Andre the Giant, Hannibal and ... Insanity!?!

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To say that Insanity is hard would be a vast understatement. It would be akin to saying that Andre the Giant was only an average sized man. Every single infomercial, every advertisement and every person who has ever tried Insanity knows that its completely nuts, hence the name Insanity. From the very first day, which is a not so easy fit test, Shaun T does what exactly what he promises .... pushes you harder than you've ever been pushed before. But he also encourges, motivates, and instructs with the best of 'em. He doesn't want to break you, but he does want to see you become healthier and stronger.

I made the clossal mistake of thinking that if I could make it through Tony Horton's version of plyometrics in P90X, I could handle Shaun T's version of cardio. Sweet lord, I'll be the first to admit that I was ... dead wrong in every single aspect. My legs, back, knees, and abs were (and still are) hurting. Dude just doesn't let up. Within 20 minutes of starting Plyo Cardio Circuit, I was begging for mercy! I swear that I was within an inch of death ... maybe closer. I don't know about anyone else, but the first time I went thru that routine, I threw up. And I'll tell ya what, those pre-workout supplements taste horrible coming up!

Tonight was attempt #2 at Plyo Cardio Circuit. I had to take less breaks and got farther. I'm baby stepping this program. From week #1, I've still got sore joints and some mild to searing pain in my right foot. Bought new shoes (dude, the last time I bought running/cross trainers was way back in 1997 and shoes have changed dramatically) this past weekend. The new shoes are pretty slick and have helped some, but the pain in my right foot (arch area near the side of the foot) bothers me enough where the higher impact exercises cause me to slow it down. I'm Minnesota stubborn enough to keep pushing but I've also decided to scale Insanity back a touch. Not saying I'm quitting (see big bold word starting with the letter "s" above), instead, I'm going to incorporate parts of Insanity into my P90X routine.

Going forward, I want to alternate days between P90X and Insanity so I get both the intense resistance and intense cardio all during the same week. I'm in the middle of creating a workout routine that will consist of 4 week blocks (4th week will be recover) that vary. One thing I've learned is that muscle confusion is a good thing, you just got to plan it all out. As Hannibal said many times during my childhood, "I love it when a plan comes together." And of course, I'll be blogging about how I'll do the routine here.

Until then ... #TakeOnTheWorld