Nicolas Cannella was obese until his sophomore year of high school when his friend introduced him to the P90X workout video.

After 90 days of doing P90X, Cannella said he lost 50 pounds from doing an hour of exercise every day. He followed the P90x nutrition plan and he said the workout video motivated him to live a healthier lifestyle.

“I was considered morbidly obese,” said Cannella. “Even as a baby my doctor told me I ate three times more than the average baby.”

More people are doing P90X because the exercise program not only results in weight loss, but also increases endurance, strength, flexibility and balance. The program offers two different schedules. The lean schedule focuses on cardiovascular workouts and aims to burn fat and body weight, while the classic schedule focuses on weight training and resistance exercises to build muscle and strength.

Cannella, 19, is now a sponsor for the workout video. four years ago, P90x emailed Cannella and asked for before and after pictures of his body. He was interviewed by the marketing director of P90X and was selected to represent the workout video.

Cannella participates in phone conferences and attends meetings and events where he informs people about the product. He is a sophomore at DePaul University and hopes to start a business that makes organic foods more affordable and accessible to all demographics of people.

“If you are trying to improve your fitness in all aspects, yoga, abs and strength, then use P90X” said Cannella.

P90X is a workout regimen that is designed to take 90 days and is comprised of weight training, martial arts, yoga, abdomen workouts, jumping and cardio exercises combined with a nutrition plan that helps people lose weight.

The workout video includes 12 extreme workouts that focus on different parts of the body. For the plyometric, or jumping, portion of P90X, march in place. For the first three minutes, hold your arms directly in front of the chest and then lift knees up to hit the palm of the hand. Then lunge in place for one minute. Then switch over to travel lunges, then lunge, step forward and lunge again. The fourth step consists of doing as many push-ups as possible in one minute. Next, continue the last step with sit-ups and squats.

“P90X is a lifestyle,” said Gina Caifano, a cardio and strength fitness instructor for the Ray Meyer Fitness Center at DePaul. “Whenever it is cold out or if you don’t feel like hitting the gym, P90X is a workout you can do right from home. So there is no excuse.”

Caifano said she recommends that people use P90X to master different aspects of fitness. She said that jumping exercises are great for beginners.

Your life goes from mediocre to great once you incorporate weights into your workout,” said Caifano. “The biggest misconception many women have is that if they use weights, they will get big but that’s not true. Weights will help you change your body in a good way.”

Many people interviewed on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus said that P90X was a great alternative to a regular workout at the gym of just lifting weights or running on a treadmill. But Denis Melendez, 19, said he used P90x as an introduction to working out. He started working out two years ago because he was underweight and needed to build muscle.

“The only reason I did P90X was because of the abdomen ripper, which focuses on upper the upper and lower stomach,” said Melendez. “All workouts are set up in way that works opposing muscles such as back, chest, biceps and triceps. It’s called muscle confusion, a method used to avoid hitting plateaus in your work out.”

Melendez said he enjoyed the plyometric and chest workout in P90X because it requires very little equipment.

Carmen Gamsho, 34, said she enjoyed the plyometric workout because it covered all the areas she needed to work out, like her thighs, calves and gluteAL muscles without using weights.

“The biggest challenge is committing to it,” said Gamsho. “But it’s worth it because I see so many people ripped from doing P90X.”

P90X was developed by Tony Horton, a personal trainer and partner with beachbody.com. Horton designed the workouts to produce muscle confusion which starts by changing exercises, intensity and intervals which prevents the body from adapting to an exercise, according to beachbody.com.

P90X costs $119.95 which includes the 12 workout videos, nutrition plan, fitness guide, introductory video and workout calendar. In his interview with CNBC, Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler said that one of their secrets is not selling P90X at retail because part of their appeal is the inspiration that comes along with people watching how it works on television.

P90X has been in the top 25 most popular infomercials for almost four years, according to the Infomercial Monitoring Service. The workout video turned into a $200 million franchise, almost half of the sales for Beachbody, according to cnbc.com.

Lindsey Derrig, 19, said she stopped after five days of doing the video because she was sore in almost every bone in her body. But she recommends people use the video to become lean and fit.

Caifano said that P90X is a short, intense workout that offers great results in a small period of time. Since the video is only an hour each day, five out of five people interviewed said it is more convenient for them to work out at home than it is to go to the gym.

Each person interviewed also said that the plyometric workout was their favorite because the exercises are unusual, fun and requires the least amount of equipment. Melendez said P90X taught him how to target the parts of his body he wanted to work on like his abdomen, arms and chest.

“Drinking four water bottles a day is still a challenge for me,” Caifano said. “But that’s my goal. Each day I set a new goal and I follow through with it. Aim high,” said Caifano. Your goal should be unattainable.”