“I look at it as at least I’m doing something, even if I’m not in there longer than 30 minutes,” says Coates, a 45-year-old mother of three. “It works for me even though I’m not the extreme athlete, because I can just put in the DVD and do as much or as little as I want.”

The P90X Extreme Home Fitness program, released in 2005, promises to “transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days” but demands a strict adherence to a carb-restrictive diet and an hour or more of daily workouts – with military-like exercises heart-pounding enough that heart-rate monitors are recommended.

The popularity of the DVD-based fitness program, created by celebrity trainer Tony Horton, has exploded beyond its infomercial introduction. Despite its all-or-nothing reputation and the intimidatingly chiseled muscles in its commercials, the program has plenty of “regular” fans – including 30-somethings who have lost 150 pounds and busy 40-somethings with families – who credit the program’s structure, variety and convenience for keeping them on track and moving forward.

Roger Mesina, 34, who lives near Dayton, is on his third round of the 90-day program. He dropped from 320 pounds to 230 on his own through walking, jogging, watching his diet and lifting weights with a friend, but began regaining some of the 90 lost pounds.

“I needed a plan,” says Mesina, now at a healthy 170 pounds after beginning the program in January. “I was doing the same thing every other day. You don’t see results, and start to plateau.”

According to BeachBody, the company that produced the program, the key to P90X-ers’ success is the mix of weight training, yoga, plyometrics, Kenpo karate, stretching and abdominal work in the 12 DVDs, which creates tone-inducing “muscle confusion” and breaks the monotony of self-directed workouts.

“One of the things I love is that it’s laid out for you. You just pop in the DVD, and it’s like you have a personal trainer there for you,” says Lauren Cadman, 33, of West Chester Township.

The physical therapist, former University of Cincinnati soccer player and mother of five children ages 14, 8, 7, 6 and 4 has always been active.

She and her husband, Phil, 39, participate in triathlons in the spring and fall, and Phil competed in an Ironman competition in June.

“We’ve been fit but just never saw results,” says Cadman, who was working out twice a week at a local YMCA.

“I would do the same thing: elliptical, a little weights, walking, biking, but I wasn’t pushing myself,” Cadman says.

Although she initially resisted spending the $120 to buy the program, the couple started P90X a year and a half ago. Cadman says she was hooked after losing 2 pounds the first week, and a total of 22 pounds over 12 weeks, while gaining muscle definition.

Most components of the program are nothing new, says Dr. Jon Divine, a sports medicine physician with UC Health and head team physician for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. The high-intensity, total-body workout burns calories, and guidelines of the nutrition plan, like portion control and eating every 2½ to 3 hours, are well-established.

Divine believes the real selling point for Cadman and other busy adults is the convenient packaging of the program that allows them to work within their own limitations – whether physical or time.

Mesina did push-ups on his knees instead of his toes when he started the program, and Cadman still has to use a chair for pull-ups, she says.

On his first round, Coates’ husband, Terry, went 54 days before work commitments got in the way, but he often takes the DVDs with him on business trips, Tammy Coates says.

She started the program in April and went 20 days before being sidelined by an unrelated ankle injury. Then she did just parts of the program – like cardio or yoga – for several months before committing to a full 90-day cycle on Oct. 5.

“I can’t do the whole thing yet,” Coates says. “I would be extremely sore.”

In the videos, Horton instructs viewers to go at their own speed and, when necessary, follow an instructor showing a less-difficult version of each exercise.

While Divine has no specific concerns about the program, he cautions it’s intense enough that people shouldn’t ignore the typical disclaimer to “check with your physician before beginning any new exercise program,” and mind their personal limitations – particularly during the first six weeks, when injuries are most likely.

After the initial 90-day cycle, most P90X-ers take a couple weeks off before doing it all again, or mix in other workouts.

Mesina and Cadman sometimes follow the 60-day “Insanity” program – another “intense” BeachBody workout. Cadman also incorporates P90X Plus, a more-advanced graduate program, and sometimes will go for a run in place of the P90X cardio work.

Cadman, Coates and Mesina all have continued some middle-of-the-road version of the program’s three-phase nutrition plan, which starts with a high-protein, low-carb diet then levels back out. They say they’ve developed their own approaches for long-term success.

“I don’t like to look at it as a diet,” Mesina says. “If I’m going to a birthday party, I’m going to have some cake or a piece of pizza, because I know how I’m eating and how hard I’m working every other day.”

While most would consider the holiday season the worst-possible time to start a new health or fitness program, Cadman – a self-confessed “carb freak” – and Coates both rely on the program to carry them through the parties and stress.

Cadman started the 90-day cycle Nov. 1, and Coates should finish just after early in the new year.

“I look at this as a reverse resolution. When everyone else is starting going to gyms, I’ll be done,” Coates says.

Article source: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101208/LIFE07/12090303/DVD-brings-trainer-into-your-home