Review: Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

I have had Shaun T's Insanity set for awhile but have yet to do it as it was intended (a two-month rotation), nor have I tried all its workouts. I believe I've tried four of them. Plyo Cardio Circuit is my favorite, so far, of those I've tried.

Insanity is crazy hard for me. I know that Plyo Cardio Circuit is one of the 'easier' Insanity workouts, but it is plenty tough.

Plyo Cardio Circuit is a high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout that uses no equipment. It consists of a long warmup, a really long pre-workout stretch, and about 20 min of cardio. The warmup is made up of a series of cardio moves (jogs, jumping jacks, etc) done 3x's each. The cardio section is somewhat similar. You do 4 moves, take a break, then reapeat them, take a break, then repeat them again. Then you do a brief drill of 'switch feet' before going into the next circuit. After the third time of doing the first circuit, he also has you do football runs. I like those.

The first circuit's moves are:

Suicide Drills (three lateral shuffles right, touch the floor, three lateral shuffles left, touch the floor)
Power Squats
Mountain Climbers (done vertically)
Ski Jumps

The second circuit's moves are:

Basketball Jumps
Low impact squat thrusts - after you step back into a plank, do 4 pushups, then 8 mountain climbers on the floor, then stand up and repeat
Ski abs from plank position (bring your knees in on a right angle, then jump back into a plank, then bring your knees in on a left angle and repeat
Get into plank and jump your knees in and back out, repeat

After the third round is done in the 2nd circuit, you go into a few kickboxing moves and then it's time to cooldown for the final stretch.

I must have weak abs because the toughest part of this workout for me BY FAR is the ski abs into plank jumps. Oh, I take too many breaks to count.

This is a tough workout but there isn't much dread factor. It isn't long, Shaun T is really motivating, and the moves are varied enough that though you do them 3x's each, it doesn't feel repetetive.

Sweat factor: 9/10
Fun factor: 7.5/10