Plyometrics X – The Scary One

I read about this workout in advance. Every review said how horrible it was, the biggest challenge out there, the one everyone hated…

I thought there might be a certain amount of self-fulfilling prophecy in all this, so I decided to just give it a go, at my own pace, and see what I could do. So: heart monitor on, water at the ready. (I made sure to drink a fair amount of water an hour before, so I was hydrated at the start).

I loved it! Really loved it! Don’t get me wrong, I can feel I’ve done some work, and I’m going to be in a lot of pain tomorrow, but still – loved it.

So what’s it like? Well – yes, it IS tough. You’ll need to find the level that’s right for you, and not try to match the guys on the screen. It’s a great workout but not if you overdo it. Also, there are an awful lot of lunges and squats. If your thighs are your weak spot, you’re going to suffer on this one. Actually, my thighs are my weak spot, but I was lucky that the DVD that I was doing before this had a lot of squats, so I’ve improved a bit recently. Anyway, don’t be afraid to mod it to give your quads a bit of a break if they need it.

Three key things I’d recommend.

Heart Rate Monitor

I didn’t do everything they did. I did several of the exercises modded, and in some cases I modded even down from that, or paused for a few seconds. But I knew that I wasn’t wussing out, and I didn’t do it for too long. I could be quite exact about that because of my heart rate monitor. It let me work as hard as I could, and no harder.

I’d say it really is an essential piece of equipment for this workout. Otherwise you’ll push yourself too far, or when you take a break, you’ll rest for too long. You can’t (or at least I couldn’t) “just tell” how hard I was working, because it was working muscles and cardio, and I was way too busy to tell if I felt tired because my heart rate was up, or just my leg muscles needed a break. Maybe you can, but I couldn’t.

Not Too Much Water

At one point in the middle, I noticed I was really slowing down, because I’d been grabbing a few mouthfuls of water here and there – and it was just a bit too much. I went to gargling and spitting (sorry!) in the water breaks, and pepped right up again. It really didn’t take much water to be “too much” with all the jumping around in this workout.

Attitude

I was really focused on staying relaxed and just doing it for at least the first 20 minutes of this workout. A couple of times I nearly lost the mindset, and started thinking “this is getting too hard” – and it got harder. I had to drag my focus back to the moment, and not think ahead. It sounds corny, but it really does make a huge difference – don’t think yourself out the game before you get going.

So: next up, day three. Bring it on!

PS. It’s just possible I’m still on an endorphin high. I’ll blog tomorrow morning to let you know if I still feel positive about it when the aches set in.