P90x and running as part of my fitness-advice? page 2

[jfreaksho]

No it's not. Chronic cardio is steady state cardio keeping your HR elevated above 85% or so for lengthy periods of time (longer than 1 hour). P90X is not that. At worst, it's interval training of a sort using weights for about an hour (maybe slightly more, but that includes warm up and cool down). It's got built in rest periods and it's scalable. I'm not saying it's an ideal workout, but it's certainly not chronic cardio.

P90X can easily be that, if you aren't in shape and your heartrate doesn't return to normal levels during the rather minimal rest in the videos. I liked the idea of working out hard every day, but I couldn't physically do it. I was just burning out. I'm getting much better results from PBF+ Convict Conditioning.

[astronmr20]

No it's not. Chronic cardio is steady state cardio keeping your HR elevated above 85% or so for lengthy periods of time (longer than 1 hour). P90X is not that. At worst, it's interval training of a sort using weights for about an hour (maybe slightly more, but that includes warm up and cool down). It's got built in rest periods and it's scalable. I'm not saying it's an ideal workout, but it's certainly not chronic cardio.

For many, it is. For me, it was. You are at sustained cardio for at least an hour with most of the videos, and there's not enough rest in-between the programs-- that's a big factor. You are blasting your body 6 days a week. Not primal, and pretty close to chronic. Even with the "muscle confusion," a lot of P90x'ers plateau.

if I was in much better shape before starting, it would have been more suitable, but my heart rate stayed elevated throughout the whole thing. I listened to every cue and gave it 110 percent and followed Tony, but would see results the first few weeks, and as the 90 days wore on, "burned out" following it day-by-day and ultimately "failed."

Now, I'm cranking out higher reps and can run longer and faster than when I was punishing myself 6 days a week on P90x.

[cinico]

Thanks for the responses! I am re-reading the exercise chapter of the book and also looking at the ebook that is proved for free! I appreciate the input from you all.