Insanity Workout Reviews

And so it begins.

Today marks the first day of my use of the insanity workout program and I have immediately realized one thing. The workouts are really insane. I’m completed exhausted from the workout which I have just gone through and if this journal/review ends suddenly in the middle then it most probably means that I have passed out. I’ll try to stay awake long enough to recount my experience though.

My workout started out in the morning by 5.30. Liz, my wife, barely moved when I got out of bed. She’s lucky. It took me two minutes to dive into my workout gear and another 3 minutes to get my Insanity video ready. I’m starting with the “Plyometric cardio circuit” workout today. The pack announces that the workout will take 40 minutes, if all goes well I will be done before 7am. I hit the play button and the image of Shaun T hops unto the screen. He really looks impressive but that is the least of my problems. He says something about the importance of warming up and then begins a series of routines.

Most of it is familiar. We start of by doing some cardio routines. First I am ordered to jog in place long enough for me to worry about the condition of my heels. Then, Shaun T quickly switches to a couple of jumping Jacks. This is just as quickly followed by butt kicks, mummy kicks and something known as the Heisman. I’m also made to do a 1-2-3 move. The first reps of the exercise are relatively normal. But with each rotation the exercises become much faster. By the third rep I decide that I might not get to like Shaun T very much. Just before I break into tears, the warm up comes to an end and I am asked to stretch. Stretching is supposed to be important because it gets your muscles ready for the routine ahead. I am half drenched with worry already. If the warm-up was this intense what will the main workout be like?

I soon find out.

The workout is intensely hard. There is no other easy way of explaining it. It’s supposed to last about 20 minutes but it feels like the crammed an entire year of routines into it. I am asked to do power squats, mountain climbers, ski downs and suicide drills. There is a 30 second break between each rotation and then the intensity and pace of the exercises becomes even much faster.

By this time I am almost blinded in sweat and I wonder if I will need to mop the room after I am done.
Shaun T allows a brief water break (God bless his insane heart) before he is ordering me around again for another 3 and a half minutes of muscle rotation with the same routine.

There is nothing jovial about this workout. They seem determined to get me in the best of conditions in the earliest time possible. I suddenly begin to believe the whole 60 day claim. The way I am being worked I probably will look by Shaun T in three days.

We do another set, this time consisting of level 1 drills, ski abs and in-out abs. It’s understandable if you’re not familiar with these expressions. Just trust me when I say they’re terribly effective. I can feel all my muscles as they are used. I am glad when the workout routines finally come to an end. I see people collapse on the floor from exhaustion before the workout ends and I don’t blame them. I am just as exhausted. I am so tired I cannot even lift the DVD remote control to stop the Insanity video play. I lie on the floor for another 30 minutes until Liz walks in. She looks from the TV to me lying on the floor. She laughs softly to herself and walks to the kitchen. I love that woman but sometimes she makes me wonder.

So there, I’ve completed the first day of the workout and although I have 59 days ahead of me I’m already convinced that it’s bound to work. It’s only a matter of when. The exercise routines are very effective. I don’t think I have done as many jabs, cross jabs and upper cuts in my life.

Liz calls from downstairs asking me to come and help her with something.

I laugh to myself. The way I feel I won’t be much help blowing out a candle. I’ll take another 15 minutes of rest, put my insanity video away and then I must get to work.