Insanity – Plyometric Cardio Circuit

As promised, I will be giving the low down on my experience with my 60 day Insanity Challenge! Not only will this keep me accountable, but it will also provide a little glimpse into the workout life of a 50 (almost 51) year old that refuses to give into the “gravity” changes that nature is trying to force upon me!

In a nut shell… Insanity is a program that forces you to dig deeper and go beyond your comfort zone. Shaun T challenges you, and encourages you to reach down and give just a little bit more each time that you want to give up. He uses aerobic and anaerobic intervals in the total-body conditioning programs to build your fitness base. The program is known for it’s Max Interval Training. This means that you exercise with maximum intensity followed by short periods of rest. This will allow you to beat the “stress adaptation response”. You will be exercising at 80% or more of your heart rate maximum capacity which forces your body to use fast-twitch muscle fibers that are not normally engaged in cardio exercise. The fast-twitch fibers then keep burning extra fuel even during lower-intensity exercise….. all of this then allows you to experience faster increases in fitness and more efficient burning of carbohydrates and fat. (I like burning fat!)

In this first month there are 5 total-body cardio conditioning workouts. You work out 6 days a week for about 30 to 40 minutes per day.

The first day you do the Fit Test. This is important so that you can monitor your progress. It is a series of one minute exercises to measure your fitness level.

The first workout is Plyometric Cardio Circuit - You will do explosive cardio intervals for approximately 40 minutes by burning fat with intervals of intense lower-body plyo and sweat-inducing cardio. (Shaun T does an awesome job of warming you up and cooling you down also). The moves were not difficult, but the level of intensity was. He encourages you to monitor your heart rate and modify to avoid injury. Each series of drills is done 3 times. I will admit that by the third one I was using everything I had to get through. I did stop briefly to rest, and had to do less reps, but even with the modifications, I got a great workout! I was definitely a sweaty mess at the end!!! I can definitely see how this workout will help you to get stronger, more fit and lose weight!

The Insanity Nutrition Plan - This is very easy to follow and versatile enough to make it work no matter how busy your schedule is. It consists of 5 meals per day. The plan helps you to figure out how many calories you should be using each day, and how to tweak it if you want to lose more weight, or need more energy.

All in all… I love it so far! I have actually completed two other workouts and will posting about those soon!

Contact me if you have questions! I am an Independent Beachbody Coach and I am here to help you reach your health and fitness goals! Email me at lifechangingfitnessplan@gmail.com or you can send me a message below… and there’s always Facebook!