Supreme 90 day: the poor man's P90X?

Here's the review of the Supreme 90 day (S90 hereafter) regime I recently found. We've now done a few of the routines and so have a decent idea about its pro's and cons. I'll begin with some caveats.

My first caveat is that this is only a partial review of the regime. Like P90X, S90 offers a variety of work-outs and apparently even some kind of diet plan. As was the case with my partial review of P90X, though, several of the workouts do not interest me, so I've not tried, and do not plan to try, them. And, as with P90X, the dietary rules are not applicable to me so I have not even looked to see what the dietary plan is like. I can thus only offer a partial review--a review of the parts of this regime that interest me and that I intend to incorporate into my own exercise regimen.

As a refresher on my "partiality" in writing reviews of fitness regimes, I will just reiterate the following factors: 1) I do not need to lose any weight and so am uninterested in diet plans; 2) the mainstay of my fitness regimen is an aerobic activity--cycling--so I am uninterested in both aerobic and leg-strengthening routines; and 3) what I am interested in is augmenting my base fitness activity with some toning/strengthening routines for the upper body. Now you have some idea of why I am offering only a partial review of S90: I don't intend to address the parts of the program that don't interest me and that I don't use.

You may guess from the foregoing remarks that I don't intend to review the S90 plan as a whole. By that, I mean that, like P90X, this program is undoubtedly structured in a certain way, with certain DVD's meant to be done on certain days and in a particular order throughout a 90-day period. Well, since I'm picking and choosing from this program what I want to use in my own regimen, I'm not in a very good position to assess their plan for executing the series of exercises they offer. In fact, I've not even looked at that plan, and do not intend to. It's irrelevant to my aims. So, sorry I can't provide feedback on that.

Another caveat I will make concerns the title of this review. As you will note both from the title and from the few paragraphs I've thus far written, the P90X program is being invoked as a sort of standard against which I am judging S90. The main reason for that, in case it's not obvious, is because this program clearly styles itself after P90X: a 90-day program marketed as one that will get you in great shape, that uses minimal equipment and can be done in the home, that is comprised of a series of roughly one-hour exercise routines, each contained on one of several DVD's (10 in total) that make up a set, that offers a diet plan, that has an instructor accompanied by a small group of participants who help to demonstrate exercises--they even use the same scientific-sounding (but, ultimately bogus) concept of "muscle confusion" as a sales gimmick. The list of similarities could go on.

As someone who is fairly familiar with P90X, I've in fact speculated as to how this program came into being. Of course only the folks who planned and produced this program know the answer for sure, but I can conjecture some enterprising individual thinking to themselves "P90X is a great program, but its price probably scares off many who might otherwise give it a try. So what if something comparable were produced but sold at a much lower price? The market has already been prepped and there must be quite a number of folks who would buy a 90-day routine sold at a much lower price. . . ." Etc., etc.

I'm pretty sure something very much like this scenario is what actually led to the conception and production of the S90 exercise routine. Thus the title of this entry--"the poor man's P90X." Hard to see how the creators of S90 could object to that if my speculations are anywhere near valid.

Now, gauging by what I know of the P90X crowd, many of them are liable to look on S90 with disdain--as a cheap, perhaps even unworthy--imitation P90X. That disdain stems, I think, from the innate human sensibilities of allegiance and loyalty--sensibilities which, in this case, I think are being subverted by, and wrongly devoted toward, capitalist entities whose interest in health, exercise, and individual well-being is dictated solely by profit margins. Not to veer further into philosophical considerations, let me just point out that I feel absolutely no allegiance or loyalty to P90X or the company that markets it.

Zero. Nada. I like the exercises they present and have enjoyed certain health benefits from using them in a disciplined way, but I'm not going to pretend that this company has some sort of monopoly on any aspect of the field of exercise and health. No, I take the same stance toward them and their products as they take toward me: to the extent that their products are of use and beneficial to me, I'm willing to buy and use them. When they cease to be useful or beneficial, or if find something I like better, it's good-bye charlie to P90X and the associated company and products. In short, I am an absolute and total non-partisan when it comes to P90X and the company backing them.

To summarize, you'll find no life-changing testimonial in this review. Given the shape that I'm in, even if I were to do this program to a "T" over the specified 90-day duration, I'd say the results would be almost negligible. So I don't look to S90 for the types of reasons the company who sells it hopes I might. Rather, I aim to use parts of it in my existing fitness regimen and this review will be mostly a rehearsal of how well or poorly it can augment that.

The review

This review concerns the set of 10 DVD's sold under the name "Supreme 90 Day," all of which DVD's I've viewed, but only 4 of which I've used. The 4 I've used are labeled: Chest and Back; Back and Bi's; Chest, Shoulders, and Tri's; Shoulders and Arms. The 6 remaining ones that I've not tried are labeled: Legs; Cardio Challenge; Tabata Inferno; Total Body; Core Dynamics; and Ultimate Ball. I've noted why I'm not interested in leg-strengthening exercises or cardio routines--which tells you why I won't be using the Legs, Cardio Challenge, or Tabata Inferno DVD's. I may, at some point, test out the Total Body, Core Dynamics, and Ultimate Ball DVD's. But for now I'm using just the 4 I listed and am most likely to incorporate just those into my long-term fitness plan.

I suppose I should mention at this point as well that the company sells a separate abs/core DVD as well, marketing it as some kind of supplement you can get for "only" another 5 dollars (or, in marketing speak, $4.99). There is enough ab/core work in the other DVD's--as I'll presently explain--for my purposes, so I didn't get and won't review that ab/core DVD here either.

I feel as though I should actually be writing two reviews: one largely positive and that reflects my own rather unique fitness situation and needs, and one mostly negative review for S90's target audience. You see for me S90 is a great find. I'm very happy I found it. It will fit nicely into my fitness regimen and I'm very pleased at the low price.

But for the target audience, i.e., the group to whom S90 is being marketed, I presume the program will be something of a bust. You see, this is a fairly advanced fitness regime and, moreover, one that is rather poorly "choreographed" (more on the poor choreography later). The target audience, on the other hand, seems to to be low-income couch potatoes. Thus, I foresee many people buying this program on a whim, trying to follow along with the first few DVD's and having difficulty, owing to both the advanced fitness level required and the poor choreography, getting discouraged, and then abandoning the program. For these sorts of people, S90 will turn out to be a waste of time and money.

If you fall within the S90 target audience, consider yourself warned: you may well end up being disappointed. That said, there have to be more folks out there like me who, despite the program's shortcomings--and it does have some notable shortcomings--can nevertheless make good use of it and for whom it will be well worth the modest price. It is mainly for these latter that I write this review.

I begin with a list of pro's and cons that, as I intimated earlier, will use P90X as something of a standard. First, S90's pro's: 1) all routines I've used begin with a warm-up of core body muscles--in fact, we've suspended our ab work-outs while testing out S90 on the assumption that we get an equally good core work-out from the S90 warm-up; 2) use of a balance ball for many exercises, which helps to engage more muscle groups; 3) fairly short routines, running between 22 and 32 minutes; 4) a fairly advanced program, something good for me because I've been exercising regularly for a few years and am up for the challenge; and 5) a modest price.

Here are the cons: 1) the routines are plagued by poor choreography, meaning that the routines were not sufficiently rehearsed, which lends the videos a bit of a chaotic feeling with some participants finishing before others and instances in which example exercises are poorly or wrongly demonstrated--it can thus be difficult to follow along at times; 2) the videos appear to suffer from cheap production and are somewhat amateurish; 3) most of the participants appear to be either models or fitness professionals; 4) from some internet postings I've read, it appears that the company marketing the product is somewhat unscrupulous, apparently attempting to hound callers to their toll-free number into buying a lot of their other merchandise (which is why I recommend buying them through a retailer like Bed, Bath & Beyond or Walgreens).

These observations having been made, what's on the DVD's? Each DVD I've used has 3 segments: 1) a warm-up session that goes for about 5 minutes; 2) the workout to which that DVD is devoted; and 3) a cool-down session--again running about 5 minutes. The warm-up and cool-down sessions are on separate tracks from the main workout, and same warm-up/cool-down sessions are used for all DVD's.

As with P90X, the videos have a few participants demonstrating and executing the exercises while a "coach" urges them on. All the DVD's I've used so far have 4 participants.

S90 differs from P90X in the number of exercises and the way they are structured. The P90X routines I've used usually have you doing just one set of any given exercise per session, though one of the DVD's does involve two "rounds." That latter DVD has you doing two sets of each exercise, one set in each round or half of the session.

With S90, on the other hand, each exercise comprising the set is repeated: most of the exercises on the DVD's I've used are repeated 3 times. The typical structure is as follows: a set of 3 exercises is introduced and demonstrated, then the exercises are executed in sets of 3. To make up an example for this explanation, say the 3 exercises are pull-ups, push-ups and chair dips. After the demonstration of how the exercises are done, the participants then do a set of pull-ups, then a set of push-ups, then a set of chair dips, and they repeat that cycle 3 times. Breaks between each of these exercises are to be minimized. Once this complex of 3 exercises is repeated 3 times, the next threefold complex of exercises is demonstrated, then executed.

Overall, then, there are fewer exercises in S90 than in P90X, but more total repetitions of each of the exercises are performed in S90. Each of the S90 DVD's I've thus far used has you doing 3 or 4 of these threefold complexes in the session. So S90 is comparatively more repetitive than P90X.

The main flaw I've found in this program, as I've mentioned, is poor choreography. By that I mean that insufficient time was devoted to determining how well the home viewer might be able to follow along with the video participants. The fact that at least some of those participants seem like they may be fitness professionals is related: given that fitness is their profession, they are in better condition than most of us and can thus perform these exercises quickly. In order for those who are not fitness professionals to follow along, the professionals should be making a special effort to perform exercises more slowly and deliberately, but sometimes they are not. In fact, in some of the DVD's, one or more of the participants may get significantly behind the others. Thus, the participants are not always doing the same exercise at the same time--which could introduce confusion for some. From my observations to date it seems that the first DVD in the set suffers most from this flaw, while subsequent DVD's are a bit better. But there is some element of chaos in all the DVD's I've viewed in this respect. I personally do not find this especially distracting but others may.

In the way of other major contrasts between P90X and S90, the S90 routines I've done involve more use of dumbbells and less use of calisthenics or bodyweight exercises than do the P90X routines. While various types of push-ups are to be found in the S90 routines, there is nothing like chin-ups/pull-ups, tri-ups, or chair dips. So, though there are some calisthenics/bodyweight exercises in S90, comparatively there is more focus on use of dumbbells.

Some of the exercises found on these DVD's are similar to those found in the P90X repertoire, but there are enough differences to make these S90 routines a welcome variant for those who use P90X routines over longer periods (we've been incorporating parts of P90X into our regimen for over 2 years now). A few exercises in S90 are essentially the same as those in P90X.

The fellow who leads the exercise routines is Tom Holland. He definitely doesn't have Tony Horton's charisma or knack for lovable obnoxiousness, but I find him to be a welcome break. His demonstrations of technique, while at times a bit too fast, are generally easy to follow. Unlike Tony, Tom mostly walks around talking and coaching, not doing most of the exercises. Not a minus in my book, but a point of contrast.

About the only thing I can say about the nutrition program is that it has the name of Tosca Reno attached to it. I have no idea who she is but have read some internet postings indicating that her association with this program is something positive.

At some later date I may post a list of the exercises found on each of the S90 DVD's I use. There are not that many on any given DVD, so that will be easy enough to do.

I will just reiterate in closing that, for my purposes, S90 is working great. It fills a need I have to further vary my upper-body strengthening/toning exercises and for the price it has been well worth it for me. If you are in good condition like me, even though your fitness aims and needs may be different from mine, you may likewise be pleased with this fitness regime.

If you're not in very good shape, however, S90 may not be such a good program to start with. But if you take things slowly and put in the time and effort to figure out the structure of the routines, you may be able to benefit from this regime. The key for those of us who are less fit will be patience--which will likewise probably mean taking longer than 90 days slated for completing the program.