P90X (Part 2): The Limiting Factor Argument

Update 12/13/2010: In response to the comments by two of my readers, apparently I was wrong in my assessment of P90X in regard to time. Both of them said that I was too nice, as the workouts are actually longer than I thought they were. So, my updated grade of P90X in lieu of this new information is C-.


This is the second of 3 installments discussing the efficacy (or lack thereof) of the P90X program. To read Part 1, The Absolute Intensity Argument, click HERE. This purpose of this post will be to evaluate P90X in terms of the construct discussed in Unit 2 of The Theory of Fat Loss, the limiting factor theory.

Note: One of the comments on my previous post suggested that it is impossible to evaluate P90X without reviewing the nutrition system with it as well. While I completely agree that you can never out train a poor diet, the purpose of these posts is not to discuss nutrition. Even the poorest exercise programs out there can look fantastic if a good diet is followed. I am simply critiquing an exercise program as it stands by itself. The Theory equips people with an evaluation system to objectively look at any training regimen, so I am merely providing you with an example of how it can be done.

Note 2: Let's not get accusatory in my comments section! It takes a lot of courage to post things non-anonymously, especially training results. I just recently posted a guest entry on this... the "your a skinny b*****" post. What matters is that people continue to make progress and that we help and support them, not tell them they are too thin or whatever. Even if somebody is technically "underweight," I don't see a problem with it if they are still improving their numbers in the gym. Now, if a person starts regressing or getting physically ill, then there is a problem, but being light doesn't mean unhealthy. I must say though that it does support my point about P90X not being a hypertrophy program.

Okay, without further ado...

Unit 2 of The Theory of Fat Loss, I discuss several limits that hinder a person from reaching a fat loss goal (as they limit the absolute intensity you can achieve). In summary, the limits are:

1. Capacity Limits (such as strength, muscular endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, and muscle mass)
2. Functional Limits (knowledge, coordination, posture, and injury)
3. Time Limits (daily and global time limits)
4. Programming Limits (exercises, workouts, short term programs, long term programs)

In order to truly maximize what you can get out of a workout,  capacity and functional limits need to be broken through, and beyond that, no new limits should be introduced throughout a training program. How does P90X match up to limits?

Capacity Limits
The good: I have never doubted that P90X raises people's heart rates and keeps them up. It's not a bad cardio stimulus in any way. I also have never doubted that people improve their muscular endurance due to the high number of repetitions of the 100 variations of the same exercise per workout.

The bad: Muscle mass is not improved very much when following P90X. Many people that complete P90X actually end up with less lean mass than they did when they started. To some extent, that is to be expected if there is a lot of fat loss, but a better program would not have such drastic loss of muscle. (Extreme muscle fatigue and high volume training is not the way to stimulate muscle growth, by the way. If you want a different opinion than mine, coach Jason Ferrugia just wrote a 4 part series on training to failure.) Of course, in the short term, muscle mass isn't necessary to be strong or to complete a lot of reps, so it might not being a problem when completing P90X. However, when you look into long term efficacy, muscle mass is very important to keeping resting metabolism high (and looking really good). Am I saying that P90X might actually hurt you in the long run? Not necessarily, but I'm still tossing that idea around in my head. I can expand upon this point some more, but I'll move on. If anybody has any comments or questions about it, leave a comment.

The ugly: Strength is one of the most important factors when it comes to burning fat effectively. Also, muscular endurance is largely determined by strength. If you aren't strong enough to do 1 pullup, you surely aren't strong enough to do 10. People simply do not get that much stronger following P90X because it wasn't designed to get people stronger. Strength limits are simply not broken through.

Grade: C-
I cut it a little slack because it is designed as a done-for-you home workout program. You aren't supposed to need heavy weights to do the program. That's fine. The real problem I have is the way it's marketed as a program that will solve every single one of your problems, when really, it is just an overpriced conditioning program for people who don't know how to train on their own or think that they don't have time to go to a gym. I also give it low marks simply because it is 90 days long. It is ridiculous to condition for 90 days and not work on any other aspect of training. Another issue is that the program preys on people's misguided ideas about how training is supposed to feel. It goes for the burn, the pump, and the shortness of breath... all subjective and largely meaningless measures of difficulty.

Functional Limits:
The good: I've got very little to say here. Some people that try P90X are so sedentary and uncoordinated that simply doing anything will improve their knowledge and coordination. That doesn't mean P90X is good about doing so. Also, very highly trained people might get a good stimulus due to a variety of challenging moves, but that is a tiny subset of the population.

The bad: P90X throws in way too much variety and never allows people to master basic movements or execute proper technique. It seems like keeping up is more important than learning how to move. Sloppy form should never be allowed. P90X also teaches people very little, although it does consistently and subtly try to sell you other products in the middle of workouts. A good program should not only give you a good training stimulus, but it should teach you something. Exercises, loading, sets, reps, and rest times should be recorded in a log. That way, you can look back and see exactly what worked, what didn't work, and what to tweak.

*If you buy my book by the way, you will have instant access to training templates and guides that will teach you exactly how to do that. Just click on the Buyer's Bonuses tab after your purchase.

The ugly: My main concern is that the injury rate of P90X is so high that it just shouldn't be followed by anybody. I'm not talking about major traumatic injuries that are going to result in lawsuits or anything, but I mean aches and pains that prevent people from training. Any done-for-you program is going to be awful at fixing posture just because there is no individual assessment, so I don't necessarily fault it there. What I really don't like are the warm-ups. The approach to warming up in P90X is so 80s. Where is the soft-tissue work? Where are the intelligent and workout specific dynamic mobility drills? Injury prevention should be practiced every workout, not just in a stretching and a yoga DVD. Finally, P90X abuses the law of repetitive motion. It is an example of too much too soon, high repetitions with poor form, overuse of body parts due to the training splits, etc.

Grade: F-
Too little cognitive and motor learning. Poor excuses for warm-ups. High injury rate. Useless yoga and stretching DVDs.

Time Limits:
The good: You get to work out in your home. Convenient.
The bad: 90 days is too long to be stuck doing only conditioning workouts
The ugly: Long term, this program will do you a disservice. Where is the periodization? When does the training stimulus change? Conditioning is the easiest thing to improve, but unfortunately, it is also the fastest thing to disappear with detraining. Strength and mass and coordination tend to stick around for a while. I wouldn't want to waste 90 days only working on one thing only to have it disappear shortly after. I'd like long term progress that could get me results faster next time.

Grade: B-
As far as daily time limits go, P90X is pretty good because it won't take more than an hour. (If you have less than an hour, it isn't very good though.) Most of the time (and there are exceptions, of course), it is a waste of time to condition for 90 days. Time would be better spent improving other intensity factors first and getting to the conditioning last.

Programming Limits
These have basically been covered already in this post and in the previous post. I want to say that short-term, the program is too long for what it is meant to do. Long-term, the program has a focus that is too short-term and narrow. You might not get that... oh well.

Grade: C-
Makes people very tired and has a high relative intensity. Due to the bodybuilder split though, relative intensity is never actually maximized either. Does very little to improve intensity capacity, so the absolute intensity achievable remains almost equal the entire length of the program.

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Overall, I hope that gives you a glimpse into why I do not think P90X is worth doing. It is too limited. Stay tuned for Part 3, where P90X is analyzed using The Theory of Fat Loss, and not just one of the constructs.

What do you think? Leave a comment. Start a discussion!

Read Part 1
Read Part 3