Saundra

I will not be reviewing Insanity Max:30.

Hello All and Happy New Year Welcome to January 2015 This month I will be doing Tracy Anderson and Shaun T workouts plus treadmill and stretching on Sundays. The Tracy workouts have two to four workouts per DVD so I am dividing them up across multiple days. Shaun T workouts come from the latest Beachbody release Insanity Max:30.

Fast and Furious gets in and get out. The warm is similar to the other Insanity cardio workouts except you only repeat it one time through instead of twice through. You then get a 30 second water break, about a 3 minute stretch and then the fun begins. I like this workout mostly because of its length. Shaun states at the beginning he is "giving you cardio, core and strength". Shaun uses a lot of compound exercises in this workout. Most of the moves consist of a minimum of two exercises. Along with Shaun, there are two other cast members. This is one Insanity workout that I can see myself reaching for again. 4 stars

Max Interval Sports Training is about 55 minutes long. Shaun takes you through specific sports inspired drills. The following sports are featured : Boxing Football Basketball Gymnastics Track This workout did have some unique moves - exercises that did not appear in other Insanity workouts. I did think I would like it a lot more than I did but I didn't dislike it. Shaun gives you a lot of rest in this workout. This is mostly due to him explaining the various exercises. You have quite a few body weight type exercises and this gives you a break from the cardio. 3 1/2 stars

Max Recovery is about 47 minutes in length and it is broken down into a series of workouts (i.e. workout 1, workout 2, etc). This workout is characterized by a series of breath work, plank work, stretching, strength (isometric holds) and balance moves. I thought the workout was good except for the fact it had a lot of plank work. Thus my shoulder did not really get a chance for recovery. A mat is used throughout the workout. 3 1/4 stars

Max Interval Plyo is just over 55 minutes in lengths. It consist of two intervals and within each interval there are three circuits. You finish with round of selected plyo and strength work before moving to the cool down stretch. During the circuits, you work for 3 minutes and then you get a 30 second break. The beginning of the workout (warm up section) is set up pretty much the same as the other Insanity non-recovery workouts. If there was an exercise that had not been presented in another workout, Shaun demonstrated the move for you. That gave you a little extra rest. The workout was okay. Pretty much the same as the other Insanity workouts. 3 stars

Max Cardio Conditioning is just under 48 minutes in length. The workout is similar in format to Pure Cardio in that after the warm up stretch sequence you don't get another built in break until the end of the workout. Also it is like Pure Cardio in that none of the exercises repeat themselves. You do each move for about a minute (the minute can get long) and then you move on. This workout is not just about speed. It is also about control. Several times, Shaun slows down the pace of the exercise giving you a chance to focus on form and control. Also there are a couple of "Recovery Exercises" that Shaun built into the workout. The majority of these moves do appear in the other Insanity workouts but I think because I didn't have to go back and repeat any of them, I like this workout a lot more than some of the others. There were a couple of times I got annoyed with Shaun because he didn't switch sides. I think this was with the High Low Jabs. He never told us t...

M ax Interval Circuit is my first "MAX" workout and the longest workout in the Insanity System. It clocks in at roughly 59:49. The warm up follows the same format as many of the other workouts. This is where you do a set of moves three times through, each time increasing the speed of the move. Some of the exercises are different in this warm up. Max Interval Circuit is very similar in set up to Plyometric Cardio Circuit. However, in Max Interval Circuit, there are three circuits instead of two. The circuits are 3 minutes in length and you get a 30 second built in water break after the 3 minutes. I have just finished up 3 weeks of Insanity and overall, I am not really enjoying them. I find them really repetitive - not only within each workout - but across all the workouts. Shawn has a sample of about 25 to 30 moves, that he switches in and out with slight variations in the various workouts. I think the problem is, I don't particularly care for his exercise list. W...

Core Cardio & Balanc e is just above 37 minutes in length. If you were to follow the Insanity's Rotation you would use this workout during the recovery week. Shaun tells you that he does "want you to get your heart rate up, but he doesn't want you going all out." This workout did have a lighter feel to it than the Cardio workouts before it. The warm up uses different moves and you only move through the warm up once. There are about 13 exercises in the main part of the workout. You don't get a lot of water breaks in this workout as this workout is less intense than some of the others. The workout was okay. 3 stars

Cardio Recovery starts off with a series of breathing moves. It then moves through a series of strength moves and it ends with a series of balance moves. Many moves use various yoga poses. Some of these exercises you flow in and out of and some you hold for a static stretch. Some of the strength moves, like the plank work, I didn't care for. I was hoping to give my shoulder a break. Actually, a lot of the strength moves, I didn't care for. However, if you are looking for a bit of strength work in the Insanity series, you can get it here. There are a lot of rest periods in which Shaun takes the opportunity to explain the upcoming exercise. Once the exercise starts, he will do a few reps but then he will go and check on the cast members. My favorite section of the workout was when we did the balance poses. I like this type of work and this is what I was looking for in a Recovery workout. Unless you count the plank series, there is not any cardio in this workout at all. ...

Cardio Power & Resistance is approximately 39 and 1/2 minutes in length. It is similar to Plyometric Cardio Circuits in that there are two distinct section with a series of moves that repeat three times through. In this workout, Shaun gives you water breaks after each series of moves. I didn't really care for the resistance moves. A few of them, I did once the first time through and then substituted with another move the second and third times through. Moves that I modified were V Push ups. I grabbed weights and did a shoulder press and Triceps Ball Push ups. I grabbed weights and did kickbacks. The warm up sequence is similar to the other workouts except that Shaun changes up some of the exercises. I didn't care for this workout as much. 2 3/4 stars.

Insanity's Pure Cardio clocks in at just above 38 minutes. The workout starts off with a warm up where you do a series of 7 moves. You repeat the sequence twice more each time increasing the speed of each exercise. This is followed by an extensive stretch. The first part of the work is what he did with Plyometric Cardio Circuit. I actually really like this part of the workout. The warm up series plus the stretch ends up being about 17 minutes of the workout. I can see myself using just this part as a short get in and get out workout. In the main part of Pure Cardio you are doing 16 moves back to back with no water break. You are doing each move for just under a minute, maybe 45 seconds. There is a double clock for this workout and the time given to this section starts at 15:11 and starts counting down. You are going all out to do as many reps as you can before moving on to the next exercise - all with no breaks. Now of course. Shaun tells you take breaks if you need them a...

Insanity . Some features that all the workouts have in common are the double clock, the exercise sub-titles, and the tips sub-titles. A little bit about those features - the workouts showcase a double or dual clock. One clock counts down the total time of the workout. The second clock or timer counts down the exercise interval or rest period. Love this feature. Also the workout features sub-titles that show what exercise you are doing and while you are doing a particular exercise, tips that give you helpful hints appear throughout. I also love this feature. Insanity Week 1 . The workouts for this week were the Fit Test, Cardio Abs, and Plyometric Cardio Circuit. The Fit Test is around 25:40 in length. It has a warm up in which Shaun states the moves will be use in other Insanity workouts. The moves used in the warm up are : Jog, Jumping Jacks, Heisman, 123 Side to Side, Butt Kicks, High Knees and Mummy Kicks. After the warm up, you start the Fit Test. The Fit Test contains 8 mov...

For February 2012 I will be alternating Insanity workouts with Cardio Karate . I have had the Insanity workouts since 2010 and just never got around to doing them. I would preview them and then decide I would rather do something else. I have only had the Cardio Karate workouts a little over a couple of weeks. Originally I was planning these for March, but changed my mind. I really want to see what these workouts are all about. Saturday is going to be Active Recovery day - mostly in the form of some extra stretching. I feel my body needs it. Since every workout, with the exception of Dynamic Flexibility, is going to be a new workout for me, I will be doing weekly blog post for the workouts I do that week. I don't have any evening workouts plan for February as I am looking to maximize my rest between workouts. February 2012 Wed Feb 1 - Insanity : Fit Test & Cardio Abs - 47 min Thu Feb 2 - Cardio Karate : Cardio Circuits - 63 min Fri Feb 3 - Insanity : Plyometric Car...