Assessment of 4 weeks of P90x(r) training on muscular strength and endurance, anaerobic power, and body composition.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a 4 week P90x training intervention on markers of physical fitness: upper body strength (US), lower body strength (LS), upper body endurance (UE), lower body endurance (LE), mean anaerobic power (MP), and body composition (%BF). College-aged adults (N = 13) were tested before and after the 4 week training intervention with a bench press and half squat exercises, Wingate anaerobic cycling test, and 7-site skinfolds. A one-way repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) documented a relationship between the training intervention and changes in the dependent variables F (1, 5) = 7.37, p = .022, &#951;2 = .898. There were significant improvements observed in US, p = .036; UE p = .003; LS, p = <.001; LE, p = .005; and %BF, p = .004. No significant change was observed in MP, F (1, 10) = 2.35, p = .16, &#951;2 = .19. These findings demonstrate that the P90x training program can be an effective tool for improving measures of physical fitness. Due to its effectiveness, one-time purchase cost, convenience of home-use, and video-led training, P90x could be a viable method for addressing perceived barriers of exercise such as lack of time, cost, lack of an exercise partner.