By Elke Zabinski
August 4, 2009 Day 2
WARNING: Do not eat before doing this workout, you’ll get nauseous and you could very well throw up. Drink water in moderation during the workout because all the jumping stirs things up a bit. If you maintain adequate hydration through out the day taking sips during the breaks will get you through.
The warm-up really is brutal. You’ll be familiar with the warm-up from the fit test, but this time you’re doing three rounds increasing the speed each time. The movements I know I really push it anything I’m not so familiar with I slow it down a bit so that I can master the form first. Heisman’s kill me and by the time it came to the third round high knees my legs just didn’t want to lift. You start to wonder if your muscles are going to turn to Jell-O, not being able to support you, but then comes a very welcome break!
You will be so grateful for this break, a chance for your heart rate to come back down and get your breathing back to normal. I’m glad Shaun T doesn’t use the yoga names for the stretches that has become a bit of a turn off for me, so instead of warrior you do hip-flexors which fits this workout much better. Stretching which is usually very difficult for me (especially when it comes to the legs) is not so excruciation because your muscles are already warmed up, allowing you to go deeper in the stretch.
When the “actual workout” begins the clock is on 23 minutes. Knowing there is only 20 minutes left of the workout (minus the 3 minute cool down) is reassuring that I can get through this. Let the circuit training begin! I find that anything that requires getting my knees high like mountain climbers is difficult for me both the motion and the cardio aspect so here is where I take it down to work on the form. Love the football drills! I used to do these with my trainer and the body remembers where you left off so here is my opportunity to push it! The basketball drills is the time to have just little sips of water because they were stirring things up on the inside and waves of nausea were hitting me.
I don’t think anything can prepare you for Shaun T Insanity Level 1 drills, ski abs, or in and out abs. This is insane. I didn’t think my chest and shoulders would be able to support my body weight after 2 rounds. All I could picture was my arms giving out and going face down into the concrete floor. Thankfully Shaun T’s personality will drive you through. When he asks you for four more you’ll just do it! I took many breaks during this round but I tried to finish strong because Shaun T was really motivating.
The final circuit is an out of body experience. Let your mind leave the body and just push through the movements. Don’t think just do it and your reward will be an incredible endorphin rush!
