As quoted from the P90X Fitness Guide, “Before starting an extreme fitness program like P90X, it’s important to know where you stand and if your current fitness level is adequate. Providing an honest assessment of your abilities and your mind-set will allow you to take advantage of your strengths and overcome your weaknesses.”
And so the P90X Fit Test begins. We took the test on Tuesday evening, a little longer than two days after our half marathon. We had wanted to complete it ahead of time to get more accurate results, but ran out of time before the race.
Resting Heart Rate:
Mike – 56 bpm
Nicole – 68 bpm
Warm Up – Tony recommends a 10 minute warm up before starting the test. We put in the Cardio X dvd and performed the moves in the warm up and beginning segments for about 10 minutes to get ready.

1. Pull- Ups:
Minimum – 3 for men, 1 for females
Mike – 10 PASS
Nicole – 1/6 FAIL (although the book indicates that many people starting the program won’t be able to complete one)
2. Vertical Leap (how high can you jump?):
Minimum: 5 inches males, 3 inches females
Mike – 19 inches PASS
Nicole – 11 inches PASS
3. Push-Ups
Minimum: 15 for males, 3 for female (15 on knees)
Mike -40 PASS
Nicole – 10 (“man” push ups”) PASS
4. Toe Touch (measurementt is inches you can reach past your toes sitting on floor with legs extended directly in front of you)
Minimum: No less than 6 inches from you toes (-6)
Mike – 4.5 inches past toes PASS
Nicole – 7 inches past toes PASS
5. Wall Squat (this one was hardest on our sore legs from the race!)
Minimum: one minute
Mike – 1 minute PASS (barely!)
Nicole: 1 minute 18 seconds PASS

6. Bicep Curls
Minimum: Males – 10 curls with 20 lbs; females – 10 curls with 8 lbs
Mike – 21 reps with 25 lb weights PASS
Nicole – 31 reps with 10 lb weights PASS
7. In & Outs (sit with hands on floor at your sides, raise feet off the ground and being knees toward your chest. straighten legs back out and repeat movement without touching floor)
Minimum: 25
Mike – 26 PASS
Nicole – 31 PASS
8. Heart Rate Maximizer (perform jumping jacks nonstop for 2 minutes at a quick pace. During the final 30 seconds go as fast as you can to maximize heart rate. As soon as you finish, measure your heart rate, and then again every minute after for four minutes)
Minimum: Be able to finish 2 minutes of jumping jacks
Mike:
- Immediately after jumping jacks: 148
- 1 minute: 92, 2 minutes: 80, 3 minutes: 76, 4 minutes: 76
Nicole:
- Immediately after jumping jacks: 160
- 1 minute: 116, 2 minutes: 100, 3 minutes: 84, 4 minutes: 76
We passed! Another part of the preparation for P90x is to take measurements and “before” pictures (which Tony calls “goodbye pictures” since you will never see that body again). I’ll probably hold off these before pictures until I post my “after” pictures and you can see the change!
Next up….our first 6 a.m. wake up call with Tony Horton himself.
[…] A quote from an e-mail from Denice after they did the fit test: […]