“Ab Ripper X: Back in the Saddle Again!” LesMills Combat: Day 11 of 90

Today was my break day.  So very quickly, I did ARX as usual.  It is coming along.  I don’t jump right into the next exercise, I am taking small 20 second breaks between the exercises.  This is allowing me to recover enough to complete the entire circuit without breaking down on an exercise.  Now that I am doing complete exercise sets, I will begin to close the break gap and, voila, BACK IN THE SADDLE!

“What’s Up With All The Contractions?” Insanity: Day 41 of 60

Okay.  Stand with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. Bend at the knees and rest your hands on your knees.  Now go into a squat.  Now, contract your core and round your back up.  Now release.  Keep doing it.

I don’t get it.


Contracted hip raises.  What's up with these stupid things?

I AM doing Insanity right?  What the heck is this exercise supposed to accomplish?  I’m not even sure if I am contracting right.  I have listened to Shaun T more than a dozen times and have done this exercise more than twenty times.  I keep doing it because somebody somewhere put this in the routine and it must be doing something, right?  I am doing this completely on faith.  It doesn’t feel like this is accomplishing anything at all.  Every other exercise feels like you are exerting yourself in some way, shape, or form.

Not this one.

Up.  Down.  Up.  Down.  Yawn.  Breathe.  Yawn.  Breathe.

Maybe I’m just not doing it right.  Maybe it’s just filler so everyone can rest…but we’re only stretching here!  I mean, yes, I’m sweating.  But, that’s because the warm-up really revs your metabolism.

There was a movie in the 80’s called Perfect.  It starred Jaime Lee Curtis and John Travolta and was based on a Rolling Stone article that talked about gyms being the disco bars of the 80’s.  it was crap.  The one thing I do remember is a very young, hot, and in shape Jaime Lee Curtis as the fitness instructor who used to be a gymnast.  When I watch Shaun T do these damn exercises, that’s what I think about.  She did them a little differently.  With her, it looked like work.  It also looked like training for some other profession…which was kind of the point of the movie.  Anyway…I am either doing them wrong or they are filler.  Either way…I like to work out.  I want sweat and I want to keep moving.  I want exertion.

I’m just not feeling it with these exercises.

Okay, I took a video of me doing the Ab Ripper  X.  This is for all you late-forty and early-fifty folk who think it’s too late to get in shape.  It’s also for you twenty and thirty-something folk who think it’s too hard a workout.

Why is this in here?  In my Insanity blog?  Because this is how I spend my off-days of Insanity!  I do this.

So this is an Insanity off day!