Description on How to Do All the Exercises in the Plyometric Part of P90x

Jump Squats and Jump Reach Squats

• To do jump squats, stand with your feet approximately shoulder-distance apart and parallel to one another. Keeping your feet firmly on the ground, slowly lower yourself into a deep squat. Once you hit your lowest point, jump up quickly and immediately go down into another squat after landing. The squat reach jump is similar, but requires that you touch the ground while squatting and reach high overhead while jumping.

Three Run-Stance Squat Moves

• Run-stance squats involve standing with your feet parallel and slightly wider than shoulder-distance apart. Your torso should face one foot, with the toe of that foot lining up with the heel of your back foot. You then do four squats, jump and switch your leading foot, do four more squats and repeat. The run-stance squat switch pick-up is similar, but requires that you switch your leading foot and touch your toe with your leading hand with every squat. The run squat 180 jump switch pick-up modifies this by adding a 180-degree turn, resulting in you facing the opposite direction instead of switching your leading foot after every squat.

Airborne Heismans and Monster Truck Tires

• The airborne Heisman begins by standing on one leg with the knee of your other leg to your chest. You then leap laterally, land on the opposite foot while bringing your other knee to your chest, hold this pose and then leap back to the starting position. The double airborne Heisman adds two alternating, single-leg, high-knee jumps between each knee hold. Monster truck tires take away the knee raise and pose from the airborne Heisman. Instead, these involve alternating, single-leg lateral leaps while moving diagonally forward, then backward.

Swing Kicks and Circle Run

• Swing kicks involve a chair or stool that you can comfortably swing your leg over. Stand directly behind and facing the back of the chair, then alternate swinging your right leg over the chair from left to right and your left leg from right to left. Circle runs are very simple, requiring you to run in tight circles around an object on the floor while keeping your torso relatively stable.

Jump Knee Tucks and Rock Star Hops

• Jump knee tucks and rock star hops are the highest-impact exercises in the plyometrics routine. Jump knee tucks involve jumping as high as you can and keeping your upper-body stable. While doing this, you thrust your knees upward into your chest before bringing them back down and landing on your feet. Rock star hops are similar, but replace thrusting your knees toward your chest with kicking your heels toward the backs of your upper-left or upper-right thighs.

Mary Katherine Lunges

• Stand in a deep forward lunge, with your leading knee bent and your back leg stretching as straight and as far backward as possible. Reaching your arms straight and directly overhead, jump and switch the front and back legs in your lunge. Hold this pose briefly before jumping again and returning to your original position.

Leapfrog Squats and Squat Jacks

• Leapfrog squats involve standing with your feet parallel and wider than shoulder-distance apart, then going into a deep squat. Reach your arms in front of you for balance and leap forward twice, then backward twice, and repeat. This is all done while maintaining your squat. Lateral leapfrog squats are similar, but involve lateral leaps and alternating directions after each leap. Squat jacks also require that you maintain a squat throughout, but you do jumping jacks while squatting and holding your arms either straight overhead or behind your head.

Twist Combo and Hot Foot

• Stand like you're on a pair of skis, with your feet parallel and shoulder-width apart. Facing forward and holding your torso steady the entire time, you then hop and land with your feet facing left, then forward, then right and forward again before repeating. After 30 seconds of this, you do 180-degree turns with each jump while keeping your feet and torso facing forward. Hot foot is similar to the first 30 seconds of the twist combo, but you hop on one foot forward, then backward, then left, then right for 30 seconds before switching feet.

Gap Jumps and Military March

• Gap jumps and the military march are very straightforward exercises. To do gap jumps, you leap as high and as far forward as possible, then turn and do the same while leaping from the opposite foot before repeating. The military march involves standing in place and keeping your limbs as straight as possible. You then slowly lift your right arm high overhead, your left arm down and behind you and raise your left leg straight upward and forward before alternating sides.

Sports Bonus

• The sports bonus comes at the end of the plyometrics routine and involves three 60-second exercises. The first is pitch and catch, which involves kicking your leading leg high with a bent knee, extending it far forward, simulating a throwing motion with your opposite arm. You then step forward into a squat before returning to your original position. The jump shot requires that you lunge out to the side like you're catching a basketball, bring your feet back together, then jump high upwards and extend your arms overhead like you're taking a jump shot. The football hero is like monster truck tires, but uses four low lateral jumps forward, then six high-knee jumping steps back to your starting point before repeating.