P90x Workouts: Legs and Back
I. Warm-up (do not do static–traditional–stretches on the legs)
- relax neck and shoulders with gentle rolling
- open back muscles with “wall scratchers” –stand straight, legs apart, extend arms up and out, contract arms with elbow pointed down like you’re scratching an invisible wall behind you with your knuckles–x4
- dynamic leg stretches and any of these
II. Workout Part 1
–all of these exercises should be done as continuous as possible. NO REST. The whole workout will occur in triplets of 2 leg exe’s and 1 back exe. The leg exe’s will specify a number of reps or time period. You are to adjust the severity or load of the exe in order to reach the specified number of reps. So, if you can’t reach 15 reps (assuming that’s the goal), then reduce the resistance or ease the motion so you can reach 15. And if you can reach 15 very easily then increase the resistance or use an advanced motion. All the back exe’s are to be performed to exhaustion (a good method is to go until you feel you can’t do more, then try to do two more). And of course, always breathe and smile.
exe’s:
1a) Chair lunge – 50 sec each leg or about 25 reps each
1b) Calf-raise squats – 25 reps
1c) reverse-grip chin-up or elastic band pull down (’till exhaustion +2)
2a) Super-skaters – 25 reps each leg
–the key is to sink into a sprinter’s position with the front leg while shooting the other leg back. if you keep your front leg straight you will fall over.
2b) wall sit – total time, 1:30
- 0-20 sec, sit halfway, about 45 degree squat
- 20-40 sec, sink all the way to a full 90 degree squat
- repeat 20 sec intervals alternating between half and full squat, until you reach 1:30 (up-down-up-down-up 10 sec)
2c) Wide grip pull-ups – again ’till exhaustion +2 more
–same as first set of chin-ups except palms facing out and arms wide
3a) Back-step lunge – 15 reps each leg – advanced motion: add bicep curl to the lunge (simultaneous)
–if body weight is to easy start using dumbbells, carried at your sides.
3b) Side lunges, alternating – 24 total, 12 each side
–note, the model on the right is pointing her arms out. this is not necessary. I only included her photo because of her leg positioning.
3c) Close-grip pull-ups (palms out)
4a) Single leg wall sits
- sit against wall, slide into full squat, lift right leg as straight as possible, hold for 10 sec
- lower right leg back, then straighten out left leg, 10 sec
- repeat until 1:00 is done
–note, in between switching legs you can rise up to half-squat to rest a sec before lowering down and straightening the other leg.
4b) Single-leg deadlift squats – 20 reps each leg
–note, the motion is similar to the super-skater except the point is not to bend at the supporting leg too much. The man in the video is only letting his supporting thigh bend around 20 degrees away from vertical. This ensures that the backs of the leg, and the lower back are doing the work.
4c) Switch grip pull-ups — 2 reps palms out, 2 reps palms in, until exhaustion+2
HALF-WAY DONE
III. 1 min rest – take this time to wipe off sweat, drink water, and write down which exercises you need to add weight too, or which ones you failed to reach required reps. Also, keep tab of how many reps you can do on the lat exe’s (pull-ups/pull-downs).
1 MIN REST OVER
IV. Second half
5a) 3-Way lunge — 5 reps each leg
- each rep consists of 3 lunges, one to the side, one oblique (at angle), one straight forward
- at the end of the lunge (standing back up) you can a kick with the lead foot before starting the next lunge for advanced motion
- hold weights by your sides once you master bodyweight
- 5 reps one leg, 5 with other
5b) Sneaky lunges – total of 20 lunges, 10 each leg
version 1
p90x version (deeper-lunge plus turn-around, always on front of feet)
5c) Chin-ups (palms in)
6a) Foward bend alternate with chair pose – 1:00 about 5-8 reps (slowly)
6b) Toe-roll lunge – 20 reps each leg
- forward lunge, exaggerated length (reach for it)
- push off back foot (the toe-roll) and reach front knee to the ankle
- rock back and forth, each rep the lead knee going past the ankle then returning behind it. again, if the lead knee is going past the front toes then you need to lengthen the lunge
minus the arm stretch, this is how the end of the lunge should look like. restart the rep by rocking back, lowering the back heel.
6c) Wide grip pull-ups
7a) Horse-stance walk (or Groucho walk) – 4 steps foward, 4 steps back – 4x
7b) 3-Way calf-raises – each position do 15 slow followed by 10 fast
–Standing calf-raise, 3-positions: 1) feet pointed forward, 2)feet pointed slightly outward, 3) feet pointed slightly inward.
7c) Boxing squats – 20 each leg
Can’t seem to find a good image on web but here’s my explanation
- stand with left foot pointed foward and in front of body by a step
- right foot (in this case the back foot) is pointed about 45 degrees to the right, away form straight foward
- squat straight down with the lead heel (left foot) always touching the ground while the back foot heel is always off the ground
this is a video of a young Mike Tyson, for further example. Note his legs and feet everytime he dips as he shadow boxes.
here’s another rendition
FINISHED!
