Insanity recovery week done!

I just finished my last session of Core Cardio and Balance. In the recovery week you do that workout exclusively all 5 days. It actually does not get all that boring (at least in my opinion). The key to the workout is pacing yourself, and going slower than you are capable of on some of the exercises so you do not pound your body. That said, there were still a few points in it where I had to take breaks.

Tomorrow is a rest day, then Wed I have the Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit. The plan is to do the fit test in the morning, and MIC in the evening. That way I do not kill myself doing them back to back.

Core Cadio and Balance

Today was my first core cardio and balance workout. It is the only workout done during the recovery week, then again a couple times during month 2. I really like the workout. I would describe it as a more intense version of the cardio recovery workout. It has more jumping and less plank work than the other, but the pace is similar. The key is to not go all out on the moves so you do not wear yourself out. I found myself doing most of the moves about 3/4 speed, and that seemed to work for me. I was sweating and tired at the end, but not collapsed on the floor.

Month 1 of Insanity is Done!

I just finished Plyo Cardio Circuit. Wed will start recovery week, and then into the max workouts. I am going to do pics and measurements at the end of the recovery week so I can have a good comparison. I will post both in my message board thread on the teambeachbody website, which you can link to from my beachbody page (the link is on the left).

While I have yet to get all the way through any of the workouts without taking unscheduled breaks, I have for the most part cut them down to a few seconds to catch my breath, then I can get back into it. Also, just in everyday life I can take stairs two at a time, and hardly get winded. I am excited to see what month 2 brings.

Month one nearing completion

Insanity goes by very quickly. That is my general overall impression. This is the beginning of my 4th week. Then I have the recovery week which is just one workout (Core Cardio and Balance), then I start the max workouts. The only "new" workout I have done since my last post is cardio abs. It is Insanity's ab routine that in month 1 gets paired up with Pure Cardio in week 3 and 4.

I do cardio abs in the morning, then do pure cardio later in the afternoon before I go to work. For those who do not have that kind of schedule, I would say do cardio abs first, almost as a warm up to pure cardio, then do the other. There is only a couple minutes of high impact jumping in the ab routine, then the rest of the workout is pretty low impact. If however you try to do cardio abs after pure cardio, unless you are in phenomenal shape it will be damn near impossible. At the very least a lot harder than it has to be.

Halfway through week 2

I probably will not update this as much until I get to different workouts. I am on day four of week 2, so today will be cardio recovery again. As far as the "regular" workouts go, I can tell my strength and stamina are getting better. I can do a lot more at the beginning of the workouts, and push a lot harder. The end result is that I am just, if not more, wiped out by the end than in week 1.

I have seen people ask if you can every get "used to" the Insanity workouts, and my answer to that is yes and no. Yes, you become familiar with the movements, and your cardio will improve. However, as you can do more, if you keep pushing yourself as hard as you can the workouts are never going to get easy. I think the best example of that are the people in the DVDs, who are all very fit, and many of them were in the test group and knew what they were in for, were all collapsed on the floor by the end of the workouts. At times, Shaun T. is the only one still doing anything, and even he is stopping for water breaks.

I cannot stress enough that this is not a program you do having never worked out before or after a long lay off from working out. At the very least you have to be used to hard workouts like bootcamp type group classes or something like P90x. The moves are not as easily adapted to less intense variations like in P90x or Chalean extreme. If you have that base level though, it is a great workout.

Week One in the Books.

Week 1 is done! The second go around of Plyo Cardio Circuit was today. It was still tough, and I was just as worn out at the end of it. I did notice however that I was able to go harder at the beginning through it than I was the first time. The level 1 drills into ski abs and in and outs still nearly kill me. Those are where most of my breaks were coming. I did have to pause for a couple seconds during the power squats in the first circuit too, but aside from that I can get though that one without stopping.

Pure Cardio....Bananas

This workout is one of the reasons the program is called Insanity. It is crazy. The warm is the same as the others. Three back to back rounds, without stopping, then stretching. Then there is 14 minutes of non stop drills. Each exercise is a minute long. By the end of it even Shaun T is laying on the floor out of breath. His closing line is "this shit is bananas yo." That is certainly true. Anyone who can get through this without stopping and resting has my admiration. I think Rachel from the infomercial manages to do it, and a couple of the other ladies. The one who really impresses me is the blond lady who is 40. Some of the people in the video are damn near half her age and she does better than a lot of them. Tomorrow is back to plyo cardio circuit. Then I will have made it through the first week, which I think for any new workout is the hardest.

Recovery?!

Today was the cardio recovery workout. While you are recovering from cardio, it certainly is not a light or easy workout. There is no jumping or running like in the others, and my heart rate never got much above 130. So in that way it was a break. It is about half stretching and half squats, lunges and plank work. The most difficult part are the squats and lunges. They are very slow and controlled, and you hold them for about 30 seconds at a time. Tomorrow it is back to plyo cardio circuit. It will be interesting to see if it is any easier the second time around.

Cardio Power and Resistance

Last night was day three. Cardio power is a similar overall format to plyo cardio circuit. Warm up, stretch, 2 three round circuits with "bonus" exercises at the end of third round in each circuit, then a cool down. The entire thing lasts just under 40 min. I burned about 450 calories in this one. One thing I noticed is that I did not have as much energy throughout this one, and I think it was because I had consumed too few calories before I did it. Because of the nature of these workouts you have to eat enough calories, but because you are likely to be eating more than you normally would, you have to eat very clean. Keeping a food journal or using one of the programs that tracks what you eat is almost essential.

Yes, Insanity is aptly named!

Day 2 of insanity is done. That was Plyo Cardio Circuit. It consists of three circuits, each with three rounds. The warm up circuit goes straight through 4 or 5 different exercises. You start out slow the first round, then a little faster the second, then all out the last. That takes about 9 minutes then you get a 30 second break, then stretch for about 5 minutes.

After the stretch you do 2 more circuits, each with three rounds, and you go as hard as you can in each one. There is a 30 second break between each round. Needless to say, your heart rate skyrockets, and you burn a lot of calories. The entire workout is right around 40 min, and I burned about 500 calories, and that was with taking quite a few "unscheduled" breaks.

For me, the hardest part of the workout are the level 1 drills. You basically do a burpee, but instead of coming right back up, you do 4 push up, then run while in a plank position (usually called floor runs) then jump up. Personally, I hate push ups. It is one of the reasons why I like Chalean Extreme more than P90x. There are a lot of push ups in insanity, so I will just have to work through them.

I personally do not pay a ton of attention to the people on the DVDs unless I am really trying to get the form down. But the insanity workouts can be downright entertaining. All of the people on the DVDs are very very fit. However, nearly everyone has to take breaks aside from the 30 second scheduled ones, and by the end a good percentage of them are lying on the floor gasping for breath. You can also tell the people that were in the test group, vs. the people they hired to participate in the shoots. The test group people can get through the workouts keeping their form and taking a minimum number of breaks. Some of the others tend to start dogging it big time when they get tired.

Beginning Stats for Insanity

Here is a quick update on my beginning stats for Insanity:

Weight 188.4
Waist 40"
Body Fat 24% approx
Chest 44"
Hips 41"

I will post a little later after my workout. Ploymetric Cardio Circuit is today. It is day 1 of the "real" workouts.

My insane journey

I have decided to re-name the blog from my P90x blog to something more "program neutral." I have a feeling I will make it back to P90x at some point, but right now, I am going to tackle one of beachbody's newer programs, Insanity.

Insanity is pretty much purely a cardio based program. It is a lot of football and track drills, with plyometric drills mixed in. It is NOT for someone just starting out. If you do not have a baseline level of fitness you will at best quit the program prematurely, and at worst hurt yourself. I have watched through the DVDs and by the end of nearly every workout the participants in the videos, including the trainer Shaun T, are lying on the floor gasping for breath. If you want to start with a beachbody program but have never picked up a weight there are alternatives out there. Feel free to ask and I will give you my thoughts.

That said, the first workout for insanity is the fit test. If you have done P90x and are wondering how the fit test can be the first workout...trust me, you will feel it by the end. The program is 60 days long, and you re-do the fit test every two weeks to track your progress. Here are my week one numbers:
Switch Kicks 80
Power Jacks 60
Power Knees 95
Power Jumps 50
Globe Jumps 7
Suicide Jumps 10 (think burpees with a jump every time you come up)
Push Up Jacks 15
Low Plank Obliques 35

I will try to update this every day, or most every day after my workouts and keep you posted on my progress. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Burn phase complete

Today I officially finished the Burn Phase of Chalean Extreme, doing the Burn it off and Recharge workouts. These workouts, of all of them are why I would personally recommend that someone relatively new to working out start with Chalean, then transition to P90x. One of the biggest gripes about P90x is that the workouts are too long (especially Yoga-X). Burn it off is like a "lite" version of Plyometrics. Not that it is less intense because the moves you are doing, if you go all out, are as intense as anything in Plyo-X. However, the workout is only 28 minutes long. A lot of people find Plyo-X difficult to get all the way through at first, and this will definitely get you ready for that workout much more than Cardio-X does. The Recharge workout is a 20 minute stretching routine that incorporates some yoga, but is not as long or as intense as Yoga-X. Again a better place to start for beginners.

I also did my measurements today, and compared them against Day 1. My weight actually stayed the same for the most part. I started at 184.4 and got to 183. However, a perfect example of why one should not live and die by the scale alone, my bodyfat went from approximately 22.1% to 20.7%. My waist went from 42" to 40.8", and my hips from 42" to 41". I also lost 1.5 inches in my chest going from 44.5" to 43".

Overall I am making good progress. From what I have read, in the test group for Chalean Extreme many people made the most progress in the Push phase, which is up next. Instead of failing at 10-12 reps for each exercise, you fail between 6 and 8 reps. The goal of course to put on as much muscle as possible. Tomorrow is my rest day, so I will be doing X-Stretch, then Push Circuit 1 on Tuesday.

Burn Phase done...almost

Today I did my last Burn Circuit workout for this round of Chalean Extreme. I still have the Burn it Off and Recharge routines tomorrow, then the first 30 days on CE is officially done. I decided to get the Bowflex Selecttech 552 weights when I started the workouts, and personally I love them. There are several adjustable dumbbell options out there, all with their pros and cons. The main con with the Bowflex weights is that you have to be extremely careful with them, because if you drop them at all, the locking mechanism that holds the weight plates on the handle can break. But from my experience however, if you are careful with them, they seem to hold up well. I did make sure to send in my warranty registration however, because I have heard stories about issues with the older model (I have the 2009 model).

I like the fact that until you get to 25 pounds you can adjust the weight in 2.5 pound increments. Then it goes from 25-50 in 5 lbs increments, then to 52.5. And for most people doing the CE or P90x workout, that will likely be plenty for nearly all the exercises. Plus I figure if I need more than that, I can get a couple 55 and 60 pound dumbbells in the future.

Throughout the Burn Phase I was able to increase the amount of weight I used on many of the exercises. Here is the Breakdown.

Burn 1 Start End

Sumo Squat with Hip Lift. 20lb 20lb
Lunge w/ posterior fly 7.5lb 10lb
Push Up w/ leg lift 11 12 (all on toes)
Dead lift w/ posterior fly 10lb 12.5lb
Lunge w/core rotation 17.5lb 20lb
Bench Press w/ leg lower 17.5lb 17.5lb
Squat w/ Side bend 17.5 lb 30lb
Forward lunge w/ post fly 10lb 10lb
Chest fly w/ Hip Lift 15lb 17.5lb

Burn 2

Sumo Squat w/ Bicep Curl 17.5lb 20lb
Lunge w/ tricep extension 10lb 12.5
Dead Lift Row 20lb 30lb
Sumo Squat w/ overhead
tricep extension 25lb 25lb
Dead lift w/ double row 25lb 25lb
Bowler's Lunge w/ row 20lb 20lb
Bicep Curl w/ abductor
balance 12.5lb 17.5lb
Forward lunge w/ double
row 20lb 25lb
Triple Threat Push Up 10 12 (6 on toes 6 on knees)

Burn 3

Sumo Squat w/ overhead
press 12.5lb 15lb
Lunge w/ calf raise 20lb 22.5lb
Squat w/ lateral raise 7.5lb 12.5lb
Lunge w/ frontal press 12.5lb 15lb
Squat w/ calf raise 20lb 30lb
Sumo Squat w/ Delt Raise 7.5lb 12.5lb
Squat w/ double overhead
press 15lb 15lb
Lunge w/ lateral raise 10lb 12.5lb
Sumo Squat w/ calf raise 20lb 30lb

While many of those weights are lighter than what you see a lot of people doing in the gym, when you do the reps as slowly as the program calls for...especially when you do not have anyone to spot you, you do not need massive amounts of weight to make progress. Had the Burn Circuit continued another week, I would have been able to increase the amount of weight on nearly every exercise. I can tell I made huge strength gains even just between the third and fourth weeks. I am excited for what the Push phase will bring.

Chalean Extreme End of Week 3

I finished the third week of Chalean extreme. I have one more week in the Burn phase, which is the first of the three phases. Today was officially my second rest day, although I have been doing the stretching routine from P90x, just to work on flexibility. My Schedule has been (and will be going forward) like this:

Tuesday: Burn/Push/Lean Circuit 1
Wednesday: Rest Day 1 (Alternating Yoga or Pilates in the morning and taekwondo class in the evening)
Thursday: Burn/Push/Lean Circuit 2
Friday: Burn Intervals and Burn Abs
Saturday: Burn/Push/Lean Circuit 3
Sunday: Burn it off and Recharge
Monday: Rest Day 2 (Usually doing X-Stretch from P90x)

Aside from the differences from P90x I mentioned in the earlier post, as you can see Chalean Extreme has two built in rest days. It sounds like those who have done P90x previously are working in extra cardio on one of the days, then taking the second one as an actual rest day. I am using taekwondo as my extra cardio for the week on Wednesday evenings.

Another difference I see from P90x is that I think Chalean Extreme is a little easier for beginners to start off on. There are more modified moves in the cardio programs to take the impact out, and the cardio programs are shorter than both plyometrics and kenpo-x. While some of the moves in Plyometrics are modified, it is still very hard to get through the entire hour, and is nearly impossible for a beginner. P90x does allow for swapping out Plyo with the Cardio-x DVD which is pretty low impact and less intense however. Either way you go, you are going to be getting a hell of a workout.

Detour from P90x

It has been a while since I posted anything. Life got a little crazy for me last summer, and I could not keep up with the blogging. Luckily, I had not developed a large following, so chances are noone missed me too much.

I did end up buying my townhouse, and did continue on P90x. I ended up having to modify the program somewhat because I had to deal with tendinitis in my knee. Therefore, I was able to pretty much maintain my level of fitness, but did not make the kind of gains I wanted to. Plus, I did not follow a great nutrition program as strictly, which did not help my cause.

A few weeks ago I decided to purchase the new Chalean Extreme program from Beachbody. While my knee issues were resolved, I was getting somewhat bored with the P90x workouts, and wanted to change things up. I am just about done with the third week, and I am loving it so far. I will do a more detailed review of the program in later posts, but for those who are, or have done P90x, it is a great alternative, and in spite of what you may think, is not just for women.

Like P90x, it is a circuit training program where you are going from one exercise to the other with very little rest in between the moves. The one issue I have with it, is there are a few points where you can tell it was edited to make the breaks shorter and they are already onto the next move before you can get your weights ready. The routines are shorter than the P90x routines where the shortest one in P90x is about 45min, most Chalean routines are anywhere from just over 30 min, to about 50 minutes on the days where you do a couple different workouts. I am sure the reason for this is because on the lifting days you are expected to go to failure on every exercise whereas P90x, wants you to struggle, but not fail when you get to 8-10 or 12-15 reps.

I will go in depth on the routines and my experience with them more in later posts. I will try to keep more up-to-date. I may not post every day, but will every couple days or so.