#6abcGetsFit: Creator of P90X Honored by Penn Medicine

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- If you are a fitness nut, you probably know Tony Horton. He is the creator of the massively-popular P90X workouts.

Thursday night I had the pleasure of meeting Horton and am happy to say he is just as nice, friendly and fit in person as he appears to be in his workout DVDs.

Horton was in Philadelphia because he has been awarded the 'Chevalier Jackson Health Care Innovator Medal' by Penn Medicine's department of Otorhinolaryngolgy: Head and Neck Surgery and the Penn Center for Head and Neck Cancer. The award recognizes his work in creating a science-based exercise program that has helped in the effort to curb the obesity epidemic.

Horton told me he feels honored to receive an award from the medical community.

He said, "Doctors have a huge influence on their patients and it turns out maybe less than a quarter of the average physicians in the nation even mention it or talks about nutrition and exercise with their patients and the fact that he [Dr. Gregory Weinstein] is a big fan and understands it, is drinking the Kool-Aid, that's a good thing and it will help more of his patients and it will trickle down to more patients hopefully."

The award's namesake, Dr. Jackson, was one the world's leading laryngologists. He is also credited with sharing medical knowledge worldwide and for his dedication to public health. In 1920, he campaigned to put labels on anything that could be poisonous if ingested. It ultimately saved kids' lives.

If you want to lose weight or have vowed to get in shape or if you just want a little more motivation, click to watch what Tony says is the key to success: