For the record, here is a response I sent to a friend regarding the difference in the 3 versions of P90X.
So here is the deal.
Classic means you do one workout per day for the 90 days. Just follow the program with the 7th day an optional stretch or day off.
Doubles, you do 2 workouts a day 3 days a week during phase 2 and phase 3. This means doing a cardio workout on your weights days in addition to the weights workout. Of course, this means you are doing a morning and evening session.
Lean is more suited to women who want to get lean and are not interested in using weights so much. It substitutes a cardio / core workout for one of the weight days.
I have to say I would highly recommend it for anyone who is physically fit and is looking for a 3 month challenge or even just for a program to break the monotony of going to the gym for a while. The only issue I found was that you must have a chinup bar and some weights but since we have a gym in the house basement that was not a problem.
Doing the chinups was a problem at first however!!!
Since I am now on day 83 I think I am qualified at the very least to give my opinion of the 3 versions. The Classic version which is the default one that I would recommend to everyone except the most paranoid women who are somehow convinced that they have such gifted genetic potential that if they do weights for a few weeks they will look like a bodybuilder. If only it were that easy ladies… Believe me, lift as heavy and as intense as you can and you will see some nice tone… It takes YEARS of dedication to build significant amounts of muscle mass. However, I digress…
The doubles version I think would be extremely difficult to do especially if you have a full time job or kids. Finding 2 hours to workout in a single day 3 times a week while not impossible would be beyond the reach or desire of the vast majority of fitness enthusiasts. I have been there and done that and unless you are training for something specific or have a very lofty goal in mind I would have to assume that this would be overkill in a massive way. Then again, if you are a fitness nut and have a boat load of time on your hands, go for it!!!
Lean is a program aimed at women who are not interested in doing as much weight work. Not just that they may be afraid of getting big but maybe they have joint issues, maybe they don’t like doing weights or are not interested in that aspect of the workouts. It is also aimed at men who have the same thoughts, maybe for someone who wants the opportunity to do some weight work but not so much that it dominates their experience. I personally would consider doing Lean if I wanted to work more on my core and weightloss than my overall “fitness” and strength.
I am now into my last week of weight work, next week will be my final rest week and then I am done. The question is what to do next? I know I have talked a good game about retooling the workouts for the gym and that is still the plan however I have no time to do anything these days and even a couple of hours of work on that may be too much to ask. Still I have a week and a half to decide.
I had the gymnastics kids doing some of the core work the other day, of course they are kids so it was easy for them. Makes me crazy knowing how much I struggle with Ab Ripper and how easily they went through it.