Total Body Plus offers a ton of variety, but -- true to form -- I've found a nit to pick: Many of the names Tony assigns to the exercises are totally non-descriptive, and he doesn't bother to give detailed instruction. If you've never encountered this workout before, chances are you have no idea what Tony's talking about when he tells you to crank out sets of "O-Crunch Push-Ups," "Chuck-Up Xs," "Bella Twists," and "Kid Plays." Even more confusingly, the "Plyo Push-Ups" in Total Body Plus are totally different from (and much easier than) the ones Tony does in P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. Since I only dust off this workout once every month or so, I find myself frequently stopping just to watch the video to figure out how to actually perform a "Lara Lunge Crunch," and to ponder whether Tony's reaching too deep into his bag of tricks in an attempt to keep things interesting. Who's Bella? And Chuck? And Lara?
I don't need oddly-named exercise variations in order to stave off boredom. This evening, in the aftermath of a too-big barbecue dinner, I joined M as she did the Dynamic Flow Yoga routine that came in her ChaLEAN Extreme Deluxe Upgrade Package. We each strapped on a pair of hand weights and started doing Vinyasas and Warrior poses, and pretty soon, I was sweatier than Ed Asner in a sauna. It was a great change of pace -- and I appreciated the fact that Chalene Johnson didn't go out and name a bunch of moves after her mailman and her next-door-neighbor's ex-boyfriend.
