10 Stages of Taking an Insanity Live Class

In case you haven’t heard, this semester a new type of fitness class has been added to the extra-curricular offerings at Marist. That’s right, Insanity Live is now offered as an intramural – taught by the Zumba and Pilates aficionado Megan Kennedy.

Insanity Live is High-Intensity-Interval-Training (HIIT) and aims to constantly challenge your muscles, so your body doesn’t get used to a workout and the workout is always effective. This class is 60 minutes of total body conditioning – as in, your whole body will be sore afterwards. But who doesn’t love that feeling, right? No? Just me? Well, I tried this INSANE class, so you know what you’re up against! Insanity Live isn’t easy, but it is for everyone! If I can do it with a reconstructed ankle and chronic clumsiness, you can do it to!

1. Initially, you’ll feel so good about yourself for taking initiative on a Wednesday night to conquer this class that is not for the faint hearted. (But hey, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to drive to McCann because you know…it’s dark and stuff.) 

2. Perhaps most important, I positioned myself in the back of the dance studio, FAR away from the mirror, and just off to the side enough so I wouldn’t have to see this process happening. I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty – no need to punish everyone by making them see these DD’s doing burpees. 

3. Unfortunately, the one downfall of the class was the inability to see (or hear) Megan as she was giving instructions. But hey, that just means I have to take a minute (or two) before starting the exercise to really understand what I’m supposed to be doing, right? 

4. Get used to the term “power move.” At the end of each “block” of exercises, there was a power move, which was an even more difficult version of one of the previous exercises. The first time she said it, I thought, “Why do we need a power move? I think all those other moves I just did were pretty powerful!” 

5. There is no in-between-moves-resting-time. The most time you get to relax is when you’re chugging your water during one of the 30 second rest times. I also took full advantage of the breaks while doing supermans-into-pushups. “No I’m good, I’ll just lay face down on this yoga mat during this drink break and try to regain my will to live.” 

6. I took full advantage of the modifications for each move. There is a lot of jumping involved in HIIT, and sometimes that makes my ankle angry, but Insanity takes these limitations into consideration. For every move where there is a large jump, the exerciser can simply hop or omit the jump in that particular exercise. So there is really no excuse and I loved that! 

7.  Sometimes a hard workout emphasizes your inner klutz. When we had to do two high knees and two kicks, I literally had to count out loud, “Up…Up…Kick…Kick” because the coordination just wasn’t happening! 

8. You will have never done as many squats (and as many variations on squats) in your entire life, and you WILL feel it the next day…and the day after that. 

9. Honestly, after you finish an Insanity Live class, you will feel awful (physically) and amazing (mentally). You feel like you have literally climbed Everest. Of all the times you stared at the door like, “Will anyone notice if I just peace out?” you didn’t. You stayed and burned over 800 calories. Can anyone say, “Pancakes for dinner?!” 

10. Insanity is a great workout but it is not easy, hence the name. I recommend it to all who are willing to try something new and burn a ridiculous amount of calories. Can’t wait till next week’s class! 

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• intramurals
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