Tuesday, December 16, 2008

P90X+ Day 2: Intervals Plus

Today was my first try at the Intervals Plus workout. If you aren't familiar with the Intervals training theory, it is basically using varying degrees of intensity to allow you to work at your max heart rate for short periods while giving you active recovery time. Overall, it is usually highly effective- especially for peak cardio results. My college lacrosse coach used interval sprint training to get us into shape in pre-season and then to maintain our fitness during the season.

This workout is a real bear. It kicks butt, and I loved it. There are tweleve exercises. You do each one at three different intensity levels. 1/3 of the time at 60% intensity, 1/3 at 80% intensity, and 1/3 at 100% intensity. There is a nice mix of cardio, plyo, and kenpo moves in there. You do all 12 moves in a row. Then you take a 1 minute water break, and then repeat the workoput in reverse order.

One move that was pretty fun/tough was the 3 point push ups. You go down for a 1 count, then come up for a 1 count. This is the 60% move. Then after 20 seconds, you go down and hold for a 2 count, then up for a 2 count. This is 80%. Then the 100% effort move is a down for 3 counts, up for 3 counts. Tony also stresses engaging your core during this move. When you focus on keeping a flat back, tight butt and abs, it really burns!

After the intervals workout, you do the Abs/Core Plus workout again. I did much better today as I was a little more familiar with the moves. The moves felt much tougher today and I made it a point to really engage my core more this time. The hanging up and overs were tough today. This is where you hang from the bar, bring your knees up (together) from one side and twist them over to the other side. Then you put them down and then repeat going the other direction. TOUGH!

I wore a heart rate monitor for the first time. Jeff was talking about how many calories he was burning so I wanted to see how many I was burning. During the Intervals alone I burned 725 calories! I kept it going through the Abs/Core workout and finished at 1090 total calories burned!!! I really felt like I brought it and can't wait to see how many I can burn when I can breathe again (I still have that nasty cold).

Diet went well today. Protein shake for breakfast. Protein bar for snack. Lunch was a garden salad topped with shredded turkey breast and fat free ranch. Afternoon snack was my P90x recovery drink. Dinner is a protein shake and small salad with a little leftover beef and brochalli from last night.

See you tomorrow!

1 comment:

mrmick23 said...

Man i totally overlooked the fact that I had to do Abs Core plus Yesterday. I guess I will make it up today. I am a little bit OCD so it suprises me that i didn't catch on to this. I was focusing on alot of stuff outside of the workout so I guess I got distracted. I sent my buddy some meal plans for Phase 1 of the X, he started yesterday. I guess no harm done...The funny thing is the same thing happened to me on day 1 of the X....I forgot to do Ab Ripper so I just did it the following day. Intervals was definantly a good workout. I was thinking that it needed a little more time attatched to it but, now that I know I was supposed to do Abs core plus I guess the length is perfect. I agree that the push ups were fun. Your right if you squeeze your butt and midsection it makes that excercise a hell of alot tougher!