Life After Day 90

So you've finished your 90 days of P90X. You've gotten awesome results and you're flying high. So what now?

Many people who finish P90X for the first time often ask themselves that question. Do they go back to the gym now? What's next for them on their new fitness journey? Even those who are thinking about trying P90X ask "Once I finish the 3 months of P90X, then what? Am I really going to invest this much money into a program that will only last me a quarter of a year".

Fear not. There is life after your first 90 days of P90X. I'll explain how you can continue your fitness and even take it to another level after your first round of P90X.

1) Do a 2nd round of P90X - This is the most obvious option. I know a lot of people who've done a round of P90X, got awesome results, then did another round and got even better results (especially those who had a lot of weight to lose). If you put the time and dedication into your first round of P90X, you're bound to get great results. However, I can guarantee there will be workouts and moves that you still will not have mastered after your first round. I still have not mastered Yoga X. Legs and Back was still a hard workout for me after the first round. Corn Cob pull-ups were still a pain, and at the end of my first 90 days I still couldn't do as many as the people in the video.

2) Challenge Yourself/Attempt to match or even surpass Tony - There are many ways to make the P90X workouts tougher to help you get better results and gain more mass if that is your goal. One way is to invest in a 40 lb weighted vest. I've used this for pushups, pullups, plyometrics, and legs and it adds a lot more resistance to help you gain more mass and get better results. Another way is to invest in heavier weights. Finally, you can challenge yourself to match or even surpass the amount of weight and reps Tony himself (or the other P90Xers in the video) are doing. During my workouts, I HAVE to now either match Tony and when I'm feeling good surpass him. Trust me when I say that Tony is a beast, and if you can match/surpass him in pushups and pullups, which is his signature strength, then you have become pretty darn fit.

3) Move on to another Beachbody Program - A lot of people who finish P90X then try out Insanity just to try something new. Insanity is much different and will present a new set of challenges for you. Asylum is also out now, which right now, until P90X2 comes out, is the hardest Beachbody workout program out there. Once you finish Insanity/Aslyum, you can then make hybrid workouts using those and P90X. I've also invested in a lot of the P90X One on One workouts. These offer more variety for your P90X schedule and allows you to mix in new workouts each week. With 36 total One on Ones, that's a lot of new workouts you can use to mix in with the original P90X workouts. I'm currently doing a new workout schedule where I'm doing a new set of workouts each week (in other words, I don't repeat a workout two weeks in a row), something I call Perpetual Muscle Confusion. This keeps me from getting bored with my workouts and motivated to workout.

4) Go Back to the Gym - I cringed when I wrote this. BUT I do know some people who've gone back to the gym after P90X, showing off their new results to all the people they used to be intimidated by and armed with the new knowledge and confidence they gained from completing P90X to continue their success. I've written an article about how I will never use a gym again, but the one pro I will admit with gyms is that they have a lot more equipment available for you to use. For example, having an open pull-up bar rather than one that is attached to your door frame allows you to better execute many more of the pull-up moves seen in P90X (and especially the new moves in the One on Ones). This is up to you, but I'd rather stick to working out at home.

So as you can see, there is a life after your first 90 days. Many people worry about what they'll do after they complete P90X, but have no worries, there are options. One friend of mine has been doing the original P90X for 2 years straight now. He's happy with his results and just wants to maintain them.

Whatever you choose to do, don't think of P90X as only a 90 day program. Rename it P360X...dedicate yourself to fitness year round.