‘Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning. – Thomas Jefferson
So I’m now on day 5 of the Insanity programme so thought I would give a little update on how we’re getting on, and also a few pros and cons about the work out for anyone considering giving it a go.
My main surprise about the workout on a whole is that I haven’t given up yet! I’d tried doing as much research as possible before starting so was under no illusions that it would be difficult, in fact I arrogantly told myself that if I didn’t feel like I’d gotten enough of a work out I could always hop on the crosstrainer in our spare bedroom for 20 minutes afterwards. Needless to say the crosstrainer has remained untouched for the last 5 days! IT. IS. HARD. I was almost unable to walk after the fit test and day 1. Proof, I suppose that it’s obviously working out muscles that I’m not used to using so often.
People will source their motivation from different places. For me, it was one of my managers at work, who, when I told I was starting insanity, he said ‘good luck, let me know what day you cave on, you’ll never finish.’ I’m going to use every fibre in my body to try to prove him wrong! It also really helps that my husband is doing it with me so we can motivate each other; keep our own pace rather than the pace on-screen, and help with form. It feels good high fiving each other (and everyone on the screen) to celebrate a successful workout! We’ve also taken some before pictures, to hopefully have some impressive after pictures to compare to once we’re done!
So what are the pros and cons so far?
Pros
- You need absolutely no equipment whatsoever, not even a yoga mat. Just the TV and enough space to jump around a little bit without hitting your head off something.
- Shaun T is a really likeable guy and motivates you throughout, and encourages you to go at your own pace rather than making you feel bullied into going at his pace.
- The work outs are only about 40 minutes long, so by the time you’ve done the warm up, the stretches, and the cool down, you’re only actually doing about 15-20 minutes of really intensive exercise. And the time flies.
- There are about 10 different workouts over the 60 days, so you only do the same thing a maximum of 6 times, saves you getting bored.
- Every couple of days the workouts is a more pilates/yoga based with lots of stretching, so it feels like a welcome break from all the intensive cardio stuff, but you still feel like you’re doing some good.
Cons
- There’s no real help,. Other than following what you see on the screen, as to whether your technique is any good, so you could be doing more harm than good without realising it.
- I’m pretty sick of the first section of the workouts being referred to as a ‘warm up’ I’m usually a delicate shade of puce by the time the so called ‘warm up’ is finished; it feels like an aerobic session in itself.
- Your legs REALLY ache after some of the cardio workouts, makes you reluctant to do another one and subject yourself to more pain
- Shaun T likes to flog his own products during the workouts; muscle recovery drinks and such, which is annoying.
- The schedule only allows for 1 rest day, which means if you have any semblance of a social life or have to work full time, it’s sometimes hard fitting in a work out.
- Tanya, one of Shaun’s assistant’s is an annoying pain in the arse!
I would definitely recommend you give it a go, especially if you can borrow the DVDs from someone for free like we have and try and rope someone in to do it with you because someone next to you feeling your pain always makes things that slightest bit easier!