Insanity Day 5: TGIF!

All I can say is WOW! Just did my first day of "Pure Cardio" and it is abundantly clear what my primary weakness is. Today's workout put such a beatdown on me I couldn't speak when I was done. I collapsed on the floor (voluntarily...don't worry Mom!), as did most of the folks in the video, including Shaun T. It was by far the hardest workout I've done so far. Aside from a few push-ups it was full out cardio, almost non-stop for 40 minutes.

I wore my heart rate monitor for the workout. My heart rate peaked at 180 bpm. It's interesting because every time I took a quick break (and paused the DVD), I was at 180. I could definitely feel that tightness you feel when you're pushing too hard. So I backed down, let my heart recover to about 150 bpm (which took about a minute), then resumed. I did this throughout the program. Probably 5 breaks total. According to the heart rate chart I found online, 180 is about my target peak. For a man, it's basically 220 - your age. Yeah I know. Close enough. Another birthday later this month.

The other thing I learned from the monitor was that I burned 895 calories during the workout. That's amazing. That's 6 beers, or 35 slices of bacon, or less than 1 Eggs Benedict breakfast at Marilyn's. I'm just sayin'.

So it's Friday, and I'm going out to dinner tonight with some friends to Benito's Trattoria in Chester, NJ (a nice BYOB Italian place if you haven't been). My plan, admittedly not the healthiest idea, is to basically save up by eating a low-cal lunch, then I'm going to hammer a 1200+ calorie dinner down like it's my job. I'm sure for those in good shape, you're saying to yourself, "Oh no. Don't do that!". But yes, yes I will! As I said early on, if I don't allow myself some breaks I'll never make it through this. I was eating like that every night, remember. I think lifestyle change is about two things: 1 decision and several small changes. Some people may be able to go from 0 to 100 overnight. But I'm not one of them. Just being honest, as I said I would. I'm sticking with my 2200 calorie goal every day, even weekends. But I will never be that guy who goes out to dinner and orders only a salad. Never. Well, not unless it's covered in terriyaki marinated bone-in ribeye and a half bottle of bleu cheese dressing. Ha!

Well, on that note, back to my recovery drink, which I'm actually starting to enjoy. It kind of tastes like a creamy Tang (remember Tang?).

My wife Meghan is going to join me for the Insanity workout tomorrow. We'll have to compare sweaty shirts. Just kidding Meghan. I know I'll win hands down.


LOL. I held up the wrong number of sausage fingers. Either that, or it's a pretty decent PhotoShop job of removing my thumb. Trust me, today was Day 5!