The problem is that wearing shoes prevents you from learning to move naturally and prevents your natural muscles and tendons from developing for example lateral stability on their own. It's like keeping the training wheels on your bicycle forever. After you've developed the stability and strength, there's no way shoes can compete with the real thing.

imho and in my experience, I'm not a doctor or trainer.

First, they're shoes, not robotic/mech implements, meaning that you are only getting some support, not a complete replacement of the stability required for the movements.

Second, a major purpose (for me anyway) is the shoes provide protection against slipping and awkward positioning. Shoes provide a constant "flat surface" (meaning the sole).

Sure there are benefits to going barefoot, but either option has its pros and cons.

Will, you're not a toddler. Nor are you a pre-teen. Your muscles and tendons have learned to move with shoes. That's why you don't see competitive distance runners drop their shoes unless they learned to run barefoot.

So this is the first time I've ever heard about p90x and I've been reading a little about it as I am tired of the same old same old routine I usually go through. But considering somebody is already in pretty good shape and not looking for anything more then maintaining are there any major benefits to this program that one couldn't get from a normal exercise routine and proper diet? It sounds as though its a program that's based around improving physical fitness rather then just trying to stay fit, although I guess being in better shape isn't a bad thing.

Anyway I guess I'm just curious.

You're suggesting my muscles and tendons can't relearn or adapt? I've adapted to barefoot running over the past 6-8 months pretty well. I don't want to get too off-topic, but I've never heard that muscles and tendons can't adapt to new movements. Are you sure about that?

---------- Post added at 03:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:33 PM ----------

It's a well rounded exercise routine that comes with a okay diet program. The exercises are all pretty good at doing what they're supposed to do, and the program is put together well in that it covers different muscles and different uses of muscles while keeping it fresh. The diet program isn't necessarily anything new either, but it does work well enough. Low carb in the beginning to burn extra fat, medium carb in the middle to start putting on a bit of bulk and a good regular diet during the third phase.

I think the reason its so popular is that it's all in one package. You could go to a gym and get a good trainer and maybe buy a book on nutrition, but this is everything in one. Not only that, but there's a lot to be said about being able to work out in your own home. Don't get me wrong, I like gyms, but there's a lot to be said about the convenience of popping a dvd into your TV in your living room and just devoting about an hour (depending on the day) exercising after which you can just down a shake and shower.

Thanks Will. Yeah convenience really does go a long way especially when you don't have a lot of time to spend working out, a gym is even worse considering travel time, waiting for equipment ect.

My own routine is usually stretching (10 min) Running (30-60 per day depending on how hot it is outside), Bowflex (30 min or so every other day, mostly focusing on upper body exercises), finish with more stretching. Its not pretty but I figure as long as it keeps me in shape I don't see any reason to change it but a little variety would be nice too, sometimes it gets a little boring. I'll take a look a this a little deeper when I have more time.

Is the diet a necessary part of the program or does the exercise routine stand alone?

That sounds like a perfectly fine exercise regiment. P90X is 6 different exercise routines 6 days a week (chest and back, jump training, shoulders and arms, yoga, back and legs, and kenpo). After you've spent a few weeks getting used to one set of 6 routines, the program shifts to 6 new videos featuring new exercises that focus on new areas. After that's finished, there's a third program of exercises. The theory behind it is muscle confusion, where you change your routine so that your muscles can't totally adapt to the exercises. I'm not 100% sure of the science behind it, but the results do seem consistent for those able to stick to it.

Yes, I'm sure. So is science. The soles of your feet and muscles may have adapted to barefoot running, but the tendons and ligaments haven't yet. Muscle and skin is incredibly easy to train. Tendons and ligaments aren't. Actually, they aren't trainable at all since there's no perceptable change in them as muscle strength builds and ebbs. Their elasticity doesn't really improve after adolecence.

Think about this - how long does it take to fully recover from a moderate-serious sprained ankle? If you answered anything less than a year, you're wrong. It takes that long for the ligaments to regain their "springyness", if they ever do (see my right ankle for that example).

There's nothing wrong with barefoot running/working out, but you need to know that you're at risk for injury, particularly as you build intensity. After all, you go pounding around Asfault America long enough, and a piece of grizzle is going to go *pop*, and then you'll be a pedestrian.

I should be getting P90x in a few weeks. I've been getting up before the sun 5 days a week putting on am hour or so on an elliptical machine in addition to biking a lot. My upper body is weak, my lower body slightly less so. I'm looking forward to getting my ass kicked by a workout routine.

It will totally kick your ass, but in a really good, I-can-still-function-but-holy-hell-I'm-sore kind of way.

That's my favorite kind of asskicking. The kind where you can hardly take the lid off of your water bottle because your arms and hands are so shaky and weak.

This doesn't seem to indicate one can't adapt at all, just that it takes more time for ligaments and tendons to catch up.

I was actually in a similar situation before I started P90x.

Until about 3 weeks ago, when my gym membership ran out, I was weight training three times a week and doing some light running (6 mph for ~30 mins) three or four times a week. I considered myself to be in pretty decent shape.

I bought P90x because you can do it at home. The gym I was going to was getting way too crowded and my usual ~60 minute workout was turning into 90 minutes because of machine and weight availability. With P90x, all you really need are some dumbbells and something to do pull-ups on (like a doorway pull-up bar).

The thing I like about it most, at the moment, is that it is a very structured and easy to follow program. One of the problems I ran into with training on my own was that I never really knew if I was doing enough to get in great shape. These videos give you that extra kick in the butt and tell you EXACTLY what you should be doing. Basically, it is easy because you don't need to track what exercise you did the week before or anything like that...just do what Tony tells you to do.

Granted, I'm only three days into the program, but P90x definitely seems like it takes fitness to the next level. I never worked this hard during my workouts and I thought I was working at a pretty high level.

I think P90x would be good for maintaining a fitness level (if you are already at a high level), but it definitely seems like the program is designed to bring you to a new fitness level.

After you finish P90X, btw, there's something called "Insanity" that features high intensity cardio. It's meant to finish the job of "ripping" you, or reducing your body fat to the point where you look damned good. After I finish P90X doubles, I'm going full bore into Insanity.

I've got to find a way to make this workout line up better with the weekends. Coming up, I've got a couple Saturdays where working out is going to be impossible.

You could do it on Sunday and make Saturday your rest day. Monday may take a bit more effort, but you'll be able to work it into your schedule.

I'm with Will on the barefoot thing. I've been working out barefoot for about a year and it hasn't caused me any problems. Dancers train barefoot and they do a lot of jumping around. Probably a good idea to have some padding though, I use a tumbling mat. I don't know that I'd recommend running barefoot on concrete or asphalt.

As an aside, all that barefoot Crossfit / P90X / whatever stuff? Great way to pick up a mean case of athlete's foot. The cracking, the burning!

Yeah, this is why I wear shoes (for most of it). I seem to be prone to picking it up. I also wash or sanitize my yoga mat after yoga :)

I should probably stop doing P90X in a pond and then cooling off with a 6-hour mud bath. Or at least wear shoes when I do it.

You won't be cracking jokes when you contract a case of ringworm from somewhere and it won't go away for FOUR FREAKIN' MONTHS because it keeps moving around your body despite daily doses of the top-end medication your doctor recommended.

The cartilage in your feet will love you if you actually do it. The skin probably not so much, but all that connective tissue will have a nice time of it.

Dancers also work out on floors designed for that type of activity (at least they should).

---------- Post added at 03:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:40 PM ----------

I go Wednesday through Monday (XStretch on Tuesday). This allows me to do YogaX on Saturday when I don't need to worry about time. Most of the other workouts allow you to speed things up quite a bit if you need to.

I'm really tempted to re-edit the XStetch video to cut out all the bullshit. Tony spends too much time talking about the next move sometimes. I understand that each video needs to be set up so that it is simple for someone doing it for the first time but damn. It is a pain in the ass to fast forward 20 seconds but simple things like that can add up to a lot of time.

They should, and when they don't, they end up with bum knees. I danced on a few sub-par floors as a youth, and it wasn't until later that it really became a problem. I wouldn't recommend it.

Just started Week 3 here...did Chest & Back last night and Plyo tonight.

I'm definitely keeping up with Tony and the gang a lot better now than I was before. I think the upcoming week of "rest" (you still do Yoga twice, so it isn't all rest!) will help out greatly.

I'm loving P90X, so far. I need to get my diet going a lot better than I am right now, but the workouts are great and I already feel like I am in much better shape than I was 3 weeks ago.

Just finished the first week yesterday. Maybe someday I won't be sore. Incidentally, upper body: weak, legs: strong.

Felicitations, filtherton. You'll be a bit less sore next week, and less again the next. Do increase the weights if they start to become too easy, though.

Thanks, Will. I'm used to the ins and outs of training. I was in good shape 10 years ago. The nice thing is that I definitely have room for improvement before I have to spring for new weights.

Speaking of springing for new heights, isn't Plyometrics fricking awesome? Sometimes I just do it for fun.

Ugh, we couldn't complete the whole Plyometrics video. My legs were killing me for the next couple of days, though they did loosen up after the yoga workout.

I think next week we will push ourselves to do the whole Plyometrics video. I am just proud that im2smrt4u has stuck it out for the first week.

Indeed. I experienced the same thing. I studied dance up to Russian teacher academy training levels, but had to give it up due to injuries. My knees are really messed up now. For example, I can be walking down the stairs, and my knees will give out, just randomly. Fun stuff. My dance instructors knew we weren't dancing on proper floors either. They were concrete with ceramic tile on top, and one studio had laminate on top of the tile. It was all slippery, and very hard. Ouch.

But speaking of P90x, I do have the program, I got it from my cousin, but I haven't tried it out yet. Mainly because I don't have a consistent schedule for that kind of thing. I'll have to see if I can change that this fall, give it a try, get my dancer muscles warmed up. :P

I've only done it once, but I was able to keep up with the video. I suspect it will be more fun next time through.

You sir are a masochist. Truly though, if you like plyo you'll love the insanity videos, it's like plyo almost every day.

I've been following this thread, as I'm rather intrigued with the theory/method behind the P90X program. However, this is not something I think I would purchase, as I already have a gym membership at corporate discount rates.

I'm happy to say, however, that I have recently been checking out a book that uses similar principles of "muscular confusion," or periodization. It specifically differentiates from "linear" periodization and focuses on what it calls "undulating" periodization. The difference being that linear models are designed to move toward a peak performance. Think Olympic athletes training for one big day. The latter instead "mixes" the training in such a way that it conditions your body to a different peak level that's more sustainable over the long term: think pro basketball players who need a strong season and playoff performance.

Anyway, the book is called The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove, who also wrote The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I thought I'd post about it here for anyone who either wants to try something similar (in principle) to the P90X training, or wanted to be able to move their training to the gym after completing their P90X at home. (And, for anyone who's interested, there's no focus on cardio or stretching, as the program uses resistance training to cover these areas without separate cardio-only training and stretching routines.)

There are four programs depending on your fitness level and they run for a year, moving between four or five phases (or types of training). There are phases for basic training, fat loss, hypertrophy, and strength, and they're all mixed in by various means and in various order based on your program.

What I like about it is that it cuts out a lot of the crap you see happening at the gym: no machines except occasional cable exercises and very few supplemental exercises, as it focuses on the "big six" movements, which give you real results more efficiently.

I highly recommend checking it out. I just started the basic training, and my legs are quite mad at me.

Day 77. I haven't missed a day yet, though I'll occasionally swap out plyo for cardio and yoga for core. So far I've lost 15 lbs and am down to ~9% body fat (though I have no way to quantify the accuracy of my bf% measurements, I'd say I'm under 12% judging by pictures of other folk I've seen). These are the hard pounds to lose, too- I had already lost ~20lbs from ellipticalling for an hour five days a week for a couple months before I started p90x.

I haven't stuck specifically to the p90x diet, though I have been avoiding eating processed foods when possible and sticking to ~1900-2100 calorie diet (with the exception of this week, where I've made and eaten the better part of two pies because I had a hankerin' for some pecan pie).

I just got my hands on Insanity and I hope to start that after I finish p90x and take a week or two off.