4th Day in July + 4 Weeks of Insanity {Video}

Hello, friends! I missed you this weekend!

I spent my weekend up north in Minnesota, completely unplugged from technology and basking in the sunshine off Bay Lake. It was a really great time! Bobby’s cousin has a cabin and everyone gathered there for a weekend of lake activities, everything from kayaking and tubing to board games and lake baseball. I don’t have pictures of everything quite yet, but here’s a fun group shot.

Can you spot me like Where’s Waldo? 😉

Bobby and I are in the second row, surrounded by cousins, brothers, sisters-in-laws, aunts, uncles and parents. Oh, and Murphy the dog, of course!

It was a very “busy but relaxing” weekend. Before I left for Minnesota, I took a representative food picture to show my holiday spirit for all of you. A very delicious combination of red, white and blue.

Chobani Greek yogurt was on sale for the week, along with fresh blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. There was no way I was passing up such a delicious opportunity to be festive!

A phenomenal breakfast, indeed. This week I am going to make a more concentrated effort to document my meals for all of you – and myself! The biggest reason for this? I’ve started Month Two of Insanity and it has gotten even more intense. It’s always interesting for me to note how my appetite changes when I exercise a lot. Usually, I get even more hungry, so this ought to get interesting. 😉

Speaking of Insanity, I promised you a Month One recap, didn’t I? Time to make good on that!

First, the written review. As you could probably gather from the other posts where I’ve mentioned Insanity, I really have enjoyed it so far. There’s nothing that has been able to motivate me so deeply since I was a stressed out college kid using exercise to avoid studying. 😉 In all seriousness, I have not missed a workout to date – and I have not wanted to.

The latter is what I see as the biggest success, since I know that exercise is healthy and needed for my body – but I haven’t always wanted to do it. Instead, it was more like I felt I had to do it, but Insanity has removed that part for me. I wake up craving my next workout and love knowing that I’m going to feel incredibly accomplished once I’m finished. It motivates me to try harder and make improvements.

In Month One, I faced challenges to my endurance and upper body strength. Push-ups have always been a struggle for me, but I plowed through as much as I could and have seen definite improvement. Here is my review of the DVDs from the first four weeks of Insanity – plus the workout from recovery week five.

Dig Deeper & Fit Test: The fit test was approximately 30 minutes long and has been essential as a measuring tool. It was the very first DVD I did when I started Insanity, and the program asks you to do it again 2 weeks and 1 month later to test how much you’ve improved. I love watching the numbers for each “test” go up – everything from push-ups to power jumps. It’s a great motivator!

Plyometric Cardio Circuit: This was the first workout of the program and definitely one I looked forward to every time. It was approximately 40 minutes long and featured several sets of plyometric intervals, moves such as jump squats, basketball drills (where you pretend that you’re shooting and squat down to pick up the ball) and Level 1 Drills, which were by far the hardest for me. They involve push-ups and plank runs, which together are no easy feat! But I improved dramatically by the end.

Cardio Power & Resistance: Bobby and I did this workout outside a few times – we have an area near our apartment that makes for a good mock gym – and really liked it. It takes squats to a whole new level with power jacks, power jumps, vertical jumps and more. There were also a lot of push-up and arm resistance moves, which I loved. This DVD also ran for roughly 40 minutes.

Pure Cardio: All I have to say for this one is that when Bobby and I first did it, we sprawled out on the floor for a good 5-10 minutes afterward! I knew I was in trouble when we were stretching and Shaun T. said, “is anyone else really nervous for this workout?” Essentially, it’s a 40 minute DVD with 20-25 minutes straight of nothing but cardio moves at a full sprint speed. Bobby nearly made it through the entire routine once – and I could go 3/4 of the way without needing a small break for water. This was a success, in my opinion, since Shaun T. emphasizes form and made people take breaks in the video when they weren’t performing at 100% effort. A true cardio workout until the end.

Cardio Abs: This 16 minute abs workout was tagged on at the end of a few of our Pure Cardio workouts in weeks three and four. It’s a really great ab workout that involves absolutely no traditional crunches, but incorporates every aspect of your abdominal muscles, from obliques to upper and lower abs and everything in between. You do both standing moves and moves on a mat to really tone everything. It could get pretty exhausting after Pure Cardio, but it was totally worth it.

Cardio Recovery: This 30-40 minute DVD made me laugh every time. You start by doing some stretching and think that it’s truly going to be an enjoyable 40 minutes. Then all of the sudden, you’re holding lunge and squat positions for 30 seconds and doing 16+ pulses as you “dig deeper” into the stretch. At one point, Shaun T. says, “but it’s not cardio – it’s control” and I burst out laughing. It may not be cardio, but it is by no means an easy recovery workout and I was still soaked when it was over!

Core Cardio & Balance: This was the final DVD in the first month and was required for six days in a row during the recovery week five. It was still plenty difficult – especially the very end when we pushed our hip flexors, glutes and shoulders to the limit with controlled, targeted moves. It was another 40 minute routine that caused you to sweat but wasn’t as hard on the knees, etc. as some of the more intense cardio movements of the first month had been. A great way to wind down a crazy month and prepare myself for the craziness that promises to be Month Two of this insane workout.

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How’s that for a written review? Sorry to go so verbose on you, but I hope it helped! As promised, I also made a video that documented some of my thoughts and showcased a bit of a typical Insanity workout warm-up. I hope you find it as entertaining and awkward as I do!

I just love that I am comfortable enough to share my sweaty self across the Internets. 😉 Maybe I’m just kidding myself in thinking this is a good thing – as you can see, I get pretty soaked! People in the gym think Bobby and I are crazy when they watch us. You’ve got to have no fear when doing these workouts in public and leave any self-conscious thoughts at the door. I love the feeling.

I look forward to sharing more with you as I begin this next month. It promises to get exciting!

Do you enjoy these workout recaps? Would you like to see more in the future?

Just curious – they help me reflect, but I want to make sure these are worth your while!

Let me know what you did over the 4th of July in the comments, too!

Abrazos,