This afternoon my Gym Cousin text me, of course he was talking about working out. I told him I had the perfect thing for us, the INSANITY workout DVD. His living room was more spacious, so we planned to meet up at his house. I showed up with a gym bag and all of my goodies. I had my yoga mat, INSANITY DVD, bottled water and my new heart rate monitor. He said you look like one of those ladies that come to your house and work you out. Umm…a personal trainer? I asked laughing. Well that’s exactly what I’m about to do!
I told him that he had to do the Fit Test and Day One to catch up with me. We moved the rug and I did the Fit Test warm-up routine with him. Then I sat down and counted his numbers for the fit test. The stuff Shaun T has you do is so outrageous that you don’t really want anyone other than a close friend or family member watching you attempt to do it. This is not for beginners, I repeat this is not for beginners! My cousin goes to the gym seven days a week and was sweating profusely before he collapsed onto the floor just as I had warned him that I did.
I let him recuperate for a little while and then I put on my heart rate monitor so that we could do day one together. Day One is the The Plyometric Cardio Circuit, whatever that means. I wasn’t really sure what to expect after the Fit Test kicked my butt. After about five minutes I was already sweating as if I had run a mile on the treadmill. We both wondered how in the world we would get through 45 minutes of this insanity. (Pun intended.)
I mean there was crazy stuff that neither of us have even seen before like crisscross jumping Jacks. Today I watched the heart rate monitor a little closer because the DVD had verbal reminders to check every so often. When I got to the point that I felt a little woozy, I checked the heart rate monitor and I was at my max. When you’re dealing with this type of strenuous work out you really have to listen to your body, and if you’re not accustomed to monitoring your Rate of Perceived Exertion, it should be mandatory that you have a heart rate monitor so that you don’t over exert yourself. I think the participants in the DVD are actually machines dressed up in human costumes. I don’t know if real people can actually move that fast. Additionally they should put out a disclaimer for people who have bad knees or a bad back. There is lots of jumping and lots of squatting and lunges. Luckily, I’ve taken enough group aerobics classes to know how to do the low impact versions of these exercises. Instead of jumping into a squat, I can take a big stride to the right and then sit into a squat.
That would be my main complaint with this program, there was no low impact version for someone who is more of a beginner, or has knee pain. I know it’s designed to be a difficult routine, but they know that beginners are going to watch the late night infomercial want to try it. Adding a low impact option would help limit the horror stories I’ve heard about Insanity injuries. I adjusted nearly every exercise to lower impact version so as not to injure myself. And I showed my cousin how to do low impact versions of the exercises that gave him difficulty.
Around the 25 minute mark we were both exhausted and sweat was literally dripping to the floor. My cousin said “I wouldn’t even want anyone at the gym to see me sweating this much.” I had to agree, it was that gross soaked through the shirt, I-know-I-better-be-skinny-after-this type of sweat. I jokingly told him we would need to mop the floor when we finished. Yuck! …I kept tinkering with the new heart rate monitor and somehow accidentally stopped it during the routine. We continued and encouraged each other through the last minutes of squats, jumping jacks, Heisman runs and push-ups. Finally it was over! I was glad I wasn’t at home doing it alone because I probably definitely would’ve quit after about 25 minutes when the sweat started rolling down my forehead and into my nose. We have plans to go at it again soon. The monitor said I burned about 400 calories. I feel like it should have been more. Now that I know how to work the heart rate monitor properly, hopefully next time I will have a more accurate reading!
That Fit Test is something else! My little brother and I have been challenging one another and he bought me this workout. It is definately a workout I will only let he or my husband see me do. Lol. My high knees are pitiful! Lol. It’s great to see you meeting this challenge. I was doing the workout today and when I hit my ‘I wanna quit’ moment I thought about you and pushed through it. Thanks for the motivation to exhaust myself with this Insanity!
HEY DD GIRL! Good to hear from you! It so nice to do it with a workout buddy. We can do this! Thanks for checking in.