Round 2, Week 7

Oh man, I forgot how long these max interval workouts are!  This week would have been week 6 if I had been following the Insanity schedule as written.  It starts off with Maximum Interval Circuit.  For me, this is the most intense of all the Insanity workouts.  That could be because at 55 minutes it is the longest.  That's only 10 minutes longer than plyometric cardio circuit, but that 10 minutes includes an entire circuit that is repeated thrice. The following day was Max Interval Plyo.  I think this one is a little easier, which surprises me because I still consider plyometric cardio circuit from month one to be pretty tough.  That's mostly because of all the upper body shit during the second circuit. Max Interval Plyo does have a few moves thrown in that don't really do much for me (like the pogo) so I get a little bit of a recovery at a few points.  Also, the 3rd circuit is only gone through once.  Max Cardio Conditioning is my favorite.  I imagine a few Insaniacs will find that crazy.  It is intense so the time goes by pretty quickly and I am stronger with cardio than I am with any thing that requires a lot of strength.  There are some push ups and stuff in there but since it is just one long circuit, I do what I can and move on.

I did manage to get all of the workouts in, but I did have to make up a Max Interval Plyo at the beginning of week 8 because I had company over during the weekend of week 7.  I can't stand having people watch me work out so I decided to swap a run from week 8 for the missed MIP.  Anyway, I'll get in to week 8 and 9 with my next post but I will give you a hint that so far it isn't going well!

The Max workouts are hard and my muscles were pretty sore. They still are a little.  I mentioned in my last post that I got a foam roller to try to workout some of the kinks and knots.  I was originally using the Marathon Stick which really helped me while training for my marathon.  However, it could not work my quads, glutes and hamstrings enough because those are massive muscle groups.  The foam roller allows me to put a lot more pressure on those parts because it uses my body weight to apply the pressure.  It still isn't enough for my hamstrings so I'll probably have to get a PVC pipe or something in the future.  Anyway, YEOWTCH!  If you have ever used a foam roller, you know what I'm talking about.  It is almost unbearably painful at first.  Especially along my IT band, which I had been neglecting with the Marathon Stick and could be the cause of some of the difficulty I've had with running lately.

I've made a few changes to my workout habits, which I feel I am able to do since I am an Insanity veteran and did the program to a T the first go round.  The first change I made is a big one.  The workouts are too damn long now so I skip the first round of stretching.  I read somewhere that static stretching really does nothing to prevent injury and by fast forwarding through them I shave 5 minutes off the workout but still burn the same amount of calories.  I do not condone skipping the warm up at all, okay?  The next change isn't that big of a deal.  I hate the warm up during the Max work outs, especially the floor hops side to side, so I skip that move.  What is it supposed to warm up anyway?  I do butt kicks now instead.

Weeks 8 and 9 are another pair of running hybrid weekends.  I like to break up the workouts but so far the hybrid weeks have become excuse weeks and I've been skipping more running workouts than I should.  It kind of defeats the point and makes me wonder if I should just do Insanity straight.  Those are thoughts for when I finish the program.

Day 59 - Max Interval Circuit

I think the most important thing I will ever point out about Insanity is this:  Watch the B-Boy do some break dance moves at the end of the workout and almost kick Ariel in the face.  It is the light at the end of the tunnel for this workout.

They say that Insanity is the hardest workout program ever put on DVD.  If that is true, then this is the hardest of the hard.  Max Interval Circuit almost feels like too much by the last circuit.  That being said, this was the best workout I've had yet since I started the program so very long ago.  I felt good (as good as you can feel with the program) and really pushed it.  I guess that is appropriate since it is the last time doing Max Interval Circuit with this go round.

Tomorrow I'll get a bit of recovery with Core Cardio and Balance.  As for right now, I have a sick dog to deal with.

Day 54 - Max Interval Circuit

Yo! I was really procrastinating this morning because I did not want to do a workout today.  I especially did not want to do a 60 minute workout.  I finally got around to it just to get it out of the way so I could move on with my day.  It went well enough.  This is a tough one and I think it is the only workout that makes me feel absolutely spent and exhausted by the end.  I think I managed to do more full body drills than I ever have before.  Actually I'm sure that all the moves have shown noticeable improvement but the full body drills really stick out for me because I struggle they are the ones I struggled the most with.  Oh! Also the floor switch kicks.  I can actually do a majority of that workout now.

Well, the workout is done and it is my day off, so it is now time to relax.  Tomorrow I get a little break with Core Cardio and Balance.

Day 50 - Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit

I am extremely happy with my results today, so lets not dillydally and get right in to it!

Remember how I said I doubted I'd be able to get anymore Switch Kicks in that minute duration?  I blew all my previous tests out of the water!  Maybe getting up early to do the Fit Test was a good thing and I was in the zone or something.  Power Jacks, Power Jumps and Low Plank Obliques are all equally as impressive.  I didn't include Power Knees in the previous sentence because I think my form kind of sucks and it's really hard to count that one because it is so fast.  Oh well.  I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.  Suicide Jumps following the Globe Jumps is still a bitch and my arms were very near useless after doing the Push-Up Jacks but all and all I am very encouraged by these results.

Now for my measurements:

As you can see, everything is moving in the right direction.  Everything other than the biceps, that is.  I don't care about biceps so I'm cool with it.  I was shocked by my weight loss.  The decrease nearly doubled since the last Fit Test.  I don't think my waist and hips will really shrink much more in the next two weeks.  Most of the fat I need to lose is in the love handles and it tends to fall the the area between the waist and hips.  I do have some fat still stored in my boobs so I am expecting more of a decrease in my chest in the future.  I'm looking forward to that because my suits will fit better!

I was starting to get a little discouraged with the program and these results are exactly what I needed.  I think most of it can be attributed to the increase intensity of the second month workouts.  They are painful but they seem to do the trick.

Oh, the Max Interval Circuit went very well also.  I was dead by the last rotation but it was the strongest I've been able to do that workout so far.

Tomorrow is Max Interval Plyo.  Hopefully it doesn't knock me off my pink cloud!

Day 44 - Max Interval Circuit (full overview)

For me, Max Interval Circuit is the most difficult workout of insanity.  I don't know if it is just the moves Shaun T. has us doing or if it is because it is the longest.  It is nice to push myself so hard but I doubt I'd be able to stick with the program if every workout was like this one.  I haven't been able to do a full write up of Max Interval Circuit because of time constraints on the previous days that I've done it.  I am off work today so here goes!

Warm up and stretching are mostly the same as the other Max workouts so I won't go into them.  They do get the heart pumping, though.  I think my heart rate got up to 160ish which is the top of my "in the zone" range.

The first routine consisted of: pedal/power lunges, Ski Abs/Push Up Jacks/In & Out Abs/Oblique Push Ups, Power Strike, and Frog Jumps.  I think Power Strikes was the only new exercise so I linked a video.  The guy isn't do them quite right but I couldn't find anything better.  Ski Abs/Push Up Jacks/ In and Out Abs is a combination of all those moves one after another for four counts.  I could only do one rep of that each time.  I really hate Frog Jumps.  Like usual, this is repeated three times.  After the third time, Shaun T. throws in Football Runs/Cross Jacks to top off the routine.  This is kind of an odd exercise but it does offer a little recovery to get read for the next routine.

Next up we have Hook Jumps, High Knees with a Twist, High-Low Jabs with Squat and Floor Switch Kicks.  High knees with a twist is the regular High Knee runs but you twist your upper torso and bring your elbows towards your knees to work the obliques.  The only completely new move was the Floor Switch Kicks.  This has always been pretty frustrating for me because my triceps are still very weak and they want to give out after like 2 kicks.  I finally realized today that if I move my hands out a little it eases some of the strain on them so I was able to get something out of the move today.  After the third set, 1-2-3 Jab Across is added for good measure.  I couldn't find a video for that but it is similar to the Heisman 1-2-3's just slower and with a jab at each side.  Shaun T. says it should be easy and our heart rates should come down a little but mine never really did.

The final routine contains the moves: Side Suicide Jumps, Squat Hooks, Full Body Drill and Plank Punches.  Side Suicides are tough but Shaun T. emphasizes form over speed.  I was definitely not going fast with them.  The Full Body Drills require a lot of floor space.  While doing some of the wide runs I kicked the TV tray that held my water and made a mess.  I wasn't happy about that.  Those are also very tough.  I was only able to do about 2 with each interval.  My sweat band was completely saturated by the time we go to Plank Punches so I had to throw a towel on the ground under my face because so much sweat was dripping off of me.  After three rounds of these, we are done and finish up with a short cool down stretch.

I burned 850 calories with this workout today.  Not bad and it means I get to pig out for the rest of the day. Speaking of which, my burrito is done cooking.  Lunch time!

Tomorrow we return to Max Interval Plyo.

Day 40 - Max Interval Circuit

This one is tough!  After today, I am shocked that I was able to do the fit test before this workout earlier this week.  I wasn't able to do an in depth blog about Max Interval Circuit last time and unfortunately today is no different.  This workout is an hour long and I got home late so I have no time.  This workout comes up again on my next day off so I'll try to do a decent overview then.

Tommorrow we go back to Max Interval Plyo.

Day 36 - Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit

Holy crap.  That was humbling.

I don't know if you are supposed to do the Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit back to back.  I'm guessing not but I wasn't planning on getting up at 4:00 in the morning to do one of them.  This update will focus more on the Fit Test and my weigh in/measurements as I'll be doing Max Interval Circuit many more times over the next 4 weeks.

Fit Test Results:

As you can see I improved with all the moves except the suicide jumps.  I think my problem with those is they come too close after the globe jumps.  Globe jumps kill me and there isn't enough time between the two to recover.  I doubt I'll be able to improve much more with the switch kicks or the power knees and I'm going to go ahead and call bullshit on Tanya and Chris's results on the DVD.  I think they were in the hundreds for the switch kicks.  Maybe when I'm bored I'll watch them and count.  Hopefully I can catch them red handed with their lies!  Or I'll be proven wrong and shut up about it.

Weigh in/Measurements

More progress!  Though I would like to weigh less than that, losing 3.5 pounds while gaining some muscles isn't a bad thing.  My BMI is also finally in the normal range.  If I wanted better weight results I could have put in my weight after the workout.  I lost two pounds of sweat and my weight was actually over a pound lower than 173.4 but I'm trying to be consistent so I will always be going with my Monday morning weight.  Numbers are going in the right direction but they only tell you so much.  I do look much better in the mirror compared to day 0 and after seeing what a month 2 workout is like I'm guess that will improve dramatically this month.

I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of the workout today.  I've spent the last 1.5 hours working out and I am hungry.  I will tell you that it was longer than a month one workout and much more difficult.  I stood in disbelief as I watch Shaun T. demonstrate some of the moves he expected me to do.  I am curious how tomorrow will go since I won't be spending all my energy on the Fit Test before it.  

I have almost an 1800 calorie deficiency for today so I am going to eat eat eat now.  I'll be back tomorrow with Max Interval Plyo!