Your workspace could be hazardous to your health
If you're like me, you spend a lot more time than you should sitting in a chair in front of a desk typing on a computer keyboard looking at a computer screen programming, writing technical specification documents, leading demos, doing email, or just surfing the web. The one thing you're not thinking about is your workspace, and I have news for you -- you should be thinking about it. Chances are, you're slouching in your chair right now, surrounded by a lot of paper, books, speakers, or you're sitting with a laptop on your lap reading. I've got news for you, it isn't good for you. There are few things you can do to help clean up your workspace and be more productive and in better health for it.
The first item I'd worry about is a nice chair. You spend so much time in, why skimp on something that is going to last you at least 10 years if not more? For the longest time I'd been sitting in a chair that I'd had since high school and it wasn't very comfortable. It was downright annoying to sit in, then I read this article from Coding Horror and realized I agree with his three main points:
- Chairs are a primary part of the programming experience
- Cheap chairs suck
- Chairs last
As an additional point of reference, I finally gave up on my old chair and purchased a HumanScale Freedom Headrest chair after sitting in many other chairs to see what felt the best to me. For me, the Freedom chair works perfectly because it allows me to recline while working, yet keeps my spine, arms and neck in alignment though its ingenious "second spine" down the back of the chair. It also has very few adjustments which I really like. I want to sit in a chair and be comfortable in a few minutes, not spend a week to a week and a half tweaking every setting.
When sitting in a chair you should have your knees, hips and thighs all in the same plane while your feed are flat on the floor. If you want armrests (I advise you to get them), they should position your elbows close to your waist when used. Finally, the seat of the chair should be slightly wider than your hips and thighs and slope downward in front leaving a 2 to 3 finger gap between the seat and the back of your knees when sitting correctly. Remember, however, a chair is a personal choice and I would suggest you sit in as many chairs as possible since what is good for one person might not be the best for another. It's your rear end in the chair for the next 10+ years 
so make it count. Again, go out there, sit on a lot of chairs then make your choice.
Now that you've attained chair nirvana, it is time to get that proper seating position. An improper seating position can lead to a whole host of problems: numbness in the fingers, lower pack pain, sore wrists, eyestrain (leading to headaches, blurry vision and a mess of other nastiness), and general fatigue in the arms, legs, shoulders and thighs. Hopefully you're sufficiently scared enough to work on making changes to your seating position.
The proper seating position consists of a few settings: chair, table or workspace, monitor and posture. The proper seating position for the chair, which was discussed in about a sentence previously, is that your feet should be flat on the ground, knees, thighs and hips horizontal to the ground and your back straight. The workspace should have your keyboard a centered on your body and a few inches above your thighs such that the angle at your elbows is "open" or around 90 degrees so you get circulation to your fingers, your upper arms should be perpendicular to the floor and your wrists nearly straight. The monitor should be placed about an arms-length away from you and the top of the monitor should be at eye-level and out of any light that will cause reflection or glare on the screen. Finally, a few pointers on posture in addition to everything else. Your ears, shoulders and hips should be in line. Your arms should hang relaxed from your shoulders and your wrists and hands should be in line with your lower arms.
A clean, quiet, and efficient workspace. I've found (as have many other people) the clearer and quieter your workspace is, the easier it is to concentrate and do work. I'm not saying there should be nothing on your desk except the bare essentials (I'm not that Zen), a knick knack here or there won't hurt any -- just don't go overboard. There are numerous examples of how to clean up your workspace, so I won't bore you with my ideas of cleaning up the workspace.
Insanity Final Fit Test and Overall Review
A little late, but here it is...
Welcome to the last bit of Insanity, my final fit test and review of all the disks included in the package.
Sunday: The Final Fit Test
So, the Final Fit Test.. here is what I've done before, and what I've reached:
| Exercise | Count #1 | Count #2 | Count #3 | Count #4 |
| Switch Kicks | 62 | 63 | x | 70 |
| Squat Jacks | 46 | 46 | x | 50 |
| Power Knees | 59 | 80 | x | 90 |
| Power Jumps | 21 | 32 | x | 35 |
| Globe Jumps | 7 | 11 | x | 11 |
| Suicide Jumps | 9 | 15 | x | 16 |
| Push Up Jacks | 5 | 20 | x | 25 |
| Low Plank Obliques | 30 | 38 | x | 44 |
Overall Review
I believe Insanity! was completely worth doing. It provided fun workouts and Shaun T wasn't annoying so listening to him for six days straight for nine weeks wasn't bad. The first month of workouts all burn about 600 to 700 calories a workout, then in the second month, the workouts burn over 1000 calories. The second month really, really, really sheds the fat. Of course, the intensity of the workouts are on a whole other level.
I'd suggest that if you can't hack the second month to redo the first month to build up the needed endurance and strength to handle the second month. The second month of workouts are definitely aimed at people who are in great shape and just need that last little push to remove some of the stubborn fat from their bodies. If this isn't you, I think doing the first month again is a good idea because you know you can handle the first month routines and pushing yourself harder in those is going to do you good.
Now, for the things I didn't really like. First the warm-ups were good, but I didn't like getting my heart rate really high and then just stopping to do stretches after nine minutes of warm up. I didn't hurt myself during the warm ups, but I'm pretty sure it could happen and that would just stink given you could have easily done 3 minutes of warm up, do the stretches then finish the last 6 minutes of the warm up. The stretching I liked, I thought they did a good job of stretching out the muscles you are going to use for the workout.. with one exception. They never stretch out the calf muscles. So I ended up stretching them out myself since you're doing so much jumping and bouncing side-to-side and up-and-down that it well worth the extra 20 seconds to stretch them out. Another big issue is no where do they explain how to do the exercises correctly. I would have liked to have seen a disk where they only showed the exercises in a slower pace so that you could see exactly what made a good rep vs. a bad one or ways to modify the exercise if you couldn't do it exactly because your arms or legs were feeling like rubber. The one last thing that annoys me is the glut of Beachbody trainer run sites that all say the same thing and don't give a good thing saying what they do and don't like about the workout. They just repeat the exact same thing over and over and over.
I would recommend Insanity to people as a way to lose weight; however, there are caveats. First, you need to be able to jump and hop and move around fairly well for it to be effective. Secondly, you need to be a self-motivator. You are not going to survive or even finish Insanity otherwise. Thirdly, following their food plan is good and all (it isn't that poorly planned out), however, for some people it might not be very optimal (e.g. type I diabetic, etc). And lastly, be prepared. It is hard, it is harder than any other workout I've ever done. I've sweated more, I've jumped up and down more, and I've done more push ups in two months than I ever did before. Also be prepared to modify some of the exercises and stretches since you know your body better than someone on a DVD. If a muscle is tensing up, pause the disk, stretch it out, and go back to it.
Individual Disk Reviews
Insanity! comes with 10 disks in the normal package, 12 in the deluxe package and 13 in the highest package. Here are my thoughts on each of them:
Disk 1: Dig Deeper and Fit Test : This is the first disk you'll watch when you get started on Insanity. It'll give you the generic pep-talk and tell you to be ready to work harder than you've ever worked before. You'll see the Fit Test multiple times, so get used to it. It isn't that hard and it'll move really quickly -- just keep a pen and paper or a laptop computer near you when you're doing it to record your results.
Disk 2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit : This is one of the standard routines you'll see a lot of. At first it seems like a lot to take in, but by the end of the first month, you'll still be tired at the end of it, but feeling a lot better. I think it's called plyometric since you're supposed to be hopping up and down more in this one than others; but with how fast you do all the routines, they really start to blend together.
Disk 3: Cardio Power and Resistance : They tell you these are power moves, but like I've said before, a lot of the exercises all feel the same. This one does put more emphasis on doing the exercises with explosiveness which should help build the lean muscles (assuming you do them right).
Disk 4: Cardio Recovery and Max Recovery : Calling these two routines recovery is a misnomer. Recovery is sleeping and resting, not doing exercises. Anyway, the cardio recovery is used during the first month, while max recovery is used during the second month. I concentrated on doing all the exercises perfectly as opposed to trying to keep up with all the people on the disk. Neither of the routines ask you to do anything extraordinary so take it for what it is, and stay relaxed while pushing yourself just a little.
Disk 5: Pure Cardio and Abs : For some reason, I really enjoy the pure cardio disk, even though there are no designated water breaks. As with all the Insanity disks, it starts out easy (somewhat..) and speeds up while asking you to put as much power into it that you can. You'll be drenched in sweat by the time the cool down stretches occur. However, once they're done, you'll be wondering why you haven't started another workout. Of course, that is where Cardio Abs comes in. It is a quick 16 minute abs-centric workout with a quick warm-up (since you're already pretty warm from your previous workout) and then right into exercises. There are no crunches, but it is still really rough. I liked it though.
Disk 6: Cardio Abs : I don't know why they put it on a disk by itself, when it is on disk 5.
Disk 7: Core Cardio and Balance : I liked this workout a lot and wished it was in the regular rotation of workouts instead of seeing it six times in a row. It does a lot of balance-type exercises along with some exercises that really freaking burned.
Disk 8: Max Interval Circuit : Think of the interval circuit stuff above, then add an additional set of exercises. The warm-up routine also changes slightly, you'll find yourself doing exercises in warm-up that you were doing as part of the main workouts in the first month. The workouts definitely turn it up a notch in the second month.
Disk 9: Max Interval Plyo : I never knew there were that many ways to do push-ups... now I do. Be prepared to be worn down, the workouts now start pushing a full hour and they don't slow down then speed up as in the first month. You push pretty hard to really hard -- not learn the exercises to really hard.
Disk 10: Max Cardio Conditioning and Abs : Welcome to the cardio conditioning routine that lasts about an hour with no set water breaks (take breaks btw). It is rough like all the Max stuff, but you'll find yourself getting accustomed to the routine near the end much like the first month. It'll be bad, just not as bad.
Disk 11: MAX Interval Sports Training : Now, these last three disk come if you picked the crazy-insane-deluxe-edition or whatever they call it. You don't need them to finish Insanity, they just add a little variety. This one is tough, and I almost felt like not doing this disk and dropping back to the one they suggest when you do it the first time, but since I'm stubborn, I did it anyway. He uses a lot of exercises from various sports so if you've ever seen football drills, basketball drills, or taken a martial arts class a lot of the exercises won't seem so foreign to you (a good thing).
Disk 12: Insane Abs : Instead of 16 minutes abs workout, you get 33. You also get more of a warm-up and a much longer routine. I can't say there is much more to write home about than that. It is harder than the first abs disk of course, but you're used to it by now .
Disk 13: Upper Body Weight Training : Imagine doing the moves you've done before, but with free weights.. you've basically got this disk down. I'm not so sure how I feel about this disk, even after watching it a few times. Maybe once I go through P90X I'll have a better view of what I think of it.
Weekly Review Logs
You can also read over my weekly workout logs here:
Insanity Week 9 Review
Here it is, the homestretch, what I've been playing for. Only seven more days and I'll have completed Insanity! You'll notice that I'm not talking a lot about the workouts, right now. I'm saving my thoughts on all the workouts for the final review of Insanity so I can write about each one in more detail to describe them in more detail.
Monday: Max Interval Plyo
Well, got the new desktop in today, set it up, and did Max Interval Plyo on a nice new screen. It looked nicer I suppose, but in the end, I was still sweating the same amount as before -- so it wasn't some magical device that would increase the amount of calories burned while reducing the amount of sweat. Calories burned: 1138, average heart rate: 157bpm, maximum heart rate: 188bpm. Also did a two mile bike ride with the puppy, so a little extra burn to the burn I already had.
Tuesday: Max Cardio Conditioning and Insane Abs
Another killer workout today, but damn, it feels great! Calories burned 1397, average heart rate: 155bpm, maximum heart rate: 186bpm. And as you can already guess, on top of all this was a two mile bike ride with Einstein.
Wednesday: Max Interval Circuit
Again, Max Interval Circuit, boy do these workouts seriously wear you out. But, it is kinda funny, a few hours later you feel like you could go do them all again. I suppose it is the joy of cardio workouts. They drain you out quickly, but a nice rest and you're ready to go again. According to Mr. Polar FT-7 Heart Rate Monitor, I didn't burn nearly as many calories as I thought I would have at 1097 (I must have been taking it a little too easy), but, everything else seems to around normal in terms of heart rates, average: 157bpm, maximum heart rate: 189bpm.
Thursday: Max Interval Sports Training
Here I am, at Max Interval Sports Training again, should be my third time, but ended up being my second time. Calories burned: 1236, average heart rate: 155bpm, maximum heart rate 188bpm. Like before, a sweaty hard workout, that in the end is enjoyable (if only for the results). Only two more workouts and then the last fit test.
Friday: Max Interval Plyo
Calories burned: 1211, average heart rate: 155bpm, maximum heart rate: 189bpm. One more day. Oh yeah! Didn't get the chance to run with dog today (but don't worry, he got his run without me). Tomorrow, the last day. Max Cardio and Insane Abs! Then Sunday, the final fit test, then a trip to Alaska, then starting up P90X.
Saturday: Max Cardio Conditioning and Insane Abs
Yes! The end! And even better I finished two projects on the same day: Insanity and the fuel cell installed, the new headers installed and splitter installed on my 911. A very productive day -- I even managed to make sausage balls and cookies as well. Look forward to tomorrow when I do the final fit test and give a review of every disk in the Insanity series and what I thought of them. Oh, before I sign off on Insanity completely: calories burned: 1298, average heart rate: 158bpm, maximum heart rate: 191bpm. I'm glad I did this workout inside, it was stupidly hot outside and in the workshop where I was working on my 911.
General Week Nine Thoughts
It's over. I gave myself a pat on the back. But there is still more to come. Being at 11% body fat and skinny is good, but a little less than 10% and having muscles is even better. So there is my new goal with P90X. A little more fat loss and more muscles. And now, the infamous bullet list of things:
- Heart rate monitor
- Gatorade
- Blood Glucose tester nearby (if you're diabetic)
- Keep pushing, it does end. And you'll feel better for it.
- Setting goals is easy, keeping them is hard.
- Any extra cardio you can do is an even better thing. For instance, my bike rides with my puppy (not so much a puppy anymore, but he still acts like one).
Insanity Week 8 Review
Well, after missing the last two routines last week I look forward to doing all of them this week. I'm feeling really good about this -- only two more weeks. I still feel that my fit test is going to be a little messy and not near where it should be, but oh well, I'll deal with it. I'm feeling really good though, the amount of fat that has been knocked off is pretty crazy and I'm looking forward to begin adding some muscles to my body. Maybe I'll be nice and throw up an after picture for Insanity when I've completed it all.
Monday: Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit
Another day I missed, thanks to my desktop deciding it'd be the perfect day to die. It seems like fate doesn't want me to finish right now. Do I tempt it and workout in front of the TV and risk smacking my head on the fan while jumping up and down tomorrow? At least I got a nice bike ride in tonight.
Tuesday: Max Interval Plyo
Well, I modified this one some so I wouldn't jump up into the fan in my TV room, so the calories burned and such might not be as high as normal when I have full range of motion / movement. These are getting a little easier because I've seen them before, but they are still hard. But, it is all about eyes on the prize and being done and in very good shape. Anyway, calories burned according to the trusty heart rate monitor: 1124. Max heart rate: 183 bpm, average heart rate: 156bpm. I also did a bike ride as well -- Einstein won't let me forget those -- and it was a nice few mile bike ride. I should have worn the heart rate monitor for that just to see what sort of calories I burn on the bike ride, maybe tomorrow.
Wednesday: Max Cardio Conditioning and Insane Abs
It seems like everything is happening all at once and I don't know why. Why can't life just understand that it needs to make things happen more serially than parallel? Either way, not that big of a deal, I still managed to get the workout in along with a bike ride (where I still forgot to wear the heart rate monitor on the ride). The Max Cardio and Conditioning and Insane Abs workout seriously burned up my muscles and according to the heart rate monitor (which I wore for this, but not the bike ride...) says: 1476 calories burned, 162bpm average heart rate, 189bpm maximum heart rate. The Insane Abs was just that.. and to think they have an Insane Sports Abs or something like that (don't have the disks near me so I can't remember the name) which I'm thinking has got to be harder.
Thursday: Max Recovery
Not much to say here, it still burns, and I still don't see why they call it recovery. Since recovery to me implies sleep or resting instead of sweating bucketloads. Ah well, such is life. The survey says: 975 calories burned, a maximum heart rate of 181bpm and an average heart rate of 159bpm. Max Recovery hurts a lot in some of the moves and it makes me feel really damn weak near the end when it hurts to even do some of the simple exercises that at the beginning I could easily do. And now for a bonus, I busted out the skinfold calipers to see what my body fat percentage was and I have 11.23% body fat, placing me into the "athlete" category, which is nice, but I want to be better than that.
Friday: Max Interval Circuit
Well, I missed it on Monday, but I did it today. I burned 1322 calories, had an average heart rate of 162bpm and a maximum of 183bpm. I really prefer the circuit stuff to the work out straight through for an hour since the resting for 30 seconds is really freaking nice.
Saturday: Max Interval Sports Training
Ahhh, the first of the Sports * disks that came with the Insanity! Super-deluxe edition. What horror has been brought on this disk for us to work out to? It brought a lot, I don't even think I need to tell you, I had a hard time keeping up with it. As with all the other routines, I'm sure it'll get easier in time.. but initially, its a shock. Calories burned 1097, average heart rate 158bpm, maximum heart rate 191bpm. I'm glad tomorrow is a rest day; working on my car outside in addition to doing this, makes for a long hot day.
General Week Eight Thoughts
The Sports Training is rough, but I bought the super-duper-all-the-dvds edition of INSANITY! and figured, might as well try them all out, cause hey, why not? This is probably not the right way to go about it, but ah, well. I did it anyway. Only one more week and I'm done! Now for the random bulleted thoughts:
- heart rate monitor = yes, please
- CGMS = great to have, but give yourself a rest on it every-so-often, your sides will thank you
- Gatorade = better than water if you're diabetic. You'll easily work off the extra sugar it introduces into your system
- I think Insanity is great, but I think it needs to be mixed in with something else besides cardio to really keep you from getting bored. Which leads to the idea of muscle confusion, which leads to P90X, which leads me to an article I read stating muscles don't start getting used to an exercise routine until 12 weeks. So, really, P90X isn't about muscle confusion as much as it is about keeping you from getting bored out of your mind by mixing it up every month.
- I've actually gained weight while doing Insanity, but I've lost a heck of a lot of fat on my body.
- If you have an iPhone with the GPS, RunKeeper Free is a nifty app that uses the GPS to track your runs/walks/bike rides and then gives an estimate on calories burned.
Insanity Week 7 Review
Only three more weeks. It is beginning to feel like the homestretch of this entire crazy thing.
Monday: Max Cardio Conditioning
Thanks to a wonderful thunderstorm, we had no power for most of the day and night. So, no chance to even do the workout. I hate to have to punt on a thing like this, but not much that I can do. Stuck dealing with the whims of the power company. Then there was the whole messing with the dead OmniPod PDM. Some days, I just love technology.
Tuesday: Max Interval Circuit
Another day, another workout. I can see why P90x switches it up each month. Variety is the spice of life. Anyway, 1229 calories burned. Average heart rate of 160bpm and a maximum of 181bpm. I still like Insanity, I'd just like a little more variety in the workouts. I think once this is over and I knock out P90x, I'll definitely like mixing it up with some of the P90x routines.
Wednesday: Max Interval Plyo
Wasn't as bad as the first time I did it, however, I forgot to throw on the heart rate monitor. Chances are it'll be close to last week's numbers (I blame it on all the other stuff happening this week). I did this after a wonderful Wine Wednesday at Spec's. Nothing like a Wine Tasting followed up by a workout.
Thursday: Max Recovery
Yeah, call this Max Yoga. This has got to be the hardest workouts I've done in Insanity; and I'm barely moving for most of it. I burned 731 calories with an average heart rate of 127bpm and a maximum of 179bpm. At least tomorrow will be a moving around day with Insane Abs (whatever Insane Abs) consists of.
Friday: Max Cardio Conditioning and Insane Abs
Relatives came in today so I didn't get a chance to do the workout like I had hoped.
Saturday: Max Interval Sports Training
As with Friday, relatives were here. I don't think I'll attempt anything on Sunday since I've devoted Sunday to being a physical rest day regardless of anything else.
General Week Seven Thoughts
I have to say that the second month is definitely a lot harder than the first month. I don't think its a bad thing, since I'm getting used to it. However, I putting more time into eating better so that should also help me trim up some more. I'm not going to go the Drew Carey no carbs diet since that is just crazy.
- If you're a type 1 diabetic and don't have a CGMS, it is worth considering (especially if insurance will pay for it), you can easily see what your blood sugar readings are at a glance and don't have to worry about pricking yourself. I have a Dexcom Seven+ and really like it.
- Heart rate monitor, heart rate monitor, heart rate monitor
- I'm biking as well as doing the Insanity workouts. I think any extra exercise is a good thing.
- The first month of the Insanity workout really knocks the easy fat off of you. The second month really aims to knock off that remaining stubborn stuff, but you'll really want to look into eating more healthy at this phase. I still don't buy eating about 1600 calories a day while doing this exercise routine, I'm easily burning 700 to 1200 calories in a single workout.
Dying OmniPod PDM
I always love getting woken up by a loud annoying beep in the middle of the night. It is even better when it is the device that sends commands to the insulin pump currently attached to your body. And... it gets even better when it decides that it has had a massive error and gives you the option to reset it or continue listening to the annoying beep. So, I reset it. Which then becomes even cooler, because it makes me remove the Insulin pod I was wearing for some reason unknown to me but known to the device. So I pull off the insulin pod, reset it and go to back to sleep.
When I wake up, I found out the PDM (Personal Diabetes Manager) has decided to die again -- for about the tenth time in the past few days.. while on fresh batteries. This necessitates a call into Insulet's (the makers of the OmniPod) tech support. After a few simple questions they decide to overnight a new PDM along with a return label for the one I have that doesn't want to work. Which is completely awesome. However, (no fault of Insulet's) I'm stuck using insulin pens for today and maybe some of tomorrow. I'm really not a fan of sticking myself 4+ times a day in the gut. Just really doesn't seem like the best insulin delivery system.