Flip through the TV channels most mornings and you can’t miss the infomercials for workouts like P90X or Insanity. Watch for a few minutes and you’ll hear terms like “muscle confusion” or “maximum interval training”. They go from blah to buff in no time with no gym, no trainer and no nutritionist. The promise of quick results has won over many trainers and people looking to get in shape – especially Hollywood stars, who often have very little time to transform their bodies.
But what about us regular people? Do we really need to confuse our muscles or does that just make working out more confusing? And what exactly IS muscle confusion? Put simply, muscle confusion is the principle of changing your routines to keep your body guessing. The human body is very efficient at adapting to its environment. Adherents argue that when we do the same workout over and over, the body's muscles dull to the routine, and any gains made in size and strength eventually plateau. By constantly mixing up exercises, sets and reps, muscles become “confused”, forcing them to work harder and therefore burn more calories. This principle is all about ensuring you have variety in your workouts.
Since I wasn’t quite ready to order the DVDs myself, I decided to talk to one of my former clients who is currently doing the program. Kelley spends about 10 hours a day as a surgical physician’s assistant, so meeting with a trainer or going to the gym became more and more difficult for her. “I’d come home and it was pitch dark, freezing cold and the dog needed to go out. The last thing I wanted to do was leave & go to the gym to work out!” Along with her husband, she began the P90X program this past December.
She described the program as a 13 week (two four-week phases and one 5 week phase) commitment that mixes weights, cardio, ab work, plyometrics, Kempo (kickboxing), yoga and stretching. The “Classic’ phase offers a different workout every day with a larger focus on strength training. The “Lean” phase provides more cardio and less weight training and the “Doubles” phase has some days with two a day workouts and extra cardio. Some of the workouts are 45 minutes, some one hour, with 15 minutes of additional ab training.
All twelve DVDs are included in the set along with a workout and nutrition book. You can also purchase the P90X chin-up bar, bands, push-up bars and recovery formula powder. Kelley uses a preprinted P90X log to set and record workout goals. Since December, she has reduced her hips by 2 inches, waist by 2 ½ inches and dropped 4 pounds. The weight loss might not sound like a lot, but she’s gone down two sizes in her pants and it’s great therapy working out with a partner/husband/friend, too.
I spoke with a few others who have tried the program and seen successful results as well. So does that mean you should try it? Only if you’re willing to commit to the whole plan. It doesn’t work if you only do it sporadically. The program uses the tag line “Just press play..”, but if you also change the channel, you won’t get the same outcome.
Also, a DVD can’t really tell you if you’re doing an exercise correctly, so there is always the potential for doing the exercises incorrectly and not getting good results or the possibility of injuring yourself.
And even if the man on the DVD is yelling and screaming at you to push yourself, a real live trainer will likely drive you harder (I’m just sayin’). As Ross McConnell, a trainer at my gym, says “Until you’ve had your #%@ handed to you by a personal trainer, do not open your mouth and say you can get the same thing from a book or magazine” (or DVD).
Trainer? PX90 ?Trainer? PX90? I’m so confused!!!
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