into a new and improved version with more variety of foods and recipes to choose from, while at the same time simplify the entire nutritional process.

P90X2 released it’s own supplements back in the day, such as the Multivitamin Supplement P90X Peak Health Formula, P90X Peak Performance Protein Bars, the P90X Results and Recovery Formula drink.

However, instead of getting swamped with so many supplements and formula drinks, you can check out this All-in-One 21-Day Smoothie Diet to help enhance your results!

Each workout in P90X2 also lasts about 1 hour, focusing a lot on core stability and balance. There are new moves for each workout that seem extremely intimidating for a beginner, and the equipment needed seems a little overkill if you are just starting out as well.

Personally I did not go through this full program as well because the moves were too advanced in P90X2 and I knew even with the modified moves, I was nowhere near ready to even try this before I completed P90X first.

P90X2 Summary

Pros

• Stability and core training will help you achieve better results
• New dynamic moves that really pushes ‘Muscle Confusion’ to the max
• Phases are planned in a way to achieve maximum results, minimum injuries

Cons

• Equipment needed has increased significantly
• Added supplements can be more expensive in the long run (Check out this 21-Day Smoothie Diet!)
• You need a certain level of fitness or completed P90X before attempting P90X2

P90X3 (If you’ve made it this far, this is the money right here!)

Fast forward to 2020, while I ignored P90X and P90X2, I have managed to achieve and maintain a certain level of fitness with water sports. However, due to Covid-19, staying at home is the only option and I thought to myself, why not give this a try? So far, I haven’t regretted my decision yet.

Equipment needed:

• Pull-up Bar or Bands
• Weight or Bands
• Mat
• Yoga Block
• Water and Towel

Consisting of a whopping 16 Discs, the videos are as listed:

1. Accelerator
2. Agility X
3. CVX (Cardio Vascular X)
4. Decelerator
5. Dynamix
6. Eccentric Lower
7. Eccentric Upper
8. Incinerator
9. Isometrix
10. MMX
11. Pilates X
12. The Challenge
13. The Warrior
14. Total Synergistics
15. Triometrics
16. Yoga X

Here is a key factor that really drew me into trying and finding myself being able to commit fully to a whole 90 days of P90X: Each workout is only 30 MINUTES. According to The American Journal of Physiology, they observed that men lost more weight and yielded better results when they worked out for 30 minutes instead of an hour. Based on this study, and by combinng moves from P90X and P90X2 into 16 workouts of 30 minutes, P90X3 was born.

Being locked down at home gives one a lot of time to spare, so I decided to commit and do it. P90X3 gives a good mix of Cardio, Flexibility, Dynamic Movements, Resistance Training. I realized the main focus of P90X3 is very much like P90X2, training primarily foundation and core strength, but at the same time not neglecting upper body resistance training.

The equipment needed was bare minimal. I have no Pull-up Bars even back from my time with P90X, and you can do this entirely with Bands if you’d like, as most of the workouts relies on body weight training as well.

I had a lot of trouble during the first month completing the workouts, but it was only 30 minutes a day, and I felt that it was very achievable and I pushed on. And interestingly, although every workout was condensed into 30 minutes, my body did not feel sore and painful and I was able to continue with the workout the next day after a night’s rest.

In the 2nd month, I felt that I was able to complete the harder moves (Crow pose and Warrior 3 pose in Yoga X, Crawly Plyo Push-ups, and Starfish Pushups) and could see visible results in my body. I feel much better about myself and look forward to each workout every day.

In the 3rd month, I am much stronger in terms of stablity, core and strength. I am more flexbile that I ever was in the past decade, I look so much better, I feel full of energy everyday. And as I completed the last day, the last block on the calendar read “FACT: Your fat ass needs to go again.”

Nutrition is less prominently mentioned in P90X3, but you can check out this 21-Day Smoothie Diet that will definitely bring you awesome results!

Throughout the videos, Tony Horton’s comedic banter really helps make the workouts enjoyable and funny even though you are dying for 30 minutes. Often I find myself just doing the workouts and realizing “Oh it’s only 15 minutes left, I’m halfway through!” or “10 more minutes, let’s finish this strong!” I believe that 30 minutes a day also has a strong positive psychological effect that motivates us to keep going.

P90X3 Summary

Pros

• You only need 30 Minutes a day!
• Tony Horton’s comedic banter makes each workout enjoyable
• Results can be seen
• Equipment needed is bare minimal, most workouts are bodyweight trainings

Cons

• It is intense on the lowerback, knees and ankles due to high intensity moves involving jumping, squatting and lunging

I love P90X3 and I am writing this to share with everyone who is looking to get into shape with the world in the state of lock-downs and working from home. Take control today and bring it!

This is not a sponsored post.