ID11 and Feel the Burn

Insanity Day 11

...was Cardio Recovery.  I can't say enough how much I enjoy this workout.  The deep stretches really creates a quality burn.  I think the last time I did this workout I also said that it was really good.  Doing this workout really shows you how much you've worked while doing the Insanity workout. 

It used to be when I would workout on my own that there were never days to specifically recover.  Yes, there would be days that I would do one part of my body and then do another part the following day while the other rested, but never a day that involves deep stretching for the most part.  In the Cardio Recovery dvd, there is some workout exercises to it to really get in deep with the burn, but as much as it hurts [I can't finish most of the deep burning exercises] it does feel good for the muscles.

I'm on my way

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(picture taken from yojofitness)

ID10 - Plyometric Cardio

Insanity Day 10

...is a lot of work.  Plyometric Cardio is a solid workout.  As of right now, it is one of my favorite workouts of the Dvd set.  Granted, I've only been through the first few dvds as the first month reuses the same workouts.  Even though they re-use the dvds as long as you push harder and faster [while keeping form of course] - it's still new. 

I live by moderation when it comes to losing weight and getting healthier.  Don 't get me wrong - I try to not go to the greasy fast foods and places like that if I'm serious about losing weight and get healthy, but the stuff that I do eat comes in moderations and smaller portions. 

Things are clicking right now.

ID9 and programmed coffee

Insanity Day 9

...was Pure Cardio.  I loved it.  Okay, it was more of 'you take my breath away' type of love - but again, once I finished I felt accomplished.  I pushed myself.  I'm trying to push myself harder each day - that's the whole point of Digging Deeper right?

So I pushed.

My Workout room is just across the hallway from my 1 year old (almost one year old) son's room and his crib is against the closest wall to my workout room.  I have only been able to do the workouts between 10-12 at night and my son has in bed then for a few hours.  When you are doing these workouts, it requires some jumping around and so I've been trying to jump lightly.  Now, when I say jump lightly - take in mind that I am a 221 lb man jumping on floors that were put in many many years ago.  I doubt I'm landing on my feet as lightly as I try to, but I'm still pushing myself.  Thankfully, my son is a hard sleeper and I haven't caused him to wake up yet. 

Pure Cardio was a solid workout.

***

Programmed Coffee.

My wife and I went to a flea Market this past weekend and I stumbled upon a very clean, programmable, 5 cup coffee maker.  I enjoy my coffee in the morning and this one was for only $6.  I snatched it up hoping that the program control worked and sure enough, I have been waking up to the small of delicious coffee each morning since.  it even came with the permanent filter. 

It really does seem like less work.  It used to be that I either had to wait to get to the office for coffee, go without, or do all the work to make it [I know it's not much work] in the morning.  It's the same amount of work, but it's easier in the morning if you go ahead and prepare it at night. 

I love it.

ID8 and STWLC weigh-in PIC

Insanity Day 8

Insanity Day 8 was a workout.  I love that I can push myself further.  I think another thing that I love about Insanity is that it's not an hour to hour and a half long.  I don't have time for that and I really don't want to spend that much time.  If I am going to spend that much time working out - I'd rather go for a run for that duration.

During this first four weeks - I'll only use a few dvds and am repeating workouts [not day after day] but you find yourself pushing just as hard as you initially did even after the first time you've done that workout dvd. The thing though is that you are going for longer periods of time as your body is able to handle a bit more workout by workout. 

The workout doesn't change, you change.

I have 8 workouts down and only 55 days left until it's complete. 

***

STWLC [Seth Tyler's Weight Loss Challenge]

STWLC has completed one week.  We have 9 participants and it's off with a bang.  Below is my 'after week one' photo.  Combined with healthy[er] eating, smaller portions and Insanity -- this first week was pretty good.  For me, it's about moderation and this way I still get to enjoy my food.  Have a great day.

ID7 Rest meant Yoga for me

Insanity Day 7

ID7 "Rest Day" meant 'Let's do some yoga' to me.  I enjoy Yoga.  When I did the p90x program - the Yoga was one of my favorite dvd/workouts.  I'm not sure why I like it but I enjoy the deep stretches and balance positions. 

The yoga that I did tonight was not P90x Extreme Yoga, but a milder version (but still probably required more moving than a normal Yoga session).  I am man enough to admit that I did Jillian Michael's Level 1 yoga.  I wanted some stretching on my day off from the intense workouts and I think that Yoga is a good form of movement and activity so that I don't just sit idle.  I think it was a light enough workout to be labled a 'rest' day though.  Many think that 'rest' day means doing nothing at all.  My opinion is that 'rest' days do not have to mean that you do nothing, but that you aren't full-on intensity. 

Movement is good for your body and that's still true on 'rest' days.

Tomorrow starts the 2nd week of the 9 total weeks that Insanity is. 

I'm enjoying it and hope to see some results in the coming weeks.

ID6. Workout Room

Insanity Day 6.

I'm just going to start abbreviating to ID and than number of day.  So Insanity Day 6 = ID6.

It seems as if the only time of day that I find available to workout out is past 10pm.  I don't want that but it has been what I have found to work right now.  I'd love to be able to get up earlier to do it but it seems that when I wake up early -- that's all I have done is wake up and go slowly until it's time to leave for work.

ID6 was a good workout though.  It's probably the best that I've had so far.  I pushed harder, longer, and faster than any of the previous 5 workouts.  I'm not sure why but it felt good and I was beat at the same time.  It was the same workout as ID2 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit. 

The level 1 pushups, which lead right into plank ski jumps, and then the up downs were the most difficult for me.  That is a workout!  ID6 is completed though and I love that week 1 is in the books, workouts anyways.  I think I may do a yoga workout on my rest days, which are Saturdays.

***

Workout Room.

I mentioned that I cleaned out a room in our house that was being used as a oversized closet with oversized shelves all around the room by the past residents.  Welp, I took out all of those shelves, painted the paneling with some leftover paint out of the garage [left here], and hung up a tv, a shelf, and some speakers.  I have also made a big Insanity Calendar on the wall.  On the wall is also the phrase 'Dig Deeper' and below that i have my goal weight of 175.  I find myself focusing on that wall when I do my workouts.  It's nice to have that reminder to go harder and faster, simply digging deeper.

Insanity Day 5. 3 hrs of volleyball

Volleyball for hours

A very positive thing about working at a bigger church is the buildings that we have.  We have a multipurpose building that  has a gym in it that I love to use.  Whether it's basketball, volleyball, or just playing around - I love that it's here not only for church purposes but also for more extra curricular type of things.  On Wednesday night, there were several of us that got together to play some volleyball.  We started at 8pm - immediately following our youth group activities and  it was 6 on 6.  It was some good competition.  Around 10pm, four of the guys had to leave so that left it 4 on 4.  Sure, we'll try that too and played for another hour 4 on 4.  We played volleyball - with very little break in between games for three hours.  This is awesome for a few different reasons.

1.  We played for 3 hours.

2.  We have a place to play volleyball.

3.  because it just is awesome.

There was one drawback to so much playing of the volleyball - I hadn't done my Insanity yet.

***

Insanity

I didn't let that stop me though.  Once I got home from volleyball, I drove over to my brother's work to wish him a happy birthday.  He works nights which allowed me to do that.  It was almost midnight, or maybe a few minutes before midnight, when I got home.  I decided that I wasn't going to skip out on Insanity so I did Insanity at midnight.  The infomercials for Insanity were probably on at that time. 

I did skip a few minutes of the warm-up but was still able to keep good form throughout that workout.  I can't say that it was my best workout as I didn't have as much energy but it was a good workout.  The most important thing for me is that I completed it and that I wanted to stay on schedule. 

Keeping on schedule was more of an issue that I thought.  I counted Sunday as my day 1 - which I did the Fit Test before Sunday.  The thing is when I was making up my Insanity Calendar that I've hung in my workout room - I have Monday as day 2 when I actuallly did that workout on Sunday.  With that said, I took yesterday off and will pick up day 6 today and day 7's (rest days) will be on Saturdays.  I spent too much time on making that calendar to scrap it all together for one day.  After this week, all 7 days of the first week will have been done with the last one (workout) being today. 

Sunday I'll start week 2.



Insanity Day 4. Skype with Germany

Insanity Update

I completed day 4 of Insanity last night.

I actually enjoyed the workout.  It was the Cardio Recovery and  the stretches got so deep.  It wasn't until I was doing the workout that I realized how much I needed those deep stretches.  I felt fine all day yesterday and when I actually got to the workout and saw how inflexible I was do to tightness - I knew I needed it. It reminded me kind of like the p90x yoga (the balance portion) only with more lunges and pulses.  I don't know if that made sense but that's what it was like for me. 

Maybe I enjoyed it because I knew that my body is working on a routine and as I spoke yesterday about just doing the workout despite how much I didn't want to.  Two days ago, I just sucked it up and did the workout and last night [because of the previous night's disicipline] I just knew that it had to be done. 

I can't get healthier by not doing what needs to be done.

Day 5 is today and it'll get done.

***

Skype with Germany.

My wife and I, along with my son were able to skype with two of our best friends who currently live in Germany.  It had almost, if not, been a year since last talking to them on skype.  They get really busy with the things that they are doing there and we get really busy and we let that be our excuse.  We get to missing them a lot and hope one day to be able to go visit them in Germany. 

From the sounds of it, they enjoy being there -- it's been 6, 7 or 8 years now (I think) that they have been back and forth between the states and Germany.  Wow, I can't believe it's been that long either.

Anyways, it was really good to get to skype with them today and introduce them to our son Blake.

Also, Zach's wife Alyssa has been doing Insanity.  I never knew she had it in her.  Props to her!