Recovery Week, Finally!

After 4 long weeks of intense body training, I have finally reached the Recovery Week of Insanity!

The Recovery Week is a 7-day period focusing specifically on Core Cardio and Balance. This DVD is played each day for the entire week to give the knees a break and focus on the core, aka ABS, ABS, ABS! Even though it is called "recovery" this workout is not very simple. It requires fitness users to perform 1-minute exercises slowly and repeatedly to work specific muscles multiple times. 

I am going to breakdown the Recovery Week workouts so users can understand how Insanity is helping the body recover but not lose progress. 

Warm Up

Before every Insanity workout there is a 3-minute warm up session to get the blood moving, muscles warm, and raise the core body temperature in preparation for the workout. However the Core Cardio and Balance warm up routine is 7 minutes long, and introduces some new workouts users have not seen yet. Moves include football sprints, log hops, and and power jacks. 

Stretch Routine 

The stretch routine is 5 minutes long and includes basic balance stretches to help the already lose muscles not tighten up. 

Major Workout

The heart of the workout is 16 minutes long. During these 16 minutes, core abs are targeted and paired with cardio workouts to blast fat and build muscle. At this point in the program, users cardiovascular and and muscular endurance should be significantly higher, so the workouts are a bit tougher then the first four weeks of training. However each workout can be adapted to fit your personal fitness needs. 

Hip Flexor Burners and Oblique Work

The next 6 minutes are dedicated to working the hip flexor and the obliques. Hip flexor burners consist of three exercises asking users to lift their leg well above the hip, then pulse the leg while keeping it raised, then flexing the leg up and down while keeping it raised. These exercises flow one after another so there is no break in between.

The oblique exercise allows the users heart rate to drop back down and provides a slight recovery before transitioning into the last set of exercises in the DVD. 

Shoulder Burns

The final workout in Recovery Week targets the core and the upper body, specifically shoulders. Shoulder burns ask the user to sit in a wide squat position and spread the arms wide. Then the arms should start to circle in small circles, progressively getting larger when prompted. After making circles, the arms should come forward in front of the chest, then back out again. The last shoulder burn is raising the arms up above the head, then back down to shoulder length. These workouts also occur one-after-another so the shoulders do truly "burn" while you are working.

Cool Down Stretch

The final 3 minutes of the workout are cool down stretching to allow the heart rate to return to normal and give the muscles a break. The cool down stretch gives users a time to reflect on the workout and begin to relax the muscles.

Recovery Week is a great workout that helps transition users into the last 4 weeks of work, Max Interval Training! Stay tuned for my next fit test on June 15 where we can track my progress again!

Why am I doing all of this you ask? Here is some fitness motivation as we enter the 5th week of training!