Insanity Pure Cardio
Below you will find a full description and exercise list for the Insanity pure cardio DVD. If you are still on the fence about Insanity, I hope that you will be able to use this page along with the rest of my Insanity workout description pages to help you make your decision. You can use the menu to the right or check out my Insanity workouts index page. And if you are curious, I also have a page dedicated to the Insanity workout schedule.
Warm-up Exercises #
Shaun T makes a point to remind us all that this is the most important part of the workout. It is here that you are preparing your body for what is about to come and doing what you can to prevent injury. The warm-up is made up of the following exercises: jogging in place, jumping jacks, heismans, 1-2-3 heismans, butt kicks, high knees and mummy kicks.
The warm-up is followed by a series of stretches and breathing exercises that are fairly standard, so I won’t go into very much detail here.
Just a quick note before I get into the actual exercise list: at this point Shaun T looks straight into the camera and says:
I have to be honest right now, I’m actually really nervous for this workout.
Not very reassuring…
Insanity Pure Cardio Exercise List #
Excluding warm-up and cool down, this workout is 15 minutes of straight cardio. There will be no rest or water breaks, so if you feel your form slipping. make sure to rest a bit. The exercise list consists of the following:
- Suicide drills – running a few steps from right to left, when you stop at each side, turn inward as you squat down and touch the floor.
- Switch kicks – hopping from left foot to right foot, kicking the opposite leg into the air every time. Don’t throw your legs into the air, but rather use your core to lift them.
- Wide football sprints – with feet in a wide stance, sprint in place. Still sprinting, turn to the right, then front, left and front again. Still sprinting, shuffle to the right, then left, then back. Drop to the floor and set for a sprint, then get up and sprint in place.
- Stance jacks – similar to a jumping jack but hands go down instead of up. Hand should be at your sides when feet are together and when feet open up you are going into a squat position, alternating between touching the ground with your left and right hands, twisting your body as you go.
- Pedal – sprint in place for a bit and then drop to a lunge, hop up into a lunge on the other side, then get back up and sprint in place again. Repeat.
- Hooks and jump rope – start by punching the air with right arm, then mock jump rope, switch sides and repeat.
- Power jacks – like a normal jumping jack but when you spread your legs and bring your arms down you should be lowering your body into squat position.
- Level 2 drills – from upright position, drop to the ground and jump back to plank position, do 8 push-ups followed by floor sprints, jump legs back up to your hands and stand upright, repeat.
- Frog jumps – squat down touching the floor and then jump backward, squat down touching the floor and then jump forward, repeat.
- Power knees – same as fit test, balancing on one leg, knee slightly bent, bring the opposite knee up to meet your hands at waist level. Repeat on the other side.
- Mountain climbers – jogging in place with high knees, but reaching into the air so it looks like you are speed climbing a mountain.
- Ski down – hopping from left to right while keeping your feet and knees together, squat down as you land and swing your arms as if you were using ski poles.
- Scissor runs – these are the worst! hopping up and down as you alternate your feet forward and backward, i.e. jump and land with left foot forward and right foot back, jump and land right foot forward left foot back, repeat. Make sure you are swinging your hand in tandem with your legs and that heels and toes are touching the floor both at front and back.
- Suicide jumps – start upright, drop to the floor and jump back to plank position. Jump feet forward toward hands then jump into the air landing in upright position. Repeat.
- Push-up jacks – like regular push-ups but hop your feet off the ground and separate your legs every time you make the downward motion.
As always, you end with a series of cool down stretches and breathing exercises similar to the warm-up in the beginning. And then at this point, out of the mouth of the man himself:
That shit is buh-nanas yo!
Depending on which day you are on, be ready to go straight into cardio abs. While I have read mixed things about whether to go straight in or take a break between, I think it is better to just keep going. The cardio abs workout doesn’t have a very thorough warm-up and stretch so may as well dive in when you are already good and warm (and stretchy).
Final Thoughts #
This is a good one. Good and tiring… In addition, I have never really been able to muster up the coordination to do the scissor runs with good form. Something to work on I guess.
Hopefully you have found this informative and now have a better idea as to whether or not Insanity is for you.
Otherwise, I would encourage you to continue reading about the rest of the Insanity workouts by following the links below.