I’ve made it a week through my journey of becoming “lean and mean,” as the saying goes. My stomach feels tight every day and I can still feel the soreness from day one when my arms and back got the workout of their life. My balance has been tested by a yoga routine I’ve never experienced before, and I’ve learned how to throw a mean upper cut through a routine called “Kenpo X.”

It’s that time of year when everyone’s looking for the hottest new thing to get their coffee-consuming, sleep-deprived, “food baby” bodies into shape. Fitness trends are pursued with shameless abandon in hope of looking new and improved. We’ve all been there, whether we like to admit it. Just like everyone else, I too would like to achieve a toned, hot body, especially with Spring Break just around the corner. So when I heard people raving about an intense workout, I knew I wanted to try it.

P90X is a 90-day workout routine divided into three phases, each lasting a month. Within each month there are also three different phases: adaptive, mastery and recovery. Each day of the week has a different routine, which includes targeting everything you can think of including arms, back, abs, legs and shoulders.

The first day consisted of working on the chest and back. I can honestly say I’ve never done so many push ups in my life. There’s every kind you can imagine: regular, military, decline and these interesting ones called “dive bombers.” On top of that, you also have to use a pull up bar. Needless to say, I took full advantage of using a chair the first day.

After making it through the first two workouts, I was relieved at the idea of doing yoga on the third day. As soon as I started the routine though, I knew I had thought wrong. The workout requires bending things that I didn’t think could bend and balancing in almost impossible ways. I was sweating more than I had in the other workouts 30 minutes in; and I still had an hour to go.

Another routine is called Ab Ripper X, which I have to do every other day. I immediately figured out why it uses the word “ripper.” In less than 15 minutes, I did more than 300 different abdominal twists, turns, ups and downs.

For the first three weeks the routines stay pretty much the same, and the fourth week is considered the “recovery phase” where the body finally starts to change and is fully adapted to the workouts. But then everything is switched up when you move into the second phase. Workouts are completely changed so that the body is once again confused and has to adapt.

That seems to be what sets P90X apart from other workout videos and routines. The whole program is based off of “muscle confusion.” With a lot of traditional workouts, the body starts to plateau after a few weeks, which causes us to lose interest fast and stop doing the workouts all together. Every P90X workout varies in some way, whether it’s in the movements or the duration of the routine. It also has a very detailed diet that gives full recipes to try or recommends portion sizes that compliment each day’s workout.

As a fair warning though, P90X is designed for those who are already in decent shape. A pretest accompanies the package for individuals to see if they are ready for the discipline required for P90X. During workouts you’ll feel out of your comfort zone and there are days where every part of your body is sore. Then again, the program also stresses not crossing that fine line of pushing your body too far. With the ease of doing the workouts in the privacy of your apartment, dorm or house it’s OK to not keep up with the trainers in the video all the time.

So if you’re looking for something that provides variety, an easy diet to follow and you’re not afraid to sweat, I would definitely recommend giving P90X a try. It might just get you that toned, fit body we’re all dying to have.