Body Beast: Beast Cardio / Beast Abs

My alarm went off this morning - I woke up, - decided I was too sore to move - and laid in bed for about 20 minutes.

I finally rolled out of bed, popped a caffeine pill, and headed to my workout room to do Day 4 of Body Beast: Beast: Cardio!

Length: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: Bench (can be optional) & weights

Warm-Up:

Before the warm-up, Sagi says:

‘Forget about walking on the treadmill for two hours. Cardio with THE BEAST. So let’s get beasty’.

The warm-up is 1:45 minutes of high knees, hip circles, reverse lunges, side squats, sumo squats, and some more high knees. Quick - but that is acceptable for a 'cardio’ workout. :)

These guys have such big muscles that it looks like giant balls of marshmallow sumo men trying to squat.

Workout (28:30 minutes):

Squat to Overhead Press + Hold: You hold a weight in each hand - start with them right above your shoulders - squat and then stand up while pushing the weights overhead.

You do this for 20 second increments and then you hold the squat for 10 seconds at the end. This is done a total of three times. You start to feel the burn - I won’t lie. I am not used to 'cardio’ having weight work (at least not to this extent).

Toe Tap: Using the bench (or a chair), you alternate tapping your feet on top. The idea is to do this as quickly as possible. At first, I used my chair. When I decided that was ridiculously high, laughed hysterically at the idea of being able to do that quickly, I switched to the dumbbell.

Like the guy on the right:

Beast quotes worth sharing:

'Tap, tap, tap, tap. One minute.. is a long time. …Pop, pop, pop, pop… you’ve got 14 seconds. What is 14 seconds? It is nothing!’

'I want you to give me a 10. I don’t expect a 6 or 5. For me, it’s not good enough.’

Squat to Jump Squat + Hold: This is two half-squats with a jump in between. You hold the squat every 20 seconds. This is also done a total of three times. I started to feel like I was doing Plyometrics from P90X. I am pretty sure I was jumping higher than the guys.

Sagi crazy-quote:

'If you screw up - if you don’t do it right - I’m gonna’ take you to time out.’

Mountain Climber + Row + Plank: Starting in a plank position - dumbbells under your hands on the floor - do mountain climbers (knees quickly alternating into chest). After 20 seconds - do a row in which the you alternate the weights to the ceiling. Hold plank 10 seconds. This is all done two times. Ooooooooooeeeeee! This works the shoulders and abs.

Sumo Squat + Hold: You hold a dumbbell under your chin and squat with your knees pointing out at 45 degrees. You squat for 20 seconds and then hold a squat for 10 seconds at the end. This is repeated three times. I used a 15lb dumbbell.

Weighted Burpee + Stretch: With the dumbbells in your hands on the floor - jump your legs back so you are in a plank position - jump feet back to hands - and stand up with weight in hands. After 30 seconds you put the weights down and do a leg stretch. You do this again and do the opposite leg/arm at the end. (This will wear you out - especially doing it all over again which I did).

Plyo Pushup + Hold: Starting in a plank position, you slowly lower to the floor. When pushing back up - you press quickly and your hands come off the floor. EEK! After 20 seconds of this awesomeness, you hold the low plank for 10 seconds. This is all done three times. I won’t lie - I fell to my knees eventually. At least there was no clapping of the hands in the middle.

During these, Sagi says:

'You get tired? That’s alright. You can hold it.’

Sumo Jump: You squat into the sumo position and then jump your feet in and out. The idea is to do this as fast as you can with correct form. At first I was like - yeah, I got this! Then, I realized he was going as fast as he can. It is awfully funny to watch but you will feel it! :)

Sagi asks the guy if he is 'feelin’ it’. He answers yes. Sagi says:

'If you can talk, then you not feelin’ it!’. Hahaha.

Squat to Upright Row + Hold: You hold light weights between your legs with straight arms. You squat with your legs and then row the weights up into an upright row as you stand. After 20 seconds, you hold the row for 10 seconds. You do this three times. I used 8lb dumbbells and it worked my shoulders.

Alternating Lunge Jumps + Hold: Starting in a lunge position, you jump and land in a lunge position with the other leg forward. After doing this for 20 seconds, you hold the lunge for 10 seconds. You repeat this again and hold the opposing leg lunge for 10 seconds. The guy in the video (on our left) is hilarious to watch. He has issues holding lunges/moves.

Plank Press-Up + Hold: You will start in the plank position you slowly go down into the push-up onto one elbow, then both elbows, and come back up one arm at a time. This lasts 20 seconds with a 10 second hold at the end. This is done three times! It is a move found in INSANITY Cardio Abs. :)

Plank + Twist + Sprint: You hold the plank position and alternate your knees to your shoulders and then twisting them under your chest. This happens quickly. You do this for 8 reps and then you get your butt up and run as fast as you can for 20 seconds. You get to do this a total of three times.Eventually, I started doing circles as I was running (for fun).

Of course, The Beast had to say:

'I can feel The Beast. One on one with the chosen one… RIGHT NOW!’

Cool Down:

This is 2 minutes of stretching (and allowing your heart rate to come down). You will stretch each leg while trying to touch your toes, stretch the quads, and do a lunge on each side. It is quick!

At the end, he says:

'BEAST OUT! …did you just take a shower? Why you sweating so bad? I can smell it too.’

After these 30 minutes, I burnt around 287 calories. I will admit, I drank a little water a few times. :)

Then, I needed to do Beast: Abs.

Length: 11 minutes
Equipment needed: mat & 1 weight

You get right into it…

Workout (10:30 minutes):

Crunch: 20 reps - crunch with knees up. I have not done a 'normal crunch’ in a while.

Russian Twist: 20 reps - any weight - leaning back, knees back and feet off the floor - twist side to side - touch elbows to floor. I chose a 12lb dumbbell and it was challenging.

Hip Up: Laying flat on floor - legs straight and feet facing ceiling - lift legs towards ceiling without moving torso. These are self-explanatory
Crossed Tuck-In: With your legs crossed and on the floor - you crunch your legs in and engage abs. There is a beginner (hands on ground) and advanced option (the one you see below).

Cobra: Laying face-down on the floor - raise up using your back muscles. I realized I can bend further up/back than these boys.

Spiderman Crunch: In a plank position - bring your knees to your elbows - works the obliques! It is also a move found in INSANITY Cardio Abs.

Bucket Drop: This is just like the previous move, but your knee comes up, you drop your body and your knee is out towards the side. It is quite intense but does not last long.

One Arm Open Plank: You will start in plank - one hand holding a weight and the other supporting yourself on the floor. You lift the arm and weight off the floor and twist so they are pointing towards the ceiling. You do 10 reps for each side and try not to fall backwards.

Windshield Wiper: Lay on back - arms to side - legs straight - feet facing ceiling - let legs fall side to side but without touching the ground. You do this quickly and alternate sides. I, apparently, was dropping my legs too far to the ground.

Beast Abs: While in the same position (laying on your back) you spell 'BEAST’ with your legs. Hahaha. THEN YOU DO IT BACKWARDS. I thought he couldn’t count backwards…

He does say - 'I hope you went to school that day’.

Final Thoughts:

At the end of this, I had burnt about 370 calories (including Cardio). Not too bad. I would burn around 500 or so during INSANITY Pure Cardio + Abs.
There are several breaks/rests between moves. I am not used to this.

Since I had no one to take photos during Cardio the first time AND I wanted to burn more calories for today, I decided to just do the whole thing again (it was only 30 minutes).

I am less sore than I was yesterday and the day before - so that’s good! This workout may have helped stretch some muscles. However, it still incorporated quite a bit of plyometrics and weight lifting.
Going into this workout blindly (never having done it), I was pleasantly surprised.

Happy Wednesday to everyone! Day 4 - complete. I apologize for the length of this post - this was for two workouts technically! :)

Bethany OUT! Just kidding. But seriously.