CoachBioArt

I did it!  I survived 60 days of INSANITY!

I’m not going to surgarcoat it… it was hard!  It took my body about a week to recover at the end so that the deep muscle pain would go away… That being said, the results in my fitness level are impressive.  Check out the improvements in the fit test on my previous post.

In terms of visual improvement, check out my continuing progress… The first 6 pictures are from the first rounds of P90X and P90X+/1-on-1.  The last 2 are after 30 and 60 days of INSANITY!.

I didn’t lose that much weight (~10 pounds), but the change in my legs and arms is pretty nice (lost between 2 and 4% body fat).  I can run faster than I ever could and push-ups are a breeze .  It is important to note that I did not follow the INSANITY! diet on purpose.  I was already doing a 1750-2000 calorie diet and my goal wasn’t necessarily to lose weight, but to significantly improve my aerobic fitness.  I’m sure that if I followed the diet, I would have lost more, but again, that wasn’t the goal.

In terms of the program, it was great.  The workouts were entertaining, and didn’t take that long.  I figured that I would be spent after every workout, and I was half-right.  It was physically exhausting, but I felt great after each one.  The Intervals were very well done. My HR was up when it had to be and it was easy to do the three different levels… here’s an example workout as recorded by my Polar RS800CX monitor.

HR Max: 176, HR Avg: 146, ~880 cals in 1 hr – WOW!

The workouts really picked up after the first month.  Not only were they longer, but they were more intense… Even the warmups got harder.  I’ll admit that on more than one occasion, I really wanted to quit during the workout (even during the warm-ups a few times), but I stuck through with it and felt so much better because of it.

BTW, Shaun T’s cues are great, you can tell he is working hard and its fun to see the rest of the players push it too.

I did have to make a few changes at the end.  I was pushing hard enough that I had to take a day of rest here and there during the week, but that allowed me to continue.  In addition, once Rugby season started, I had to do YogaX or XStretch the day before the game, otherwise I would have nothing left for the games.  That “rest” day payed off, My speed and agility were unequaled… I was everywhere on the field! It felt great, I no longer had to think about pushing to get there, I just got there.  I’ve never had so much fun!

One thing I miss is the lifting, since I lost some of the P90X strength.  I am now (after 1 week of taking easy), restarting P90X as a P90X/+/1on1/Insanity Hybrid.  I will do weight training 3 days a week and a Max INSANITY workout or other interval training twice or thrice a week.  I will also do one of the Yoga workouts once a week as a recovery workout.  Stay tuned…

The fit test consists of doing each exercise for 1 minute and counting the number of reps.

For some of the exercises, a rep consists of more than one move. For example, the globe jump is 4 jump squats: right-back-left-front

The first number is how many I did on day 1 of the program (after doing P90X/+ for about 6 months). The second number is how many I did on the last day of the program, which was about 65 days later… what can I say? the program kicked my butt, but it got me in great aerobic shape!  Full review and before and after pics coming soon!

• Switch Kicks – 40:70
• Power Jacks – 40:60
• Power Knees – 85:132
• Power Jumps – 20:46
• Globe Jumps – 7:12
• Suicide Jumps – 10:16
• Push Up Jacks – 24:40
• Low Plank Obliques – 45:65

Go check out The Healthy and Fit Algorithm, written by Adam Gilber of mybodytutor.com
It is a very good collection of hints for eating well and staying fit.   Yes, you’ve heard most of the points somewhere else, but here, they are nicely put together…

In particular, I love the first three dealing with exercise:

Do it 4 times per week for at least 30 minutes. Seriously, doesn’t matter. Basketball, jogging, weights, push ups, etc. Unless you have a specific goal just make sure to get it done!

The two day rule! You can’t miss 2 days of working out in a row. You can skip one day. But not the next!

Don’t let the “Exercise Monster” build up. When I don’t do laundry for a while it becomes what I like to call the ‘Laundry Monster’. It builds up in my mind and I avoid doing it at all costs. Until finally, I have to. And it’s never as bad as I think it’ll be! Don’t let it happen to you. Follow the two day rule!

My old rugby coach used to say: “For every 2 days you skip, you lose a day of work”   This means, that if you only work out three days a week (skipping 4) it means that you really once worked out once a week.

Similarly, one of my favorite Tony Horton’s quotes is: “If you are going to only work out 3 days a week, you might as well throw yourself down the stairs… you’ll be just as sore and no more fit”

As you can see… these things are all telling you the same thing.  Work out 5-6 days a week (even if you don’t kill yourself at it).  The benefts of doing some physical exercise almost every day are bigger than what you get from any single day.  In other words, the sum is greater than the parts.