Insanity - Double-Double

Towards the end of week 7, I checked the Insanity calendar for the day's workout and when I see what I'm in for my heart sinks. It's been a stressful week at work, I've been struggling through my workouts, and today looks to be the most brutal workout of the week. Two workouts. Max Cardio Conditioning followed by Insane Abs. Two workouts...ahhh hell. Refill my water bottle and get to it.

Max Cardio Conditioning is almost an hour long. That includes a warmup, stretching, the workout itself, followed by stretching. About an hour total time. The workout is non-stop exercises for over half an hour. Unlike most of the other Insanity workouts, the cardio conditioning workouts do not have breaks. Do as much as you can, as best you can, take a quick breather when you gas out, and get back in it. Repeat over and over.

I was soaked in sweat when it ended. And I still had the ab workout next. I went right into it. It's about 35 minutes and I was already dead. Good stuff, let's get to it.

This was my first time doing the the Insane Abs workout. Not a single crunch, but a whole lot of planks. Some of my favorite exercises are the ones that transition from high plank to low plank. High plank is a standard push-up position. Low plank is the same thing but on your forearms. It's a rough one after a few reps.

It was a struggle, to say the least, to make it through both workouts. It was the first time I've ever collapsed and face-planted out of exhaustion. I even whimpered a little. Two deep breaths, maybe three, and get back into it. So How y'all doin? Fricken horrible!!

However, I did notice my mindset shifted since last month. Sometimes when in the middle of a workout I'd be counting down until it's over. Exhaustion takes hold, my form breaks down, and I need to take a rest. Then I'd be a little bummed that I needed to stop. Not too bad, just a minor disappointment before I get back to the workout. But today I noticed I didn't count down and when I rested I was thinking about how next time when I do this workout I'll be better at it. A slight shift in mentality but a positive one. At the end of the workouts I actually felt pretty good – exhausted as all hell – but pretty good.

The ab workout would leave me soaked in sweat on its own but since I began it already soaked from the first workout I was double-drenched. It was pretty gross. I have to let my place air out and spray Febreeze all over. And not just the regular Febreeze but the anti-microbial high-powered sport version Febreeze. Oh yeah! When tomorrow comes I'll be sore all over (especially in the core) but at least my place will be sanitized and freshly scented.

Insanity - High Octane Fuel

See the title of the blog? I didn't have any of that today. And I suffered for it. Here's the story.

It all comes down to my mood. Wasn't in a good one. I felt pretty bleh for most of today. I slept in an awkward position the other night and have had a cramp in my neck ever since. It's bad to the point where I can't turn to the right (I'm no longer an ambi-turner). It's been irritating. On top of that I have a feeling I'm stressed about something in the back of my mind. Put it all together and it makes for a bleh sorta day. So what do I do? Stress-eating!

I've done fairly well with my diet since starting Insanity. Today was the most I deviated in a single day. I kept my normal breakfast and mid-morning meal so that was healthy. Then around 11am I was eying the recently refilled candy jar on the office snack table and grabbed two bite-sized Twix. You know the bite-sized ones right? You can pop the whole candy in your mouth like popcorn. It's really small so it's really easy to eat 5 at a time, making it just as bad or worse than eating a regular sized candy bar. Well, I had two Twix, then a few minutes later grabbed another one along with a mini Snickers. Yay, that's more candy in half an hour than I've had in the past 2 weeks!

Lunch time came and I ate my regular lunch: a small portion of pasta with chicken and veggies with an apple on the side. The cramp in my neck wasn't getting any better and at one point it felt like it was making me walk with a limp, which didn't make any sense to me at all. So the bleh-ness continued. Then came the birthday celebration.

At my office we do birthdays good! We sing and have dessert. Enough dessert so everybody can have 3 helpings. Today's menu: pound cake, strawberries, cool whip, and homemade banana cream pie. Since beginning Insanity there have been a few birthdays in the office and I've been able to resist. I just load up a small plate of whatever fruit is on the table (strawberries, blueberries, or whatever), run to my desk and keep my eyes away from what others are eating. Today, screw it! Give me that cake, some strawberries with cool whip, some banana cream, and heck give me one more piece of cake! I scarfed it and it was delicious. Then I felt mildly guilty about it and ultimately my mood didn't really improve.

For dinner I was out and ordered a salad. But this is one of those “salads gone bad” kind of salads. The entire thing is coated in a cream-based dressing, there was some bacon in there, and fried chicken. Only in America can you make a salad 5000 calories. On the surface it seemed like a healthier option but it probably wasn't all that great.

With a less than spectacular diet in me I got home and did my workout. Man did I feel a difference, and not in a good way. I was sluggish, unmotivated, and took a lot of breaks. The worst part was I didn't have it in me to push through to do better. I stayed at the same lackluster pace the entire workout. Frankly put, I sucked.

In past blogs I talk about how hungry I've been since following Insanity's nutrition plan. I may be hungry, but at least I'm eating higher quality food that gives me the high octane fuel needed to perform. Today that was not the case and I paid for it. Looking back, scarfing down on that dessert really wasn't worth it. I mean, it didn't even help my mood! What's that about? The candy wasn't necessary either.

The lesson, healthier food is just better. The comfort stuff didn't offer much comfort really. Bad food doesn't make a bad day any better so hopefully I remember today the next time my mood slumps. If you're wondering, my mood got better towards the end of the workday and even though my workout didn't go well I still felt pretty good when it was over. Hopefully the cramp in my neck is gone tomorrow, my mind gets in a better place, and I can get back on track.

Insanity - Week 6, Another Level

This past Monday began the second phase of the Insanity program. New workouts! I was beginning to perform well towards the end of the first month. Fewer breaks, not as sore the next day. Getting better. I went into the next level of workouts confident that I could keep up and push through them. Yep, I was wrong.

The first month of Insanity focused heavily on cardio and high intensity exercises. The second month keeps up that same level of intensity but the exercises utilize more muscle groups making things much, much more tiring...and sore...and exhausting. I can't even make it through the warm up without taking two or three breaks. It's like starting day 1 all over again.

There are more push-up based exercises, a lot more planks, and a lot of jump-squats. I thought the planks would kill me the most but it turns out the push-ups kill me more than anything else. Of course a push-up incorporates a plank so I guess that makes sense (I just realized that as I wrote this). Plus there are push up variations that I've never heard of before like these crazy side-planking push ups. Then there's what's called a power push-up, which is a regular push-up but you push with enough force to bring your feet towards your hands and finish in a standing position. That one's kind of tough.

These next level workouts are brutal. I'm left gasping, sore, and pouring sweat when there's still 2 more sets left. I break pretty often and it takes a lot to regain my focus and get back into it. I try to keep my breaks under 10 seconds, just enough to take a few breaths and shake out whatever muscles are screaming at me. I feel pretty horrible during the workouts but really accomplished when I make it to the end. At least Mr. Shaun T doesn't ask “how y'all doing?” as much...we all know what the answer to that one would be: fricken horrible! But yet I keep going :)

Insanity - Week 5

It's recovery week!! That doesn't mean I get a break though. I do the same workout every day of the week but it only halfway kills me. The recovery workout doesn't focus on cardio as much as the other ones I've done so far. It focuses more on movement, engaging the core, and balance. I can get through the whole workout with very few breaks. Actually my breaks only come during the last two segments of the workout that work the hip flexors and the shoulders.

Overall the program has been going well. I can see and feel results. My clothes are getting looser and I'm almost at the point where I need to tighten my belt one more notch. I've lost about 9 pounds and my body fat has decreased by 3% since I began the program. Granted I was about 9 pounds overweight when I began but never mind that part. I'm back to a normal weight and I'm slimming down. Progress!!

The nutrition plan continues to be my greatest challenge. I'm used to pushing through exhausting workouts but I'm not used to passing up dessert. I plan certain cheat days like when I know I'm going out with friends for a drink (yes a beer counts as a cheat) or if there's some event involving food. When that happens I just go into it knowing that I'm doing well with the workouts so consider those departures from the meal plan as a break and get back to it at my next meal. After all, there is a rest day from the workouts, so why not a “rest” meal from the meal plan? I don't feel guilty at all with that mindset and that saves me some stress. I just make sure to limit my “rest” days to twice a week.

I'm midway through Insanity and tomorrow begins the next level of workouts. They're supposed to be more challenging than what I've been doing, which makes me nervous because what I've been doing has been challenging as hell. Oh, and before I wrote how Mr. Shaun T always asks, “how y'all doin?” and before my answer was “fricken horrible!”...now my response is “fricken horrible!”...haha, but one time I only said “horrible” so I guess it's getting a little better.

Insanity Workout - Resisting Temptations

Still pushing through the Insanity workout and I'm doing fairly well. I haven't missed a workout and I'm getting better with each day. But this blog isn't about the workouts. It's about something far more grueling: the food.

That's right, Insanity isn't just working out it's also about eating right. That's something I haven't done so well with in the past. Hey, I love pizza, cake, ice cream, and dipping things in Ranch Dressing. And portion control? Forget it! If I'm still feeling hungry, I'm gonna keep eating. There's one more piece left? I'll take it! Well that's had to change since I began Insanity...and it sucks.

My diet now consists of 5 meals a day with two snacks. Sounds like a lot right? Well no...the portion sizes have been reduced drastically. It's like, one slice of whole grain bread, three slices of turkey, a slice of tomato and lunch is served. I was fricken starving for the whole first week.

Knowing how challenging it would be for me to adjust me eating habits, I quickly realized how easy it would be for me to stray from them and dive right back into pizza. Time to get practical. There's no way I'm following the 5 meal a day program perfectly. There's no way I'm holing myself up for 2 months, isolating myself from my friends, to keep away from fast foods and desserts. Nope, there will be times I'll have to exercise some will power and resist temptation...or at least keep from full on gorging myself.

Week one brought my first test. A barbeque at a friend's house. Of course I'm gonna go. What to be aware of: meat, rice, more meat, beer, and more rice. I kept in mind some advice from a fitness trainer who told me to eat something healthy first before going for the less healthy things. So before I left my house I ate a banana hoping it would fill me up enough to resist overeating. Normally at these kinds of barbeques I'll have two burgers, lots of steak, some chicken, 2 scoops of rice, and at least 3 beers. This time I was able to keep it to 2 pieces of chicken, half a scoop of rice, a burger patty, and one beer. Not too bad...definitely not part of the meal plan, but not too bad.

More recently, the challenge has been Easter. Cadbury Cream Eggs, god I love those things. Since they're seasonal I usually stock up on a Costco size pallet of them before they go away. Not this year. I've only bought 8 of them. The downside is that I've received a bagful of candy from friends and co-workers. I left it at work so those sweet delicious treats can't taunt me at home.

Another challenge: happy hour! What can I say, I like my drink. Admittedly, I'm not really handling this one too well. I haven't cut down my average intake too much. Sure I only had one beer that first bbq, but we've had a couple more since then. I managed to stay away from the beer and swapped it for my homemade whiskey cocktails. I like to think my whiskey drinks have less calories than beer, but I really don't know.

Everyday I continue to resist the urge to feast on a large pizza wreathed with Cadbury Cream Eggs. At least the constant hunger is waning and I'm getting used to this whole controlled eating thing. But it's a struggle. I figure as long as I can follow the Insanity nutrition guidelines at least 80% of the time it'll be a success. And so far I'm doing that much. Just gotta keep it up.

Insanity Workout - First 2 weeks

 I'm trying out the Insanity workout. Figured I'd throw in some variety into things and see if it really works. What appealed to me is the fact that no equipment is needed so I was ready to go.

Before I actually began the workouts I spent about two weeks reading and studying the nutrition guide. I figure in order to really do the Insanity workout I should follow all of it, the workouts 6 days a week and the nutrition part. The nutrition guide has a bunch of recipes and I went through all of them figuring out what I'd actually eat, putting together a grocery list, and planning out my meals.

With my meals planned out it was time to begin the workouts. I expected two things: to be really sore, and to be really hungry. After the first few days of working out I wasn't as sore as I thought I'd be. What a pleasant surprise. On the flip side I was hungrier than I thought I would be. Sure I'm eating 5 times a day but the portions are miniscule compared to what I've been used to. The first week was agonizing to say the least.

To give some perspective, part of the diet plan calls for vegetable juice so I got some V8. I don't like V8. But when it comes time to have it I'm so damn hungry I don't care and I down the thing eagerly. After a few days, I was starting to like V8.

Anyways, the workouts have been going well. It took almost a week to get through the warmup without taking a break – yeah, the warmup. I sweat like crazy. I need to rest all the time. But I noticed improvement in my performance almost daily. I still get tired as hell and need to take breaks but I'm not taking as many and I'm able to push through more of the exercises.

For those who are unfamiliar, Insanity is a series of high intensity exercises performed for a few minutes non-stop followed by a 30 second rest...and then it's back to the exercises. There's a lot of jumping, squatting, push-ups, and many more things that when done at high intensity leaves you dripping. Each workout begins with a warmup and stretching and ends with stretching. So far I haven't noticed any change in my flexibility.

The workouts are led by this guy named Shaun T (I guess saying the last initial sounds cooler than just calling him Shaun). He likes to ask “how y'all doin!” during the breaks. My reply is, “fricken horrible!” And yes, sometimes I really do say it out loud even though I'm by myself. Hopefully my reply changes in the next few weeks to “fricken awesome!”