This 5-Minute Ab Finisher Is the Reincarnation of P90X’s Ab Ripper—and It Builds a Stronger, Leaner Core

From flip phones to frosted tips, the 2000s are back. And now, it's the turn of the century’s most iconic workout program: P90X.

If you’re too young to remember, the original, 12-DVD set was a monster, and was said to have sold more than four million copies on the promise that wild-eyed trainer Tony Horton and corn-cob pullups could get you “totally ripped” in 90 days with a pullup bar, bench, and set of dumbbells.

In the reincarnated P90X, now called “Generation Next,” the magnetic, slightly menacing energy of Tony Horton gives way to Waz Ashayer, an NASM-certified Brit turned New Yorker with a relentlessly positive, steadier demeanor he sharpened while leading classes at Equinox.

“You say those words, ‘P90X,’ and people will jump down your throat with ‘I did this in university,’ or ‘I did this with my mom.’ It’s nostalgic,” Ashayer says. “It’s also inherently a heritage brand in the United States, so everybody’s aware of the bone structure.”

Related: The 6 Move Core Routine That Fixes Weak Abs (Without Endless Crunches)

That structure was relentless, with 90 consecutive days of 45-minute, shirt-drenching workouts. “Generation Next” is still 90 straight days of workouts, but Ashayer’s designed it with more recovery in mind. The program has three pillars—“Metabolic Overload Training,” consisting of fast-paced strength training with compound movements, “Neuro-Performance Training,” with jumps, bounds, and other athletic moves, and twice weekly “Active Recovery Training,” with foam rolling and mobility exercises. 

“It’s not like ‘more is more.’ It’s a holistic approach to fitness,” he says. Rather than just being a “random group fitness class you’re going to do on demand,” he says, P90X being a program allows for progressive overload, the exercise science way of saying “doing more each week” that’s been revealed as the key to gains.

Beachbody, the parent company of P90X, is still saying this new program will get you “ripped,” even if they’re not using that word anymore. In a test group of 22 men, the company says the guys lost an average of 30.9 pounds on the program.

The 5-Minute Ab Workout That Revives P90X’s "Ab Ripper X"

One thing that is “more” about the new $9.99-per-month program is the short finisher workouts that have been added. Called “5ers,” these five-minute quick-hits are spiritual successors of “Ab Ripper X,” the 12-move core carver that capped off each day of the original P90X.

These “5ers,” which include workouts for abs, glutes, and arms, are dessert sessions, Ashayer says, designed to be used whenever P90Xers want a little extra at the end of a workout.

He gave Men’s Journal a taste of that cake: Here’s the 5-minute abs “5er” for the new P90X, with 8 moves, each done for 30 seconds in each block.