Today I decided to do the P90X+ Plus Total Body Plus workout with Tony Horton and his dual-wielded ripped sidekicks of Mark Briggs and Traci Morrow. As usual on Sunday, I typically watch NFL starting at noon and then I watch the next game at 3:15, and then before I know it, I’m watching the late game at 7:20 too. Despite being addicted to watching football, I managed to shake myself out of being a total slug after witnessing Tim Tebow pwn noobs (i.e. Phillip Rivers and the Chargers) in San Diego. I’m definitely a fan of Teebs and it was nice to see him continue to play exciting football and pick up another victory. Anyways when I finished watching his victory, I quick printed off the Total Body Plus worksheet online and threw myself into this routine.
Tony kicking some ass
It had been a very long time since I had last done this workout. Although I have had this routine in my stash for over a year, I think that I have only done it once or twice total, so when I started it, I had nofa king clue what to expect. I was thinking that it was probably going to be easier than Upper Body Plus – but there were certain exercises that were pretty wicked here. Tony made sure that he got your entire body working by including an extended warm up as well as cutting down on water breaks. During this routine you really only get one water break after you finish the first 10 exercises at the halfway point.
By the time I finished this routine, I was sweating and I was pretty tired, but it wasn’t quite as tough as Upper Plus. I think there are some small tweaks Tony could have made to some of these exercises to really make it a few notches tougher. Below I’ve written up an extended Total Body Plus review for you to check out. Hopefully it will help you decide whether you will be able to handle this routine.
P90X+ Plus: Total Body Plus Review
To do this routine, you are going to need dumbbells, push up stands (power stands), and a pull up bar. As I have already mentioned in previous workouts, I use the Bowflex Selecttech 55.2 lb. dumbbells and they work great. They work awesome because I don’t have to mess around with an entire set of dumbbells and can simply turn the dials to adjust them to an ideal weight for any of these exercises. You will need different weights for this routine because some are tough with very little weight, and for others you will need a lot of weight. So having these adjustable Selecttech dumbbells around is ideal – Tony hypes them up like crazy too.
This routine is about 45 minutes in length, so it’s not quite as long as some of the original P90X workouts, but it is still long enough to give your muscles the blast that they need. During the introduction to this routine, Tony says, “You know what’s awesome about total body workout? There are moves in here that this community – that the entire planet has never seen before.” The warm up is also different compared to all of the other routines as well. It is designed to be an extended warm up so that you are sweating and completely loosened up by the time you start the first move.
Oh and make sure you drink some water before starting this routine because there is only one built-in water break in similar fashion to the Interval X Plus workout. Although I hadn’t done this routine in a long time, it turned out to be just what I needed on this Sunday night. All new moves right here – they are fun and will give your muscles a nice pump by the time you’re done.
P90X+: Total Body Plus Exercises
Warm Up
Tony says that this warm up is going to “feel like a workout before a workout.” I don’t really agree, but it is a lot more intense than his other warm ups. Want to know what a workout before a workout feels like? Do Insanity.
- Ballistic Shake – Shake out your arms and legs just to get the blood flowing for 20 seconds.
- Huggers – Hug yourself while taking deep breaths to get your shoulders warmed up.
- Reachers – Reach up to the sky to open up your chest, then let your arms flop to get them warmed up.
- Ashtanga Sun Salutations – A little Yoga X action in the house with these salutations. You do these for awhile and add a push up at the bottom. These should loosen up your arms, hamstrings, and core.
- Side Lunge Reach – These are just like “loading dock” that you may have done in his other routines. You do a lunge to one side, put your palms on the floor, and reach from the floor to the ceiling while twisting your core. You do this on both sides of your body while keeping your feet anchored.
- Squat Rock Reach – You go into low squat while in prayer and you put your elbows to the insides of your knees; you then rock back and forth 3 times. After your rocks back and forth, you reach up and stand on your tip toes, before dropping back down to repeat the sequence.
- Walking Lunges – You take big lunges with one leg at a time with your arms in the air. You bend down and touch the ground after each lunge and reach back up before doing another lunge.
- Dive Bombers – You should remember these from being the last exercise at the end of Chest and Back. If you don’t, just start in downward dog with your hands on push up stands, then imagine sliding forward under a fence and then back under.
- Twisting Pivot – For these you keep your arms up, hands center, and you twist your torso back and forth like you would be elbowing anyone to the side of you. Tony says to “imagine you are Shaq trying to clear the lane” – that’s exactly how you do this move. You then add a little diagonal twist so that you are doing the twisting pivot at the same angle as the Side Lunge Reach that you did earlier.
- The Cyclone – To do the cyclone, you stand up on your toes, and reach your arms straight up. While your arms are in the air, you engage your core (or as Tony calls it “cage”) so that you can use your torso to rotate your arms in a circle while your feet remain planted. You do this clockwise and counterclockwise for good measure.
- Run in Place – The party has officially started and you run in place to get amped up for the workout.
- Jumping Jacks – Do little jumping jacks so that you are mentally focused and ready to kick some major ass.
- Torso Twist – This ends the warm up, you do hops while twisting your hips and torso from side to side.
P90X+: Total Body Plus Workout
O Crunch Push Ups
The “O Crunch Push Ups” are something that you may have already experienced if you have done Insanity. They are called “Push Up Abs” in routines like Max Cardio Conditioning– and they are a lot tougher in routines like that after your heart rate is sky high. Anyways, these were a great way to start the workout. I suggest doing the version as shown by Mark Briggs if you want more of a burn because Traci Morrow’s version is pretty easy. I used my push up stands just like the crew because they offer deeper range of motion (more depth).
Selecttechs = Cook, Cook, Chef, Knife, Swag
Anyways, to do these, do a regular push up and at the bottom of your push up, bring one of your knees to meet your elbow at the bottom (low chaturanga). As you drop down for another rep, you alternate and use the opposite knee so that you are switching off each time. Since I was doing isometric holds at the bottom like Mark, I wasn’t really going for speed – I did a total of 17 reps.
Pull Up Crunch
Next you get over to the pull up bar and you are doing maximum rep pull ups, but at the top of each rep, you rock back and tap the bar with your knees. These were pretty tough and really engaged the arms and core muscles after doing the “O Crunch Push Ups,” but if you are experienced with pull ups, you should be able to last for the full time without any problems. I’m pretty sure that doing Upper Body Massacre and the Crossfit Murph workout while strapped with a 25 lb. weight vest have helped make exercises like the pull up crunch easy for me. Anyways these seemed to fly by and I managed to get a total of 9 reps done before the time expired.
Dead Lift Curl Press
At the beginning of these Tony puts in a blatant plug for the Bowflex Selecttech dumbbells – I have them and love them, but he goes a little overboard with the marketing. Anyways, I thought that the Dead Lift Curl Press was one of the best moves in this entire workout. To do this exercise, you grab dumbbells of a challenging weight in each hand. While you are holding your dumbbells, you go down into a squat with your hands in front, then you come up from the squat, do a curl with your weights and at the top of your curl, you twist them and do a press so that they are lifted above your head. You then do a curl down, go into a squat and repeat the same sequence until the time expires. I was able to do a total of 9 reps (or rotations) with 30 lbs. in each hand and it was pretty tough. This is easily one of my favorite moves in the Total Body Plus routine.
Step Kick Back Chair Position
Although this may sound like Chair Pose from Yoga X, it’s not. You start out bending over in flat back while holding a dumbbell in each hand up by your shoulders. To do these, you take a step back with one foot, and you extend your arms out to the back with the weight so that you feel your triceps working. Then you step your foot that was back up to the front and swing the weights back to your shoulders. You then alternate the foot that you step back with on each rep (right, left, right left, etc). I ended up using 12.5 lbs. in each hand and did 19 reps – your goal should be to choose a weight that you can maintain for the full amount of time. If you have to quit early, you probably chose too heavy of a weight.
Sumo Chair
For the Sumo Chair, you can set down your dumbbells because they are done without weight. I think it would be interesting to add a light weight, but it may be pretty tough to control so just follow the protocol. You start out with feet wider than shoulder width in a squat position and hands touching the ground. Then you jump from the Sumo position into the Chair Pose. If you have done Yoga X, you should know how to do Chair Pose – your legs are together, butt is back in a squat, your back is flat at an angle, and your arms are extended overhead. For this move you can certainly move at a little bit of a quicker pace than the crew. I managed to do a total of 23 reps before the time expired. Your knees should stay bent the entire time.
Chuck Ups / Chuck up X
The Chuck Ups or Chuck Up X is basically just doing 3 different variations of push ups with your push up stands – with a leg raise added on each rep. You switch to a different variation of push ups every 10 reps. With each of the variations you also get your legs involved – in the first position there is a leg raise with each rep, in the second position you bring your knee to your elbow at the bottom of the reps, and on the third position you bring your knees straight in to your body.
Position 1: Reverse Grip Push Ups
The first position you are supposed to have your push up bars positioned so that you are doing reverse grip push ups. The high end of the push up stands are closest to your body and the stands themselves are supposed to be pointed at an angle away from your body. You use an underhand grip on the stands just like you would for reverse grip chin ups.
Position 2: Standard Push Ups
The next position is basically just doing standard push ups, but to make it tough, make sure you do not touch your knees to the ground while you are transitioning from the first position – keep your body up. You twist your push up stands so that your hands are in standard push up position and the lower end of your stands are pointed at an angle to the front. After 10 reps, you move on to the next position. During each of these reps at the bottom, your leg swings to the side so that your knee touches your elbow – and then you press back up. Switch off knees with each rep just like you did with the first position.
Position 3: Military Push Ups
These are kind of like military push ups, chaturanga push ups, or even diamond push ups with the push up stands. You position your stands so that the high ends butt up against each other (i.e. they are touching). Then you go all the way down so that your chest is practically touching the center of the stands. At the bottom of the rep when your chest is low, you bring one of your knees straight forward to your chest – then you push up and repeat the same thing for the final 10 reps of the exercise.
Clink On Run
Tony says this move “sounds like Captain Kirk is in trouble” and then he looks at the camera while Traci Morrow is doing these and says, “Kirk look at this girl working” – definitely hilarious. Anyways, you do a reverse grip chin up, and then you run in place for three steps so that your knees come to your chest while your chin is above the bar. Then you drop back down, pull yourself up again, hold your chin up, and do three more runs. You repeat this entire sequence for as many reps as possible before the time runs out. I was able to get in a total of 11 reps without taking a break and I really enjoyed this exercise. You should definitely feel the pressure in your arms and core.
Lunge Press with Bella Twist
For this exercise, you need to grab a fairly heavy dumbbell so that you challenge yourself. I grabbed a 40 pounder and it really gave me a good burn. This move is similar to the “Loading Dock” except you do a lunge to the side and add more of a twist at the top. You take one dumbbell in both hands, and you do a lunge to one side, then bring the weight diagonally across your body to the top like you are setting it on a shelf above your head. While you transition from bottom to top – you twist your entire core so that you engage your abs. Don’t choose a weight that’s too heavy, but make sure you feel a burn in your core and arms by the time you are done. Oh and you do this on one side for 30 seconds, and the opposite side for the next 30 seconds – so plan on a full minute.
Balance Curls
At the beginning of the Balance Curls, Tony talks about how much he loves the Selecttech dumbbells once again. Haha! Anyways, here you need multiple dumbbells for the exercise. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but figured that there were going to be curls involved so I adjusted my Selecttech dumbbells to 22.5 lbs. on each side and hoped for the best. It turned out to be pretty damn tough for me to make it through with that weight, but like Eli Porter, I did it, and it was a great challenge. To do the Balance Curls, you “balance” on one leg and bring your other in the air so that your knee is lifted to your stomach.
After your leg is in the air, you do as many full curls as you can for 30 seconds. When the first 30 seconds are up, you then put the foot that was in the air on the ground and lift your opposite foot in the air and continue curling. Essentially you are doing curls for an entire minute while balancing on one leg – it’s tough so choose a good weight so that you can last for the full 60 seconds. If you are really gangsta, and want more burn, you can even extend your leg straight out. I did 10 reps on each side and the burn was wicked.
Running Man
The Running Man is another exercise that involves the dumbbells. Since my arms were tired from the Balance Curls, I lightened the load to 15 lbs. per side. To do this particular move, you go into a lunge at a 45 degree angle with your body and you bring your weights up to your shoulders. You keep one leg back and alternate arm extensions to the back like you would if you were running with weight. You should definitely feel a burn in your triceps just like you did earlier with the Step Kick Back Chair Position. After 30 seconds, you switch the leg that is back in the lunge and continue to keep up the reps until the time expires or your arms fall off. I did a total of 28 reps at 15 lbs. and it was plenty tough.
Water Break – You are now halfway through this workout so make sure you get some water in your system to stay hydrated because you’re going to get blasted with 10 more moves after 30 seconds are up. If you have some recovery formula, take a few sips here too.
Hindu Pike Push Ups
I think this name is pretty fucking hilarious because these are apparently “Hindu.” With that said, I always like seeing cool names and this definitely qualifies. I still wouldn’t put it past Tony to use a slightly modified version of this move in a different workout and call it something completely different like the Groundhog Burrow Under the Fence Push Ups or since we’re using religion, the Muslim Turban Head Dips. Okay enough of the guesswork for the future version of this move, let’s talk about how to do it.
To do the Hindu Pike Push Ups, you start off by doing a Pike Press. A Pike Press is like a normal push up, but you start out in downward dog with your butt elevated and your elbows flare out to the side as your head lowers between your hands on the ground. Then you push back up, but right after you push up, you do a Dive Bomber Push Up – hop from feet close together to wide feet and slide your body forward under the fence, and then back under. When you are done going under (forward and back), you hop center and repeat that entire sequence. I managed to do a total of 11 Hindu Pike Push Ups. Vishnu got nuthin on me…haha. I kind of wish we would have done the badass elevated pike press like we did in Diamond Delts, but it’s all good, this is something different.
Lunge Squat Lunge
Dial up your dumbbells once again for a tough lower exercise to really work your body. If your arms are as tired as mine are at this point, this exercise will seem tough if you choose a heavy weight. The heavier the weight, the more overall pull on your shoulders and arms, but really the whole key here is to focus on using your legs and using proper form. I grabbed 40 lbs. in each hand so I was carrying a total of 80 lbs. I started off the exercise with 45 pounds per side, but realized it was too much weight. So I lightened the load and the reps were still very tough – I may consider lowering the weight next time I do this routine as well.
To do the Lunge Squat Lunge, you hold onto your dumbbells by your side and step to do a lunge to the side. Then you step back to center, do a regular squat (getting your butt down and keeping your chest up), and then you step to the back for a backwards lunge. After your back lunge, you step back forward, do another squat, and repeat the entire sequence. When half of the time is up, you switch and step with the other leg.
Mr. Moon
This exercise is appropriately entitled “Mr. Moon” because it’s like Half Moon from Yoga X, except you are twisting your torso from side to side. You balance on one leg, kick the other leg straight back in the air, and put one of your hands on the ground with the other hand straight up in the air – this is Half Moon position. You do a little isometric hold for a second or two, and then spin your torso so that the arm that was in the air is now touching the ground and the arm that was on the ground is now in the air – this is Reverse Half Moon. After half of the time is up, you switch and balance on your opposite foot and keep alternating between Half Moon and Reverse Half Moon. I was able to do a total of 15 reps per side and I definitely felt a stretch in my hamstrings.
Kid Play
Tony likes joking around, having fun, and being a kid – I love that about his commentary, always making me laugh. This move is pretty simple and something that a kid would have no problem with. It is probably one of the easier exercises, but if you go at a fast pace and use proper form, you will feel a burn in your core. To do the “Kid Play” you do a standard push up, then keeping your feet on the floor, you push off the ground so that your hands move behind your body and you do a triceps dip. After your triceps dip, you push off the ground and do another standard push up in front – you repeat the process alternating back and forth between the push up and triceps dips until the time is up and you’re feeling extra childish. My inner kid managed to knock out 20 reps.
3 & 3: Squats / Push Ups / Pull Ups
The “3 & 3” exercise is basically just doing 3 squats, followed by 3 push ups, and 3 pull ups. You repeat the cycle over and over again for AMRAP (as many reps as possible) in the time duration. Near the end of this I was actually feeling a little bit winded. If you want a good burn, make sure you choose a heavy enough weight for your squats. I used 40 lbs. in each hand and probably could’ve upped it to max out my Bowflex dumbbells, but it all worked out just fine. I did a total of 5 rounds through this sequence for the time given. In other words I did 15 squats with 80 lbs., 15 push ups, and 15 pull ups – not bad.
Half Dervish
This Half Dervish is one of the harder moves in this entire workout because it engages your entire body – perfect for the “Total Body Plus” routine. To do the Half Dervish, you grab a dumbbell in each hand (think light weight here) and you bring the weight from one side of your body to the other while swinging your arms (with the weights) up and across your chest with each rep. The key here is to keep your back straight and really engage your core. If you pick a weight that’s too heavy, you could get hurt here so make sure you keep it light – you should already be fairly tired at this point in the routine if you have been working hard. I was able to do 30 reps at 12.5 lbs. on each side and it was very tough for me.
Weighted Warrior
Remember the “Warrior” sequence from Yoga X? Well here you go from Warrior 2 to Warrior 3 while using dumbbells for extra resistance. To do this move, you start with dumbbells overhead and feet together (Warrior 2), and you step straight back into a lunge while dropping your arms so that one extends straight out to the front and the other extends straight out to the back – both should be about shoulder height (Warrior 3). You then step back up from Warrior 3 to Warrior 2 and repeat for as many reps as possible. Halfway through you switch the leg that you step back with for the Warrior 3 position. I started this exercise with 10 lbs. per side, but realized after 10 reps that it was too heavy so I lightened the load to 5 lbs. per side and did 8 more reps. Even after I lightened my load, they were still tough so think light here.
1 & 1: Push Ups / Pull Ups
I think that this could have been a way better move if he would have changed it to either Pyramids (1&1, 2&2, 3&3, 4&4, 5&5, etc.) like we do in The Asylum Strength workout, or if he would have made them any number greater than 1&1. You are basically doing 1 push up, then 1 pull up, then 1 push up again, then 1 pull up again – you repeat this cycle for 2 minutes. I was sticking with the “1&1” for the first minute and realized that it was way too easy. The transition after a single rep takes away all of the burn.
Since this is P90X+ and “plus” is supposed to be harder, why not do at least “2&2” or “3&3” – the burn would be a lot better. During the second half of these I did “3&3” – 3 push ups followed by 3 pull ups. If Tony thinks these are tough he should maybe do the Crossfit Chelsea workout sometime; even a measly 2 minutes of that would have been a lot better than what we did here. For my final 30 seconds I ended up doing the Pyramids from The Asylum to really heat up my arms and the burn finally arrived at the end.
Lara Lunge Crunch
Take out a dumbbell for the last time during this routine for the Lara Lunge Crunch. This move involves grabbing a single dumbbell, positioning it near the side of your hip with your leg off of the ground on the side that you twist to. Then you take a step back into a backwards lung with the foot that was off the ground, and twist your weight up and over so that it is above your head and off to the side. This is another hybrid between some of the moves that you have already done like the Lunge Press Bella Twist and Loading Dock.
Spiderman Jumps
The final move has arrived and you’ve got to teach Tobey Maguire how to build some muscle and not get slapped up in front of his ginger girlfriend in every movie. Anyways, this is a move that had me sweating some more and it was a great exercise to include near the end of the routine. The Spiderman Jumps involve hitting the floor with your hands and feet staggered so that one of your hands is close to one of your knees – on the other side of your body, your hand and knee are extremely separated. You do a push up in this staggered hand position after hitting the floor and then you do a jump up off the ground. After your jump up, you drop back down so that your hands and feet are staggered in the opposite position – you alternate every rep. Continue this sequence until the clock runs out and you think the routine has ended.
Plyo Push Ups (Bonus)
Oh shit, Tony hits you outta nowhere with a bonus move that’s gonna really knock you out of commission – it’s the plyo push up. Here I am thinking that I’m going to have to get fully airborne (hands and feet off of the ground) for plyo push ups (with claps in between each rep). However, the “plyo push ups” in Total Body Plus are easier than what you have already experienced in P90X. For these you have your knees touching the ground, you lean back with your arms in the air, then fall forward and push hard off of the ground so that you lift your body up. You then lean back again, fall forward, do another “plyo push up” and repeat until the time is up. This is the last move – so try to make it count. I was tempted to do THE actual plyo clap push ups here, but my arms were a little bit too wasted so I stuck to proper protocol and finished like a boss.
Cool Down Stretch
- Ballistic Bounce – Same little full body ballistic shakers that you did in the warm up.
- Huggers – Shake out your arms by hugging yourself because they got worked.
- Reachers – Reach up, then reach back, and repeat to stretch out your arms and shoulders.
- Heel Bounce – Keeping your heels on the ground, just bounce and shake some more.
- Side Stretch – With wide feet, lean to the right so that your left arm extends overhead. Repeat the same thing leaning to the left with your right arm extending overhead.
- Wide Back Stretch – Plug your fingers into the ceiling and pull wide for a stretch.
- Shoulder Stretch – Stretch your shoulders in the front and the back the same way that you always do with Tony.
- Hanging Low – Fold your arms, let your head hang down, and rock back and forth.
- Hamstring Stretch – Stretch out your hamstrings to each side. While holding your legs wide, you also stretch out the inner thighs and hip flexors while in the runners stretch. Then you cap things off with a nice downward dog stretch and “ragdoll it up” for the finish.
P90X+: Total Body Plus Review (Conclusion)
I loved everything about this workout, and really my only major beef with it was the “1&1” exercise. I thought that the “1&1” was way too easy for me, and probably will be for most people – despite the fact that it is done for a full 2 minutes. As I already mentioned, I recommend making it at least a “2&2” or “3&3” so that you feel the burn. You could even do a pyramid sequence – moving up the reps each time. Anyways, other than making modifications to that particular exercise, the rest of the routine is great if you are using the proper weights.
What’s the best part of this routine? All new exercises.
Perhaps the best part of this routine is not only that it works your entire body, but the fact that you get to do all new exercises – these are all new moves compared to what you’re used to in P90X. They aren’t necessarily any harder – I’d say that the Chest and Back workout is tougher than this one, but it always depends how hard you are willing to push yourself. If you use heavy weights during this workout, you are going to get an awesome burn and will certainly build some strength.
Give it a try, I think you’ll like what Tony did here
The exercises that I happened to enjoy most included: Pull Up Crunch, Dead Lift Curl Press, Chuck Ups, Clink On Run, Hindu Pike Push Ups, 3&3, and the Half Dervish. I’m a fan of all the P90X+ workouts because they give you a great workout if you select the appropriate weight to give your body a challenge. With a name like Total Body Plus, I was expecting a few more exercises to engage the legs, but there were some squats and lunges so I guess they still got worked. My core and upper body got more of a workout than my legs, but I was completely okay with that. Anyways, the final verdict is in: This is a solid 45 minute workout that will give you results if you challenge yourself – plus it is actually pretty damn fun.