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:
Alaska Trip
United was running specials on airfare to Alaska so one of my friends suggested we take a trip to Alaska. It seemed like a good idea, so I did. I missed seeing the Aurora Borealis in the night sky and missed seeing the reflecting pool in Denali, but still managed to see many, many things.
After you finish reading about my travels or if you just want to see the pictures, you can view them here.
Day 1 (Wednesday) - Travel from Austin to Anchorage and then to Seward
The flight to Alaska was an Austin to Denver to Anchorage flight, so I got to kill three hours in the Denver airport, which is pretty hard since the wireless signal isn't very strong anywhere in the B Terminal area that I could tell. After arriving in Alaska and meeting my friend we went and grabbed some dinner (at 10:30pm) at Fire Tap Ale House before heading out to Seward. Seward is about a three hour drive from Anchorage and at night, it moves pretty quickly. The drive is also supposed to be one of the most scenic highways in America, however, at midnight to 2am, I couldn't tell you much other than it is really damn dark, there will only be a few cars out, and you can actually see stars in the sky. Which was pretty cool. We finally arrived in Seward at 2:30am which is (as I found out in the light) a really small town. I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it seems like Seward was only a few city blocks. This left us a good 4 hours for sleep until we got to hop onto a wildlife and glacier boat cruise tomorrow (or later today depending on your view).
Day 2 (Thursday) - Seward
My first full day in Alaska got off to an early start: 6am. After a rather poor continental breakfast, we had a hotel shuttle take us down to the Kenai Fjords tour building so we could check in and hop on the boat -- and this was at 7:30am, since we thought the tour started at 8am. However, it turned out the tour started at 9am, so we had an hour or so to kill. Since I was depressed with the breakfast we asked for a suggestion on where to get some breakfast. The workers at Kenai Fjords told us to try Railway Cantina and their breakfast burritos, so we did. Now, price-wise I found it a little high, but like all the food in Alaska it all seems a little pricey. The breakfast burrito was quite tasty though and it hit the spot although it felt funny eating Tex-Mex food in Alaska (being a little snobby, it isn't Texas Tex-Mex, but it was good food).
After the decent breakfast, we still had time to burn, so it was easily burned in the Helly Hansen store attached to the Kenai Fjords tour building. Now, I suppose it makes sense, since well, you might not have dressed appropriately to sit out in the cold weather for 9 hours and Helly Hansen makes some nice outdoor gear. After looking at all the gear, it was about time to get onto the boat. So we made our way out to the docks, where I saw an awesomely named boat: El Patron. And some awesome bumper (stern?) stickers that said: "Kill Fish" and "Burn Diesel." The boat itself was a fairly large ship with a lot of deck and interior space.
The boat ride itself was definitely full and it got really cold on the water.. especially when they started cruising at 22 knots. The cruise was long and I felt I got my money's worth with over nine hours of time on the boat we saw bald eagles, sea otters, sea lions, puffins, seagulls, orcas, and humpback whales.. and this was just the wildlife. There were also glaciers, waterfalls, and various islands, where you find out they have great names for islands like: Guano Island and No Name Island. The tour pulled back into port right at 6:00pm and it was then time to find dinner.
For dinner there were really two choices: Ray's Waterfront or Chinook's Waterfront. Looking at the buildings, we picked Chinook's. I ordered Salmon stuffed with Alaskan King Crab because it sounded wonderful. When it arrived it looked great, and then I took a bite of it and I completely changed my mind. The salmon was very dry and not what you expect when you pay about 30 dollars for an entree. They offered to have the entree redone for me, but after hearing multiple people around me send back their fish, I settled on a cheeseburger. When that arrived it was a little crispy, but I was so hungry I just added enough mustard to the hamburger to tolerate the taste. I don't know if this was an aberration on their food or not, but this was enough to turn me off to this place if I ever go back to Seward. The beer I got was very tasty though, so that was at least the one bright spot in the meal. After the meal it was about 8pm and I decided to call it a night, since I'd only been running on a few hours of sleep before checking out some hiking trails in Seward the next day then driving to Denali.
Day 3 (Friday) - Seward and the Drive to Denali with a Stop in Anchorage
Friday started early as we took a trip to the National Parks Station near the docks to find out where we should hike. The ranger on duty suggested Exit Glacier a few miles away where you can see the Harding Ice Field. We decided to do that so we headed out to Exit Glacier and decided to hike to the toe of the glacier and then attempt the hike to the Harding Ice Field. Hiking to the toe of the glacier was a nice fairly easy hike and I got a lot of good photos of the toe. We then attempted the hike to the ice field. And I couldn't make it up to the bridge (0.6 miles away), I was seriously not ready for it. I was carrying my camera and three lenses along with a fairly heavy bag. About 30 pounds of gear and water along with a fairly intense start (over 100o foot climb in the first mile) I realized I couldn't make it. So my friend and I turned back after I had finished my 32 oz. of water, which I think was about half way to the bridge.
We then started off toward Denali, with a stop in Anchorage for REI and a good lunch. At the REI, I looked for a new backpack that I could wear during the mountain biking we were going to be doing in Denali and still be able to carry some of my camera gear. We can say that I learned more about appropriate hiking gear this trip than I have in a long time. At the REI, I picked up an Osprey Manta 20 backpack that had a 100oz (3 liter) water pack and 20L of storage space. As an awesome bonus, Anchorage has no sales tax which was completely awesome. I'll talk more about the Manta later (since it is a very, very nice backpack). For lunch, we ate at Simon and Seafort's and it is totally worth it. The food here was awesome and I highly suggest eating here if you're in Anchorage (I ate here twice). I ate the berry field medley salad, chili-smoked tiger prawns, salmon, and a fresh-berry cobbler with their Chardonnay Flight (Columbia Crest, Clos du Bois, and Sonoma Cutrer Russian). The Clos du Bois was the Chardonnay was the one that was well worth it; the other two were very meh. We got out of Anchorage around 5pm or so and started out toward Denali, only 250 miles away. The trip to Denali is pretty, but also the most empty stretch of road I have ever seen. There is no cell phone reception and no radio stations for most of the trip. Oh, and Wasilla is a tiny damn town. We ended up buying some food in a small supermarket and wow, some food in Alaska is expensive, just like the gasoline.
The drive however, took a long time thanks to the road being completely repaved so we didn't actually get into the hotel until 2am, at which point we found out, the hotel booked the room for the wrong night -- luckily they were able to get us into another room. We prepared for the next morning and then went to bed.. the morning was coming early again. The hotel we stayed at was not worth it -- and I can't remember the name right now, or I'd tell you not to go.
Day 4 (Saturday) - Denali and the drive to Alyeska (Girdwood)
Denali, now here is the reason I really wanted to go; to see Mt. McKinley and see the Alaskan tundra. The plan was to rent mountain bikes, get into the park when the bus opens, make it to Eielson then ride our mountain bikes 20 miles to Wonder Lake hike around there then catch a bus out of the park. As you can probably guess, it is not how it happened.
We showed up at the bike shop around 7am and no one was there. We called them and said they'd be there soon, so we waited. When they arrived, they didn't know how to rent us the bicycles, and had to wait for another person to show up. Which was another 10 minutes or so. The person showed up and then took care of some other people who arrived after us before helping us.. so we had to wait even longer. Needless to say, we missed our bus into the park. We also found out that they weren't going to drop us off at the visitor's center like they initially told us. So we biked to the Visitor's Center a few miles away. At the park, around 9:15am, we had to ride stand-by on the bus and hope we found one that would take us close to where we wanted to go -- and we weren't going to be able to take the bikes.
We did have a bit of luck and got a handicapped bus that had a life and section for people in wheelchairs. Since there were no wheelchairs, we managed to get our rented bikes onto the bus. So, something good did happen in the morning. The bus ride into Eielson was three hours long and we saw a lot of wild life, some that I actually took pictures of. I didn't bring my 100 - 400mm lens since it wouldn't fit into my Manta 20 pack. I brought the landscape lens and the close by lens. Looking back, I should have taken my landscape lens and the 100 - 400 mm lens. Once we arrived at Eielson, we asked the park ranger stationed there how long it should take to get to Wonder Lake and he said we should be able to make it before the last bus that was able to take us out was leaving. With that we hopped on our bikes and took off down the gravel road.
The bike ride wasn't bad at all, however, we only made it 11 of the 20 miles to Wonder Lake, the bikes we rented did not have the basic maintenance performed on them and then chains kept slipping meaning every mile or so we'd stop and hop off the bikes and put the chains back on the gears. Really not what I wanted since I really wanted to see Wonder Lake, I did end up seeing some nice scenery anyway so I can't say I left completely disappointed. Around 3:05pm is when we stopped biking because that was the time the last bus leaving Wonder Lake would be coming by us. So we sat at the side of the road for about an hour since all the buses were running a little late. We then had a nice hour bus ride out of the park and back to the visitor's center.
We arrived at the visitor's center around 8pm and then had to bike back to the bike rental place and grab some dinner. For dinner we ate at Prospector's Pizza, a local pizzeria and ale house (just a note, but almost every Alaskan-owned restaurant is also an ale house). The pizza was expensive, but quite tasty and when it came down to it, it was a great idea to have it, because after eating we headed toward Gridwood and Alyeska.
I started out driving toward Alyeska at 10pm, which you're probably thinking, damn that's late. And you'd be right. However, in Alaska it doesn't actually go completely dark until midnight or a little after, so I got to drive about two hours in the light until it went pitch black. I made it all the way to the south side of Wasilla before I asked my friend to finish off driving to Alyeska. We made it to Alyeska at 3am, and as you can guess, it was going to be another short night, check-out time at Alyeska was noon.
Day 5 (Sunday) and 6 (Monday) - Gridwood, Anchorage and The Plane Rides Home
Now, you'd think after getting into Alyeska at 3am I'd be sleeping as much as I could, however, I ended up getting up at 9am and getting everything packed up for the plane ride home and getting my backpack ready for a hike up the mountain at Alyeska. We checked out of Alyeska and grabbed some lunch at Maxine's Glacier City Bistro. I was not overly impressed with Maxine's at all. The food was decent, but for my money I would have liked a little more food. After we finished up at Maxine's my friend was still hungry so we decided to try another place to eat: The Bake Shop. I'd love to say we ate here and the food was great, but that'd be a lie. There was a line out the door and the food was seriously overpriced -- just like every other resort restaurant I suppose. We decided to not eat there and just head back to Alyeska and take the tram up to the mountain.
Once we were up on the mountain we hiked to the highest point allowed where I actually stood in some snow. Something I haven't done in a damn long time. We were also above some of the clouds, so my head was literally in the clouds. It was so ridiculous that I took a picture of it, me wearing pants and a heavy jacket up at the top of the mountain because at the base of the mountain you'd be comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. After meandering around the top of the mountain for a while, we hiked back down to the tram and rode it down then headed back toward Anchorage.
After an almost nasty crash and an hour later, we were at REI in Anchorage (I'm not going to pass up the chance to buy gear with no tax and no shipping). My friend said, "We're gear whores" and I'd have to agree, there is always tons of neat stuff at REI to buy. I ended up with a new long sleeve shirt from Arc'Teryx and another shirt by Moutain Hardware that the REI in Austin stopped carrying (I liked the Arc'Teryx shirt so much, I bought the short sleeve version of it too). I also picked up some luggage packing cubes to keep my clothes sorted during travel, plus when the TSA goes through your luggage hopefully they'll be able to pack it back the way they found it. I got out of REI relatively unscathed, my friend however, didn't fare so well.
Finished with the REI, it was time to grab some dinner and I chose Simon and Seafort's, again. This time we had to sit in the bar area since it would be an hour wait to sit in the restaurant side. This time my meal consisted of: Clam Chowder, Salmon stuffed with Alaskan King Crab and Macadamia nuts, and bread pudding for dessert. For my drinks I did the Pinot Noir wine flight (Beringer Third Coast, Pencarrow, and Erath OR). The clam chowder was decent, the Salmon stuffed with crab and macadamia nuts was amazing and the bread pudding left me a little sad. I knew better than to order the bread pudding, but even with mediocre bread pudding, it still isn't bad. If you're ever at Simon and Seafort's and they have Halibut cheeks on the menu, I highly suggest buying them. They were great (even though I only had a bite). Dinner was finished around 8pm (I think) and at that point we made our way to the hotel where my friend was going to be staying since it was going to be doing more sight-seeing in Alaska. The hotel was nothing to write home about and in fact, I'd probably stay away from the hotel, it wasn't in the best looking neighborhood (but it was damn close to the airport). Around 10pm we headed out to the airport so I could have extra time in case the airport security gave me any trouble like in Austin when I left.
If you've never seen The Ted Steven's Airport in Anchorage, it is completely ridiculous how nice it is. I'm sure a lot of federal money was spent making it. I hopped on the Anchorage to Denver flight on time, couldn't get any sleep because the person beside me was a complete jerk and arrived at dinner hungry and grumpy. A quick McDonald's breakfast (I never thought I'd be happy to see a McDonald's) I made my way back to the terminal for the flight into Austin. This flight was much smoother and much more comfortable.. I still didn't get any sleep however. I will say that United does a good job of having flights running on-time and efficiently and Economy Plus is definitely worth it, however on the Anchorage to Denver flight, I would have killed for First / Business class just to stay away from that jerk of a passenger. Even though the time difference was only three hours I'm still recovering from the time zone difference... I was tired, but happy I went and if I ever go back I know I have a list of things to see and do, and I'll definitely plan to spend more than a few days there.
Random Thoughts about the Trip
Now, my random thoughts of what I'd do different when going on this trip
- Packing
- If you're going to be doing a lot of hiking or outdoorsy stuff, I'd come more prepared than I was. I thought I had everything, but when it came down to it, the Osprey Manta 20 backpack was a lifesaver. I had hiking sticks and the right layers and such, but not having the right backpack was an issue.
- Know where you're going so you can choose the camera lenses to take with you appropriately. I realized in Denali my 18 - 55 mm lens was completely worthless and I would have been better off carrying my landscape lens and the zoom lens.
- I packed in a carry-on sized bag, which made packing a bit of a challenge, but knowing what I know now, I would have not packed my jeans and just packed my two pair of technical / hiking pants since they were the pants I wore for the entire trip. That would have saved a lot of space in the bag.
- The packing cubes are a nice thing and I'll definitely use the next time I travel. They do a good job of keeping everything in order.
- If you're packing camera equipment, I found my Mountainsmith Borealis AT bag to be a great way to bring the camera equipment as carry-on luggage. If was able to fit my DSLR and three lenses along with a some reading material and my laptop computer.
- If I was staying for more than a week I would have checked a larger bag but packed with the same idea as the smaller bag.
- The Trip Itself
- It was a lot of fun, but we were rushing from place to place, which although OK, it was a little hectic trying to make it from place to place at night. We did the best with the time we had allotted but now, I'd take it a little easier so we could travel during the day.
- I'm definitely a fan of Economy Plus and now I'm thinking I'd almost buy two seats beside one another so I can keep annoying passengers away from me.
- Food and gas is expensive in Alaska and if you're going to drive place to place, be prepared for a lot of driving
- Most people don't understand how to drive nicely on a two-lane highway. People would have stacks of cars behind them and keep motoring along like it was no problem. What ever happened to pulling to the shoulder to left faster people pass you?
- People RVing clog up the highways and a lot of them were the reasons for the two-lane highway issues.
- For Denali, decide what you want to do because that'll change what you pack. I shouldn't have packed what I did and I probably should have planned for two trips to Denali, one to mountain bike around and then another just to take pictures.
- Things I missed
- The auroras, they weren't very active and I really needed a trip to Fairbanks to see them.
- Wonder Lake in Denali
- The Harding Ice field
- Lots of other cities that are supposed to be beautiful
The bottom line: It was a lot of fun and I would go back despite the negatives.
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.
Insanity Week 6 Review
Here we are the start of the second month of Insanity and where it supposedly gets really, really hard.
Monday: Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit
Here is my review of Max Interval Circuit before I realized why I was feeling so crappy on the July 4th weekend:
Umm, wow. Max Interval Circuit definitely upped the hardness of the workouts. I burned 1033 calories with an average heart rate of 163bpm and a maximum heart rate of 184bpm. I had to take breaks at the end of a few of the circuits cause I was completely burned out. However, a short break and I was able to push through it again. I'm sure I'll start feeling better about these workouts the more I do them. So for the first time doing these, I think my results are fairly good. Oh, and the warm up routines in this are what some of the circuits were in the first month.. so yeah, its hard.
The July 4th weekend I'd been feeling completely run down and I was amazed I was able to knock out the workout on Monday. Today I had so much stuff going on that when I was done with all of it, I didn't even have enough energy to do the workout. This is the same sort of feeling I got when I was coming off the honeymoon phase of being diabetic the first time and it appears to be happening again. So I'm going to watch my blood sugars very closely the rest of this week and see if it is the case and I'll have to start wearing the OmniPod and being a full-blown diabetic again. If it is the case, I have to say it was a nice run with another honeymoon phase.
And here it is now:
As I said before, it is hard, I burned 1111 calories with an average heart rate of 164bpm and a maximum heart rate of 186bpm. I didn't feel as powerful and into it as I was on that Monday, but I think it is due to the two weeks off recovering and getting everything inline. I'm sure as I get back into the swing of things it'll become easier even if the workouts still kick my butt.
I'm skipping the Fit Test this week since I don't think it'll do me any good since I've had the two week layoff.
Tuesday: Max Interval Plyo
This one is tough just like Max Interval Circuit. He loves push-ups of all types, I counted about 4 different types of push-ups and all of them hurt! I survived though, so it obviously wasn't too bad. I forgot to start up my heart rate monitor until 2/3s of the way into the warm up, so I can only assume I burned about 300 or so (which is what I normally burn in the first 2/3s of the warm up -- which brings my calorie burned count to ~1100 calories, with an average heart rate of 154bpm and a maximum heart rate of 184bpm. I'm sure I'll think of something more to say about the workout, but right now, I'm pretty dang tired.. until tomorrow.
Wednesday: Max Cardio Conditioning
Max Cario Conditioning is insane, they don't have any breaks and there are no sets once you're past the warm-up and stretches. I was doing really well until about 15 minutes left when it felt like all the energy had drained out of my body. There is no way this should have happened so I pulled out the trusty blood glucose tester and found out my blood sugar reading was 67 mg/dL (it should be ~100 mg/dL). Needless to say, I had to stop and find some sugary goodness right away. A few handfuls of M&Ms later and I was feeling a bit perkier but it wasn't enough to let me finish the workout. I got about 3 minutes until the cool down stretching and had to call it quits. I still managed to burn 660 calories with an average heart rate of 145bpm and a maximum heart rate of 178bpm. I'm going to have to play with my insulin pump and probably shut it off completely when I'm doing any sort of strenuous workout to hopefully prevent something this severe from happening again. Also, more carbs the better, since I'm obviously blowing through them with these workouts.
Thursday: Max Recovery
They should just call this one Max Yoga. I burned 725 calories with an average heart rate of 126bpm and a maximum heart rate of 180bpm. Overall this was one of the harder workouts since all the poses had to be held for a long time and it really started to burn the more the position was held. What bothers me the most about this workout was at the end Shaun T said "This was Cardio Recovery" and I'm damn sure I pressed "Max Recovery" on the title menu... have I been doing the recoveries in the wrong order?
Friday: Max Interval Circuit
This was a late night routine, I didn't get the chance to do this one until close to 9pm.. which is when I prefer to start winding down for the night and reading (yes, my Friday night was lame this week). I did get in a good 3+ mile bike ride with my dog, Einstein, before my workout, so I was coming in pre-warmed up. However, I always do the workouts straight through and this time was no different. I manager 1215 calories burned with an average heart rate of 158bpm and a maximum heart rate of 182bpm. I'm getting the hang of the workouts again, but at the same time, I'm glad I'm on the last month because the workouts are getting really repetitive.
Saturday: Max Interval Plyo
Unlike yesterday with its late workout, this one was nice and early. I burned 1126 calories with an average heart rate of 152bpm and a maximum of 181bpm. It wasn't as bad the second time around. I think the more I'm familiar with it, the easier it will be to get more out of the routines. Afterward, I worked (with some help) on my 911 creating a front splitter and installing the headers and exhaust system.
General Week Six Thoughts
I don't have much to say other than if you're a type I diabetic, keep track of your blood sugars through out the workouts. When your blood sugar goes low, you'll know it and it takes a while to recover from the low blood sugar (longer than the workout in my case).
- Get a heart rate monitor
- If you're diabetic have your blood glucose tester close by
- Drink Gatorade and not water.. the sugar helps
- I can see why this is a 60 day thing and not 90, it starts to get really repetitive.. but it does work. When I start up on P90x I might substitute in some of the Insanity plyo and cardio workouts instead of the P90x ones... but I'll give P90x's a shot before I switch it up.