Days 8-12

Well I have been slacking a little – both on blogging and working out over the weekend.  I will try to catch up here and find motivation to not skip any more Insanity days.

Day 8 (Wednesday) was Cardio Power and Resistance.  I had stayed up too late the night before so this workout was saved for after work (and a nap). It felt pretty good. I think this is the “easiest” of the workouts but I definitely tried a little harder and felt myself sweating more than the last time. I need to be able to speed up with each interval and really push myself. That is one of the challenging things of this workout – you have to be accountable to yourself.

On day 9 (Thursday), I woke up early with the ball of my right foot in a lot of pain, but I decided to work through it and just ice it down later.  I hoped it was just a bruise. It was definitely tender at first, but it stretched out a bit, and I learned to not put a lot of pressure on it.  It was Pure Cardio Day. And yup, this is still difficult but at least I made it all the way through! I did have to pause a few times for a water break. Overall though, it felt better than last time and the time *almost* seems to go by faster sine you are doing exercises only once.  I did hit the elliptical after work for about a half hour though for some additional cardio. I kind of went out to dinner and stuffed my face the night before!

Day 10 (Friday) brought Plyometric day… ugh! This is definitely my least favorite. The second interval set can still kiss my ass. Even starting the jogging, jumping jack, etc warmup gets me sweating and out of breath, although I guess that’s the point. I already have a good sweat working up by the time we get to stretching. My right foot still hurt but not quite as bad as the day before.  I did come down on my left ankle wrong for a second and felt a slight twinge.  I kept going though… (And ended up forgetting about it until the workout last night when it was still sore.)  The people in the video are starting to piss me off though, especially skinny Asian chick. Her facials and fake struggling need to go!

Day 11 was supposed to be Cardio Recovery. However, I was in Tunica and forgot my DVDs. Since it was just stretching I decided not to worry about it and would just skip it.  However, I got lazy on Sunday AND had to work, so I missed that entire day of working out as well.  I decided to make that my day off and to continue with Day 12 on Monday with Cardio Power and Resistance.

I felt pretty good starting.  I tried to push myself from the beginning, even the warmup. I did start getting a migraine towards the end but I decided to finish anyways. I had a weird tingling and numbness feeling in my left hand and parts of my left arm which started to freak me out. I am hoping it was just migraine symptoms though, and not anything more serious or side effects from this workout.  Pure Cardio AND Cardio Abs after work today! 

Day 7 - Rest

Right, like that was going to happen. I can justify skipping a workout if I have something planned, or I hurt, or I don’t feel well. But when I know I will be eating a lot of food the rest of the week and may be out of town the next weekend, I need to continue burning calories.

I got up early and hit the gym. It felt good to get on the elliptical for a half hour. I got a nice steady cardio workout in, mostly as a warmup for my muscles before finishing the Pure Cardio video that I couldn’t on Sunday. I used the elliptical as a substitute for the jogging, butt kicks, high knees, etc warmup that starts all the Insanity workouts.  I did do an abbreviated form of the stretches before popping the DVD in though. I have some tightness in the back of my right hamstring which was making me a little nervous.  All my soreness is finally gone through from my knees, so that is a good thing.

I had completed about 1/3 of the 15 minute hard core section of the video, so I had 10 exercises to go.  You can go on and put frog jumps into the category of Exercises I Hate. And if I thought Level 1 drills were tough, I was not prepared for Level 2 drills (bend down, plank position, 8 pushups, 8 second run, stand up and jump, repeat).

This workout is TOUGH. I did not make it through many at all without having to pause. I even had to stop the dvd a few times to get some water. The only thing that made me feel better was the people on the video kept having to stop as well. I am just going to tell myself they were not acting, and it really just is that hard! 

Day 6 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit

I hate plyometric day! I had hoped it would be a little easier the 2^nd time, since I have been trying to push myself in other workouts. I had hoped it wasn’t as bad as I remembered it.  I had hoped I could make it all the way through. NOPE!

I am getting a little bored with the same warmup and stretching each time, but I assume that’s never going to change so I’ll have to get over it. The first interval set was okay. I made it pretty much through with only a few very brief pauses. Sometimes I feel myself slacking off, especially when it comes to those power squats, but I tried to speed up each time regardless.

It’s that second interval set where I want to just crawl back into bed. Again, the basketball jumps to the level 1 drills to the ab work…  I can’t make it through one rep of one exercise on any interval without pausing and taking a break. I think I may have even been going at half speed on the level one drills - if I was moving at all. This is definitely the section that I need to work on most.

Thankfully my leg felt a little better when I woke up this morning.  I can still feel a little tightness, but not like yesterday where I could feel it pulling. I may have taken it a tiny bit easier today, but not much.  I am taking my heating pad to work to keep it loose.  

First week complete! 

Day 5 - Pure Cardio

Well I finally got my lazy self off the couch to workout. I was a little scared for today from the name of the workout alone. Interval training is hard enough, with just 30 second breaks. This main part of this workout was 15 minutes straight with zero breaks.

We started with the normal warm up.  I did try to push myself a little bit more and found myself sweating after just the first few minutes. Next was the stretching section, nothing new here. Except that Shaun T mentioned he was nervous about the upcoming workout. That didn’t make me feel ANY better. While introducing, he told us we would do each exercise for a full minute. The first two exercises were familiar; I think they came from the Fit Test. Then came some new challenging ones. I had to pause it twice to get some water and take a ten second break; this was tough! 

About 5 minutes into the 15 minute section, we started power jacks (basically a jumping jack but you land it in a lunge), and I felt a slight twinge in my upper right quad, right on the side of my leg. I tried again, but it was still hurting.  I paused the video, shook it out, massaged it a bit, and tested it out. It still hurt and felt really tight whenever going into that lunge position. So unfortunately, I had to stop the workout. I would rather take a day off then push myself and potentially get really hurt, delaying the entire workout.

I am icing it down right now, and really want to go to the elliptical. But every time I stand up, I get that tight feeling and I am scared to work it out any more. I guess I am forced to take the rest of the day off and try again tomorrow morning.  I will save the place in this video and finish it up this week. Crossing my fingers…

Day 4 - Cardio Recovery

I woke up a little less sore in my quads, although my knees still have some pain. But at least I could walk a little bit better and stairs weren’t nearly as bad. I felt a tiny feeling of working out in my glutes but other than that, not really any other soreness. I thought I would be hurting some in my shoulders from the Day 3 workout, but either it wasn’t as tough as I thought or I actually work those muscles every once in awhile.

Day 4 was an easy day. It was basically just a lot of stretching and squats. I guess we are supposed to let our body recover. I felt fairly flexible in most of the positions, although I cannot hold the poses through the burning.  That is definitely something I need to work on. This was not an all out heart racing, sweat kind of day, although I could feel some cardio vascular moments.

I also tried today without knee braces. I have floating kneecaps which causes inflammation and pain between my femur and patella. I am hoping that working through these squats and such will improve the muscles in this area to increase stability. Only time will tell.

But of course, I can’t have a day with zero cardio, so I hit the gym for a quick 30 minute session on the elliptical. Since the Insanity workout didn’t leave me weak as usual, it felt pretty good to back in the gym. I need to try to do this more often I think.

I am writing this as I sit on my couch on a lazy Sunday, looking for the motivation to get up for Day 5…  Still sore in my knees and a little in my upper back, I guess from all the stretching yesterday.  Wish me luck….   

Day 3 - Cardio Power and Resistance

My legs hurt!!  Specifically those quads, and especially right above my knees.  Wobbling out of bed to change clothes made me nervous to start today’s workout.   I am also slightly feeling the soreness in my upper and lower back.

Starting off with the normal warmup, I could already feel that pain in my legs but I decided to get over and push on through.  The warmup seemed a little easier than yesterday breathing-wise, but that could be due to the fact I wasn’t quite pushing myself as hard due to my soreness. The stretching section was still a welcome break, and it helped warm up those tight muscles.

Just like yesterday, there were two sections of exercises, each repeated three times with 30 second water breaks in between.  There was also an additional exercise in between and after the second section.   I felt like today concentrated more on jumping (I HATE fast power jumps by the way) and arms, rather than a ton of cardio. It wasn’t until more than halfway in the video did I feel the first real sweat come on.

Vertical pushups might be an exercise I keep even after this is over.  They say it is working the shoulders, which I don’t really ever do.  And I also felt it in that little area under my arms in front that I always feel like I want to tone more.  It’s not that fun while doing them, but I think I will see some progress there.

As Shaun T coaches, he always mentions keeping the core tight.  This is the thing I have never known if I am doing correctly.  With my back being sore (and not my abs), I have no idea if I am doing the exercises right.  Hopefully I will figure this out as I go along so I work the right areas and don’t hurt myself.

Again, S.T. is very motivating as he moves through the exercises.  Encouraging you to push yourself but also go at your own pace.  I am not going to lie, I took several pauses during most of the exercises.  I definitely need to work on pushing myself more to not take those breaks and increase my reps.  Hopefully that will come naturally as I move through the videos.  

Watching the others in the video is still a bit laughable.  You cannot tell me these big strong built guys need water breaks in the middle of a 3 minute set.  At least they make me feel a little better as I lag behind too!

So far, I think it is a good workout, particularly for toning. I have my doubts on the calories burned aspect of it.  I am planning to take a few afternoons on the elliptical to keep up that aspect too, if my body doesn’t get too tired.  It might be a few days though, I am walking pretty slow today!

Day 2 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit

I got up early so I could workout before work.  I was a little sore from the fit test, particularly in my quads and my back.  That makes sense, since those are probably the muscles I use least on the elliptical. It is two days later as I write this, so I am trying to remember the exact exercises, but I think I already blocked that hell from my mind, ha!

Day 2 started off with a warmup, which already left me gasping for breath and sweating. I was very thankful for the next section, which was stretching, for a little bit of a break.  Next up were two interval sections.  You get a 3 minute session with various exercises, then a water break, then repeat two more times, getting faster each time.

Level 1 drills, or whatever you want to call them, SUCK.  I think it went something like – stand up, bend door, go to push up position, 4 pushups, run in pushup position for 8 seconds, stand up, back down, and on and on.  Whew!  I wanted to kill Shaun T after this one.  In and out pushups were pretty rough as well, especially since they were right at the end of the set!

By the end of the workout, I was pretty sweaty and TIRED.  I was definitely shaky and needed to rest a few minutes before showering and getting ready for work. I felt ok, although my legs were feeling the pain the most.  Walking down stairs was particularly difficult, as my quads right above my knees were getting sorer by the moment.  By the end of the day, I was hurting pretty good in those quads.  Not in a bad way, but in an I-just-worked-muscles-that-haven’t-felt-a-stretch-in-forever kind of way.  Once I got home and sat down on that couch, it was tough to get back up. 

Day 1 - Fit Test

Well, as just about everyone says… I must be insane.  To get in shape (or at least attempt), I am starting the Insanity workout.  I have heard it can really work, so I am crossing my fingers and manning up. 

I am normally a cardio junkie.  I do the elliptical for about an hour every day, and the stair climber for 15 minutes.  I do not do a lot of weights, strength training, ab work, etc. So I chose Insanity because they claim that you are still doing cardio along with the muscle workouts.  My goals are to lose about 7 pounds, subtract several inches from my waist, hips, and thighs, and tone everything.  I will say though, I am just doing the workout part and not the eating plan, so we will see how that goes.

I was a little (ok, a lot) apprehensive and scared for Day 1.  After reading reviews, I heard even the first workout is an ass kicker.  The video starts with a warmup and stretch, then goes into the Fit Test.   There are 8 exercises, and you do as many reps are you can of each in a one minute time frame.  I don’t think there was even ONE that I did without stopping for a pause or four.  I tried to push myself, but this was rough.

My results were as follows:

•        Switch kicks = 55 (1 rep=two kicks)
•        Power jacks = 56
•        Power knees = 90
•        Power jumps = 4
•        Globe jumps = 8 (1 rep=4 jumps)
•        Suicide jumps = 19
•        Pushup jacks = 29
•         Low plank oblique = 30 (1 rep=2 legs)

Hopefully I will improve with every test, which takes place every two weeks.

After a cool down and stretch, I was finished!  Whew, that wore me out.  I drank two full bottles of water during the workout and another after.  I was definitely feeling a little shaky afterward, but in general felt ok.  I don’t necessarily feel like I got a ton of cardio in, but I know I worked my muscles.

Shaun T is a great motivator so far.  He constantly talks to you, explains the exercises, and keeps you going.  The two others doing the workout are interesting.  I mean, they are in AMAZING shape.  I am sure their numbers are much higher than they report. And seeing them almost struggle is laughable, although I guess they are just trying to make us feel better!

Overall, a somewhat successful first day.  1 down, 59 to go!