p90x Plyometrics X … Are you kidding me?
ByOoh this one is probably going to ruffle some feathers. How do I know this? Because anyone who has anything negative to say about anything p90x gets attacked. Not even uber strength coach Charles Staley is safe from the “p90 xplorers” cult. For some reason, I don’t know maybe it’s just clever marketing or something, people on the p90x program walk around acting like they are a Navy Seal going through Buds. Some of them act like they are on an elite program used on cage fighters and NFL draft picks.
Now here let me just get this out in the open before I start. Yes p90x helps you burn fat. Yes p90x is hard. Yes I know it can get you down right exhausted. Yes I know that they get in better shape…usually. Yes I know that p90x has a lot of tremendous before and after pictures (real too…congrats to them) Yes I know that pro athletes use plyometrics to increase their power.
Here is where p90x succeeds. It is a diet and exercise program that gets people off their asses and exercising. Any exercise program that is followed is going to get some results…especially beginners.
BeachBody has million dollar investors putting out megabucks to push this thing out to the market. p90x has 2 million searches per month on google alone…think about that a second 2 million A MONTH!. Do you think you might get a couple decent before and after pics with that many people trying it out? Exactly.
Now that I have gotten that out of the way, on to the topic at hand. Plyometrics X
Plyometrics are used by many pro athletes to improve their explosive power for sports performance applications. The problem is that all too often coaches take a great concept and mutate it to get it away from it’s original purpose. They aren’t seeing the forest for the trees. “Plyos” have been especially victimized in this regard.
This is how BeachBody.com explained plyometrics
Explosive jumping cardio routine proven to dramatically improve athletic performance.
Here is the thing. Plyometrics are intended to take advantage of the myotatic reflex which in non geek speak refers to the automatic contraction of muscles done as a reaction to a quick stretch. It is like an automatic muscular reflex and it has to be very “touch and go”. Oh yeah and it has to be done for low reps. Let me illustrate the reflex analogy. You know that thing they do when you go to the doctor’s office and they whack you on the knee with a tiny rubber hammer and your knee kicks up? If they did that a bunch of times your knee would stop kicking up as high and eventually not do it at all. Plyometrics kind of work the same way and you need it to be fresh as a daisy.
You can also think of it like a ball bouncing on the floor. The force of the ground pushes the side of the ball in and the balls natural reaction is to push back out propelling it up. If it stays there it doesn’t bounce.
If you watch MMA superstar Georges St.Pierre in this video at around 2 minutes and 42 seconds you can see that he instigates the drill by first jumping over a hurdle and IMMEDIATELY bouncing up over the next one and the next one. Like I said “touch and go” and the keyword is “immediately”.
The key is “bouncing”. If you don’t bounce immediately up you lose that effect. Any time on the ground and it’s wasted. THAT is how it is used on professional athletes and as you can see it is A LOT more involved than simply jumping around your living room like a fool.
Plyometrics X is glorified aerobics made to sound scientific and cool. It doesn’t take advantage of that myotatic reflex which makes it lose sight of how plyometrics works. It’s like picking up a couple light dumbbells, doing a bunch of different curls with them and telling people you train like Arnold.
I watched the p90x plyometrics x dvd all the way through because I was curious about what they were doing. I actually laughed harder at some of the moves then I did at some of the comedies that came out this year (there really aren’t a whole lot of funny movies anymore). I can’t fathom how some people can do some of these exercises and think that’s the same thing that they are doing in NFL, NHL, NBA and UFC.
Surely they must be kidding me.
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23 Comments
September 28th, 2010 at 4:26 am
GSP has some hops! I also wondered about trying to do plyometrics for an entire workout on P90X. It’s not the kind of thing people can do for 30-40 minutes and still have proper form. Thanks for reminding me I need to do more plyo training.
September 28th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Tom,
You are welcome. Just make sure you are actually doing plyo training and not just jumping around your living room like an idiot
Eric
November 4th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Mr. Moss,
Man you are so right, I watched the DVD for about 35 mins and was doing the routine (can it be called that) now somewhere i read Tony wanted to be an actor so maybe its his acting or not but in that video i belive less than 10 mins they are all breathing heavy. Now mind you i am not a cage fighter but am in decent shape and i was not breathing heavy (no acting) till about 35th minute. So my review of this DVD is not so great and would look for further guidence…
Brian C.
Thanks Brian C.
November 7th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Brian
What is it you are trying to accomplish?
March 7th, 2011 at 12:56 am
well lets not forget for the average person that is doing these routines, the plyo disc with p90x is more then good enough especially if your goal is only to get in shape and not train for a major sporting event. I am doing the system and for the cardio side of it. it is fine. I realize that it is no where near the pros but why do i need to be like that when all i want do it for is heath reasons and for the odd pick up game of hockey or some kind of sport. with that said again for the avg person out there this is good enough.
March 7th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Cory
For the average person trying just to move a bit more and get some exercise in to improve their health, yes this is fine but don’t jump around your living room thinking you are an elite athlete. It is what it is and that is exactly what it is.
March 22nd, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Eric,
I am not sure who you think is doing this and thinking they are an elite athlete. This is for people who are in moderate shape to get into better shape. The plyo disc is pretty demanding for some people. I have done 2 cycles of p90x over the past year and have gotten great results but I definitely do not consider myself an elite athlete (though I can jump a lot higher now).
March 22nd, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Jimmy
Take a quick look around youtube videos that bash this and you will find p90x people jumping to it’s defense by claiming it’s the same stuff pro athletes are doing. That comes from the marketing done by Beach Body and from Tony Horton saying that you are ready for Mt. Everest. It gets old after awhile.
September 7th, 2011 at 2:42 am
Mmm, you definitely have valid points but here is the thing. Not everyone wants to use plyometrics exclusively for its benefits in the explosive power department. I did competitive rowing for quite a bit, and the trainings had a lot of these kind of plyometrics (working heavily on cardio endurance and leg endurance as well). It depends on how low you go and how intense you do it. THere are definitely parts of this workout where you do explosive training, like jumping the gap and jump knee tucks. Like I said, I have used this kind of training in the past with great results.. and let me tell you, rowing is among the most intense sports ever, elite rowers are arguably the best athletes in the planet. May not be the strongest, most explosive, necesarily, but all around, this kind of plyo training is awesome. I do see where you’re coming from though.
September 7th, 2011 at 4:47 am
why would you do this for rowing? there are better ways to train for it
September 14th, 2011 at 4:10 am
Uh, I suggest, Eric, that you try Plyo X. While it might not be your definition of Plyo, it’s still hard as shit; if you give it your all. I played collegiate sports (soccer) and (track) at NCAA2 level, was in great condition my whole life, and still found that plyo x beat me up bad. Furthermore, some of the demonstrators, Dom for instance, in the P090x videos are clearly elite athletes, and not having an easy time with it. You are clearly walking around with a massive chip on your tiny shoulders.
September 14th, 2011 at 5:05 pm
Terrible, terrible article. I can assure you the vast majority of people doing Plyo X don’t suddenly believe they can compete with top level professional athletes from doing a simple home workout. I’m certainly not fooling myself, but at least I can say I’ve never been in better condition since I started P90X, and I’ve been exercising my entire life. People don’t have the facilities, money or time to do what GSP is doing. Plyo X is a fantastic cardio workout, and yes, from my experience, it does dramatically improve athletic performance.
I may look like a fool jumping around in my living room, but I’d rather be a fool who is jumping, than fool who is sitting on the sofa, watching rubbish on television and munching on some burgers.It is what it is and that’s exactly what it is.
September 15th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
r or whatever your real name is
just because it “beats you up” doesn’t necessarily make it good and neither does having “elite athletes” demonstrate it either. and my “tiny shoulders” can put 3/4 of my bodyweight overhead with one hand. what can you do?
September 15th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
then the vast majority aren’t speaking up because this is what i have seen via youtube videos, forums etc.
November 20th, 2011 at 3:30 am
I understand what you’re saying from “your perspective.” I’m a senior in high school and have found this program to be extremely useful. Plyometrics X reminds me of that feel that high school football practice used to have, I never understood why we ran more than soccer but W/e. In no way would I consider myself a professional athlete, have you seen the way pro athletes look? Unfortunately for me I fractured my right talus in the beginning of 10th grade and lost a considerable amount of my ROM in that said ankle. I’ve found that my ankle is starting to move a little bit more at a very slow pace but that could just be the entire program in general.
Anyway my real point is this, my teachers have repeatedly pounded into my head to never make sweeping generalizations. Your last comment about the vast majority not speaking up should almost be a given. However your last comment implies that you expected the vast majority to speak up. If you think for just one second, the chances of more than 15%-20% of everyone that has tried P90X actually posting a video or talking about it in a forum would be considered a generous assumption (in the sense that it’s leaning towards more people than the amount that have actually posted something about it).
However this is not simply a bash on Eric Moss comment. I do commend you for writing this seeing as how I am now looking at this from a different perspective. I find P90X leans more to the side of losing weight as opposed to bulking up. It got me off my ass and back into fitness. It also made me a huge fan of the program at the same time. If people are saying what you are claiming, then they are a bunch of narcissistic assholes. When I have some more free time I’ll have to watch some video’s of these P90X lovers claiming to be on the same level as Pro Athletes. If my comment seems rude or skeptical in any way I apologize for what the I.B. program has turned me into.
I also do Plyometrics X either barefoot or in vibrams so I’m not sure if that changes my perspective on things. Just throwing that out there
November 29th, 2011 at 4:30 am
I think Mr. Moss was a P90X drop out after day two.
November 29th, 2011 at 7:50 am
I dropped out before even doing it. “air guitar squats” are much to advanced
December 2nd, 2011 at 1:16 am
I am not intending to debunk your entire article Eric, but just to clarify what you stated above. The quick stretch reflex (patella tendon reflex) does not degrade over time, we actually use the reflex in the gait process(every time we walk). Just saying
December 2nd, 2011 at 1:27 am
Micheal if you were to smack your knee with a hammer repeatedly, it would jump up not quite so high each time. Walking is a bit different and not nearly as intense as plyometrics (true plyos that is). lIke any kind of stimulus your body can “get used to it” and it will lose its effect
January 15th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
So when will Eric Moss be releasing his competing collection of fitness DVDs to dethrone the “laughable” p90x and make himself a multimillionaire? Never?
Sounds like someone is jealous.
January 16th, 2012 at 2:55 am
tell you what….you find me a multimillion dollar investor to promote it and I will release the dvds. I’ll give you a free copy too
January 24th, 2012 at 5:06 am
Eric,
What a sad, nasty ‘roided-out little big-man you must be. I’ll bet your personal training business hasn’t been doing so well in this economy. How do those grapes taste? Sour?
January 25th, 2012 at 12:24 am
[...] back I did an unfavorable write up on p90x plyometrics X and recently it’s caught a lot of people’s attention many of which I guess I hurt their [...]