Coach Dave Compares P90X vs P90X3

Guilde to P90X3 (including P90X vs P90X3)

I want to talk to you a little bit about P90X vs P90X3. In this post, not only will I talk about how they are similar and how they are different, but I’ll give you a good overview of the new P90X3 workout and provide answers to the questions we get most often about the program.

First, a little P90X trivia—the name is code for Power 90 Extreme. Power 90 was the Beachbody program that got Monica and I started on the health and fitness path over a decade ago. I don’t think I need to explain what “power” stands for, but 90 stands for 90 days, which is the duration of the programs.

P90X3 Overview

It’s best to start off this P90X vs P90X3 comparison with a P90X3 overview.

P90X3 is the latest of the P90X Workouts. It is not a sequel to P90X or P90X2—it’s a separate program with 16 ultra efficient 30-minute workouts. It is not a harder version—in fact, even beginners can start with P90X3. If you’ve done P90X or P90X2, you’ll see both similar and different moves.

YES, you read that right—the workouts are only 30 minutes. Not everyone has an hour a day to devote to fitness—in fact, most of us don’t. In P90X3, Tony Horton keeps the workouts moving and concentrated, so you get the same level of workout in less time. Says Tony, “P90X3 isn’t half a workout. It’s a whole workout in half the time.”

Of course, there’s science behind this concept. The program’s “Muscle Acceleration System” makes the most of the 30 minutes as a result of concentrated variety and intensity.

One of the best aspects of the program is that you have a choice of three modes—Classic (to get “ripped”), Lean (to tone without bulking up), and Mass (to increase muscle mass).

Here are some P90X3 bullet points:

• Each 30 minute workout begins with a two minute warm-up, then constant work for 28 minutes. The science behind this suggests the first 30 minutes is the most effective part of any exercise routine, so they accelerated the workouts to create the most effective 30 minute routines.
• There is a separate warm-up disk called Cold Start if you need a longer warm-up due to environment, time of day, etc.
• The P90X3 Nutrition Plan goes back to nutrition basics of Power 90. It’s full of very tasty and easy-to-prepare recipes.
• There are 16 workouts in the P90X3 Base Kit; the Deluxe Kit has four extra routines for a total of 20.
• Most of the ab moves are athletic in nature; some are standing up and many are front facing instead of being on your back.
• P90X3 also includes:
  • a brand new Pilates-based workout
  • an all new Isometrics workout—a new Strength/Balance/Flexibility workout with Static Holds
  • CVX Cardiovascular Extreme—a Cardio workout with weights
  • MMX—a Mixed Martial Arts Extreme that expands the Kenpo workout
  • All new Agility X programming
  • 30 minute yoga routines
• There are four schedules in P90X3—Classic, Lean, Doubles, and Bulk.
• The only equipment you’ll need are weights or bands (a pull-up bars is great like in P90X, but optional).
• Every move in P90X3 has a Beginner/Modified, In Between, and Challenging/Hard version.

Check out this video by trainer Tony Horton on P90X3:

How are P90X and P90X3 Similar?

Let’s look at the similarities of P90X vs P90X:

• All three P90X programs—P90X, P90X2, and P90X3—give you the guidance of a personal trainer in your own home. They’re used all over the world over by fitness professionals, athletes, celebrities AND regular folks who want to get seriously fit.
• As I mentioned before, each of these programs is 90 days in duration.
• The underlying concept of the workouts is also the same—to exercise muscles in different ways from different directions, which results in the body building more muscle tissue. The technical terms for this are “cross training” and “periodization.”
• Both of these programs are well-rounded, which means that you will do cardio training, strength training, and yoga. You won’t be doing only one thing like with Body Beast, which is all about weight training. This workout diversity is what gives people such great results—they burn fat and build muscle at the same time. Needless to say, don’t get too focused on the scale. If your clothes are feeling baggy and the scale is not moving, that is because you are losing fat and building lean muscle.
• The intensity or difficulty of each program is equal.
• They also each come with a meal plan that will help you accomplish your goal in the most beneficial way for your body.

How are P90X and P90X3 Different?

Now, let’s look at the differences of P90X vs P90X3:

• TIME—One of the most difficult aspects of P90X is time. Your daily commitment is 60 to 90 minutes, which takes a lot of time out of your day and can pose a challenge if you have kids and a full-time job. Time is one of the main reasons why people tend to give up on P90X. All of the P90X3 workouts last only for about half an hour. This is a major time saver without compromising on effectiveness one bit.
• SCHEDULES—P90X has three different schedules (Classic, Lean, and Doubles) and P90X3 has four (Classic, Lean, Doubles, and Mass). The Lean schedule has more cardio, Classic is really well-rounded, Doubles means that you will train twice a day, and Mass will have you doing more strength training and eating a little bit different to gain muscle mass.
• NUTRITION PLAN—The P90X Nutrition Plan comes separately from the workout program AND it changes over time. People often need help figuring out whether or not it’s the right time to change their current diet plan, because you must take into consideration a few things in order to nail the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2. The P90X3 Nutrition Guide was modified to incorporate “intuitive eating.” This is something I’ve worked on with my clients for years because it really works. Intuitive eating is a nutritional philosophy that has you dial in to your body’s natural hunger signals as a means to reaching a healthy weight instead of tracking calories and fats. It results in a much healthier relationship with food than restrictive diets.

Here’s a video I filmed with some more details on P90X vs P90X3:

My P90X3 Review

P90X3 Results

The results speak for themselves.

By the way, food is a huge factor. With P90X3 nutrition, Beachbody went back to their original P90X concept—eating healthy food and ditching the junk. It’s that simple. You don’t get caught up in portion sizes—you just have to pay attention to what you eat. Tony points out that one of his role models, Covert Bailey, said that if you eat healthy food most of the time, you’re going to get results like he did.

P90X Test Group

There was a test group comprised of 40 people—a bunch of fitness neophytes, really. Only a couple of them were formerly in shape in their younger years. But, you know how it goes—they got married, had kids, and so on. When the saw how heavy they had gotten, they went in—but, they were scared.

One of the main attractions to P90X3 was the shorter workouts, which allowed them to get back to their regular activities much quicker than P90X and P90X2.

Now…the results.

All, but one of the 40 test group participants lost 10% of their body fat! Incredible, right? The other one wasn’t far behind at 8%. These are amazing results considering they are only working out for 30 minutes a day for 90 days! On average, what is considered a ‘good result’ is a loss of 1% of body fat per month. The results of the test group were a bit more than 3% per month—that’s three times more than average!

Here’s a video that highlights some P90X3 results:

P90X3 FAQ

Here’s a little P90X3 FAQ I put together to fill in any blanks:

Free P90X3 Coaching

If I didn’t answer YOUR question in this P90X vs P90X3 post, you can contact me here.

An important tip—take your Before & After pictures! The main reason we want you to do this is because people doing the P90X workouts tend to burn fat and gain muscle at the same rate, so the scale isn’t necessarily a reliable tool to gauge your progress. In fact, your weight may not change at all—however, the changes will be visible in the pictures. And, there is another reason for them—they may just win you $300 in our Healthy Bod Challenge weight loss transformation contest.

Did you know that if you do not already have a coach AND you buy P90X3 through us, we will coach you for FREE? (In fact, we do this for ALL of Beachbody workouts.)

We’re an excellent choice for coaches because both Monica and I are both P90X Certified Trainers and we’ve done all the of P90X workouts several times. Nutrition is our primary focus because that’s the way to get great results with ANY fitness program. Just click on the button below to get signed up: