Insanity: Week 2

I may have groaned a lot, but I woke up every morning and have now gotten through week two of the Shaun T Insanity work out.  In case you were curious, it hasn’t gotten easier, but it has gotten more enjoyable over time.  I look forward to the workout, and while I’m doing it, I feel great.  This may be some sort of variation of Stockholm Syndrome, but if that’s what it takes to get me through this, then I’m alright with it.

I should mention that the program specifies  a diet plan as well.  I didn’t look at it.  I’m sure it none of the healthy offerings are as delicious as the chicken parm sub I ate for dinner today.  I hate to diet for the sake of dieting, but I noticed I have been making healthier choices (forget about the chicken parm).  It’s been mainly smaller portions and less soda.  I’m even drinking a light beer!

My pants feel loose, as if they could fall off at any moment, but I’m pretty sure they’ve always been like that.  I have lost a little over four pounds so far.  It’s not much, but it does encourage me to forge forward and try a little bit harder next week.  I have also learned that you can pee out .6 pounds of pee.  Amazing!

Insanity: Days 5&6

Don’t worry, I did complete the ‘Pure Cardio’ on Friday as well as doing the ‘Cardio and Abs’ on Saturday. I just didn’t get to post because of watching some live music Friday and the Ravens Saturday. But today is a day of rest, so I have a few moments to look back at my first week of the Insanity workout.

Things I like about the workout? The pain. It leaves less scars than cutting and I’m getting in shape to boot. In all seriousness though, I really feel encouraged by how sore I am. I also like the perceived boost in energy levels, I definitely feel more alert throughout the day. Finally, I really enjoy the bonding time with the wife. Mornings used to consist of waking up and running off to work. The extra time spent with her has been a lot of fun.

Things I hate? Waking up early. Unfortunately there is no way around this that I can think of. The evenings for us are too inconsistent to depend on having free every day.

The outlook is still good. I actually feel guilty that today is a rest day. I considered doing a workout today just for kicks, but then I decided to stay w/ the plan. I am looking forward to the Monday workout and I am going to put a conscious effort into ‘digging deeper’ and really pushing myself to get the max results.

I lost 1.1 pounds from when I weighed myself on Tuesday. It’s not much but its a start, I guess. I hope to report an even better results in a week.

Insanity: Day 4

Cardio Recovery day involved a lot of yoga. It was a welcome change of pace, for sure. However, the 6 am grogginess combined w/ the slow body movement and relaxing music made it a little harder to get going. Regardless, these moves are still pretty tough. There was a lot of emphasis on body control. If the previous workouts were electroshock therapy then this was akin to water boarding. The slow burning in the muscles left a dull throbbing pain in many areas.

Planks, Lunges, and Squats are not my friends at the moment. I was definitely less winded than after the other workouts. I’m learning some new stretches which I really think will go far in allowing me to do some of the other exercises with better form. I have no doubt that we will get back to the craziness tomorrow, but I must say that I enjoyed a day of sanity.

Insanity: Day 3

I figured I should weigh myself, so I dusted off the Wii Fit board and fired it up. The Wii Fit was quick to tell me I hadn’t played in 556 days. Do you remember the good old days when your electronic devices didn’t mock you and and make you feel dumb? My iPhone thinks it’s smarter than me and insists on correcting my typing, Microsoft Word thinks I need numbered lists all the time, and my Wii Fit thinks I’m lying to it. So much so, that when you weigh yourself, your Mii avatar will expand to what size it thinks your are. Mine plumped up a good bit and I think it even put a mayonnaise stain on my Mii’s shirt and capped it off with a ‘Wah, Wah, Wahhhhhhhhhh’.

This morning was the first ‘Cardio Power and Resistance’ workout. The workout clocked in at 39 minutes. It focused on some push up variations and a lot of jumping around. I felt sore from the last workout, but the warm ups help take some of that edge off. I stayed pretty active, maybe doing about 80% the workout early on and fading to about 65% by the end. That may sound pretty crappy, but I felt good about it. If you see these videos, they are exhausting. Even the super-fit people in the videos look pretty exhausted by the end.

Each day I have become increasingly sore. The soreness covers most of my body now. I will just assume will feel like this until I stop the program. Sunday is recovery day, Sunday is recovery day, Sunday is recovery day…

Insanity: Day 2

This getting up an hour early is a bigger hurdle than the actual workout at the moment.  I am having great difficulty convincing myself that putting myself in pain is better than sleep.

I did eventually get out of bed and made my way to the basement for round two.  I was noticeably sore in my legs and chest from the day before.  I shed a single tear when I realized that todays session was 41 minutes, nearly twice as long as the last video.  ‘Plyometric Cardio Circuit’; I don’t know what it is but I didn’t like the sound of it.

Needless to say, the workout was intense.  I may have bailed on some of the sections, but it’s fast action and I just wasn’t able to keep up.  I did at least do a few reps in each exercise and kept my heart rate pinned.  I hope that the warning to consult your physician before attempting this workout was just a formality.

At the end of the workout my body felt weak, like if you threw a basket ball at my face, I would just have to take it.  My muscles were not responding at any sort of speed.

For the sake of my co-workers, I took a shower, over the more preferrable option of lying on the floor.  Still weak and queasy, I did not trust that I could lift my foot up to wash it without hilarious results.  So I have dirty feet, perhaps you should expect this until Sundays when no insanity is scheduled.

Also, now that I’m a few hours out removed the workout, I am sore, and in weird places, like the front of my neck… wtf, but I otherwise feel good, great even, perhaps an increase in energy?  I fully believe I can make it one more day (yes, I know there’s 57 more in the program).

Insanity: Day 1

Insanity is billed as an intensive 60 day home workout program that will make the fat sad guy on the left look like the happy ripped guy on the right.  They claim that the program is not for the weak-minded or lazy.  I am both these things, so I don’t see this blog series lasting very long.

On the plus side, I have a very motivated wife who likes to see me in pain will make sure I don’t fall off track.  I am not trying to lose weight or get fit, but if I do, it’s a bonus.  I really just want to see what happens when a sedentary cube monkey tries what is said to be one of the most ridiculous cardio workouts on the market.

The alarm went off this morning at 6 am.  A couple minutes and an expletive later I was getting dressed and heading to the basement.

The first day’s workout wasn’t horrible, it was 23 minutes, and ran the gamut of basic cardio moves.  They do expect you to get as many reps as you can with some unfamiliar (to me) moves.  So I probably looked as awkward as I felt.  I would suspect that an outside observer to my morning workout would be hard pressed to believe that I was imitating the people on the screen.

I can’t lie, I was winded in the first minute, and struggled to make it to the end of any of the short sections without slowing down or taking a break.  But my heart raced, my body sweated, and my stomach felt sick.  These must be good things, right?  ugh.  But I made it through and spent the next twenty minutes lying on the floor.  Not bad, I guess.  Oh, and this was the fitness TEST, the real work starts tomorrow…  <expletive deleted>.

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