Health On Monday: Ultimate home workout DVD: P90X Extreme

Malta Independent Monday, 11 July 2011, 00:00 Last update: about 12 years ago

After having been approached by some clients of mine to suggest a home training video they could use at home to supplement their personal training sessions with me, I did some research and came across the P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program, which was exactly what I was looking for.

The programme comes with 12 highly diverse and intense DVD workouts that really make you work. Each workout focuses on a different area. All the major parts of the body get their own workout, plus you spend time doing yoga, plyometrics, and kickboxing. Each workout takes advantage of the muscle confusion technique, a type of exercise that keeps your muscles guessing to prevent plateaus. The workouts are led by Tony Horton. He instructs very well, keeping it positive and motivating without getting annoying. In order to make sure things don’t get boring, you have the ability to mix and match routines. You can go for a couple weeks without doing the same routine twice, which is hard to find in an exercise DVD.

Pros:

While the workouts are definitely the main event, this programme comes with a few additional goodies. The P90X Fitness Guide takes you step by step through the basics of getting into shape. The Nutrition Plan gives you support in choosing the foods you need to keep your body going through some strenuous workouts. There’s even a calendar to track your progress so you can see how well the system is working. Every aspect of losing weight and getting fit is thought of to give you the encouragement and guidance you need.

• Intense Workouts: Did I mention how tough these workouts are? Even though I consider myself to be in pretty good shape , I ended up pretty exhausted by the first workout. The level of intensity is really high, forcing you to give it all you’ve got every single day. It’s clear to see that if you put in the effort you’ll get results.

• Great Variety of Workouts: One of my biggest complaints about most DVD workouts is the lack of variety. It’s easy to get bored and lose interest. This is not the case with P90X. This system is designed to target all parts of your body on a rotating basis. Every day you’ll get a different routine. If you want to you can mix and match to ramp up the variety even more. It’s hard to get bored with this workout, especially since you’ll be working so hard!

• Useful Extras: I like the nutrition guide that comes along with the workouts. The people who put this programme together really understand what you need to get through it, and their guidance is really helpful. By following the nutrition guide you’ll give your body exactly what it needs to make it through the workouts without eating too much. The calendar and fitness guide are a nice touch, but not quite as useful to me as the nutrition programme.

• Opportunities for Modification: Not everyone is at the same fitness level. While this programme isn’t ideal for someone new to exercising, it does have a variety of modification options to make the workouts easier or harder for people at different fitness levels. Therefore you can begin with some of the less challenging modifications and after a few weeks progress to a more difficult level.

Cons:

• Not for the Weak of Heart: This programme is not for everyone. If you’re completely new to exercising and can’t pass the test they give at the beginning of the DVDs you probably want to look elsewhere. There are other P90 programmes besides the P90X Extreme designed for people just starting to exercise which are less intensive, safer, but still effective for beginners.

P90X Extreme will give you some of the hardest workouts you’ve ever done. I love the variety and the intensity of the workouts. It allows me to push myself without the programme becoming boring or repetitive. The instructor is great, the modifications work well, and the supplemental materials really help make the system complete. If you stick to this programme you will change your body, there’s no doubt about it. If you’re looking for a programme that will give you great results, this one is for you.

P90X Extreme is available for purchase from Amazon.co.uk, ebay.co.uk, and www.beachbody.co.uk for about £100 and contains 12 DVDs, a workout calendar, online support tools and nutrition plan. At the cost of a dinner for two it’s not the cheapest workout DVD around, but it’s a complete workout and nutrition programme that will bring you great results if you follow it as recommended.

Richard Geres is an ACE-certified Personal Trainer