Team Beachbody ¡preestreno!Español Guest

I purchased the Insanity kit and plan on doing it, but before I start I'm wondering if there is a specific training course I should do to get my body ready for the demands of Insanity? I'm an avid cyclist (road and mountain) and log around 2500-3000 miles per year so I'm in pretty good shape cardiovascular wise. However when it comes to muscle strength that is my real weakness. 3 years ago I had both of my shoulders completely reconstructed (labrum 100% detached on right and 80% on left) and they are very weak along with my core muscles. Riding has been my main exercise since then, but it just isn't enough at my age anymore (43).

However I'm wondering if there is something I can do to prep myself for Insanity or am I better off doing the first month twice before moving on the second month. I want to get the most I can out of this without getting frustrated so I think prep work will be the key for me.

thoughts?

Hey Scott-

It looks like you have the cardio part down, but you may need to modify a couple of things as far as the muscle building aspects of the program. A few people on my support group thread have also had this same question, so you may find some good answers over there. You can modify a pushup by placing your knees on the ground, your feet in the air, and pushing up on your upper body weight. Also, try not going all the way down--go as far as you can without breaking the 90 degree plane and see if this helps with the pain. Check out this video from Tony Horton himself, talking about how to overcome injuries and still succeed with the program. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugcY38DSu-M

As far as programs to begin with, you can try a couple of things. One would be to complete the warm ups and as many as the exercises as you can without stopping--no one says you have to do the whole thing right away; you control your pace. The other thing is to do the whole work out, but just take frequent breaks to catch your breath and water up. You can certainly jump right into Insanity without any introductory programs.

Hope to see you over on my thread.

Best,
Chris

Scott:

I bought the videos when I was 53 years old stood 5'9" tall and weighed 267 lbs with no cardio vascular endurance whatsoever. I will say that even at that weight I could still probably do 15-20 pushups. I watched the first couple of videos and thought "oh, crap..." so I did a couple of weeks of cardio stuff and some of the floor work they have in the videos. After a few weeks and 17 lbs lost I jumped in at 250 lbs and pushed play on the fit test. All I did was work as hard as I could 6 days a week per the schedule and folowed the nutrition guide too. Four months later I had lost a total of 80 lbs and could do the second month videos at the same basic speed as the fitness pros in the videos, and then after the video was done would go and lift weights too.

I am now at the point where I am doing Insanity again and combining with HIIT weight workouts six days per week too. Here is a link to the weight workouts. Scroll down and check them out. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/six-week-shred-torch-fat-with-hiit-100s.html?mcid=NL-NEWS01120212&rmid=newsletter_december&rrid=13533848

The point I am trying to make is that if I can do it at the age of 53 (now 54) and 5'9" tall and 267 lbs with no conditioning to speak of, you certainly can do it. Just push play and get to work doing as best as you can. You will be amazed at what you can do.

Best of luck

Mark

Ya, so curiosity got the cat, and I checked too, and Mark, dude, you look Fab-U-lous!!

Way to go!

Coach Zarno