3-27-10: For the last couple of weeks, I have had a friend keeping me company in the basement while I workout. I assume he is cheering me on. He is friendly little spider, who does not seem to move much. In fact, he is ALWAYS in the same spot. I have named him Shaun T.
Big Shaun T. was merciless today. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. The warm-up is evil. Still, I felt evil did not totally conquer good today. It only conquered most of good. I am doing better in the first couple rounds of power jacks and vertical jumps, but when that third round comes and it is time to push it…yikes…I felt the second round was pushing it and I wasn’t even pushing it. If that even makes sense…
The plank work is still annoying with the finger, but manageable. At least it has not fallen off yet…which apparently would be no big deal as two people have already said it was either “no big deal” if it fell off or to just “cut it off”. Good workout advice right there.
I tried to do the “no break longer than 10 seconds” thing for this one. It did not work super well. I blame the plank work again. You see, it is difficult to see the on-screen timer, when you collapse in a sweaty heap on the floor.
That being said…another overall good workout. I WILL DESTROY THE WORLD!!!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 81: Pure Madness and Madness Abs
3-26-10: Another good warm-up. I was thwarted at about the same spot. Maybe 10 seconds earlier. Still, Shaun T was right there. I can do it.
I still feel light years away from being able to complete the Pure Cardio workout. Though, I am finding clever little in-workout mini-goals to complete. Simply put, no breaks longer than 10 seconds. It is amazing. When gasping for air, feeling sore, and with the heart getting ready to explode, break time seems to go WAY to fast. Now I monitor and even if it seems like I’m not ready (truthfully, at some point it feels like it would take 20 minutes to be ready…Shaun T is not amused by this idea at all), I jump back in. With this, I feel I am pushing myself a little farther each time and getting an even better workout on Pure Cardio days.
That pesky Abs workout. It is like driving till the tank is on empty, then attempting to drive it for 15 more minutes. Still, I do like this workout. It incorporates different moves than the main three workouts employ. The best part is that a third of them require being in the “C-sit” position. This means I can sit on the floor, which is, by this point, what I’ve felt like doing for about 40 minutes.
I also played some Cardio Ping-Pong with my sister from about ten to midnight to 12:40. Shaun T would have been quite proud. We both worked mainly on our forehands as opposed to our extremely defensive backhand posturing. Quite intrigued by the results.
I still feel light years away from being able to complete the Pure Cardio workout. Though, I am finding clever little in-workout mini-goals to complete. Simply put, no breaks longer than 10 seconds. It is amazing. When gasping for air, feeling sore, and with the heart getting ready to explode, break time seems to go WAY to fast. Now I monitor and even if it seems like I’m not ready (truthfully, at some point it feels like it would take 20 minutes to be ready…Shaun T is not amused by this idea at all), I jump back in. With this, I feel I am pushing myself a little farther each time and getting an even better workout on Pure Cardio days.
That pesky Abs workout. It is like driving till the tank is on empty, then attempting to drive it for 15 more minutes. Still, I do like this workout. It incorporates different moves than the main three workouts employ. The best part is that a third of them require being in the “C-sit” position. This means I can sit on the floor, which is, by this point, what I’ve felt like doing for about 40 minutes.
I also played some Cardio Ping-Pong with my sister from about ten to midnight to 12:40. Shaun T would have been quite proud. We both worked mainly on our forehands as opposed to our extremely defensive backhand posturing. Quite intrigued by the results.
Insanity Workout Day 80: 18 Minutes Short – Day Off
3-25-10: Another cursed Thursday at 8AM meeting. I woke up early, but not early enough. Assuming traffic was good I would have still been 18 minutes late for the meeting if I had attempted the workout. And traffic is always a wildcard.
Since I did Recovery/Cardio Abs last Thursday night and that resulted in Friday becoming an off day, I decided not to try pushing it Thursday night so that I could get a happier workout on Friday.
Since I did Recovery/Cardio Abs last Thursday night and that resulted in Friday becoming an off day, I decided not to try pushing it Thursday night so that I could get a happier workout on Friday.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 79: There Are Not Many Good Bad Puns For “Plyometrics”
3-24-10: Wow. I was close on the warm-up today. Real close. First break at the 8m 20s mark. This included the sprinting, the hyper jumping jacks, and 2/3 of the super-Heisman. Even weirder is that I felt like I had a chance today. During the second iteration I was not mentally begging for death or cursing Shaun T. I was thinking that the second round wasn’t going to get me this time. I missed less than half a minute overall. Definitely a good day, and I can only conclude that the additional food had a positive impact.
I even had some energy left today for the workout. Not too shabby. Some of the squat exercises I had to stop due more to muscle pain than cardio weakness. This is definitely improvement as usually I’m stopping for both reasons…at the same time…all the time.
Nothing much else to report. I was lucky to be able to get up early enough to do it as I stayed up quite late beating a video game last night (no choice…I could tell I was getting close…it was demanding that I beat it…hmm…much like Shaun T demands I continue the Insanity program. …yes, if you want me to do something, your best bet is to put it into some sort of video format). I now feel I have a good chance of actually doing the recovery workout tomorrow morning. What could possibly go wrong?
I even had some energy left today for the workout. Not too shabby. Some of the squat exercises I had to stop due more to muscle pain than cardio weakness. This is definitely improvement as usually I’m stopping for both reasons…at the same time…all the time.
Nothing much else to report. I was lucky to be able to get up early enough to do it as I stayed up quite late beating a video game last night (no choice…I could tell I was getting close…it was demanding that I beat it…hmm…much like Shaun T demands I continue the Insanity program. …yes, if you want me to do something, your best bet is to put it into some sort of video format). I now feel I have a good chance of actually doing the recovery workout tomorrow morning. What could possibly go wrong?
Insanity Workout Day 78: The Path To Most Resistance (and Power)
3-23-10: Starting yesterday and continuing today (and most likely the future) I have upped the caloric intake in my diet. I now have about six or seven meals (or snacks) throughout the day. I feel I was not getting enough and needed more to have energy for recovery and the workouts.
Today, the warm-up was not that bad at all. The last round of vertical jumps were still killer, but I felt like I did fairly well on the evil warm-up.
I had my moments in the workouts and had plenty of little girl whines as well. I feel like every other day the pinky annoys me during the plank work. Some days I have it wrapped just right. Other days, like today, I feel the splint moving out of position so I have to continually readjust. It’s alright though. Got up at a decent time, felt good about the workout and beat Bionic Commando today (a much better game than I expected, though a little short). What more could Shaun T ask?
Today, the warm-up was not that bad at all. The last round of vertical jumps were still killer, but I felt like I did fairly well on the evil warm-up.
I had my moments in the workouts and had plenty of little girl whines as well. I feel like every other day the pinky annoys me during the plank work. Some days I have it wrapped just right. Other days, like today, I feel the splint moving out of position so I have to continually readjust. It’s alright though. Got up at a decent time, felt good about the workout and beat Bionic Commando today (a much better game than I expected, though a little short). What more could Shaun T ask?
Insanity Workout Day 77: Monday Isn’t My Recovery Day...Honest!
3-22-10: It seems so easy to skip recovery since it is a miserable miserable workout. Another problem is that I seem to have it in my head that since it is a “recovery” workout that it is much shorter than the other workouts. This is not the case. It is six minutes shorter than Pure Cardio at 33 minutes.
But, really the problem was that I just stayed up too late Sunday night (Monday morning). Since I do not want to get in the habit of skipping the recovery workout every week again, I’m going to try to do it this Thursday. This would switch my day off and recovery for the week. Shaun T is evil. But Shaun T is just and believes in balance (no seriously, there are a bunch of balancing exercises in Recovery), so I think I’ll be okay.
But, really the problem was that I just stayed up too late Sunday night (Monday morning). Since I do not want to get in the habit of skipping the recovery workout every week again, I’m going to try to do it this Thursday. This would switch my day off and recovery for the week. Shaun T is evil. But Shaun T is just and believes in balance (no seriously, there are a bunch of balancing exercises in Recovery), so I think I’ll be okay.
Insanity Workout Day 76: Cardio Pure-gatory (And ABS!!!)
3-21-10: Weekends continue to be lazy days for me. Oh. I still do the workouts, but I find little excuses to delay myself.
“Hey! I should workout after my second meal which will be more useful than the first meal shake I have.”
“Hey! I should finish watching to relax a bit before the workout.”
“Hey! I might as well play a little bit of Bionic Commando (Xbox 360 version) before working out seeing as it is almost time for meal 3!”
“Wow! I can’t believe I’ve been playing this game for four hours. I should workout now or I’m not going to have energy for tomorrow’s “recovery” workout.”
And, thus, results in my 4:00 PM start time. I think I have to just go right after the first meal shake no matter what. Too many distractions. Or, I’m too easily distracted.
Well, the warm-up was not terrible. Still not getting all the way through, but still pushing through hard. The workout was, again, miserable. On a minimal and rare bright note, some of the bazillion squat variations did not hurt as much this time. Some strength gain, though minimal, was noticed. Still plenty of collapses in painful heaps, but I feel I only stayed in the cocooned position for 17% less time than usual.
Cardio Abs were…there again. Definitely can feel it in the belly, so it’s not just a clever name. I do like this workout and plan to possibly add a second viewing during the week at some point.
The pinky is interesting. I wonder if it is healing at all or if I’m undoing everything by doing the workout. The sane thing to do would be to contact the doctor to discuss the kinds of activity and pressure that the pinky can handle. But…THIS IS INSANITY!!!!!!
“Hey! I should workout after my second meal which will be more useful than the first meal shake I have.”
“Hey! I should finish watching
“Hey! I might as well play a little bit of Bionic Commando (Xbox 360 version) before working out seeing as it is almost time for meal 3!”
“Wow! I can’t believe I’ve been playing this game for four hours. I should workout now or I’m not going to have energy for tomorrow’s “recovery” workout.”
And, thus, results in my 4:00 PM start time. I think I have to just go right after the first meal shake no matter what. Too many distractions. Or, I’m too easily distracted.
Well, the warm-up was not terrible. Still not getting all the way through, but still pushing through hard. The workout was, again, miserable. On a minimal and rare bright note, some of the bazillion squat variations did not hurt as much this time. Some strength gain, though minimal, was noticed. Still plenty of collapses in painful heaps, but I feel I only stayed in the cocooned position for 17% less time than usual.
Cardio Abs were…there again. Definitely can feel it in the belly, so it’s not just a clever name. I do like this workout and plan to possibly add a second viewing during the week at some point.
The pinky is interesting. I wonder if it is healing at all or if I’m undoing everything by doing the workout. The sane thing to do would be to contact the doctor to discuss the kinds of activity and pressure that the pinky can handle. But…THIS IS INSANITY!!!!!!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Insanity Workout Day 75: The Good, The Bad, and the Plyometrics
3-20-10: Wow. Still sore from the Recovery workout. But, not sore enough to prevent a good ole-fashioned run at Plyometrics! The battle was fought and we’ll call it a draw. I mean, the DVD nor myself died, so I guess there was no true winner.
That’s not to say that there were not attempts on my life during the workout. Squats took a pretty good shot. Hell, so did the Ski Abs. Only my ability to turn the player off when it was done and run away saved me.
It was a good warm-up once again. I find myself going much faster during the third iteration, even if that means I need to take breaks. I feel that I sprint and butt kick faster than anyone on the DVD. I also am far more conscious of lifting my knees above my hips during the high knees…never sacrifice form. If I can just transition from the sprinting to the jumping jacks and the jumping jacks to the Heisman a little better. I feel like I use up my energy meter on the sprinting, so that when jumping jacks start, my body is demanding a break. It will come. It will come.
I feel my meal schedules have been a bit off during the weekends of late. Either running out for bigger meals here and there, or waking up so late that my first meal starts at noon, making the process of fitting four more meals in difficult. In the end, I feel I am missing calories. I also feel that this reflects in my overall energy level and the workout process. I must start eating more and more consistently during my days away from work.
That’s not to say that there were not attempts on my life during the workout. Squats took a pretty good shot. Hell, so did the Ski Abs. Only my ability to turn the player off when it was done and run away saved me.
It was a good warm-up once again. I find myself going much faster during the third iteration, even if that means I need to take breaks. I feel that I sprint and butt kick faster than anyone on the DVD. I also am far more conscious of lifting my knees above my hips during the high knees…never sacrifice form. If I can just transition from the sprinting to the jumping jacks and the jumping jacks to the Heisman a little better. I feel like I use up my energy meter on the sprinting, so that when jumping jacks start, my body is demanding a break. It will come. It will come.
I feel my meal schedules have been a bit off during the weekends of late. Either running out for bigger meals here and there, or waking up so late that my first meal starts at noon, making the process of fitting four more meals in difficult. In the end, I feel I am missing calories. I also feel that this reflects in my overall energy level and the workout process. I must start eating more and more consistently during my days away from work.
Insanity Workout Day 74: I Needed a Recovery Day to Recovery From The Recovery Workout
3-19-10: Yes, it would have been too painful today to try working out. I was sore. Very sore. My legs hated me. Shaun T confuses me. Anyway, today was supposed to be the fitness test, so at least I’m not missing one of the bigger cardio workouts.
My weight is down a couple of pounds to about 218. This puts me at 17 down overall and 3 shy of my three month goal of which I have a couple of weeks remaining. From that standpoint, everything is good. Pants and clothes are fitting looser. There is going to be this uncomfortable time period from about now to the time I get to a stable shape where I am going to be wearing hellishly loose clothing. Ah well. Take the good with the bad.
So far so good. This is all with a couple of cheat eating days a week as well. I do love my pizza. I do love my Mom’s brownies (I went over there today and limited myself to two brownies. The addiction had me thinking of them the entire time I was there however.)
Well, I suppose tomorrow will be Plyometrics! Yay!
My weight is down a couple of pounds to about 218. This puts me at 17 down overall and 3 shy of my three month goal of which I have a couple of weeks remaining. From that standpoint, everything is good. Pants and clothes are fitting looser. There is going to be this uncomfortable time period from about now to the time I get to a stable shape where I am going to be wearing hellishly loose clothing. Ah well. Take the good with the bad.
So far so good. This is all with a couple of cheat eating days a week as well. I do love my pizza. I do love my Mom’s brownies (I went over there today and limited myself to two brownies. The addiction had me thinking of them the entire time I was there however.)
Well, I suppose tomorrow will be Plyometrics! Yay!
Insanity Workout Day 73: Cardio Recovery/Abs A New Combination and Happily Painful
3-18-10: So, Cardio Abs weren’t awful. It was not as fun as say not doing them. But certainly I had juice left for the world of Recovery.
Cardio Recovery was awful. I’m sure I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, and I’ll say it in the future: This can not be a recovery workout. I feel worse after this one than after all of the other workouts combined. Cardio Recovery is like getting salad for dessert or bran flakes instead of Doritos. The mental anguish of this disparity is huge.
Again, it is mainly the position holds that cause this workout to be pure evil. Do sixteen slow squats. Okay. Did it. Yay me! Okay…now hold yourself in the squat position. Ok. Now try to go lower into the squat and try to bring your thighs together. Ouch. Now let’s do 16 pulses. No…please…no more…Shaun T….please…have mercy. Now, let’s do the same thing with lunges. Please…think of my legs! Now let’s do the squats again...oh why…you are an angry and vengeful fitness guru.
Based on its name, this is the workout that he really is aiming at people hating him for. There can be no other explanation.
On a side note, throwing 48 minutes of workout on my “Day off” day might not have been the best idea. Tomorrow is going to be a tricky fish.
Cardio Recovery was awful. I’m sure I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, and I’ll say it in the future: This can not be a recovery workout. I feel worse after this one than after all of the other workouts combined. Cardio Recovery is like getting salad for dessert or bran flakes instead of Doritos. The mental anguish of this disparity is huge.
Again, it is mainly the position holds that cause this workout to be pure evil. Do sixteen slow squats. Okay. Did it. Yay me! Okay…now hold yourself in the squat position. Ok. Now try to go lower into the squat and try to bring your thighs together. Ouch. Now let’s do 16 pulses. No…please…no more…Shaun T….please…have mercy. Now, let’s do the same thing with lunges. Please…think of my legs! Now let’s do the squats again...oh why…you are an angry and vengeful fitness guru.
Based on its name, this is the workout that he really is aiming at people hating him for. There can be no other explanation.
On a side note, throwing 48 minutes of workout on my “Day off” day might not have been the best idea. Tomorrow is going to be a tricky fish.
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