Best Home Workout Videos and DVDs

Doorway Pull-Up Bars

Thanks to the popularity of P90X, pull-ups are now in style, but trying to do pull-ups at home has always been tough unless you have basement or a garage you can set aside room to workout in. You’ve seen the doorway pull-up bars everywhere, they work if you have the right doorway. Most houses I’m sure have the standard sized doorway, but there is the possibility of the pull-up bar leaving marks or small indentations. Plus you can’t get too wild in your pull-up action because the bar may slip. The doorway pull-up bars work on leverage and if one side of the leverage is moved because you’re swinging too much, it may slip and lose it’s traction on the door frame. Most of the bars I’ve seen specify a weight limit of 250 lbs. If your above that, you could risk damaging your doorway.

Stand Alone Pull-Up Units

There are standalone units that can give you the stability and the extra height needed for doing pull-ups. Prices range from $99 to hundreds of dollars. Some only allow a limited number of exercises including pull-ups, dips and a special station for knee raises and maybe a push-up bar thrown in close to ground level. I almost bought the one pictured for $99 it’s the Stamina 1690 Power Tower. It’s cheap and it has several good reviews. I would have except my situation requires something smaller or at least something I can stash away. My exercise room is also my office and there can be a lot of things going on at the same time. My wife already vacuums around the dumbbells so another piece of equipment wouldn’t really be an issue, I wanted something I could take down and get out of the way. The size of this one is good, but it looks like once it’s up, it’s up to stay.

Best Pull-Up Bar

For my situation of course, but this thing is extremely sturdy, even on carpet. I can take it down and put it in its carry case and stash it in the corner in about a minute. It goes up just as quick. There are no bolts or screws, all the pieces fit together. The bar has three different height adjustments the tallest isn’t as tall as I would like, but I’m over six feet and would like to do pull-ups without having to bend my legs. But since I’m going to be using a chair for an assist at first anyway, it’s probably not a big deal. The bar is higher than a normal door frame, so it’s higher than the door frame pull-up bars and I don’t have to worry about how strong the door frame is or if it’s going to leave indentations, because I’m not a carpenter and a new door frame is the last thing I want to deal with. I wouldn’t care, but my wife would and she would make me aware that she cares, so this cuts out any of those possibilities. In the picture it doesn’t look very sturdy, it’s aluminum, but it’s solid aluminum, not like a Coke can aluminum, you’re not bending these bars, the weight limit is 350lbs and if you’re more than 350 and can do pull-ups, you’re probably playing pro ball and have a big enough house for your own gym so you’re not really looking at this anyway.

The bar is 7 feet high and the entire unit is 42 inches wide and weighs 22 lbs. Shipping is free in the US and at 22 lbs, get the extra carrying bag and it’s very portable. This is a great product made in the USA if you need a stand alone unit because of doorway or weight issues and need something that is easy to take down and put back up, this unit is the answer. Get it through Amazon Market or go straight to the manufacturer’s website trapezerigging.com. The only thing it’s missing is some comfy, foamy grips that are on the doorway pull-up bars, which I’m sure is easily fixable with some foam and black tape.

Am I ready for P90X?

They don’t say this in the infomercial, but P90X is not really for complete beginners or serious couch potatoes that want to start a program.

Aren’t sure you’re in shape for P90X? Maybe you should start with Power 90 or Power 90 Master Series. Bottom line is if you’re young ~20s or 30s and used to be in decent shape, you might be able to get away with starting with P90X. If it’s been awhile since you’ve done any serious exercising of any kind, it might be a good idea to set your sights on getting to the P90X starting level.

According to the P90X manual

We ask that you complete the equivalent of Power 90 or Slim in 6 before you begin”… “If you can’t do what is listed below, you’ll see better results by doing another exercise program before you take on P90X.”

I would agree. You can “keep pushing pause” on P90X, keep doing the modified, but to get the most out of the program without first killing yourself or worse getting disgusted and quitting or injuring yourself, you should at least be able to do:

• 3 pull-ups if male, 1 pull-up if female. Many people can’t do any when they start, but you will get the most out of the program if you can at least do a couple then use a chair for assist and modified.
• Vertical Leap 5 inches if male, 3 inches if female.
• Push-ups 15 if male, 3 female or 15 on your knees if female. There are push-ups in almost every routine. You won’t be able to do Yoga if you can’t do push-ups. Push-ups are everywhere in this program, Tony LOVES push-ups! If you can’t do at ten start with Power 90 or Power 90 Master. Plenty of push-ups and plenty of time to get in shape to be able to attack P90X the right way.
• The Heart Rate Maximizer part of the fitness test checks your max heart rate and how quickly you recover. The test is jumping jacks for 2 minutes at a quick pace. During the final 30 seconds go as fast as you can. Then measure your heart rate. If you can’t do jumping jacks for two minutes you don’t have a chance in the Cardio X or some of the other routines. Power 90 has cardio every other day and you start out easy and work your way to longer routines in Sweat 3-4 and 5-6.

Tony says he’s a big fan of the pause button, but if your hour workout becomes two hours, that’s a lot of time commitment not everyone can do. If you burn out during the warm up, the rest of the workout isn’t going to be any fun and you might give up too soon.

Here are a few ideas if you can’t do P90X (yet).

Power 90 In Home Boot Camp: Great place to start. I went from doing 3 push-ups to 20. Basic push-ups, dumbbell presses, curls, squats. Cardio that is called Sweat for a reason. P90 will get you up to the P90X minimum level so you can P90X without passing out or calling 911.

Power 90 Master Series: If you’re in decent shape but not quite at the P90X level, Power 90 Master was produced after P90X as a step in-between P0wer 90 and P90X. There are a lot of the same or similiar routines in Power 90 Master as P90X, no pull-ups, but plenty of push-ups of all kinds, cardio, yoga and core routines.

10 Minute Trainer: It’s not really publicized much but it will get you used to using the bands and cardio. The workouts don’t have to be over in ten minutes, if you have more time, do two or three for a great 30 minute workout.

Slim in 6: The P90X manual recommends starting with this one. It’s in my library and on the list to be reviewed, but haven’t done it yet. But it looks like it might be worthwhile and oriented more toward women then the Power 90 series.

Chalean Extreme: I’ve got a review on this later, it looks like a great program, but for the cost, especially if you already bought P90X another $100+ program might be too much. At $60, Power 90 or Power 90 Master is the way to go if you already spent money on P90X. But that’s just me.

All of the Power 90 workouts are excellent, you can’t go wrong with any of them. If you absolutely hate them, Beachbody has a money back guareentee but only if you buy direct from Beachbody. They’re not going to give a refund on DVDs you got from eBay or Craigslist. See our Discounts page for more info.

Power 90 is a lifestyle. You’re not going to put away the DVDs after your 90 days. You’re going to want to keep “pushing play” and the more variety in your workout, the more you’ll enjoy doing it. Some people get tired of Tony’s goofiness, but turn down the sound, pump up the tunes. Or choose another program for your variety, either way, keep pushing play!

Links:
Power 90 In Home Boot Camp
Power 90 Master Series
10 Minute Trainer
Slim in 6

Since it’s possible to buy individual DVDs from the P90 Master Series maybe I should review each DVD separately. Sculpt 5-6 starts out with warming up a little, stretching, then push-ups. Same as 3-4, but the push-ups are first hands normal width, then hands narrow, then normal width again. Instead of separate sets of normal width and narrow push-ups. The weight routines are different in that you are using lighter weights and moving your arms in more varied motions. Instead of the straight heavy pants, it’s one arm at a time heavy pants. Instead of regular Shoulder Flys, it’s Six Direction Shoulder Flys using a very light weight especially at first.

Sculpt 3-4 is basic presses, curls and push-ups, Sculpt 5-6 in the P90 Master Series is more focused and targeted on key muscles in the shoulders, arms and biceps with different variations on presses, curls and different kinds of push-ups. It starts out kind of slow, but I was seriously sweating and ready for the water break half way through. No pull-ups but plenty of presses, curls, push-ups and squats with enough variation it’s not boring and seems to combine different muscle groups in the same exercise. Instead of just squats, you do a squat then calf raise. Other sets have multiple movements like instead of a regular lawn mower, it’s a lawn mower with a circular motion and instead of a straight up and down press you’re press at angles you’re probably not used to doing.

Power 90 Master Series was done after P90X. The gym area isn’t as dark with a wood floor and blue walls, instead of the basement look of P90X. If you’re doing Power 90 Home Boot Camp, Sculpt 5-6 would make a great replacement for Sculpt 3-4 which, honestly after 6 weeks of 1-2 and then 3-4 is basically the same as 1-2, but more, 5-6 would be a greatly needed variety. With the right weights, it’s still “advanced”, but it is more then the normal presses and curl motions.

TOTAL BODY TRANSFORMATION IN 90 DAYS – GUARANTEED with Tony Horton’s Power90 Boot Camp