Yesterday was supposed to be BOTH Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs. As of this point I hadn't actually done the latter (instead, Katie and I have swapped in less cardio-centric ab workouts on days that called for ab work); and since Campout had left me exhausted already I decided to just do Cardio Abs, which ended up being a welcome change of pace, still quite a challenge, and a great yet unique ab workout in about 15 minutes.
Warm-up
This wasn't TOO different from the warm-ups for previous Insanity workouts...just a bit shorter since it didn't involve repeated circuits, and perhaps a bit more ab-focused in terms of the exercises chosen. The trick is to keep your core engaged throughout!
The following moves are each done for 30 secs
- Run in place
- High Knees
- High Knees with Twist (cranks on the obliques)
- Jump Rope
- Tuck Jumps (jump up high from a starting squat position and bring knees into your elbows at peak)
- Wide Tuck Jumps (similar to above, but is done with a wide legged stance)
It may not look like much, but you'll probably be sweating pretty decently afterwards
Workout
Shaun T's cardio abs revolve quite a bit around what he calls the "C-Sit" position. Basically you sit on your butt, legs slightly bent in front, with back/core leaned backward at a 45 degree or so angle. Just holding that pose for a while can work the abs on it's own!
- C-Sit Twists (arms in front of you, twisting side to side)
- Twists with Knee (same as above, but bring in opposing knee to your forearm on each movement)
- A-Frame Ab Twists (similar to the twists, but you put your arms extended above your head instead of in front of you)
- A-Frame with Knee
- Hold C-Sit Pose
- Single Leg Raises (in c-sit position, extend one straight leg off the floor a couple of inches; now lift it up and back down to the starting position for the duration... then switch legs)
- Double Leg Raises (same as above, but do both legs at same time; THIS IS NOT EASY!)
- High Plank Position
- High Plank w/alternating knees (while in plank, use your core to bring your knee up/around towards your shoulder)
- High Plank w/fast knees (same as before, just faster)
- Low Plank Position (go down onto your forearms)
- Low Plank w/alternating knees
- Pulse tucks (in plank position you're basically performing, dare I say, pelvic pulses to contract your abs; sounds silly, but it really starts to burn pretty darn quickly)
That's it!
Diet Update
My diet is actually going very well, and I'm extremely lucky to have such a supportive spouse. Part of the reason I decided to to cut out certain things (dairy, gluten) was that I determined that these might be aggravating my skin a bit. After being on this for a while, I can fairly confidently say that's true since there has been zero issue since.
Also, a note on Campout since I attended as a gluten-free lackey. Obviously, my choice of brews was limited to the gluten-free variety (mostly sorghum based), and here are some very brief notes on those I tried:- Redbridge: fairly decent Bud-like beer, falling somewhere in taste between Bud Light & Bud. At the very least it tastes most like normal beer compared to the others I tried, even if it's not all that good. I give it a C+
- Bard's Tale: has a somewhat "off" note to it, but definitely has more flavor than Redbridge. I actually kind of liked it after a while. B-/B
- Green's: I had three different ones of this brand over the weekend. A dubble dark ale, a golden ale, and one other I can't quite remember. The Golden Ale is way too sweet and medicinal for my tastes but the dark ale was actually not TOO far astray from a decent tasting craft Belgian. I'd give them a C+/B- and B/B+ respectively
- St. Peters: by far my favorite of the weekend. Strong flavor and body without too much of that "off" flavor that seems to go along with most of the gluten-free brews. I'd give it a solid A-
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