Day 3 of Insanity The Asylum was the Back to Core workout… To be completely honest, I expected it to be a lot easier than the Day 2 of The Asylum Strength workout that I did yesterday. However, I should have known better as this program is called “The Asylum” and you are only supposed to do it if you have already graduated Insanity. When the warm up started, I thought oh this won’t be too bad – there are no weights and it’s just going to be some simple core exercises. All I need is a mat and power band, and I’m good to go – sounds simple enough. In fact, when I hit the first sequence of moves in the warm up, I thought that it was going to be similar to Day 4 of Insanity: Cardio Recovery a.k.a. not too tough.
After getting my core pwn'd
Well, it turned out to be nothing like Cardio Recovery. To my surprise, it turned out to be more like a fucking untamed beast that Shaun T released from a dungeon to attack my core muscles and back muscles…haha I honestly don’t know how Shaun was able to come up with some of these exercise moves, but they were highly effective and maximized the burn moreso than a level 100 Charizard. This core workout that you do in The Asylum is not only the real deal, it is one of the best core workouts that I’ve ever done. However, you need to realize that if you’re not already in reasonably good shape, you may not even be able to do these exercises – they are difficult.
Today more than anything, I needed to focus and keep pushing myself mentally. I was glad that Shaun T was there with me and pushing me with Alisha (a mother of two) and the other crew members. I was surprised at how well the crew showed out with this workout – nobody was slacking today and I struggled to hang with them on several of the moves. I did survive and only have 27 days to go in the program which is cool, but I’m trying not to focus on “what’s next.” Instead, I’m trying to stay in the moment so that I can appreciate the creative set of great exercises that Shaun delivered today.
Day 3 Insanity: The Asylum: Back To Core Workout
Warm Up Exercises (2 Rounds)
Back Fly Jumping Jacks – We did these yesterday, so they were familiar and easy to do. In fact, these were one of my favorite moves in the warm up. Maybe I like them because they are easy and get my heart rate up…haha For some reason I’m a fan of the easy and simple moves in these workouts even though I do appreciate the tougher ones as well. For these you basically do a jumping jack with your arms to the side. Eventually you do “doubles” – 2 to the front, 2 to the back, and keep going in sets of 2’s.
Overhead Jacks – For these you need to be like Shaun Paul and “make it clap” (no I don’t really like that song, but it’s catchy)…haha Anyways, you do jumping jacks, and clap up top, and also clap behind your back. Once again, after you do this for awhile, you do “double up, double back” – 2 claps up top, 2 claps down low, and repeat. You really squeeze your lats and shoulder blades for this exercise in the warm up.
Shoulder Blade Jacks – These are cool because you bring your arms straight up (past your ears) in the air while doing a jumping jack, and then straight back down (past your hips). Eventually you do the “double up, double down” sequence going to 2 ups, 2 downs, etc.
Monkey Squats – Monkey squats are easy to do, but are very effective for stretching out your hamstrings if you are using proper form with good control. You do these for a full minute your first time through. You go down slowly, keeping your chest close to your thighs, and hold your ankles. Keeping your core tight, you rise up and stretch out the legs (straightening them). These were what got my legs ready for the workout.
Second round – The second time through these exercises you go at a faster pace than the first round and you gotta be a lot more ready to roll. I liked when Shaun held his arm over Ariel’s head for her to clap. For the second round, there is officially no more effing around – you need to focus and “be in it” as Shaun would say. You are going all out in the second round and engaging your entire body. The muscles in your back and core should be “feeling it” in the warm up.
The Asylum: Back To Core Workout Exercises
Side Lunge Flys– You do this 15 times to the right, and 15 times to the left. You basically do a lunge while doing a fly and then bring your arms front and center when you come back up. To be honest, by the second 15 reps of these, my shoulders and arms were burning a.k.a. on fire. These are tough to do, but you gotta push and use proper form and control the entire time if you want the best possible results from this workout.
Get out a shovel and dig deeper...
Lat Pull Downs (with a Band) – I didn’t know that I needed a cool green band that the crew has, but I wish Shaun T would have just included one with my box set. Anyways, I was able to use one of the lower grade bands that I bought with P90X and it worked out really well. I definitely felt the muscles engage and working strong. For this move, you squeeze the inner thighs and pull your arms to the side to engage the lats. You pull with the band so you get a better burn and you are supposed to really work your back muscles and shoulder blades.
Wide Lat Flys (with a Band) – For this one, you use the band again, but this time you pull your arms all the way down to the side. This one was tougher than the regular lat pull downs for me because my arms were already warmed up and burning. Your back will be working, but you will also feel it in your shoulders. You will definitely need to make sure that your body is in proper position for this move.
Rotator Split Lunge – For the first set of these, you bring your right leg forward, and let your back leg go back with your knee bent to form a lunge position. You turn back, squeeze the back, and look at your arm as it goes back and your front arm goes front. Initially, I didn’t think these were going to be very tough. I made it through the first round just fine with no problems, but it turned out to be wicked when we got to the…
Iso Holds – Umm yeah, there really are no words for how much this burns on the second arm, but even on the first arm to the right, you will feel the sweat dripping down. If you have your knees bent properly like Daniel in the video (he’s a Marine) you will have a tough time. I was shaking all over the place during the second round through.
Arm Pulses – This is where the work begins according to Shaun and he’s absolutely right. Adding the pulses were like adding gasoline to the raging fire causing third degree burns in my shoulders and arms. This is where you really need to mentally focus and work with your knee down. Shaun points out “the only thing that sucks is you have two sides to your body” – at this point, I’m ready to faint, but I get back into it and wage World War II with the other side of my body…and in case you were wondering, I barely won…haha Shaun had me laughing when he gave Alisha the nickname “Mama” and said “Mama is in it!”…haha
Hip Up Twist Curl – We are working the whole body with this one. This move can mess with your head if you don’t watch the demonstration with acute focus. I accidentally screwed up my first couple reps, but then got back into it and even rewound the player a little bit so that I could make up for my screw ups. You start out with one hand on the ground, one hand straight up, you raise your hip up, twist, then curl over to plank, and curl one of your legs, and flip back over – dropping back down the same way you initially lifted up. You then switch sides to work both sides of the body.
Swimmer Band Exchange – This is one of the toughest moves in this Back to Core workout. You lay down on your yoga mat, lifting your chest and legs. Your goal is to transfer the band in front of your head, and behind your back in clockwise fashion for the first half and counterclockwise for the second half. Not only that, but Shaun T wants you to make sure you have perfect control of your band – it should not change shape. If you don’t have a small band, get a towel or sweatband. Near the end of this move, my arms were scraping my ass on the behind the back exchange. This is the perfect move for swimmers.
Low Back Strengthener – Just when you think the Swimmer Band Exchange is tough, you get thrown back in the water to strengthen your lower back. You do a swimmer type motion with your arm (breast stroke) and then tuck your elbows by your side and propel your arms straight through to the front again. Then you repeat the cycle and keep going for the full amount of time. You definitely will need maximum focus and control for this badboy.
Reverse Low Back Strengthener – Since you worked your muscles one way, you have to work them the opposite way. So you basically do a reverse back stroke… Shaun T says “I don’t care if you can do 500 crunches, but can you do this?” This is way tougher than doing 500 crunches – especially after you just did the low back strengthener. Fortunately you do get a little mini child’s pose in between these moves for a few seconds.
Hip Up Pulse – For these, you lay down on your yoga mat with your back to the ground. You keep your knees bent and feet on the ground with your arms spread like the wings of an eagle. You then proceed to raise up your hips and back down. Initially I thought that these weren’t going to be too bad, but I should have known better at this point – there was more in store for my legs and core.
Raised Arms Hip Ups – For this one, you raise your arms straight up and pulse up just like you did for the original hip ups. You squeeze your abs, glutes and work your lower back at the same time.
Hip Ups with Single Leg Extension – For this one, you keep your arms raised, but instead of keeping both of your feet on the ground, you raise one of your legs. You need to keep your knees aligned and really use your core. You really need to push your hips forward and squeeze your core. You should definitely feel a burn in your hamstrings by the time you are done with both sides of these.
Hip Ups with Single Leg Extension Toe Taps – To climax the “hip ups” you get to put your arms back down on the ground (spread side to side), but you still keep a single leg extension going. But to make things tougher, you add a toe tap from the leg that is extended. You do this for both sides and everything is engaged. One hell of a way to end the workout: you need to “bring the pain and want it” as Shaun would say.
Alternating Reverse Plank – This move involves you sitting up, going into reverse plank, and you raise one leg in at a time, trying to bring your knee to your chest. You alternate one leg at a time and go for a full minute. Make sure that your arms are in the proper position – you should feel the burn. If you aren’t feeling the burn, you are probably not positioned correctly – look at Daniel in the video and try to emulate his form if you need more work.
Single Leg Reverse Plank Pulse – To make things tougher, you keep one leg on the ground straightened out, and the other leg pulses the whole time. You do this for 30 seconds on the right, and 30 seconds on the left. I guarantee that this move will rip the shit out of your core and will make you want to collapse and die on the spot – but you need to push through because this is the last move!
Coolin’ Down: Am I Still Alive???
I was so glad that I was finally done with this workout, but I really enjoyed it. I did my best with this one and pushed myself way out of my comfort zone – which is exactly what Shaun T wanted. The cool down felt great and I needed some stretching after that final move because my left hamstring was in a state of discomfort when it was holding up my body so that my right leg could do the pulses.
The cool down stretches are not something that you will want to miss. They are the ideal set of stretches after you just finished working your core and hamstrings. You bring each knee to your chest while lying down on your back. You also do some “cat stretches” to close things out. You also will do the classic big inhales and exhales that everyone has come to love, plus downward dog and some hamstring stretches.
Final Thoughts: Day 3 of The Asylum: Back To Core Workout
This is one of the most BAMF core workouts I have ever done. The whole crew of people that Shaun had today did a perfect job and they all set great examples. Although I wasn’t quite as good as all of them, I battled and was damn close. Plus maybe I was closer than I thought since the camera is always showcasing someone new from the crew and some other people aren’t shown for the entire time.
Anyways, this is definitely what I would consider an advanced “elite” core workout. You may start this workout and think that it’s going to be easy based on the first couple moves looking like good ole jumping jacks. Well, if you think that it’s going to be all jumping jacks, you’re going to get crushed like an ant under the foot of Hulk. This is for people that are willing to work hard in order to get amazing results in 30 days.
From this point on, there is no way I am going to underestimate any of the remaining workouts even a little bit. Today I didn’t come in with an “I think this will be easy attitude,” but I didn’t expect it to be super tough. I have no clue why though since the program is titled “The Asylum” and is the sequel to “Insanity”…haha Anyways, although I would say that the strength workout was tougher yesterday, this was an entirely different set of moves designed to work different parts of your body – so they shouldn’t really be compared.
In comparison to “Core Synergistics (Day 23)” from P90X, this is tougher even though there are no weights involved. The reason that it’s tougher is because the moves require a lot more mental focus and concentration. I’m not going to get too much into it though because both are good workouts. What I will say though is that this one works my core more than that particular workout. Biggups to the insanely ripped homie Shaun T and this is the end of Day 3… “Peace Out!”
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