Sunday, March 21, 2010

Round 3 / Day 23: P90X Plyometrics

I can't believe the last time I did P90X Plyo was over four months ago.

Plyo holds a special place in my heart; it was the first P90X session I ever attempted -- and it totally kicked my ass when I was a newbie. After completing Insanity, though, I started to question whether I'd still find Plyo as challenging as I did back in Round 1.


The short answer: I found this morning's Plyo session to be easier than Insanity Max Interval Plyo, but it was definitely harder than I remembered. Plyo doesn't match the crazy-intensity of Shaun T's max interval workouts; the exercises in Plyo aren't quite as challenging, and most of them are only 30 seconds in duration. (And as Tony exclaims, "YOU CAN DO ANYTHING FOR 30 SECONDS!") Plus, I counted only a few drops of sweat on the floor after today's workout, whereas with Max Interval Plyo, I literally have to mop up the puddles left behind.

But Plyo still packs a punch. There's more than enough jumping, squatting and lunging to torch your legs and make you gasp for air. I also appreciate the fact that -- unlike Shaun T -- Tony is committed to introducing as much variation as possible into Plyo, choosing to cram in as many different moves as possible rather than repeating sets of the same old exercises ad nauseam.

And frankly, do you really need to have your heart explode in order to get a great plyometric workout?