Day 54: MAX INTERVAL CIRCUIT (Actual: Plyo Cardio Circuit)

Today was my first substitution of month 2. Last night was the dinner out, and I had to wake up early this morning to teach an extra yoga class. This pushed me half-rested toward lunchtime for a workout, and I also have my son and his 5-year-old friend this afternoon -- I actually had to work out in front of their fort while they played behind me. I also woke up with a lower backache and my knees are still a little touchy. All of this combined with my awful MIC experience earlier this week meant I knew I could either skip today entirely or do Plyometric Cardio Circuit. I decided on the latter. Better to give 100% to the 42 minutes of Insanity than to give 60% to the 59-minute version. Or 0% to nothing.

Plyo Cardio Circuit was my favorite workout of month 1, and I was excited to return to it for comparison. And Plyo Cardio Circuit as a swap is nothing to sniff at, in fact, the idea of it being easier is pretty laughable. Those of you who are in month 1 and feeling like you're at the "beginner" level: this workout is really hard. Yes, it's 18 minutes shorter than Max Interval Circuit, but it's still 42 minutes of Insanity. I did enjoy it but I found it nearly as challenging as I did in month 1. I enjoyed the different warmup and the longer stretch, but the circuits themselves are in some ways harder than those in month 2 because:

1. There is NO rest outside of the scheduled 30-second water breaks. In all of the month 2 workouts, he takes extra time explaining the next move, but none of the month 1 workouts are like that.

2. The exercises in month 2 are harder in a technical sense, that is, they require more focus to do correctly -- however, the more straightforward month 1 exercises allow you to work a lot harder and faster. I think I sweated way more with Plyo Cardio Circuit today than I have been with the month 2 workouts. I had to rest in all the same spots and the bad news is that the level 3 drills in month 2 don't make the level 1 drills in this one seem any easier.

So, overall this was a good workout for trying to field 5-year-old questions and focus at the same time. I'm also glad I didn't scrap it entirely. I ate too much Thai food last night and then had a decent-sized slice of cheesecake, so I needed to pour it on today. But I felt like this was just the right amount of mini-break and when combined with Core Cardio and Balance (yay!) tomorrow and a rest day, I should be prepared for that last hellacious week of Insanity.