Real Challenges: Think level ten of your favorite video game is hard? Try the P90X plyometrics workout! Or the chest and back workout! Trust us, whatever you think the hardest challenge in your favorite video game is, you’ll be more challenged by P90X.

Better Tools: Sure, your video game as a crazy weapon that can’t exist in real life and a special suit that allows you to breath in outer space, but P90X has the P90X Powerstands to help you do absolutely perfect push-ups, chin-up bars and a slew of other P90X accessories that are cooler in real-life than any virtual-world video game accessory.

Better Rewards: At the end of the video game, all you have is a high score. However, at the end of your ninety days of P90X, you’ll have an amazingly fit body, better health and a new self confidence.

We’re not saying that you should give up video games. We think that they’re fun too. But we do think that it’s important that you get up off of the sofa and get some physical activity. If what you love about your video games are the challenges and rewards, you can definitely get that with P90X as well. And, just like a video game, you’ll level up to harder challenges as you go through the ninety-day program. Better than a video game? We think so. Now, go get your P90X game on!

Arm and Back Strength: Obviously, the most important element to getting your power swing going is arm and back strength. P90X will improve your arm and back strength through focused workouts specifically on those areas that use proven P90X tools like the P90X resistance bands and P90X push up stands to develop and tone lean muscle in your arms and back. From bigger biceps to tighter triceps and a more developed back, your upper body will gain the strength it needs to slam that little green ball at your opponent.

Leg Strength: Of course, anybody who’s ever swung a tennis racket knows that much of the power of the swing comes from your base, the planting and torque of your legs. The leg training workouts of P90X, along with the plyometrics (jump training) and Kenpo X (martial arts) workouts will help you gain the leg strength that you need to turn into your swing and put that extra power on the ball.

Flexibility: Finally, to get the complete range of motion that you’ll need in order to fully power the tennis racket through its maximum range of swing and get the most power on the ball, you’ll need flexibility. Stretch X and Yoga X will get you there!

Tennis is still a skill game, but exemplary players can bring the power game as well. Get yourself into shape to be a power tennis player through the strength training elements of P90X! You’ll also improve core strength and cardio endurance as well, and the end result will be a far superior tennis game to the one that you have now!

Don’t Eat Too Close to Your Workout! You should wait an hour to an hour and a half after you eat to workout. This gives you a chance to digest as well as to make sure that your body is at its optimal level of energy.

Increase the Duration and Intensity of Your Cardio as You Go Along: Fortunately for you, with P90X this factor is taken care of as Tony Horton has developed the cardio workouts to push you harder (and longer) as you get deeper into the P90X program itself. However, once you’re done with P90X and potentially with P90X Plus as well, you’ll need to make sure that you continue to challenge yourself.

Vary the Type of Cardio that You Do: Again, with the P90X workout products, you have an advantage because Tony Horton focuses on muscle confusion and makes sure that your cardio routines never get mundane or boring or repetitive. On your own, however, you’ll want to be extra conscious about mixing up your cardio workouts. Once your body gets too used to one type of cardio workout, it becomes too easy and the results will begin to plateau.

Monitor Your Heart Rate: We’ve written previously about the proper target heart rate zone. Monitor your heart rate and make sure that it’s neither too low (where you’re not getting an effective workout) or too high (where you’re at risk of injury).

Cardio is an essential part of any workout program, but to get the most out of it you’ll need to push yourself every time! It’s very easy fall into the habit of having the cardio workouts be “less intense” than many of the strength workouts. Don’t let that become your bad habit!

Strength Exercises: Sure, we know. You’ve tried strength exercises before and they haven’t been enough. However, because P90X comes with the ability to ramp up your workout efforts, the strength exercises that you’ll be doing can have quite an impact. Rather than just try to lift to gain muscle, Tony Horton will take you through a structured program that results in good, lean muscle that you can then build upon after.

Nutrition: Half of ditching the “skinny guy” and becoming the “lean muscle guy” is about nutrition. P90X has a comprehensive nutrition plan that will make sure that you’re getting enough protein to support muscle growth. In addition to multivitamins, you’ll benefit from the specially formulated P90X Protein Bars during the day and P90X Results and Recovery Formula to make sure that you replenish protein quickly after your workout is done.

Proven Results: Just go and look at the before and after P90X photos all over the internet! You’ll see that there were many “skinny guys” just like you who transformed their bodies with the P90X plan. It certainly will take dedication on your part, but if you complete the program you’ll get the muscle base that you need to keep building on strength, mass and bulk.

Almost more importantly, you’re unlikely to be the “skinny guy” forever. Your metabolism will slow down some day, and you’ll be happy that you put a solid workout plan like P90X into place before it did!

What’s a workout log?

A workout  log is just a daily listing of the important information about your workout. With P90X, we’d recommend that it include the following information:

- Time of day that you worked out

- Which workout you did and the amount of time it took

- Your weight that day

- Your calorie count for the day

- What you ate that day

- Any notes you want to make

Where to Keep your Workout Log

You should keep your workout log wherever it’s most convenient for you. It can be hand-written in a notebook, entered onto a Word document or Excel sheet in your computer, or kept on your phone. Whatever works for you!

What’s the point of a workout log?

The first point is accountability. If you know that you need to enter your workout information onto a log, you’re less likely to skip workouts or break your diet because you know that you’ll have to document it later.

The second point is for when you’re done with P90X or P90X Plus! You’ll have a record of what worked well, what you didn’t do as well as you hoped and what you enjoyed the most so that you can easily repeat those elements and make them part of your daily post-P90X workouts.

Keeping a workout log is simple, but it can have a great impact on your dedication to and follow through with P90X. It’s a quick step that can formalize your workout and help you be more efficient about getting the results that you want!

Don’t Overextend: Whether you’re using weights or the P90X resistance bands, stop yourself before you get to the outer limits of your range of motion. If you overextend your range of motion, you’re putting undue stress on your joints that could lead to injury later.

Don’t Use Too Much Weight: Also know your limits about how much weight you can lift for exercises that require you to do so. It’s important to push yourself to increase the weight that you lift, but not so much that you’re lifting weight that is clearly too heavy for you. That, again, will put stress on your joints that will ultimately weaken them.

Floor Surfaces: To protect your knees, make sure that the surface that you’re working out on isn’t too hard. If your home only has hardwood or tile floors, invest in a P90X yoga mat to put between you and the floor to cushion the effect on your knees and ankles.

Bend Your Knees: Always, always bend your knees when working out, even if you’re doing an exercise that only focuses on the upper body. You don’t want to get your ankle, knee or hip joints locked, again because of the pressure it puts on them.

Even if you’re young and fit, if you don’t take proper care of your joints now, you’ll feel the results when you’re older! Follow these tips and protect your joints not only from injury while working out but also from developing problems as you age.

The Tennis Ball Technique: While we’re suggesting using a tennis ball, any ball that is somewhat firm and squishy at the same time will work for this exercise! Just carry the ball with you, and periodically throughout the day stop to squeeze it a hundred times with each hand. Even if you do this just once a day, you’ll see improved strength in your hands over time. Ideally, however, you’ll do this twice to three times a day.

Hand from Your Chin Up Bar: If you’re doing P90X, somewhere in your home you’ve installed a chin-up bar. Try simply hanging from it rather than doing chin-ups or pull-ups on it. The hanging will help to strengthen your grip, which will have benefits on all of your workout exercises where you need to hold things.

Hand strength may seem like the thing that you’re least concerned with in your quest to get your best body and be in the best shape that you’ve ever been in. However, in order to get the most out of any of your workouts, you’ll need to have strong hands to support holding weights, bands, bars or your own body weight. The two simple tasks above can have an impact on the results of your workout that will make the short amount of time that it takes to complete doing them well worth it!

Core Strength: Without a doubt, core strength is one of the most important elements to successfully being able to twist through your swing while also controlling it. Through Core Synergistics, Yoga X and Ab Ripper X, P90X will strengthen your core. We know it’s easy to hide a soft middle underneath a golf shirt, but without a strong core, your swing will suffer.

Arm and Back Strength: Just as important as core strength is the strength in your arms and, particularly, your back when it comes to driving a ball down long fairways. With the P90X arm and back workouts, as well as the key P90X tools of the P90X Push Up Stands and P90X Chin Up Bar, you’ll gain strength in your arms and back that will result in greater ease on long drives (assuming you’ve also got a smooth swing going!).

Leg Strength: Anybody who’s ever golfed knows that your swing requires immense strength in your legs both for control and stability. In addition to its pure leg strength exercises, P90X will sculpt your legs with Kenpo X and Plyometrics workouts that will leave you with a stronger and more controlled base for your swings and puts.

Flexibility: Golfers also need flexibility to capture the full range of motion on a swing. Yoga X and X Stretch in the P90X workouts will improve your flexibility and thus the range of your swing.

We all know that golf isn’t just about a cooler of beer on a golf cart. Being a competitive golfer requires both skill and strength. P90X can’t help you with the skill, but it can give you the strength that you need to improve your game.

What is P90X?

Just in case you’re just starting your P90X research, P90X is a ninety-day fitness program by celebrity fitness trainer Tony Horton. It combines not only twelve workouts that get done on a six-day-on, one-day-off schedule for all three months but also a complete nutrition program that teaches you three phases of eating so that you’ll not only lose weight but also optimize your workouts. The program has been used and endorsed by celebrities like P!nk and Taylor Lautner as well as professional athletes like Brett Favre, Ray Lewis, Barry Zito and Kelly Slater.

Who is P90X right for?

P90X is right for you if you meet any of the following criteria!

You’re READY to Get Fit: And we mean ready, because P90X will push you to your max. If you’re ready to get fit and ready for the hard work that it requires, P90X is for you.

You’re Dedicated: Three months of workouts six-days-a-week and a strict nutrition plan isn’t easy. You’ll need to be dedicated. If you’re not ready for that, you’ll struggle. Prepare to dedicate yourself to your fitness effort!

You’re Starting from Zero Level Fitness. Or…You’re Already Fit: You’ve seen the before and after pictures! P90X can take you from zero to ten on the fitness scale, but if you’re already fit it can make you even better. From beginners to pro athletes, everybody who finishes P90X benefits from it.

You Play a Sport: P90X has great benefits for just about every type of athlete. We’ve broken them down by sport on the Finish Well Fitness blog, but if you play a sport of any kind, P90X can get you into better shape and help you excel at your sport.

You’re a Man. Or You’re a Woman! P90X is equally good for men or women. Again, just look at the before and after pictures! Both genders can get rocking bodies from P90X.

In short, P90X is good for everybody! It really is! You just need to show up determined and ready to put your game face on. If you do, you’ll not only get the best body you ever had, but also be in the best health that you’ve ever been!

Protein

We’ve already talked about how important it is to get protein in order to support muscle growth and muscle repair during your P90X journey. The truth is that there is a difference between meat proteins and vegetable proteins, with soy being a vegetable protein. Vegetable proteins are typically “incomplete”, which means that they’re either missing some important amino acids or they don’t have enough amino acids to meet the body’s needs. Vegetarians typically combine a number of vegetable proteins together to get a complete protein source. However, this is why we don’t recommend switching entirely to vegetable proteins while doing P90X. If you do, be very diligent about getting enough of all kinds of protein, and also supplement your protein intake with something like the P90X protein bars.

Hexane

In addition, don’t be fooled that soy products are a hundred percent healthier for you than meat products. They’ll certainly be less fatty than meat, but that comes at a cost. A soybean itself is actually rather high in fat, and in order to make soy products lean and low fat, the beans are soaked in a chemical called hexane before being processed. Hexane is a neurotoxin! Like anything else, if you seek out organic soy products, you’ll avoid the chemical intake, but just assuming that you’re making a healthier choice by switching to soy isn’t accurate.

Protein and getting enough of it is of the utmost importance during P90X. We’d recommend sticking to a healthy diet that includes a meat component and supplementing for any additional protein needs that you have. Soy products are great, but an entire transition may not be the right answer during a taxing workout like P90X.