Beachbody Insanity Day 1: Fit Test

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It’s funny how things work themselves out in our lives sometimes. I like to call it Divine Providence, but you might have other theories. Anyway, I was thinking about using my Christmas “fun money” to buy myself a cruel sort of present: The Insanity workout program by Beachbody, hosted by Shawn T. I have read lots of Facebook status updates about it, and of course I’ve seen the infomercial, but it wasn’t a priority in my fitness budget (sadly, a small budget indeed). I learned in this Shaun T biography (Wikipedia) that  Insanity! was released in 2009. (There is a 2010 copyright on my DVD set.) So it’s a relatively new program, compared to P90X for example, but I had my eyes on P90X2, which was released in 2011 (and hyped for months before).

Logo borrowed (?) from iwanttogetripped.com

Anyway, back to the divine providence part… I was ready to spend the $120 for Insanity, when just before Christmas my brother-in-law tells me, “Don’t bother buying Insanity. I will give you my DVDs when I am done. I’m pretty sure I will never want to do this again!” I mean, here’s a guy who has done several rounds of P90X, has a black belt, and the martial arts style he prefers has been described to me as “Letting yourself get punched, repeatedly, so you can get used to it while defending yourself.” Ouch. Basically, he prefers strength training rather than constant cardio, and Insanity is taking its toll on his knees, too. Now he’s passing it along to me, because he claims I am better at cardio (ha!) and I might actually enjoy the program. He also expects progress updates, maybe to see how I’m suffering?

Today I took the Fit Test, and after that tried the first section of the Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Obviously, I didn’t wear myself out with the Fit Test, which is 25 minutes and can be pretty intense if you go full speed. I was balancing proper form (as recommended by Shaun T) with my fastest pace. So the Fit Test tired me out, but I was ready for another 15 minutes of exercise, and I worked my way through the first Plyo Cardio circuit: Jumping Jacks, Heisman, 1-2-3, etc. (and repeat… faster!). Tomorrow should be a lot of fun, when I do the entire workout!

Do you have any suggestions for me as I begin? Since I was planning for this, I already have some sturdy, 1-inch thick foam tiles set up on my basement floor, suitable for jumping. I am not the kind of guy to go full speed on the first try (see Fit Test, above), so I will be careful, but hopefully get better as I go! Let’s see if I am saying “Thanks for the gift, Kevin!” in a week or a month from now.

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