Insanity Review: Core Cardio & Balance

This workout was first seen during recovery week and is actually a bit of a toned down workout but still very challenging. Since recovery week this workout has been a welcome reprieve once per week in the Insanity regimen This workout is a total of 37 minutes in length. You start out with your warm up, which takes around 7 minutes or so. Even the warm up is scaled down a notch. You have a total of 6 exercises, about 1 minute each. Then you move on to the stretch. The 6 warm up exercises are:

• Switch Heel Kicks (Kind of like a slow/medium jump rope motion).
• Mummy Kicks
• Football Shuffles (Side to side).
• Over the Log (Run in Place, then jump “over the log” Run in Place, repeat).
• 8 High Knees/8 Power Jacks
• 8 Fast Feet/8 Hooks

Following the warm up is the stretch. About 5 minutes total and not as intense as some of the other workouts. 

Now we get into the main workout.

These next 10 moves are all about 1 minute in length. Shaun T always gives a brief description about each move, so you get about a 10-15 second break in between each.

• Moving Ski Hops (Jumping 4 hops to the left, and then 4 back to the right, repeat).
• Hit the Floor (Pick up speed about halfway through).
• Level 1 Drills (4 push ups, 8 run in place, repeat).
• Heisman (Pick up speed about halfway through).
• 8 Switch Kicks/8 Hop Squats
• High Jumps (Standing stationary, jumping as high as you can each jump).
• Moving Plank Walk (in a push up stance, walking to the left, maintaining plank, then back again, repeat).
• 8 Elbows/4 Suicide Drills
• 4 & 4 Hops (on one leg, one knee up, hop 4 times, jump over, and repeat on the other leg).
• 8 Jabs/Jumps & Turn/8 Jabs

After this 2 minutes we get to a segment of the workout that is different from anything else on Insanity. we have isolated moves that are designed to burn and strengthen individual parts of the body:

This next exercise is  called Hip Flexor Burners. It’s a 3 part exercise. The first move you raise your knee parallel with your waist, then back down to the ground. Repeat for 30 seconds. The next move has you doing the same thing, but it’s called “pulses” and your foot never touches the ground. And then the last move is a kick added to the end. Each section is 30 seconds. Once you complete one leg, you switch to the other.  These truly Burn.

Oblique Knee Lifts. Arm Up, raise your knee (out and to the side) and bring your elbow down at the same time. 30 seconds each side.

The last move is a real challenge...

Shoulder Burners in Plie. This is a 3 minute series of exercise all done from a deep squat, with your knees wide, toes pointing outward. The first move you hold your arms out straight and move them up and down like you are flying.  Next, your straight arms go from the sides to the front, back to the sides.  The next move has your arms going straight up over head and back down   Next you begin backwards circles, and then finally forward circles.  

Finally we get the cool down and stretch which lasts about 2 minutes. Even this is toned down but very good