How Long Does It Take To See Results With P90X?

Many people want to know how long before results from P90X before starting the program. The amount of time it will take to start to see results is of course going to vary from person to person - but my best blanket, one-size-fits-all answer would be 2 to 3 weeks.

Those first results are likely going to be small - but encouraging. The first few weeks you're just getting used to the workouts, and if you haven't been working out lately, you'll probably find them pretty challenging (I remember this phase as the 'gasping fish' phase). However, after 2 or 3 weeks, your body is getting used to moving around, and you'll probably notice that you'll feel stronger, be able to do more reps of exercises, or better quality or at a higher weight, or might need fewer or shorter breaks.

For some people, weight starts coming off early on. For others, they don't see a big change on the scale, but notice changes in terms of inches, the way their clothes fit, and strength gains. It's important to remember that your results on the scale are not the end-all measurement of your success. If you're seeing inches coming off, obviously something is working. It could be that you are adding muscle - remember that muscle weighs more than fat.

Interestingly, some people even temporarily GAIN weight in the first few weeks of a workout program, especially if you haven't been doing a lot of resistance training beforehand, or are feeling sore. If this is you - don't quit working out! What's essentially happening here is your muscles actually get little rips and tears in them when you work them hard. You body retains some fluid to help the muscle repair, which later goes away. If the weight gain lasts for more than a few weeks, it's more than maybe 5 pounds, or if you just want to be seeing more results on the scale, I suggest two things.... 1) keep going, you might just need more time and 2) make sure you are following the P90X diet plan. The diet plan is crucial to your success, so don't ignore this.

Actually, I lied, I have a third suggestion too. If you're not sure about the results you're seeing (or feel like you're not seeing), grab a free Team Beachbody account and head over to the message boards. Search on your topic and you will likely find many threads related to your question and get some great tips.

As you might expect, most people notice their best results in the last 30 days of the program. By then you've gone through a few mastery and recovery phases, presumably you're following the diet plan and your body might be changing in metabolism, and you'll have the momentum of the previous months that really help launch your performance.

A common concern for people is what happens when they have to miss days. Trust me, it took me a LOT longer than 90 days to complete my first round - sickness, family events, and just figuring out a schedule that allowed me to fit a workout in every day all took their toll. I still got good results, you can check out my P90X before and after pix here. The reason I still got good results is that I stuck to the diet plan. If you miss a day, I recommend just picking up where you left off the next time you workout. If you miss more, opinions vary on what to do. If I missed 3 days, I just started the week over. If you miss a week or several weeks, you might want to start over at the start of that phase, or if you're only a few weeks into the program, just start over completely. There doesn't seem to be a definitive answer on this, so you just decide what makes sense for you, how far you're into the program and your motivation level.

The answer to how long does it take to see results with P90X is going to be different for every person... but keep pushing play and you WILL see results, and be amazed at the improvements you've made. Many people feel a little intimidated when they think about starting P90X because, well, it looks hard! Try anyway - Tony KNOWS you won't be able to do everything at first, and that's OK. The effort is well worth it, and the net effect over time positively affects EVERYTHING - weight, energy, confidence, you name it. If you have questions on anything, feel free to contact me at anastasiam at gmail dot com, or . You might also want to get a free Team Beachbody account as another resource on P90X or any of the Beachbody workouts. The message boards here are active and complete, I've yet to run into a question that hasn't been addressed on the boards. The Beachbody nutritionists hang out on the Nutrition board as well, which is a great place to get some personalized answers if you're facing a problem. Ready to start your own transformation? Get P90X here.