I don't know if it is the full week+ that I've had severe allergies, the allergy medication, all the workouts catching up to me, the lack of carbs...I don't know, but I was dragging it today about 30 minutes into Plyo. Another possibility is that I'm getting better at these workouts so I'm pushing hard the first half, leaving less in the tank for the second half.
Plyometrics is the hardest workout of all 12 discs in the series. Google it and I think everyone will say it is the worst. But it also burns the most calories (1078 today) and it really pushes you.
I didn't feel too bad starting off. Here is the overview. Some of the exercises I term, "mini breaks." That is not because I am taking breaks, rather it is because they are much easier than the other exercises.
- Warmup: no big deal, but the 30 prayer squats starts to wear on me every time.
- Jump squats: I can go all the way down and touch the floor every time now. A big improvement. I just focus on gravity bringing me down (a new approach for me to many of the exercises throughout P90X) and then exploding up.
- Run-stance squats: No problem although a knee would occasionally complain if it got twisted too much during a landing or squat.
- Airborne Heismans: I consider these almost a mini break.
- Swing Kicks: I've never had too much of a problem on these. Good cardio, low impact.
- Repeat last 4: Not a big problem.
- Squat reach jump: Again, I could get to the floor on each, but I started running out of steam.
- Run-stance squat switch pick-up. Not as hard as the squat reach jumps, but running more out of steam. I don't think I was touching the floor for the second round of these.
- Double Airborne Heismans: Another mini break.
- Circle Run: I try this with the towel and I snag the towel every time. Now I do it without the towel.
- Repeat last 4: This is where I faded. I think I had to take extra breaks here.
- Jump Knee Tucks: fading...
- Mary Katherine Lunge: fading further...
- Leap Frog Squat: I consider this another mini break, but I was already fading...
- Twist Combo: Another easy one, but I was already fading fast
- Repeat last 4: OK, this is where I was really bad. I feel so much like shit that I actually paused the DVD and laid on the ground for a moment. I pondered stopping. I only rested for maybe 60 seconds...enough to get my heart rate under control...to about 70% or so. It may be bad to stop moving like this in a workout, but I'm glad I did. It actually gave me enough energy to finish. I started again and repeated the previous 4.
- Rock Star Hop: Couldn't do this the first few weeks because of knee issues. Have no problem now.
- Gap Jump: Easy...kind of a mini break.
- Squat Jacks: Tried to go slower and lower as Horton suggests, but the knees really didn't like that so came up a bit.
- Military March: Easy...another kind of mini break.
- Repeat last 4: Once again, despite the easy exercises, my HR was topping 90% and I had to take extra breaks. I felt bad about it, but there simply was no way I could continue without them. This wasn't about not pushing myself...it simply was that my body wouldn't do it. And sometimes you have to listen to your body.
- Run Squat 180 Jump Switch: I was getting my second wind here. These weren't as hard as what I was thinking they'd be.
- Lateral Leapfrog Squat: Easy...kind of a mini break.
- Monster Truck Tire: Easy...kind of a mini break.
- Hot Foot: These are hard, but not because of cardio.
- Repeat last 4: Here is where I started feeling better.
- Bonus Round. I always feel good when I get to this point because I know it is essentially a cool down for me. None of the exercises are hard or push you very much. It involves Pitch & Catch, Jump Shot and Football Hero.
- Cool Down
So there it is. I took a look at my HR monitor and saw that it took me about 65 minutes to complete this workout. That means that all my extra breaks only added up to about 5 minutes. I'm not going to feel too bad about that. I think some days you simply don't have as much gas in the tank. I can't feel too bad about any cardio workout where I burned over 1000 calories. I know I've completed this thing before and I will again.
