Done with P90X

Today marks Day 90 of P90X.  Of course, it took me an extra six weeks or so because of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve and maybe a little exercise fatigue in the middle.

The good:
Tony is good at exhorting you to "do your best and forget the rest" which makes it easier to power through some of the long workouts.  The program is based on fundamental exercises like pushups, pullups and squats so it's scientifically sound.  There are also some other good exercises that I learned and will incorporate going forward.

Tony also says some funny stuff which you can find quoted online.

The most effective workouts: legs and back, plyometrics X and ab ripper X.

The bad:
Each workout is about an hour and there seems to be too much repetition.  Once I break down my muscles with the first couple of sets, there are diminishing returns with the third, fourth and fifth set.

You also start to get sick of the program and Tony's pet names pretty quickly.  He also pushes the stupid recovery drinks and add-ons heavily, but I learned to tune him out at times.

Some workouts start with stretching before warming up and I believe you should never stretch cold muscles.

The nutrition plan is also garbage so don't follow it either.

The ugly:
Dreya Webber.  Seriously, she is one of the most annoying people I've never met.  She's certainly fit, but is mannish and her Groucho walk is annoyingly bad.  Tony usually fawns all over her, but calls her out on it.

The verdict:
I recommend the program if you've got the extra scratch, but I think you can build your own program which could be just as effective.  I needed a kick in the butt and P90X provided it so I don't regret doing it and I might go through it again in the future.

I also gave up wheat about halfway through and started playing basketball a couple of weeks ago so the results may be slightly confounded.

The numbers:
Weight: Initial - 195.2 lbs Final - 183.0 lbs Delta - -12.2 lbs
Body fat percentage: Initial 28.1% Final - 23.6% Delta - -4.5 percentage points
Body fat: Initial -  54.9 lbs Final - 43.2 lbs Delta - -11.7lbs
Chest: Initial - 38.75" Final - 38.75" Delta - 0"
Waist: Initial - 36.5" Final - 35" Delta - -1.5"
Hips: Initial - 40" Final - 40" Delta - 0"
Right thigh: Initial - 22" Final - 23" Delta - 1"
Left thigh: Initial - 23" Final - 23" Delta - 0"
Left arm: Initial - 14.5" Final - 14" Delta - -0.5"
Right arm: Initial - 14.5" Final - 14" Delta - -0.5"
Resting heart rate: Initial - 62 bpm Final - 66 bpm Delta - 4bpm
Pullups: Initial - 1.75 Final - 2.5 Delta - 0.75
Vertical leap: Initial - 10" Final - 12" Delta - 2"
Pushups: Initial - 20 Final - 21 Delta - 1
Toe touch: Initial - -2" Final - -2" Delta - 0"
Wall squat: Initial - 70s Final - 107s Delta - 47s
Bicep curls: Initial - 11 Final - 13 Delta - 2
In and outs: Initial - 27 Final - 40 Delta - 13
Heart rate maximizer 0 min: Initial - 146 bpm Final - 145 bpm Delta - -1 bpm
Heart rate maximizer 1 min: Initial - 100 bpm Final - 95 bpm Delta - -5 bpm
Heart rate maximizer 2 min: Initial - 94 bpm Final - 93 bpm Delta - -1 bpm
Heart rate maximizer 3 min: Initial - 84 bpm Final - 89 bpm Delta - 4 bpm
Heart rate maximizer 4 min: Initial - 87 bpm Final - 88 bpm Delta - 1 bpm

I know the formatting sucks here, but I don't feel like prettying it up.  You can see that I got a heckuva lot leaner since I lost 12 lbs, nearly all of which was fat.  I shaved 1.5" off my waist (the spare tire), but I didn't get all that much stronger.  I did the Never Gymless program before starting P90X so I would claim I was already sort of strong.  Is P90X solely responsible for my leanness?  I did give up wheat so it's hard to say.  Let's just say that P90X didn't hurt.

The pictures:
I think these show how much leaner I got better than the numbers.  I've got some weird posture going on in some of the pictures and I'm missing the Day 54 ones (couldn't find anyone to take them), but I think my spare tire has deflated quite a bit and that I have much more definition in the torso.  The moobs are definitely smaller.

What's next:
I think I'm going to start up some "challenges" - 100 pushups, 150 dips, 200 squats and 50 pullups.  I'll play basketball once a week and I'd like to start up some boxing lessons.  Keep an eye out for updates.