Full disclosure, I have tried and quit P90x at least 3x in my life (all in the past two years)and really bought into the theory of "if I just do this I'll be ripped like Tony" (and hopefully spouting out his great one liners to people), but it just never worked for me. I'll go ahead and knock out the biggest advantage P90x has over crossfit, and that's cost. I pay more per month than the entire video set cost me. There are of course hidden costs in P90x, such as pullup bar, sweet workout gloves (ahh I can't make fun of those anymore even though I still haven't used them in an actual workout), various dumbells, and expensive window coverings so people walking by your house can't peer in and watch you. The dumbells were the hardest part, I didn't want to get a set but for some of the dvd's you need to be able to switch to multiple weights quickly without taking a long rest to change plates (and with the screw on dumbbells it takes forever to change weights). However, its still much much cheaper and I understand and fully respect that.
Now I'll list a few reasons why I feel personally feel that crossfit is superior to P90x:
1. Its not at your home - This might seem like an advantage for P90x purely because of a convenience factor, but from what I've found to be true in my life is when you're working out at home the slightest distraction or excuse to not workout will win out. Sometimes you're just too tired or the new season of Jersey Shore is premiering that night, whatever it is getting out of the house removes many distractions. I'm not sure if someone has ever said 'half the battle is just showing up' (and judging from inaccuracy of quotes on the internet these days, I'm going to attribute that to Abraham Lincoln, RIP) but it holds very true in my life.
2. Its always different - Other then time of day I show up, its impossible to have a "routine", and thats what I love about it. Each day represents new challenges to conquer with new workouts. P90x preaches muscle confusion, and switches every 30 days or so, but its still the same dvd's and easy to get bored with em
3. Hard to Scale - I know this is a hard concept to grasp, but not everyone is at the same fitness level. The same workout doesn't necessarily work for two different people, much less the millions that have bought into P90x / Insanity / whatever. I almost never do the 'prescribed' workout because I'm not there yet, and I love that I can scale down the workouts. P90x's version of scaling is telling you to use a chair on your pullups, but very rarely gives you any advice on the other workouts.
4. Very easy to injure yourself - This is actually my biggest fear of people doing workout dvd's, the risk of injury. Without proper form, its very easy to hurt yourself, and pretty badly at that. I know Tony gives you the proper techniques on how to do the lifts, but without someone watching you its very easy to lose form especially in the later rounds.
5. Coaches - This actually should be reason 1. My coaches have been without a doubt a godsend in helping me achieve my fitness goals. They push me to fight for every last rep, and make sure that every rep counts, there's no cheating with them. They also make sure I'm doing the appropriate weight and since I'm new (the newest actually), pay special attention to me to make sure my form is solid. I like to use them as my first resource for questions about recovery drinks (progenics and advocare were their recommendations), and they're all down to earth fun people who are the exact type of people I would be scared to piss off in a bar. Charlie especially. Sometimes I can even make them laugh.
6. Intensity - I'll be brief with this, but in no way shape or form was I pushing myself hard enough when attempting P90x. I didn't fight for it. Maybe that's just me, but I'm sure many people struggle with pushing themselves extra when they're working out alone in their living room.
7. Community - One of the reasons I enjoy crossfit is the people I've met in such a short time. When I used to go 24 hour fitness, I would show up, talk to nobody, workout, then leave. That is not what happens here, in fact most people end up making good friends, its like pledging a fraternity (not that I would know anything about that, I'm just assuming), but when you fight, bleed, sweat, and really bust it together, people just come together. Its a great feeling knowing that everyone wants everyone to do and perform their best. I was going to comment about "such a diverse group of people" but my crossfit gym is about as diverse as river oaks country club.
Finally, I want to say I think when done properly P90x is a great workout, it just wasn't for me. Yes I know this was one sided and completely biased towards crossfit, but what can I say, I'm clearly a believer.
Todays WOD:
Warm up:
10 Handstand Pushups
20 Pistols (10 per leg, google it)
15 Sit Ups
Main WOD:
AMRAP 7 Minutes:
3 Muscle Ups (HEAVILY scaled)
7 Box Jumps
9 Push press with bar (65 lbs)
Rest for 3 Minutes
AMRAP 7 Minutes:
7 Sumo Deadlift High Pull (SDHP) (65 lbs)
9 Knees to elbows while hanging
11 Double Unders
This workout was a sprint workout, in that you only had a short amount of time to knock out as much as possible. My "muscle ups" were a joke, even to the point I was pretty much using only my legs (an actual muscle up is all arms), and my double unders still need a lot of work. I was proud of my workout today because I pushed it through to the very end and made every rep count. I'm a notorious clock watcher and will sometimes just stop with 10 seconds left if I finish an exercise and don't wanna knock out at least 2 reps of another. Twice today when Andrew yelled out "30 seconds" I was on the first exercise of the routine, and both times powered my way through multiple reps of the last exercise in the routine.
Final Results:
AMRAP 1: 5+14
AMRAP 2: 4 + 11
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