INSANITY: Max Interval Circuit + Fit Test

FIRST OF ALL: My heart goes out to the people involved with the Boston Marathon. It makes me angry and sad to watch the news unravel to reveal the horrible explosions, deaths, and casualties.

This is such a large event for our country. I am angry at the people responsible and feel horrible for those involved, hurt, families with lost loved ones, and racers that trained years for this race… just to run to this ending.

Today I left behind ‘Month 1’ AND 'Recovery Week’ and started Month 2 of INSANITY.

I am insane.

First, I had to do the 28 minute Fit Test (which is a day’s workout itself basically) to prove to myself that I have improved.

For the record: It was EXTREMELY hard to beat my last Fit Test’s numbers. As I was doing this, I was thinking,

'What the heck was I on?’

Here are my numbers:

I improved in each category, but most of them were frantic quick moves at the end of the minute (as Shaun T was counting down). The hardest ones were the suicide jumps (I felt like I could not go any faster) and push-up jacks.

Here was my motivational board (I think I may have spit sweat on it at one point) and calorie burn. My previous numbers are on the left and I wrote the current ones to the right (as I completed them) - at least my shaky hands tried to do so.

Then, after some water guzzling, random staring off at the walls, contemplation of kicking something, hating Tonia, and a bathroom break….

I pressed play on Max Interval Circuit.

Length: 59 minutes
Equipment needed: none

Do you see the picture on the DVD? If that does not excite you… :)

Warm-up

Before the warm-up even starts Shaun T says:

'Are you ready to get insane? This is Max Interval Circuit and it’s gonna kick your butt!’ Oh…well that’s fun. (Keep in mind I’m sweating my butt off from the Fit Test before).

The warm-up should seem fairly similar and is about 10 minutes. It is three rounds - the first two are 4 minutes and the last is 2 minutes (you do the same moves as hard as you can and for a shorter time). The moves are:

Jog - Oh hey, I can do this.
Jumping Jacks with Arms Up - Typical, Shaun, let’s do the jacks but punch the air with our fists. He eventually yells out,

'I’m here to train you and kick your butt today and I’m not playin’!’ He wasn’t lying…

1-2-3 Heisman - Gettin’ fancy with it.

Jump Rope Side to Side - This is new and fun. It’s like I am in Jump for Heart again except - without the rope. Work the obliques!
High Knees with your Arms Out - Well these suck. I am pretty sure I looked like Gumby and getting my knees hip level is a challenge.

Switch Kicks - These are always fun. I try to keep my pace up and steady but sometimes it becomes a slow movement. Only a monkey with symbols could keep this up steadily.
Hit the Floor - Fail. My worst enemy. At least I can do them faster than during Recovery Week.

Here are my switch kicks. Don’t let the smile fool you - I was insane with exhaustion. :)

Side to Side Floor Hops - This is new too. It’s time to pretend you are a a gymnast but try not to do a summersault. Use the obliques while kicking your feet up in the air from side to side. Really, you just have to see it.

Here! Poof! You can see it. Basically, in the second and third round I was just hoping my opposing leg would follow the leading. There were times it looked like a circus move.

Basically, the whole warm-up I was thinking - 'Are you kidding me?' During the last round of the warm-up I was basically dying and wondering where I was right now. WHERE AM I?!

Shaun T quotes:

'You might not have a six pack like that yet. But they’re there.’ Grunt.

'PUSH. And keep going’.

After the warm-up and during the 30 second water break:

'It’s not that long of a break! I want you to hydrate yourself!’

Shit.

Stretch

This lasts about 5 minutes and should seem familiar. Sweat is dripping into my eyeballs and mouth by this time. Yummy. You do things like hip flexor stretches, hamstring stretches, yoga moves and thigh extensions.

I recommend using this time to sweat, drink water before and after, and 'get deep’ into the stretch to avoid injury. During this water break, Shaun says:

'You gotta be in it, you gotta be ready’.

The notes in my phone read:

'Need to cut hair off’.

'WTF’.

'Over 170 calories burnt already’.

Pretty sure that’s all I could get out.

First Circuit

There are about 39 minutes left after the warm-up and stretch. Considering that Month 1 workouts were this length, you have to keep thinking - I can do this - I have made it this far.

The circuits in this workout last for three rounds and they have the same four moves. The first round is 4 minutes and the second and third are 3 minutes (with a bonus minute of a new move after the third round).

Pedal/Power Lunges - These are familiar and work the booty. The important thing to remember here is to do a lunge - not a little bitty booty bend.

Ski Abs/Jacks/In & Out/Oblique - Well, kill me now. First, you have to figure out the sequence and then you have to do it. I was at an advantage here because I have done INSANITY before. As Shaun was demonstrating I was laughing out loud and shaking my head. Are you kidding me? (In the picture below I think the people are thinking the same thing). No, he wasn’t.

Power Strike - YAY! I get to punch towards the floor. I pretend like there is something I am angry at on the floor and hit it. FTR: the last round doing these was hard to get off the floor from the previous move and start punching. My hair was in my face, I was sweating, and it probably looked like slow motion. It was quiet and you could tell Shaun T was tired. It basically turned into a free for all.

Shaun quotes!

'See that power? Act like you got a bag down there’.

'Max interval. That means as many as you can do in the 45 seconds I give you.’

'He’s hurting my hand. I’m leaving him now.’

'Damn, she hurting my hand. Hope you’re punching this hard’. Giggle.

Frog Jumps - These are not too bad. However, by the second and third round it basically turns into a flail jump. Quote:

'Damn, I’m sweatin’. I need to wipe with my shirt.’ Lulz. Why you wearing a shirt Shaun? Shoot.

'Butt down. Butt down.’ My butt is down!

After the third round you do Football Runs/Cross Jacks for a minute. Sure, Shaun T, we got this. END THIS CIRCUIT already! :) Everyone basically looked like they were dying and I felt like I was tap dancing in circles.

WATER BREAK!

'You gotta keep focus. Don’t just stop. Keep moving’.

Well said. Let me drink my water first (that basically went down my face instead of in my mouth).

Second Circuit

Hook Jumps - You do 4 hook punches high and then bend down to do 4 low. Then, you do four high jumps. Ouch. It gets tiring jumping high for so long.

High Knees with Twist - These should only be done quickly and with elbows tucked. Work the abs. The hardest thing about this move is getting straight into it after the previous move and getting your knees up.

Check out my wicked hair movement.

High-Low Jab with Squat - Hey hey! More punching - except this time, you punch something high and then something low and switch.

Floor Switch Kick - Crap. These are fun…. not. You are on the floor with your arms back and kick your leg up into the air and switch to the other leg. This is the move where I see the sweat puddling on my abs. Gross. During the last round, Shaun joins Anna and then stops.

'Should I get back in there wichu?’ Excuse for a break Shaun T?!

After the third round you do 1-2-3 Jab Across for a minute. This is somewhat of a heart rate deflater which is good because one might be having a heart attack at this point. I like them because it works the shoulders.

Third Circuit

This is the only circuit that does not have the extra minute of a new move after the third round - YAY! The first round is 4 minutes and the last two are 3 minutes.

Side Suicide Jumps - Who invented this? These are suicides but your feet go out to the side. Madness. I watched Shaun demonstrate and just shook my head. At one point he says,

'I can’t talk that much during this’. Yeah, I agree. MEH!

Squat Hooks - You jump side to side into a squat while doing a slow hook with your arm (elbow comes to the front).

'Boom. See those abs completely engaged. See the butt go down.“

Then, Shaun asks Anthony how to get through it, he answers - 'Gotta focus. Listen to this guy. He’s a monster’.

'No matter how in shape you are I just want you to get as many as you can’.

'I’m smiling because I love killin’ it. I love killin’ Akil.’ (Who is laying on the floor in a ball). Ha, funny.

Full Body Drill - Drop to plank, run in place 8 times, walking push-ups, do 8 wide knees, then run in place. Suck.

Plank Punches - While in plank position you punch straight out and alternate arms. During one round:

'I don’t know how she’s laughin’. It hurts.’

'Fall out fall out fall out’. Haha, it was like a tap out - it was intense.

'THIS IS YOUR LAST EXERCISE!’ This was my favorite screaming Shaun moment and during the last round. It helped me keep punching.

During these I was thinking - 'I should have taken my ring off.’ Not for Shaun T (even though he’s lovely) - because it was getting in the way (it has been rolling around my finger lately).

At the end of this, people are laying on the ground and I was on my knees.

'I can’t believe it’s possible.’

Jeff does some kind of b-boy spin move on the ground and pops up to his legs which pisses off the blonde girl next to him. It is quite hilarious.

'No matter where you are. If you’re layin’ on your couch, layin’ in the garage, I don’t know where you’re laying. I want you to focus, come back to reality, we’re here. That’s why it’s called INSANITY’.

Sweat. Peel off floor. I DID IT!

Cool Down

This is about 3 minutes and I spent this time sweating out of my eyeballs. Congrats - you survived your first Max Interval workout!!

Final Thoughts

I wonder if I can get sweat out of the carpet.
I need to eat breakfast.
Hair is stuck to my neck and the entire pony part is soaked - it is a workout like this that makes me consider cutting it off.
That was insane for sure. I remember the 'max’ workouts now. 'Extra long’ - is what they should be called. Or 'Cardio on high’.
Thanks goodness I will not have to follow a Fit Test with a Max workout for awhile.
I yelled a few times during circuits - I am sure the hubby and my daughter thought I was insane.

I burnt about 300 calories during the Fit Test and 700 during this Max workout. That is 1,000 calories in 1.5 hours. (You can click the FR photos to see the details in Garmin Connect.)
My legs are sore.
I have a 5K in 5 days. Crap.
This workout is fantastic, torches calories, and is truly INSANE! :)