Insanity: Max 30 Journey Day 5 - Friday Fight: Round 1

During the course of two months, I'd like to take you into my journey as I strive to retain a healthy lifestyle through a healthy balanced nutrition program and Beachbody trainer extraordinaire -- and Men's Health cover man -- Shaun T's brand new workout regimen Insanity Max 30.

Day 5: Friday Fight: Round 1

Let me get this out of the way right off the bat. By a wide margin, Friday Fight: Round 1 is the toughest of the Insanity: Max 30 workouts I've had the privilege to experience in the first week. All due respect to Cardio Challenge (which beat me bad on Day 1), Tabata Power (which I struggled with twice this week) and the Shaun T bread-and-butter cardio workout Sweat Intervals, Friday Fight was a beast like no other.

I believe I have pretty strong legs, but there's something about the combination of moves Shaun T does that puts my legs in a frenzy -- burning, wobbly and resistant to doing more reps. Something about those burpee-lunges, power jumps, lunge jumps ... oh how the plyo moves one after another make me extremely tired.

Despite the burn, I was pushing through, shooting for one more rep just to get me to the next move, and all the meanwhile, see how far along I could get before maxing out. I figured I could get through the first third of the workout since each day I got about a minute better. Well, that was wishful thinking. My Max Out Time decreased by more than a minute and a half, dropping from a few ticks under 10 minutes to 8 minutes and 15 seconds. 

Not only that, but my Weep Time dropped several minutes to 12:13. It got so bad that at the end of the workout when Shaun T loves to throw in his challenge round, I shouted to my wife, "If he has me doing power jumps for the final minute, I am going to be so mad!"

Tricep terror with leg lifts smack dab in the middle of this frightening workout!

Luckily for me -- and probably a lot of us out there -- he ended with a core move. It still burned and I had to take a second or two in that final minute, but at least it wasn't a minute straight of jumping up and down with my knees as high as possible. I was most definitely thirsting for my chocolate Shakeology when I wrapped up my 30 minutes.

This was most certainly a bear of a workout and I'm certain a few more weeks of this is going to make me extremely strong as I continue the journey. A concern of mine is Friday Fight: Round 2. If Shaun T is holding back to unleash a dragon in the second month, I'm a little terrified. Until then, that's a week down of my Max 30 journey! Next up: Pulse.

Recap

Workout:                Friday Fight: Round 1

Max Out Time:       8:15

Weep Time:            12:13

Weekly Weigh-in:   Stay tuned for Day 8 of the journey

Monthly Photo:       Stay tuned for Day 30 of the journey