What Does an Insanity Workout Feel Like?

If you go to our Reviews section, you’ll find info each workout, hear from the people who have done Insanity, read personal testimonials and more. But sometimes people are looking for more than just how many Globe Jumps are in a workout, how long it is, or to hear success stories of people who have undertaken Insanity and come out the other side. They want to know what it feels like to do an Insanity Workout, what they would be in for. So in this post we’re going to try and give you a taste of exactly that

Ok. So you’re standing there, cross trainers on, glass of water nearby, a yoga mat beneath your feet, nervous, excited, ready to go. You press play, and immediately that bouncy, fun music comes on from the Title Screen. You’ll know it when you hear it, but you’re not here to waste time, so you select the workout, select ‘Yes’ for the music, and then get started.

Shaun T on the screen, the Insanity Workout preview, and then you’re in that basketball gym and Shaun T is talking to you. No wasting time–immediately the warm up begins, and Shaun and his ten workout buddies begin to jog it out. So there you, light jog, feet coming up, for about twenty seconds, leisurely pace, and then he switches it to the next workout–Heismans, perhaps, or 1,2,3’s. You cycle through six of these, and by the end of the three minute set, you’re out of breath. Phew!

But there’s no break. Back to jogging it out, but faster now, the music more intense. Catch you breath, lower your chin, focus on the screen, and go. Jumping jacks, log jumps, mummy kicks–whatever the variations on the warm up, no doubt you’re already feeling the burn. By the end of the sixth minute, you’ve only finished the first two rounds, and then here comes the last one.

All out. Shaun T yells for to go as fast as you can, and boom! No longer jogging, now you’re sprinting, breath rasping in your throat. Heismans. Legs burning, lungs burning. This is the warm up? Mountain climbers, whatever–you have to dig deep just to keep up that intensity, going all out, redlining, for three whole minutes ONTOP of the first two sets. By the time Shaun finally calls it over, you’re covered in sweat, gasping for breath, hands on knees. You check the clock. Holy crap, there’s still some twenty five minutes or more to go.

But next comes the stretch. After a sip of water, you get back in front of the TV, and follow Shaun as he leads you through a series of deep breaths, lunges, hamstring stretches and yoga poses. Sweat is really pouring off you now, more than it was during the warm up. By the time you finish the four minute stretch, your breath is back under control, but you’re feeling wobbly, unsure–can you do another twenty minutes of this?

You’re not given time to think. Bam! You’re into the first set of the main workout. Shaun’s calling out his encouragement, demanding and cautioning and pushing you the whole time. Three sets like the warm up, maybe, repeated three times, but now with blessed water breaks between. You try to keep up with the workout crew, but they’re machines. Some exercises you do better, others you just stop, panting like a dog, sweat coursing down your face, and just try to swallow some air down before getting back into it.

“Focus, and go!” “Dig. Deeper.” “I’m here to push you. I know you can do it.” These phrases become mantras to you, Shaun’s charisma and enthusiasm and voice pushing you further than you think you could. Perhaps you’ll have been doing some push up variation, and find yourself with your forehead on the ground, breath heaving, unable to go on. Then Shaun will yell something from the screen, and somehow you’ll struggle back up, back up to bust out another two reps before crashing back down again. But that’s two more reps than you otherwise would have done.

Water breaks become oasis in the desert. You look forward to them, crave them, staggering drunkenly to your glass of water to take a sip, wetting your throat so you can breath, taking the chance to stretch out your hamstrings some, to simply gasp for breath. They’re never long enough.

Eight minutes left to go. Feels like it’s already been 45. The final sets are always the toughest. Shaun leads you through the first round, and you can barely keep up, and can’t help but think: how am I going to do this three times? Adrenaline kicks in, or madness, and you just throw yourself into the workout, attacking it. Second round, pace is picked up, you feel like collapsing but somehow you stick in there. The workout crew themselves are starting to flag, to take breaks, and Shaun’s sending them to the sidelines–this will always cheer you up, because if even those guys are in trouble, then you’re not doing so badly yourself.

Final round. All out. You’re gasping, sweat is blinding your eyes, your legs feel like boiled pasta, but still you’re scrambling, leaping, busting out push-ups, jumping and squatting. Whatever the combo, it’s insane, this is insane you’ll say to yourself, if you’re still thinking at all. On the verge of giving up, you’ll just barely hang in there, hang in there, Shawn yelling, “In! Out! IN! OUT!” or counting down the 8 Squat Hops and 8 Pushups, each repeated four times. Almost done, almost done, almost done is what you think, and then finally Shaun yells out time, and you just flop to the ground like your strings were cut.

Cool down, and you somehow find your way back up to your feet. Same stretches, yoga poses, some three or four minutes, your lungs heaving, sweat everywhere, and then, and then–somehow, it’s all over. You grab your water, drink it all, and slam your glass down.

Somehow you just survived another Insanity Workout.

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