P90X2 DVD Workout - Base Kit

A True Evolution in Home Fitness. . . But Not as Accessible as the 1st Series, Won't Appeal to Everyone (Even Though It Should!)
New update at the bottom as my first round comes to a close.

SHORT REVIEW: It's absolutely incredible. It'll challenge the heck out of you. You should only do this if you're already in excellent shape or if you've completed P90X (which means you're in excellent shape). Beginners should stick with the first system. The new series, while not as accessible to the masses as the original due to the exotic moves and the plethora of extra gear required to maximize the effectiveness, is truly the most elite home fitness series I've ever tried (and still way cheaper than gym memberships and Bowflex machines). Yes, it's everything it was hyped to be (and probably more). You'll pretty much be able to don a cape and fight crime when this is all over.

LONG REVIEW: If you've read my review of P90X, you know that while I love the system, I've never been a "fanboy". I'm not a coach or involved with Beachbody in any way. I've never purchased any supplements or shakes. And the...

Big guy getting slender, getting muscular, feeling better!
I took a good look at myself about a year ago, and didn't like what I saw. I was embarrassed to wear most of my clothes; taking my shirt off at the beach was not going to happen--period. Heck, I could barely look at myself in the bathroom mirror. I had no neck. My belly was sticking out and sagging over. My fat fat pants were too tight. I couldn't find shirts that I could close the collar to wear a tie.

I had manboobs.

I hid myself behind big sweaters and oversized sweats. I am 5'6" and weighed about 225 lbs. I was exhausted going up a single flight of stairs to my bedroom. I have 3 active little boys, and they wanted to wrestle with papa. That was simply not going to happen either. Something had to give.

So I did the craziest thing I could have--I did Insanity, and loved it. I followed that with ...

Good and Bad
Having worked through P90X and P90X+, P90X2 falls somewhere in between. There are some great points about P90X2 and some very bad--even dangerous--points about P90X2. I loved P90X and still think it's the best exercise program on the market. P90X+ was just a marketing program designed to sell more gear and videos, and it quickly died. Like P90X+, P90X2 is very much a marketing program designed to sell a lot of overpriced fitness equipment. In spite of what they advertise about the hotel workout, you cannot do P90X2 without a lot of gear. You need 3-4 medicine balls of various sizes (actually a couple of large ones, for balance purposes, as well as smaller ones for some lifting), and they need to be firm enough to support your weight. So the cheapie plastic ones won't do. Practically every exercise uses a stability ball, so that's a must have. You also need a lot of dumbbells. Bands are problematic, since it's hard to use a band on a stability ball. I'm not convinced the foam roller...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Tony Horton's P90X3 DVD Workout - Ultimate Kit

First Impressions. . .
Obviously this won't be a full review since this product is brand new and I haven't gotten to give it 90 days. But I will continue to update this with a full accounting of its effectiveness.

If you check my other reviews you'll see that I have top reviews for P90X and P90X2. I'm not a Beachbody coach. I've never purchased supplements or shakes or anything other than the original push-up stands from them. I'm just a guy who enjoys Tony's workouts and have gotten great results with them.

That being said, I wanted to give you guys a breakdown of this system as I'm sure there are a lot of questions out there. Is it like the first or second series? How much additional gear will you need? Do you need to do the first two series to do this one? Is it really 30 minutes? And on and on. . . This review is designed to answer those questions for people wondering about the series that don't want to wait 90 days to find out what's in it. Here we go. . .

I plan on...

better than P90X & T25, ultimate kit OK
I've had P90X3 for only a few weeks now, not the full 90 days... but I don't want to wait that long to encourage you to get these DVDs!

I've had several of Tony Horton's programs for years, and have enjoyed them. I liked P90X -- loved it -- but doing another round was just something that I lost interest in. It isn't that I don't have TIME to workout for an hour, but frankly, my attention span really is only good for 30 minutes it seems...

I tried T25 because it was only "25 minutes" but didn't like the trainer's approach. Also, it seemed there was more jumping on those DVDs than on P90X3.

P90X3 really is only 30 minutes a day. Since starting P90X in 2007, I've been diagnosed with a disk disease that makes jumping around / jogging a no-go. Bummer. But these disks happen to be low-impact. Not by design,but because they are, no kidding, they don't use "okay lets do jumping jacks" as a crutch for cardio. The exercises are innovative and...



Click to Editorial Reviews