Round 3 / Day 75: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning

Holy shit. I'd forgotten how agonizingly hard -- and utterly humbling -- this workout is.

But I still love it.

Round 3 / Day 39: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning

There's no way in hell I'm going to do Max Cardio Conditioning in a hotel fitness center, so I did it this morning at home before heading to the airport.

I spent the rest of the day sitting on a plane to Phoenix, sitting in a rental car, sitting down at lunch (at Barrio Cafe), sitting in line in front of Pizzeria Bianco for two hours, and then sitting and devouring half of a Wiseguy Pizza and half of a Rosa pizza. (I know, I know -- refined carbs = bad. But as I've said before, I make exceptions for really awesome pizza. And I only eat here once a year, so cut me some slack, people.)

Looking back on my ridiculously sedentary day, I can't believe I even considered just stretching this morning instead of going balls-out with an Insanity workout.

Round 3 / Day 9: P90X+ Interval Plus

The first few minutes of Interval Plus were deceptively easy. After a five-minute warm-up, Tony announces that we're going to do 15 different exercises -- each for one minute. That doesn't sound so bad, I thought. How's this going to be different from Insanity Pure Cardio?

(What are you looking at, Tony?)

More after the jump.

Round 3 / Day 5: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning

Near the end of this workout, even Tania (TANIA!) can't manage to complete all the required jumps. I eked 'em all out, though I looked more like this (only without the awesome unitard):

Round 2 / Day 84: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs

During Right Kicks / Left Kicks, Shaun T walks over to Tania, who's flying through the moves. "If you can go as fast as Tania," he says to the camera, "keep up with her. If you can go faster, go faster."  I tried my damnedest, but in the end, I had to opt for Plan C: Going (much) slower than Tania.

One more week. Just one more week.

Round 2 / Day 77: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs

Two reasons why I skipped X Stretch and dove right into Max Cardio Conditioning this morning;

• I already took a rest day earlier this week when I was down with a cold; and

• I knew I was going to indulge in some serious Super Bowl snacking (e.g., chicken wings, beef skewers, chips, salsa/guacamole, chocolate chip cookies) later in the day, and figured I'd better burn off some calories in advance.

By the way, I hope none of you Colts fans died from heart attacks during the fourth quarter of the game.

The risk is real, cardiologists say, because studies have shown that when a favorite team loses, angry fans can suffer so much stress that the result is sudden cardiac death.

"If you look at a lot of data from a lot of different sports, there is a spectator risk," said Dr. Stephen Siegel, a cardiologist at New York University Langone Medical Center.

The best way to avoid this unhappy consequence is, "don't take it so seriously. Don't get so excited about it," he said. "Enjoy the game, have fun with it, but don't spend your life savings on betting on it and don't have your life invested in the outcome."

Round 2 / Day 70: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs

Less than five minutes into the core portion of the workout today, my quads felt like they'd been thoroughly pounded with a meat tenderizer.

When does Insanity get easier?

Round 2 / Day 69: P90X X Stretch

I can hardly believe it's been almost two months since I last popped in the X Stretch DVD, but there's no denying that I needed it today. I woke up creaky and sore. I hadn't been this achy or tired in a long time, so although I'd planned on doing the Insanity Max Recovery workout this morning, I quickly thought better of it -- especially after remembering how much I abhor the Max Recovery plié sequence.

Who cares if experts are claiming that stretching isn't necessary? My stiff neck and hamstrings demanded relief, and X Stretch delivered it in spades. It felt great to let my body recovery with slow, languorous moves.

Tomorrow: Back to the grind. Max Cardio Conditioning's going to kick my ass (as usual).

Round 2 / Day 63: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs

Whoo-ee. Today's workout was a real test of endurance. I was ready to call it a day after Max Cardio Conditioning, but I'm glad I stuck around for Cardio Abs (which really isn't all that bad -- especially relative to the intensity of the previous hour).

One thing I really like about Insanity is that the trainers all keep going -- even if it means drowning themselves in rivers of sweat or taking a short pause to catch their breath. Some of them look like they're about to pass out, but they don't stop moving.

But my God -- that gym must stink.

Round 2 / Day 56: Insanity Max Cardio Conditioning

I remember thinking that the 15 consecutive minutes of super-high-intensity cardio in the Insanity Pure Cardio workout was through-the-roof crazy. Max Cardio Conditioning almost doubles the intensity by demanding almost a half-hour of uninterrupted hardcore moves.