Saturday, November 21, 2009

Round 2 / Day 6: Insanity Cardio Recovery

After yesterday's double-whammy of Legs & Back (and Ab Ripper X) and a ten-mile barefoot run, it was a relief to see that I had Cardio Recovery on the schedule for this morning. A more accurate title for this DVD might be "Recovery from Cardio," as it contains absolutely no heart-rate-boosting moves whatsoever. Plus, the session's only a half-hour long, which meant I could wake up almost an hour later than usual.

I knew I would like this DVD when I saw the intro screen -- instead of showing a psycho fitness model jumping or kicking with gusto, the featured shot is of a guy who's doubled over in pain. I can't tell, though, if he's: (1) catching his breath, (2) dry heaving, or (3) trying to recover after being kicked in the balls.


More after the jump...

Cardio Recovery begins with a brief warm-up and stretch -- nothing close to the intensity level of previous Insanity warm-ups (thank God). Rather, this section features some leg stretches, planks, and slow roll-ups to lengthen the spine and neck. Lots of these moves will be familiar to any P90Xer who's done X Stretch or Yoga X.

Shaun T then introduces more intense, squat-intensive "deep muscle" moves. You slowly perform 16 wide squats, and then hold the squat position for what seems like forever before finishing with some quad-burning squat pulses. This is repeated from various lunge positions, focusing on one leg at a time. This looked relatively easy at first, but by the end of the cycle, my legs were on fire.


Plie Yoga Stretches are next. Starting in a wide squat with your feet pointing out to the sides, you squat with your arms straight out, and then rotate so that one hand touches the floor while the other reaches straight up. You then alternate sides.


The focus then shifts to your ass muscles. A series of quad and glute exercises are performed from a modified plank position, and one leg extended straight back and off the ground. These are nice and easy, and then Cardio Recovery ends with a few yoga balance postures and stretches.


With the exception of the "deep muscle" squats and lunges, the exercises in Cardio Recovery aren't particularly challenging -- nor are they meant to be. This DVD is, I think, analogous to the X Stretch DVD in P90X, only shorter and with a bit of strength training thrown in. As a recovery tool, it was much appreciated by my achy legs today.

My P90X/Insanity Hybrid routine is being pieced together on the fly, so I'm not yet sure if I'm going to attempt another Insanity workout tomorrow, go back to a P90X DVD, or just rest. I do know, however, that I'm going to spend the rest of today trying to remain as motionless as possible.