Ending The Insanity - Sort Of

So at some point last month I completed Insanity. I ended with more of a whimper than a bang though. First I went on holiday again and so I missed a few days, and then I got slightly ill - nothing serious, in fact I was able to exercise a couple of days, but I knew I wasn't at full form. So I actually didn't even do the final fit test, which part of me felt was a bit of a cop-out (especially as Eve posted her final results especially for me on Twitter!), but the larger part of me thought would be silly to do as I wasn't fully functioning, so what would I rally be testing?

The strange thing is, Insanity had become so much a part of my life that there was more a feeling of emptiness than of completion. I knew that I would no longer have that daily routine of working out to an exhaustion high. No longer would I have that daily sensation of sweating from every pore in my body - I mean, I've had sweat run down my back before when working out, and I've even had sweat run down my legs - and with Insanity during the summer, sweat dropping off my nose wasn't unusual - but sweat running in little rivulets down my FOREARMS??!! That was new in the last month of Insanity.

BUT - I knew I had to do something different to another round of Insanity. Whilst my cardio capability has gone through the roof with it, I was well aware that my legs and arms had lost strength. I also found that I was gaining weight rather than losing it - and not only because I was constantly starving hungry, because I'm actually pretty good at ignoring hunger if I have the motivation. I think it's just something about my body - it needs muscle to burn fat or something, and too much cardio sends it fatty. It sounds mad, but I think it is true!

So I've started using P90X, another Beachbody programme. I began by following a hybrid routine of P90X and Insanity that I found on the Beachbody website, but I found I preferred to mix it up my own way. What I do currently is alternate P90X and Insanity during the week, roughly following the hybrid programme, but doing one more 'normal' Insanity and missing out the cardio recovery/X-Stretch - then at the weekend I usually have more time so I do P90X Kenpo or Plyo, then cardio recovery or  X-Stretch or Yoga-X. And I usually have one or two days off exercise a week.

After Insanity, P90X actually seems really slow on the weight workouts, so I have printed out the routines and once I've run through them with the DVD once, I just do the routines myself watching Corrie or whatever, and do it way more continuously - no pausing or hanging around. Even so, the weight routines and abs take about an hour to get through. I'm already feeling the benefit, feel stronger again, can see more definition on my triceps and on my shoulders - the guy has even the women doing chin-ups etc. Not that I can do even one full chin-up or pull-up, I have to use a chair, but that is my new goal - I WILL be able to do a chin-up by the end of this!

I've also found that I'm not losing my cardio ability - I was initially shocked at how much easier the Insanity workouts were the second time through. I really did think the second month's workouts were easier than the firsts, and yet coming back to those first month workouts, I was much better able to do them this time around. And I'm still improving. So I'm thinking I'll do the final fit test at the end of this P90X/Insanity hybrid to see if I've continued to get fitter - because although I was aiming at maintaining fitness, I can see that there are places to improve strength, and maybe that will improve my cardio performance too?

As for Insanity - I cannot recommend the programme enough. Not as a first step into fitness, but as a follow-on to something like Jillian Michaels it is perfect. It is a lot of money, but if you compare it to a gym membership - well, I was a gym member, and despite being 13 years younger and spending two hours in the gym daily doing various classes and using the machines, I was not as fit as I am now. Insanity did that, and for me that makes it a BARGAIN.

So that's where I'm at right now with my fitness. Feeling really good. And only slightly obsessed :-)

As Insane As Ever, If Not More So

Today was my penultimate Insanity Fit Test. Now I seriously was worried that there was no way I could have improved on my last results, cos I had really been pushing it, and in the past 2 weeks I've been on holiday, ate like a pig and not found the workouts anywhere near as difficult as the first month's were. So I was fully expecting this to be bad. With all this in mind, I decided to get it over with first thing.

Since I can hear you holding your breath in anticipation of my results, I'll tell ya now, I SMASHED IT!.

Tanya, well, she is old news, she is left WAY behind. But I have a new target in my sights. For just before I began Insanity, so did a fellow blogger, Eve at Who's That Girl. Not that she blogs about it, cos she has a life and stuff. And she is nominated for a Cosmo Blog Award, so just you nip on over there, have a read and maybe a vote and I'll see you in a bit......

(This is a musical interlude while you read Eve's blog)

....aaaaaand BACK! 

So anyways, Eve made the mistake of twittering her fit test result. And it was better than mine. Red rag, meet bull. Now anyone who thinks that this would not result in an outbreak of complete competitive meltdown in me clearly hasn't been following how dementedly screwed up I am about being the best at anything of no value whatsoever. At Pictionary (or indeed any board game), punctuation and grammar, A Levels, and, of course, ridiculous physical challenges that pique my interest like the Insanity Fit test (and indeed the physio school circuit training in first year), I am OBLIGED to be the best. Not MY best, THE best. 

So, how did I do?

Here are my results, with last time's results for comparison, and how I did compared to Eve, cos I beat Tanya on every single one of these babies:

• Switch Kicks 70/72 Eve wins. Tho I was saving myself cos I suspected I would struggle later.
• Power Jacks 65/67 DAMN - one away from Eve, but I hadn't checked her scores beforehand and knew I only had one to get to beat Tanya, so again I was holding back still. Not next time......
• Power Knees 124/136 I WIN, I WIN, I WIN!!! (It's really not pretty, is it?)
• Power Jumps 41/45 Nowhere near Eve. I am IN AWE of her score here, dunno if I will ever get there.
• Globe Jumps 11/13 Eve wins again, and my last globe was decidedly dodgy anyway!
• Suicide Jumps 19/23 I WIN AGAIN, I am great, I am the best! (someone slap me)
• Push up Jacks 32/49 I'd already beaten the world and his dog on this one. I do strongly suspect this is actually 39 and I miscounted though. My killer triceps RULE!
• Low Plank Oblique 101/121 Again, I'm the best ever at these, and last time I thought I wasn't doing it right maybe, so I watched Shaun carefully on the set-up and went what I thought was quite slow and careful through them, so really not sure what's going on here.

But the main thing is that I am so much better than I was last time. There's no way I could have got these scores last time, I know I was pushing to the max then, as I was for all but the first two on these, I am really gonna push to get those up for the last fit test when Insanity is over.

However I am thinking Insanity will never be over for me. After the fit test, I went off to work - hydrotherapy. This is usually knackering, and I'd decided to save the other half of today's Insanity, the one hour Max Interval Training, until tomorrow. After all, the Fit Test is 25 minutes long, which is a workout in itself. Yet when I got home from hydro, I felt so full of energy that I went and did Max Interval no problem at all, probably the best I've ever done it. It IS my favourite DVD of the lot of them  (and probably my favourite workout ever), but this is the thing about Insanity that makes it so addictive - doing it makes you full of energy.

So I am definitely going to keep on working it into my routines. At 48, I am without doubt the fittest I have ever been in my life, and I fully intend to stay that way, because I don't want to die and I don't want to be a frail old lady. Insanity has improved my fitness, but it has also changed my sleep patterns and my emotions - I really do feel relentlessly happy most of the time. I have nothing but good things to say about it. 

"I'm smiling cos I LOVE IT!"

A Month of Insanity

Tanya sees the results of my 3rd Fit Test

I'm now in Month 2 of Insanity, and so far (three days in) I'm finding it even better than Month 1 - and here's why.

During Recovery Week, I had a day over the weekend where I had time to kill, so instead of the Core Cardio and Balance that I was supposed to be doing, I did Jillian Michaels 'Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism' (BFBM) and 'No More Trouble Zones' (NMTZ). That's about 80 minutes of working out, and was the best I could do before doing Insanity. BFBM was a walk in the park. This is the one I always found most challenging, and this time I did it no problem at all, and my plyo moves were noticeably LOADS better - I could actually cross my feet on the scissor jumps, which I'd never been able to do before. I didn't find anything difficult, and so was feeling really good heading into NMTZ, cos that one used to be quite easy for me.

I DIED. It involves weights, and I'd been using 3lb weights before Insanity, but had been considering moving up to 5lbs as I wasn't straining in any way. Well this time the 3lb weights were killing my shoulders so much I couldn't do the leg work at the same time, it was agony! So the results of Month One of Insanity appeared to bear out my initial thoughts - my cardio was vastly improved, but'd lost almost all of my upper body strength. 

So the rest of Recovery Week, I was doing some Jillian Michaels and Cindy Crawford too, to build back some muscle. 

My other problem was weight. When I started, the weight wasn't an issue at all, I was doing it to be fitter and for the challenge. But since Insanity caused me to PUT ON weight, it then became about the weight. I'd go up and down, but considering the effort I was putting in, and the amount I was eating (began logging it in case I was eating an insane number of calories, and I was usually under 1200), I should have been LOSING. I even began to wonder if I was doing something wrong, as all the weight was on my stomach. I look a bit pregnant. I have fibroids (that I choose to ignore), and I worried maybe they were growing into big fibroid babies?

So I was dreading the 3rd Fit Test. As it happened, I decided to start Month 2 a day early, as the suspense was killing me, and I had more free time on Wednesday than Thursday to do the Fit Test and first workout. So here are the results of that fit test. Read 'em and weep, Tanya, read 'em and weep:

Switch Kicks - 2nd Fit Test 68/3rd Fit Test 70 - I'd beat Tanya anyway by Fit Test 2, so happy with this

Power Jacks - 43/65 - Equal with Tanya!

Power Knees - 114/124 - Really annoyed with myself cos I thought I was way ahead of Tanya and slowed at the end to conserve some energy (see, I really have the wrong attitude, it's all about beating her instead of beating me!). I'm still convinced she lied when she claimed 125..... ;-)

Power Jumps - 33/41 - Equalled her again!

Globe Jumps - 9/11 - Equal again

Suicide Jumps - 18/19 - Tanya has 23, I'm still way off on this one

Push-up Jacks - 30/32 -Equal!

Low Plank Obliques - 71/101 I was already ahead of her here, but I got so many this time I'm wondering if I am doing it right, I might have to check before my next fit test, was a bit too not bothered to do it this time!

So I consider myself well-placed to beat her by the end of the programme. She was so annoyed, she didn't turn up for the Max Interval Circuit ;-)

I actually find the new workouts much more suited to me - I really enjoyed the Max Interval Circuit, even though I was doing it after the fit test, and the Max Cardio Conditioning is brilliant (even if I am doing some of the moves so slowly that it could possibly be perceived as having come to a stop). The Max Interval Plyo is vile, vile, VILE, but that is the exception so far. What is a real boost is seeing that I wouldn't look out of place in their gym (workout-wise, not body-wise; no-one wants a so-pale-they-are-practically-transparent hippo in the exercise vid). I am better than lots of them actually. I think because I have more strength, and now the moves need strength rather than cardio, I am coming into my own more. I'm looking forward to getting my triceps back.

Things I dislike: I HATE those side-to-side hops on the warm-ups. I spend each round dreading them and the way they make my legs shake! And I can't do that push-ups to stand thing, just can't get the co-ordination. I think it is because I have deformed calves.

I am also worried. Shanita hasn't appeared since Pure Cardio. I think Shaun T has actually killed her by workout.

But happiest of all, weighed today and am back to usual weight, and the belly is decreasing (this may be my imagination, and I may still be hearing the patter of little fibroid-baby feet in future, but I am an optimist by nature). So I am happy, and looking forward to the next month :-D

More Insanity Thoughts

Last week I blogged about the Insanity Workout, and another week in I am still completely addicted, but thought of a couple of other things I wanted to say.

Things I Hate About Insanity

1. It makes me so hungry. For some reason, my body seems to convert large amounts of salad into fat way more efficiently than it converts small amounts of chocolate, chips and cheese into fat. So I am eating more normally and healthily than ever before, and I am gaining weight, which is a pain. But I need food to workout, so it is a catch-22, and I am too focussed on fitness to pack it in and go back to teensy food again.
2. Those couple of minutes about 4 minutes in, in between 'this is easy-peasy and I am better than Tanya' and the adrenalin rush caused by extreme exertion. Usually on about the second run through the warm-up. I feel breathless and fed up. However, I think I have found the way to beat it (apart from Shaun T's excellent breathing suggestion where you take a deep breath and then blow it out hard), and that is to work harder so the adrenalin kicks in sooner. The same when I start the first exercises after the stretch - when the tiredness comes, it really does work to 'power on through'
3. Nearly the end, especially if I am doing those ski-abs or in and out abs. It makes my legs shake for some reason, and it bugs the hell out of me that I am limited by my legs, cos I feel otherwise ok. But I can push on through cos it is near the end.
4. I actually worked so hard on Saturday that I wet myself. This was not one of my proudest moments, but was luckily near the end, because to my shame, I didn't even stop, just pulled my leggings off and carried on!
5. The Sweat. Especially in this heat. I sweat so much that I could probably have got away with wetting myself even in a class situation. :-O

Things I Love About Insanity

1. Despite how hard it is, I have never had any aching muscles. This may be because I was very physically strong before starting (I shall find out how much strength I've lost next week, cos I intend to do some Jillian Michaels on the 'rest week' as I can't see me doing the same Insanity DVD every day, I will get bored). But I suspect it is more to do with how well and when Shaun T stretches. He doesn't do the usual rubbish thing of doing a half-hearted cardio warm-up where you don't even have to open your mouth to breathe, before jumping into the boring stretching that goes on forever and does bugger all. Or even worse, do stretching with no other warming up. You have a bloody good sweaty hot workout, and then you spend a god 5 minutes stretching nice, warm, elastic muscles. Then you stretch again at the end. Re-doing my 1980s Jane Fonda Workouts recently, I noticed that this is how we used to stretch in those days. The stretching was much more an integral part of the workout, rather than something you do right at the beginning because there's this idea that you are somehow meant to do it, so better get it over with. Insanity is like that - you do the stretch really well and are glad to be doing it because it is a nice breather. I can see how much my flexibility has improved.
2. That's another thing - you see improvement each time you re-do a DVD. It's really motivating
3. Shaun T is a brilliant motivator and he also makes me laugh.
4. When that adrenalin rush hits, it's like I am FLYING. I go to a different place - it's like a meditation state, I don't feel like I exist, I just am 'in it' and doing it and it's bloody brilliant. Yes, a point then comes when I'm about to collapse again, but that's nearly the end, and by the end I am euphoric, however bad my day has been. I love the feeling. I look forward to my workouts, even though they are hard.
5. I feel like I know the people in the DVDs. It's like going to a class with my (pretend) mates. Yes, I enjoy looking down on them (or envying them), but I am also becoming quite fond of them all, in a funny way. 
6. Just like when I was doing Jillian Michaels, it now seems like everyone I know is doing Insanity. But you know what? I secretly suspect I am the one who is improving the best ;-) This won't matter to anyone as I will be 20 stone by the time I finish at this rate.

So there we go. If I sound obsessed, it's because I am. Actually cannot wait for the new challenge of the second month - only a week and a bit to go.....

Insanity. And the Workout Too.

Ok, so remember when I wasn't going to get obsessive about exercise but was going to fit it in around my life? Well, things have gone a little pear-shaped on that front.

It was the whole Jillian Michaels thing. I found I was surprisingly good at getting fit, and was actually finding her DVDs too easy. [Gratuitous bragging alert!!!] I could do her 40 minute Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism DVD and her 40 min 'No More Trouble Zones' DVD back to back without any problem. I wanted a new challenge.

So I bit the bullet and started Insanity.

I only almost died doing the Fit Test. I know I should have been expecting it, but after Jillian, I was genuinely the fittest I have ever been, so I thought I'd not do too bad. I suppose I didn't do too bad, but I am way too competitive, and that Tanya woman became my nemesis in those 25 minutes. I became DETERMINED to beat her. So much for my plan to just intersperse Insanity into my other DVD workouts. I was going for the full experience - and I WAS going to beat Tanya!

The food thing was never really part of it - but the strange thing is, I suddenly found I was eating healthily. Salads were once more in my menu - and even more bizarrely I began to crave fruit. I don't do fruit. Some fruits (grapes, the horrid little green bastards!) disagree with me violently and faecally. Others bloat me and give me wind (plums, apples, kiwis, figs) but nevertheless I have found myself eating and enjoying them. Not grapes tho. I forgot the effect they had on me with severe and unpleasant consequences last Friday. Never again. Fruits of Satan.

So, Friday was my second Fit Test, cos me being me, I don't follow it religiously - I have my day off on a Tuesday, and often have to have an additional day off too, depending on work (see, I'm TRYING not to be obsessive). And I beat Tanya!!! Ok, only on the first and the last exercise, but hey, that's only two weeks in (ish), and I am 48 and I bet she isn't.

I am, however, increasing in heifferdom by the day. Can't work it out really, but I think my body prefers a diet of small amounts of cheese, chips and chocolate to large amounts of salad and fruit - I am eating more than I have in ages. So after an initial drop of a couple of pounds, I have put back on four - hence 2 pounds up overall, and no loss of inches either.

I also suspect my upper body strength is less, and last week I added in some daily ab work, because I could tell my abs are suffering. But my cardio fitness has improved massively, I see a change every time I workout. I am now the best in 'the class' at the warm-ups (in my opinion, which isn't very humble, it has to be said), and I can hold my own on the rest of it too. Put it this way, I now look down on Shanita's efforts. I can't help myself. It's a very unattractive trait, but I like feeling superior, especially when it comes to fitness cos I was always the fat kid no-one picked for teams at school. Well, BET YOU'D PICK ME NOW, SLOBS!!! Ooops, like I said, REALLY unattractive.....

I'm expecting the muscles to return in month two, which is apparently when most people drop out because it kicks up a notch again. But I am not a quitter, I am determined and I am gonna beat Tanya!

So here are my fit test results for my Insanity compatriots perusal:

Week One/Week Two
Switch Kicks - 112/136 (take THAT, Tanya!)
Power Jacks  -   38/43
Power Knees - 90/114
Power Jumps - 21/33
Globe Jumps -  9/9
Suicide Jumps - 16/18
Push Up Jacks - 26/30
Low Plank Oblique - 50/72 (HA! Beat Tanya again!)

I find myself yelling along with the class, and pushing on through, and for sure it has me digging deeper than any workout EVER. And I LOVE IT!