Fitness Destinations

In this edition of FitnessDTV, we are talking about Effective Exercises – in particular, the Push Up Jack movement that is part of the Insanity 60-Day Total Body Conditioning Program.

This movement is a great upper body exercise, it doubles as a core exercise, and it also increases your neuro-muscular coordination, which in turn improves your balance and agility, while also keeping your brain sharp.

As with all push up movements, try to go down as far as you can, getting your upper arms parallel to the ground or lower.

Click on through to learn more about the incredible Insanity 60-Day Total Body Conditioning Program. Insanity consists completely of body weight exercises, so you can do it anywhere, and you do not need any equipment at all.

Save 25% or even 50% off of Insanity by clicking right here!

Insanity Before and After Pictures and Fit Test Results

In this on-going review of Insanity blog series, the truth behind the Insanity 60-day weight loss program is revealed with a play-by-play description of what the program is really like – and more importantly – if Insanity really works!

The Core Cardio and Balance workout is done during the “recovery” week of the Insanity 60-day program, which is actually Week 5 of the series. This DVD is meant to give you a decent workout during the recovery week so you don’t lose any ground after the first month of Insanity. There is a clear difference between the Month 1 Insanity workouts and the Month 2 workouts, and the Core Cardio and Balance series is used to help you recover from Month 1, while preparing for Month 2.

Insanity Core Cardio and BalanceThe Core Cardio and Balance routine is only 37 minutes long, so at face value it seems like it is going to be an easy workout, especially compared to the more intense Month 1 workouts that I have reviewed in this Review of Insanity series.

Warm-up

As with all Insanity workouts, this DVD starts out with exercises to get your heart rate and your core body temperature up in preparation for the workout. The warm-up during the Core Cardio and Balance routine is about 7 minutes long and includes some fun exercises that aren’t normally seen in the Insanity warm ups.

The length of each exercise during the warm up is a full minute, so your heart rate does indeed get elevated within just the first few exercises. Some of the unique movements include football shuffles and over the log hops, as well as some 2-exercise combination movements such as high knees/power jacks and fast feet/alternating hook punches.

Stretch Routine

The warm up is followed by a short stretching routine before jumping into the rest of the workout. The stretching routine is about 5 minutes long and includes mostly standard stretching and balance movements that were seen during Month 1 of Insanity.

Primary Workout

The main portion of the Core Cardio and Balance routine is about 16 minutes long, and flows quickly from one exercise to the next. Some of the exercises are more challenging than others, and as is always the case with Insanity exercises, you can modify the way that you do any given exercise in order to make it more or less difficult based on your present abilities.

Keep in mind, however, that by this point in the 60-day Insanity workout program, your cardiovascular and your muscular endurance should both be significantly higher than they were at the beginning. If you are not yet noticing both the weight loss and the physical fitness benefits of the program, then you are doing something wrong. Get with a Beachbody Coach from some free advice on how to get things on track.

During the primary workout portion of the Core Cardio and Balance routine, you are encouraged to take it somewhat easy since you are supposed to be in a recovery mode. However, at the same time you should listen to your body and recognize the difference between an acceptable recovery intensity level vs. simply slacking off.

Hip Flexor Burners and Oblique Movements

During the next 6 minutes of the workout things get a bit more challenging for a few minutes before cooling down with some fairly easy abdominal movements.

The “hip flexor burners” are a series of 3 exercises all done while standing on one leg while exercising the opposite leg. Each movement is  30 seconds long, and once you start the 2nd movement, you can’t put the working leg back on the floor until the 3-exercise series is done. It’s a challenge, but it feels great afterward.

The oblique exercise portion of this segment is a simple knee-t0-elbow movement that is a good exercise, although not terribly difficult. Your body gets a break during that portion so your heart rate can drop in preparation for the next segment.

Shoulder Burners

This segment of the Core Cardio and Balance routine will be the hardest part for most people. It is a series of five consecutive shoulder exercises, all done back to back while in the plie squat position.

It seems easy as you start out, but this segment really focuses on muscular endurance, and each movement targets the same muscles over and over, just from a different angle. At 30 seconds each movement, your arms are at or above shoulder level for almost 3 full minutes by the time you finally get to shake it out. It burns, but that’s where the results come from!

Cool Down and Stretch

The final 3 minutes or so are spent stretching out all of the muscles that were worked during the exercise routine, and letting your heart rate return to normal.

By the end of the workout, you feel accomplished, because it wasn’t a simple workout, but at the same time you don’t feel like you are about to pass out, as is often the case with the other Insanity DVD’s!

Buy Insanity Now!

OR
Become a Beachbody Coach and save 25% off of Insanity and all Beachbody products, supplements, and equipment!

Related Posts
INSANITY!
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test
Review of Insanity – Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Review of Insanity – Cardio Power and Resistance
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test Week 2
Review of Insanity – Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test Week 4
Review of Insanity – Cardio Recovery
Review of Insanity – Core Cardio and Balance
Review of Insanity – Max Recovery
Review of Insanity – Max Interval Circuit
Review of Insanity – Max Cardio Conditioning
Review of Insanity – Max Interval Plyo
Insanity Before and After Pictures and Fit Test Results

Save 25% or even 50% off of Insanity by clicking right here!

Insanity Before and After Pictures and Fit Test Results

In this on-going review of Insanity blog series, the truth behind the Insanity 60-day weight loss program is revealed with a play-by-play description of what the program is really like – and more importantly – if Insanity really works!

Insanity Pure Cardio
and Cardio AbsMost of the Insanity workout routines consist of a similar and very effective format: Warm-up, stretch, an intense interval training circuit routine, and then a quick rest before continuing with on-going interval training circuits for the entire workout. That format repeats until the end of each workout, and then a thorough – and very welcome! – cool-down stretch finishes out the exercise session.

In the Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs routine, however, the format is quite a bit different, and quite the challenge as well.

The routine starts out with a warm-up and stretch, just as the other DVD’s do, but once the stretches are done and the actual exercises start, they never stop until the entire workout is done.

Most of the Insanity workouts are based on high-intensity interval training followed by brief periods of rest, back to high-intensity, then rest, back to high-intensity, and so on. It is that “reverse interval training” that makes Insanity different than any other home workout program on the market right now.

In the Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs routine, however, once the high-intensity starts, there are NO BREAKS of any kind. You just keep “pushing through” as Shaun T calls it, and you don’t stop exercising until you get to the cool-down stretch at the end.

The period of time that you do this constant exercise is approximately 20-minutes, which doesn’t seem like much when you see that number in black and white. However, this is the Insanity 60-day weight loss program that we are talking about, not some mamby-pamby, ineffective workout program. The Insanity exercises are all challenging, effective movements, and they all share a similar trait:

The better you are at the movements, the harder they are and the more benefit you get from doing them!

In other words, Insanity isn’t one of those routines that you can “conquer,” and then have to move on to something more challenging later on down the road. People don’t conquer Insanity – they survive it!

Cardio Abs

The Cardio Abs routine is actually a separate workout than the Pure Cardio routine, but if you follow the Insanity workout schedule – and you should – then the Cardio Abs workout is done immediately following the Pure Cardio routine.

Pure Cardio is just about 40-minutes long, and the Cardio Abs routine is about 16-minutes long. The total exercise time on the day that you do Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs will be just under 1 hour.

The Cardio Abs routine itself is a good combination of intense cardiovascular movements along with effective abdominal exercises. The ab movements are meant to target not just your “visible” abdominal muscles, but the inner muscles as well, collectively making the workout a core training workout, not just an ab routine.

For anyone who has done the Ab Ripper X routine in P90X, the Cardio Abs routine is not as difficult from a purely abdominal training perspective. However, the combination of intense cardiovascular training along with intense ab and core movements makes Cardio Abs every bit as challenging as Ab Ripper X, just in a different way.

Conclusion

Overall, the Insanity Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs workout routine is at the same time a welcome break from the format of the other workouts, yet it is also just as challenging as the other routines.

There are no Insanity workouts that don’t leave you dripping with sweat and feeling a serious sense of accomplishment, and in that regard, the Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs routine gets the job done just like the rest of the Insanity workouts.

Buy Insanity Now!

OR
Become a Beachbody Coach and save 25% off of Insanity and all Beachbody products, supplements, and equipment!

Related Posts
INSANITY!
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test
Review of Insanity – Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Review of Insanity – Cardio Power and Resistance
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test Week 2
Review of Insanity – Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test Week 4
Review of Insanity – Cardio Recovery
Review of Insanity – Core Cardio and Balance
Review of Insanity – Max Recovery
Review of Insanity – Max Interval Circuit
Review of Insanity – Max Cardio Conditioning
Review of Insanity – Max Interval Plyo
Insanity Before and After Pictures and Fit Test Results

Save 25% or even 50% off of Insanity by clicking right here!

In this on-going review of Insanity blog series, the truth behind the Insanity 60-day weight loss program is revealed with a play-by-play description of what the program is really like – and more importantly – if Insanity really works!

Beachbody’s latest home exercise program looks to be the best yet – if you can TAKE it, that is!

Shaun T (of Hip Hop Abs fame) has taken his already impressive game to a whole new level with Insanity™, and this program has got RESULTS written all over it.

Beachbody has a veritable arsenal of great exercises videos, products, and supplements, but Insanity™ has one MAJOR thing going for it that even P90X doesn’t have - you don’t need a single piece of exercise equipment!

One of the biggest reasons why people don’t work out at home is because they feel like they have to spend a fortune – and then find a place for – a lot of exercise equipment. With Insanity™, all you need is a towel to wipe off the sweat, and a nearby bottle of water!

Check out the videos below, and judge for yourself. As for me, I’m sold, and I already have my copy of Insanity™ at home. For my wife and I, today is Day 1 of 60. I will be posting my thoughts on the program as I go along, and will be posting before and after pictures as well.

C’mon aboard and try Insanity™ for yourself – if you’re brave enough!

Click each picture for a short – but intense! – video

Get ready for the most intense workout program ever put on DVD. INSANITY™ is the 60-day total-body conditioning program that will push your limits. Want to find out what you’re made of? Get ready to dig deep. Get ready for INSANITY™.

In her 40′s, Alysia who has 5-year-old twins never thought her stomach would be taut. But after Insanity, her upper abs are the best they’ve ever been. And that’s without having done any crunches in the program! No weights, no gimmicks – just sweat.

Working out with Shaun, Rachel pushed herself every day. And when she thought she had no more to give, Shaun assured her that she did. It’s that sort of dedication to dig deep in the workout that has Rachel’s size 6 jeans now falling off of her.

In the Army for ten years, Lloyd thought he was fit. That was before Insanity. Getting into his first day, Lloyd was drenched in sweat and admitting that, “this is really intense.” Then he realized all he had finished was the warm-up!

Doug is excited having lost 30 pounds and 30 inches of body mass, 6.5 inches around his waist, from Insanity. He says he is “shocked” comparing his before and after photos. It’s like he’s in his 20′s again! And he’s not done yet.

Though he was a serious athlete, running in marathons and triathalons, Chris E. wasn’t prepared for the results he was going to get from Insanity. After 60 days, Chris knows a new level of fitness and is ready to tackle his 40′s and beyond.

So what about YOU? Are you crazy enough to tackle Insanity™??

Buy Insanity Now!

OR
Become a Beachbody Coach and save 25% off of Insanity and all Beachbody products, supplements, and equipment!

Related Posts
INSANITY!
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test
Review of Insanity – Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Review of Insanity – Cardio Power and Resistance
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test Week 2
Review of Insanity – Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs
Review of Insanity – The Fit Test Week 4
Review of Insanity – Cardio Recovery
Review of Insanity – Core Cardio and Balance
Review of Insanity – Max Recovery
Review of Insanity – Max Interval Circuit
Review of Insanity – Max Cardio Conditioning
Review of Insanity – Max Interval Plyo
Insanity Before and After Pictures and Fit Test Results

Done properly, the air bicycle abdominal exercise is a very effective movement because you are engaging your upper and lower abdominal areas at the same, while simultaneously exercising your hip flexors.

Although there is really no such thing as the “upper” and “lower” abdominal area, there are certain exercises where you will feel the burn in one area more than the other, which is what makes the air bicycle movement so effective. By keeping your shoulders elevated, you are tightening up the part of  your abs that are closest to your chest while at the same time moving your legs which targets the hip flexors and the lower abdominal area.

The keys to this movement are:

• Don’t stop until you feel the burn, and even then try to go for more reps
• Support your head with your hands, but do not pull on your head
• Bring your knees up as far as you can on each repetition
• Focus on every repetition rather than just getting into a “groove” of back and forth movements

Air Bicycle Abdominal Exercise

For an incredibly effective abdominal training routine, be sure to check out the Ab Ripper X portion of the P90X Extreme Home Training Program.