Insanity Round 2 Day 26: Quick Cardio Today!

Had a short 25-minute workout window today due to work commitments, but I squeezed in a good chunk of Pure Cardio. I burned 378 calories, peaked at 162 and averaged 137. I felt great and pushed hard, but couldn't get my heart rate to get up too high. As I've said before, the human body is a mystery, and looking for consistency on a micro scale is pointless. I had a gig with my band last night, burning a lot of additional calories playing the drums for 3 hours, so overall I'm feeling good about all the cardio I'm getting each week.

Have a great weekend!

Insanity Round 2 Day "24": Last Makeup Day!

As I've been saying the past couple of days, I'm making up for skipping my Memorial Day workout, but as of today I'm back on track. I'm skipping the Recovery day instead, which I suppose you could argue is not a good idea, but I feel great and am not concerned about doing 5 days in a row. Fitness instructors do that every week, so no big deal.

I must say I felt really, really good today. I completed Plyometric Cardio Circuit, which was one of my favorite workouts from Round 1. I had really nice, round numbers for today, burning exactly 700 calories (a personal best for Round 2 of Insanity), with my heart rate peaking at 180 and averaging 150. As good as that is, I continue to be a little frustrated at how much harder I have to work to burn calories now that I'm thinner. I just looked back at one of Round 1 blogs from Day 10 Plyo, and I burned 740 calories. Of course, I weighed almost 30 pounds more than I do now, but still...frustrating!

Regardless, I've lost the weight I gained over Memorial Day weekend, so I'm feeling great about Round 2 so far. Only two more days of Month 1, then it's a whole week of recovery workouts before Month 2 begins.

Please note there won't be a Day 25 post, because today technically is Day 25. See you tomorrow for Day 26!

Insanity Round 2 Day "23": Another Makeup Day!

As I mentioned yesterday, I skipped my Memorial Day Monday workout due to my schedule, and have been playing catch-up ever since. So today (Wednesday), I did yesterday's Cardio Power & Resistance workout. My plan is to skip the Recovery day tomorrow and continue with the 40-minutes beatings....I mean workouts...until I'm back on track.

Today I burned 642 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 180 beats per minute, averaging 152. I felt really strong today, and the boost in calories burned matches that. I think it's primarily because I got a good night's sleep, was up early today, and have been eating well more consistently the past couple of days.

I was somewhat surprised that I gained several pounds over the 3-day weekend, which surprised me, because I did my Saturday Insanity workout as scheduled. I did eat out one night, and had a few drinks, but nothing crazy. It seems my tolerance for poor eating habits is decreasing as I lose weight. Bummer! I love cheating when I'm on vacation. Guess I'll have to rethink that, or at least consider how much I'm willing to gain only to have to re-lose it the following week. Not sure what the best answer is for that one yet. I'm not on Biggest Loser after all. In the real world, it's perfectly okay to enjoy "bad" foods on occasion and in moderation. More to come on that I suppose...

Anyway, feeling good overall. I'm just about halfway through Round 2!

Insanity Round 2 Day "22": Making Up for Lost Time

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I took Monday (Memorial Day) off. I decided to make it up by doing my Monday workout today (Tuesday) instead. I'll skip the Recovery Day on Thursday, instead doing my Wednesday workout, so by then I'll be back on track.

So I did yesterday's Core Cardio workout today, burning 566 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 173 and averaging 144. I felt a little off today, in part due to the long weekend, and in part due to drinking too much black tea before my workout. I will remember to keep it to one cup only!

Feeling really good overall and look forward to completing this week, which will be the end of Month 1!

Have a great week!

Taking Memorial Day Off!

I took Memorial Day off from Insanity, although that was not my plan initially. Unfortunately there was just no way to do it. We stayed an extra day down at Long Beach Island, then left early Monday morning to get our kids' friends home by noon. Then my wife and I went straight to the grocery store to pickup supplies for a Memorial Day barbecue at a friend's house. It took almost 2 hours to prepare and cook the baked bean casserole, and we were late to the barbecue by about 20 minutes. After a few games of "washers" and Bocce, followed by a swim, some fun on his ATV, then finally burgers and beers, we pretty much came home and went to sleep! Anyway, I'll continue on Tuesday. Hope you had a great weekend!

Insanity Round 2 Day 20: Down the Shore!

It was surprisingly not that hard to get motivated this morning to do my workout, despite being on Long Beach Island. I completed Plyometric Cardio Circuit today, but forgot to bring my heart rate monitor. I think I pushed myself pretty hard since I occasionally had an audience (that always helps!)

Finally a real day off tomorrow, then back to it on Monday, Memorial Day!

New view today. It's nice not being in the downstairs bathroom for a picture. I don't have my Post-Its or blue magic marker either, so you'll just have to trust me that I really did the workout today.

Insanity Round 2 Day 19: Back in The Game!

If you read yesterday's blog, you know that I took a day off (which was a recovery day anyway) because I strained my back taking my new barbecue grill out of its box. Well, the day off worked. I felt great this morning, with only a minor touch of soreness in my back, which didn't impact my workout at all.

I completed Cardio Power & Resistance today, burning 570 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 175 and averaging 144. I did all the moves, but for whatever reason my heart rate didn't get as high as usual. The human body is one confusing thing after another. Anyway, I'm glad to be back in the game. Even the Globe Jumps, which I did not care for in Round 1, weren't bad at all.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Insanity Round 2 Day 18: A Real Recovery Day!

No workout today. None. I was supposed to do the Cardio Recovery workout, but I strained my back yesterday. I got a new Weber grill, and the instructions clearly showed that removing it from the box was a 2-person job, but "Insanity boy" thought he was tough enough to do it himself. Well, he was right, but not without straining his back. So since today didn't involve any cardio anyway, I did some stretches throughout the day, but the plank work in the Recovery workout would probably be too tough on my back, so I skipped it. As I've said many times before, especially during Round 1, Insanity is a "cardio core workout", and I had lots of issues with a sore back last time, and I don't want to repeat that. So it appears I was able to use yesterday's lesson again today. No excuses, just a choice! :)

Here's the new grill. Yes, it was worth the sore back!

Insanity Round 2 Day 17: Excuses or Choices?

When is something an excuse? And when is it simply a choice? At the risk of sounding like "It's my party and I can cry if I want to", today's workout was supposed to be Pure Cardio AND Cardio Abs, what I've referred to in the past as a "double workout". However, as I did this past Saturday, I skipped the Cardio Abs portion. If I tell you why, you'll probably consider it an excuse. But from my perspective, it was just a choice, a choice I'll continue to make throughout Round 2.

But before I get to that, the workout I did complete today was called Pure Cardio, and I burned 601 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 187 and averaging 150. I had to workout earlier than usual today, so I ate a small breakfast since I didn't have much time between eating and working out. If I eat too close to a workout I get cramps, and I don't get the energy boost from the food. I didn't feel super energetic today, but at least I got the dog to the groomer on time, then got home in time to make my next conference call. That's real life. With that said, clearly I haven't made any excuses to continue with Insanity, as hard as it sometimes is to find the time.

But as for Cardio Abs, here's the deal. I'm getting PLENTY of exercise with the 40 minute workouts in Month 1. I'm burning between 500-700 calories 6 days a week. I have no aspirations of looking younger than my age, and as I indicated yesterday, what I look like is not a primary driver for doing this anyway (getting healthy is). So as is the case with the Fit Tests (which I'm done with), I'm not going to do the Cardio Ab workouts. They're 16 minutes long, and it's just overkill. If you've ever tried Insanity, you'll know that Shaun T is relentless in his coaching to "keep the core tight" throughout the entire workout. Insanity is a non-stop core workout! I did all of the Cardio Abs the first time I completed Insanity, and this time I have nothing to prove that I haven't already proven. I'm not training for an event. I continue to lose weight, gain muscle, and improve my cardio. So what else is there? For me, nothing of interest.

So go ahead and call it an excuse. It's my program and I can skip Cardio Abs if I want to! ;-)

Yes. Back to yellow again!

Insanity Round 2 Day 16: Great Plyo Workout Today!

For whatever unknown reason, I felt great today, unusually good in fact. I had a ton of energy when I woke up this morning, and it carried right into the workout. I did Plyometric Cardio Circuit today, burning 671 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 183 and averaging 152. While my muscles certainly got exhausted during some of the plank moves, I felt like my cardio could go forever. It was pretty cool!

Not much else to discuss today, so I'll keep it brief! 16 days down!

P.S. This is actually a bright orange shirt, even if it looks yellow in the picture. No, it really is! :-)

Insanity Round 2 Day 15: No Fit Test for Me!

I did my workout early this morning, then had lots of meetings with work, so I'm just getting a chance to post my blog now. As I said previously, I've opted to not do the Fit Test for Round 2 since it's a pretty short workout, and frankly I don't see any value in it for me. I don't really care how much I improve in these movements, because that is certainly not why I'm doing Insanity. I'm doing Insanity again to continue with my goal of getting fit and losing weight. I can tell every time I do a workout that I'm improving, so I don't need a test to tell me that. However, if you're doing Insanity for the first time, I would recommend sticking with the program, including the Fit Tests, to the end. It's only because I'm on Round 2 that I've tweaked it a bit due to my own personal preferences. 

Anyway, so today was supposed to be a Fit Test, but I did Cardio Power & Resistance instead. I chose that workout because I won't do it again until Thursday. Due to early morning meetings, I had to skip the second repetition (of 3) of the two sets of exercises after the warm-up, which shaved about 5 minutes off the 40 minute routine. Still, I burned 560 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 182 and averaging 152, so I definitely got a great workout in today. The Fit Test takes less than 30 minutes so I burned more calories with my workout today than I would've had I done the Fit Test instead. 

My diet continues to be a big focus for me, eating 4-5 meals each day that are low in sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol. I'm also taking a multi-vitamin, a fish oil pill, and a Chondroitin-Glucosamine pill. In addition to getting in shape, I'm trying to bring my blood pressure and cholesterol levels down, while maintaining healthy cartilage in my joints (my knees in particular). These were a few of my "trouble spots" back before I started Insanity. Unlike Shaun T, who in one of the workout videos asks himself out loud: "Why is it I do the things I do?", which he answers with: "Because I want to look good", my answer could not be any further from that. "Looking good" is a bonus at best, but certainly not a primary goal for my new lifestyle. As someone 42-years old, my health (particularly long-term) is far more important to me than what my body looks like. I have kids, and I want to be around to meet their kids. If you have kids, you already understand. If you don't, well, your reasons for doing Insanity (or any other exercise program) will be different, and that's fine. What we share is a desire to live longer, feel healthier, and have more energy. If looking better is important to you, then that's just one more reason to do this craziness. Whatever it takes to get you motivated to MOVE is a good thing!

Day 15 complete! Have a great week!

 

Insanity Round 2 Day 13: Pure Cardio!

Short post today. I have a busy day ahead with our band playing a gig tonight. About the only thing harder than an Insanity workout is packing up the drums and PA, putting them into the car, unpacking them and setting it all up for the gig, taking it all apart and putting it back in the car, then unpacking the car, moving it back down into the basement and setting it all back up again. What a pain, but it's still worth it for the few hours of pretending I'm a rock star!

Today was supposed to be a double workout with Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs, but I skipped the abs workout. For the Pure Cardio, I burned 575 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 176 and averaging 146. I didn't feel 100% today, probably because I ate a big dinner and had some beers last night, but I pushed through and completed the workout without stopping.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Insanity Round 2 Day 12: Friday Cardio Power!

Good workout today with Cardio Power & Resistance. Plus it's Friday, which is always a good thing! Today I burned 620 calories, peaking at 183 beats per minute and averaging 148. This was the same workout I did on Monday, except I burned ~80 calories less today. As I've discussed before, the calories burned is based on a formula that includes my weight, age and heart rate, as calculated by my heart rate monitor watch. Monday was my first day back on Insanity, so I'm not surprised my heart rate was a bit lower today. My cardio conditioning is coming backg quickly, so my heart rate is lower and recovers faster during the short breaks than it did even a few days ago, so my calories burned is less. Still, I'm not in this just to lose weight. My goal from the beginning was simply to be "fit", and clearly I'm in much better shape that I ever have been in my life.

I've already started thinking about what I will do after Insanity is over. The only thing I'm sure of is I won't be doing it a third time in a row. Most likely I'll be doing P90X, but we'll see. Plenty of time to figure that out.

Have a great weekend, and yes, this makes 2 yellow shirts in a row!

Insanity Round 2 Day 11: Small Milestones and Rewards!

Today was my first Cardio Recovery day since my Round 2 "reboot" started on Monday. It was harder than I remembered. Lots of squats and lunges that you do slowly, then hold, then "pulse". Yes I could "feel the burn!" There's also lots of plank work. Oh what fun...

Anyway, there's no "cardio" in Cardio Recovery, but I still burned 313 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 153 and averaging 115.

Two more workouts until I get a real break on Sunday.

One of the things I've learned through doing Insanity for the past several months is to break up my days and weeks into as many small milestones and rewards as possible. It's like painting a house. If the only milestone is to finish the house, progress will seem very slow, like watching a pot of water heat up to boiling. It feels like it takes forever. But if I breakup the days and weeks into milestones and rewards, it goes by quicker and feels like I'm making constant progress. So I focus on each of the 5 meals I eat every day (rewards), and I focus on writing this blog, taking my picture, and putting the blue "x" on the Insanity calendar hanging in my door to the garage (milestones). Even during the workout itself, they have timers showing how many minutes and seconds are left in the current set. It all helps me get through this crazy program, while not losing sight of the big picture, and the big results I've seen. I'm almost at a big weight loss milestone, but not quite yet!

Back to the yellow shirts. You knew it would happen eventually!

Insanity Round 2 Day 10: Plyo and the Shoulders!

Day 10 and I'm in uncharted territory, since I took my Round 2 "pause" after Day 9 a few weeks ago. Today was Plyometric Cardio Circuit and I recall this was one of my favorites before. Apparently the "pause" took its toll on my shoulders because I felt really weak doing the push-ups, planks, plank sprints, plank ski abs, and plank "in and outs" (are you sensing a theme?) I could not keep up on many of the moves. I don't think I was ever able to do every rep of every set of this stuff, but I've definitely backpedaled a bit. Looking at the positive, I know I can do better, and will do better, as the program continues. Now don't get me wrong, my shoulders aren't sore or in any pain like they were in Round 1. They just felt weak. I was a bit sore overall this morning, mostly in my legs, after pushing hard the past 2 days, preceded by a 2 week trip to Asia where I only worked out once. So I have nobody to blame but myself!

Today I burned 665 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 181 and averaging 150. I remember this workout always being a bit less calories because it's more about strength than cardio.

I weighed myself this morning, and I'm approaching a pretty significant milestone. More on that once it happens in the next few days or next week (depending on how "good" I am this weekend!)

Til tomorrow!

Insanity Round 2 Day 9: Last Repeat Day!

Yesterday I talked about how and why I restarted Round 2 of Insanity. Today will be the last "repeat day" before I pick up from where I left off. Today was Pure Cardio, one of my favorites (no, really!) I burned 647 calories, with a peak heart rate of 188 and an average of 155. My cardio fitness is recovering quickly from my time off, which is good because doing Insanity in poor shape is something I remember well, and it wasn't much fun.

Aside from that it's business as usual. The workouts still feel fresh, and I only have 3 weeks before the recovery week, then comes the dreaded Month 2.

My diet has been good for the first couple of days back as well. I'm trying to eat at least 4 meals, but 5 would be ideal. All of them are smaller than a regular meal, except for perhaps dinner. As I've said before, the idea behind this is to keep your metabolism up and consistent all day long. Apparently you burn more calories naturally that way. Eating more to lose more may seem like a contradiction, but it really does work, and eating more is something that I think I can be really good at! I was never a breakfast eater, but I definitely have more energy all day if I eat small meals all day long.

Anyway, have a great Tuesday. More fun coming tomorrow...

Insanity Round 2 Day 8: Week 2 Reboot!

Bet you thought I quit! Absolutely not. But I did take a pause. I went back to Asia for 2 weeks, this time Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Unlike in Round 1, I didn't have anything to prove. Doing Insanity while traveling for 2 weeks on business, with a 12-hour time change, is not fun, and not necessary. I brought some exercise clothes and ran on a treadmill one day, but I'll admit that was it. I decided the best thing was to restart Week 2 of Round 2 once I returned to the U.S., so that's what I did today. I make no apologies or excuses. I'm committed to Insanity and will continue this round until completion. No more Asia trips are planned or likely in the upcoming 2 months, so I'm good to go from this point forward.

Anyway, back to business...

I restarted Week 2, completing Cardio Power & Resistance today. I felt great all things considered. Those "things" are primarily still recovering from some severe jet lag and also recovering from a pretty good stomach bug from this past weekend. In the end, I burned 704 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 187 and averaging 160.

In Asia I ate everything in sight, but they don't eat cheeseburgers in Asia (well, some people do I suppose), so I kept the cuisine locally focused, and ate mostly seafood, so my diet has been pretty good overall. But now I'm back to vitamins, lean meat, egg white omelets, lots of fruit and vegetables, and of course Insanity "crack", also known as the P90X recovery formula. I'd like to lose a few pounds before my beach and pool debut Memorial Day weekend, but I'm actually down a bit since I began the "pause", so I'm confident I'll be able to do that.

It's good to be back, and I look forward to the next few weeks of Month 1, and the Recovery week that follows. As for looking forward to Month 2, uhh.... not so much. Round 1 Month 2 memories are still fresh in my mind, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

Have a great week!