Day 11

DVD - Cardio Recovery

There's not a whole lot to say about the Cardio Recovery days. They aren't a challenge. My body and my will power appreciate this. It's nice to have a break from the Insanity.

It’s not that the workout is easy. It’s not. Some of the moves require balancing on one foot for upwards of a minute, but in a way that pulls a lot on your hamstrings and quads. You are also expected to maintain slightly stressed squat positions which again require a lot of balance and pull on your hamstrings and quads. I must confess I can’t always hold the positions for the duration of the stretch, particularly when moving from one intense hamstring-quad stretch combination to another. I am happy to report, however, that my balance seems to have improved greatly in the last 11 days. Before Insanity, there were moves in Tae Bo that required balance and I struggled with them every time. Today, I can stand on one foot and hold that position for much longer than I ever could with Tae-Bo and I do not have to work extra hard to do so.


One area I’d really like to work on is my flexibility, particularly in my groin and hips, so that I can do something approximating the splits. At the moment, if I try to do the splits from a seated position, I am only able to open my legs wide enough that they form just over a 90 degree angle. If I start from a standing position, I can get the angle between my legs greater than 90 degrees, but not by much. If I try to push beyond this, if feels like I’m going to tear some vital muscle or tendon in my legs, especially in my thighs. I notice my flexibility improves from one end of the cardio videos to the next, but not so much during the Cardio Recovery DVD. From what I understand, the difference is the workout. Once you've warmed up your muscles, they are more inclined to stretch farther.

Day 4 - An Unexpected Break

DVD - Cardio Recovery

The welcome insert says "Don't get your hopes up - it isn't the recovery you're expecting. But it should help you prepare your body and muscles for more Insanity"

They were half right. It wasn't what I was expecting, but "hopes"? I wasn't exactly jumping with joy over what I was expecting.

I was expecting it would be a toned down cardio workout - or, because it's Insanity, something crazy. Instead it was a bunch of stretching, slow resistance moves, and even some yoga poses. This DVD is designed to stretch the whole body with extra focus on hips, quads, hamstrings, groin and arms/shoulders. No warm up or cool down, just a methodical working of the body.

My favorite new move was primarily for the glutes but also works your abs, quads & arms/shoulders. You start with your hands and knees on the floor in bench position. Your hands on the ground should be under your shoulders. Then raise your knees 5 or 6 inches from the ground, so you are balancing on your toes but putting most of your weight on your arms. Now extend a leg backward so that your leg and back are in a straight line and pulse the leg 8 times. Repeat with the other leg. Then you do it again but with 16 pulses for each leg.

I was sore today before the stretch session, but not as sore as I thought I would be last night when I was walking like a duck and it also felt like I was less sore than I'd been when I woke up the morning after Plyo. Now that I'm all stretched out, I'm feeling even better. I can skip the soak in the tub.

There really isn't much else to say. The workout was pretty straight-forward and not a challenge for me. I'll do this one once a week, every Thursday. With the rest day on Sunday, that means I'll never have more than 3 consecutive nights of intense cardio every week.

Tomorrow I get to do Pure Cardio - "intense and extreme cardio all the way - no rest!"

Oh JOY!

I think maybe Shaun is a sadist: tease me with an easy one before kicking my ass harder than ever.

Who wants to be my lifeline in case I need someone to come scrape me off the floor?