Chris and I have been doing P90X2 for our workout routine for just over 5 weeks so far.  While we are not anywhere near complete, I do have a few observations I will share.  This is intended to be a balanced review so I will highlight both what I like about P90X2 and what I don’t.

First, while I continue to advocate P90X for people of many fitness levels (if modified), I do not feel the same about P90X2.  P90X2 is an advanced program that is, in my opinion, not to be attempted by beginners.  Consequently, before anyone starts P90X2, I strongly recommend that you complete at least one round of P90X and for most, more than one round.  Also, the last round of P90X that you have done should be immediately before starting P90X2.  While I’ve done multiple rounds of P90X and P90X hybrids, I had been doing a strength and muscle training routine with weights before I started and now wished I’d done a round of P90X before starting P90X2.

What I like about P90X2:

• I like Tony Horton.  This is obviously a personal preference so if you don’t like Tony, then this statement may be a negative for you.  It may just be the fact that Tony and I are the same age but I smile with his goofy comments.  Tony remains a positive, high energy, trainer if a bit odd (goofy).
• I appreciate the added focus on balance that was not in the first program other than a bit at the end of yoga.  Again this may be somewhat an age related issue.  I have an aging mom who has had her share of falls in the past few years and that has made me keenly aware of how important balance is as we age.
• I like the shorter sessions and 5 work day schedule.  As any of you who regularly read my posts already know, I’ve been a huge advocate of 5 day workout schedules and shorter, more intense workouts.  The human body likes intensity and subsequent recovery.  I believe this holds for younger as well as older folks but particularly if you are over 40, 2 recovery days per week have been my recommendation for years.
• I dislike the yoga less.    The yoga in P90X is 90 minutes long and I have always found the repetition of the beginning moves over a 45 minute period to be near impossible to stick with.  Patience is not my strong suit and I also just don’t like yoga much although I appreciate what the stretching and balancing components can do for us.
• I like the increased focus on core development.  When you start this program you will begin to notice that just about everyone has a ripped core.  I believe it’s because of the core focus.  Try a few crunchy chin ups and you’ll soon know why the workout group has great abs.
• The P90X2 Nutrition Guide has some very tasty recipes and I really like the approved listing of convenience food brands they like in the back of the book.

Things I’m undecided about so far:

• Ab Ripper2.  It’s probably because I’m not even close to mastering some of the moves that I’m ambivalent so far on this workout.  I felt the original ab ripper workout more intensely.

Things I don’t like about P90X2:

• Too much focus on balance.  I know it may seem weird that this shows up under my dislike column when it was in my like column as well.  But every good thing when done to excess becomes a bad thing.  In this case, I feel the workout sacrifices strength gains for balance.  Balance is in every workout I’ve done so far and frankly I feel it’s over done.  If I were designing P90X, I’d have it in about half of the workouts but retain several of the resistance training workouts as a pure strength challenge.
• Where’s the leg workout?  One of my few complaints about P90X is that the leg workout is a bit light.  However at least there is one.  In P90X2 the leg workout is replaced with more plyo exercises (in the Back and Base workout).  Here’s why this bothers me.  It’s hard enough for women to get a change in their hormonal/metabolic systems with only a light leg workout.  The legs/gluts are your biggest muscles and this is even more pronounced for us women who have far less upper body muscular development.  So we need a strong (heavier) weight workout for our quad, hammy and glute muscles to get that hormonal/metabolic response.  We women don’t need more plyo moves.  Not sure it really does anything for men either.  Real MEN work their legs and glutes hard. 
• In my opinion, Tony works too hard trying to be creative in push ups and pull up exercises.  I suppose ‘variety is the spice of life’ but every move doesn’t have to be different from the original P90X.  Also sometimes I feel it’s the naming that is different more than the move.  My hubby who is a couple weeks behind Chris and I just did the Chest, Back and Balance workout the other day for the first time and made fun of the ‘double wide’ push ups and pull ups which he said was really just wide push ups and pull ups.  I have to agree.  Even Tony says if you go too wide, you’ll injure yourself so he moves in a bit which does make the push ups just wide, not double wide, push ups.
• There is too much static stretching/massaging with the roller before the workouts.  As many studies recommend (and I agree) the best time to do static stretching is post workout, not pre workout.  Also, the whole roller segment is rather unstructured and in my opinion not well guided on the few moves that are illustrated.  I would have strongly preferred to see this pulled out and done up properly as a short, additional workout (as is ab ripper).
• The same caloric target calculations are assumed in the P90X Nutrition Guide.  My problem with this is that it continues to suggest that there is no difference in the metabolisms of men and women (assuming same height, weight and age) when in fact at the same height, weight and age, men will always have more lean mass than women of corresponding measurements.  This can cause women to eat too many calories to lose weight.
• Most importantly – there is a MUCH greater chance you’ll injure yourself with all the exercises done on medicine balls and balance balls.  I don’t feel this really adds anything meaningful to the workouts even if the moves do look cool and would impress people if you were doing these in front of them.  But I don’t workout in front of people and I don’t look to impress anyone with a funky move on medicine balls.  In fact, I prefer simple moves that deliver results.  That’s what I liked so very much about P90X that isn’t there in P90X2.

My results so far:

I didn’t have specific goals for this when I started other than to shape up a bit more and lean out.  My strength is very good now but over the 8 months I was working on getting stronger and adding more muscle, I added weight, some of which was a bit of fat so I wanted to take that fat off.  Five weeks in I’ve not lost any weight but I’ve lost 1/4″ on each thigh, 1/4″ off my my hips, and 1/2″ off of my waist.  I also measure my lower abdomen which is a real trouble spot for women who have had children – especially if they’ve had a c-section as I have and/or are over 40.  I’ve lost 1 and 1/4″ from my lower abs.

While not outstanding, I’m OK with that.  I was in very good shape when I started and I’m not being as strict with my diet as I would if I was looking to see amazing results.  I can see greater muscle definition as fat is being replaced with a bit more lean mass.  Also, I’ve added 1/4″ in my biceps although I wasn’t looking to add anymore girth there.

Moving forward, I’m going to focus a bit more on my diet (less calories – I’m already eating super clean).  I am also going to add 3 short HIIT workouts per week to increase the fat burning.  My reason for adding the HIITs is that with all the balance moves, I just can’t work up the sweat (or the calorie burn) that I could with original P90X and so I need to up my energy expenditure.  And finally, I just started to replace the plyo moves in Back and Base with leg and glute exercises lifting with heavy weights.

My Overall Recommendation:

Not sure I have one – at least not yet.  While I’m not going to give this a thumbs down, I’m just concerned that the focus is too much on looking great while performing rather than focus on simpler, effective moves that do just as much for strength, balance and flexibility – the things I love so much about the original P90X.  I will finish this program and come back then with my final thoughts.

Until then… ‘X’ me!