P90X Round 2 Day 2: Plyometrics

Day 02
Plyometrics is also referred to as jump training and is also known as the "mother" of all P90X workouts. I also like to think of it as the beast of all P90X workouts. It's basically an hour of doing lunges, jumps, squats and quick lateral movements. As difficult as this workout sounds, I like it. The idea behind this workout is pretty straight-forward: get the heart pumping and build leg strength.

Today, I came home from work and decided to give Plyometrics a go shortly after checking my fantasy hockey lineup, of course. ;-) I can do this workout now all the way through without stopping no problem (other than a rapid heart beat and the feeling that my heart is going to implode out of my chest). However, I really want to be careful of how intense I want my cardio to get. This is a long cardio workout, so if I go too hard, I know that I'll be burning muscle. So, I did a lot of the modified moves and tried to keep my heart level down low. When you do lighter cardio, your body burns fat more easily. If you do intense cardio, you'll burn fat, but you can also burn any gains of muscle you may have. You're body burns different fuels when you have different heart rates. That's why I was careful with the workout today. After all, I want to gain weight, not lose it. I think I'm actually going to sub this workout out for a 20 minute jog or bike ride from time to time, but I still plan on doing Plyo at least once every month.

There are a lot of tough moves with Plyometrics, my least personal favorite is the Rock Star hops. This move is pretty intense and you basically stand up like you're getting ready to strum a guitar. Then in one swift motion just like Angus Young, you jump your heels to your butt and do a windmill like guitar strum motion with one arm. The other arm is facing out like you were holding a guitar in that arm. Then you switch arms and directions to balance things out. It's funny because I noticed that during this move I always get my second wind. It's like I'm out playing guitar in Madison Square Garden and the crowd and cheering has me pumping on adrenaline. Another rough move is the Mary Katherine Lunges. Let's not even go there, they make your quads feel like a boss.

On the flip side, the circle runs are pretty neat. You basically run around a towel in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. During this move in particular, I can feel my agility improving off the charts. Step aside, Adrian Peterson! There's a new kid in town. Hahaha yeah right. That dude is jacked and I'm pretty sure he could run circles around me all day if he wanted to.

The diet was pretty clean today again although I did eat a little more calories than usual because this workout probably burns the most calories compared to any other exercise in P90X.

Here's how it looked:

Meal 1:
-Two whole eggs, Three egg whites
-Glass of almond milk
-Cup of oatmeal

Meal 2:
-Carrots
-Tbsp Olive oil

Meal 3:
-Protein bar
-Protein shake

Meal 4:
-Cup of whole wheat pasta
-Solid White albacore tuna w/ Light Mayo
-Granny Smith Apple
-1 oz dry roasted peanuts

Meal 5:
-12 Crackers
-Chicken Breast on Whole Wheat Wrap
-Peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat
-Orange

Meal 6:
-Protein bar
-Recovery drink

Meal 7:
-Dried fruit (apples)
-Chicken Strips on Whole Wheat Wrap and Mustard
-Yogurt (non-fat blueberry)
-Glass of Low sodium V8
-Grilled Chicken Breast

Meal 8:
-2 scoops of casein protein

A few people have been asking me about different products I have tried so I think I will start a review section on them in the near future. Stay tuned and as always....

Thanks for reading,
K-Dawg