INSANITY! (#3 — Reset Week and Cario Power and Resistance)

INSANITY! (#3)

Hey Gang. Beachbody (the guys who brought you P90X and Tony Horton) have put out a new 60-day work out series called Insanity, starring Shaun T (which is ironic, because he doesn’t pronounce his T’s). Over the next 60 days, I’ll tell you how it goes.

2nd Week Reset

I’m going to have to reset week 2 of my program because I’ve missed a few days in a row. I’m not making excuses, it’s just a few other things come first. (It’s all part of my plan for a much happier life.)

With the workout programs I’ve done in the past, I’ve often gotten into a strange backward psychological state of mind I will now refer to as the Robert White Workout Syndrome ™ effect. Basically, it’s when you don’t do something, or put a lot less effort towards something, because you have just worked out or have a workout scheduled later in the day. Basically, it’s when your workout becomes the prime reason you workout in the first place.

When I first did P90X, my priority, subconsciously, was proving myself I could do the program by-the-book and on schedule. I succeeded, but not without an opportunity cost: I would not dance well in practices because of general soreness, or, I only had an hour in the day to do something, and P90X had first dibs.

But one of the most important reasons I’ve been working out is to become a better dancer. So, in the past few weeks, I’ve had several days where I knew I was going to be practicing and performing, and I wanted that to have all my energy. So I skipped a few workouts.

The reasons these workout programs exist is to kick your butt into even better shape than you can imagine in a short period of time; it promises that. But the specific reason I think a lot of people start and commit to these workouts is they expect to be motivated into working out, which is different.

When a lot of people start a workout program like Insanity, they do it for awhile, then miss a few days, or think the pace is too difficult so they stop working out. Feeling disappointed and possibly guilty, they have succeeded in un-motivating themselves to do the program. They’ve associated working out with the added pressure of staying on schedule and meeting a difficult goal. Not everyone’s mind works this way, but mine certainly has.

If you think your mind works this way and want to start a program, I recommend thinking about what things must come first before a workout. Maybe nothing–maybe you’re primary goal will be to complete the workout on schedule. But most people will have something come up during the 60 or 90 days of their workout. And if they know that thing must come first, they shouldn’t feel guilty about missing a workout, or even a few.

Otherwise, working out just so you look good in your living room when you work out–that’s just insanity.

By the way, I PROMISE I’m going to keep these things shorter.

Cardio Power and Resistance

This workout is focused less on cardio, and more on toning your muscles. Otherwise, it’s not a big difference from some of the other workouts. You will squat four hundred times, and you’ll do a few push up exercises. (What I do like about all the explosive squats you have to do is that I’m already seeing their effect in my aerial’s practices.)

After having done the workout a few times, I have decided to replace it with P90X Plus Upper and the recently released Shaun T Insanity Weights workout, but this is for my personal workout goals. The weights give some mass to the program. Since the moves in Cardio Power and Resistance are pretty much the basic Insanity moves with a few PLUS moves put in anyway, it’s nothing that isn’t covered in the rest of the program.

When I travel, I’ll switch back to the original Insanity workout. But to be honest, it’s refreshing to have a little Tony Horton back in my workout week.