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!

Ran today instead of Insanity

Did a 2.3 mile run with my friend John today instead of Insanity. The weather was just too nice. Still I burned 425 calories and averaged just over 9 minutes a mile, which is a personal best!

Need to head to the west coast for a short notice meeting tomorrow so not sure what my Insanity schedule will be. May have to do some makeup days!

Insanity Round 2 Day 9: Late Workout Today!

Keeping today's post very short. It's late (after 7pm!) and I just finished my Pure Cardio workout. Had a long day of meetings including an early customer meeting, so had to push the workout to the end of the day.

I burned 545 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 171 and averaging 143. Not great numbers. I went through all the motions and felt good during the workout but noticed my heart rate just didn't go that high. Perhaps it's just the time of day, or my eating schedule being "off" today due to the meetings. Either way, it is what it is. I'm glad I got the workout in. I fear that I skip one workout, I'd quickly become a slacker, and I'm not going to let that happen!

Til tomorrow...

P.S. If you're playing the "Will he wear a yellow shirt?" drinking game, then DRINK!

 

Insanity Round 2 Day 8: Cardio Power & Resistance

Starting week 2 of Insanity with some Cardio Power & Resistance. I burned 631 calories, with my heart rate peaking at 177 and averaging 154.

I've noticed my calorie counts are lower this time around and it just occurred to me why: The calories burned is calculated in part based on my weight. I weighed over 20 pounds more last time I did Insanity. I updated my weight in my heart monitor watch when I started Round 2. This must be one of the reasons why it gets harder to lose weight the lighter you get: You have to work harder to burn the same number of calories.

Anyway, I felt strong today, even with the moving push-ups and globe jumps. Power jumps are still hard as hell, but I'm getting better and better at them as time goes by. Still, I can't imagine ever enjoying them!

I may go running on Wednesday. Not sure what (if anything) I'll do regarding my scheduled Insanity workout. Perhaps I'll do both. Not sure yet. I'll figure that out tomorrow...

Have a great week everyone!