Another decent DVD workout from the Insanity team entitled  Insanity Cardio Power and Resistance; build lean muscle and upper-body definition with strength-training and power moves. 

Although I don’t think it was nearly as hard as the Plyometric Cardio Circuit I just did. Well, let me rephrase that; it’s not as hard in a different sort of way. This workout adds body weight exercises, just as the title indicates.

If you are just starting to work out or have never worked out / hit the gym before, I DO NOT recommend this program. This is considered an advanced system and you can over-extend yourself and end up doing more damage than good. 

However, if you are in decent shape, then I’d recommend it.  It’s not ultra-hardcore where you want to throw-up, but it’s hard enough to push you and get results. 

I’m seeing it as a good challenging change to what I’d normally do in the gym.

Insanity Cardio Power and Resistance

WARM UP

The warm-up is very similar to the previous Cardio workout warm-up we just did.  This is maybe one of the best DVD warm-ups in the business. If you don’t already have a heart rate monitor, get one. You should be hitting 70 ~80% of your MHR (max heart rate) in the warm-up. NO not immediately, but by round 2 ½ you should be close.  Here we start off with:

Round #1 – Warm-ups
Jog – Keep your core tight
Power Squats – You are fresh now, so you should be doing these properly.
Log Jumps – Here you are jumping side to side like you are jumping over a log.
123 – Like a Heisman but adding a 3 step in between.
Butt Kicks – Exactly what you think they are.  Watch your form, you are still fresh
High Knees – Yep. HIGH KNEES. Use your core to lift your knees
Vertical Jumps – You can make these hard or as easy as you want, Land softly to protect your knees.

Repeat Warm up Round #1 twice  – with more speed on each round.

Water Break – 25 seconds.

Stretch Time – Here we are just incorporating some stretches on your now warm muscles.

Insanity – Cardio Power and Resistance

POWER JUMPS
Like vertical jumps; however when you jump up, you want to get enough air so you can get into the sitting position in the air and your hands can touch your knees. Make sure you land softly on your toes like a cat.

BELT KICKS
These are squats with kicks at the end. Go down into a squatting position like you just did in the power jumps. However, instead of jumping up in the air, you are going to come up and do a single leg forward kick, alternating with each leg. This exercise is much lower impact than the power jumps you just did, and if there is a “rest” session between exercises, this is it.

HIT THE FLOOR
This is another low-impact interesting exercise. If you start off standing straight up with your hand on the air, all you are do is a side-step lunge and touch the floor with both hands. This is a difficult exercise to explain so here are some pictures.

V PUSH UPS – *A good shoulder workout*
First you want to start off in the plank position. Then starting crawling your arms in so your whole body comes in to a big upside down “V” and go as far as you can and try to keep your back legs straight. Then start doing push-ups, with your fingers pointed inward. It’s as simple as that; it’s a very good plyometric/bodyweight shoulder workout. Only go down into the pushup as far as you can comfortably go. Some of you guys who think that these are easy, try doing a couple hundred of these THEN holla at me.

Water Break – 25 Seconds

Repeat twice, getting faster each time but making sure you keep form.

Then you go onto some body weight resistance work:

TRICEP DIPS
You are in a tabletop position, with your butt down, and then you are going to use your arms (fingers forward) to lower your body down then back up. These really are not that hard if you are in good shape, but if you do enough of them you will eventually feel it. The focus here is your triceps, so you want to focus on working on flexing your triceps.

LEG TRICEP DIPS
You are going to continue to do your triceps dips, now you are going to take one leg and lift it up as high as you can and continue to do your triceps dips. Hold your core in and half-way through switch legs. Try and get your leg up as high as possible for a light core work.

Water Break – 25 Seconds

TRICEP BALL PUSH UPS
This a combination of the V push-ups you did earlier and triceps dips.

Water Break – 25 Seconds – Remember, during your water breaks, do not stop moving.

Then there’s more!

HURDLE JUMPS
If you have ever run or seen the hurdles in a track and field event, that is what you are going to be doing.

The key point here is actual hurdling.  Pretend there is a hurdle there and you are jumping over it, don’t just jump.  There is a big difference between hurdling and jumping.  When a hurdler runs a 100m hurdle, he or she DOES NOT jump over the hurdle, he or she hurdles over them, meaning that when they are running and they go to hurdle they do just that.

Try and keep a smooth transition from moving to hurdling so you can keep your same pace.  Run/sprint in place and hurdle, make sure you actually hurdle and not jump. Jumping will slow you down and you will lose momentum (not good for an intensity workout).

Hurdling requires you to get both legs up, up, up, or you will scrub and fall flat you your face. Not pretty, not cute, and you risk injury.

GLOBE JUMPS
This is a very hard move to do a lot of.  You do a squat jump (exactly what it sounds like) and you are jumping in a box, or you jump to all four corners of your imaginary box. Four jumps in a box count as 1 repetition.  Each time you go back to squat position, you touch the floor with your hands, then lift your arms and hands up above your head as you move round.

MOVING PUSH UPS
Exactly what like they sound like. You do full push-ups, but instead of staying in one place, you are moving. To move; when you are in the down position spread your legs out and when you come up move to the left or right. Effective.

FLOOR SPRINTS
While you are still in the plank position from your moving push-ups, go into floor sprints. These are just like mountain climbers, only faster and with more intensity. Try and get your legs to your chest as much as possible. Remember, these are floor sprints and not floor walks. If you wanna burn fat/get in shape you MUST push yourself. When done properly they are viscerally hard and viscerally effective because of that.

Water Break – 30 Seconds

Repeat twice, getting faster on each repeat.

8 HOP SQUATS/ 8 PUSH UPS
This is the last exercise – You just do 8 Hop Squats then 8 Push-ups
Repeat 4 times.

INSANITY CARDIO POWER AND RESISTANCE: DONE!

Now finish by doing some stretching while you are still warm.

Overall a good DVD workout!