Insanity Workout Day 11: Eating Before Pure Cardio - Shaun T Says It is a No No...I Agree

1-15-10: In the midst of a productive day, I had to squeeze in a the Pure Cardio workout. This meant that immediately after having lunch at the Loon River Cafe (15 Mile and Van Dyke), I had to get home and do the workout. Interesting side note...at the restaurant I had a venison chili. The nutritional facts for this item have been difficult to find thus far.

Challenge number...7...is working out immediately after eating. As if I did not have enough other reasons to take breaks during the workout. Now my angry tummy became a factor as well. Shaun T mentions you should not eat right before working out as there is not enough time for the body to convert that into a positive energy for the workout. In fact, there may be a decrease in energy due to the body spending energy on digestion. Ideally, eating a small meal one hour before the workout is the way to go.

Now, that I've thrown another excuse out there, I feel I should acknowledge that only 10 of the 30-70 breaks were probably a result of this tummy issue. In addition, half of those 10 were probably used as an excuse even though it wasn't really that bad. But, I fought through, and the 12 buckets of sweat led me to believe I did something positive.

Vince has suggested I also start mentioning a few of the individual exercises. A great idea. I will start that with the next post. The idea will be to kind of educate the readers on what some of the Insanity workout is all about, while also providing insights as to my personal most hated exercises (which currently there is about a 40 way tie. Also note that I will not mention my favorite exercises. There are no favorites).

Insanity Workout Day 10: Cardio Power and Resistance or How Hoverboards Don't Work on Water Unless You Have Power

1-14-10: Weird. It seems like every day I have a new most hated DVD. Today it is the Power and Resistance DVD. I did not wake up in nearly enough time to do the workout in the morning. Thankfully, with Friday being off I could do the workout after work without causing huge problems for Friday morning. Still, I do hate letting the workout slip till later. It is a dangerous game, because isn't the whole reason I needed some home workout is because I knew I didn't have time to go anywhere in the morning and was not disciplined enough to keep a workout schedule after work? It all comes down to the two hours of basketball Wednesday night...and of course the five hours of sleep I got. Those two combined things made for a miserable enough morning to skip the workout temporarily.

It is difficult to notice improvement in the workouts. While doing some of the exercises I think, "HEYYYYY! I'm doing this for much longer than last time!" While doing (or not doing) some of the other exercises I think, "HEYYYYY! I HATE YOU SHAUN T!!!" If I can keep doing just a little bit better on the warmups. Hell, if I can make it through that without breaking, that will be a huge success, because that leads into the stretching which I can get mostly through, so, really, the only thing left would be...well...the workout. Hmm...right.

Today I made another little interesting meal. Definitely built for single people or speed, I call it "TETS in a Cup". The ingredients:

4 oz. Jennie-O Turkey Store Lean Ground Turkey
2 Eggs
3 Tbsp Ortega Thick & Smooth Mild Taco Sauce

I make my turkey on a miniature George Foreman grill. While that is cooking, I crack open two eggs, throw them into a coffee cup, beat the hell out of them, and microwave for about a minute and fifteen seconds. By the time the eggs are done, so is the turkey. Throw the turkey into the cup. Mix it good. Add three Tbsp of taco sauce and mix again. Eat out of cup. Delicious and should be made in less than five minutes.

This is definitely more of a protein dish, and has a decent amount of fat thrown in to the mix as well. The 40% Protein, 40% Carb, 20% Fat ratio does not hold for this, but really all that is missing is carbs. If you are die hard to get back into this ratio, eat an apple. This makes it match nearly dead on. (But that also puts you at about 470 calories, so plan accordingly).

340 Calories
17g Fat (5.5 Saturated)
6g Carb (3g Sugar)
33g Protein

Insanity Workout Day 9: Insurrection (Day off)

1-13-10: So, today was my day off. Hmm. Thank God! So, after another poor sleep, I woke up entirely exhausted. Not terribly sore, but very, very exhausted, my body in complete revolt. So much that I could not get out of bed until I made myself late for work (I would have gotten to work earlier if I had worked out). Insane level of exhaustion.

At work, I went out to lunch for a birthday. Chinese buffet. I can only imagine what this did for my meal schedule. Let alone how I was even more ridiculously tired after this meal than before. Let alone my body not being at all happy with the change of fuel consumption habits. It was damned delicious however. I still had my five meals, but I limited the calories for all of them. I figure the...1500(?) calories had at the buffet would certainly be enough. I love buffets (Challenge 19).

After work, I went to play two hours of basketball. This seemed like a good idea for my day off. In theory. In practice, I very quickly surmised that I would not be able to do the Insanity workout the following morning. I would have to do it after work. Thankfully, this kind of fell into place as I have Friday off, and getting back on schedule should not be too big of a problem (a decent night of sleep Thursday night should help a ton).

Basketball was a ton of fun, even if I was horribly out of shape. It is impossible to determine at what level the Insanity workouts helped me. I started off strong, but burnt out fairly quickly. This could be a combination of things: Too early in workout, muscles too exhausted, sleep exhaustion, long day of work beforehand. What I did decide was that this will be another baramoter to discover the beneficial aspects of this workout. Now there is the fitness test/weight/general appearance combined with the basketball test (speed, agility, jumping, endurance) to discover the physical attribute improvements.

Insanity Workout Day 8: Plyometrics Round 3 - For Once Shaun T Was Not Lying

1-12-10: I understand now why Shaun T has a day off in the schedule. Especially in the early goings on. I did not want to get out of bed this morning, but managed to. Definitely did not want to work out. The first time I was dreading it actually. So, I took a little nap while walking down the stairs and gave Plyometrics my third attempt. Some good, some bad. The good was that I am getting much better at the warmup. Form is better, initial endurance is better, strength is better so things don't quite hurt as fast as before (though, inevitably all of the muscles will hurt). However, at some point during the warmup and through much of the rest of the workout I was thinking that if I "accidentally" kicked the TV screen in then Shaun T would stop his jabbering.

The rest of the day had me extremely tired as well. By the end of my work day I was almost falling asleep. It was difficult to focus. Which leads me to challenge number...oh...4 or 5. Going to bed on time. As I finish typing this at around 11:30 and knowing that I will be up in 6 hours, I question what the hell I'm doing. I understand that for this system to work for me, I will have to cheat at things here and there. However, near the beginning I have made a concerted effort to cheat as little as possible for everything but sleep apparently. I will get about six hours tonight which is more than I've gotten since Saturday night. I simply like the extra time in the day. Perhaps, I will stop cheating at this as well...at least for a little while. I did not imagine this being one of the more difficult aspects. Harder than the food. Very weird. Weekend coming up...good place to try getting 7 hours of sleep in per night.

Insanity Workout Day 7: No Rest for the Wicked - Pure Cardio Rematch

1-11-10: I realized a couple of days ago that I did not want to do this workout on the same day as basketball which was Wednesday. This meant that I had to delay the day off for two days. So, naturally I chose Pure Cardio. I don't actually hate myself. I just decided that I would repeat the last two workouts so that I would be back on schedule after the day off.

So, how did the rematch with Pure Cardio go? Not...terrible? I can now make it through most of the second iteration of his warmup before I take a break. I did the third iteration faster and with fewer breaks as well. A solid start.

As always, things start to slowly go downhill once stretching starts. I am surprising myself with the level of effort I give for it. I've always hated stretching and have been very careful to avoid it most of my life. Even the one main injury that kind of got me started thinking about stretching (hurt knee bad last year - required surgery), was more a factor of being extremely out of shape, yet trying to play soccer as though I wasn't. Even if I'm not sticking with the stretches for as long as Shaun T (maybe I will call him Mr. T for short), and even if I am still only 50-50 on doing the damned hip flexors properly, the stretches are, for the most part, getting painfully done.

The workout itself was awful once again. Though, there was improvement on this day as well. I do like this workout. It is probably the most demanding in that there are no set breaks, but because of this there is additional motivation to keep going through because I do not want to miss any of the exercises. Because one thing Shaun T makes perfectly clear is that every exercise, stretch, break, warmup, heart monitor check, and water consumption is very, very important. Many of the exercises were just demolishing me by the end. So much so, that even with my strong start, there wasn't drastic improvement from the first time out. Definitely some improvement though and that's what's important....very, very important.

Insanity Workout Day 6: A Second Stab at Plyometrics

1-10-10: Not including the fitness test, this was the first workout completed in the program, so I knew exactly what to expect. Pain and suffering. Though, at this point, I have already theorized that pain and suffering is inevitable for every day, so same ole same ole.

I feel myself already getting better at the warmups. I still can't make it through without breaks (definitely plural), and I certainly cannot keep the pace that the great and powerful (and evil) Shaun T keeps in the third iteration of the warmup (The same 3-4 minute warmup is done three times in a row with the third time being the place where you are really supposed to push yourself). Still, progress is being made.

Stretching (which follows the warmup), however, is still the devil. While many of the exercises can be painful, at least the pain is not constant. Here, the idea seems to be to get into an uncomfortable and painful position (and for God's sake remember to keep that core tight or Shaun T will get you!) and then hold it. Thankfully, if I am crying, I cannot tell due to 12 gallons of sweat pouring out.

As for the rest of the workout, fighting through the interval training was definitely a challenge and bazillions of breaks were still taken. Less than the first time? Man, I think so. I don't remember for sure, though I do feel that my form is getting marginally better.

Form can be tricky. A helpful hint is to go slow or even watch the first few times he does an exercise. Rest assured that whatever exercise currently being done will be repeated so you'll have plenty of opportunities to suffer with it.

Also, keeping the core tight is important and something that I find myself slipping out of on numerous occasions. Simple rule of thumb. Are you doing okay on the exercise? Does it not really seem as mindnumbingly terrible as the other exercises? You probably aren't keeping the core tight. Don't worry! That will make the exercises more painful!

Definitely a lot to keep in mind while the video is flying by. Thankfully, there are so many places I want to take a break that it is very easy to stop for a moment, figure out what needs to be done, and start up again.

Yeeha! On to day 7!

Vintensity vs. Pure Cardio

Pure Cardio = Pure Hell

Insanity?  That is exactly what I was thinking when Shaun T whooped my @ss in Pure Cardio.  I am not an Insanity virgin.  I completed 30 days of the program in the summer before going back to work in September (teacher).  Living in laziness since September, I became motivated to give Insanity another go when I discovered friend Dave Stampor was using it in attempt to return to his uber athlete status from his high school glory days as a rec league basketball star.

Round 1: The warm-up

Winner - Me (Little Mac)
Shaun T ain't got nothin' on me!  Even with Pure Cardio being the last workout in my 1st week of Insanity, I was able to crush the warm-up.  High intensity, no breaks, feeling great!  Halfway through the stretching my pride began to dwindle as I remembered that this was only the warm-up and I still had 15 minutes of non stop intense training in Pure Cardio.  Wonderful.

Round 2: Pure Cardio
Winner - The Hare 
In my life I have trained for wrestling, football, track, basketball, and 10k races.  Heck, I even trained with a marine (extrememarineworkout.com) using a combination of cardio, agility, and P90X. None of that even remotely made me feel as pathetic and out of shape as 15 minutes of Pure Cardio did.  I felt like the Tortoise racing the Hare, only halfway through the race I noticed I was upside down, on top of my shell as the Hare was standing over me mocking me and telling me to dig deeper.  Dig Deeper?  I felt like digging deeper alright, right into the ground where I would stay until I heard the final bell.  I attempted to right the shell and turn back into a ninja turtle; motivated by Shaun T's empty promise of a "break" with the next exercise.  A "break"?  Now I know I was unconscious or hit my shell a little too hard on the floor when I collapsed during level 2 drills.  How could I forgot the evilness?  There is no "break".  Ugh, the mental anguish now matched the physical ineptitude.  His break was scissor kicks.  So much of a break, that Shaun T couldn't even talk during the exercise to tell us what to do.  LIAR!  Prince Humperdink!!!!!!  LIAR!!!!  I hope you drown in your own sweat..(no I would never really wish this on someone).  ARGH!  $#@%!
Fave Move: Football Shuffle
Mein Nemesis: Level 2 Drills

To finish, I spent most of the cool-down trying to recover my breathing and cussing at the TV.  Did I mention that I am an experienced Insanity user?

Insanity Workout Day 5: And the Next Exercise Will Be a Break: Scissor Kicks and How Shaun T is a LIAR!

1-9-10: So, today was Pure Cardio. The big difference with this workout compared to the previous ones is that, after the warmup, there are no breaks. I believe what he is attempting with the breaks in the first few workouts is to give everyone a moment to realize what is happening and the pain that is surely to follow. Psychological torture if you will, designed to get people to kill themselves.

With Pure Cardio, he is attempting to kill you himself in a sort of "If you want something done right" sort of motif. Aside from the lack of breaks, the exercise designs have changed to all be completely exhausting.

Every 30-40 seconds, Shaun T switches to a new exercise. With this being about a 13-15 minute time period without breaks, there were about 15 fun exercises, many which were new, and all of which were pure evil.

Around the middle of...oh...exercise 11, Shaun T tells us to hang on, because the next exercise is a bit of a break. We then start scissor kicks...another painful little cardio exercise in a long list of painful cardio exercises. Even better is that even if this was actually a break (it wasn't! you are a liar Shaun T!!!), by him telling us to speed up, any possibility of this being a break was thrown right out the window.

Good workouts though. Still fighting through (amazing number of breaks taken for this one).

Insanity Workout Day 4: Recovery...of DOOM!!!

1-8-10: So, knowing I had half a day on Friday, I decided to do the workout after work, since I was still a bit sore from the day before. When I got home, I realized there was a bit of luck on my side. Recovery day!!! Now, of course I wasn't naive enough to think that this was going to be a day off. No idea what to suspect. Only, with Shaun T running things, I assumed the worst, namely 2 hours of globe jumps, sprinting, and...oh...there are so many painful drills to choose from...skiing. Instead, what I encountered was a short little workout revolving completely around stretching.

Now is as good a time as ever to say that starting out completely inflexible makes for the short three minute stretches found in the daily workouts to be extremely painful. Now doing these stretches for 8 times as long (with a few other "I am Shaun T and I hate you" drills) made me wonder whether Shaun T was an extreme sadist or I was an extreme masochist. On the one hand I did not really need too many breaks (on occasion a stretch was held a bit longer than I could hold it). On the other hand, it was painful painful painful.

Magcially, these stretches did seem to help my muscles out and by the end of the day (even with a special home designed workout thrown in called "Snow Shoveling") my muscles felt pretty good. Completely prepared for the next day.

Insanity Workout Days 2 & 3: Sore at a Sadist

1-7-10: Well, I found challenge 3. This is getting up in the morning (which I had certainly anticipated). I am attempting to do this workout before work which means, not only do I have to get up earlier for the workout, but I also have to have additional time to throw in a breakfast (Aside from the workouts, one of the cornerstones of the Insanity workout is the food consumption habits. And while there is no way I'm going to be flawless in this part of the endeavor, I am going to try really hard to at least follow through with the "five meals a day aspect" of it) which I typically skipped due to lateness. Oddly, with a rare bit of motivation I woke up at a good time on Day 2 and Day 3, arriving to work about the same time as normal (perhaps earlier).

While day 1 focused simply on a fitness test, day 2 actually began the first workout. Being in rather abysmal shape led to an amazing number of breaks. It is a bad sign when far too many breaks need to be taken during the 15 minute warm-up/stretch. The actual workout had fledgling energy thrown at the exercises as best as possible, but, trying to monitor the heart rate without a heart monitor, and deciding the workout was not worth death led to many more breaks being taken.

On day 3 I felt sore and exhausted. This made me feel comfortable that the program was working. If you haven't been exercising in a while and then start up again and do not feel sore and miserable the next day, you are doing something wrong. Since walking was hurting, I wondered how in the world I was going to manage the workout for the day. I loaded up the DVD video and Shaun T started the warm-up. During the first three minutes I was thinking "Oh DEAR GOD!!!" Now it was the same warm-up as the day before (mostly) but certain drills were causing crazy aching pain in the quads. Thankfully, by the second warm-up, my muscles had loosened up and I did not even feel the soreness. Then it just became a cardio battle which I either brutally lost (if you consider the breaks, speed, and percent complete) or won (if you decide the effort of persisting through the workout even with the many many breaks being considered).

I find myself answering the TV in these early days. Shaun T. will at points ask how everyone is doing. The exhausted individuals on the TV are not overly responsive, but I emphatically answer "terrible"! Then, either dismayed by the lack of response or realizing my negativity, he says that he can not hear you, even though I know that he can. At this point I will answer "I hate you Shaun T." with extreme venom.

I also decided that, especially in these early days, that Ibuprofen will become quite important. Realizing my mistake in not taking it after the day 2 workout, I took some after the day 3 workout. I still felt sore after.

I also went shopping after they day 2 workout (and after work). I am going to give some of his nutritional ideas as good a go as I can. I will try to list what I've tried, estimated calories, protein, fat, and carbs. This will no doubt be the most difficult part, and one that I will certainly cheat on occasionally. I am currently working on a spreadsheet for the meals I try with associated health information. I will only list a few interesting ones that I truly enjoyed here and there.

For instance, meal 5 on day 3 was as follows:

4 slices Roast Beef

2 Tbsp Lite Italian Dressing

3 oz Dole Classic Romaine Salad

1 LaTortilla Factory Soft Wraps (Multi-Grain)

1 Tbsp Cold Milled Ground Premium Flaxseed

1 Cup Skim Milk

Calories: 370
Total Fat: 15 g
Saturated: 2.5 g
Carbohydrates: 44g
Fiber: 18 g
Sugars: 19 g
Protein: 32 g
Extra: Great source of Vitamin A and K. Great source of Omega 3. (Also has Omega 6 and 9).

His rule of thumb is to try to get a 20% fat, 40% Protein, 40% Carb mix falling somewhere in between 300-500 calories.

This meal does quite well. 370 calories. Also 16.5% fat, 48.4% carbs, and 35.2% protein. Maybe a bit too much in the way of Carbs for the fifth meal (ideally the higher carbs should be earlier in the day), but still pretty close for a first attempt and very delicious.