Core Cardio and Balance

Hey America, sorry this is so late.  I meant to get this out last Tuesday, but as you can see, that didn't happen.  Anywhos, as the title implies, last week was all about working the core and improving balance.  It's dubbed "Recovery Week" but I encourage you to take that with a grain of salt since this is Insanity we're talking about.  The purpose of this "Recovery Week" is to give your muscles a rest from all the straining from the month before while still moving around and getting your heart rate up.  Mission accomplished.

Shaun T says you're not supposed to be completely spent by the end of the workout (oh the lies we tell ourselves), you def still get a good sweat in.  Some of the moves are still the same, but they're done at a slower pace and there's much more time to rest between each set, which is why I was surprised I did so much sweating.  Everything is done for 1 min, except for this crazy hip flexor thing we have to do.  I literally said to myself, "this is insane.  it's not even possible to do this", and I was partially right since even the Insanity minions weren't able to do it.  I guess that makes it OK since we're all failures.

The Workout

There's really not much to report this time around.  The routine itself is simple:  37 min total, 12 min of warm-up & stretching, 20 min of actual workout, 5 min of stretching at the end.  You do a lot of jabs, which are a surprisingly good ab workout if you do them correctly.  Even though this is focusing on the core, there aren't any crunches or designated ab movements, like crunches or anything.  A lot of the workout is working your core through balance movements.  Very crafty...I like.  I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get bored with doing the same routine for 6 days straight.  Although admittedly, I'm certainly glad I don't have to do it anymore.

The hardest part of the entire workout were hip flexor burners and shoulder burners you do at the end - those were the ones the minions couldn't do.  Matter of fact, Shaun T doesn't do them either...

Shaun, why put moves in your workout if no one (including yourself) can do them?!?!

Anywhos, I put an honest effort into keeping up with minions counting since one, the shoulder exercise will help with the push ups and two, the hip flexors work the lower abs.  Wasn't at all successful at this until maybe 4-5 days into it (don't judge).

Improvements.  Real Ones

One of the things I've found myself improving on are the level 1 and  level 2 drills.  Personally, I think Shaun T does the count for the push ups entirely too fast, although I'd be willing to bet men probably wouldn't have an issue with that (see level 2 link).  Hope that doesn't sound too sexist.  If it does, that's because you probably secretly agree.  I know I could do more push ups if Shaun T didn't count so fast, but whatevs...some push ups are better than no push ups.  I'm just glad I've gotten to the point where I can do the entire push up segment without stopping.  Baby steps.

Today starts the beginning of month 2, aka what I like to call "The Month of Death" since that's when all the "max" things start.  I take the 3rd fit test tomorrow along with the first workout of month 2 so I'll update you guys on that.  I know there will be improvements.  They may not be as big as the ones from test 1 to test 2, but I'm sure they'll be some just the same.  I'm excited for this next month; I want to start sweating really hard again.  And I'm excited for the (hopefully) new moves we'll be doing.  I should probably start writing some of these down in preparation for my much anticipated return to the gym...

30 more days of this, boys 'n' girls.  The end is in sight.  I'm looking forward to getting my free t-shirt at the end of all this.  Love me some free t-shirts...