Tag: plyocide

Following Through – Winter 2012 Part I

Since Wednesday when I did the last bootcamp it was the first test of my resolve to get my winter schedule up to speed. On Thursday I think I did the last of my Olympic lifting for the year, barring a warm spell because it’s getting very cold out in the garage. As a quick reminder here is what I was doing in general for my Oly days:

55lb KB warmup swings, snatches, clean and press halo etc.

Using 155lb bar:

5×5 Deadlift
5×5 Power Shrug
4×5 Squat
4×5 Clean
3×5 Clean and Press

That’s 125 movements which is about the max I ever did.

Friday I was supposed to do WOD at the gym but I had 1 kid and a very sore back so I took the day off. Saturday was supposed to be the first day of the Winter session being Dec 1 and all so I decided on Plyocide.

That’s because I was still sore and wanted to make sure I got some cardio in this week. Returning to P90X2 is going to be fun since I only did 1 real round of the workouts and so I am still unfamiliar with them for the most part. I am hoping to mesh them with the bootcamps and try to ensure a balanced workout schedule, and I think that taking some Insanity workouts also will help to increase my cardio output since I seem to be sadly lacking in that department. So day 1 for winter 2012 was cardio. Day 2 I decided on X2 Core since it is the first of the P90X2 workouts and I wanted something relatively easy because I have to teach bootcamp tomorrow.

That’s the problem.

For some reason now I have developed this “cushion” around my bootcamp workouts where I am overly cautious with them. I forget what it was like to do rounds of P90X with 6 days on at a time filled with tough back breaking quad burning lung busting effort. I think I need to suck it up a little.

That said, X2 Core was  enjoyable, it’s not overly taxing but it’s a well thought out bodyweight workout that touches all the bases from head to toe. No pullups though!

To review a couple of things quickly because of my back problems my last 90 day participation rate was only 60%. I also have been trying to get back into my VLC diet which has caused a little “adjustment” in my weight but that is settling down now and my most recent scale numbers are:

236.6 @ 22.1%

Not great but I am moving in a good direction now.

R9D31&32 – Bootcamp Weights Plus Finally A Gap Day Workout (Plyocide)

<– Plyocide depth charge alternate, step up then step into tuck jump.

Bootcamp this week was poorly attended but nevertheless it was a tough one using 35lb plates in addition to the 8lb med balls. This was only the second time the participants had been able to move heavy weight around and I think it went well. This is what was involved:

Spin row warm up

20 air squats
20 step switch
10 each lunge up switch
20 each weighted calf raise
10 each lunge back leg up
pullups

add med ball

20 air squats
20 step switch
10 each lunge up switch
20 each weighted calf raise
10 each lunge back leg up
pullups

add plate

20 air squats
20 step switch
10 each lunge up switch
20 each weighted calf raise
10 each lunge back leg up
pullups

Abs – 25-15-10 free-med-plate

in and out
bicycles
full situp
russian twist

Shoulder 15 with med ball

halos
weighted box dip
upright row
box dip left leg up
shoulder front fly
box dip right leg up

Shoulder 10 with plate

halos
weighted box dip
upright row
weighted box dip
shoulder front fly
weighted box dip

Abs – 25-15-10 free-med-plate

in and out
bicycles
full situp
russian twist

Bonus Round

Pushups with plate on back – Mostly failed
Squat half bounce 20 with mb
Squat half bounce 10 with plate

It seems like a lot, but it went pretty fast. We did go overtime but only because we had to wait for the ladies to arrive in the snow.

Last night I decided to be good to my word for the week and try not to take off the day between my bootcamp classes which will make today the third workout in a row of fairly high intensity. I did plyocide last night and the one thing that came out of it was my realization that you don’t need a plyo box to do the depth charge move.

Tony has you step up onto a plyo box, jump down and explode up into a straight jump. Since I have 8 foot ceilings and no plyo box (even if I did I wouldn’t be able to use in inside) I have to modify this and I have found a perfect replacement. Instead of skipping the move completely, if you start on your knees you can step up to standing (alternating each leg) and it’s just like you are stepping up onto a box, then I perform a tuck jump just to stick it to Tony and his straight jumps. It’s a little harder, takes some balance but it’s a great substitution.

R9D21/2 – X2 Core And Plyocide

I have to admit to feeling lazy this past week. I feel like I have eaten too many nuts and it’s making me lethargic. If I was still addicted to the scale I am sure that I would find a couple of pounds extra. However, in the spirit of the New Year I am going to try and limit my exposure to the scale to once a month. There are always times that you will find yourself straying off track a little, the problems arise when you get off track in more than one area and don’t recognize the issues. Once you get one wheel off the road you are in a precarious position, a little correction and you are back on track, a slight distraction and you are in the ditch. For me personally it doesn’t take much, for example this week I worked out 5 of 7 days but one of those days was an easy day (Mobility) and so I feel like I didn’t get the work I needed. Maybe it’s getting used to the P90X2 workouts too, rather than the crazy kettlebell and Olympic Lifting I am used to. Whatever it is, I am tackling this feeling of lethargy by not taking tuesday off. Last week and the week before I took it off because it is the day between bootcamps and I thought I would burn myself out. However I am finding that I am underworked so in the spirit of listening to my body I will squeeze another workout in tomorrow. As it happens, the schedule calls for yoga which is kind of a good fit for me.

Speaking of the schedule, I am going to finish up this week and move on to phase 2 which looks like this:

Phase 2 – Strength:

1. Chest + Back + Balance & X2 Ab Ripper
2. Plyocide
3. Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility
4. X2 Shoulders + Arms & X2 Ab Ripper
5. X2 Yoga
6. Base + Back & X2 Ab Ripper
7. Rest or X2 Recovery + Mobility

It’s much the same but there are more specific strength components than there are in the Core of Total Body workouts. I am really looking forward to this because the workouts that I love the most from P90X are the bodypart specific workouts. I am also going to post reviews of PAP upper and PAP lower to complete the collection.

On the injury front I strained my rotator cuff last week spotting the girls at gym and it’s been insanely painful. It’s a little better now but it meant no pressing during the workouts this week. I am sure that compounded my feeling of lethargy and in return for laying and trying to rest my shoulder I made my back sore (maybe from overstretching..). Quite some time ago I had a very sore toe, and in fact it wasn’t just the toe, it was my whole front of my left foot was sore to flex or contract. I panicked and thought I may have gout so I treated it with strawberries. I am not sure exactly what it was but I am thinking that I may have bruised the ball of my foot doing something during the summer in my VFF’s. Whatever it was, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that it is gone which is a relief. Other than that I am pretty healthy at the moment other than the viral thing that we all got during Christmas. I have been feeling good after my workouts but I still know that I could use to get an extra hour or two of sleep each night. I just can’t seem to get myself to bed on time. I think that is my final frontier, if I can conquer my bad sleep habits, I think I may have this wellness thing licked.

 

R9D2 – P90X2 – Plyocide Review

It’s Friday today, if I get home early enough I will complete this bad boy, if not, it will have to wait until tomorrow since I have to coach today.

This morning I felt great after X2 Core yesterday, my knot in my back is gone, thanks to the foam rolling I guess. The workout wasn’t that hard, I do lots of that kind of stuff for my bootcamp but there was enough technical challenge for me to stay focused. I guess being in shape already it’s not supposed to be brutal, but more of a technical exercise anyway. I am sure Plyocide won’t be such a pushover. I am reviewing it here as a log of the movements done, I will report back tomorrow or maybe during the weekend as to exactly how much of a challenge it is!

For plyocide you need all the regular stuff, a foam roller, mat, water and in addition an X taped on the floor and also if you have it a plyo box to do box jumps and so on.

The warmup is the same pretty much as X2 Core, and just like P90X the warmups are probably all going to be pretty standard.

Warmup:
Stability ball work
twists, squats, side bends, lunge back, shelf stockers.

Foam Rolling – Myofascial release using the foam roller
This is a great section to do daily and even better to go into more detail with when you have tight spots or knots.
Roller Sphinx
Worlds Greatest stretch (runners stretch with a double twist) alternating legs with brief hold each count.
Inch Worm – from standing, hands on floor, walk out to plank and back
Scorpion – Laying face down arms out 90 degrees, bend knee bring your foot up to your butt and lift away from the floor. Gently twist the leg to the opposite side of the body but don’t go too far!
Groiners – runners stretch foot switch

The Plyocide Workout:

Wide leg tiptoe squat – Simple wide squat up to tip toes 35 reps
Killer Katherine Lunge – Mary Katherines with med ball side to side, first at hip height then overhead
Fast Feet Chair Jump – Football fast feet with jumps added in
Slalom Line jump – jump over your taped line and back in a slalom forward then back
Water Break
Warrior 3 lunge – W3 back to lunge then back to W3
Jack In The Box Knee Tuck – Touch floor to tuck jump
Think Drill – wide feet football run with occasional sets and stance and arm changes
Spartan Squat Lunge – Squat touching opposite foot, jump into lunge and raise arm overhead. Do both sides!
Water Break
Super Skater Kicks – Exactly what it sounds like!
Depth Charge – Use plyo box, step up, jump down far side then straight jump.
Frog Burpee Hop – burpee with tuck jump
1 leg slalom – hopping slalom
Water Break
1 leg squat – Not pistols, just squat touch floor
Surfer Spin – Jump turns. Start with 2 half turns, then try full turns
Power 90 Cross Hop – Use taped cross and hop across quadrants then switch to other 2 quadrants
Wide Leg Jump Press With Med Ball – Like the X jump but with a med ball
Water Break
Launcher Lunge – With med ball, shelf stacker lifting non loaded leg away from body
Toe Tap 360 – Tap toes on med ball on floor, work all around the ball
Flying Fighter Kicks – scissor front kick followed with back kick
Set Sprint Plank Plyo Jump – Football set to high knee sprint to plank to plyo pushup to jump. Tony calls the order, you follow!

10 Minute Cool Down

This looks pretty intense and I am looking forward to the challenge!