P90X-2 (Day 47): PAP Lower review

Graduation proceedings are getting in full swing, so I've been a bit tardy of late getting these posts written.  Apologies!  

In any case, although Katie and I are enjoying Beach Week festivities with my classmates, we decided to stay strong and continue our P90X-2 workouts...even though it meant we'd be doing them while our friends sat at a few feet away from us playing games and having a good time.  Nobody decided to join in the fun with us this time (although one of them noted that watching us was like a window into the lives of the Bloodworths, and another actually decided to do pullups on his own off to the side...oh well).

Yesterday Katie and I did our PAP Lower workout, and this is the second time we've made a go at this one.  These PAP videos are so freaking hard.  What's PAP stand for you might ask?  Post Activation Potentiation.  What's that stand for you might ask?  Well, that's a little less clear, but apparently it incorporates some of the latest and greatest in exercise science that's typically reserved for training sports athletes.  This article might be a better resource!  

At a higher level, I'll say this.  PAP (both the Upper and Lower workouts) don't look like they'd be hard. In fact, while watching most P90X workouts ahead of time leaves me nervous for what's to come, I thought this PAP stuff would be easy in comparison.  Not the case!  PAP Lower consists of 2 "complexes", with each complex made of 4 rounds of 4 different moves.  No breaks or resting at all except for about a minute between the 2 complexes.  This is extremely different from your typical P90X workout, so beware!

The moves apparently have some method to their madness with the intention of greatly improving athletic performance.  Each round of moves goes in the following order in terms of type:

• Strength/Resistance
• Explosive Plyo
• Fast twitch
• Isometric

The idea is that doing heavy strength work first allows the body to be more fully utilized in the subsequent movements.  Again, VERY tough!

Overview

• Length - A little bit on the shorter side in terms of the actual workout.  The warmup and cooldown take up a good chunk of time.
• Structure
• As mentioned, the workout consists of 2 complexes with each one made up of 4 rounds of 4 moves.  
• The warmup and cool down in this is pretty different from what you've seen previously in P90X-2.  
• Background Exercisers
• Adam
• A former Marine Corps sniper and fellow redhead.  Nothing in particular stands out beyond that, but he works hard.
• Cedric
• An apparently all-around athlete and Beachbody employee.  He moves pretty dang quickly on the fast-twitch moves, and he also shows off some pretty slick break-dance moves during the warmup at Tony's behest.
• Collette
• The French-Italian girl from X2 Ab Ripper and V-Sculpt.  Still very attractive.  Still crazy hard worker.  She might move faster than anyone in the bunch on the fast-twitch stuff.  
• Complex 1 Moves
• Step Up Convict
• Basically, with weights in hand, you do a step up onto a box and then bring your non-stepping leg/knee up towards your torso.  Do 8 on each leg. 
• Skater Plyo
• Nothing new here if you've done P90X before.  Just do extremely explosive plyo skaters (lateral jumps essentially) for 6 reps.  Doesn't sound too hard the first time, but you won't feel that way the 2nd or 3rd time through.
• One Leg Line Up
• On one leg (for about 30 secs each leg), jump side to side and then front to back quickly.  
• Tony's Triangle
• This one is a killer isometric move that doesn't look like anything you've seen before  in P90X.  Lay on your side, and then take your "top" leg and lift it up, bringing it as far in front of you as possible before bringing it back down.  Do the same thing bringing your leg behind you.  Try to keep your foot on the leg that's moving pointed toward the ground.  Repeat for each leg.  
• Complex 2 Moves
• Squat Cross Reach
• Wow!  These are hard.  Squat down on one leg, while holding a dumbbell with the arm on that same side.  At the bottom of your squat, extend your weighted arm out and across while extending your free leg behind you.  8 reps on each leg (I typically only made it to 6 reps each time.... they moved too quickly for me on this).  
• Split Squat Jump
• These are essentially just plyo lunges.  Do 6 of them. 
• Monster Slalom Jumps
• Jump laterally side to side.  Go for speed and distance.  Collette rocks these!!
• Side Bridge Leg Lift
• Another iso move to suffer through.  Drawing on your yoga foundation, lay down on your side to do a side bridge while lifting your "top" leg straight up as high as you can.  Try to keep your toe pointed down.  This is another move that isn't too bad the first time, but you will be struggling towards the end! 

Summary

Very different than typical P90X moves, but extremely effective.  Seriously.  This workout made us feel potentially as sore as we've felt throughout the entire program.  The potential negative is that you're supposed to do these PAP workouts 4x a week.  Not sure how long we can handle that without going crazy, but we're planning to at least push through 2 weeks of it.  Will keep you posted!!

PAP Upper review forthcoming :)

P90X-2 (Day 41): Tony Horton's 1-on-1 4 Legs Review

Another somewhat overdue post/review!  For Sunday's workout, Katie and I swapped in Tony Horton's 1-on-1 4 Legs DVD, which comes as a bonus with the deluxe version of P90X-2.   This was in place of Base + Back, which if you've read my earlier review of it you know how brutal that one is!  Needless to say, I was happy to have a new workout to held break up the routine.

For one thing, "4 Legs" is ALL about legs, which tend to get neglected somewhat in Tony's programs .  Sure, you have Plyocide and Base + Back, but that's pretty much it!  Plus, even though I know many P90X fans love pullups, I was more than happy to not have those to worry about this time.  "4 Legs" is a legs-dedicated workout with a lot of additional twists to help keep it exciting.  Each move is done on only one leg and balance is incorporated throughout, in keeping with the P90X-2 balance/core focus.

The other main item to note is that this is the first workout I've ever done from Tony Horton's 1-on-1 subscription series.  Basically, these workouts put you right with Tony in his home gym along with Mason Bendewald who is the producer/camera guy.  The banter between Mason and Tony is actually pretty funny, and in some ways I preferred the laid-back, no-pomp-and-circumstance attitude of the production.  I definitely will consider adding more of these 1-on-1's to my lineup!

Overview

• Length - 53 minutes (felt pretty quick) 
• Structure
• Very seat-of-the-pants warmup (basically Tony arbitrarily hopping around, etc.) and cooldown, but not bad ones by any means.  
• The workout itself is only 10 moves (and you do each leg separately for each move), but you do them pretty slowly. 
• Advice
• Try not to blow past Tony in terms of your speed.  For some of these, I was perhaps going a bit too quickly, which might have reduced the burn.  That's not to say I didn't feel it on every single move, but you might as well really try to focus in on the balance aspect in this workout.  If you do finish a move before Tony, just add in a few extras like I did to compensate.
• Notable Moves (some of these names may not be right)
• Half Moon Side Lunges
• Start off standing straight, but then lunge off to the side.  From the bottom of your lunge, extend yourself up on leg being "lunged" on and go into a half moon yoga pose.  Then descend back into your lunge before finishing where you began, standing up straight.  You'll need some hip flexibility for a lot of these moves!
• Mason Pumpers
• Ooo these burn!  Very creative move though, and I definitely liked them.  Stand up straight balancing on one leg while clasping your hands around the knee of the free leg up towards your chest.  From there, descend down into a one-legged squat, keeping your "free" knee in towards your chest at an equal distance throughout the movement.  Then, from the bottom of the squat, explode up on the support leg so that you jump off the ground just a bit.  Repeat!
• Royal Dancer Kicks
• Another one where you'll need your hip flexibility and balance in full effect.  Start in a Royal Dancer yoga pose, then after releasing the pose bring your non-support leg/knee into your chest while standing up straight.  From there, extend that same leg out in front of you before heading back into Royal Dancer.  Repeat.  
• Single Leg Chair Pose
• Just like it sounds.  Do a chair pose on 1 leg with the non-support foot sitting on your support leg's knee/lower quad.  Ow!

Summary

Really liked this workout.  Good pace, good "feel" (meaning that Tony's trademark sense of humor, etc., are perhaps in even greater effect than normal, especially since he has Mason to play off of), good burn.  AND, it's all legs!

I will be keeping this in my go-to repertoire going forward for certain.