Insanity Workout Review-Week 1 Day 6 and 7

Yesterday, which was Week 1 Day 6, I was scheduled to do the Plyo Cardio Circuit again. Instead of doing the workout, though, I went rollerskating for over 2 hours. I figured it out to be over 900 calories burned, so I didn't bother doing the workout!

Last night I went to the Forest City Derby Girls party to celebrate the beginning of this season. Lots of fun!

Today is a scheduled rest day, so I'll be taking it easy. I might do an ab workout or two.

One week completed!

Insanity Workout Review-Week 1 Day 5 Pure Cardio

I've just finished Week 1 Day 5-Pure Cardio. My hands are shaking. After the workout was completed but before the stretching/cool down with Shaun T, I walked in place for a couple minutes to do some additional cool down. Then I did the stretch and then an additional calf stretch and then a 12 minute Pilates Abs workout. After all the nerves I had since watching the video yesterday, I must admit that it wasn't AS bad as I thought it would be-but it was still pretty bad. There were a few places where I probably COULD have pushed myself harder....but didn't. I kept a few of the exercises a little lower-impact by keeping the range of motion but instead of jumping kept it on the floor. And times when I just got too tired, I simply jogged in place instead of stopping completely. But-I finished the workout! There were a few times when I felt my heartrate was just too high and dropped it down into a jog to be safe. 180 BPM is a little high for my comfort level! In any case, I won't be afraid of Pure Cardio anymore. It's intimidating, yes-but while you're doing it, it works if you just focus on getting through just that one exercise you're doing. Then the next, then the next, and before you know it, Shaun T is saying you're finished! Woo! As an aside, last night I was under in my calories so I enjoyed 3 oreo cookies and a glass (8 oz) of whole organic milk. Yum! I hopped on the scale today. I'm down a pound-in four days. I wasn't expecting a loss this week, as I will be building muscle AND my body will be absorbing water (in shock LOL) so this drop was a surprise-but a welcome one! If I lose 1 pound every 4 days, that will translate to 15 pounds lost. I realize that's not necessarily realistic, but hey - every girl can dream, right? Having said that, I'm not sure I even NEED to lose 15 pounds. 128 pounds is very light for me, given my muscle mass. We'll see!

Insanity Workout Review-Day 4 Cardio Recovery

What a relief!

Cardio Recovery workout is a very nice workout- a cross between yoga and pilates. You get a nice burn in your legs and core with all the anaerobic moves - slow deep squats and lunges, plank work, and good stretches.

Even though there was no cardio work, my heartrate still got up to 120 bpm, which is good. What I especially liked about Shaun T is that he continually reminds you to breathe. AND he constantly explains how to have perfect form, which gets you the best results and prevents injury.

I'm really liking this workout in its totality. I haven't done all the workouts yet, but I have no doubt that I'll like them just as much. Now of course, that doesn't mean that I ENJOY the workouts-I mean, who would? I'm a total masochist and I still don't enjoy them...but I appreciate that I'm doing some hard work and should see some results. I already can feel the difference in my legs and butt, and it's only been 4 days! I'm looking forward to completing the first 14 days-I anticipate that is when I will see start seeing some serious results!

I'm trying to not get my hopes up too high, as I know that I'm pretty close to my goal weight and it might be difficult to drop those last few pounds. Having said that...even when I was a police officer and in the best shape of my life, I still weighed about 137 pounds, but that was a LOT of muscle. I didn't really do a lot of cardio in those days, I did SOME, but not as much as I could. Now, I think I could get a little leaner since I'm doing more cardio, and I can run outside more once the weather is nice (and I'm done Insanity). Now the inverse is true with the weight lifting-I don't have a gym membership anymore but I do have access to a friend's Bowflex. I've never used one before but I'm sure it's fairly simple. Even 2 workouts a week would be okay, if I do pushups and crunches and squats and lunges and such on other days.

I'm going to have a Beachbody!!

Insanity Workout Review-Day 3 Cardio Power and Resistance

Wooh! Day 3 complete!

When I woke up this morning my calves were SO stiff and tired, I could barely go down the stairs. It took me twice as long to get downstairs! And before I even got up, I was laying in bed and thinking about having to do another workout today. Craziness!

Today was the Cardio Power and Resistance workout. I found it to be challenging, but my heart rate didn't get as high as with yesterday's workout (Plyo Cardio Circuit). So that was kind of disappointing, but I suppose that I can control that-I just have to work harder next time. I did change a few of the exercises due to my own limitations-space, for one. I can't do the globe jumps as I only have about 4 square feet in which to do my workout, and the ceiling fan really gets in the way. I did squats instead of the globe jumps. And instead of the travelling pushups, I did wall pushups with one foot up off the floor. Floor sprints, I stayed doing wall push ups but added in jogs. So my heart rate was still up, and I still got the shoulder/pec workout.

One thing I thought the workout could have improved upon was the stretch/cooldown at the end. Although we did a lot of jumping, which really works the calves, he did very little calf stretching, in my opinion. We also did little shoulder and chest stretching. I added in some calf, shoulder, and chest stretches at the end.

Last night I figured out the Harris Benedict equation for number of calories required in a day to maintain my weight as it is, with the level of activity I am doing right now. Apparently (adding in 500 calories per day for nursing), I should be consuming 2711 calories per day just to stay at 143 pounds. Craziness. I don't think I could do that. BUT in order to lose weight you also need to eat ENOUGH calories...according to this equation, you subtract 500-800 (never more than 1000 or you go into the starvation mode) and that is how many calories per day that I need to eat to lose weight. That means I need to consume between 1911 and 2211 a day. That sounds crazy, but there you have it. We'll see--Mondays are my weigh-in days. Of course, those caloric requirements will change as my weight drops.

For anyone interested in finding out their own caloric requirements, here is a link.

Oh-and if you're wondering how roller derby practice went last night....it was rough at first, let me tell you. I felt like my inner thighs and quads were completely fatigued and I just didn't have the strength to do the knee dips and slides properly. So I will wait and see how the soreness goes for the rest of the week and might just do the "warm up" portion of the workout on practice nights.

Insanity Workout Review-Day 2 Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Day 2 complete!

Wow. Even though I watched the workout first to get an idea of what I was in for, I totally underestimated the DIFFICULTY. Seriously-I was almost ready to quit at the end of the warm-up session. The WARM-UP, people! But I pushed through. I'm my worst critic-I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I gave up.

I did take more breaks than was given, but that's ok. I didn't expect to be able to do the whole thing. That is one difficult, high-intensity workout.

The crazy part is that when you think you're into the workout, you're not. You're just warming up. Then there is a good stretching session, and then BAM! You're doing basketball jumps, crazy pushups and more. I did take it easy on the power squats, since I have to skate tonight! Most of the time I just jogged in place if I got too tired. A few times I turned the move into a low-impact move-for example, the mountain climbing exercise, I simple did knee lifts instead of the jumping. But that's ok, I think, because I kept the movement and the momentum going.

The end comes faster than I thought it would. Even though I was wishing for the end, it still surprised me when we started into the stretching cool-down period. I guess I'm just used to 55 minute classes. Not that I'm complaining, mind you! I don't think I would have been able to do another 15-20 minutes of that!

I made salmon salad sandwiches and a big spring green salad with broccoli, red and green pepper, and a little cheese with a balsamic vinegar dressing (homemade) for lunch. I'm at about hour 2 after the workout, and I'm tired-my arms are tired and a little sore, and my legs are a LOT tired and sore. But I'm hoping that I'll warm up and loosen up once I get skating tonight. I want to be able to do all the drills required at practice. Should I find that I can't, I'll have to re-evaluate the wisdom of doing the workouts on practice day. We'll see!

I'll be making Chicken Coconut Thai Soup for dinner and then head off to roller derby practice. As I've said before, I won't be following Shaun T's nutritional plan-I don't believe that eating fat makes you fat. I don't eat many processed foods, I am trying to cut back on my carbs, and I'm increasing my water consumption. We'll see how that goes.

Tuesdays Hurt

I'm a little apprehensive. Yesterday I started Insanity Workout with Shaun T by completing the Fit Test. This morning I woke up and I'm a little stiff, a little sore. Nothing too crazy, a lot better than I expected. However....today is Day 2 and I have the Plyometric Cardio Circuit workout to do. I watched it in advance to see what I'm in for, and I'm a little nervous. It looks extreme, to say the least.

And if that's not bad enough, I also have roller derby practice tonight. I don't want to kill myself! Last week's practice was pretty intense-tons of squat moves, lunges, slides, and suicides...in addition to a pyramid race-type exercise. Lots of cardio, lots of power moves required.

I'll have to load up on protein for sure after I do the Insanity workout. Maybe salmon salad sandwiches. And I hope to cram a nap in there, too.

Another post will follow with Insanity Workout Review Day 2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Insanity Workout Review-Day 1 Fit Test

Wow. Ok, I must admit something. When I was looking into getting the Insanity Workout with Shaun T, I read some guy's blog where he reviewed the entire program. His first workout, the Fit Test, he talked about how he puked afterwards. I laughed. I scoffed. I thought, "I won't puke". HA! Well, let me tell you, I came pretty darned close.

For anyone who isn't interested in workout videos, cardio programs, or anything like that, stop reading. This is a 60-day program designed to improve cardio health and give a ripped body. So if you don't want to read about my progress, don't read any blog entries that start with "Insanity Workout Review...".

I will NOT be following the nutrition plan, I'm just doing the workouts.

All right. So onto today's review and my fitness test results. Keep in mind you do the Fit test every 2 weeks so you can compare your results and track improvement. Once you get into Month 2, you do your Fit Test AND a workout every two weeks. ARGH!

Basically the fit test is in a few sections. First you do a warm up (holy smokes it's like a workout all on it's own), then you stretch, then you get a very short break to get a pen and paper and he explains the first exercise. Then you get a minute to do as many of those exercises as you can, using proper form. Correct form is very important. It's better to do 5 in proper form than 15 in poor form. Poor form causes injury and you don't get the benefits of the exercise.

After each set of 1-minute exercises you get a short break where he explains the next set. Trust me, you want this little break, especially toward the end when you are at muscle fatigue and don't think you can stand up, let alone do another set of exercises.

Here are my results for my Day 1 Fit Test:

Switch Kicks: 80

Power Jacks 37

Power Knee 77

Power Jump 25

Globe Jumps 7

Suicide Jumps 16

Pushup Jacks 10 (and then I did 10 girl-style pushups)

Low Plank Obliques 45

When I finished, I felt fine. Tired, but fine. And then about 5 minutes later, after doing my measurements, I started to feel queasy. So queasy, in fact, that I was sure I was going to throw up and spent the next 5 minutes in the bathroom doing deep breathing exercises. I didn't end up vomiting, but it was close. As I said before, next time I will do the workouts on an empty stomach. Definitely no coffee right before!

I'm looking forward to the next 60 days or so. It will be interesting to see the types of changes this exercise program brings, especially considering I will be following a high-fat diet. I don't really intend to change my eating habits, except for maybe trying to reduce my carb intake further.

Oh-and I will weigh myself once a week on Mondays and post gains or losses instead of posting my weight and measurements.

ROLLER DERBY!!!

Ok. I have gone completely nuts. This Tuesday past, I went to a Fresh Meat practice for the Forest City Derby Girls. I skated (forward and backward), I did derby moves, I fell (just once). I wore a bike helment while everyone else work skate helmets (haha). I was terrified, and exhilarated, the entire time.

I had no idea what to wear (other than "dress warm", I had no other instruction), so I just wore a t shirt and a hoodie, yoga pants and underneath that, some cool-ass leg warmers. I wanted to break out the fishnet but didn't wanna stand out too much that first day, you know? I mean, come on...everyone who knows me knows any chance I get to wear the goth stuff, I do, right? I have a whole bag of tights and fishnet everything (shirts, arm sleeves, tights...) just waiting for me. Seriously-not only is the sport awesome, but the clothes rock!

Since then, I have been watching YouTube videos of bouts, instructional videos, and looking up patterns for derby clothes. I've got an idea that involves hot pink/silver stretch denim and black trim being turned into a mini pleated skirt to go over leggings or tights and legwarmers or socks. I've got my top-three picks for my derby name, and just have to decide which one I want.

Craziness.

For anyone who needs an explanation as to what roller derby is, click HERE.

Berry out.