P90x

I don't know if anyone else is doing it, but I've found the pull and push (and abs) portions of the P90x workout to be rather effective for climbing. Its good, at least, for the physically climbing....(I think I'm a worse slab climber now though!)

Funny (and true) P90X story:

My girlfriend bought the DVDs and everything straight off of the infomercial. I was extremely skeptical about them and actually ended up hurting her feelings a little bit by calling it some stupid gimmicky "8 minute Abs" nonsense. Waste of cash, I thought...

Fast-forward a few months. She's been doing the exercises pretty regularly, and one night I happen to be home when she's doing them. I'm sitting at my computer drinking a Miller High Life and she asked me to do the Shoulders & Arms followed by the Abs routines with her.

I leaned back in my chair, took a nice gulp of beer, and walked over to the living room and then proceeded to get absolutely annihilated by the exercises. Holy hell did it kick my ass. I thought I did plenty of crunches and pullups, but apparently I'm just nowhere near being able to go through the P90X routines with any ease at all.

I totally underestimated the intensity of the workouts, and now I'm hooked. They're totally, absolutely, completely awesome if you want to do 45 minutes of strength-building at home.

Peter Franzen wrote:Miller High Life

awesome

The diet that goes along with the workout is just as good as the workout itself...I substitute the pull days with my gym climbing days just so I dont overwork the same muscle groups and it beats sitting in front of the tv working out

The dude who designed the program is a climber. And a really great guy.

www.steve-edwards.blogspot.com/

Peter Franzen wrote:Funny (and true) P90X story: My girlfriend bought the DVDs and everything straight off of the infomercial. I was extremely skeptical about them and actually ended up hurting her feelings a little bit by calling it some stupid gimmicky "8 minute Abs" nonsense. Waste of cash, I thought... Fast-forward a few months. She's been doing the exercises pretty regularly, and one night I happen to be home when she's doing them. I'm sitting at my computer drinking a Miller High Life and she asked me to do the Shoulders & Arms followed by the Abs routines with her. I leaned back in my chair, took a nice gulp of beer, and walked over to the living room and then proceeded to get absolutely annihilated by the exercises. Holy hell did it kick my ass. I thought I did plenty of crunches and pullups, but apparently I'm just nowhere near being able to go through the P90X routines with any ease at all. I totally underestimated the intensity of the workouts, and now I'm hooked. They're totally, absolutely, completely awesome if you want to do 45 minutes of strength-building at home.

Got it as a xmas present...I was only able to get through a 1/2 hour of the routines which are only about an hour or so. And at the time I thought I was in decent shape.

I did the full 13 or 14 weeks last summer and was definitely in the best shape of my life. I could barely move after the first week but stuck with it and felt great at the end. I keep trying to start again but can't seem to find the motivation.

Awesome! I love it - I really wish we had a gym in my freaking state! I just do the pull and push ones - I figure I won't gain much from climbing doing squats and legs?

I feel like I'm climbing better for sure at the Red River Gorge which is more fitness climbing and I think my bouldering is getting stronger.

Anyways - this program is highly recommended. I'll have to check out the diet plan - that's always been my problem.

I heard it wasn't as good as CrossFit. They are obviously different, but does anybody have the experience for a direct comparison??

The biggest question is how to integrate with climbing... Always do the routines and also climb. Or make a new schedule using the video and also having climbing days.

i like the p90x, anyone try the insanity workouts?

Insanity is totally Killer.
Just Started a combination P90X, P90X Plus, Insanity Cycle...Gotta Love Tony Horton and SeanT

I like watching this workout program. zuzanalight.com/
Though, I've never tried any of it. :)

sunder wrote:The biggest question is how to integrate with climbing... Always do the routines and also climb. Or make a new schedule using the video and also having climbing days.

would love someone to chime in on this question also....

Joe,

I've been trying the following schedule -

Su-Climb
M - Abs
T - Chest and Back
W - Plyometrics/Hangboard
R - Shoulders and Arms/Abs
F - Rest
Sa-Climb

of course with my schedule, that gets modded a lot...I climb too much to train darnit

The Insanity program looks pretty good - its just a bunch of cardio it looks like? pretty cool.

I tried, its tons of cardio. I had to stop b/c it involved alot of jumping around on your feet and i have bad nerve in my foot.

Dan, we did P90X and got through 60 days before family commitments wrecked our routine. We've just started it up again after nine months gaining most of the weight back.

I ended up losing about 12 pounds in those 60 days (192 to 180)... not sure if my increase in climbing grade was attributed to the weight loss but I found if it didn't help my climbing it definitely aided my overall fitness by a ton! I dropped my 2 mile run by a bit over 2 minutes.

I found the diet plan to absolutely starve us though. It made us watch exactly what we ate and if anything looked at portion control and strategic eating (when to eat what). Eating enough to not starve ourselves was our primary goal after a week, but it did make us choose healthy.

They say muscle confusion... but after a week I was saying Stomach confusion! heh!

Steve Edwards, who develops workouts for P90X, has a blog ( steve-edwards.blogspot.com/), is a climber, and actually has MP username as well.

I went from 215 lbs to 185 in 4 months with P90X. My climbing ability (especially on ice) went through the roof and I was sending routes off the couch that I never thought I would ever send.

The program works, but it takes a huge level of committment and at least an hour and a half a day for the workouts. No real equipment other than dumbells and chin up bar. I used rock rings to modify my workouts to align with my climbing movements.

Great program and about the only one that worked for me
my 2 cents ;)
Chris

RockinOut wrote:The diet that goes along with the workout is just as good as the workout itself...I substitute the pull days with my gym climbing days just so I dont overwork the same muscle groups and it beats sitting in front of the tv working out

Great idea... I always felt like there was no time or energy to climb while doing p90x.