Lately I’ve really been pulling straws for new cardio workouts and today I wasn’t sure what I should do. I have done the Insanity and The Asylum routines so many times that I needed something new. So I was weeding through my arsenal of routines and realized that I hadn’t done the P90X+ Plus: Interval X Plus workout in a long time with the always hilarious Tony Horton and his pals Mark Briggs and Traci Morrow. Lately I have been doing a lot of P90X routines, P90X+ routines (yesterday I did “Upper Body Plus“) and have been mixing in CrossFit workouts at least a couple times per week. Anyways, today I ended up procrastinating a pretty long time before I got around to actually doing a workout. I think that I ended up starting this routine at around 6:00 P.M., which is later than I wanted to start, but at least it ended up packing a little cardio punch.
Yooo Tony, flip that X into a "plus"
I have done this routine in the past whenever I felt like I was overdosing on Insanity. Although I currently don’t do a lot of heavy cardio because I don’t think it’s all that necessary to get in shape, I am a firm believer in the fact that your body needs at least 2 solid cardio routines per week. If you are sedentary for most of the day, maybe you should think about doing 3 or 4 per week. Although cardio may not build up a ton of muscle, it is really good for your brain and something that I don’t think I could skip for more than 5 days. Each time you do cardio your brain releases neurotransmitters that help you feel good and in some cases, you may even grow new brain cells. What I really like about this Interval X Plus workout is that it is a great cardio routine, but doesn’t push you hard enough to collapse, faint, and roll over in your own grave like the Insanity workouts do. I’m a fan of interval training, but really don’t do it all too often because whenever I slow down I feel like I’m cheating myself…haha. For that reason I kind of prefer Max Interval Training (the type Shaun T does in Insanity) over standard interval training.
With that said, I can certainly appreciate this solid routine that Tony Horton developed because he kept my heart rate up and although each move consists of three speeds: low, medium, and high, the high speed will get the sweat dripping. The great thing about this routine is that by the time you are done, you will feel like you have gotten a legitimate interval workout. Since this is an interval routine and the moves differ with intensity, I have broken them down extensively into “low speed,” “medium speed” and “high speed” so that the noobs gone wild know what to expect.
P90X+: Interval X Plus Review
Cast & Crew
As usual, Tony Horton brings back his homies Mark Briggs and Traci Morrow who always have good attitudes and are super ripped specimens. If you haven’t already done these P90X+ workouts, you will find that he only brought along Traci and Mark because they know exactly what they are doing, always use good form, and are his buddies. Another thing you can expect is for Tony to be his same playful self and crack a few jokes throughout the routine. I laugh a little when we’re doing jockey squats and he acts like we’re in a horse race saying, “Morrow pulls ahead”…haha.
Structure
This workout is structured in a way that is different than most of Tony Horton’s workouts. In this routine, there are a total of 15 different exercises. You do each exercise at 3 different speeds (low, medium, and high) in order to create effective “intervals.” Each speed is done for 20 seconds so that each exercise is done for a full minute. The low speed is designed to keep your body moving, but also give you a little bit of time to recover from the high speed of the previous exercise.
During the medium or moderate interval, you go at about 80% of your normal pace so that your body is still working fairly hard. When you reach the high speed, you are expected to go all out at 100% until you are on to the next move. After you have completed the first 15 exercises, you get a water break at the halfway point. When the water break is over, you do the same 15 exercises in reverse order each for another minute. So essentially, you are doing a total of 30 exercises each for 1 minute. The one thing that I really like about this structure is that there is only one water break and there isn’t any wasted time.
Length
The workout itself is only about 30 minutes if you subtract the time from the warm up, cool down, water break, and stretches. With that said, just because it is only a 30 minute workout doesn’t mean that you won’t feel the burn – this baby will get your heart rate up. If you push yourself during the medium and high speeds of the intervals, by the time you’re done you should feel like you got an awesome cardio interval workout. If you are an absolute cardio fiend (cardio-aholic) and/or think that this routine was too easy by the time you finished, I suggest you either: A) Do the whole thing over again and/or B) Quick rewind the tape to the halfway point and do the second half over again.
I think if Tony would have thrown in some bonus moves at the end this routine to make it about 40 minutes, it would have been the perfect length. I still like the length because everyone has days when they are feeling lazy and don’t want to be doing max interval training for over an hour, but still want to get in something short, simple, and effective. For those people that want a moderately challenging cardio routine, Interval X Plus is ideal.
P90X+: Interval X Plus Exercises
Note:It is recommended that you have water and a towel for the break. It is also recommended that you have a heart rate monitor. I personally think heart rate monitors are completely unnecessary unless you just want another variable to measure. If you push yourself as hard as you can during the high intervals and are doing your best, you shouldn’t need to check your heart rate – it will be high enough. I have never used a heart rate monitor and personally think they are pretty dumb unless you don’t push yourself hard enough or something and need to look at it to make sure you’re working hard.
Me doing the "plus"... got cut out by the cam...
Warm Up
- Ballistic Bounce – You do a little ballistic bounce with some hops, skips, and shakes. You basically just shake out your body to get your body loosened up.
- Mini Jacks – Then Tony has us do some little jumping jacks just for some different movement.
- Twist – I love doing the twist, you basically “twist” your hips in the opposite direction of your torso while hopping.
- High Knees Opposite Arm – You walk in place with high knees – your knees should come above your waist. You bring your arms both down at the same time to meet whichever knee is in the air during each rep.
Stretch
- Wide Back Stretch – This is the stretch where you “plug your fingers into the ceiling” and then pull wide so that your elbows scrape the wall behind you. This is a stretch that is seemingly in every single Tony Horton routine I have done – but I’m fine with that, this is a good stretch.
- Topas Stretch – This is yet another one of the classic stretches from P90X which involves you sitting down in horse stance and opening up your arms to the side as you inhale. You want to open up your arms as wide as possible so that you get the best possible stretch.
- Low Hanging – Cross or fold your arms and let your head hang down low as you rock back and forth with feet wider than shoulder width. This should feel relaxing as well as help you loosen up. You may feel a subtle stretch in each of your hamstrings as you rock back and forth.
- Hamstring Stretches – You maintain legs wider than your shoulders and stretch out one hamstring at a time before the workout.
- Groin Stretch – Tony has you do a “side stretch” which targets your groins. Make sure you don’t overdo it here because the last thing you want to overstretch is your groin.
- Runners Stretch – You go down into deep runners stretch and put both hands on the inside of your front foot. If you are a super flexible person, you may be able to get your elbows down to the ground. Either way, you should feel a stretch in your groin, hip flexor, and even the hamstring of your back leg while you are in this deep runners stretch.
- Downward Dog Peddle – To stretch your calves before the workout, you go into downward dog and peddle your feet. In other words, you alternate back and forth between right and left leg to engage each of your calves. After this stretch, you step in with your feet and do a split leg hamstring stretch on each side before the workout begins.
Round #1: Interval X Plus
Run In Place
Low: Jog
Just like the name of this first exercise implies, you start out by running in place. The first 20 seconds are done at the lowest gear of the intervals, so you do a very light jog. If you are watching how it’s done, you will see that the arms and legs are moving, but they aren’t going very fast. In the first gear, the knees are fairly low and the arms aren’t really pumping much.
Interval X Mugshot
Medium: Run
During the next 20 seconds, you are expected to pick it up and actually start running. You pump your arms more and get your knees up higher. While you are doing this routine, think of yourself as a person who has three gears: slow, medium, and fast. During the medium speed, you should be considerably faster than at the low speed. I would say you should be going at about 80 to 85% of your max here to get good results.
High: Sprint
This high speed is what makes this entire workout effective. In order to get good results with this routine, you literally have to be going at 100% during the final 20 seconds of each move. You should see the bar on the screen change from the color “orange” to the color “red” while you are expected to go at your maximum speed. You should be sprinting hard with knees above your waist and your arms should be pumping. If you have done Insanity, think of the high speed during this routine as the pace during the final round of the warm up.
Knee Kick / Front Kick
To do this exercise, you keep one foot in front of the other and you do a “knee kick” with your back leg, then you step back and do a regular kick with the back leg. So you alternate between kneeing your opponent and kicking your opponent. You use the same leg until 30 seconds elapses and then you move on to your other leg for the final 30 seconds of the minute for an evenly distributed burn. If I remember correctly, these are also done in Kenpo X – so you might remember them.
Low: Light knees / low kicks
During the low speed of this move, you basically do a very light knee kick and then a very light regular kick. Your knees and kicks don’t really need to have much height and/or energy behind them because you are trying to recover from the sprint that you just did. If you want to know exactly what a good low speed looks like, follow Traci and Mark – both set perfect examples.
Medium: Moderate knees / higher kicks
The medium pace of this move involves putting more energy into your knee kicks and higher kicks afterwards. You should be kicking about waist height and if you want, I recommend getting your arms involved as you drive your knees. You don’t need to pull down from way overhead, but at least get your arms involved and tighten up your core to really get your heart rate up. Obviously, you also want to increase the speed of your knee kicks and kicks as well.
High: Fast knees / high kicks
Here you should not only be going at maximum speed, but you should be putting all of your energy into your knee drives and kicks. You should seriously feel like you could knock someone out if you knee’d them and kicked them. I recommend reaching up like Mark does here so that your arms are overhead and you are pulling down. Imagine that you are pulling someone down and are going for the final K.O. of an MMA fight as you reach up and drive your knee forward. Since this is the fastest pace of the first interval, you should be spazzing out.
Hop Squats
To do hop squats, you bend your knees so that you are down in squat position. Just like the name implies, you do a little “hop” in between each squat so that your feet are airborne off of the ground. These actually get pretty intense when you are in the last 20 seconds, so if you think this workout is going to be a complete joke, things will get a little tougher here. The whole key during these is to keep your head up, keep your body square to the front, and engage your core. For each of the three intervals here, your arms should be up and out to the sides with your elbows bent and hands above your arms.
Low: Hands up
During the slow interval of hop squats, you go into a squat position with legs wider than shoulder width and basically do little hops off the ground with each squat. Since this is the slowest gear of the exercise, you don’t need to go deep into the squat either. Just keep your arms out to the side and bend your elbows so that your forearms and hands are in the air for the first 20 seconds.
Medium: Arms up
Moving at a moderate pace, you now add arms up to the ceiling with each hop. Although you aren’t really jumping super high here, you are basically pumping your arms with each hop. Each time that you “hop” off of the ground during this exercise, your arms go from being off to the side to shooting straight up to the sky. Although it is a pretty subtle change from going at the slow pace, you’d be surprised at how much picking it up a little bit and adding the arms up to the ceiling increases the burn.
High: Touch the floor
For the final 20 seconds going at maximum speed, you touch the floor with your hands each time you land. I tend to think that the crew on here could be going at a lot quicker pace than they show you here, so if you can do more reps, do more reps. You should be jumping at a rapid-fire pace here and you should also be going for maximum height at the top of your jumps to get the full effect. I suggest trying to get more total jumps in than Mark and Traci because it is certainly do-able if you are pushing hard. Final tip: Always keep your head and chest up the entire time.
Charleston Kicks
On a quasi-related note, whenever I hear the word “Charleston” I always think of Charleston chew candy bars… I don’t think Tony Horton would approve…haha. Anyways, these Charleston Kicks involve throwing kicks with one leg at a time. To do them you start out with both feet even, you step back with one foot, step your back foot so that it is even with your front foot, and throw the kick with the foot that was originally in front.
Low: Slower steps / lower kicks
At the slow speed for Charleston kicks, you basically take a step back, step forward, and do a low, light kick with your front foot. There’s nothing really complicated about the slow speed here – if you want a good role model for this move, follow Traci Morrow – she is literally flawless with the form. Even on these slower reps, you always want to keep your arms up and engage your core.
Medium: Average steps / medium kicks
At a medium pace, when you take your steps back before the kicks, you reach down and touch the floor with the hand on the same side of your body as the leg that steps back. Then when you step forward, you keep your arms up as to shield your body from an incoming punch and you throw your kick with the opposite foot. Not only should your kicks be at a higher elevation here (at least waist height), but you should be moving through these reps quickly.
High: Quick steps / high kicks
For the fast paced 20 seconds, you step back quickly, continue to touch the floor with each step back, and you want to throw your kicks at least chest height. I suggest aiming for a kick headshot but if that’s out of your range, do what you can – don’t hyperextend your leg muscles because you think you can pull off Bruce Lee or something. You should be going all out, balls-to-the-walls as far as speed is concerned and your heart rate should be pretty damn high. Here is where you want to make sure you get in a lot of reps.
Loading Dock
The “loading dock” is a move that involves you twisting and reaching to one side of your body and then twisting back to the opposite side and raising your hands diagonally above your head. After the first 30 seconds are up, you switch sides and twist the opposite way for the next 30 seconds. If you know the Core Synergistics routine well from P90X, you do a similar move there but it has a different name. If you have a spare weight around like a 15 lb. dumbbell, I recommend using it for more intensity. I used a 15 lb. dumbbell here and think that I might actually move up to 20 lbs. next time even though there is no recommendation to use weight. While you are doing this move, the thing to remember is to get the full range of motion with each rep, use good form, and engage your core.
Low: Hip level
For the least intense interval of the loading dock, you are really only expected to reach to your hip and then back up. This is to cool down from going all out on the final 20 seconds of the Charleston Kicks. I tend to think that the loading dock is probably the easiest move out of any in this entire routine, so if you have a dumbbell around, you may want to consider using it.
Medium: Knee level
At the moderate intensity of the interval, you reach to your knees and then twist and move back up. Make sure that you are pivoting with your hips and engaging your core while doing this exercise. As always, you pick up the pace at medium speed so that you get more reps compared to the low gear.
High: Ground level
At the most intense level of the loading dock, you have to reach all the way down so that your hands touch the ground on one side of your body. Then you reach across your chest up diagonally overhead for the full rep. You should be doing this with good form and good range of motion, but as usual you need to be a loading dock pro here. If you have weight, hopefully it gives you more burn and helps you feel your core working more than lifting air…haha.
Jockey Squats
For these “jockey squats” you need to imagine that you are in the Kentucky Derby and are trying to pwn all other horse riding noobs with your mad skills…haha. I like when Tony says “Morrow pulls ahead” as I already mentioned earlier. Anyways, to do these you position your feet shoulder width apart facing forward like you are on skis and you do little squats. As they get more advanced, you start adding gallops and fast hops.
Low: Pumpers
In the slow speed of jockey squats, you basically just do bouncing or “pumper” squats without really getting any air off of the ground. You pretend like you are riding a horse so you keep both arms out and literally take it by the reigns. In the lowest speed, this move definitely looks like a squat that jockeys would make.
Medium: Gallops
Aww yeah, medium speed is where it’s at! This is the gear where good ole Morrow pulls ahead…haha. I think that the moderate speed for these jockey squats is fun because Tony’s commentary gives it a little bit of an equestrian flavor and you actually feel like you’re in a little bit of a horse race because you gallop. You stay down low in squat position while grabbing the reigns of the horse, and you get some air after each squat. When you land after your hops, one foot hits the ground before the other so that it actually looks like a gallop.
High: Double Hops
Finally in the last 20 seconds you are in the final sprint of the Kentucky Derby and you need to take out the whip and pick it up. So instead of doing a moderate gallop, you do double hops so that you are literally just hopping as fast as you can on the ground while in squat position. Remember to stay down low and keep your core tight the entire time. Make sure that you are hopping like a horse running on a racetrack laced in hot lava or something…haha.
Tires / Wide Knee Run / Wacky Jacks
Although you may remember doing “Monster Truck Tires” in the past during Plyometrics, this is NOT the same thing at all. Also, if you have done workouts like Plyo Legs from the One on One series, you will notice that his “tires” jargon can get kind of confusing. Based on the workouts I have done with Tony though, I know he really means either “high wide knees” and/or “wacky jacks.”
Low: Side knee taps
At the lowest intensity, you are walking in place with high knees out to the side. So each step that you take, your knee kicks out to the side and you lift it so that it comes above your waist. As is seen in the routine, you should be tapping your knees with your corresponding hands on each rep. I suggest making targets with your hands and trying to reach them with your knees, but keep the momentum going and don’t go too slow here.
Medium: Wide knee run
During the moderate pace of the “tires” you basically keep your arms by your side and instead of walking with high wide knees, you run. This is a pretty standard move, but you pick it up a lot compared to what you were doing at the slowest pace. I suggest that you actually run in place as fast as you can if you want more of a burn here. The key though is to make sure that your chest is up, core is tight, and that your knees are both wide and above your waist with every single step.
High: Wacky jacks
Here is where Tony whips out the good ole “Wacky Jacks” that you may know from some of his other routines. He does call these “tires” in Plyo Legs, but he also calls them “wacky jacks” in Cardio X. I personally think that “wacky jacks” is literally the perfect name to describe how these look: like wacky jumping jacks. Basically at the maximum intensity pace, you put your hands on the back of your head so that your elbows flare out to the sides and you run in place with wide, high knees. As your knees come up with each step of your run, you meet it halfway with the corresponding elbow on that same side. By the end of these, you should be feeling like your heart rate is amping up a little. I suggest trying to keep up with and/or trying to out-do Tony here because he is a wacky jacks fiend and goes at a great pace.
Speed Skaters
If you are familiar with P90X Legs and Back, you will recognize these right away. To do this exercise, you start off balancing on one leg with the other leg back and the arm opposite of the leg you are balancing on swings forward. Then you hop to the other side and switch to the other leg and swing your other arm forward. You basically hop back and forth while crouched down like a badass mofo’ing speed skater. Although these do get pretty intense during the last 20 seconds, they are literally “nothing” compared to the speed skaters that Shaun T had me do during the Game Day workout.
Low: Mellow skate
During the mellow skate, you push off side to side, but are mostly trying to recover from the wacky jacks that you just finished. This is where Tony starts talking about how there are “more and more studies out today, that are saying interval work does twice what standard cardio work does.” He also talks about how it, “burns more calories” and is “better for your heart and lungs.” I tend to agree for the most part that intervals are effective because they don’t allow your body to get into a rhythm because you are constantly mixing things up. I would argue that Shaun T’s “max interval training” is probably more effective than standard interval training though.
Medium: Steady skating
At the moderate pace you need to pick it up significantly from that slower pace. You should be jumping a greater distance to the side and should be getting in more reps during these 20 seconds than you did at the slow speed. You should be pushing yourself here, but not quite going at your maximum. Always maintain good balance and make sure that as one arm swings straight forward, the other swings straight back – Traci Morrow is perfect at showing you how these are done.
High: Apolo Ohno
Well less like Apolo Ohno and more like Tony Horton on crack…haha. You need to be prepared to go all out during the last 20 seconds of the high speed round of these speed skaters because Tony is cruising. I was able to keep up with the P90X+ crew, but it was certainly challenging and I had to push myself hard. During this final round, Tony covers a lot of ground with his hops side to side in between strides and he also is moving at a super fast pace. Not only should you be moving at a super fast pace, but you should be covering more ground and most importantly, always using good form on your landings.
3 Count Push Ups
Three count push ups aren’t really anything out of the ordinary. You do military style push ups so that your elbows go straight back and then push back up. Really the only thing you need to be able to do is maintain your strength for the entire minute. During the first gear, Tony has you hold your push up at the top for a second, and at the bottom for a second. For the second gear, you hold the top and bottom of your push up for two seconds. And finally for the final gear, you hold each rep at the top and bottom for 3 counts (three seconds).
Low: 1 Second
Although this lowest gear is supposed to be the easiest, I personally don’t necessarily think that’s the case because you are doing more overall reps. After doing this workout I thought that these could have certainly been done in reverse order, but it doesn’t really matter that much because you still do the same amount of work. At this slowest speed, you hold your push ups at the top of each rep for 1 second before going down, and then when you are at the bottom, you hold for a 1 count before coming back up. After 20 seconds the count increases.
Medium: 2 Seconds
At the medium difficulty of these intervals, you are expected to hold your push ups at the top of the rep (in plank) for 2 seconds and then at the bottom of your push up for a 2 count. These may seem a little bit harder if you don’t have much arm strength because you are essentially doing an isometric hold for a longer duration of time. The reason that your arms will be a little more tired here is due to the fact that you have already done 20 seconds worth of one count push ups. Anyways after you have done the two count holds for 20 seconds, the count increases once again.
High: 3 Seconds
At the hardest interval of the three count push ups, you are expected to hold for a 3 second count at the top and bottom of each rep. At the top of each of these reps, to me it actually felt like a pretty easy break. At the bottom, doing the 3 second holds were actually pretty tough because you’re a little winded and the chaturanga iso holds can test your strength. The first run through these are pretty easy, but during the second round when you do all the moves again, these will certainly seem tougher.
80 20 Squats
These 80/20 squats involve putting 80% of the weight on one of your legs, and 20% of your weight on the other leg. The reason that you put 80% of the weight on one leg is so that you isolate it for more of an individual burn. After you have finished targeting one leg through the intervals, you switch and repeat the whole thing with the other leg holding 80% of the pressure and your other leg the remaining 20%. If you have a good memory, you probably remember doing the exact same move called Debbie Siebers 80/20 Speed Squats from the P90X Legs and Back workout.
Low: Bounce squats
To start the 80/20 squats, you basically do bounce squats, but you still need to make sure that you have 80% of the weight distribution on one foot and 20% on the other. I recommend lifting the foot carrying the 20% off the ground so that you aren’t tempted to put more pressure on it. You are basically doing quick bounce squats just so that you isolate the leg with 80% of the weight on it a little bit.
Medium: Airborne
Here you actually jump up and get some air because you want to further increase burn to the leg with 80% of the weight. Keeping your core tight, you want to make sure you get some air off the ground with these quick squats. You don’t need to be jumping super high, but getting airborne will definitely increase the intensity.
High: Ground touches / high jumps
For the 80/20 squats at maximum intensity, you actually touch the ground at the bottom of your squats, and you jump higher. This time as you jump off of the ground, you reach straight up with your arms while you are in the air so that they are fully extended at the top of your jump. It is imperative that you push yourself all out right here so that your lungs are feeling it by the time these 20 seconds are up. Always go for maximum speed, but you should keep your chest and head up the entire time – even when you are going down in the squats. Additionally, make sure that you are landing softly “like a cat.” Even if you are feeling a little winded here, I would say that you need to be going faster than Tony, Traci, and Mark here.
Side Lunge / Side Kick
To do the “side lunge” and “side kick” you simply turn your body so that one side is facing the screen that you are using to play this workout. You step back to a side lung with your back foot, and then you step it forward up to your front foot and throw a “side kick” with your front foot. If you can remember the always lame Kenpo X workouts with Wesley Idol and company, then you probably remember this move. I honestly thought that this was one of the better moves from that workout so I’m not mad at Tony for including it in this interval routine.
Low: Shin kicks
While you are doing these, you should make sure that you keep your hands up like you are engaged in battle. Keeping your hands up helps to engage the core muscles a little bit more than this move would with your hands down. Anyways, you take a step back, then you step forward, lean back slightly, and kick with your front foot at shin height. There’s nothing too complicated about this move here, just follow the crew.
Medium: Waist kicks
Instead of kicking at shin height, you now kick at waist height. So you need to take a bigger step back into your side lunges, and when you step forward, you need to make sure that you lean back a little bit more to elevate your kicks. Make sure that you get in more reps and are moving at a faster pace than you were for your low kicks as well.
High: Head kicks
For the most intense parts of this interval, you lean back way further than Fat Joe so that if someone challenged you to a cage fighting match, you would K.O. their dome. In other words, you take a pretty big step back in the side lunge, and you kick both higher and harder than you did in the previous two intervals. Although you are kicking higher and harder, you also need to make a conscious effort to get more overall kicks thrown as well so that you are getting your heart rate up even more.
Deep Jack Seats
These are pretty much like doing the “chair pose” from Yoga X, except in the first gear they are significantly less intense. To do this move, you bend your knees and start with your feet wider than shoulder width. Keeping your hands up and chest up, you hop from having your feet wider than your shoulders to having your feet close together – your thighs should nearly be touching. Then you continue to hop back and forth between close feet (legs together) to feet wider than shoulder width. As the move progresses, you change how you use your arms to make it more intense.
Low: Slow
You hold your biceps up with your elbows pointing out to your sides and keep your hands up with fingertips up and open palms. You aren’t really jumping fast between wide legs and legs together, so keep in mind that you don’t need to go all out early. Just hang with Mrs. Morrow and Mr. Briggs for this first gear.
Medium: Straight arms
Here is where the exercise gets tougher; you extend your arms straight up above your head towards the sky. Although Tony doesn’t necessarily pick up the speed a ton here, you would be surprised at how much adding straight arms increases the cardio and burn. If you are back deep in your squat and keep your arms locked straight up, you are going to feel more cardio.
High: Ground to Chair pose
The final gear of this “deep jack seats” rendition consists of jumping from a wide leg squat with hands on the floor, to chair pose (feet together / arms extended overhead). Although the crew goes at a relatively slow pace here, you do not need to necessarily follow their speed. If you feel like you have a lot of extra energy to burn, I recommend going at a faster pace and getting in as many reps as you can with good form.
Plyo Lunge
The plyo lunges are basically a standard lunge and as you progress through the three intervals, you add hops. Eventually you are jumping just like you did during “Mary Katherines” from the Plyometrics routine. I really like these a lot when they pick up because during the final interval I can actually feel my heart rate amping up. I also really like this move because it involves jumping in the final interval. I actually think that this entire interval workout could’ve been made tougher if there would have been more plyometric moves that involve jumping like tuck jumps.
Low: Switch Feet
At the lowest speed, you basically keep your chest up and step backwards with one foot while keeping the other one forward so that you are in a lunge position. Then you step the leg that was back, to the front and the leg that was in front to the back. I recommend that you keep your hands up in front of your chest like you are a boxer protecting yourself from incoming punches – it will engage your core a little bit more than keeping your arms hanging by your sides.
Medium: Step Hops
At the moderate interval, you do a little jump with both feet off of the ground from the lunge position while you are in the process of switching feet. When you land at this medium interval, you land on your front foot and then your back foot follows – it’s kind of like a little skip. You are not hopping so that both feet at the same time yet. While you are doing these, make sure you are keeping your knee over your ankle in the front. Oh and you also keep your arms straight up extended to the sky so that you work harder.
High: Mary Katherines
For the last 20 seconds, you go into hardcore mode with the actual full plyo lunges. In order to do these, you keep your arms straight up like you did during the last move and you hop back and forth alternating your feet in a lunge. You want to get in as many reps as possible before the 20 seconds is up and you have to move onto the next move. I recommend trying to get more done than the crew here – I didn’t think that they were going quite rapid enough.
Jumping Jacks
You should know how to do jumping jacks…haha. Although jacks are just a basic exercise, they are a perfect fit for this interval training.
Low: Mini Jacks
For these mini jacks you basically do half assed jumping jacks. Your arms only come up to about your shoulders as your legs hop apart. As your legs hop together then your arms fall down by your sides – pretty obvious.
Medium: Jumping Jacks
At the medium pace you do regular jumping jacks and I would recommend doing as many as possible here. You should be going for speed and make sure that your hands either touch above your head or put one in front of the other. I prefer putting one in front of the other because if you are really flying through these, you might hit your hands pretty hard and it could hurt.
High: X Jacks
If you have done P90X before, you probably remember doing the “X Jacks” at some point. These involve starting out with your legs together and arms by your sides, and you jump up to make an “X” so that your arms flail up at a diagonal and your legs also flail out to the sides. Your arms and legs should be flailing while you are airborne though because you need to land in starting position – with legs together and arms by your sides. I would recommend going all out and getting in as many as possible.
Carlito 3 Way Push Ups
Who knows where Tony got the name “Carlito” here, but he would probably say from some 3 way push ups kind of guy named Carlito…haha. Anyways, these aren’t really as complicated as the name may initially imply. You simply drop down to plank position, do a push up, and stand up. Then you drop back down and continue to do these throughout the intervals. As the intervals progress, you start adding hops back to plank instead of just “steps” and you also jump up when you stand up at the top of each rep.
Low: Plank Step Ups
To start out, you put your hands down on the ground and step one leg back at a time so that you are in plank position. After simply holding plank for about one second, you step back up so that you are standing straight up. You continue stepping in and out of plank for 20 seconds.
Medium: Push Ups / Hops
At the moderate speed, you actually jump back into plank instead of just stepping. Here you actually add push ups so that you are working harder. Additionally, you should make an effort to get a lot more reps in than you did during the slow pace. You may be kind of tired here, but remember that this is the final move before the water break.
High: Burpees / Push Ups / Jumps
Here you are basically doing “burpees” and adding push ups while you are in plank. After your push ups, you hop back up and then jump straight up with your arms up. Then you hop back down to plank, do a push up, and continue the process. Here you should make sure that you are trying to hang with Mark Briggs – he sets a good pace. I always try to keep an eye on Mark and try to hang with him and/or get in more reps, but it’s tough because he goes really fast.
Water Break – This marks the halfway point of the Interval X Plus workout, so make sure that you take some time to towel off and get some water before you do all of these moves over again. You get a full minute to shake it out, check your heart rate, and whatever else you need to do. If you aren’t tired, make sure that you start pushing yourself harder during the second round. Instead of going at a light pace to start each of the exercises, you may want to start at a medium pace and then pick it up for the last 20 seconds.
Round #2: Interval X Plus
In the second round of the workout, you do exactly what you just did in the first round, except you do the entire sequence of 15 exercises in reverse order. So since you just finished with the Carlito 3 Way Push Ups, you start with it for this second round. All of the exercises are pretty much the same except during the final set of the “Run In Place” you actually move back and forth while you are in your “run” to make things more intense.
1. Carlito 3 Way Push Ups
2. Jumping Jacks
3. Plyo Lunge
4. Deep Jack Seats
5. Side Lunge / Side Kick
6. 80/20 Squats
7. 3 Count Push Ups
8. Speed Skaters
9. Tires / Wacky Jacks
10. Jockey Squats
11. Loading Dock
12. Charleston Kicks
13. Hop Squats
14. Knee Kick / Front Kick
15. Run In Place
P90X+ Interval X Plus Review (Conclusion)
Today this Interval X Plus workout was literally the perfect mix-up in my routine. Whenever I start this routine, I always think that it’s going to be super easy and it always ends up being a great cardio workout. Part of the reason I always think that it’s going to be easy is because I know what cardio hell can be like with Insanity and The Asylum. However, you don’t always need to do those workouts to get good results. I like mixing things up and since I didn’t have a ton of energy today, this “interval” work was ideal. As is typical with any workout, it comes down to how hard you are willing to push yourself during the hardcore 20 second intervals at the end of each move – so make a conscious effort to hang with the crew or surpass them.
One of Beachbody’s best normal interval workouts
I really enjoyed the different exercises that Tony Horton mashed together for this routine. If you need something new in your cardio regimen, this will get your heart rate up and make you sweat. As I mentioned, the total routine is only 30 minutes, but there is only one quick water break in the middle. I recommend getting a quick drink of water just to stay hydrating and then shaking it out so that you keep your heart rate up – it will make the second half tougher. What’s funny is that I underestimated this routine so much that I almost tried it with my 25 lb. weight vest. Thankfully I didn’t add the weight vest because I would have gotten my ass kicked – it was great “as is.” My only recommendation would be to add a dumbbell during the “loading dock” if you happen to have one lying around – if not, no big deal.
How does Interval X Plus compare to Plyometrics?
If you push yourself as hard as possible during both Interval X Plus and P90X Plyometrics, you will come to the realization that Plyometrics is a harder workout – it is longer and will make you work a lot harder. Since this routine is different and something new, a lot of people (e.g. Tony and graduates) hype it up like it could be Plyometrics on crack or the second coming of Christ via cardio DVD, but based on my first hand experience of doing both of these routines many times, Plyo X is harder than Interval X; no further discussion is needed. With that said, if you are currently struggling with Plyometrics, but think that Cardio X is super effing easy (it is), you should substitute this routine in your schedule. When you master it, move on to Plyometrics.
Recommendation: Use as a replacement for Kenpo X
Without a shadow of a fucking doubt, this workout is a lot better than Kenpo X and in my opinion, it would have been a great replacement on the Kenpo X days during the P90X program. I remember always doing double the number of reps than the crew in the Kenpo X workout as well as adding in pull ups and push ups while waiting for Vanessa and Wesley to finish their slow motion Matrix-like reps. Since the verdict for most P90X badasses was that “Kenpo X is too easy” – feel free to throw this DVD in your player instead. If you own Interval X Plus and are currently doing P90X, substitute it in for Kenpo X – you should get a way better workout. Additionally, I will say that it is significantly tougher than Tony Horton’s Super Cardio workout from the One on One series as well.