Category: Exercise

Today was supposed to be a rest day for The Asylum, and after having completed that “Vertical Plyo” routine yesterday for the first time, I can see why. That is one tough workout!

But I didn’t feel too worn out (I must have been dogging it), so I thought I’d give “Relief” a try. Shaun T, after all, does say to do “Relief” as often as necessary.

“Relief” is a nice little stretching routine, with lots of breathing and some innovative stretches I had not done before. I definitely feel better having done it, and will probably add it in more often after the more strenuous workouts, to ensure my muscles and connectives are being well-tended.

This routine is only 28 minutes long, so it’s not excessive, as, for example, the stretching DVD in P90X, which was just too long for me to do. Too much stretching is not only not good for my body, but it’s boring as hell!

If you’ve been through Insanity, though, you know Shaun T is a great motivator, so he tends to make even the more boring routines tolerable for me.

Tomorrow will be the first time a workout repeats. Back to “Speed & Agility”. I’m interested to see if it’s gotten any easier, after just this short while. The Asylum is very intense, so I’m guessing “yes”.

After yesterday’s “Back to Core”, I really didn’t think The Asylum could get any better … but it did.

Today’s “Vertical Plyo” routine was the hardest workout I have ever done. It was intense, difficult, unrelenting, impossible — you know … everything I love in a workout.

Yeah, I made it all the way through Insanity, but this workout still rocked me. Hard. Good thing it only goes 40 minutes, including warmup and cooldown. I don’t know how much more I could have done. And that was even with taking some breaks to run the DVD back to try to figure out some of the moves.

The equipment used was both bands and the agility ladder, all of which came with the program. The also-included jump rope was used, too, but I don’t have space for that, so I just simulate.

If you’ve done the Plyo routine in P90X or the Plyo Legs routine in Tony Horton’s One-On-One series (that one is the very first DVD in that series), then you have a good idea how tough a plyo workout can be.

I am extremely familiar with both those workouts, but I was not prepared for this one.

Not only is there a lot of jumping, but the jumping is intensified with the bands.

Sometimes there is a band  around your hands as you work your back and shoulders while working the legs.

Sometimes the band is around your ankles to work even more leg muscles than you otherwise would.

And sometimes there is a band around your ankles and around your hands. And I might mention that this is while you are doing  plyo pushup jacks and then while doing X jumps.

Yeah.

Tomorrow is a rest day (I think it’s the only rest day for the entire 30 days, although there are days when “Relief” is the workout, and I assume that is some kind of low-level stretching routine). I’m going to need that rest. Will probably just do a little yoga, or maybe I will check out “Relief”.

Wow. The Asylum. Shaun T is really bringing it with this program.

Okay, so I should have guessed, and, in fact, figured out last night, that “Back to Core”, the third day of The Asylum was not a reference to getting “back to working the core” but that we would be working our backs. As I’ve said before … sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake.

When I did this workout today, I was very impressed with the focus on my back. Any criticism I had about Insanity‘s lack of back work is corrected here, because this is one great back workout! It is also the least aerobic of the non-recovery Shaun T workouts I’ve done to date.

The only equipment needed is one of the bands supplied with the program, and, if you choose to use it, a pullup bar. The band is used to add resistance to several of the moves and also as a prop during another. During the one exercise the pullup bar was used, I did use it the first set, but then switched to the band for the next two, just so I could make the transition easier.

Based on the first three days, The Asylum seems to be an excellent way to get into all-around good shape. This is kinda how it’s marketed, but, of course, I only had Shaun T’s Insanity to go by, and this program invokes the name of that program in its title, so I expected The Asylum to be closer to the original. While I love Insanity, I am pleasantly surprised by the direction The Asylum is headed.

Be prepared for quite a bit of floor work during this 45-minute routine, both on your stomach and on your back and shoulders.

I know my back appreciated the attention we paid it today, but tomorrow’s workout — “Vertical Plyo” — should be more aerobically challenging.

Day 2 of  The Asylum is entitled “Strength”.

I don’t know about strength. Strength is usually built with low reps, size with 8 to 12 reps, and endurance with high reps. We were doing a lot of reps, and, of course, there was a huge cardio aspect to the routine. This is, after all, a Shaun T program!

But when I question the title, I am picking nits. This is strength building, for sure, compared to the original Insanity program.

So let me drop the nitpicking there, because this is the best Shaun T workout I’ve ever done.

I really enjoyed “Strength”. The moves were challenging and I felt that my body — my whole body, including back, legs, chest, arms, shoulders, abs — were all worked — I will be sore tomorrow. And this was all done in only 50 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down.

The equipment needed is a set of dumbbells, fairly low weight (I used 12.5s, but will probably go to 15s for the next time through), and a mat. Again, as I mentioned in my review of Day 1, I really needed more space to complete this workout, but only for one move toward the end, and I was able to adapt the move to accommodate my smaller space.

This routine is really well constructed, starting right out of the gate with using a single dumbbell during the warmup, and progressing from there.

The best sets of the day consisted of a multi-move piece that involved a curl, a squat, a pushup, two lateral moves, another pushup, and 8 plank runs, with a jump up at the end. Try doing that 8 times fast. Wow!

I cannot wait for the next time this comes around and will definitely be adding it to my hybrid workouts.

Day 3 is called “Back to Core” and I’m thinking, “Right. When has Shaun T ever left the core to need to get back to it?” Looking forward to it!

Today I started The Asylum. I didn’t mean to start it today. I needed to do a cardio workout, and I planned to do one of the Insanity month two DVDs.

Then I got to thinking. I have to take a break in about a month to do some traveling and partying. Hmmmm…. Now would be a good time to start The Asylum, which is a 30-day program.

So I did.

The Asylum Volume 1 (currently there is only one volume of The Asylum, but I guess they’re leaving room for sequels) is marketed as a sports training workout. I’m not an athlete and I’m not involved in sports of any sort, but, what the hell, right? I’ll give it a go.

The first DVD is “Speed & Agility”. It incorporates extensive use of the agility ladder that was included with the program. The ladder is thin plastic rungs that are connected with nylon bands. You can see a picture to the right, but the ladder is in its collapsed state. Expanded there is about a foot between the rungs.

The ladder is designed to lie flat on the floor, and you use it to know where to put your feet and hands during the moves.

For this workout, anyway, the ladder was really less help than hassle for me. I have limited area to workout in, about 6 feet by 6 feet, so I had to keep rearranging the ladder, depending on which exercise we were doing. In addition, the ladder is pretty flimsy, so it was hard to keep it straight.

However, I did find that the ladder, while it’s nice if you have room and probably does provide incremental benefit, was mostly unnecessary, so I did most of the moves without it.

As for the workout itself, well, it’s a Shaun T workout, and if you’ve done Insanity, you know what that means. It’s tough. I had to stop and rewind the DVD a couple times to try to figure out what the heck he was doing. Hey, I am not the most coordinated person in the world. Sometimes it takes me a minute to figure moves out.

The title of the workout is “Speed & Agility”, so there is a lot of jumping, some balancing, a good amount of moving pushups and bear walks. All in all, a very good total body cardio workout that lasts about 45 minutes, including warmup and cooldown.

I had to take extra breaks along the way — that’s the way Shaun T designs his workouts: impossible — but I got all the way through “Speed & Agility” without ever thinking about quitting early. The workout is varied enough to hold my interest.

Oh, btw, in case you’ve looked at The Asylum and seen the jumprope, you may be concerned, as I was, about space restrictions. For this routine, the jumprope was only used during the warmup, and I was able to simulate the movements without the rope.

Tomorrow is “Strength”. I’m looking forward to that and will report back on it.