Insanity - Final Fit Test!

After 9 intense weeks of exercising, I am done the Insanity workout and it's time for my last update!

I am so glad I'm done.  It was an amazing workout but man was it tough, and it was long.  I will probably do it again in a couple of months, but I think I might just do my own variation.  I'll probably do just the first month's workouts (the second month are just too long to do on a long term regular basis) and intersperse them with some Jillian DVD's - particularly some of her weight training ones.

So, here is my final Insanity Fit Test update....

Switch kicks: 82, 85, 94, 96, 101
Power jacks: 43, 50, 56, 58, 59
Power knees: 80, 88, 94, 98, 105
Power jumps: 22, 30, 32, 33, 35
Globe jumps: 8, 10, 11, 11, 12
Suicide jumps: 11, 14, 15, 16, 18
Push-up jacks: 16, 23, 25, 27, 32
Low plank oblique: 32, 40, 43, 46, 56

I improved on every single exercise!  Some more than others, of course.  I even beat the DVD participants on a couple of them! I tied them on one, and they kicked my butt on some of the others. ;)  But there was a significant improvement if you look at the difference in the numbers between my first fit test and my last, that's for sure.

So, yeah, that's one effective workout!  If you're looking for a challenge, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.

I'm just sorry I didn't take any before/after pictures - if I had, they would give me a free shirt!  Oh well. Maybe next time, if there ever is a next time :)

Insanity Update - almost done!

Time for another Insanity update!

The past 2 weeks (even on our mini-vacation!) I've been doing the workouts from the last 4 weeks of the Insanity workout.  These workouts are longer (usually between 50 min - 1 hr) and harder.  As in crazy hard.  Insane!  This workout is aptly named, I'll give you that.  I can't even finish the warmup at the same speed they perform the moves without pausing for a rest!  I'm getting better every day, but it's really, really hard.

So, today was another Fit Test Day (followed by yet another 50 min workout - I'm taking a quick break in between right now to get this post up and my breath back).  I improved on every single move except one that I tied from last time.

Here's the results from Weeks 1 - 4

Switch kicks: 82, 85, 94, 96
Power jacks: 43, 50, 56, 58
Power knees: 80, 88, 94, 98
Power jumps: 22, 30, 32, 33
Globe jumps: 8, 10, 11, 11
Suicide jumps: 11, 14, 15, 16
Push-up jacks: 16, 23, 25, 27
Low plank oblique: 32, 40, 43, 46

I'm almost done!!  Believe you me, I am counting down the days.

Insanity Update

Time for an Insanity update as promised in my original post.  Since finishing my Tyson Method classes, the last two weeks of which I supplemented with the Insanity workouts, I've followed the Insanity program precisely without missing any days.  This past week (Week 5) was a recovery week where we did the same workout all 6 days and it was not quite as intense as some of the previous ones.  In fact, yesterday I was able to do the entire workout without stopping or pausing at all (most of the video participants didn't even do that!).

This coming week we're taking the kids down South for 3 nights for some shopping and swimming.  Normally I don't exercise when we're on holidays.  But I've decided to take the Insanity DVD's with me.  Partly because I don't want to mess up the schedule, but mostly because I know if I do skip that many days, I'm going to die when I get back and go into Week 6 which looks crazy hard!  So, I think I'm going to have to do it.

You're technically supposed to do the Fit Test on Day 1 of Week 6, but I don't want to have to do 2 workouts in one day while we're on holidays, so I did it today instead - Day 6 of Week 5.  So, virtually the same difference.  Except that, after doing the Fit Test, the "recovery" workout was insanely difficult after all!

Here are the results of my 3 different Fit Tests.  The first number is from my original Fit Test on the first day with the program, the middle/2nd number is from the Fit Test I did on Week 3 Day 1 of the program and today's is the 3rd/last number - I improved on every single exercise again and am very pleased with the results.

Switch kicks: 82, 85, 94
Power jacks: 43, 50, 56
Power knees: 80, 88, 94
Power jumps: 22, 30, 32
Globe jumps: 8, 10, 11
Suicide jumps: 11, 14, 15
Push-up jacks: 16, 23, 25
Low plank oblique: 32, 40, 43

I have to say, I am nervous about the next week of workouts - they're all new ones that I haven't done yet and they all have "Max" in the title.  Yeah, enough said.

I'll keep ya posted.

Insanity and more

So, after a lot of time, energy and commitment spent on losing those last 10 pounds after Jacob was born, I've regained them, plus 2.  Argh.  It's a vicious circle really.  Something will motivate me to lose a few pounds (like going on our cruise), and I will, but then I'll regain them while on the cruise.  And then I'll wait till something else really motivates me, repeat, rinse, repeat.

Exercise isn't really the problem.  I've exercised 4-5 times a week for almost 15 years now, so consistency with exercise is all good.  Eating is my main issue.  The issue is I like to eat too much.  And yes, I mean that both ways you could take that.  ;)  And the things I like to eat in particular aren't exactly healthy unfortunately.  Chips and chocolate.  Why couldn't it at least be one or the other?  But noooo, it's both.

So, yes,  I need to get more of a handle on watching my "bad" food intake - I'm going to have to make some rules.  And what I really should do is ask Nathan to ask me every day if I followed the rules or not.  That would make me accountable.

My rules are somewhat flexible because I believe in everything in moderation.

Rule #1 - no eating dessert during the week unless we are guests or have guests over for dinner.
Rule #2 - weekends are not a dessert bingeing opportunity.  Desserts are allowed, but not necessary.
Rule #3 - all desserts needs to be rated at least 9 out of 10 on my own personal scale - no point eating dessert I don't love
Rule #4 - no chips unless served at mealtime (might have to start serving them with every meal!  JJ)
Rule#5 - continue intermittent fasting (based on Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat philosophy) once or twice a week (see my previous review/thoughts here)

And I suppose the day after Halloween is a good a time as any to implement these new rules, otherwise I'll be eating mini chocolate bars and bags of chips like there's no tomorrow.  I'm not telling you how much of the kids stash I ate last night.

Anyway, I've also decided to ramp up the exercise so I started the Insanity program by Shaun T.  Yes, it is insane.   I started it while I was still finishing up my Tyson Method classes I had signed up for, so 2 weeks of Insanity took me 3 weeks to complete, but since then I've been doing solely Insanity.  It is cardio like you have never experienced cardio before.

Consider this.  At one point during the workout Shaun T moves on to the next exercise but can't quite spit out the name of it and he yells "I'm so tired I can't even remember the names of my moves!"  I don't think I could even talk during these workouts, nevermind remember the names of any of the moves.

Even though it is intense cardio there is some muscle conditioning involved in the cardio moves because there's a lot of power jumps and squats, even power pushups, and then there is a cardio recovery workout once a week that focuses on stretching and muscle conditioning using moves like slow squats, lunge holds & pulses, planks, etc.

Right now I'm in Week 4 and really enjoying it.  About every 2 weeks you do a Fit Test to see how you're progressing, and I was very pleased to see that I did improve quite a lot in the first two weeks.

Here are my results:

Week 1
Switch kicks: 82
Power jacks: 43
Power knees: 80
Power jumps: 22
Globe jumps: 8
Suicide jumps: 11
Push-up jacks: 16
Low plank oblique: 32

Week 3
Switch kicks: 85
Power jacks: 50
Power knees: 88
Power jumps: 30
Globe jumps: 10
Suicide jumps: 14
Push-up jacks: 23
Low plank oblique: 40

So, there you have it.  I'll keep you posted with my Week 6, 8 and 10 tests!

Now, I better go change and do my Insanity workout of the day.