Hola, Insane amigos! Today’s round of Insanity was one that even the formidable Shaun T said he was nervous about. Pure Cardio is a fast-paced round of exercise that’s made a fair bit harder because there are virtually no rest breaks during the routine. You stop as normal after the warm-up and stretching routines, but when the workout starts, you’re riding the rollercoaster right to the end!
On this fifth day, many of the moves in the warm-up, stretches and workout itself are becoming familiar – the suicide drills and ‘level 2′ routines are all starting to seem familiar. Which is good, because most of the workouts we’ve done in this first week are repeated over the next four weeks. That should address a lot of my concerns about form, which I feel is important…
- To get the absolute most out of every workout. No point in doing Insanity if I’m not going to get every benefit from it.
- To avoid injury. Bad form puts stress on muscles and joints and leads to PAIN! Nobody wants that crap!
Pure Cardio
Like I said, the cardio routine was intense as expected. I found a lot of the going pretty tough – those rapid fire push-up/mountain climber moves are guaranteed to frag me every time, but I felt like I gave a solid effort. My one gripe as always was getting exhausted and stopping the DVD to go back and re-do parts. The goal from now on will be to rest less and push that little bit harder during every workout.
On the plus side, there were spots during the workout today where I felt my energy returning and exercises that used to exhaust me gave me a new lease of life. The standing mountain climbers are a good example – I found a burst of energy got me through these. Still struggling with anything to do with push-ups, but slowly improving.
You know what’s good though? Watching the gym bunnies alongside Shaun T flagging under the pressure and occasionally having to sit out to recover. Shaun T himself collapses at the end, so you don’t feel like such a pathetic mess by the end of the workout! Note: Laughed my ass off when Shaun started referring to himself in the third person: “Shaun T is tired now…”
Injuries. Yes, injuries. I mentioned in my Cardio Recovery post that I’d ended up with a sore back yesterday. I was reluctant to start the routine today, but decided to push on and see how it went. And it went pretty well. The back injury didn’t hinder me, but during the workout I felt a worrying pain in my inner thigh up near my groin. It was particularly harsh during the push-up jacks. I’m hoping that it’ll have eased off before Day 6 in case I have to reconsider doing the Insanity programme or take a break for a few days to recover properly.
Diet break
I’m not following the Insanity eating programme. That would be too disruptive to home life, and too much of a learning curve. I am however, eating well, staying hydrated and getting lots of protein.
My question for you: Do you allow yourself an ‘off night’ during the Insanity programme? One where you hit your local Chinese takeaway and pop open a bottle of red wine? I’d like to know what other people are doing…
christenjackson
April 20, 2012 at 11:31 pm
I’m not doing the insanity program, but I am doing a mix of P90X and Brazilian Butt Lift and although I stick to a pretty good diet, between 1500-1800 calories a day, mostly protein with a lot of fiber and fresh fruits and veggies, I allow myself what I like to call a diet cheat day every couple of weeks of so. I have heard that if you throw in a higher calorie day with the lower cal ones every once in a while you help keep you metabolism burning high. It seems to work for me and it is easier to stick to the diet when I know that I don’t have to stick to it perfectly. Hope that helps. Keep up the hard work.
GerryBot
April 21, 2012 at 12:02 am
Haha, that was exactly the kind of approval I was waiting for! Might even break out a second bottle of wine now!
Thanks for the support, as always, Christen. And by the way – what the hell is a Brazilian Butt Lift?
christenjackson
April 21, 2012 at 1:33 am
Brazilian Butt Lift is one of the series of Beach body workouts. It is geared more towards the ladies, like myself who have trouble with their big rear ends. It is a great workout though. My legs were screaming after the first week and I have seen some serious improvements all over. Probably not as intense as what you are doing.
LOL! Too be honest with you a couple glasses of red wine here and there aren’t going to kill your diet, but I am more of a Jameson girl so I mix it with my super low cal lemonade and call it even. Good luck!
insanityfun
April 21, 2012 at 11:01 am
LOL an extra bottle of wine on a Friday night has been known to happen in my apartment. In my mind, as long as it doesn’t become an every two or three day thing, you’re golden. Hope you enjoyed your meal and wine
GerryBot
April 28, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Oh, I did! Still haven’t got back to Insanity as I’m still in quite a bit of pain from my back. Haven’t had this kind of backspasm in a LONG, LONG time!
Angie
April 27, 2012 at 1:49 am
I allow myself a couple of glasses of red wine every night-cause it’s good for the heart, you know. I just started the Insanity workout and am on day 5. I had been doing P90x, but Insanity is totally different. I’m totally exhausted all the time (I don’t even have the energy to drink my two glasses of wine). I hope this changes.
In regards to my diet, I pretty much eat the same as I did before- I don’t eat fast foods much, I don’t eat sweets (cause if I did thats all I would eat), I do eat fish, chicken, deli ham, fruits and vegetables. I try to eat low fat. My real problem is too much salt- I love salt, I can’t get enough of salt, I’d like some right now, in fact. I’m sure you get the point. It would probably help if I drank more water. Well, Shauns here. Time for my 5th workout.