Posted on by steve

Insanity with weekends off

I love Insanity. It’s my favorite of the 3 programs I’ve done. (The other 2 are Tony Horton’s P90X and The Asylum. I’ve also worked out a lot with the One on One DVDs, but that’s not a program, per se.)

I wanted to start 2012 with a round of Insanity, but I wanted the weekends off, so this post is about what I’ve come up with.

The original Insanity is a 9-week program. This is 10 weeks.

My Insanity-with-weekends-off program includes all the high-work days that are part of Insanity, but, to compress the schedule while taking weekends off, I leave out all but the first and last fit tests, as well as some of the low-work days.

Trust me, though, I’ll get plenty of work during this program, and so will you, if you choose to follow it.

Here you do, day by day, with weekends off, if you start on a Monday.

WEEK 1

  1. Fit Test
  2. Plyo Cardio Circuit
  3. Cardio Power & Resistance
  4. Cardio Recovery
  5. Pure Cardio
WEEK 2
  1. Plyo Cardio Circuit
  2. Cardio Power & Resistance
  3. Pure Cardio
  4. Cardio Recovery
  5. Plyo Cardio Circuit
WEEK 3
  1. Cardio Power & Resistance
  2. Pure Cardio + Cardio Abs
  3. Plyo Cardio Circuit
  4. Cardio Recovery
  5. Pure Cardio + Cardio Abs
WEEK 4
  1. Plyo Cardio Circuit
  2. Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs
  3. Cardio Power & Resistance
  4. Plyo Cardio Circuit
  5. Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs
WEEK 5 – RECOVERY WEEK
  1. Core Cardio & Balance OR Yoga
  2. Cardio Recovery OR Yoga
  3. Core Cardio & Balance OR Yoga
  4. Cardio Recovery OR Yoga
  5. Core Cardio & Balance OR Yoga
WEEK 6
  1. Max Interval Circuit
  2. Max Cardio Conditioning
  3. Max Recovery
  4. Max Interval Circuit
  5. Max Interval Plyo
WEEK 7
  1. Max Cardio Conditioning
  2. Max Interval Circuit
  3. Max Recovery
  4. Max Interval Plyo
  5. Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs
WEEK 8
  1. Max Interval Circuit
  2. Max Interval Plyo
  3. Core Cardio & Balance
  4. Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs
  5. Max Interval Circuit
WEEK 9
  1. Max Interval Plyo
  2. Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs
  3. Max Recovery
  4. Max Interval Circuit
  5. Max Interval Plyo
WEEK 10
  1. Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs
  2. Max Interval Circuit
  3. Core Cardio & Balance
  4. Max Interval Plyo
  5. Fit Test

I am just starting Week 3. I see myself substituting some Ultimate Power Yoga routines during Week 5, the Recovery Week, but we’ll see how it goes. I love me some yoga and doing Core Cardio & Balance over and over (which is what the original Insanity calls for) is pretty boring.

You may notice that the first month I put Cardio Recovery on Day 4 each week, instead of splitting the workouts in half by putting it at Day 3. That’s a personal preference, because I like to work hard, have a milder day (not that Cardio Recovery is that easy a workout, but it does take a day off from cardio), then another tough day, then 2 days off. If you want to put Cardio Recovery on Day 3, go for it.

During the later weeks, I do go 2 cardio days, recovery day, 2 cardio days, because those later cardio days are tougher than the ones during the first months.

Two weeks in, this seems pretty great. I am looking forward to finishing it up, because I am using this as a lead-in to my first time through Tony Horton’s P90X2.