INSANITY: Cardio Recovery

Yep, that’s right, it is Day 4 of (Shaun T’s Birthday Challenge) INSANITY which means Cardio Recovery!

Holla! Time to stretch! My brain and body were thinking - ‘yay finally’.

Length: 33 minutes
Equipment: yoga mat (recommended)

There is no 'cardio’ involved, however, I still sweat doing the stretching/poses/moves/ShaunT magic butt-kicking stuff. He does not call it Yoga, but there is a P90X yoga, and if there were an INSANITY Yoga this would be it.

Newsflash: the music is not insane - it is suave. :)

Warm Up:

This is about 3 minutes of breathing and stretching (not 10 minutes of crazy cardio) that Shaun T uses in the rest of the program for stretching - so they should seem familiar. The next 6 minutes is plank work and one-leg pulses. It’ll get your upper body warmed up - especially considering Shaun T makes you do 'pulses’.

Talk about lighting the quads and bum on fire. He says:

'Breathe through the stretch.’

IM BREATHING SHAUN T!

Squats:

Oh yeah, good for the boooooooty. These are great and you think it will be a breeze… wait… this is Shaun T. Nothing is a breeze.

You do 16 slow squats and then have to hold the last one for what seems like forever. I am pretty sure I remember having to come out of the squat when I first started INSANITY to give my leg(s) a break. This is because Shaun T gives you no break during these squats.

He goes over to Tonya (pictured on the right) and you can tell she is trying not to come out of the squat. At this point, Shaun T has you do 16 pulses and my note says:

I want to fall over.

I recommend taking deep breaths which physically releases the burning pain in my legs (I can feel it work) so I can move onto…

…16 slow lunges which Shaun T makes you hold at the end for what seems like forever and my butt and legs feel like they are on fiaaaaaaaaah. I think I could literally see them turning red. Grrrrrarrrrr. Oh, hey, then do 16 fast pulses.

As he says:

’Feelin’ the burn’. You think?

Then, you do 16 fast squats in the middle into 30 seconds of quick pulses with a hold at the end, of course.

Since you have two legs - you repeat the lunges on the other side.

After this he has you do some plie squats with one arm up in the air and then you switch sides (without coming out of the squat). Yeah, I’m now a ballet dancer and I’m starting to feel beads of sweat. What is going on? I thought this was recovery? :) Note:

I am going to have to recover from the recovery.

Meh.

Quad Strengtheners:

Eeek. Hurts so good? This includes 4 minutes of quad and oblique strengtheners and these moves are unique - just like Shaun T. Oh, you want to do something you have seen before? No, I don’t think so.

You start with all fours on the ground, then press your knees up so only hands and toes are on the ground, then put your leg back and pulse for 16. Then switch.

'It’s not cardio, it’s control’. Ha, well, I may fight that it is both. :)

Then, you do the same thing but your knee comes to your shoulder to work the obliques.

Cool Down:

The last 8 or 9 minutes are left to more yoga stretches and cool down stretches. These are positions designed to strengthen your hip flexors, flexibility, and stability.

My quads are on fire at this point but I got this…

There are a couple balance exercises like hugging your knee and checking out your biceps (that’s what I call it).

Then, you hold your knee to the side to open up the groin and try not to wobble to the ground. Note to self: do not try to take notes on phone while doing this move.

You do some hamstring stretches, hip openers and then you are done.

Shaun T ends it:

“I’m here for you, I’m Shaun T, peace out’.

Final Thoughts:

I sweat. I am pretty sure I sweat while barely moving so this was no surprise. However these moves were not easy so my body was like 'whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’?
It was nice to let my body 'recover’ and work slowly through the muscles even though they were screaming from the pulses/holds.
Do not skip this workout - it is necessary for your muscles to slowly (for lack of a better term) breathe.

I had a visitor at the end:

Since this was not a cardio workout, I burnt around 162 calories (shown below) and changed the writing on my chalkboard. :) If you cannot see it, it says 'PUSH YOURSELF! This shit is bananas’.

You can see the details at Garmin Connect.

Normal people should do this Cardio Recovery and call it a day, however, I am adding running to my training and I did a little bit of it afterwards. (I was not dying from cardio like the other days and the hubby was home to play with the daughter). Remember, your body needs time to recover/rest but you know your body best and how far you can push it.

I put on my running clothes and shoes and told the hubby I was 'off to run away from some zombies’. He told me to bring back some good supplies. Shooooot pahhhlease.

I ran further than last time (always a goal to increase distance) and picked up more supplies this time! Take that Zombies. If you want to read more about the Zombies! Run app that I use, read this.

Hey look! I picked up a sports bra. That’s important. :)

Then, I finally figured out how to allocate my supplies to my town and increase population. :) I’m slowly getting there! The hubster had to help me drag the supply to the spots in the town. OooHhhh.

Since the sun was out, I should have had some sunglasses. It is 65 degrees (now) but was a bit chilly in the morning. Here’s my final burn - 276 calories.

Don’t forget, you can see the details at Garmin Connect.

Today was not a 'cardio’ day of INSANITY, but I will still give you my meals. *Today, I did not have to work so it ends earlier (around 11pm).

10:30am Breakfast: Same as usual!

8 egg whites (finally measured) w/ season all + a sprinkle mixed cheese
Thin whole wheat bagel with almond butter
Water

12pm Lunch:

1 Jennie-O extra-lean turkey burger on wheat 80 cal bun with a pineapple slice, low fat provolone, a few pieces of luttuce and mustard.
Penne wheat pasta mixed with a dash of olive oil and sprinkle of cheese (made for my daughter).
Strawberries and mangos.
Water