smoker

 

This post is entitled Insanity Cardio Recovery.

Pre-warning: I know a bunch of you bloggers are linking to my articles such as this one Insanity Cardio Recovery, I see the stats. This is not an article where I give it rave reviews. Consider yourself pre-warned.

Insanity Cardio Recovery

Disappointed! Is the first thing that comes to mind now that I have done the workout. Before I get into the actual review of the workout, let me tell you why I’m disappointed.

Oh, where to begin. Let’s start with “Recovery.” What is recovery?  Recovery is something you don’t “do,” to rest for when you have to “do.” At night when you go to sleep, you are recovering from a day of “doing.” It is not a good idea to go for a brisk walk around the block instead of getting the 4, 5, 6, or even 8 hours of sleep you’re supposed to get each night. Why is it not a good idea? Because you are not recovering  - you are doing activity when you should be doing inactivity. You follow me right? Good.

The Story of Sally

Back in 1998, Sally smoked two packs of cigarettes per day, every day; she smoked religiously. She smoked them morning, noon and night. She even set her alarm to wake her up at 3 a.m. every morning just so she could smoke a cigarette. This went on for 10 years. But one day, Sally decided that she was going to quit smoking, so she asked some dude name Charles Lloyd who ran a fitness website on the internet for some advice.  Here is what Sally asked:

Hi Charles, I have a question.  I have been trying to quit smoking on and off for the past few years; sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am not. Do you have any advice?

Charles: Sally, What is not successful?

Sally: Well, I talked to a friend of mine and he suggested that I smoke cigarettes with low tar and nicotine, to wean myself off of them.

Charles: There is your problem; you don’t become a non-smoker by smoking. That’s stupid. You become a non-smoker the day you decide that you are a non-smoker. Smoking is no longer an option. There isn’t “I have not smoked in “X” amount of days.” It’s, I DON’T SMOKE, PERIOD. Smoking is not an option.  No type of cigarette, whether it be low nicotine, low tar, no filter etc., is an option. You quit smoking by not smoking.

So what does this have to do with Recovery?  Everything!

You don’t recover from a cardiovascular workout by doing “light” cardiovascular work or stretching or weight lifting. You recover by not physically doing anything. This is why you sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, you become bothersome and cranky. You don’t do stretching for 8 hours per night instead of sleeping. Why? Because that’s not recovery… that is stretching. You recover from a long day of work by sleeping. Sleep is what your body wants; sleep is what your body needs.

The Holy Bible example

In the Holy Bible, Genesis 2:2 reads like this: “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.”

Whether you are a Christian or not, the point here is God rested. Nowhere in this verse does it say that God did yoga, or God went to do a light workout, or God cleaned up some loose ends from the week.

Now let’s talk about this DVD; the title is an oxymoron. Cardio and recovery don’t belong in the same sentence. They are the complete opposites. It is as far away as East is to West. You can travel North on this planet until you reach the North Pole, but after that you are going south. On the other hand, you can travel east for the rest of your life and never go west until you turn around.

Now that we got that out of the way; on with the review.

Insanity – Cardio Recover – Review

First we start off with a warm-up. This consist of various Yoga type of stretches, lunges and loosening exercises that stretch out your lower back, hamstrings, calves and other muscle groups. This is very short and only a few minutes, as it should be.

Rest – 25 Seconds

Plank Work

This is the first “Recovery” exercise. This starts off with you inhaling and bringing your arms straight up in the air, then dropping down into a plank position.  Your legs are straight back and your butt is NOT pointing towards the sky; with your knees together, jump back into a crouching position, then roll yourself back up into a standing position.

• Repeat Plank Work – Make sure you keep your butt out of the air
• Repeat Plank Work, but this time jump 2X with your knees, meaning instead of coming up after you jump in, jump back out. When you rise up, do 3 inhale arm stretches.
• Repeat Plank Work – 3 jumps and 3 arm stretches
• Repeat Plank Work – 4 jumps and 4 arm stretches

Rest – 10 seconds

Plank Pulses

This exercise starts off the same as the Plank Work you just did; however, when you jump down into a plank position, lift one leg up and pulse that leg up and down for 8 pulses. Jump back up and do your inhale with arm stretches.

*Make sure you keep your butt down, and your Shoulders, Elbows and Wrist lined up – This is good form*

• Repeat Plank Pulses  with opposite leg – Keep good form
• Repeat Plank Pulses  with 16 pulses – Keep good form
• Repeat Plank Pulses with 16 pulses with the opposite leg – Keep good form.

Downward Dog Stretch

• Go into a downward dog position and hold it there for 25 seconds. When you start to come up, go into a hamstring stretch and hold it there.
• Go to your right leg and hold it there.
• Go to your left leg and hold it there.

Rest – 40 seconds

Slow Squats

• This is one of the basic moves, but you move slowly instead of going fast. Do 16 slow squats.

*Be sure to keep your knees over your ankles. – This is good form*

*Make sure you keep your back straight – This is good form*

• On your last slow squat you are going to stay in the down position and go into your next exercise

Squat Hold and Pulses

• In your down position, ideally with your quadriceps and calves at a 90 degree angle, you pulse your quadriceps up-and-down a few inches. Personally, I like this exercise, but it is NOT a “recovery” exercise.
• Do 16 squat pulses

Rest – 40 Seconds

Lunges

• Imagine a straight line between the top of your head and the bottom of your right knee cap. Now lunge into that position. (Start with your right leg forward and you left back back) Do not lean forward or lean back. Keep your body straight up; your left leg should make a perfect 90 degree angle to support your body.  Your right knee should be only inches off the ground. Now grab your wrist with the opposite hand and bring your arms up to another 90 degree angle with your torso. This is the basic lunge position.

*Watch your 90 degree angles – This is good form*

*Never let your knee hit the ground – This is good form*

• Repeat lunges for 14 reps.
• On your last rep hold the down position.

Lunge Hold and Pulses

• Just like the pulses we did earlier, you move up and down only a few inches.

*Watch your 90 degree angles – This is good form*

*Never let your knee hit the ground – This is good form*

• Repeat Lung pulses for 16 reps.

Rest – 10 Seconds

Squats

• Now you are going to go a tad faster – You see why this is not a recovery workout now?
• Repeat Squats for 16 reps – Make sure you keep good form.

Squat Hold and Pulses

• Repeat Squat Hold and Pulses for 16 reps.

Rest – 10 Seconds

Lunges

• Now go to your opposite leg and repeat the lunges you did earlier.
• Repeat Lunges for 16 reps.

Lunge Hold and Pulses

• Repeat lung hold and pulses for 16 reps.

Plié Yoga Stretch

• A plié yoga stretch is a combination of a plié squat and a yoga stretch. So what is a plié squat? Like a normal squat except in a plié squat you angle your toes outward, adding a bit more inner thigh work than you would with a normal squat. With the plié squat, you only want your knees to go out as comfortably as you can while still being able to do the exercise. *Keep your knees behind your toes.*

I’m not going to go into the different yoga poses, but if you are in this position you can pretty much figure out what you need to do.

Quadriceps strengtheners

• This is an interesting exercise. First you start out on all fours, meaning you are on the floor with only your hands, knees and toes touching the ground (make sure your back is straight). Then bring both knees up off the floor about three inches. Now you are going to take one foot off the floor like you did earlier in your plank pulses and pulse your leg (your opposite knee stays bent and in the same position). This is a quad strengthener.

*Keep your shoulders, wrist, legs and toes in-line – This is good form*

• Repeat quad strengtheners for 16 reps.
• Rest-Stretch out your back by going into a child’s pose (a yoga stretch).
• Repeat quad strengtheners 16x with the other leg.

Oblique Work

• This exercise starts off exactly the same as the last exercise. However instead of pulsing your leg up and down, you are going to bring your leg as far to your shoulder as you can in a controlled manner.

*Keep your shoulder, wrist, legs and toes in-line – This is good form*

• Repeat oblique work for 16 reps.
• Rest-Stretch out your back by going into a child’s pose.
• Repeat oblique work 16x with the other leg.

Go into a downward dog and walk your hands back up so you are almost standing up straight.

Hip Flexor stretch – then combine this with another yoga stretch.

Table Top Balance Pose

• A tabletop balance pose is exactly what it sounds like; you balance on one leg and make the rest of your body like the top of a table – flat and horizontal.
• Do your table top on one leg
• Switch legs

Knee to Chest

• Yeah, do that while standing straight up. Keep your core tight. Do one leg then the other.

Knee to oblique

• Yeah, do that while standing straight up. Keep your core tight. Do one leg then the other.

Hamstring stretch to Hip openers

• Hip openers is just what it sounds like, you are in a squat position and use your elbows to open up your hips as wide as possible.

Insanity Cardio Recovery

This get a 0 out of 5 Charles faces.

The reason for this is not because it’s a “bad” workout per se, but it’s not a recovery workout AT ALL. It’s like having a really good meat loaf sandwich and calling it smoked salmon. Even though the meat loaf is good… it’s not smoked salmon.

I would be way more satisfied if they just showed the presenter lying in a bed for the length of the DVD. THAT would have been a cardio recovery, which is both true and entertaining. I feel like this was just a filler DVD. I suggest they change the name of this DVD to something like Insanity – Stretch & Yoga or just completely take the DVD out. In most instances, like this one, less is more.

Yes, it is a matter of semantics. But what isn’t? So that is it for Insanity Cardio Recovery.