P90X is designed for men and women who are already at goal weight (or at least within a few pounds of it) and in very good physical condition with no major physical limitations or chronic injuries who just want to get leaner and become even more fit. It will increase your strength, flexibility, and muscular endurance and probably decrease your body fat as a byproduct of increasing your fitness, but it was not designed specifically as a fat loss program. In general, it’s not for those who have more than 15 lbs to lose, those who have been completely sedentary for more than 6 months, or those who have only done cardio and yoga and only want to tone up. It’s a hardcore home boot camp system, and while there are a few modified movements shown to decrease difficulty, there is NO beginner ramp up included to get you from 100% sedentary up to the recommended P90X starting state.
The program is pretty strenuous, especially the Chest & Back (almost 100% pullups and pushups), Plyometrics X, and the Legs & Back workouts. If your fitness level — strength *and* endurance — isn’t pretty decent already, you won’t be getting your time or money’s worth out of the program. You also won’t look like one of their 90 day “After” photos in 12 weeks, because if you look closely, most of those guys and gals were already close to goal weight or UNDER it, had decent cardiovascular endurance, and had completed at least one round of Power 90, Beachbody’s beginner/intermediate program, or the equivalent. They weren’t using the program to get into shape from a couch potato starting point; they were using it to build even MORE muscle mass onto already-fit bodies and to burn off the last 5% or so of body fat obscuring their existing muscles.
