Workout Update: Lift 4/Shaun 20/645 Cardio hybrid: Day 7

Day 7 was another off day in Lift 4 so I did the 645 cardio workout in the evening. This time, I just did a low-impact version because I was a bit sore and not feeling great. But I got it done. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Shaun 20/645 Cardio hybrid: Day 6

On Day 6, I did the 645 cardio workout with higher-impact exercises. I did not do either of the Lift 4 recovery workouts. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Shaun 20/645 Cardio hybrid: Day 5

On Day 5, I did the cardio circuit workout from Shaun 20 in the morning and the Legs (50/50) workout from Lift 4 in the evening. The cardio circuit workout was a little easier than the first time I did it this week, but it was still challenging. The Lift 4 workout was more challenging in the HIIT part than the lift portion, mainly because my legs felt like jelly by the time I got to the second half of the workout. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Shaun 20/645 Cardio hybrid: Day 4

On Day 4, I did the Shaun 20 pure cardio workout and Lift 4 shoulders (intervals) in the evening. All the HIIT today ended up being low impact because the moves in the Lift 4 workouts are the ones that are some of the hardest for me to do, but I did do a couple of unmodified no-jump burpees. The Shaun 20 workout was slightly easier than the first time I did it this week but it was still challenging. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Shaun 20/645 Cardio hybrid: Day 3

Day 3 was the rest day in Lift 4, so I did the 645 cardio workout in the morning and then the two Lift 4 recovery routines in the evening. It seems like rotating the three workouts will work well because the Shaun 20 workouts are definitely more intense (even when doing them low-impact) and are a bit longer than the 645 cardio routine. It absolutely helped to do the stretching and foam rolling routines from Lift 4. Even though they are short, they do help loosen you up. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Shaun 20/645 Cardio hybrid: Day 2

On Day 2, I did the cardio circuit workout from Shaun 20 in the morning and then the Lift 4 back and biceps (circuit) workout in the evening. The Shoun 20 workout is similar to the cardio circuit from Insanity in that it has three rounds of four exercises, with a strength exercise that transitions you from block to block. Of course, the exercises are all low-impact, but the workout is still challenging. The Lift 4 workout was a challenge as well. I was really trying to focus on my lifting speed and form, trying not to do the reps as fast as I normally do. 

Workout Update: Lift 4/Shaun 20/645 Cardio hybrid: Day 1

Today marked the first day of a new round of workouts. As I said in the last post, I decided to incorporate a couple of the Shaun 20 workouts into the mix to freshen things up. They are led by Shaun T and were filmed during the pandemic when he was filming his Dig Deeper program (which you can tell because he has way more tattoos than he did during the Insanity workouts, and he is super jacked). The workouts are 20-minute, non-impact versions of insanity workouts, making the moves from Insanity and Insanity Max 30, very modified, so there is no jumping. They are perfect for anyone who wants to try Insanity but is not in good enough shape to do the program unmodified or has done Insanity but is now out of shape and wants to work back to the unmodified version. 

So, in the morning, I did the pure cardio workout from Shaun 20, which has a warmup and then a series of one-minute long exercises, all of which appeared in Insanity (e.g., switch kicks, power jacks, etc.,) that you do without jumping, and then you do a short cooldown. Then, in the evening, I did Lift 4's week 1 chest and triceps 50/50 workout. 

Workout Program Review: Insanity Base Kit

 

Insanity was probably the second most popular program released by Beachbody, after P90x. When it was released the infomercial was on just as much, if not more, than the infomercial for P90x was, especially since P90x was getting a bit long in the tooth when this came out. Insanity is a high-intensity program that focuses on cardio. It is very hard, even if you are in shape, and is a struggle to get through. In the base set, there is no weight or resistance component to it (aside from lots and lots of push-ups, and some triceps dips). All the resistance moves come using your own body weight.

Pros:

1) No equipment needed aside from a good pair of shoes, and maybe some floor mats. You do not need dumbbells, a chin-up bar, or anything else. You do want to have or get a good pair of cross-training shoes though. A lot of people wear running shoes doing this and have lots of issues with pain or twisting their ankles. Running shoes are good for landing, but not plyometrics and lateral movements. Running shoes do not have the lateral stability to hold up when doing repetitive plyo exercises.

2) The workouts are relatively short. In month 1 they are all under 45 min, and in month 2 they are all under an hour.

3) The 60-day duration. I have done P90x multiple times and doing the same workouts for that long a time just gets boring. This is the perfect amount of time for a DVD workout series to last, and then you can decide to either re-do it or move on to another one be it P90x, P90x2 (also 90-day workouts but has different workouts in each month), or the even more advanced program, Insanity Asylum.

3) You cannot outgrow it. As you get in better shape you can go faster and take fewer breaks so it should never get easy.

Cons:

1) This is not really a program for beginners. Even the people in the videos have a hard time keeping up and have to stop and take breaks. If you have never worked out before or have gotten out of shape after a long layoff, I would suggest easing your way into this. Yes, you can do the moves slower and take more breaks when you first start out, but there is no modifier in the cast, and unless you have done Insanity Max-30, you will probably not be able to figure out how to modify the moves to make them easier like you can with other programs.

2) It is a very high impact. You are jumping and doing a lot of side-to-side movements in every workout, so if you have severe knee and/or back issues this is probably not the workout for you.

3) If you like to lift weights you will probably need to sub out either the recovery workout day or the rest day to do some upper body lifting. With all the squats and jumping you will be doing in Insanity you will probably not have to do much of a leg workout, but for people who can't go without lifting Insanity itself may not be enough.

On Amazon, the price. $144 is way too much, and I have heard about some of the "third-party" sellers selling faked bootlegged copies. If you are going to purchase on Amazon make sure it is being fulfilled by Beachbody which is the actual company that makes it.

Ultimately the best workout for you is going to be the one that you can stick with. Insanity is a good, but hard program that works if you do it. Like any workout, how well your results will be are going to depend not only on doing the workouts as hard as you can but also in large part on how you eat. Insanity does have a good nutrition guide to use as a base, but you may need to adjust your caloric intake to get the best results (and for many people that means eating more calories because the workouts are so intense). The main thing is you have to be following some kind of nutrition plan because if you are eating like crap, or on the other end of the spectrum not eating enough, the program will not give you anything like the results of the people in the infomercial.

Workout Review: Beachbody Insanity Sanity Check DVD Workout: an Introduction to Insanity

 

This was released shortly after the first Insanity program was put out as a way for people to see if they were ready for the full program. For those who do not know, Insanity is a cardio-intensive, calisthenics-based interval workout that kind of flips the way intervals are done. Instead of doing short bursts of intense cardio, then longer stretches of less intense cardio and/or rest, this has you doing Intense cardio for long stretches and then resting for about 30-45 seconds and starting back up. So, it is not a program for beginners, but even if you are in decent shape, it can be hard to tell if you can really hang for a regular Insanity workout, which lasts about 40 minutes.

This is basically a truncated version of an Insanity workout. It is short, just 25 minutes in all, and has a lot more breaks than the regular workouts do. All of the moves are moves that you will see in the regular workouts at some point. The idea is, once you can get through this workout without stopping (other than at the scheduled breaks) you are good to go for the regular workouts. It can also be used for a "recovery week" between the first and second phases of Insanity (basically between month one and month two). Keep in mind, the first Insanity program did not have any modified moves (unlike the later Insanity Max 30 program). So, none of the moves in this workout are modified. Although, if you have done Max-30 you can easily figure out how to modify them. But, the premise is that you will do the workout without modifying anything, which is why everyone in the cast is in great shape, and even they get gassed. The workout is available on the Beachbody on Demand app for those who are considering that instead of the DVDs. But, either way, you get it, it is definitely worth using if you are not sure if you are ready to do the regular Insanity workouts.

Workout Review: Beachbody Insanity Fast and Furious DVD Workout

 

Insanity is a very intense cardio-based workout program released by Beachbody, which also released the massively popular P90x, which would ultimately become its second most popular program (at least for a time). The regular Insanity workouts ran about 45 minutes, give or take, and this was released as a scaled-down version of those workouts. It does not include the full cast and is not shot in the gymnasium where the regular workouts were shot. It just has a couple of cast members, Anna who was in many of the main workouts, a new guy, and Shaun T. It runs about 20 minutes including the warm-up and cool-down, and all the moves in the workout are moves that were in the regular videos. So, if you have done the Insanity program already, there is nothing new in this workout.

This is definitely not something that you just want to jump into if you are not in good shape and/or if you have not done any of the Insanity workouts. It is definitely not for beginners at all, and there are no modified moves in this. If you have done the Insanity Max 30 which does have modified moves, you can figure out how to modify the moves in this (as many of the same moves are used in the Max 30 program as were used in this), but this workout assumes that you have done the first, regular, Insanity workout program and are in good enough shape to get through it. Ultimately, if you are looking for a great cardio workout that is also short, this is a good option for you.

Knee or leg pain during plyometrics? It is probably the shoes

Hey everyone, I just wanted to do a quick post because I see all the time on the team beachbody message boards about people doing Insanity and experiencing a lot of knee and leg pain. If it goes beyond just muscle soreness in your legs, one of the main causes or contributors may be your shoes. A lot of people use running shoes for plyo because by nature they absorb impact, but they are actually not good. You need a shoe with good ankle and arch support, that also provides a lot of stability. It should also be able to absorb some shock. Running shoes generally do not have the support needed for the jumping and landing. A good pair of cross trainers is preferred. Depending on your situation you may also need to talk to your doctor about the possibility of orthotics. A good pair of shoes will make a world of difference.

How to succeed with working out...foundation, foundation foundation

As I was tutoring math today, I thought of a nice analogy to working out. I had a student taking a survey of calculus class who was horrible at algebra. Just like you will only be as good at calculus as you are at algebra, jumping into a workout that is ahead of where you should be can lead to problems. When Beachbody puts out a new workout, especially when there is a lot of hype around it, people want to jump in headfirst. Enthusiasm is great, but you need to know if you are ready for the workout. P90X was intended to be an advanced version of Power 90. Since P90x's popularity exploded a few years ago there are a lot of people that just start there. It certainly can be done as an initial workout with modifications, but I think if you start with a less intense program like Power 90 and build your way up to it, you will ultimately do better.

 To bring it back to the concept of math, if you go from pre-algebra to intermediate algebra to college algebra to pre-calculus etc, and really learn the material along the way you will do better in each class. Likewise, if you go from sedentary, to a program that will give you a good fitness level, going to a program like P90x and Insanity will be a lot easier. Plus, you will have a lot lower chance of injury and will be more likely to succeed. Above all, don't get discouraged if you cannot keep up with the people in the videos. Many of them have already done the entire program at least once, and are extremely fit. Make it a goal to get yourself to that level, but do the best you can, and try to do more each time. Just my two cents. As always, if you have any questions or comments you can leave a message here, or on my team beachbody profile page.

Why I love Plyometrics

I just finished doing my last #p90x plyo session for at least a while, and I wanted to do a short post on why I love plyo workouts. Simply put is they never get easy. Because plyo is a truly go at your own pace kind of workout, as you get in better shape you can go faster and jump higher, so you should always find it a challenge. Whether you are doing Insanity, P90x, P90x2, Turbo Fire, Chalean Extreme or any other program that incorporates Plyometrics you should always feel like you got your butt kicked at the end. Keep pushing and stay fit!

When is the best time to start?

Most people who are into fitness and working out will say the best time to start is now. Or there is no perfect or best time to start working out, so start today. I am not one who subscribes to that theory. The best time to begin a workout program is after you find your "why". For some people the why will be to get back in the kind of shape they were as a teenager. For others it will be to get in shape for the first time. Some just want to look good naked. Still others find the why because they cannot fit into any of their clothes or their doctors have told them they have to lose weight now or risk a premature death. Everyone's reason will be different, but you are far more likely to stick with a healthy lifestyle if you find a why first.

Once you determine that why, it is not quite as simple as start today. You can go into any gym in the country and see a bunch of people working out aimlessly with no purpose, and who you can tell really have no idea what they are doing. There are a lot of people that just go through the motions, and are ultimately wasting their time and money. While it is true that any workout is better than none, and that everyone's goal are different, how many people have you seen at the gym who do the same thing over and over and make no progress. Are you or have you been one of those people. Even if you do not want to get ripped abs or look like a fitness model, you should have a goal to progress in your workouts. And lets face it, doing the same thing over and over again is boring, and will lead to plateaus.

The concept of muscle confusion has been around for a long time. It has just been called switching your workouts up every few weeks. But the science behind it is real. Our bodies are always trying to adapt to what we are doing. And when working out, adaptation means stalling out. Which in turn leads to a lot of people quitting because they think that they cannot do it. As I have said in prior postings, the best workout for you is the one that you stick to. Research the programs, whether it is a beachbody program or something else. Beachbody has a variety of different programs from beginner to very advanced. Take advantage of the coaches' knowledge. Most of us have done multiple programs and can tell you the differences and will help you decide which is best for you. If you would like me to coach you, you can click here. If you just want me to coach you there is a free option. There is also a paid membership to team beachbody that gives you a variety of tools to help you, and gives you a 10% discount on the workout programs and any of the supplements. I am here to help you regardless of whether you get a paid membership or not. Once you find your why, and the right program, then start the day you get it in the mail. Don't wait, don't let it sit. Once you find your why and your DVDs are in hand, then the perfect time to start is that second!

You Can't Always Trust Your Scale

One thing that invariably happens when people start a workout program is that they focus in like a laser on their weight and see that as the only indicator of success. That is the downside of using testimonials. They show that the workouts and nutrition plans work, but they also provide a yardstick for weight loss. Then people think well this person lost x number of pounds, I have not so it does not work for me. Then they quit. Remember what the scale is measuring is NOT JUST FAT. Your weight is a combination of fat, muscle, tissue, bone and water. Now your tissue and bone are not likely to change dramatically when working out but your muscle, fat and water retention will.

You always hear people say muscle weighs more than fat. That is not true. A pound of muscle weighs exactly the same as a pound of fat. Much like a pound of cotton weighs the same as a one pound brick. The difference is the brick takes up much less space than the cotton. The same principle applies to fat and muscle. Muscle takes up less space than fat. It is more dense. When you start working out you are going to be burning fat, but you are also going to put on lean muscle. The fat does not magically transform into muscle though, so it is not likely to be a one-to-one replacement, or even a two-to-one replacement. Meaning you are not guaranteed to drop 2 lbs of fat to every pound of muscle gained. Say for example you take off 15 pounds of fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle. Well assuming your water level stays the same the net scale change is going to be a five pound loss. But you are going to look (and feel) a lot different with that 5 lb change than you did before. But if you look at nothing but the number you are going to feel like a failure if you wanted to lose 20 lbs.

When you are working out scale weight is a factor, but keep in mind you cannot always trust it. You need to take into account other things like body fat levels, how your clothes are fitting and how you look. That is why taking progress pictures are important. You are not going to be able to see day to day changes looking in the mirror, but if you see a picture of yourself 30 days apart, you will. Lets say however you get 30 days into a program and you do not see any significant change. Your clothes are still tight, and you do not see any definition in your 30 day pictures. Well then it goes back to nutrition. What are you eating and are you eating at a caloric deficit. Everyone's body has a number of calories it can take in to maintain the current weight. Your body is always trying to find that balance. If you eat less than that number (as long as you are eating healthy, balanced meals) you will lose weight. If you eat at or above that number you will not. As you exercise that number is probably going to change. which is why, if you want to see the best results you are probably going to have to track what you eat. There are programs like Diet Power and web sites that will do that and make those calculations for you. Then you just have to make sure you are eating the right number of calories. If however your clothes are getting more and more loose, you see changes in your body in your progress pictures, and feel better, then keep doing what you are doing and don't worry about the scale.

Finally, remember if you are overweight you did not gain all your weight in 60 or 90 days and you may not lose it all in 90 days. Especially if you are very overweight. As you get closer and closer to your ideal weight and ideal level of fitness you are going to lose less on the scale. You may remember Tommy from the one of the P90x infomercials. He went from being obese to ripped, but it took him 5 rounds of P90x to do so. That amounts to 15 months. I don't know him personally, but chances are his weight leveled off at some point and if he had given up he would not have ended up with the results he did. As always if you have questions or comments you can contact me by posting a comment here or through my Beachbody page. Good luck and stay fit.

The I don't have time to work out excuse

We live in a world of instant gratification. People wants what they want, now, without ever having to do much work to get it. This may work for some things (if you are lucky) but does not work for exercise. There is no pill, shake, gadget, powder or other supplement that is going to make you look like a fitness model. Even if you were stupid enough to do steroids, you still have to work out to get results. Just sticking the needle in your ass does not magically transform you. One of the biggest excuses people use for not working out is they do not have time. We all have the same 24 hours each day to do what we need. If you are one of those who get 7-8 hours of sleep every night that still leaves you 16-17 hours a day. which amounts to somewhere around 112-116 hours a week. Have you sat and watched the P90x or Insanity infomercial in its entirety? Well in that time you would have been able to do about half of a P90x workout, finished many of the Chalean Extreme workouts, got about 3/4 of the way through an Insanity workout, or done three 10 minute trainer workouts. Even if you don't have any of those programs you can do pushups, situps and jumping jacks for a half hour and you will have done a workout. You have to make working out a priority. Schedule it into your day like you would a meeting, phone call, grocery shopping, or whatever else. I work full time and go to school part time. And the classes I take for school are some of the hardest you can take at the undergraduate level so I have to put in a significant amount of study time. If I did not schedule my workouts and set aside time for them I would never get them done. I get up early so I have enough time to get my workout in, and then do what I need to do to get ready for school. Other times, I would work out between class and going to work, but I knew what time I was going to work out and what workout I was going to do. Last semester I stopped working out using the excuse that I did not have the time. I was in multivariable calculus which I had 5 days a week and Principles of Nutrition at 8:00am Saturday morning. Add this to the fact that I work from 4:00pm to midnight, it made for a brutal schedule. Looking back though I did have time where I could have scheduled workouts. I just stopped doing them with the intent that it would just be a couple days. That turned into a couple weeks then a couple months. And then, I was starting to get out of shape and decided I had to get back to it at which point I started my current round of P90x. I a perfect world we would all get an hour of exercise each day. We don't live in a perfect world however so you sometimes have to do the best you can with the time you have. Whether it is 30 min on a treadmill, a workout program that has a shorter duration, or just taking a 10 min walk on a break. Anything is better than doing nothing at all. If you have any questions either leave a comment on the blog or click my Team Beachbody page and click the contact me button. Stay fit and have a good weekend!

Which Beachbody Program is the best?

It is obviously a question with no real answer...at least an answer that is not totally subjective. The best program is always the one you can stick with. I have not tried every program Beachbody has put out, but I have tried most of the big ones. My dirty little secret? I don't like P90x the most. While P90x is arguably the most popular program, and certainly the infomercial for it is on (at least in my area) way more than all the others, it is probably my least favorite of the ones that I have tried. I actually like Chalean Extreme and Insanity more than P90x. This is mainly due to the fact that I hate pull ups. Also, I am not a fan of P90x yoga. I love the first 50 min or so of it, but after that it gets to be too much. I do mix P90x into my workout rotation every so often because of the fact I am not good at pull ups. I make it a goal to get better at them and push through despite my dislike for them. For yoga I will often times only do part of it or swap it with the x-stretch DVD, which has many of the same moves but a lot shorter.

 The Chalean Extreme workouts are much shorter than the P90x workouts. It emphasizes lifting heavy and combines upper and lower body into all the lifting routines. Insanity is a cardio/conditioning based program that uses just your body weight and does not require any equipment aside from a good pair of cross trainers. Most people will not put on a lot of muscle during Insanity, but you are doing lots and lots of push ups in every Insanity workout so it is not unheard of for people to gain inches in their arms and chest. The good thing about Chalean Extreme is that it is a program that can be modified for beginners.

 Insanity is not a program that most people who are just beginning to work out will want to tackle. It is very very hard, and I think most people who are not in pretty good shape already have a higher probability of quitting the program, and/or hurting themselves if they just jump in. Personally I think it is best to work up to a program like Insanity as opposed to jumping in to the deep end. Currently I am finishing a shortened version of P90x. Then I am going to go through P90x2, and work through the entire program. Over the summer I plan to do Insanity, but will incorporate some upper body lifting workouts a couple days a week as a modified doubles program. After that I will probably try the sequel to Insanity called Asylum. I plan to post regular updates, depending on my school schedule. I definitely will post regularly over the summer. As always if you have any questions you can e-mail me through my Team Beachbody page (the link is over on the left) or leave me a comment.

P90x Hybrid week one in the books!

I just finished doing X-Stretch a little while ago, thus finishing week 1 of my P90x doubles (for now) hybrid. I'm basically doing P90x classic then adding in cardio from the Insanity and Chalean Extreme programs. A couple of things that I have noticed over the past couple of weeks are (this one really surprised me) that yoga-x is almost easy in terms of the stamina needed to get through it, and my general flexibility increased during Insanity.

Anyone who has done yoga-x, especially those who have not done a lot of yoga in the past, knows that the first 45 min of that is killer. It takes a lot of stamina and can really wear you out. I found, however, that while some of the poses were still challenging, I never got winded during the workout at all, and poses like half moon and twisting half moon where I had previously taken water breaks I could do. Granted, they were not perfect, and I had to come out of them to regain my balance, but I could stick them out.

Similarly, just how far into stretches I could get both in yoga-x and x-stretch are vastly improved. One of my goals for this round of P90x is to really focus on my flexibility. When I was young, I had almost gumby-like flexibility, and it has deteriorated over time. While I probably will not get back to the level I had as a child, I really do want to get to the point where I can get all the way down on the various hamstring stretches. My glutes, hamstrings, and lower back are all very tight and inflexible. My hips, on the other hand, are still very flexible.

The other goal I have for this round is to finally be able to do pull-ups unassisted. I have never been able to do more than one or two on my own and then have to use a chair or the counterweights on the pull-up machines at the gym. My legs have always been appreciably stronger than my upper body. I think that comes from doing a lot of taekwondo when I was younger with all the kicking. So I really want to try and even that out, or at least get it closer to being even.

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.

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.