Today I did Max Cardio Recovery for the first time. This routine is also like a big brother to the Month 1 routine of Cardio Recovery. It is a good deep muscle workout without a lot of the cardio. But, as usual, it is hard in some spots and creates that ‘o so familiar burning feeling in your body!  I came into today feeling pretty good.  Most of the muscle soreness is gone, so I feel I am getting into the groove of Month 2.  I still have some pain in my glutes , hip flexors, and hamstrings, but it is not too bad.

The routine is 47 minutes long and is broken down into 5 exercise segments. First there is a nice long warmup and stretch and then you go into the exercises. Each segment works a different area of your body. In the first segment you are asked to do push-ups, but not just any push ups! The form is having your arms so your elbows go back, much like in upward dog pose and slowly go down and up. You do a push up on a four count down (super slow) and a four count up.  Ok, doing the set of 4 was not too bad, but then he asks for a set of 8 . . . . and then a set of 16! Those are super hard.

In the third workout you are standing in a squat plie position. Doesn’t sound too bad until you realize you are not moving out of a squat for like 7 minutes! He has you pulsing and bending and lifting until your legs are on fire. A real challenging exercise for sure.  I definitely had to break a few times in this pose.

Next you move into a plank position, which at this point is a nice change for the legs.  The exercise is moving slowly from a low plank to a high plank position.  At first it is a repetition of 4, then 8, then of course 16!  At first these seem doable, but as the repetitions increase, so does the pain and burn.

Lastly, you end up still in the plank position doing knee to elbow oblique push ups.  I felt pretty strong in these as I think that area of my body is getting stronger.   And the final exercise is called The Hammer.  I was scared when I heard the name of this exercise, but it was one of the easier ones in the workout.  It is basically an exercise where you start with your arms above your head and then bring them down on either side of your legs, which you are kicking out straight up to about hip level.

Then we cool down with a stretch and we are done!

Overall, this was a nice recovery day workout.  There isn’t anything too heart pumping in this routine, which is of course the whole point of it.  But, as like any exercise routine in Insanity it is by no means ‘easy’.  There are some real challenging exercises that definitely get you sweating and burning.   I felt good afterward and feel like I am ready to take on the challenge of the rest of the week.

Day 38 – Max Cardio Conditioning

Filed under: Workouts

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