So, first off…what is P.A.P? P.A.P. stands for Post-Activation Potentiation. Sounds a little “sciency” uh? That’s because it is. It is an idea delevoped by Dr. Marcus Elliott at his Santa Barbara training facility for high profile athletes called “P3“. In the most laymen terms, Post-Activation Potentiation is a training routine that involves complexes of heavy strength movements followed by explosive exercises that is said to fire your muscles so that they are more activated to help you perform better. Here is a better idea of what it is and what it involves from Steve Edwards and Dr. Elliott:

First:

“that prior heavy loading induces a high degree of central nervous system stimulation, resulting in greater motor unit recruitment and force, which can last from five-to-thirty minutes”

and secondly:

“PAP intervention enhances the H-reflex, thus increasing the efficiency and rate of the nerve impulses to the muscle”

In laymen terms, this means that doing heavy lifting prior to explosive activity can actually help you fire higher threshold muscle cell motor units which, even even simpler terms, means that you will jump higher, run faster, or life more weight.

Underlying Mechanisms of PAP

1. Heavy loading prior to an explosive movement induces a high degree of central nervous system stimulation, resulting in greater motor unit recruitment and force, which can last from five to thirty minutes (Chiu, Fry, Weiss, et al 2003) .

2. Along with more central nervous system stimulation, PAP has been attributed to Phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chains, meaning that following a heavy strength movement actin and myosin which function together to generate force and muscle contractions are more sensitive to calcium and more active. The greater the phosphorylation of the myosin light chain protein, the faster the rate of contraction and tension (Chiu, Fry, Weiss, et al 2003).

3. Another scientific finding that explains this effect is the enhancement of the H-reflex, increasing the rate of neurotransmission to the muscles (Hodgson, Docherty, Robbins, 2005).

As you can see, they are definitely on to something special at P3. These guys know their stuff and if you follow their blog you will see that a lot of their athletes are having very good years in their given sport.

So how is the workout? First, it is very different than what you are used to. It involves a very long and dynamic warmup. Tony takes you through a series of warm up moves that makes sure your ready to take on some of these moves.

Having done one of the actually P.A.P. workouts while getting ready for the Next P90X (P90X:MC2), I can tell you that this workout is a great “appetizer” of sorts. This workout gives you a great idea of what to expect but doesn’t fully let you taste the true power of P.A.P….yet. There are 2 complexes that Tony goes through. Each complex consists of 4 moves, each designed to help you perform the next and make sure your getting the most of P.A.P. The first complex is upper body and if you do it correctly is a very tough complex. There are some strength moves, power moves and stretching. The second complex is even tougher…at least for me. It is all legs and involves of of the hardest Core/Leg/Plank moves I have ever done. When you can start to hold this thing for 30 secs straight through each set of the complex then you are doing very well. During the rehearsal during MC2 I saw that women tend to do much better with this move then men. So don’t challege your wife/girl friend with this move because she might destroy you.

Overall this workout is a great addition to your dvd arsenal. It is something totally different and will allow you to have an upcoming sneak peak at what is in store with the Next P90X. Tony Horton takes you through each exercise and shows you how difficult it can be, even for him. It’s something that I have added to my routine and I think you will love it. I have been waiting to talk about it for months now so I am glad it is finally out and ready for everyone to try!

What an incredible experience this was.  Chest/Back + Balance was filmed first.  I had been battling a cold the last 4 days and didn’t quite feel 100% but that wasn’t going to stop me from bringing my all to the workout.  The day started with Wardrobe, Hair and Makeup.  My wardrobe consisted of a tank top and my own shorts, shoes and socks (seen in the photo with Tony).  My socks became quite the topic of conversation due to their length.  Tony talks about them quite a bit during the workout.  It should make for a couple of laughs.  I just hope I am not known as the “sock guy” haha.

After the cast got ready we had a pep-talk from the director, Mason Bendewald.  Those of you who subscribe to P90X: One on One will recognize the name.  We then got mic’d up and went through our que to cue.  This is where we get our markings, make sure we are facing the right direction, and are transitioning from exercise to exercise in the correct way.  Before I knew it we were done, took a quick break and the camera started to roll.

Right before we started filming I took a moment and looked around at the surreal scene in front of me.  There I was in a studio in Hollywood, on a stage with Tony Horton, the cast, cameras, lighting, a director and producers.  I wanted to pinch myself.  It felt like a dream.  2 years ago I was laying in bed watching the P90X infomercials wondering if P90X actually worked.  I got incredible results, met Tony Horton, became a coach and now I was in P90X2. Life is crazy…

Good thing I had some adrenaline going because I needed it.  The workout itself was awesome and incredible fun.  Talk about muscle confusion. These new moves are extremely core driven and skill based.  If you can do this one then you are in great shape.  You might think that we had breaks and time to rest in between exercises.  WRONG!  It was break free, full on workout.  What you see is exactly how it was filmed.  Unscripted, spontaneous Tony at his best.  As Tony gave me a bad time during the workout I tried to jab him back with to no avail.  Haha.  It was an unbelievable experience.

As quickly as it happened it was over.  I did pretty well for suffering with a cold.  Not my absolute best numbers I have put up but respectable.  I am sure some of you will be surpassing me as you do P90X2.  The last 4 moves were a killer, but talk about a pump!

I had a 5 days to prepare and get back t0 100% for V-Sculpt, a Back/Bicep workout that has been taken up about 10 notches.  The second day was much more relaxing.  Since I knew what I was getting myself into I was able to really enjoy the full experience.  I took in each moment.  My cold was gone and I was ready to bring it.  During the Que to Cue I found out that I was going to be in the middle of the group this time and I was going to have my shirt off!  Oh man…that was intimidating.  Good thing I was eating 100% clean for the last 6 weeks.

V-Sculpt was a Back/Bicep blaster.  I was able to contribute a move to the workout which was a extremely nice surprise (I am told there is another called “Callahan Press” in another workout too!).  It is the first move of the workout so keep an eye out for it.  The workout itself involved Pull ups, dumbbells and bands.  I was extremely surprised how well the bands worked.  If you use the right bands you are in for one hell of a pump.  There are new moves in this one never seen before.  Some are more traditional and others are P90X2 core based bad-ass moves.  My heart rate was so high by the end it felt like a cardio workout.  I LOVED it!

Overall this was a “once in a life-time” experience.  P90X2 is going to be an unbelievable sequel to the revolutionary P90X.  Everything had a purpose, everything is thought out, and each workout will take you to a new level of fitness.  The Producers, Director Mason and his crew, Steve Holmsen, Steve Edwards, and of course Tony Horton were all amazing people and a pleasure to work with.  The energy on set was incredible and I think it will relate through the screen. 

Once again, THANK YOU TONY!

-Coach Sean

These last 2 weeks I have had the opportunity to meet some others in the cast, rehearse, and get familiar with the cuing and positioning in front of the camera.  I am heading to the studio tomorrow so I wanted to show you all a little preview of the P90X2 studio that Carl Daikeler (the C.E.O of Beachbody) posted yesterday.  Hope you enjoy!

I am extremely thrilled and stoked to announce that I have been selected to be in the Cast of the new P90:MC2 videos!  I would never have thought that when I used to lay in bed and watch the P90X infomercials that I would someday be in the next P90X video, working out with Tony Horton.  Unbelievable.  It is truly a dream come true for me.  I owe a lot to P90X and Tony Horton. They both have truly changed my life and I feel truly humbled to be apart of the best fitness program ever created.

I got the call last week and I had to rush up to LA for a casting.  Turns out that they want me to be in 2 videos!! The 2 workouts are, ARX 2 and PAP: Lower .   I have not done PAP Lower yet so I am very interested to see what type of workout set up it is and how extreme it can be.  I hear good things so I am really excited.

We start filming in March, so it time to get in the best shape possible so I can continue to Bring it!

Here is a little info on the PAP workouts courtesy of Steve Edwards.

_________

“I’m excited,” said Marcus last night as we put the finishing touches on P90X mc2’s final third phase workouts. “We’re going to do a lot of good for people.” Apparently I was pretty amped, too, as I awoke in the middle of the night with a head full of possible scenarios that might challenge the periodiztional flow of mc2. A couple of hours later, with no obvious holes uncovered in our logic, I fell back asleep.

From a scientific standpoint P90X was easy. Our development team needed only to bring what they already knew worked to the table. The big unknown was whether or not the public would buy in to the concept of hard training. Now, with the world watching, the accountability bar has risen. To meet the challenge we’ve enlisted the help of Dr. Marcus Elliott.

Elliott’s training facility, P3, works only with serious athletes. Their approach is based on the latest applied science and, in fact, is so far ahead of the curve that they are defining what the cutting edge in athletic training is. What we’re doing at Beachbody is taking this knowledge and distilling it down to the everyday athlete. By analyzing the data from a broad spectrum of athletes we can find common deficiencies that lead to breakdown and anticipate this in our structure so that it best suits almost everyone. Mc2 is our first foray into this arena—actually; if you subscribe to Tony Horton’s One on One series you’ll see the actual first in our mc2 preview PAP workout.

Last week P3’s blog published an article on Post Activation Potentiation and how they apply it to their athletes. Since it’s about to get applied to you, too, I would call this required reading for anyone interested in understanding why your training works the way it does. Here’s the rub:

At P3, a major route to improving performance is through the application of “complex training,” which involves combining high load strength movements with biomechanically similar plyometric/ballistic movements as a means of taking advantage of Post Activation Potentiation (PAP), a phenomenon that refers to enhancement of muscle function as a result of its contractile history. P3 has found that complex training is far superior in developing athletic power to either resistance training or plyometric training alone, and while there are other mechanisms involved in P3 complexes, the successful manipulation of PAP plays an important role.

Sciency, huh? That’s what you get when you work with a bunch of brainiacs. So you’re going to see these complexes in mc2 but not until the third phase. The reason is that you need to build up to them. At P3 they substantiate this with testing:

To measure the effects of PAP on vertical and horizontal jump performance we had athletes perform Depth Jumps and Skaters off of our custom made force plates. For all of these tests, the vast majority (75%) of athletes performed significantly better post loading. It is important to note the athletes who were tested were all experienced P3 power trained athletes and that studies have shown there is a lot of individual variability in terms of when the potentiation effect occurs.

And we, in turn, get to use their data to project how this will work on a less conditioned general public. Not that anyone who’s done two phases of P90X lacks conditioning. In fact, the base conditioning it provides is elite, which has been proven in how many professional athletes are using it. But when it comes to scientific training there is traditionally fit and, then, there is the next level. And that’s where we—and ultimately you—are heading.

Complex training and the utilization of PAP have and will continue to give athletes many advantages. Unfortunately, general strength exercises paired with aerobic conditioning is still the norm, even at the highest levels of sport. These old school forms of training rarely take into account individual needs and the need for power in movement. Eventually teams and performance coaches will begin to conduct more precise and individualized sports specific programs. Until this transformation takes place, it is paramount that athletes understand their own performance and physical needs, as well as the proven methods that exist.

P90X: MC2 sounds like it’s going to be on the forefront of sports science.  Word has it that it will be released sometime by the end of the year.  Get ready to bring it!  To stay updated with all the P90X:MC2 news, make sure you make me your coach, and click here to do so!

Feel free to comment if you have any questions!

Coach Sean

Independent Diamond Beachbody Coach