P90X: Equipment on a budget

What will I use to complete the P90X program?

Last weekend I decided to get some of the necessary equipment to complete the P90X program. I found myself in walmart looking for the 'cheap' fitness equipment due to my lack of a budget. Surprisingly, I found some relatively good deals.

Gold's Gym pull up bar - got it for about $19.00. Upon putting it together in about 5 minutes, it was holding me onto my door frame with ease. I must admit, in the beginning, I was scared to put my weight on the apparatus for fear of it breaking my door frame down. My 180 pound physique was supported very well by the bar. I hear it uses leverage to hold you on the door frame, I'm still skeptical about it ripping the molding off the other side of the door frame though, especially if I get into swinging all crazy trying to get that last pull up on P90X. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.

It has all the grips you would need, the only problem with the grips is that when I was doing a few wide grip pull ups, I found my elbows hitting the door frame a little. Additionally, I hear that the padding that supports your weight against the door frame can rub off onto the door frame itself leaving a black smudge. I hear you stop that by putting some type of fabric between the pads and the door frame.

From what I read, the bolts sometimes break when using it extensively, so I might be re-investing in another pull up bar at some point when, or if, this one breaks. We shall see though.

All in all, it is a good sturdy bar for the price.

Weighted Dumbbells - got these for $20.00 at Walmart. I took them out of the box and began setting them up. It is 40 lbs total, 20 on each dumbbell. I don't think that will be enough for some of the exercises, but I'm sure I can just go get some more weights to throw on the ends at some point. I have some of the same type weights that a friend gave me, but I don't have enough to make two complete sets, aka. I can make one heavy dumbbell... but not two =(. I thought about buying another set of these and just putting some more weight on one set. I mean for $20.00, it's not a bad deal.

Yoga Mat - Got this from Target on sale for around $16.00. I've read on several forums and blogs that a yoga mat really helps while doing the P90X program. Yoga X, Ab ripper X, Core stuff, I heard that on those exercises, it can be brutal on your buttocks and tailbone. I have used it a few times, it makes a world of difference between the rug that is on the hardwood floor and the yoga mat on top of the rug. I love it for saving my tailbone from being sore.

That is the extent of my exercise equipment. I must say, when first researching the P90X program, I was intimidated by the cost of dumbbell systems that so many recommend such as the bowflex selectec. Instead, I just did some looking around and I ended up spending $19.00 on the pull up bar, $20.00 on the weights, and $16.00 on the yoga mat. In total, I spent $55.00 for all the equipment I would need for P90X*. I hear a chair and wall is needed for some of it as well. Well... I have a wall, live between 4 of them and a chair, I'm sure I could scrounge one up somewhere.

*I do think that I will have to buy a bit more weight to workout with on the dumbbells, but not much. Ideally, I'd like to get 10-15lb more on each dumbbell if needed. I don't think I'll need more than 30 or 35 lb per arm at this point, but who knows, I used to curl 55lb dumbbells back in college.

What kind of equipment are you using?