So a friend at work and I just started this yesterday, and since having someone else to do it with, even if it’s just a name over the internet helps with motivation, I thought I could start up another thread about it. Give yourself an early Christmas present; lose some weight and get in better shape!
Now I’m going to go drink some water and pass out.
I really want to do p90x and have had the dvds on hand for a while, but I a]have to gain a few more pounds first and b]just had surgery on my hand and can’t use it for anything until it’s fully healed, which is at least a month away.
Hope some other Dopers come on board; it’s a great program for fitness, whether or not you have weight to lose. The diet they recommend works really well if you’re trying to cut fat; are you following it?
I did the program earlier this year - don’t be discouraged if you miss a day once in a while, I think it took me about 100 days instead of 90 (laid out with a nasty cold for a few days, general life interference, etc). If you do just commit to picking up again as soon as you can. The hardest part for me was setting out some time to do it regularly, I picked early morning and I’d get up at 5am each day to knock it out before work. It’s tough for me to rise & shine that early but it always felt great and made the rest of the day go by easier, felt really energized to start.
I didn’t do their diet (I lost about 40 lbs on Weight Watchers years ago and feel that I have my nutrition pretty well under control) and didn’t actually lose any weight but I certainly could see the difference in my build and the track record of what I could do was very encouraging, things like going from “a few” chinups in a given routine to 50+.
Have fun!
I did Insanity and I need to get to working out. I actually gain weight when working out and I want to do it. But I don’t have the video. 
Before I fully get into it (I’ve only been doing the Plyo X about 2x a week), do I really need the chip up bar and the dumbells?
Chin up bar, you sort of do. A few of the workouts rely pretty heavily on one.
Dumbbells you can replace with a set of bands in a pinch, but you’re probably going to get better results with dumbbells. They do have one person using bands throughout each workout though to show you how to alter the workout for that.
I would recommend pushup bars too (not 100% required, but really help). The “perfect pushup” is one of those rare “as seen on tv” things that’s actually pretty good.
I recommend the chin-up bar, and weights. I started off using the bands and they were not nearly enough. The Bowflex weights have worked great for me.
I’m on round 3 after starting around February. I have a minor shoulder problem and my main goal was to strengthen the shoulder joint. Now I’m much stronger, the shoulder problem has been greatly reduced, and I’m addicted to the workout. 
I’ve never liked gyms and I like the fact that I can just pop in a DVD and work out for an hour.
Nice timing, I just did Plyo X this morning. I hate that workout with the fire of a thousand suns.
Yes, you need a chin up bar. If you can’t do chin ups, you could sit that part out, but I usually tell people that within a few weeks you’ll probably be able to do one or two more then you could at the beginning. If you can’t do one, you’ll probably be able to do at least one by the end.
I wouldn’t recommend bands…they really hurt when they snap. I started my first round of P90X with bands, used them once or twice then brought the snapped ones back (with a nice welt across my arm) and exchanged them for a set of Reebok adjustable weights that I really like.
Have fun with P90X, it’ll kick your ass.
Plyo was always awful. I remember after the first time I did it (and didn’t know not to push myself so hard) walking around the next day asking people to hold my inner thighs up for me (as a joke). They felt like they were just going to melt right out of me they hurt so much.
And Yoga…who knew standing still could make you so sore.
My favorite was always stretching. I’ve never worked out in my life, and I’m always amazed that when I start I can touch the middle of my shins, after a week, I can touch my toes (with my shoes on) easily, by the end of P90X I can put my palms on the ground (With my shoes on, to show off).
They say Day 7 is Rest or Stretch, I always chose to Stretch and then I would skip Kenpo which I never liked.
I have not done P90x, but I do have the DVDs. Am I correct in assuming that one should use weights if the intent is to gain muscle, but use resistance bands if the intent is to tone up? Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to start anytime real soon.
My oldest and his wife are heavily into this program and it shows. At 40, he’s in the best shape of his life, which is saying something since he was a wrestler and weight-lifter in high school. His wife went from a size 20 to a size 6. They both coach and sell the products. Since I’m a geezer, it seemed like it would be way too strenuous for me, but I know now that there is a “10 minutes a day” program that might fit somebody my age. We’re thinking about trying it out.
Keep a chair or stool by your chinup bar and do forced reps or negatives as desired. You can use your legs to aid the “up” portion as little as necessary (that is, still pulling with your upper body), or you can just stand up into position and then lower yourself back down using only your upper body. That will get you doing chinups (if you can’t do any right from the start) or let you squeeze out a few extra repetitions if you are getting tired.
On Monday I skipped the abs, and I thought today was going pretty easy (although that’s probably mostly because my heavy band snapped and I was using the easy one) until I started that portion. That workout is a beast, I probably did half of it.
So who’s feeling the pain with me? **The wind of my soul **? Shecky?
Well, I’m not doing the whole program right now, I did that a year ago. So my glutes are a little sore today, but honestly, it’s nothing like how I felt the first time around. I’m definitely in better shape now.
Tonight’s going to be interesting, though. I go swimming with my friend on Thursdays, and we do this thing where he holds onto my legs and I have to swim to the other side, towing him behind me and using only my arms to swim. Then he tows me back to the other side. Only we’re going to up the ante today and time ourselves. And not only does this guy have a good 60 or 70 lbs. on me, but he’s paralyzed from the waist down, so he’s got freakish upper body strength. And that’s what I’ll have to compete with.
Could I just skip it and go straight to the meeting a really nice girl and having some really nice sex?