P90X – Kenpo X – When it starts to feel too easy
On a popular P90X thread on bodybuilding.com, some posters were venting that they thought Kenpo X gets too easy over time. It’s one of the few workouts that you do every single week, no matter what phase or recovery week. Here are some pointers I gave in that thread and they were well received, so I figured I would share with more people.
Just finished Kenpo, and was thinking about this thread as I went thru it. There are a few things I think about during the routine that I think help with intensity.
Punches: Like I said before, when you first start, just following along is hard. But as you get better, you need to bring it. The first time I found it getting easy I realized I wasn’t really punching that hard. So now I always ask myself, If this punch was to hit someone, would they laugh at it. There are times when you get so exhausted that your arms are just waving in the air. If you hit someone with that it would be a joke. Focus on always throwing a punch that if it connected with someone, they’d appreciate it.
jab, cross, hook, uppercut: This starts out at a slow pace and then ramps up. You have to remember this video is designed to be watched the first time, and the 1000th time, so if you don’t need to start out slow, get right into it.
Kicks: Always, always, always fight for height. We hear it so often it might begin to lose its meaning, but if you are constantly kicking beyond your highest, then you are dogging it.
Blocks: Blocks are probably my favorite part of the workout, and I remind myself of the same thing I do in punches. Am I just waving my arm in the way they are on the screen, or would I be able to block a punch or kick with this move. I am always flexing my arms as hard as I can on every block, as if a strike was actually coming in at me.
The final punches. I got nuts at this point, its always my highest heart rate of the workout. I get right into high speed, and keep going beyond when they stop on the video, usually an extra ten seconds. It’s the last move, so what are you saving yourself for.
Just thought I would post these things because they always help me to get the most out of Kenpo. Its a workout that you really need to stay on top of yourself, probably the same with Plyo. You don’t have a worksheet with weights and reps to monitor, so you have to mentally push yourself.