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Writer's pictureBethany

INSANITY Max 30: Tabata Strength

Updated: Nov 12, 2021

It is the second day I have done Max 30, so here we go!!

Here is my INSANITY Max 30: Tabata Strength review!

Total Time: 30 minutes (plus 2 minutes for the cool down) Equipment: none (‘Your body is your equipment.’)

Warm-Up:

This takes about 2 minutes for both times through and of course this is not the easiest warm up around but was easier than yesterday. :)

  • Straight Arm Jack - feet go out as your arms go up and then feet come together as your elbows come down. This is in INSANITY.

This is my cheerleader pose apparently and I have no idea what is yet to come:

  • Scissor Chest Opener - feet scissor (front and back) as your arms open and close. OH BOY!

I’m flyyyyyying.

  • Lateral Lunges - lunge side to side with a flat back and touching the floor (second time through).

  • Downdog Spider - Downward Dog and then into a spider lunge, Downward Dog, spider the other leg. Repeat.

Repeat it all again! For the record - I was thinking to myself - okay, this warm-up is not too hard. I can handle this. Then, later, I realized, OH I NEEDED MY ARMS AND LEGS FOR THIS WORKOUT - GOT IT.

Time for a water break and he tells you this workout is 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off.

Tabata 1:

  • Diamond Jump + Single Leg Burpee Right - I’m sorry, what? You do a diamond jump (feet and hands together at the top) and then drop down into a single leg burpee, repeat this for 20 seconds.

Scratch what I said earlier - this is not going to be easy. Of course we can’t just do a Diamond Jump - we have to add a burpee - and do it on ONE LEG.

  • Jog It Out - you get a break for 10 seconds before you do it again.

  • Diamond Jump + Single Leg Burpee Left

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Diamond Jump + Burpee (both legs)

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds) - I quickly realized these are really just flail around and catch you breath moments.

  • Diamond Jump + Burpee (both legs)

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Diamond Jumps

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Diamond Jump

Shine bright like a diaaaaamond. I really haaaate these.

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Plie Power Squat - staying low, wide squat with arms out and then jump knees together and bring arms together.

WHOA MY quad(s).

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Plie Power Squat - oh yeah, sure, let’s do this again.

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

Tabata 2:

  • High Knee Abs - with alternating high knees, twist your elbows left and right.

  • Alternating Wide Pushups - in the pushup position - left arm out and pushup, together, right arm out and pushup. Repeat.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Alternating Wide Pushups

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Diamond Pushups - elbows in and made a diamond with your hands.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Diamond Pushups - not going to lie, I fell to my knees.

She maxed out at the end of these - by the way.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Knee Diamond Hold - on your knees, hold the diamond pushup position.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Knee Diamond Hold - I fell to my stomach when the timer was done.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Child’s Pose + Knee Diamond - start in the Child’s Pose and then forward into the knee diamond pushup.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Child’s Pose + Knee Diamond

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

Tabata 3:

  • Jack Jabs - feet go out and in as you alternate jabs.

  • Alternating Plyo Lunges - alternating jumping lunges with the elbows tight.

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Alternating Plyo Lunges

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Plyo Power Knee Right - pull that right knee up as your supporting leg hops.

By the way, I think her chest is bigger! Someone commented after I wrote this that she had a baby - so maybe that is the reason. :) I cannot be the only one that notices these weird changes as I am working out, right?

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Plyo Power Knee Left - pull that right knee up as your supporting leg hops.

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Power Knee + Lunge Right - Power knee right and hop to the right into a lunge, repeat.

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Power Knee + Lunge Left - Power knee left and hop to the left into a lunge, repeat.

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Low Power Knee Left - stay low and bring that knee in. He tries to get just as low as this 'short’ girl:

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

  • Low Power Knee Right

  • Jog It Out (10 seconds)

Tabata 4:

  • Straight Arm Cross - feet open and cross as your arms go up and down.

  • 4-Count “V” Push-Up - four count down and four count back up.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • 4-Count “V” Push-Up

Well these suck.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • “V” Push-Up - single “V” pushups

MY ARMS ARE DYING.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • “V” Push-Up - bring your toes closer to make it harder. Then, scream or cry.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • “V” Push-Up Hold

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • “V” Push-Up Hold

My arms shook until the very last second and gave out when the buzzer buzzed.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Wide Pike-Ups - feet wide - bring them in and out.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Wide Pike-Ups

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

Aghhhhhhh. I have come to love Child’s Pose (aka: sit in a ball crying).

Tabata 5:

  • Mummy Kicks - you should know these - arms out straight and alternating on top and bottom while your legs alternate kicking front.

Okay, so, my shoulders and arms were so worn out by this point it was more of an arm flail and laugh of madness.

  • Scissor Push-Up Left - WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?! With your right leg crossed in the front, do a push up. Hopefully you have some hip flexor flexibility!

Luckily, these did not last forever or I would have died in this position and not gotten out of a pretzel.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Scissor Push-Up Right

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

Looks like people are writing on the board finally. I had to take a few breaths around this time.

  • Knee Tap Push-Up (alternating sides) - WHAT IS THIS!? Do a push-up, bring your knee in and tap it, push-up, other knee.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Knee Tap Push-Up (alternating sides)

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Toe Tap + Push-up (alternating sides) - tap the floor with your toe, pish-up, other knee comes in and toe taps, push-up, repeat.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Toe Tap + Push-up (alternating sides)

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Plank Toe Taps - in the plank position, bring your toes in and tap - alternating sides.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

  • Plank Toe Taps - alternate tapping your toes in the plank position.

  • Child’s Pose (10 seconds)

Tabata 6:

Hmm, well, my arms are pretty worn out.

  • 2 & 2 Power Strike - 2 jabs down to the ground and then alternate.

  • Diamond Jumps + Burpee

  • Alternating Wide Pushups

  • Max Out Knee Up Right - touch the floor and jump up while pulling the right knee up

Make sure you are yelling 'MAX. OUT’ while doing these moves. It makes you way cooler and you will have more intensity.

  • Max Out Knee Up Left

  • “V” Push-Ups - ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

  • Chair Hold - hold a squat with your arms directly forward.

….and just to make sure you are in a chair pose, Shaun T will sit on you:

You go down one more inch - because there is time left - and this is Shaun T….

… then you start to pulse up and down for the last 15 seconds. I did okay with these, my quads and glutes are used to this - but holy moly.

Cool Down:

  • This is 2 minutes of inhaling and exhaling your arms up and down, stretching the chest, quad stretches, hamstring stretch (touching toes - bending knees and straightening), and you ’did an amazing job’.

My Final Thoughts:

  • Since I got called out for not being sweaty in my personal photos for my last review, here is what I actually looked like during the workout:

  • This workout was a little harder for my upper body since I trained/lifted chest this morning. I can’t decide if my calves are sore from this workout or Cardio Challenge yesterday.

  • Shaun T’s husband Scott is the modifier! I missed him - and he got a hair cut!

  • This one has a fun buzzer/ring when your 20 seconds are up and a beeping countdown for the last 3 seconds.

  • You see her pile of sweat? Yeah, that was me too - without the cool hair. I was raining sweat. Thanks Shaun T.

  • Garmin Connect indicates that I burned 282 calories and spent most of my time in zone 2 (mainly fat burning for me which is great). You see the rest periods in which the graph (my heart rate) goes down?

This is a great cardio exercise for the entire body, with a focus on the shoulders and chest. If you want to burn out your upper body with your own body resistance, this is the one! At least you get 10 second rests between 20 second moves.

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