Emily's Insanity

Round 2: Week 1

emilyinsanity — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:17:24 +0000

I successfully completed my Week 1 rotation of all the insanity workouts. I’m feeling and noticing results faster this time around—I’ve already lost a pound!—which tells me my muscles haven’t completely deserted me (otherwise I probably would’ve gained weight again before losing it, as in the first insanity go-around). Since I’m exercising 4 days a week, I go through all 4 workouts (plyo, power, pure cardio, & recovery) each week. So far, I’ve been able to stick with it since I have enough days off to be flexible with life’s demands. We’ll see how week 2 goes!

Insanity Round 2: Day 1

emilyinsanity — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:43:23 +0000

So, a week shy of finishing up Insanity’s 60 day challenge, I got off track and never got back on. Weddings, interviews, the holidays (in essence, life) got in the way of month 2 workouts which were way outside my abilities. However, I still consider my first stint at insanity a success: I lost 10 lbs, and although I took some time off, I still have some remaining muscles.

To start off the new year right, I’m back at it again. Some things I’ve learned from the first go-around:

Double check your caloric intake math, since the multiplication can make small errors large. I allowed myself too many calories last time.
For me, the challenge of insanity is completing the 60 days and watching my body change. I found the Fit Test to be frustrating, because over time I would see no results, or back tracked results. So even though my body was going through terrific changes, I was discouraged by my lack of progress on the fit test. So for round 2, I’m forgoing the fit test and saving it for the next round, when I need an additional challenge besides just sticking with the workouts!
I found 6 days a week to be too much to be sustainable. My goal is forever fitness, not just 60 day fitness, so I’m looking for a schedule I can keep up moving forward. For the second go-around I’m going straight through the workouts 4 days a week, with time off for vacations. I found it really hard to keep up with the program in my little condo when my spouse was off from work.
Make sure you’ve mastered the Month 1 workouts before starting on Month 2. I was still struggling with some moves (like push-ups) at the end of month 1, and therefore was overwhelmed by the challenges in month 2. However, even struggling through the workouts I saw significant weight loss. My goal this time is to realistically evaluate my progress after Month 1, and decide whether I’m ready to start Month 2 or not.

And from that plan, today I started Day 1: Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Month 1 is such a nice change from month 2! I could definitely feel my leg and butt muscles complaining right away in the warm ups, but I made it through the workout with a lower heart rate than the first time I tried insanity!

Insainity Day 55: Max Interval Circuit

emilyinsanity — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:34:07 +0000

Max interval circuit is always tough, but I found it easier to get through by counting down the number of intervals (out of 9) I had done so far. Only have to do it one more time this month!

Insanity Day 54: Max Recovery

emilyinsanity — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:30:13 +0000

Whew! The last time I have to do this workout for a month! It got a little easier the third time around, but my muscles always burn big time for this one.

Insanity Day 53: Max Cardio Conditioning

emilyinsanity — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:15:01 +0000

This workout is a lot tougher if I don’t take a mini break between every exercise. I developed that lazy technique last month to get through Pure Cardio. Unfortunately, I started too late to have time for both the conditioning and the abs workout, but I’ll add it on to my workout tomorrow or when I do core cardio and balance next week.

Insanity Day 52: Max Interval Plyo

emilyinsanity — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:13:12 +0000

I definitely lost some muscle mass last week from taking it easy, and today was tough. However, I pushed through. Hopefully going from 6 workout days to 5 won’t make that big of an impact.

Insanity Day 51: Max Interval Circuit

emilyinsanity — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:37:21 +0000

With three full circuits, this is my least favorite workout of month 2. However, I think with the break I took last week, I was able to push harder than I normally do and it wasn’t so bad. By the end though, my muscles are totally worn out.

Insanity Day 50: Fit Test

emilyinsanity — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:03:25 +0000

I had a rough time getting through insanity last week, since I was sick and all, and I’ve decided to transition into my long term insanity plans. basically, I’m going to extend my insanity calendar by a week, doing all the workouts in order, but with Wednesdays and Sundays off. Don’t worry, I’ll keep posting my workout experiences right here.

Transitioning to this format also lets me take the occasional day off, based on my calendar (such as weddings or holidays). Plus, going one extra week will mean my first week after insanity, when I was planning on doing a recovery week, will line up with Thanksgiving.

So, about that fit test. The good news is that in the second month, I’ve been steadily losing weight — much more so than in the first month, which I can only attribute to my increased muscle mass burning more calories and my “corrected” appetite. (I’m going to look so much better in my “after” photo when I finish up before Thanksgiving!) After a week of being sick and only fitting in 3 insanity workouts, though, my fit test numbers are not where I’d like them to be:

Day 1 – 15 – 36 – 50
Switch Kicks 55 – 50 – 62 – 50
Power Jacks 32 – 50 – 51 – 47
Power Knees 80 – 109 – 104 – 100
Power Jumps 60 – 51 – 40 – 53
Globe Jumps 7 – 8 – 10 – 8
Suicide Jumps 8 – 8 – 9 – 7
Push-up Jacks 10 – 12 – 15 – 14
Low Plank Oblique 35 – 45 – 52 – 40

In every category I went down from last time, but most are improvements over the initial numbers. I think as I transition into doing long-term insanity, I might opt to only do the fit test between 63-exercise day intervals. My numbers seem to fluctuate based on day and mood, so it’s not as good an indicator. However, once every 60 days or at the end of every month might be a good time to check-in to see my overall progress.

Insanity Day 49: Max Cardio Conditioning & Abs

emilyinsanity — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:17:51 +0000

I finally got to this workout — it was a bit tough this week being sick at all. I finally did it, although it was way tough and I was very light headed. Hopefully I’ll have more energy for it next time! It was nice to do something familiar — the cardio abs routine is the same as the first month.

Insanity Day 48: Core Cardio & Balance

emilyinsanity — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:23:47 +0000

I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, so I did the core cardio & balance workout instead of max cardio conditioning & abs, which I’ll do tomorrow. It felt good to sweat a little, but didn’t hurt too bad.