Teddy - Glad your knee is doing okay! Hell getting old, isn't it?
Okay this morning was Insanity Pure Cardio and let me just say that workout is truly INSANE! I definitely had a puke status workout. And I can't describe this workout any better than this review and this time I left a few of the fluff comments in because they help to give you an idea of what it was like! Oh and I was cracking up at the the end with the "Never Stop Moving" warning just like this reviewer was.
Pure Cardio (like Plyo Cardio) is a monster. So the overall workout length is 38 minutes, 16 seconds. I know there might be some die hard
P90X fans out there saying, “WHAT, only 38 minutes?” I can relate, we’re used to longer workouts pushing 60 minutes. However, after 38 minutes of
Insanity, you’re thankful for the cool down and stretch.
The Insanity Pure Cardio workout begins with a warm up (cough cough), if you call that a warm up. It’s just over 10 minutes, but if you started the warm up, and someone walked into the room, they would swear you were right in the middle of the cardio portion. By the time you finish the warm up, you’re already sweating like crazy, or at least I was. So the warm up is 3 rounds of about 3 minutes and 30 seconds each. There is no break between the rounds. Each round is slightly faster than the last, and the last round is “as fast as you can go” pace. The warm up is very similar to the one in Plyo Cardio. Each round you move from a Jog, Jumping jacks, Heisman (jumping side to side), 123 Heisman (moving side to side with 3 fast small steps), Butt Kicks, High Knees (running in place, with high knees), and Mummy Kicks. When that’s over, you get your first water break, a whole 20 seconds, of which each second is precious and dear. Then the stretch. Which leads me to another thought. In what other workout program or cardio dvd have you actually worked so hard during the warm up, that you
NEEDED a water break after it was over?
The stretch is more like a “Power” stretch. With
Insanity, you stretch your legs and lower body, while your hands are straight out or up. Which means your legs are working, and your upper body is not taking any of the weight. The stretch lasts about 5 minutes and 50 seconds. Then guess what. A water break. I felt like I needed it. If nothing else, I needed to get myself prepped for the rest of the workout, and if the warm up is an indication, I know its going to be intense.
So 21 minutes are left on the clock. The main part of the workout is 15 minutes. 15 moves, 1 minute each.
Sounds easy. The hard part is, you’ve seen your last water break until all 15 moves are completed. The moves are not easy either, they require plenty of effort, and once completed, you’re completely exhausted. Even Shaun T rolls out on the floor! The 15 moves are:
- Suicide (side to side touching the floor)
- Switch kicks (exhausting)
- Wide football sprints
- Stance Jacks
- Pedal (two lunges, then sprint, followed by 2 more lunges, etc)
- Hooks and Jump rope (8 hook punches, several high jumps, 8 punches etc)
- Power jacks (like jumping jacks, but you go deep in a wide lunge)
- Level 2 drills (these get me every time. 8 push ups followed by 8 run lunges, repeat)
- Frog Jumps
- Power Knees (switch every 30 seconds)
- Mountain Climbers
- Ski Down (jump side to side as if skiing)
- Scissor Runs
- Suicide Jumps (squat down, jump back to a push up, stand up again)
- Push up jacks (push ups with wide feet)
Throughout the 15 drills, many of the cast members are taking breaks. It’s tough, mentally challenging, physically challenging. Shaun T would walk around the room, and often tell a cast member to take a break. At the end, everyone is exhausted. Many are on their knees, and some just roll out on the floor. I got the biggest kick from the little text prompts that says “Never stop moving”. Shaun T is lying on the floor, and then you see “Never stop moving”. It’s comical
You finish with a 1 minute water break, then you take about 4 minutes or so to cool down and stretch.
