Day: 34, Insanity Core Cardio & Balance

Workout

Insanity Core Cardio & Balance Status: Completed The final core cardio and balance is done. The program calls for it a few more times in month 2, but they also gave me max interval sports training to sub in on those days, so this probably is it for a while for this workout. It's been a good recovery week. I got tired in the middle, but overall the week kept my heart rate up without killing my muscles. I still feel a little beat up, but I'm ready to go for month 2 on Sunday. Also it's back to my doubles schedule that day too. I'm really not planning on doing anything but working out on Sunday. Wish me luck. Adios recovery week, week 5! Dig deep!

Day: 33, Insanity Core Cardio & Balance

Workout

Insanity Core Cardio & Balance Status: Completed Another core cardio and balance is completed. The difference today is that today I had a fantastic workout! I worked late last night, which means I go into work late today. That means I got to sleep in (until 7:30) and that made a HUGE difference! I had a lot more energy, and took significantly fewer breaks during the cardio section. I really pushed it too, and was pretty soaked by the time the ab work came in. The ab stuff is my favorite part of this workout, and I had a lot more focus today. The sleep really changes things. I like getting my workout done before I start my day so I can do homework or see my girlfriend after work, but I may need to throw in one or two night workouts again. The additional sleep in the week will really help me out, and I'll get a lot better workouts overall. Especially with the max workouts starting next week, I really want to bring it as hard as possible. I'll keep you posted. Quick note, I really like this workout. It's a good whole body thing, I like the random punches in it, and the cardio gets me going. Plus it's definitely a recovery workout; I just feel better after doing it. After insanity I'm thinking about doing one week of the P90X recovery week before starting Rushfit. My body will be hurting after 4 more weeks of Insanity, and I want to start Rushfit strong. Like I said a few months ago, I think I've outgrown kenpo x, so I may do this workout in that week instead. I know I'm a few weeks from that mattering, but I wanted to throw it on the blog so I don't forget. Dig deep!

Day: 32, Insanity Core Cardio & Balance

Workout

Insanity Core Cardio & Balance Status: Completed Another round of core cardio and balance is in the books. Oh man, I was completely drained this morning. It was a rough workout, but I pushed through. The recovery week is exactly what I need this week, and I'm ready to kick it back into gear on Sunday with month 2. Time for work, so I'm making this short. Dig deep!

Day: 31, Insanity Core Cardio & Balance

Log Entry

Daily Note: Quick shout out, my buddy Peter started Insanity yesterday. He texted me that he'd completed plyo cardio and that he was pretty sure he was dying, so I congratulated him and told him the recovery week is awesome. Good luck Peter! Start a blog!

Workout

Insanity Core Cardio & Balance Status: Completed Another round of core cardio and balance is complete. More and more this is turning into my favorite workout. It has a good pace and I sweat, but I don't feel like I'm dying at the end which I personally think is great. Three more of these workouts and I begin the max routines. I'm going to enjoy this week as much as possible, because I foresee a great deal of pain and terror in the 4 weeks after. Dig deep!

Day: 30, Insanity Core Cardio & Balance

Workout

Insanity Core Cardio & Balance Status: Completed Core cardio and balance is done. I like this workout. It's a lot of fun, works a lot of different areas and isn't nearly as intense as the other insanity stuff. That's awesome, especially because I am tired as hell this morning and was having trouble getting energy. Big note for the day, today is Day 30. This is actually a 63 day program, not 60 as advertised, but I'm still calling today the half way point since I'm used to taking pictures every 30 days. I see a lot more definition in my upper body, and my stomach feels a lot tighter than 30 days ago. So far so good. I wonder where I'll be in another 30 (33) days. Dig Deep!

Day: 29, Insanity Core Cardio & Balance

Workout

Insanity Core Cardio & Balance Status: Completed The recovery week has arrived! My body has been working hard for the last four weeks, and I don't think I could have worked as hard today on a normal insanity workout. I definitely don't feel like I could have done a double workout today with P90X. Today and every day this week is core cardio and balance. I didn't know what to expect coming in to this workout, but it was actually pretty awesome. A decent amount of cardio work without getting me completely destroyed like a normal workout, and the ab stuff is pretty fun too. Good workout. I'm a little concerned that I do this DVD every day this week. That feels like a lot to do in a row, and I don't want to get burnt out with it. However, it's only a week, and I really like that shaun t actually says in this workout "welcome to your recovery week" and "you've been working hard the last four weeks." Clearly this workout is here for a specific reason, so I'm trusting the program. Week 5 starts off strong! Dig Deep!

Day: 27, Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Workout

Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit Status: Completed Ok, this time I'm very sure that this is my last plyo cardio circuit. Month 1 is completed and I so need this recovery week! My body is really feeling the workouts, and today I had so much trouble keeping up with the group. I pushed though, and I got a great workout, despite barely doing half of what they did on the DVD. I'm tired. This is gonna be short. Month 1 and Week 4 are both in the books. Dig Deep!

Day: 26, Calories: 0, Insanity Pure Cardio

Workout

Insanity Pure Cardio Status: Completed GRUMBLE!!!!!! Grumble grumble grumble grumble! Alright, that was dramatic, but I am so freakin' sleepy today! Allergies kept me up again, and 5:45 crept around way too quick. I hit play and felt like an absolute zombie for the warmup. And this wasn't a very good warmup....I zoned out a lot and took more breaks than I wanted. The week has caught up with me. My body is really sore today and Pure Cardio was probably the last thing I wanted to do today. I worked, I sweat and I'm happy it's over, but it's definitely not the same as Sunday's workout. Like I said, my body is feeling the end of week 4, and I am really looking forward to the recovery week next week. I'm just hoping Core Cardio and Balance feels like some sort of relief.

Workout

Insanity Cardio Abs Status: Completed Cardio Abs went a little better than Pure Cardio. I can definitely hold the c-sit position a lot better than I can do level 2 drills. The beginning cardio stuff was lackluster, but the isometric stuff felt pretty good. I can feel my abs in a good kind of pain, so I'm glad I got a good workout. Overall I'd give this workout a B-, so not terrible but not what I wanted either. One more day in Week 4. Dig deep!

Workout

P90X Shoulders & Arms Status: Completed Just want to document that after work last night I did shoulders and arms. I wanted to get it out of the way. I upped my weight on the bicep curls, and did all of the shoulder stuff a lot more isometrically. Overall, good workout. Because it was after work, I was hungry, tired and wanted to play video games, I opted not to do the Supreme 90 shoulders and arms too. I like that workout, but back to back would have been too much last night. K, it's documented. Time to get the day started. Bring it!

Day: 25, Insanity Cardio Recovery

Workout

Insanity Cardio Recovery Status: Completed The final cardio recovery is complete. I couldn't sleep last night at all, and 5:45 came WAY too quick. I stumbled my way out of bed and hit play around 6:20. Today was mostly me doing each exercise for half of the time length, followed by walking around staring aimlessly until the next exercise. That would have happened no matter what, but it seems to happen more often with this workout. If it's going to happen anywhere, I'm glad it's on recovery day. This isn't a very engaging workout, but since it's deep muscle exercise, stretch, repeat, I figure it's not really meant to be that engaging. I do feel like I got a good stretch, but between you (the world) and me, I miss yoga. The day has begun. I'm going to go get some homework done, followed by heading into the office. I'm debating doing the resistance workout for tomorrow morning tonight instead, but that's still up in the air. We'll see. Dig Deep!

Day: 24, Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Workout

Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit Status: Completed Grumble grumble grumble. I'm tired this morning, and I really felt that exhaustion in my workout. The warmup kicked my ass, and I had to take a few more breaks than I wanted. I still got pretty drenched just from the warmup, but not my strongest. The workout itself was pretty solid. I felt slower than usual, but I pushed as hard as I could. The third set I really brought it too, and that got my absolutely destroyed. The second half I was exhausted, and my basketball drills were barely hops. I still despise level one drills, but I dig the ski abs and in and outs at the end. I pushed on those, and even though I needed a lot of breaks I kept going until the end. The punches at the very end were flat out difficult, and my arms felt exhausted. Hard workout, but very good workout. I'm not 100% positive, but I think this is the last time I do this disc. Max Plyo is coming.......sigh. Week 4 continues. Dig Deep!

Workout

Martial Arts Status: Completed Just to document it, when I got home last night I threw in the Fight Conditioning Workout from Rushfit. I was still feeling sluggish from Sunday's food binge, so I wanted the extra cardio. I really love this workout; it's like Kenpo X on crack. A lot of fun. I'm really excited to do Rushfit after Insanity. It looks like such a cool program for 8 weeks. I just need to figure out a weight schedule to go with it. It has weights, but it's more conditioning than it is building. I'll keep you posted.

Day: 22, Insanity Pure Cardio

Ah! For some reason the blog didn't work again yesterday, and I just now saw that. Here's yesterday's post.

Workout

Insanity Pure Cardio Status: Completed Week 4 has begun! And today was by far my best Pure Cardio ever. I was a little worried how I'd do since I pushed through a really great chest and back workout this morning. I took a few hours off, and hit the gym around 4. The warmup was incredible! I took two or three breaks, but this was noticeably my strongest warmup yet. After the stretch I pushed really hard and ended up getting through three fourths of the whole thing with only two of three breaks. Somewhere near the end it caught up to me, and I didn't finish as well as I'd started, but overall this was the best pure cardio yet! I think I only do this one one more time, and that's in a few days. After that is recovery week, followed by Max Cardio. I think I'll be ready!

Workout

Insanity Cardio Abs Status: Completed Great cardio abs session too. My abs were on fire the whole time, and for some reason I think I figured out how to properly do the c sit position because today it ripped my abs up! This is definitely not ab ripper, but I'm finally starting to really dig it. I wonder what Insane Abs will be like in the second month. Dig Deep!

Workout

P90X Chest and Back Status: Completed The final chest and back session for my Insanity doubles workout is done. Since it was my last one, I really pushed hard today and it turned out great. I woke up around 9 and got started early since tonight I knew I had pure cardio too and would need a break. I had a slow start since it is Sunday and I like to sleep in a little later, but I pushed through the workout. I wore the weight vest for the entire first half, and even though some of my numbers went down because of it I really feel like I get a stronger workout. The second half I took the vest off, which helped me get my numbers back up. Overall this is a still one of my favorite workouts and I'm glad I brought it with me for the first month of Insanity.

Workout

P90X Chest and Back Status: Completed I also threw in a round of Supreme 90 Day and once again it was a good workout. I love the flys and the back exercise where you lie down and move the weights from behind you to above you are awesome. No weight work next week since it's recovery week, and when it comes back it'll be completely different workouts. I wonder what the Supreme 90 Day chest shoulders & arms workout is like, because depending how the max workouts go this will be joining me in month 2. Today is off to a great start. Lots of sitting is planned for the rest of the day, and pure cardio tonight. You'll of course read these out of order, but that's how it goes. Bring it!

Day: 23, Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance

Workout

Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance Status: Completed Well, after my blog post it all went downhill. I ate multiple tacos, burritos and chips. We decided to do a lazy Sunday so I made a taco bar, and I sort of pigged out. I topped it off with ice cream and cookies too! Nutrition just went out the window last night, and I woke up feeling horrible. I'm lactose intolerant and I still ate ice cream! Terrible! I pushed through because I knew I'd have to burn off the stomach ache, and by the second half my stomach felt a lot better. I did not have an amazing workout today, partly from my stomach and partly from my legs feeling like jello from yesterday, but I did try hard and was covered in sweat by the end. I do find it cool that when I over eat I know I can just burn it off and feel better with an insanity workout, even if that Insanity workout isn't very good. It's amazing to me how hard the nutrition part of this is. I can do Pure Cardio much easier than I can say no to ice cream. You wouldn't think that saying no would be that hard, yet here we are. I'm spending the week making up yesterday's nutritional mistakes. Wish me luck. Week 4 continues. Dig Deep!

Blog Problems - Days 18 to 20

Wow, I don't know what happened but for some reason my blog started to post to one of my other blogs, which I never actually use, instead of the fatfreejew.blogspot.com account. I just noticed this today, but it looks like I haven't posted (officially) since Tuesday! I've copied those missing blog posts, and have pasted them below. Hopefully from this point out I'll be good to go to post to this account instead. It looks like the iPhone app messed up a bit.

Day: 20, Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Workout

Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit Status: Completed Week 3 is completed, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I had just about 12 hours between workouts today. That always makes me tired for the second one. Add on that my legs felt like garbage after standing all day, plus it was the end of the week and long story short I was brutally tired this morning. Truth be told, I was mostly going through the motions today. My legs were on fire so I took more breaks than I wanted, and nothing had good form. The level 2 drills basically didn't happen. I tried my best, but at this point in the week my body has given all it has. Fortunately, this is Insanity. Just going through the motions and pushing as hard as I could still got me pretty soaked. I figure either good or great or terrible speeds, if I am still pushing myself I am getting a workout, and today definitely proved that theory right. Week 3 is done. I wish today had been stronger, but it is what it is. I am concerned that if the regular workouts in week 3 are still kicking my ass that I'm not going to be ready for the Max workouts. Only one more week plus a recovery week and it's time to step everything up. Well, we'll see what happens. Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow, and hitting the gym hard on Sunday with the last chest & back workout plus pure cardio and cardio abs. Dig deep!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Day: 19, Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance

Log Entry

Daily Note: Just a quick note, I did P90X Shoulders & Arms last night because I didn't have time this morning. I didn't have the energy to do that and Supreme 90, but I knew that going in. I upped my weight on everything and really beat my arms up. It was great. I was falling asleep after, so I decided to just skip that part of yesterday's blog, hence the note is here. Bring it!

Workout

Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance Status: Completed I really dig this workout. It's a lot of resistance stuff, but at a cardio pace. It's awesome. I was pretty beat by the time I got started. Today was a long day at work, and I was on my feet all day. I didn't get to work out this morning because work started really early too. I pushed through the warmup, which was crazy hard today, and by the time the real workout started I had to push as hard as I could. It wasn't pretty, but it turned into a great workout. Covered in sweat by the end! The third set of each of the two rounds was tricky, but aside from that I kept good form and good pace. My shoulders pretty beat from yesterday too, but they worked hard and feel amazing right now. One more day in Week 3. Dig Deep!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Day: 18, Insanity Cardio Recovery

Workout

Insanity Cardio Recovery Status: Completed Not the best recovery. I did cardio abs before this (to make up for yesterday) and I was just exhausted in general. I pushed, but decided about halfway through that it just wasn't gonna happen. No worries. I'm going to get an extra workout in tonight (you'll read these seriously out of order) because I won't have time to do my doubles workout tomorrow.

Workout

Insanity Cardio Abs Status: Completed I threw in the makeup cardio abs this morning. I actually thought it went pretty well, but it killed my energy for cardio recovery. Wish me luck on tonight's workout!

Workout

P90X Shoulders & Arms Status: Completed

Day: 17, Insanity Pure Cardio

Workout

Insanity Pure Cardio Status: Completed Today started out a little slow. The warmup felt really hard, but I feel like I did a little better than normal. Just really tired. By the time the actual workout started I was pretty exhausted. I ended up pushing through, but had to take a break by the time I got to the switch kicks. Those things are surprisingly hard! Most of the workout actually went pretty well, but a few things still destroyed me. Those damn level two drills are brutal, and I was beat by the time the pushup jack's kicked in. Overall a good workout. I still have a long way to go on this one, but I'm seeing noticeable progress. I was supposed to do cardio abs today too. I made it about five minutes into it, and mark came in because his car wouldn't start. I had to take him to work, so I said screw it and I'll do cardio abs with the recovery workout tomorrow. Dig Deep!

Day: 16, Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Workout

Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit Status: Completed Not the best workout, but plyo cardio circuit is completed. It rained all night and it was completely dark when I woke up. I had to convince myself that my clock wasn't lying to me. After grumbling out of bed and being pleasantly surprised that the garage was not freezing cold, I hit play. Today's warmup was really hard, but I pushed through. The first series of intervals I pushed as hard as I could and really kept up with the insanity folks. I think I only took one or two breaks in that set too. The second half, though, I was completely wiped and had trouble doing just a few of each of the exercises. The basketball hops were ok, but the pushups were non existent. Part of that is my chest being sore from yesterday, but more so I was just too tired. The in and out abs went pretty well though. By the time the punches came in at the end my body was pretty exhausted and I could barely keep up. I definitely pushed on this workout, but overall I think I was just a little too tired. Still, week 3 is off to a solid start. For some reason tomorrow is pure cardio with cardio abs....by my look it should have been cardio power, but oh well. Looks like there will be cardio tomorrow. Wish me luck! Dig Deep!

Day: 15, Insanity Fit Test

Workout

Insanity Fit Test Status: Completed Solid fit test. All of my numbers went up, most by around 10! The last three exercises were all the same number of reps, but that's still good because nothing went down. I also did this one with Heather. She wanted to try Insanity, and I figured the fit test was a good place to start. She did a great job, and trying to show off for her definitely made me try a little bit harder. I think she may give Insanity a go at some point. I wish her luck if she does....these workouts are bananas!

Workout

P90X Chest and Back Status: Completed I threw in another round of chest and back, and it went pretty well. I used the 12 lbs weight vest, which I read really added something to this workout. It definitely did. I was pretty wasted from the first workout, but pushed it and got some good reps in. I could only wear the vest for the first 8 sets on both rounds, but it went well.

Workout

Supreme 90 Day Chest and Back Status: Completed I threw in the Supreme 90 Day chest and back again. I've gotta say, I'm impressed by this workout. It's definitely different than P90X, but not bad at all. The three sets of the same two workouts concept feels a lot more like what I'm used to from the gym, and the speed of them actually reminds me a lot like Insanity. The only problem I have is the generic warmup and cooldown, but as an addition to P90X workouts it's awesome. Good speed, I break a sweat, original exercises (very different than P90X exercises) and in the end I end up doing double the reps than if I'd just done P90X. Week 3 has begun. Dig Deep!

Day: 13, Insanity Pure Cardio

Log Entry

Daily Note: Just a quick note, yesterday was St Patrick's Day, and tonight we're going to see Flogging Molly. Plus it was my buddy Richard's birthday yesterday, so we're also going to go out and celebrate that. Nutrition may not be the best this weekend, but mostly I'm posting this because I want to shout out Happy Birthday to Richard and to shout to the world that tonight's going to be freakin' awesome! Flogging Molly is going to be great!

Workout

Insanity Pure Cardio Status: Completed Week 2 is in the books! It wasn't pretty, but it is completed. This fat free Jew is slowly getting fat free! The dreaded pure cardio was on the agenda for today, and I definitely was feeling yesterday's workouts. My legs were pretty beat which screwed with my endurance. I felt like I started all of the moves, warmup included, really well, but by the end of each I felt wrecked. Changing moves really helped me get boosts of energy. I still worked really hard and will definitely say that today was a success. I also think I took it a little easier today subconsciously because I knew cardio abs was after this workout. It wasn't my strongest pure cardio, but it was solid and I got a workout. Good stuff.

Workout

Insanity Cardio Abs Status: Completed I finally got to do cardio abs. Why this is on the same day as Pure Cardio I don't know, but I accepted the challenge today. I've gotta say it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. It was still very difficult, and incredibly different from ab ripper x, but I can definitely get through it so awesome. This was the first ab work I've done in a few weeks. I haven't done ab ripper x since week 12 of p90x, and here we are wrapping up week 2 of insanity. Time flies. I feel like my abs held onto some of their strength in that time, which really helped me get through today. I can't wait to try Insane Abs in Month 2. Time to get the day started. I get a looong break from Insanity and that's awesome. I have all of today free (obviously), tomorrow is a rest day, Sunday is just the fit test and my p90x resistance stuff, so the next real workout isn't until Monday! Sweet. Dig Deep!

Day: 12, Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance

Workout

Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance Status: Completed Ya! I just destroyed cardio power and resistance! That was a great workout and this is definitely my favorite Insanity workout so far. I started with a really solid warmup. I took a few less breaks than normal, but the big improvement was today was that the breaks were noticeably shorter. Usually I'd skip a rep, maybe 1 second, and hopped right back into it. The warmup is getting more and more realistic, which is great. The actual workout I brought the same intensity. The first set I only took one or two breaks each, and those were always towards the end. The second half I was starting to get drained, and those globe jumps destroy me. I'm determined to someday get better at those. My triceps were pretty dead from my workout this morning. That made the tricep dip stuff in the middle really hard. That aside, the pike presses (v pushups) in the beginning were really strong. Combined with my workout this morning on shoulders and my absolute love of pike presses (they're awesome....it's a pushup for your shoulders!) my shoulders feel amazing right now. And even though I was tired, I really rocked out the 8 pushup 8 jump things at the very end. One more day in Week 2, and I'm finally going to try cardio abs. Cardio abs after pure cardio.....yup. Tomorrow morning will be interesting. Dig deep!

Workout

P90X Shoulders & Arms Status: Completed It's a doubles day, so I woke up early and did shoulders and arms. For some reason I was exhausted (again) and my weight numbers dropped a little bit. I pushed the 30 lbs for the shoulders, but by the end my arms felt destroyed. Despite being tired, this was a good workout. Not too much to say about it, but I'm glad I did it. Bring it!

Workout

Supreme 90 Day Shoulders & Arms Status: Completed Like last week I threw in the Supreme 90 Day shoulders and arms workout. For some reason though, I ran out of time to finish it. I checked the clock after the third circuit, and I was already 5 minutes later than I prefer to be done with the workout. Usually I come in under time. I hit stop at that point, gave myself a cooldown and stretch and called it good. I'm glad this happened though; even though it wasn't a bad workout at all, after P90X and just being tired in general I was ready to call it quits today. Good workout, but I need to double check I'll have time for both of these next week. Waking up at 5:30 cannot become my normal routine....it destroys me! 6am is hard enough. Again you'll read these out of order, but Insanity Resistance tonight! Wish me luck!

Day: 11, Insanity Cardio Recovery

Workout

Insanity Cardio Recovery Status: Completed Wow, today was REALLY hard to get moving. I was completely walking through a dream. I slept til 6:30, but couldn't sleep anymore, but I couldn't wake up either. That's the worst, when you're perpetually tired. I finally hit play around 7, and the first 15 minutes I really struggled....from the recovery workout! I realize it's not meant to be that easy, but this felt harder than yesterday's workout. By the time the stretch at the end came I finally got into it, but overall my body just wasn't in the game today. I'm glad this happened on the recovery workout instead of a normal Insanity workout. I really hope I'm not so drained tomorrow. Thursdays are my other doubles day, so I really need to have energy. Wish me luck! Time to finish homework and head to the office. See you tomorrow gym. Dig Deep!

Day: 10, Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Workout

Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit Status: Completed Today I feel incredible! That was the best plyo cardio circuit, and I finally feel like I'm starting to get a grasp on this. I woke up at the horribly evil time of 5:30 today because I have a doctor's appointment early today. Grumbled my way to the kitchen for some no-xplode, and hit play at 6. The warmup was rough and my legs were feeling it from yesterday's workout. Then when the workout started, my no-xplode kicked in and my energy shot up. I pushes so hard and even though there were some breaks, overall all of my movements were quality! The mountain climbers I really noticed it on because my knees were shooting high into the air on all three rounds. The power squats hurt so bad, but I was able to pump out really great sets all three times. The level one drills are still tough but I did a ton more than last week, and when the punches at the end came I put everything I had into it. I am completely soaked right now, and as my goal for the day I definitely left it all in the gym. Tomorrow I get to sleep in until 7am! And tomorrow is my recovery day! It's going to feel like a freakin' spa tomorrow. I'm very excited to take it easy, because I'm already starting today at my max....I see myself feeling very tired very soon. Time to get the day started. Dig Deep!