Day 1 of the new program: P90X Plus. I was a bit apprehensive approaching this workout series, because I wasn't entirely sure whether my body would be able to take it. I recalled it was much the same feeling when I first started P90X last December. The first week of workouts was a killer, then, more familiar with the routines, I became much more comfortable. Commencing P90X Plus was similar. I had reviewed the discs prior to actually doing the workouts, so I had a basic idea of what to expect. Of course, doing the workouts is another story.
The P90X Plus workouts are shorter than the P90X workouts. The Plus workouts are about 40 to 45 minutes in length, including warm-up and cool-down. The stage is smaller, as there are only 2 people working out, Tracy Morrow (mother of 6) and Mark Briggs (law-enforcement officer). Tony acts more as a trainer than a participant; he spends much of his time introducing the first few reps of an exercise, then comments on form. He is still slightly goofy in the videos, but not as enthusiastic as he was during the P90X workouts. He looks slightly older (well, he is) but is more ripped than ever.
If there's one thing I've learned from two rounds of P90X, it's to do your best and forget the rest. I decided not to sweat it if I couldn't keep up with Tony and the kids, especially during week 1. That turned out to be a good approach. On exercise 1, Double Dip'll do Ya, I ended up tripping over my feet and falling down backwards several times. A good time was had by all. I'm pretty sure that over time, I'll be able to deal with the mechanics of this move. The difficulty is not in the push-ups or in in the dips, it's the transitional moves between them that caused me to stumble. Good times.
I didn't find the workout to be a killer. I thought it was good, but not a killer. We'll see how the others go. I was challenged by the pushups: spiderman pushups, and combat pushups.
Abs-Core Plus
Again, I was really intimidated by the length of this workout: 20 minutes. When it's broken down into chunks of time ranging from 30 seconds to 90 seconds, it's not too bad. Since I don't have a pull-up bar, I decided to substitute the pull-ups and hanging variations with exercises from Ab Ripper X (Fifer Scissors, In and Outs, Leg Climbs, VF Rollups and Cross Leg Situps). Overall, I didn't find this workout to be an ab killer. Actually, I thought ARX was tougher. Some of the moves were interesting, particularly Banana Mason and Cherry Bomb. I'll stick with this routine for awhile, attempting to focus on form, but if I don't feel challenged enough, I'll go back to ARX or perhaps try the ab exercise from Tony's One on One series.
No comments:
Post a Comment