Insanity - Cardio Recovery - How many Cals?

redhotsmacker · October 2010

I am just on day 4 of Insanity and I was wondering what the burn is like with the cardio recovery dvd? I understand that it is a recovery day and I probably didn't burn as many calories doing this workout rather than one of the other insanity workouts, but holy smokes it was still really hard! I don't think that my legs stopped shaking the entire time!

Stooooo · October 2010

When keeping track of Insanity, I count all work outs as Aerobics High Impact. After all that is what it is.....

mizfit · October 2010

Welcome to Insanity!!! I bought a heart rate monitor with a chest strap before I started and I found it worked well for me because the intensity each person works out at is different so even if I gave you a number it wouldn't necessarily reflect what you burned. One of the popular brands is polar. I use a timex and you can get them at fitness stores, brand name stores and even online.

redhotsmacker · October 2010

Thanks for your replies! I have been tracking the last 3 days as high impact aerobics so that covers that. I am hoping to get a HRM for Christmas so I guess for the time being I am just really watching my caloric intake and guesstimating about my workouts...

ErrataCorrige · October 2010

I take my heart rate while doing Insanity then approximate my average heart rate. Then I plug it into this calculator. It is not 100% accurate, but it might help give you a better guess. Hope it helps!

http://www.triathlontrainingblog.com/calculators/calories-burned-calculator-based-on-average-heart-rate/

Make sure you take her advice and put in 35 vo/max instead of leaving it blank. This gave me a much more comparable result with the HRM I now use.

rkcrawf · June 2011

Do not think that the heart rate is an accurate guide for the recovery workouts. Most heart rate monitors that calculate calories are a) approximate (unless they ask for your weight and measure distance) b) are meant for aerobic work. The cardio recovery is a workout, but it feels more like a combination of yoga/pilates than true aerobics. My HRM monitor says I burned 352 cal over 30 minutes, which is about what I'd do in a 2.5-3 mile run. I don't think that's right, esp since MyFitness shows Yoga and Pilates at about 132 calories for the same duration. My guess is that it's somewhere inbetween. But with my avg heartrate at 108, I am hard pressed to call that aerobic activity, so I can't rely on the HRM.

A more thorough explanation is here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/community/ask_the_experts.asp?q=75

divemedic · January 2012

Great info. thanks for asking the question. Congratulations on the wieght loss.

mackabee · March 2012

I need to also know how many calories you burn on Insanity Cardio Recovery . If you find out, please let me know!

booh123 · July 2012

As others were saying, you have an individualized calorie burn. I did cardio recovery today with a heart rate monitor on that converts into calories. The workout is pretty hard for me (squat & lung holds)- my max heart rate was 150 (although shortlived) and ave hr was 114. According to my monitor, I burned 208 cal. I am female, 32, 5'5 & weigh 154. This is my 18th day of insanity and never worked out prior.

916lude · July 2012

Use a HRM. I usually burnt 200 less on the cardio recovery days. Wait 'till you get to MAX recovery. I dreaded that one more than MAX plyo haha

mzubairi · September 2012

I just did the cardio recovery today and I'm glad you asked this question here! I was wondering the same thing:-) thanks! I would also be interested to find out how insanity worked out for you along with keeping track of calories with my fitness pal......

enjvanbeb · September 2012

Just finished the Cardio Recovery for the first time, and I was also wondering how many calories I burnt during it. I sweat like crazy! It was awesome!

laura2501 · September 2012

did cardi recovery yesterday and hrm says 285 cals

catpea33 · November 2012

As others were saying, you have an individualized calorie burn. I did cardio recovery today with a heart rate monitor on that converts into calories. The workout is pretty hard for me (squat & lung holds)- my max heart rate was 150 (although shortlived) and ave hr was 114. According to my monitor, I burned 208 cal. I am female, 32, 5'5 & weigh 154. This is my 18th day of insanity and never worked out prior.

I have similar values with female, 29, 5'5" and 130lb. I burnt 186 calories according to my Garmin Forerunner 405CX with average HR 121bpm (not sure what my max is but it definitely went above 150bpm). This was my 4th day of Insanity. So if anyone else is the same height and between 130lb-150lb then these two values (186 and 208 calories) might be a good guesstimate for you to use.

Elssha · January 2013

do you put in recovery (max/cardio) as high impact or yoga stretch?
I'm not quite up to getting a heartrate monitor, but I would like a fair approximate of what I do... and I feel like listing it as high impact aerobics is cheating somehow.
Also, anyone know if for the other days, do we put in the full length of the vid, or is it better to cut out the stretch times (say for max plyo, should it be listed as 55min or say 50)?

turboturtlepower · January 2013

Just get a HRM. Yes, price is expensive but it's helped me out a lot. Over estimating calorie burn for a long time w/o one. I'm 165lbs., 5'4 tall, 30 year old female and I burn a little over 200 (if I'm lucky on cardio recovery).

jabrock9 · January 2013

I'm only in week 2 now of Insanity, but during week 1 with cardio recovery I burned about 150 according to my polar. I'm a 35 year old female, 147 lbs, 5'6.

LynneP3390 · February 2013

i have just done day four literally 5 mins ago and OMG ma muscles are aching, so surprising. i found this day harder then the first three days. Not sure about everyones else but i feel like i should do something as i know the calorie burn in cardio recovery is not that high.