2-24-10: There was a great disturbance in the force today. I forgot to take my basketball clothes to work, which meant I missed basketball tonight. That’s all right though. I would just go home and do the Insanity workout instead.
Or would I?
Feeling exhausted and getting home at about 7:30, I decided to randomly make today a day off this week, but start the workout week tomorrow instead. I can only home my casual disregard of the workout today will be forgiven by Shaun T. I hope my sacrificial offering of a day off will appease his madness.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 50: Mighty Morphing Power and Resistance
2-23-10: Getting up has gotten to be difficult. I no longer bolt out of bed with an adrenaline rush in the morning, excited to do another workout with the Amazing Shaun T. This week is going to be additionally tricky as I have post-work plans for the next three days. This means that not only do the workouts have to be done, they have to be done in time to make it to work on time, otherwise the post-work schedule is doomed. DOOMED I tell you.
Again, the Power and Resistance workout has a different warm-up than Plyometrics and Pure Cardio. I need to be able to better track progress on this, so you lucky readers will now get a more detailed explanation on the warm-up experience. Actually, I have decided to give a detailed explanation of the whole workout. Why not?
I made it through the first iteration without a problem. This included Shaun T’s evil power jacks and evil vertical jumps. The second iteration was not perfect. I gave a decent effort for the power jacks, but my legs were still recovering from the vertical jumps (the only thing in between is 30 seconds of jogging), so I missed 10 seconds. Then came the log jumping. In recent workouts, I have made it a point to keep pace with Shaun T/his cronies no matter what. My pace makes this drill 80% uncomfortable. Their pace makes it 100% uncomfortable. I lost another 10 seconds. The 1-2-3 Heisman I kept up with as well as the butt-kicks and high knees. I broke somewhere in the second round of the vertical jumps. I’ll give myself a 15 second loss on those. The evil jumping also wiped me from being able to complete the 30 second sprint. I did 20 seconds and liked it. Power Jacks…deduct another 15 seconds. 10 seconds off the log jumps. 5 seconds off the 1-2-3 Heisman. Another 15-20 seconds off of the vertical jumps. 90-95 total seconds lost. I feel this was a successful warm-up (I am not dead).
The actual workout was murderous. Since this workout is not done as much as the others, I forget sometimes that Shaun T is truly insane. So, it starts with air squats (I’ve described them before, but I may have forgotten to mention that not only do you squat in the air, you squat on the ground as well), followed by belt kicks. If this were the first squatting exercise in the Power and Resistance fiasco, it would be all right. As part of this program it is painful. Then comes the mini-suicides (no travel in between), followed by V-pushups (make your body an upside-down V, hands on the ground with the fingers facing each other. Do pushups with the elbows going outwards. Works shoulders more). I was stopped by the mini-suicides in the first iteration. Too much dropping down. Legs hated me too much. The other two iterations were worse. If I was able to keep up with one, I needed a break for another one. I did all right on the V-pushups (24 total about).
Then we get into this crazy crab position for the tricep dips. At some point you are to raise one leg into the air and continue performing them. This is the most awkward feeling drill of any drill of any of the workouts. Then there is a more normal tricep exercise where pushups are done in a squat position while on your toes.
Again, the Power and Resistance workout has a different warm-up than Plyometrics and Pure Cardio. I need to be able to better track progress on this, so you lucky readers will now get a more detailed explanation on the warm-up experience. Actually, I have decided to give a detailed explanation of the whole workout. Why not?
I made it through the first iteration without a problem. This included Shaun T’s evil power jacks and evil vertical jumps. The second iteration was not perfect. I gave a decent effort for the power jacks, but my legs were still recovering from the vertical jumps (the only thing in between is 30 seconds of jogging), so I missed 10 seconds. Then came the log jumping. In recent workouts, I have made it a point to keep pace with Shaun T/his cronies no matter what. My pace makes this drill 80% uncomfortable. Their pace makes it 100% uncomfortable. I lost another 10 seconds. The 1-2-3 Heisman I kept up with as well as the butt-kicks and high knees. I broke somewhere in the second round of the vertical jumps. I’ll give myself a 15 second loss on those. The evil jumping also wiped me from being able to complete the 30 second sprint. I did 20 seconds and liked it. Power Jacks…deduct another 15 seconds. 10 seconds off the log jumps. 5 seconds off the 1-2-3 Heisman. Another 15-20 seconds off of the vertical jumps. 90-95 total seconds lost. I feel this was a successful warm-up (I am not dead).
The actual workout was murderous. Since this workout is not done as much as the others, I forget sometimes that Shaun T is truly insane. So, it starts with air squats (I’ve described them before, but I may have forgotten to mention that not only do you squat in the air, you squat on the ground as well), followed by belt kicks. If this were the first squatting exercise in the Power and Resistance fiasco, it would be all right. As part of this program it is painful. Then comes the mini-suicides (no travel in between), followed by V-pushups (make your body an upside-down V, hands on the ground with the fingers facing each other. Do pushups with the elbows going outwards. Works shoulders more). I was stopped by the mini-suicides in the first iteration. Too much dropping down. Legs hated me too much. The other two iterations were worse. If I was able to keep up with one, I needed a break for another one. I did all right on the V-pushups (24 total about).
Then we get into this crazy crab position for the tricep dips. At some point you are to raise one leg into the air and continue performing them. This is the most awkward feeling drill of any drill of any of the workouts. Then there is a more normal tricep exercise where pushups are done in a squat position while on your toes.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 49: Snow Time to Recover
2-22-10: Snow has been an interesting element in my life. I’ve always enjoyed the snow. Nice to look at and good to play in. Plus, there is always that chance that school could be cancelled, and frankly, a smaller chance that work could be cancelled. In the good ole days of high school, whenever inclement weather was scheduled that would result in a chance of there being a snow day, I automatically assumed the snow day and stayed up until some ridiculous hour. The days that actually turned into snow days were beautiful. The days that weren’t were okie dokie too. Sure, I was extraordinarily tired, but at least I had a productive night of, most likely, movie watching or video game playing.
Now, I suppose I am all grown up and doing the work thing. When I heard there was a chance for inclement weather, I stayed up way too late watching a movie (Man on Fire for those interested). I then woke up way too late, sporadically calling the inclement weather hotline for work. Then I reluctantly went to work. Arriving rather late combined with this being a day I had to work an extra 2 hours, I did not get home until 8:15. Still time for Recovery, but starting to look doubtful. I would need to focus on shoveling quickly to get inside and immediately do the Recovery workout.
I then played in the snow. There was a ton of snow and it seemed like excellent packing snow, so I figured why shovel the driveway when I can make a snowman and clear the driveway at the same time. Unfortunately, after an hour of Shaun T Insanity persistence, I believe the snow was actually TOO packed together. I used every section of driveway and front yard and it still was a dinky little ball. Plus, there were hoards of clumps of snow that were not picked up still on the driveway. Complete failure.
Or was it?
Placing the ball I had made on a small hill of snow in the front yard and shoveling as much snow as possible from the driveway to the hill, I was able to make a fair sized blob-ish thing. I then made eyes, a nose, and a huge grin in it. So, screw the snowman. Enter the Snowblob.
I made it inside after 10:00 PM and decided it was probably not a great idea to do the workout. My only hope is that Shaun T’s secret fear is Snowblobs.
Now, I suppose I am all grown up and doing the work thing. When I heard there was a chance for inclement weather, I stayed up way too late watching a movie (Man on Fire for those interested). I then woke up way too late, sporadically calling the inclement weather hotline for work. Then I reluctantly went to work. Arriving rather late combined with this being a day I had to work an extra 2 hours, I did not get home until 8:15. Still time for Recovery, but starting to look doubtful. I would need to focus on shoveling quickly to get inside and immediately do the Recovery workout.
I then played in the snow. There was a ton of snow and it seemed like excellent packing snow, so I figured why shovel the driveway when I can make a snowman and clear the driveway at the same time. Unfortunately, after an hour of Shaun T Insanity persistence, I believe the snow was actually TOO packed together. I used every section of driveway and front yard and it still was a dinky little ball. Plus, there were hoards of clumps of snow that were not picked up still on the driveway. Complete failure.
Or was it?
Placing the ball I had made on a small hill of snow in the front yard and shoveling as much snow as possible from the driveway to the hill, I was able to make a fair sized blob-ish thing. I then made eyes, a nose, and a huge grin in it. So, screw the snowman. Enter the Snowblob.
I made it inside after 10:00 PM and decided it was probably not a great idea to do the workout. My only hope is that Shaun T’s secret fear is Snowblobs.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 48: Pure Cardio’s Hurt Me Doc! Join the Nintendo Fan Club Today!
2-21-10: Hmm…the back was still not feeling great today. Really, only my upper right back was feeling fantastic. So, clearly, this means when doing the workout today I should focus all back energies to that section to prevent further pain to the other three sections. I am so smart.
Okay, I’m not quite that idiotic. I had quite the debate all day on whether or not I was going to do the workout today. Shaun T was not happy with the extra day off I took last week, and I certainly do not want to make that a pattern. So, really it was risking a more serious back injury or suffer Shaun T’s wrath.
The workout was better than expected. Maybe more breaks than usual, but there was also a bizarre moment where I thought that the Ski Downs were not too bad. Considering how annoyingly painful those have always been, this actually made the workout a win in my book. If you are keeping score at home, that is now 13 painful exercises and two not-super-painful exercises in the Pure Cardio routine (Suicide drills being the other).
Cardio Abs was all right. There are certain positions that are still blowing my mind. Sit on the floor, legs out. Lean back into a C-position (with your legs straight ahead, I would say an angle between 135 and 120 degrees for how far back you should be leaning). Then lift the legs up and back down, bring your legs in and back out. My angle is never quite right for this as I start to fall back every so often. This is probably for the best as the robots doing the exercises on the DVD seem to all need to take a few breaks when doing this one.
Well, should be all good tomorrow as it is Recovery. God help me.
Okay, I’m not quite that idiotic. I had quite the debate all day on whether or not I was going to do the workout today. Shaun T was not happy with the extra day off I took last week, and I certainly do not want to make that a pattern. So, really it was risking a more serious back injury or suffer Shaun T’s wrath.
The workout was better than expected. Maybe more breaks than usual, but there was also a bizarre moment where I thought that the Ski Downs were not too bad. Considering how annoyingly painful those have always been, this actually made the workout a win in my book. If you are keeping score at home, that is now 13 painful exercises and two not-super-painful exercises in the Pure Cardio routine (Suicide drills being the other).
Cardio Abs was all right. There are certain positions that are still blowing my mind. Sit on the floor, legs out. Lean back into a C-position (with your legs straight ahead, I would say an angle between 135 and 120 degrees for how far back you should be leaning). Then lift the legs up and back down, bring your legs in and back out. My angle is never quite right for this as I start to fall back every so often. This is probably for the best as the robots doing the exercises on the DVD seem to all need to take a few breaks when doing this one.
Well, should be all good tomorrow as it is Recovery. God help me.
Insanity Workout Day 47: Plyometrics Shmylometrics
2-20-10: Definitely sore from the fit test, I delayed the workout till about 2:00 PM. The workout…was there. It definitely wore me out and I was definitely sweating like an overly hydrated monkey playing basketball in a sauna.
While not beating the warm-up (still close), I do feel I was able to get farther along in certain aspects of the actual workout. Like the breaks he gave. I feel like I was able to take them all successfully. But seriously, while not making it through entirely, I did not end up in a huddled crying lumpy mass in the center of the basement floor. It was more a cringy zombie walk to the shower.
Thankfully, due to the intense sweating, it starts to get damned cold staying still. Getting to the shower is also a remedy to avoid in-house hypothermia.
Later in the day, my lower back was hurting a bit, with the upper left half of the back still tweaked. The soreness is spreading. Clearly I need to push harder tomorrow.
While not beating the warm-up (still close), I do feel I was able to get farther along in certain aspects of the actual workout. Like the breaks he gave. I feel like I was able to take them all successfully. But seriously, while not making it through entirely, I did not end up in a huddled crying lumpy mass in the center of the basement floor. It was more a cringy zombie walk to the shower.
Thankfully, due to the intense sweating, it starts to get damned cold staying still. Getting to the shower is also a remedy to avoid in-house hypothermia.
Later in the day, my lower back was hurting a bit, with the upper left half of the back still tweaked. The soreness is spreading. Clearly I need to push harder tomorrow.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 46: Fitness Test IV, The Quest For Peace
2-19-10: Quick side note. If there is ever anything that you were hoping to accomplish, I recommend writing about it online every day for sufficient motivation. It almost makes things too easy.
Well, I am not insane enough yet to attempt the month two workouts, so I will be repeating the last two weeks again. This is not terrible news and was an expected delay. My original thought was to get through the two month program in three months, so, thankfully, I am still right where I need to be.
On to the results. Substantial improvement on three of the exercises, minor improvement on three exercises and minor disprovement on two exercises. No cause for alarm on the two where there were decreases. This most likely came about due to the heavy improvement on two of the exercises preceding them. Not worried one bit. On an overall repetition scale I improved from 275 total reps last test to 304 this test. The only surprise one for me were the push-up jacks, the only real push-up drills which I only improved by one on. I felt like I was getting much more comfortable doing the push-ups in the drills. I imagine next time this will show more substantial improvement.
As far as weight, I did not lose any these past two weeks. Again, no cause for alarm. My pants are starting to fit much better, my gut is getting smaller and I was much more sore this week than prior weeks, suggesting that I was able to dig deeper on a lot of the exercises and increase muscle. I was expecting this earlier in the Insanity Workout world, but am getting it now. Shaun T can be very unpredictable.
Also, I decided to try this even with the small tweak in the shoulderblade. My thought was that if I felt any pain coming from that area I would just stop the routine. Thankfully, the pain never came. That evil is nearly gone.
Well, I am not insane enough yet to attempt the month two workouts, so I will be repeating the last two weeks again. This is not terrible news and was an expected delay. My original thought was to get through the two month program in three months, so, thankfully, I am still right where I need to be.
On to the results. Substantial improvement on three of the exercises, minor improvement on three exercises and minor disprovement on two exercises. No cause for alarm on the two where there were decreases. This most likely came about due to the heavy improvement on two of the exercises preceding them. Not worried one bit. On an overall repetition scale I improved from 275 total reps last test to 304 this test. The only surprise one for me were the push-up jacks, the only real push-up drills which I only improved by one on. I felt like I was getting much more comfortable doing the push-ups in the drills. I imagine next time this will show more substantial improvement.
As far as weight, I did not lose any these past two weeks. Again, no cause for alarm. My pants are starting to fit much better, my gut is getting smaller and I was much more sore this week than prior weeks, suggesting that I was able to dig deeper on a lot of the exercises and increase muscle. I was expecting this earlier in the Insanity Workout world, but am getting it now. Shaun T can be very unpredictable.
Also, I decided to try this even with the small tweak in the shoulderblade. My thought was that if I felt any pain coming from that area I would just stop the routine. Thankfully, the pain never came. That evil is nearly gone.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 45: Trying to Get Back on Track
2-18-10: The back was actually in a decent amount of pain last night. Kind of beneath my left shoulder-blade area, it hurt to look to the left or right. Sleeping was difficult. Ibuprofen helped.
Thankfully as the workday went on, the pain started to subside. By the end of the workday, the pain…is…well…magically disappearing.
Any residual pain will certainly be cleared up by the magic of the Insanity Workout tomorrow morning. YEEEHA!
Thankfully as the workday went on, the pain started to subside. By the end of the workday, the pain…is…well…magically disappearing.
Any residual pain will certainly be cleared up by the magic of the Insanity Workout tomorrow morning. YEEEHA!
Insanity Workout Day 44: PAUSE THE INSANITY!
2-17-10: Today getting up was very difficult. I feel my quads could now deflect tank shells, though I have yet to test this theory. Wait…no…it felt like my quads were hit by tank shells. Yes, that is more accurate.
I snuck out of the house this morning…very quietly. I do not think Shaun T noticed. It is a tricky fish, because Shaun T never sleeps. I had to silently move around like a ninja draped in towels doused in freezing water to avoid his bionically enhanced thermal vision. He will not be pleased when I get home.
Basketball was okie dokie tonight. Honestly, too many players and not enough minutes. I went to the Troy Community Center after to play for another hour. Good times. At around 10:00 I was about to leave when I remembered I had to do a vertical jump test. I am sad to report that there was no improvement from two weeks ago. It could have been the exhausted body and trying to do it at the end of the two hours of basketball, but no excuses. As Shaun T would say, I must dig deeper. In two weeks there will be some improvement.
I also mildly tweaked my back. Thankfully, one thing I know about exercising is the one thing you can safely ignore are back injuries. Hmmm…hopefully this will magically recover tomorrow on my day off.
I snuck out of the house this morning…very quietly. I do not think Shaun T noticed. It is a tricky fish, because Shaun T never sleeps. I had to silently move around like a ninja draped in towels doused in freezing water to avoid his bionically enhanced thermal vision. He will not be pleased when I get home.
Basketball was okie dokie tonight. Honestly, too many players and not enough minutes. I went to the Troy Community Center after to play for another hour. Good times. At around 10:00 I was about to leave when I remembered I had to do a vertical jump test. I am sad to report that there was no improvement from two weeks ago. It could have been the exhausted body and trying to do it at the end of the two hours of basketball, but no excuses. As Shaun T would say, I must dig deeper. In two weeks there will be some improvement.
I also mildly tweaked my back. Thankfully, one thing I know about exercising is the one thing you can safely ignore are back injuries. Hmmm…hopefully this will magically recover tomorrow on my day off.
Insanity Workout Day 43: How Shaun T Beat Me – Dave’s Story of Pure Cardio
2-16-10: I woke up a broken man this morning. Sore, exhausted, and not wanting to get out of bed, let alone get beat up by Shaun T again. The program finally got me. Shaun T finally won. I was going to need to take a break day.
Or would I?
Certainly that “recovery” day yesterday would help me by the afternoon, right? My body feeling better after work and the adrenaline pumping due to another intense day of accounting, I knew that I had Shaun T right where I wanted him.
Somewhere in the warm-up I decided that I had made a terrible mistake. But, as a great karate master once told me, “Mercy is for the weak. The enemy deserves no mercy.” True in this instance and a good motto for life. I would push on.
I’m not sure if I was hallucinating or not, but I swear Shaun T was laughing at me when I started doing the workout portion. This angered me. This allowed me to push…oh…I don’t know…for another 5-7 seconds? The breaks felt good.
Collapsing in a heap when the final stretching was done, it only seemed logical to do the Cardio Abs workout as well. This is what Shaun T had intended. And I wasn’t dead (officially) yet.
Again, Cardio Abs was painful in its own special way. Breaking me more with pain as opposed to cardio, but breaking me with cardio as well just to be sure.
I believe tomorrow morning will be the first non-scheduled day off. Shaun T is going to be so angry with me…
Or would I?
Certainly that “recovery” day yesterday would help me by the afternoon, right? My body feeling better after work and the adrenaline pumping due to another intense day of accounting, I knew that I had Shaun T right where I wanted him.
Somewhere in the warm-up I decided that I had made a terrible mistake. But, as a great karate master once told me, “Mercy is for the weak. The enemy deserves no mercy.” True in this instance and a good motto for life. I would push on.
I’m not sure if I was hallucinating or not, but I swear Shaun T was laughing at me when I started doing the workout portion. This angered me. This allowed me to push…oh…I don’t know…for another 5-7 seconds? The breaks felt good.
Collapsing in a heap when the final stretching was done, it only seemed logical to do the Cardio Abs workout as well. This is what Shaun T had intended. And I wasn’t dead (officially) yet.
Again, Cardio Abs was painful in its own special way. Breaking me more with pain as opposed to cardio, but breaking me with cardio as well just to be sure.
I believe tomorrow morning will be the first non-scheduled day off. Shaun T is going to be so angry with me…
Monday, February 15, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 42: Please…Please…I Don’t WANNA Recover
2-15-10: Today was President’s Day, which of course I had off. Every year I spend this day reading a different biography on one of our great Presidents. Wouldn’t it be weird if I was like that?
What I will say is, Thank God I had the day off. My body resisted getting out of bed until 11:00. This was eleven hours of sleep. My body then told me that today would make an excellent candidate for actually taking a break to let me body recover. My body had a good point, but then the evil chanting of Shaun T resonated within my brain. Then his cruel and unusual logic started demanding a sacrifice (my body). “But Dave, today is the Recovery workout. Didn’t you just say you wanted your body to recover? Maybe the best way for your body to recover is to, I don’t know, do the workout designed to recover you??? Do not make my angry David. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” To the basement I went.
I do not know how the people on the video are not screaming in pain. They clearly are not doing the “recovery” exercises right. I appreciate truth in exercise films. In the case of this workout in particular, I envision the gym they are working out in to be in the midst of fire and flames, with the participants screaming in agony and pain as they are slowly and brutally tortured by Shaun T (which is almost an anagram for Satan (Satun…H). In this much shorter 25 minutes of hell, I still was drenched in the same level of sweat as the other workouts and my legs certainly hated me a lot more.
Amazingly, writing this at night, I do fell…good. I am suspicious of this good. I will know for sure tomorrow.
Finally, one of my friends and dedicated readers to this blog provided the scientific reasoning why eating right before the Insanity workout is not a bad thing. I was going to paraphrase, but he wrote it quite well, so I’m just going to quote him (and you will not trick me into eating bananas…you crafty S.o.B):
“While it is true that you mobilize more fat stores if you work out first thing in the morning before eating, this is generally done for aerobic exercise at say 60-70% of maximum heart rate. The type of exercise that you are doing has a definite anerobic part to it. That is, the intensity is so high that your body is using energy stores that do not use oxygen. Think of it like this, sprinting is anerobic, close to maximal intensity and you can only maintain this intensity for a short period before energy stores run out. Whereas with jogging you can maintain that pace for a while because the body is deriving its energy from the oxygen pathway. So, you can see that sometimes when Shaun T is asking for more, you are using up your glycogen (anerobic). Since your goal is not to just burn as many calories as possible, but to build muscle and get in shape, then eating before you workout might make the workout more beneficial for your goals.”
What I will say is, Thank God I had the day off. My body resisted getting out of bed until 11:00. This was eleven hours of sleep. My body then told me that today would make an excellent candidate for actually taking a break to let me body recover. My body had a good point, but then the evil chanting of Shaun T resonated within my brain. Then his cruel and unusual logic started demanding a sacrifice (my body). “But Dave, today is the Recovery workout. Didn’t you just say you wanted your body to recover? Maybe the best way for your body to recover is to, I don’t know, do the workout designed to recover you??? Do not make my angry David. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” To the basement I went.
I do not know how the people on the video are not screaming in pain. They clearly are not doing the “recovery” exercises right. I appreciate truth in exercise films. In the case of this workout in particular, I envision the gym they are working out in to be in the midst of fire and flames, with the participants screaming in agony and pain as they are slowly and brutally tortured by Shaun T (which is almost an anagram for Satan (Satun…H). In this much shorter 25 minutes of hell, I still was drenched in the same level of sweat as the other workouts and my legs certainly hated me a lot more.
Amazingly, writing this at night, I do fell…good. I am suspicious of this good. I will know for sure tomorrow.
Finally, one of my friends and dedicated readers to this blog provided the scientific reasoning why eating right before the Insanity workout is not a bad thing. I was going to paraphrase, but he wrote it quite well, so I’m just going to quote him (and you will not trick me into eating bananas…you crafty S.o.B):
“While it is true that you mobilize more fat stores if you work out first thing in the morning before eating, this is generally done for aerobic exercise at say 60-70% of maximum heart rate. The type of exercise that you are doing has a definite anerobic part to it. That is, the intensity is so high that your body is using energy stores that do not use oxygen. Think of it like this, sprinting is anerobic, close to maximal intensity and you can only maintain this intensity for a short period before energy stores run out. Whereas with jogging you can maintain that pace for a while because the body is deriving its energy from the oxygen pathway. So, you can see that sometimes when Shaun T is asking for more, you are using up your glycogen (anerobic). Since your goal is not to just burn as many calories as possible, but to build muscle and get in shape, then eating before you workout might make the workout more beneficial for your goals.”
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