"I am speechless. I am without speech" - Day 5

• Kramer: "Jerry, I'm fried!"
• Jerry: "Technically, you're sauteed"

I don't know whether the title or the conversation above is more accurate. Day 5 of Insanity is a "Pure Cardio" workout. It started innocently enough with a pretty standard warm-up and stretch. I can feel I am already in a little better condition because I only had to stop completely once during the warm-up. It is good that I stopped because my heart rate was about 165 bpm (90% max). In the last minute of the stretches, the heart rate was down in the low 130's, so that wasn't bad. During the last minute, Shaun T started talking about how "scared" he was about the workout coming up. I started thinking, "Well, that's not going to be good for anyone."

The main body of the workout consist of 15 drills performed for 1 minute each with no breaks built in to the video. The other videos have you going hard for 2-3 minutes, and then you get a break. Not so on this one, my friend.  Here is my workout summary:

• Suicide drills
• Ok, these remind of basketball defense drills.
• My heart rate climbed above 160 and stayed there for the next 15 minutes (even during the recoveries).
• Switch kicks
• This exercise is hard for me. It is the coordination of landing and kicking that makes it difficult. I guess we are working on becoming the next karate kid.
• Wide football sprints
• This is quick feet with a coach giving the direction to move followed by sprinting in place.
• I had my first stop to check my heart rate here -- 172 bpm (94% max).
• Stance jacks
• This is a cross between a squat and a jumping jack.
• I spent most of my time from here on out avoiding the heart rate red line because I am having to relearn my limits.  I am not 16, 26, or even 36 anymore.
• Pedal
• I don't even know how to describe this one.
• Hooks & jump rope
• We are training to be boxers in this exercise.
• I had to take about half this exercise off to recover.
• Power jacks
•  Shaun T said at this point, "It's ok to take a break and gets some water. Check your heart rate monitor."
• Level 2 drills
• A combination of push-ups, floor sprints, and vertical jumps
• "This is about the time Shaun T needs to take a break." - Shaun T speaking in the 3rd person.
• Frog jumps
• This is just what it sounds like.
• Power knees
• At this point, people on the video are falling off to take breaks.
• Shaun T has to remove his shirt.
• Mountain climbers
• This is high knees with an added twist.
• I was ready to flat out quit here, but I kept going.
• I ended up getting a little bit of a "2nd wind."
• Ski down
• This is jumping side-to-side while using arms for power.
• That 2nd wind was a mirage, and no 3rd wind ever showed up.
• Shaun T sends one of the guys off to the side to cool down because he knows he is about to pass out.
• Scissor runs
• This exercise is another tough coordination move for me.
• Shaun T calls this a "slight recovery" exercise.  I am going to call BS on this one.
• Suicide jumps
• These are a combination push-up, core work, and vertical jump.
• Everyone on the video including Shaun T is about to pass out. They were most definitively as deeply fried as I was at this point.
• Push-up jacks
• You are trying to do a push-up while hopping off the feet to do a jumping jack at the same time.
• I spent most of my time lying on the floor begging for the workout to be over.

It finally ended with my heart rate at 174 bpm (~95% max). We got a 1 minute water break before a long cool down. My heart rate was around 140 bpm (70% max) when the cool down ended. It took 40 minutes after the workout to get it under 100 bpm.

I am happy about 3 things right now: (1) That I didn't do this workout yesterday (I would have quit the whole thing - no joke); (2) Today's workout is over; and (3) Only 1 more workout day in this first week of Insanity. Tomorrow, we do the first repeat of a video. The "Plyometric Cardio Circuit" from Day 2 returns, and after what I just went through, I think I prefer it to today's workout. Imagine that -- preferring a workout that I HATED 3 days ago.