Because both of these programs emphasize bodyweight exercises, basic compound lifts and Crossfit even uses kettle bells so they do indeed look similar on the surface. But the problem is that you are looking at the ingredients list, not at how those ingredients are prepared to produce the end result.

I was talking with a friend the other day about this subject and he gave me the best analogy I’ve ever heard to distinguish what I do from those other two programs. Imagine that both of us went to the store and bought a nice Rib Eye steak. The cut is the same, it came from the same cow, everything that could be the same is when it comes to those two steaks.

Now let’s say we get home and start to prepare the steaks to cook up. You take yours and tenderize it just right, let it marinate for a few hours, take a great steak rub and put it on and sit there patiently while it cooks.

I take mine, though, and throw it against the wall a few times, throw some salt and pepper on it and don’t really watch it too close while it is cooking. When we sit down to eat who do you think is going to be happier with the end result?

Even though we had the exact same ingredient (the steak) the end result was very different. It all came down to how the steak was prepared and cooked. The same thing applies to the P90X and Crossfit programs.

Sure, they do use a lot of the same raw ingredients but the preparation of those ingredients is totally different. We can argue about how good or bad a bunch of random exercises thrown together with a bunch of random set and rep schemes really is but you can not argue that programs like that are not nearly as effective for the specific purpose of helping you ride better as a program prepared for that specific purpose.

Even the creators of those programs will admit that they are general fitness programs and are not meant for people that have specific sports and goals – unless they just want to get your money and then will tell you whatever you want  to hear. If you want to improve your overall endurance on your bike, improve your technical skills and your overall fun on the trail then just doing a bunch of random stuff in the gym will not get you the same results as quickly as you would from a more specific program.

Remember that how you prepare your dinner and workout program is just as important as the raw ingredients.

-James Wilson-