Welcome to P90X2 Phase 3! Looking back, the Phase 2 workouts provided a mix of strength, plyo, yoga, and recovery, which reminded me of P90X. As I said yesterday, Phase 3 looks a little repetitive, but I am willing to give it the old college try.
The cast consists of three “veterans” from P90X2, as Tony calls them: Cedric from Recovery and Mobility, Collette from Ab Ripper, and Adam from… what workout? Maybe V Sculpt or Chest, Shoulders, and Tris? We find out that Collette is a former Olympic-style weightlifter. We knew from R+M that Cedric is a Beachbody employee and a dancer. Adam is a former Marine sniper who “reads body language” according to Tony. I’m not sure if that was another skill he used in the Marines.
P.A.P. stands for “Post-Activation Potentiation.” I have no idea who came up with that one. According to Tony, it’s a combination of “Resistance, contraction, explosion, and stabilization.” It’s “what athletes do.” I guess that’s where Functional Fitness comes in to this one.
The workout is a combination of plyometrics and core. This is a similar approach to the Base + Back workout, which is a combination of plyo and pull ups. There’s no day dedicated to plyo, but it is included with another muscle group.
The warm up starts out very differently from the other ones so far in P90X2. There are Heel Walks and Feet Smackers, which are intended to work on the back and front parts of the feet. Near the end of the warm up, there are some plyometric moves (Slalom and Lateral Skater). The rest are familiar stretches and foam rolling (of course!).
Tony mentions footwear, as he does in all the plyometric workouts. This time he says “Don’t wear running shoes.” Interesting! Instead, he suggests “court shoes” such as might be used for basketball or tennis, I guess. Maybe these shoes are more stable for jumping from side to side?
The exercises are broken up into sets or “complexes” as Tony calls them. There are four moves in each “complex”, repeated four times, in the first half of the workout, then another “complex” of four different exercises is repeated four times. Basically, it’s eight different exercises, over and over again.
The first three exercises are a combination of plyometric moves, with a weight added sometimes, and maybe a balance component (on one leg). The fourth exercise is on the floor, similar to what we see in Ab Ripper. For example, there is a Side Bridge Leg Lift, which combines a Side Plank Hip Raise with a Leg Lift, for a 30 second hold.
I am having the usual first-time challenges with this workout, even though I watched it yesterday. I am stumbling around, not working as hard as I would like. I know I will get there soon enough. Unfortunately, I was also running late, due to circumstances outside my control this time, so I only had time for half of each “complex.” I didn’t even try the neuro-integrated stretching which is included here as it is in Plyocide. I will have another opportunity in a few days, I guess.
By the way, did Tony really say (during one of the core exercises) that he needed to “go check Collette’s form”? OK, that wasn’t one of his racier comments, but it could have been…
Tip of the Day: It’s OK to ease your way into a new workout, especially one that requires some coordination and proper form.
Bonus: Here is a P90X2 promo on YouTube featuring Collette and Anie:
