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Hey guys. So I'm about 3 weeks into the P90x program, and I must say that I love it. It seems like a great method of cross training/weight loss that doesn't involve more pounding on the knees or overworking the legs. I was wondering if anyone else here has done it, or is doing it now, and what they think of it. I've been using it as a substitute for working upper body at the gym, allowing me to focus on speed development and vaulting when I'm at the track.


Discuss

I've never actually done p90x so I don't want to act as if my opinion is 100% fact. However I am planning on doing it soon just so I can evaulatue it a bit better.

Anyway, as far as I can tell P90x is a decent method of cross training/weight loss, however unless you're overweight, it is far from the optimal workout for an in-season pole vaulter. It does not recruit many fast twitch muscle fibers due to its relatively low intensity. It is much more of a muscular endurance type workout than power or muscular strength (I can elaborate on why this is bad if needed). That being said, it does seem to be a rather effective method of improving your physique. So if you feel out-of-shape and want to start jumping again, I wouldn't fault you for doing p90x for the 90 days. It is definitely better than nothing, and probably a good idea for someone who tends to sit on their a** in the off-season. But once you start doing your preseason workouts again and jumping, you should suck it up and get back under the bar. Plus, if just running and jumping is on the verge of wearing out your legs, you are either putting in way too much volume or you are out of shape, IMO.

I think you misunderstand. I do 2-3 workouts a day, one being the p90x, which I use for keeping my upper body in shape, my track workouts w/ a high intensity lift for speed development, and vaulting every couple of days. I'm not overweight or out of shape, I'm just trying to keep myself in the 4-7% body fat range. I was looking for other ways of burning some calories and working my upper body without bulking up or doing a bunch of extra running. I think any more running or jumping in addition to the sprinting workouts and vaulting would be detrimental to my performance, so I do this instead.

EIUvltr wrote:I've never actually done p90x so I don't want to act as if my opinion is 100% fact. However I am planning on doing it soon just so I can evaulatue it a bit better.

Anyway, as far as I can tell P90x is a decent method of cross training/weight loss, however unless you're overweight, it is far from the optimal workout for an in-season pole vaulter. It does not recruit many fast twitch muscle fibers due to its relatively low intensity.

I've never done it either but I find it curious that we come to different conclusions about the intensity and use of fast twitch muscle fibers. The info-mercial appears to have participants do a lot of quick moves and variations on standard moves. I have been tempted to try it out also, but as an older guy I don't know if I would have the energy to do both that and actual vaulting practice also. I'll be interested to hear what you and IAmTheWalrus have to say about it after your 90 days.

- master

master wrote:

EIUvltr wrote:I've never actually done p90x so I don't want to act as if my opinion is 100% fact. However I am planning on doing it soon just so I can evaulatue it a bit better.

Anyway, as far as I can tell P90x is a decent method of cross training/weight loss, however unless you're overweight, it is far from the optimal workout for an in-season pole vaulter. It does not recruit many fast twitch muscle fibers due to its relatively low intensity.

I've never done it either but I find it curious that we come to different conclusions about the intensity and use of fast twitch muscle fibers. The info-mercial appears to have participants do a lot of quick moves and variations on standard moves. I have been tempted to try it out also, but as an older guy I don't know if I would have the energy to do both that and actual vaulting practice also. I'll be interested to hear what you and IAmTheWalrus have to say about it after your 90 days.

- master

The speed of the movement is not the only determining factor on the type of muscle fibers recruited. The resistance plays a large role as well. I highly doubt there are any exercises in p90x with an intensity comparable to a 36" depth jump or bench throws on a smith machine. At least I hope there aren't, since very few people in the general population are in shape for that type of thing.

I don't have a very high tolerance for infomercials, so I've never watched a whole one thru to the end ... and I've never tried the P90X training system. I did 5BX in HS, but those excercises were quite basic compared to P90X. But from what I can gather, P90X is a pretty good system ... of step-by-step DVD training advice ... using simple home gym equipment ... like dumbells, a yoga mat, a chinup bar, pushup handles, a resistance band, and a chair. If I'm not mistaken, this equipment is not included in the P90X package ... you get only the DVD and printed material.

I like this idea, becuz it's not promoting a stupid ab machine, stationary bike, or tread-mill ... that many fitness wanna-be's use once ... then get bored ... and let it collect dust. P90X appears to be VERY motivational ... almost like having your own personal coach encouraging you to finish each excercise!

But the point I'm getting to here is that it seems to me that P90X is just that ... a motivational-type training system ... for fitness enthusiasts who don't have the personal motivation to get thru a list of excercises on their own. Am I right or wrong about this? ... I apologize for not watching the whole infomercial!

POLE VAULTERS already have all the motivation in the world to train hard!!! In my mind, we're the hardest workers on the track team ... and we already KNOW all the right drills to do to improve our fitness and technique ... so why in the world would we need to watch a DVD that's designed for Joe Average while we're working out?

Wally, I think it's great that it's working for you ... and I think that using your own body weight as weights is good for PV ... which we've known for a long time ... I just don't see the need for pole vaulters to replace PV-specific drills with P90X excercises.

Kirk

KirkB wrote:POLE VAULTERS already have all the motivation in the world to train hard!!! In my mind, we're the hardest workers on the track team ... and we already KNOW all the right drills to do to improve our fitness and technique ... so why in the world would we need to watch a DVD that's designed for Joe Average while we're working out?

Really? Not everyone is that motivated, especially if you are out of school and just doing it for fun... and I never could get my high school kids to do much in the offseason. If they did something like P90X, they would be much better off, because otherwise they weren't doing anything at all.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:

KirkB wrote:POLE VAULTERS already have all the motivation in the world to train hard!!! In my mind, we're the hardest workers on the track team ... and we already KNOW all the right drills to do to improve our fitness and technique ... so why in the world would we need to watch a DVD that's designed for Joe Average while we're working out?

Really? Not everyone is that motivated, especially if you are out of school and just doing it for fun... and I never could get my high school kids to do much in the offseason. If they did something like P90X, they would be much better off, because otherwise they weren't doing anything at all.

Unfortunately this is very true in the U.S. Our 16 year old pole vaulters are much different from the ones in the USSR (60s-80s) that had already been in a special sport school for the better part of a decade and were in incredible shape. Ideally we would have a program like this in our country, but since we don't, we have to deal with the plague of apathy in our youth, I guess p90x will have to do. It is better than nothing.

I definitely don't recommend it as a way of training for the vault, but I like it as a way of working out without bulking up. Also, I'm pretty knowledgeable about training for the vault, but I've gotten myself into trouble working upper body before, (for example by overworking abs and not working my lower back enough). I take it a bit personally that you think that I (or any pole vaulter who does P90 x) isn't motivated. I don't think that was your intention, but I consider myself very motivated as a pole vaulter. I think the value of it is its creativity and simplicity. Its stuff I can do year round, any time of day, in my home, and it differs from my usual weight training, which (I hope) compliments my pole vault training (mostly by strengthening my core). I really just chose to do this to make sure I wasn't missing anything in my workouts, to avoid any weak links.

And as far as it being for average joes, vaultpurple had a post in this thread
http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtop ... 0x#p127729
speaking to the intensity of the program.

Oh, and I am in no way trying to sell this to you guys, I am only trying to defend my masculinity . Who wants to arm wrestle! I'm kidding of course, but don't underestimate the effectiveness of mixing up your workouts, perhaps a thread about nontraditional exercises would be useful. I know that after 3 weeks of doing a pretty good ab routine, my abs got much stronger. Then after 1 day of highbar (first time in about 2 years), back tucks, and pole vaulting my abs were incredibly sore. I assume because they were worked in a different way. Don't hate it till you try it!

IAmTheWalrus wrote: ... I take it a bit personally that you think that I (or any pole vaulter who does P90 x) isn't motivated. I don't think that was your intention, but I consider myself very motivated as a pole vaulter. I think the value of it is its creativity and simplicity. ...

Wally, I had to read this quote a couple times ... since at first I thought you must have been referring to RG and EIU when you said that you're insulted that one of us thinks that vaulter's "aren't motivated". But you go on to mention average joes ... which only I mentioned ... so I guess you ARE responding to my post.

I said just the opposite ... I said vaulters ARE motivated ... whereas RG and EIU were the ones that thought they weren't motivated. I really think you missed my point ... I was DEFENDING your masculinity! Just wanted to clear that up.

KirkB wrote: ... POLE VAULTERS already have all the motivation in the world to train hard!!! In my mind, we're the hardest workers on the track team ... I just don't see the need for pole vaulters to replace PV-specific drills with P90X excercises.

Actually, after RG and EIU disagreed with me, I realized that my statement was too broad of a generalization. MOST vaulters might be motivated ... but there's a wide spectrum of "motivation" amongst us. And I think that no matter how much motivation each of us might have, we can always use a bit more. Geez, now I'm starting to agree with RG and EIU.

IAmTheWalrus wrote: ... Don't hate it till you try it!

As I said, I haven't tried it ... and I DON'T hate it. I guess there's some communication loss here ... even with emoticons. Let me clear this up ... whenever I use the "confused" emoticon ( ), I mean that I'm truly confused and I truly want to be enlightened. PVP readers should definitely take your word over mine re this product ... since you've tried it and I haven't.

There ... I hope I cleared the air between us, Wally.

Kirk

KirkB wrote:Actually, after RG and EIU disagreed with me, I realized that my statement was too broad of a generalization. MOST vaulters might be motivated ... but there's a wide spectrum of "motivation" amongst us. And I think that no matter how much motivation each of us might have, we can always use a bit more. Geez, now I'm starting to agree with RG and EIU.

Your lack of real world high school coaching experience is showing again. Never underestimate the amount of apathy that American youth have. Only a very small fraction of one percent of the US HS pole vaulters ever post here, and they are generally the most exceptionally motivated kids.

Really? Not everyone is that motivated, especially if you are out of school and just doing it for fun... and I never could get my high school kids to do much in the offseason. If they did something like P90X, they would be much better off, because otherwise they weren't doing anything at all.

Your lack of real world high school coaching experience is showing again. Never underestimate the amount of apathy that American youth have. Only a very small fraction of one percent of the US HS pole vaulters ever post here, and they are generally the most exceptionally motivated kids.

About HS pole vaulters:
I think it just takes a good teacher to learn the youngsters they need to work hard if they want to achieve something in life. Including polevaulting.
If you choose for activities outside your training program, you lose control. And the opportunity to teach them a lesson about life.

By the way, a polevault-strength-training can be more fun if you put music on, start workout-battles (who can climb the highest on the rope - upsidedown) and use a lot of different drills.
Maybe it's time for a PV90x-dvd-serie? Alan? Rick? or maybe Kirk?

Niels