Description of the exercise!
What is – Core Synergistics Exercises:
The “Core Synergistics” exercise session is broken up into three sections and a bonus round. Between each section, you can expect a short break to catch your breath and grab some water. In section one, you perform one set of stacked-foot, staggered-hand push ups; banana rolls; leaning crescent lunges; squat runs; sphinx push-ups; bow to boats; low-lateral skaters; and lunge reaches. In section two, you perform prison cell push-ups, side hip raises, squat X presses, plank-to-chaturanga runs, walking push-ups, superman bananas, lunge kickbacks, curl presses and towel hoppers. In section three, you perform reach-high-and-under push-ups, steam engines and dreya rolls. The bonus section includes plank to chaturangas, halfbacks and table-dip leg raises.
The Workout
The Kenpo X workout involves a warm-up, 45 minutes of drills and then a cool-down. The drills include kicking, punching, some blocks, and a few combinations. Also, the workout has cardio breaks sprinkled throughout that involve doing jumping jacks and plyo jacks to keep your heart rate up throughout the routine. Kenpo X is one of the few P90X workouts that don’t require exercise equipment; only your body weight is needed.
Benefits of Kenpo X
Kenpo X is a non-stop cardiovascular workout that will increase your aerobic endurance, burn calories and promote heart health. This martial arts inspired routine will give a well-rounded core workout, since you will utilize your abs to lift your legs during kicks, and twist the obliques during punches. Also, Kenpo X will increase flexibility, since this workout is one of the more athletic routines included in the P90X program.
How Long to Stretch – what does the research say?
Results of long term studies with healthy humans between the age 21 and 39 have shown that after 6 weeks, the people who stretch thirty seconds per muscle every day were able to increase their mobility more than the people that stretched fifteen seconds per muscle per day. (1) Changes in mobility amongst those that stretched for fifteen seconds per muscle per day were statistically insignificant. People that stretched sixty seconds per muscle per day increased their range of motion but not significantly more than those that held their stretches for thirty seconds.
Other studies have shown that people can increase their range of motion using only 15 second stretches while others gain very little increased mobility with even 45 second stretches. How long to stretch appears to vary depending on which muscle groups are being stretched.
What Factors Influence the Ability to Stretch.
Factors that influence the ability to stretch the connective tissues in a muscle are as follows:
- muscle fatigue
- the presence of scar tissue
- muscle temperature
- activity prior to the stretch
- collagen/elastic content (varies with age)
- hydration/dehydration
- medical conditions (diabetes, connective tissue disorders, smoking)
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