My P90X Fail

Before purchasing the P90X workout program I did a lot of research. I looked through a lot of articles and blogs of P90X users.

There were a lot of good and honest P90X reviews and many people had impressive results.

There were also some that had started blogging about their P90X transformations and just disappeared from the blogosphere. That's kind of what happened to me too.

After defining what I consider reasonable P90X expectations more than 2 years ago I got off to a good start. After my second day on P90X the blogging stopped. My last entry was for Day 2 Plyometrics.

I was still really excited about the program and kept up with it. I would write the blog posts for each session in my head but somehow they never made it online.

After about four weeks into P90X I came down with the flu and then it was hard to get back into the routine and I never actually did. The recovery week was also very tough on me. At the time my core muscles weren't very strong and I found the exercises very tough.

Getting back on track is one problem I'm still struggling to deal with. Not just with P90X but other aspects of my exercise and life in general.

It wasn't a complete failure. Even my short stint on P90X resulted in 8lbs of weight loss, slimmer waist, improved muscle size and increased strength.

I still keep up with other exercises and the P90X DVDs haven't just been collecting dust. I'll throw one in from time to time to mix things up. Especially the P90X Arms and Shoulders DVD.

This was an intense program and I don't think I was prepared for it. I thought I was eating well but I wasn't really tracking my caloric intake and I'm sure I wasn't eating as much as I should have. My protein intake in particular was also fairly low for the amount of exercise I was putting in.

While I was doing the P90X program I was still doing my regular cardio as well and that might have been too much considering my daily calorie intake didn't increase that much.

In the last 2 years I've learned a lot more about exercise and nutrition and might try the program again. I really did like it. Phase I at least :) Maybe next time I'll shoot for P60X.

These days I'm keeping better track of my exercise and diet so even when I have a week where I burn over 9,000 calories through exercise, I make sure I'm eating enough of the right foods. Energy bars, protein bars and protein shakes have all found their way into my cupboards.

The exercise equipment I bought for P90X hasn't been sold on eBay and still gets regular use too.

I'm a little disappointed in myself but I've accomplished so much fitness-wise that I don't beat myself up over it. I don't have a beach body but I am in much better shape and health. From time to time I slip up and have a hard time getting back into a routine but I'm starting to understand a little more about that and have been finding methods to help keep me on track that I'll post about another time.