Well tonight was my second round of the fitness test in my insanity journey, and the proof is in the proverbial pudding. There was not a single exercise in the eight exercise fitness test that I did not improve in over the course of two weeks. The first move in the test is switch kicks which is basically hopping from foot to foot and kicking your leg out for sixty seconds. In my first test I had 85 reps and tonight I finished with 120. More than just the increased reps I can say that I felt a difference in my breathing and heart rate. The first time I did the fitness test I was gasping for air at the end of every session and wanted to just die on the spot. Tonight I still felt winded at the end of every minute, but I was able to quickly level my breathing back to a normal level. Also, aftwer weighing myself tonight, I have lost two pounds since last week. So hopefully you have been able to concentrate on how you feel and how your clothes fit and this will give you some hope that the weight loss is just around the corner.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Insanity continue
My journey has continued over the past few days. Ever since the rest day on Sunday I have gone through 3 sets of exercises. The good news is, it seems to be getting easier and I seem to be able to stick with Shaun T and his insane moves longer and longer. The bad news is I still have 6 and a half weeks left of it.
In the spirit of full disclosure I want to share that I have not lost any weight while doing the workouts. It has only been a week and a half and I didn't expect to see anything drastic, but the fact of the matter is that I weigh exactly the same today as I did when I started. Earlier this year, I started training for a 15k which I ran in March. I only mention this because I had a similar experience when I was training for that run. Over the first couple weeks I actually gained 5 pounds. I researched it and found that it was normal when you are starting an intense traininng program because your body starts to store glycogen which causes your body to also store more water.
I wanted to bring this up so that you don't lose your motivation if you decide to take on the insanity challenge yourself. By the time I was done training for the 15k I had lost 6 pounds from my original weight and had dropped a minute and fifteen seconds off my mile pace. A much better gauge of how you are progressing through the training is to keep a journal of how you feel. Monitor your energy levels, how your clothes are fitting, how your mood was throughout the workout and throughout the day. I can tell you that using those metrics has helped me to keep my motivation level high throughout training. I hope this helps you in your journey as well.
I wanted to bring this up so that you don't lose your motivation if you decide to take on the insanity challenge yourself. By the time I was done training for the 15k I had lost 6 pounds from my original weight and had dropped a minute and fifteen seconds off my mile pace. A much better gauge of how you are progressing through the training is to keep a journal of how you feel. Monitor your energy levels, how your clothes are fitting, how your mood was throughout the workout and throughout the day. I can tell you that using those metrics has helped me to keep my motivation level high throughout training. I hope this helps you in your journey as well.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Easter Sunday
No insanity update today - it was a scheduled rest day and it's good because I'd rather talk about something much more important. Today was Easter Sunday.
This is the day that we celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection on the third day after his crucifixion. This is the day that makes the other 364 days of the year worth living. For all the miracles, there were many men in history that performed miracles. For all the wise teachings of Jesus, there were many men in history that gave us wisdom. For all the compassion that Jesus showed, there were many men that were compassionate to their fellow man. Even his death at the cross would be nothing more than a paragraph in a history book if it were not for today.
Today shows us that Jesus was more than a magician. Today shows us he was more than a wise teacher - more than a man full of compassion. Today we celebrate that Jesus was God incarnate, who gave himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, was crucified, died and was buried, and that He rose again.
We give each other gifts on Christmas to symbolize the gifts that the wise men gave to Jesus as a baby born in the manger. Today we don't give any big gifts, perhaps because we know that they could not even begin to symbolize the gift that Jesus gave us in salvation.
This is the day that we celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection on the third day after his crucifixion. This is the day that makes the other 364 days of the year worth living. For all the miracles, there were many men in history that performed miracles. For all the wise teachings of Jesus, there were many men in history that gave us wisdom. For all the compassion that Jesus showed, there were many men that were compassionate to their fellow man. Even his death at the cross would be nothing more than a paragraph in a history book if it were not for today.
Today shows us that Jesus was more than a magician. Today shows us he was more than a wise teacher - more than a man full of compassion. Today we celebrate that Jesus was God incarnate, who gave himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, was crucified, died and was buried, and that He rose again.
We give each other gifts on Christmas to symbolize the gifts that the wise men gave to Jesus as a baby born in the manger. Today we don't give any big gifts, perhaps because we know that they could not even begin to symbolize the gift that Jesus gave us in salvation.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Insanity Days 3 and 4
The journey continues... Yesterday was day 3 of the Insanity program and was my first day of a recovery workout. The cardio recovery was much easier than the rest of the workouts, but don't mistake this for a rest day. You will still get your heart rate up and break a sweat, and you will still feel it afterwards. However, it is a day that allows you to leave without your muscles screaming at the top of their lungs.
Tonight was day 4 and the workout scheduled today was Pure Cardio. Let me just say that I was glad yesterday was a recovery workout because tonight SUCKED. I had some doubts about this one when Shaun T said HE was nervous about it, and probably should have watched the DVD before I made the before picture commitment. The video itself is only 38 minutes long, but it is brutal. It starts with about a 12 minute warm up which is a bit of a misnomer because it feels like a pretty good workout. Then you get a 30 second rest followed up by about 5 minutes of stretching that is more like yoga work then the old-fashioned "touch your toes" stretching. Another 30-45 second break let's you catch your breath before you go into 18 minutes of all out insane cardio. Normally in these workouts you got 3-5 minutes of hard work before getting a 30 second break, but not today. Any recovery I got from last night was more than destroyed by the workout tonight. To give you an idea, I did not see one person out of the 10 or so people in the video who did not need to walk off the floor for a minute just to catch their breath and get some water.
I will say that during the stretch after the workout I could feel that my legs were tighter than 4 days ago when I started the program. My energy level is higher in the day and I'm starting to get used to the physical exertion that's required in the program. I'm honestly looking forward to the next 56 days and the after picture moment.
In related news - I am considering taking some home video and posting it on youtube showing a few progressions. I will keep you posted on whether I actually follow through on this ides. Also, we have company for the weekend so I probably won't update this until Sunday evening. Happy Easter and God bless.
Tonight was day 4 and the workout scheduled today was Pure Cardio. Let me just say that I was glad yesterday was a recovery workout because tonight SUCKED. I had some doubts about this one when Shaun T said HE was nervous about it, and probably should have watched the DVD before I made the before picture commitment. The video itself is only 38 minutes long, but it is brutal. It starts with about a 12 minute warm up which is a bit of a misnomer because it feels like a pretty good workout. Then you get a 30 second rest followed up by about 5 minutes of stretching that is more like yoga work then the old-fashioned "touch your toes" stretching. Another 30-45 second break let's you catch your breath before you go into 18 minutes of all out insane cardio. Normally in these workouts you got 3-5 minutes of hard work before getting a 30 second break, but not today. Any recovery I got from last night was more than destroyed by the workout tonight. To give you an idea, I did not see one person out of the 10 or so people in the video who did not need to walk off the floor for a minute just to catch their breath and get some water.
I will say that during the stretch after the workout I could feel that my legs were tighter than 4 days ago when I started the program. My energy level is higher in the day and I'm starting to get used to the physical exertion that's required in the program. I'm honestly looking forward to the next 56 days and the after picture moment.
In related news - I am considering taking some home video and posting it on youtube showing a few progressions. I will keep you posted on whether I actually follow through on this ides. Also, we have company for the weekend so I probably won't update this until Sunday evening. Happy Easter and God bless.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Insanity Day 2
Good evening (or morning for those in Australia) everyone! As you know from yesterday's post, I have embarked on a journey of getting into the best shape of my life by doing the Insanity fitness program by Shaun T of Beach Body.
I did the fitness test and yesterday did the plyometrics workout. Today the schedule called for Cardio Power and I have to say when I woke up I was not looking forward to it because I was still feeling the effects from last night's plyometric workout. My lower back was tight, my legs ached, and I really did not want to do much of anything.
With that said, I remembered the promise I made to everyone who read last night's post. And the thought of my before pictures being posted on the blog were enough motivation to make me lace up the shoes and press play one more time. I'm hoping that the soreness subsides a little each day to make it a little bit easier to drag myself in front of the tv.
Well, that's all for tonight. If you are interested in learning more about the Insanity program, feel free to visit beachbody.com and hopefully the good people at Google adsense will post a few ads for them on my page and you can click on those as well.
I did the fitness test and yesterday did the plyometrics workout. Today the schedule called for Cardio Power and I have to say when I woke up I was not looking forward to it because I was still feeling the effects from last night's plyometric workout. My lower back was tight, my legs ached, and I really did not want to do much of anything.
With that said, I remembered the promise I made to everyone who read last night's post. And the thought of my before pictures being posted on the blog were enough motivation to make me lace up the shoes and press play one more time. I'm hoping that the soreness subsides a little each day to make it a little bit easier to drag myself in front of the tv.
Well, that's all for tonight. If you are interested in learning more about the Insanity program, feel free to visit beachbody.com and hopefully the good people at Google adsense will post a few ads for them on my page and you can click on those as well.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
My Insanity
Hey everyone, I know it's been a while since I wrote a post and I've been trying to think about how to change things up a little bit. I will still write a few blogs based on politics and technology, but for the next 60 days I will be using my blog as my accountability partner. If you didn't guess yet, I'm going to be doing Shaun T's Insanity workout. I've done the fitness test and tonight I did the first actual workout - plyometrics.
For those of you unfamiliar with Insanity, it is a high intensity cardio workout that last about 45 minutes. The workout videos also come with a fitness guide to help you make sure that you eat right to get the maximum benefit. You follow the fitness guide and do a workout every day for 60 days straight, and you're supposed to transform your body. Over the next 60 days we will find out.
As an added incentive, I have taken the before pictures and it is my commitment that if I do not finish the 60 days, I will post them here on my blog for all to see. They will only be up for 48 hours so you'll have to check back frequently to get updates on how the progress is going or to see the before pictures.
I will try to post every day what workout I did and how I felt after. Tonight was plyometrics, and I won't lie - it kicked my butt like I was a Kansas Jayhawk. I felt pretty good for the first 15 minutes or so until I realized that was just the warmup. Part of me thinks Shaun T has to be some type of sadist to ever dream up this routine.
Well that's all for tonight kiddos - hope you'll follow along on my journey or at least check every couple days in the hopes that I have folded and had to post pictures of fluffy Brian on the web.
For those of you unfamiliar with Insanity, it is a high intensity cardio workout that last about 45 minutes. The workout videos also come with a fitness guide to help you make sure that you eat right to get the maximum benefit. You follow the fitness guide and do a workout every day for 60 days straight, and you're supposed to transform your body. Over the next 60 days we will find out.
As an added incentive, I have taken the before pictures and it is my commitment that if I do not finish the 60 days, I will post them here on my blog for all to see. They will only be up for 48 hours so you'll have to check back frequently to get updates on how the progress is going or to see the before pictures.
I will try to post every day what workout I did and how I felt after. Tonight was plyometrics, and I won't lie - it kicked my butt like I was a Kansas Jayhawk. I felt pretty good for the first 15 minutes or so until I realized that was just the warmup. Part of me thinks Shaun T has to be some type of sadist to ever dream up this routine.
Well that's all for tonight kiddos - hope you'll follow along on my journey or at least check every couple days in the hopes that I have folded and had to post pictures of fluffy Brian on the web.
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