60 Days Later: Insanity Results!

7-23-2013

I can officially say I have completed Insanity! For anyone who ever doubted the validity of those before and after pictures you see on the advertisements, I present to you my own before and after. I’ll be honest, before we started this program I was skeptical of all those pictures. Surely they were just put on the commercials to make the program look good, right? They were probably photo-shopped or something, right?

Wrong.

If those people really put the work into it, then those results are 100% possible. As for myself, I’m thrilled with the outcome. Do I still have a few areas I’d like to work on? Sure, I’m always a work in progress, but this was just the beginning. Did I make one hell of a head start? You’re damn right, I did!

Now for the logistics.

Total weight lost: roughly 4 pounds. I’ve been holding steady at 130.

Total inches lost:

Thighs – about half an inch. I can feel significantly more muscle there, so I know it went from flab to muscle with little to no circumference lost.

Waist – just over 2 inches

Hips – about an inch overall

So, not huge, out of this world numbers. However, I’m not disappointed in the least! The pictures speak for themselves here. The numbers can only show so much change. The pictures and physically seeing and feeling the difference is where it really counts. If this is the kind of change I can see in only 60 days, I can only imagine what Asylum is going to do!! For now, I’ll be taking a few days off then jumping back into Day 1 of Insanity until Asylum gets here. I’m officially lost without my daily dose of Shaun T. At this point, he’s my best good friend who I’ve gotten used to seeing on a regular basis. My best good friend who kicks my ass every chance he gets and somehow I still love him for it.

The best part? Not that I can wear clothes that I haven’t been able to wear since before Ryleigh was born, although that’s certainly a plus. The best part is being able to pat myself on the back and say I stuck with it. Did I have days when I was kind of sick of it? Sure, but they were few and far between. This whole process has shown me that I have what it takes to stick to something like this and not give up because it got hard or I got tired. Now, to be honest we did skip a few days here and there and we didn’t follow the nutrition plan, but honestly with the results I got out of it, I’m not going to nit-pick at the few slip ups we had. I love being able to look at those “after” pictures and go, “Wow…did that body really give birth to two giant babies?” That’s pretty awesome, I’ll admit. Yes, there’s still some loose skin that needs to be dealt with, but that takes time and I’m giving it all the time it needs. After all, I did have two rather large babies. The loose skin and stretch marks are part of their stories. The marks are fading and the skin is slowly tightening back up, but I’m more than willing to accept that it may never get back to my old flat stomach.

All in all, I can’t say enough good things about Insanity. It’s hard as hell but it’s so worth all the of sweat, pain, and frustration. Next up is Asylum, so stay tuned for when we start that! 

Almost Done! (Insanity)

This is our last week of Insanity! We've made it through almost two full months of the hardest exercise I've ever done in my life and, surprisingly, it's gone much faster than I expected it to. The one thing I look forward to most is doing my before and after picture. I can see a huge difference in my stomach, so I'm curious to see just how much of a difference there is. I know from doing the occasional comparison picture of my abs that there's quite a bit of definition there that wasn't before, but I'm curious to see what the head-to-toe pictures reveal.

The funny this is, when we first started Insanity I was sure I was going to hate it and have to force myself to get through it. I've actually come to enjoy it. The biggest hurdle is motivating myself to actually just do it, but it's not that I don't want to do it. I just have other things I would rather do. So it's a challenge to just make myself work out, not to make myself do Insanity if that makes sense. Once I'm actually in the middle of the workouts, I'm usually enjoying myself. It's hard work, obviously, but I enjoy it. Last night was Max Cardio Conditioning again and I'll be honest and say that was the first time I've ever actually thought, "Okay, I'm done for the night." But the second I turned it off, I felt this overwhelming sense of disappointment with myself. Now, please keep in mind that it was 87 degrees in our living room with the AC on, so it was like working out in a sauna. I'm going to go on record and say that was 100% of the reason I almost quit. My heart rate was through the roof 98% of the time and my temperature felt like it was hovering somewhere around 400. I knew it wasn't healthy to really push myself in those kind of conditions. But, there were only 17 minutes left out of a total of 47 minutes. If I'd made it that far, I might as well just finish it. I got angry with myself for even considering quitting, turned it back on, and rocked the hell out of those 17 minutes. Then I had so much of an endorphin high that I went right into Cardio Abs. I didn't do the warm-up for that, mostly because I was having problems getting my legs to move the way they were supposed to. I tried to do it, but my quads were completely dead and I couldn't lift them even to jog so I gave myself a break before getting into the ab routine. By the end of that, I was dead, drenched in sweat and pretty damn proud of myself.

Today, my upper abs are sore and the rest of my body is just tired. I've been focusing on packing in the protein as much as I can because I know my muscles are probably starving for it, along with water. I've discovered my new favorite breakfast - Bear Naked Granola Morning Power Packs. There's 8g of protein in one tiny bag which is perfect and it tastes amazing! My plan is to start adding it to some Greek yogurt in the mornings for some added protein and to change the taste up a bit to keep it interesting. As far as water goes, so far today I've gotten about 51 oz down. I know the general rule is half your weight in ounces each day, which would put me at roughly 65 oz, but with as much as Insanity makes me sweat I try to get at least 100 oz in to replace some of the fluids I lose with all that sweat. That's a good thing, though! I don't regret the sweating. I'm all for it. That's all the toxins and crap seeping out of my pores and leaving my body so I'm 100% down with that. But it's important to replace the fluids lost otherwise I'll get dehydrated and start to backslide. No bueno.

So, as of Sunday we will officially be finished! Sunday is the final fit test and after that, we'll be able to say we did the whole thing. Granted, Doug's done it before in the past, but I'm looking forward to being able to say I've done Insanity from beginning to end. And you better believe I'll have a shirt to prove it!!

And I Thought "Pure Cardio" Was Bad...

6-28-2013

**Started this one yesterday (Thursday). MCC was done Wednesday night**

Then I met Max Cardio Conditioning, which is basically what happens with Pure Cardio gets picked on as a child and grows up to be a very angry adult with a vendetta and a plan for swift, brutal revenge. Whoever picked on Pure Cardio, effffff you. I'm fairly certain that falling off of a cliff would be more appealing than surviving another round of Max Cardio. I say "surviving" because my brain kicked into survival mode around the 20 minute mark. After that, it took a lot of convincing to make myself keep going. I took breaks. Lots and lots of breaks. At one point I intentionally sat out an entire move just so I could have a full minute-ish to breathe. I may have stumbled upon the perfect mixture for making myself less sore the next day though, because today I'm not all that sore. When we finished the workout, I mixed one scoop of Muscle Milk Cookies 'n' Creme protein powder with about 12 ounces of coconut milk (yum!) then took a hot bath with about four pounds of Epsom Salts.

That's an exaggeration.

It was more like 2 pounds.

....that's not an exaggeration.

Either way, my glutes aren't sore today, aside from when I'm getting up from my chair. Considering how sore I was yesterday and add in the fact that Max Cardio legitimately kicked my ass, I should be sore today as well, but I'm not. My upper back is still tight and slightly sore, but nothing like it was yesterday. Pecs, shoulders, and under my armpits (which, through some research, I've learned is called the Serratus anterior muscle!) are still sore, but I expected that. I didn't soak my whole body in the bath, just my legs up to my waist. So my upper body is understandably sore.

Warm up.

Alright so, same format as usual. Three sets for a total of ten minutes. The first two sets were comprised of the typical Max warm-up routine.

Jog. Jumping Jacks with straight arms. Jump Rope S-S. High Knees with arms extended. Switch Kicks. Hit the Floor. S-S Floor Hops. Repeat once.

My quads and the muscles just above my knees are still having none of those Floor Hops. It's not my knees themselves, it's the actual muscle around the top of my knee that just burns for a few seconds and then completely gives up (that could be my brain telling it to give up because it hurts. Shut up, brain!). But I did more of them than I did either of the other days I've done them, so there's some progress. I'm not certain if it's physical or mental progress, but progress is progress so I'll take it.

The third set reverts back to the warm up from month one at your highest intensity level. Each move is performed for 30 seconds which was an ideal length of time because I could go as close to all out as I dared and not get burnt out too quickly.
Sprint.
Jumping Jacks- normal, swinging arms.
Heismans - I miss doing these!
123 Heismans.
High Knees - I rocked these! 30 seconds is usually my burn out limit with High Knees so it was perfect. I had taken it somewhat easy during the rest of the warm up because I knew the actual workout was going to be intense, so I didn't want to give my all warming up then die 10 minutes into working out. But that stored energy gave me the boost I needed to get through the full 30 seconds of High Knees. I hated these at first but now they're one of my favorites!

After the warm up is the first of only three water breaks. You read that correctly. I said "three water breaks." That means once the workout starts there are no breaks, no stopping, no rest until the end of the workout. Then you can have another water break. As per usual, the water break is followed by 5 minutes of stretching and the second water break.

Then the madness begins.

High Low Jab with Squat: go into a squat, throw a side jab low, then leap up, and throw another one high.

Football Runs: hands out before you, mini-sprinting on tip toes, drop to a push up, then back up to sprint. These suck. Big time. I'm not quick enough (yet) to do them at the same pace, which should be understandable but it frustrates me. However, practice is the only way to get better at them so, here's to doing them better next time.

B Ball Shots with Squat: from a squat, leap up to shoot a basketball 4 times, then hop turn around while maintaining squat to repeat. I didn't do too shabby with these, but I'm going to venture a guess that it was due to my having done next to none of the Football Runs, essentially giving myself almost a full minute break. 

Right and Left Kicks: straight forward front kicks to hip height.


Diamond Jumps: these are brutal! Leap up high, hands over head, and tuck feet in under your butt. I'm not coordinated enough for these, so I spent a lot of time studying the form and talking myself into at least trying them. That worked all of maybe four or five times.

In-Out Push Up Jacks: these are rough-4 in-outs were you hike your knees in, and then 4 push-up jacks where you do push-ups with legs kicked out wide. 

Suicide Jumps: from a push-up, jump your knees under your chest, then leap up and grab sky. I tried these, I really did, but by this point I was dying. 


High Knee/Low Sprints/Floor Sprints: simple yet brutal: eight high knees, then eight sprints, then eight floor sprints. These I rocked. Something about High Knees pumps me up. Maybe because they remind me of how far I've come. I love pulling my knees as high as I can. Even the low sprints were kind of fun. Dropping into the floor sprints sucked but once I got those out of the way I popped back up for the High Knees. I didn't do them the full amount of time, but I gave 110% on the ones I did do.

Ski Abs: from a push-up position, jump your knees up one side, back, and then up the other. I think this is when profanities started swirling around my head, the most popular being "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" Ski Abs aren't horrible. Ski Abs after already being tortured just plain suck.


*Kick Step Back: front kick, then step back, and reach down to the touch the ground. These are supposed to be a "recovery" move designed to keep your body moving but not at such a high intensity level as the previous moves. I modified them to be "Sitting on the floor watching Doug do them while I gasped for air and tried not to die". I liked my version better.


*Squat Twists: Bounce feet together, standing straight, then fall into a squat and touch opposite hand to foot. Another recovery move. Not horrible after taking a pretty decent break.

*Over the River Hops: side to side hop, bringing one foot behind the other, arms swinging across the body and up to perpendicular. Third recovery move. These actually made my calves burn more than anything.

Attack: side stance, hop down to squat, push palm forward twice, jump up and switch sides.

Power Knees: Old news by this point. Side lunge, bring knee up into hands.


Ski Down Hooks: feet together, hop from side to side, throwing a hook across your chest as you bounce down on each hop. This was another one I sat out. No thanks.


Belt Kicks: hands planted as if grabbing a belt buckle, side step down into a squat, and come up with a kick, and then back. 


Forward Back Suicides: reach for sky, then shuffle back and touch the ground, then reach for sky and shuffle back forward.


Push Up Abs: push-up position, go down, bring one knee up to elbow at a time. These I ended up modifying and didn't do the push-up portion. I just did the knees to the elbow part.


Plank Punches: from a plank position, throw punches with alternating arms straight ahead.


8 Jump Ropes/8 Hop Squats: jump high eight times, and whip an imaginary rope under your feet, and then fall into squat position and do eight mini hops. I tried these and did more of the hop squats than I did the jumps.

Squat Speed Bag: final one! Hold a deep squat, and rotate your hands before you as if punching a boxing speed bag. I. Rocked. This. Only because I'd read a summary of the workout so I knew this was the last one so I gave everything I had. I still had to stand up a few times because my quads were literally ripping to shreds at this point, but I still stuck with it and was doing the move when the timer was finished!

Final water break and stretch and you're done! I laid on the floor in front of a fan for a bit because I didn't have the energy to get up, but I did it! I stuck with it and finished day three of the second month of Insanity. I honestly can't wait to see how all of this changes my body. If the first month did the crazy things that it did (hello, abs!) I'm really anxious to see what upping the intensity will do! Just a few short weeks to go and my patience and hard work will be rewarded :)

Plyo Still Isn't My Favorite (Insanity)

6-26-2013

When I saw "Plyo" on last night's workout schedule, I got a little nervous, particularly since it's a 55 minute long routine.The plyometric routine in month one wasn't my favorite, to put it mildly. Besides that, I had gotten significantly more sore as the day progressed. I sat down on the couch with Liam as he went to sleep, and when I got up to put him in his crib I was extremely stiff and sore in my glutes and upper back between my shoulder blades. I was fully expecting last night's workout to be a horror show.

It started out with the same warm up routine as Monday, and by the end of the third set I was feeling much looser and not nearly as sore. The stretch was a little rougher than day one, but it felt good to get those sore muscles stretched out. In the back of my mind, I knew that not being sore when we were working out was going to mean I'd be even more sore today because that would allow me to push as much as I could with no pain to hold me back, but I didn't really acknowledge that thought. Not until I got out of bed this morning. My glutes and quads are significantly more sore today than they were yesterday. Going from sitting in my desk chair to standing is the worst, but it's manageable. My upper back between my shoulder blades is tight and sore, but that's relieved if I stretch my arms out in front of me and lower my head between my elbows and really pull to stretch that area out. My sides under my armpits and my pecs are a little sore, but nothing too painful. My core still feels tight but isn't sore, which is fine because last night's routine wasn't really a core-focused routine. As defined by Wikipedia "Plyometrics, also known as "jump training" or "plyos", are exercises based around having muscles exert maximum force in as short a time as possible, with the goal of increasing both speed and power. This training focuses on learning to move from a muscle extension to a contraction in a rapid or "explosive" way, for example with specialized repeated jumping." Roughly translated, it's going to suck. It's all about training your muscles to be, not just fast, but insanely powerful in their speed. That's just peachy.

After the warm up, you know the routine. Water break. Stretch. Collect yourself for the torture about to ensue.

"Max Interval Circuit" Sounds Easy, Right? (Insanity)

6-26-2013

**I started typing this yesterday and didn't get a chance to finish it. Instead of going through and changing all the "todays" to "yesterdays", I'm just leaving it the way it is with the understanding that it's written from yesterday's perspective**

Alright so, last night was day one of month two of Insanity for Doug and myself. First off, let's talk about how sore I am today. Surprisingly, not bad. My glutes seemed to get the most work, as they're the most sore along with my lower back. Considering the amount of time I spent on the floor curled up in Child's Pose, I'll take any soreness I have today as a good sign. That means I got a good workout even if I wasn't actively participating in every second from beginning to end.

Now, I'm sure you're familiar with the fact that Month Two is legendary for being brutal and making Month One look like a walk in the park. Everything you've heard is true. The exercises are more intense, the workout itself is significantly longer, and the warm-up leaves you sweating just as much as a full workout did in the first month (the sweating part could be attributed to the fact that it was almost 90 in our living room, even with AC and a fan running, but I digress). That being said, it's not impossible. It's as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. When you're curled up on the floor gasping for breath and begging your heart rate to slow down, it's easy to get to a point where you're thinking, "Now would be a perfectly acceptable time to turn it off. I've done enough for today." That's where the mental strength comes in. You have to know you're going to finish the entire workout. You might be clinging to life and flying by the seat of your pants at the end of it, but you have to know you'll stick it out to the end. If you don't go into it with that kind of determination, you're setting yourself up for either failure or a very difficult, very trying hour. I'll be honest, there wasn't a time where I really wanted to quit. I was more curious to see what else the workout had in store. I'm sure as I get used to doing this one, I'll get to where I'm sick of it and want to quit but that will really be out of nothing more than boredom. I got to a similar place with the routines in month one, so I'm looking forward to the change of pace month two will provide.

As far as the physical aspect of it, it was rough but I can't say I hated it. The biggest hurdle for me was that big 59 minute marker on the timer. I was a bit apprehensive and a lot nervous, but I'd be lying if I said some part of me wasn't looking forward to it. I was smiling when we started. I'm fairly certain I might be crazy because what kind of person, other than a crazy one, actually laughs when Shaun T says something like "I'm here to kick your butt. I'm not playin'." I loved the challenge! The new exercises threw me off enough that I had to focus on keeping my form and I could feel muscles being worked in a way they hadn't been worked last month. My core feels tight today, but not sore, which is encouraging. One move in particular is supposed to target the core and with it being toward the end of the workout, I was pretty burnt out and wasn't pushing as hard as I could have been then. The tightness I'm feeling means my core didn't get an easy ride like I was concerned it was getting.

Progress Report: One Month Down, One Month to Go! (Insanity)

6-21-2013

To say I'm happy with my results so far would be an understatement. I'm ecstatic and this is before I've even attempted the second month, which I hear it brutal. But I've come to expect nothing less from Shaun T. I ended up taking about two weeks off due to laziness (I'm not going to sugar coat it and make excuses. It was laziness, end of story) so I'm currently rounding up the tail end of the recovery week. Next Monday starts month two and I'm pumped! So far I've lost almost two inches from the largest part of my waist, an inch from each thigh, almost three inches below my bra, and about an inch from my hips. I can tell my core is being tightened up immensely and that's awesome because that's what I desperately needed to work on. If I could stay the way I am now, I'd be happy but I'm definitely looking forward to the changes month two will bring. As far as weight, I haven't lost any but I've managed to maintain a solid 134 (give or take a few tenths here and there) for the last few weeks which is fantastic. I used to bounce back and forth between 138 and 130 like it was my job. Now I'm sticking to the middle and I'm more than okay with that. My goal isn't to lose weight so much as it is to tone up and be happy with how I look. The scale doesn't always reflect the massive changes my body goes through, as shown by the pictures. In the first one, I weighed 135. The one on the far right was taken today and this morning the scale read 134.2. So not a huge change as far as the scale goes, but definitely a HUGE change as far as appearance goes. There's even a noticeable change from the second picture to the last. My upper abs are even more defined and my lower abs are flatter. Hell, my pants are even looser in the last picture. It's the same pair of pants but they fit significantly lower than they used to. The hems are getting pretty roughed up because I'm constantly walking on them now that my pants won't stay up. My endurance is crazy now compared to how it used to be. Before, I loathed jogging. Loathed it. I had no endurance so jogging was difficult and running was a joke. Wednesday after work I jogged a full quarter mile at the track, jogged another almost quarter mile after power walking for a few minutes, and then sprinted about an eighth of a mile. Sprinted. I'll let that sink in for a minute. I sprinted after jogging half a mile. All this when before I couldn't jog even an eighth of a mile without feeling like my lungs were going to collapse and my heart was going to explode. The best part was that I loved it! It was really fun! Sure, it sucked a little bit, but it's fun moving that fast! Had it not been so hot, I likely would have been tempted to see just how far I could go, but I wasn't pushing too far in the heat.

For only being roughly a month in, I'm ecstatic. I love knowing that I'm working my ass off for real results. I love being able to physically see my hard work pay off, and it's so exciting to think about how much more it's going to change as I tackle month two!

Fit Test Take Two (Insanity)

{6-3-2013}

I'm a week behind here, but last Monday was our second time through the Insanity Fit Test. I have to say, I'm incredibly impressed with myself and how much I improved in only two weeks.

Switch Kicks - 90 to 95
Power Jacks - 37 to 42
Power Knees - 54 to 64
Power Jumps - Stayed the same, but that's okay!
Globe Jumps - Here's where I'm really pumped. Week 1 I did 4 rotations. Week 3 I did 7!
Suicide Jumps- Slight decrease here from 17 to 13, but I'm assuming that's from pushing myself at the Globe Jumps.
Push-up Jacks - 20 to 24
Low Plank Obliques - 50 to 53

Not too shabby for only being two weeks into it! I'm excited to see what numbers come up on our next Fit Test. Tonight is Week 4 day 1 (ALREADY!): Pure Cardio and Cardio abs and I am pumped! At first I hated Pure Cardio, and it's still not my favorite but I love how sore I am the day after. Cardio Abs is pretty legit, too. My lower abs were screaming last time we did it, which is awesome because that's a big trouble spot here. So we finish out this week and then next week is Recovery Week! I can't believe we're only a week shy of being done with the first month already. I'm excited to see what the second month is all about. I've heard it's no joke, so I'm curious to see how much I hate my life when we start it ;)

Before & After - 10 Days In! (Insanity)

{Originally posted 5-24-2013}

I'd like to think the picture speaks for itself, here. I took the first about a month ago. The second I just took this morning. Now, I'm contracting my abs in both to make them as defined as possible but...um... there's a huge difference. HUGE! I have more defined upper abs, my obliques are starting to make an appearance, my lower abs are getting more toned and less puffy. That's where I need the most work but, uh, I think that'll be sufficiently addressed through the next few weeks. I'm 10 days into Insanity (not counting the days I did on my own without Doug before he and I started together. Any time I refer to how long I've been working at Insanity, it'll be counting from the day he and I started it) and if these are the kind of results I'm already getting, I can't tell you how stoked I am to see what I look like at the end of these 60 days. Not only that, but Doug and I have had to skip the last two Wednesdays' workouts so this is results even with missing two workouts. I'll take it! I'm not posting my official "Before" picture until I have an amazing "After" picture to post, so you'll have to wait until about the middle of July to see that. I better not look anything like it at that point, either!

Cardio Power and Resistance Is For The Birds (Insanity)

{Originally Posted 5-21-2013}

Alright, so last night we did Week 2, Day 1 of Insanity. Cardio Power and Resistance. I'm starting to notice a pattern here, anything with "Cardio" or "Power" in it is going to be so much fun it'll actually negate itself and suck big time.

My two biggest hang ups last night were foolishness on my part, and I'm kicking myself big time for it. First, that third piece of pizza was a horrible idea. Seriously. What made me think it was a good idea is beyond me. I've never truly felt like throwing up until last night, and it started about two minutes into the warm up. That made for a long work out.

Second, my lukewarm slightly cherry-flavored water was not thirst-quenching. At all. The flavor ruined it. So I kept drinking water trying to quench my parched throat, which just added more water to my already stuffed stomach. No bueno. No bueno, indeed.

That being said, I still pushed as hard as I could without making myself puke. Truthfully, I wish I had just thrown up so I would've felt better and been able to push harder. Lesson learned.

The warm up was slightly different this time. The Warm Up cycles through the classic Jog, Power Jacks, and added Log Jumps (where you leap from side to side as if over an invisible log) then back to 123 Heismans (stutter step side, and then bring your knee up), Butt Kicks (try to touch your heels to your glutes), High Knees, and added Vertical Jumps. Key things to remember is to keep your core engaged, which means leaning forward slightly and tightening your abs.

Stretch and then into Set 1.

Set 1:

30 seconds per move for a total of two minutes. Repeat three times.

Power Jumps: From a squat, leap up and bring your knees high, where you slap them and fall back into a squat. You don’t go all out, but rather follow Shaun T’s cues. Or briefly consider murdering him by the end of the third circuit.

Belt Kicks: Another move that incorporates a squat. Hands on your hips, go down into a squat, moving to one side, and when you come up do a front kick. Back down, to the other side, up, kick. Core engaged, lean forward and keep all murderous thoughts to yourself.

Hit the Floor: Another move that alternates from side to side, you leap up, grab sky, and then fall into a side squat of sorts and reach down to touch the floor with one hand. Back up, grab sky, drop into an opposite side squat, and touch the floor with the other hand. Or do what I did and stand there trying not to vomit pizza everywhere. Real talk, though, I watched Shaun T do the first two or three to study his form and make sure I understood how to do it. Correct form is killer with these workouts, but slipping and having incorrect form can lead to injuries and disappointing physical results.

V Push Ups: Get into push position, and walk your feet forward as close as you can, so that your butt is pointing right up into the air, fingers pointing at each other. Do push ups, lowering your head to the ground, using your shoulders, keeping your back and legs straight. My triceps loathed this one. I told them to shut up and keep pushing.

Each set takes two minutes, with a thirty second water break between. At the end of the third set, you don’t get to take a break.  Shaun T throws you right into one final exercise: 

Tricep Dips. This one lasts for a whole minute. Get onto all fours, stomach to the sky, and make sure your finger tips are facing your heels, elbows are back, and lower your butt to the ground and back up, using your triceps to control your movement. Then, with twenty seconds to go, lift one of your legs right into the sky. I sat the majority of these out. My triceps were having none of this fancy leg in the air crap.

 Thirty second break, and then right into Ball Tricep Workout. Get on all fours, the same as the V Push Up, but lower your butt into a crouch. Then, on your tip toes, lower your knees toward the ground, and then push back up. These weren't horrible, so I tried to do as many as I could. I still ended up curled up on the floor for awhile, though.

Set 2:

Twelve minutes left in the main workout. As soon as the water break is over, you get thrown right into the next set. Each set is two minutes, with a 30 second water break between. 

Hurdle Jumps: Sprint in place, arms pumping, and every time Shaun T calls out, you leap high as if over an invisible lateral hurdle. Sprint, jump! Sprint, jump, sprint, jump! Die.

Globe Jumps: My arch nemesis. I hate these with every fiber of my being. By this point, I was exhausted and got all of five jumps in the first time around. Meaning one full set plus one jump. My memory is foggy, but I recall standing there looking at Shaun T like he had four heads for the other two sets of these.

Moving Push-Ups: Classic push-ups, but every time you go down, your foot travels to the left, and then your other foot joins it, then they travel to the right, and back and forth for 30 seconds. I did none of these. I tried to travel and it didn't work, so I modified and just did regular push ups.

Floor Sprints: Stay in push-up position, but now sprint in place, hands locked, knees jacking up to your chests, sprinting and running in place.

Make the most of those water breaks, take down a mouthful, don’t drink too much, and get right back at it. Enjoy Shaun T’s roar when he gets you going for that second set. If you don’t get a rush when he does that, I don’t know what’s wrong with you! Keep form, keep tight, and take a break if you need it!

Once you think you’re going to have a heart attack from that last set, you get a 15 second water break. Just enough time to go back into it feeling refresh and relaxed, right? *eye roll*. Always a gentleman, Shaun T throws you into a brutal final minute. You get into the squat position, and do eight hop squats and then drop and do eight push-ups for the full minute. I didn't do many of these either. I would get into the push up position and get one or two push ups in before my shoulders gave up. Going from the push up position to stand then squat was a joke. But when Shaun T said it was the last set of push ups, I made myself do all 8. It literally took everything I had to do that last one. Today, my pecs are killing me but I like it. Now I just need to find a way to channel that intensity into the rest of the workouts.

After that, stretch and cool down, then you're done.

Progress:

-I did those final 8 push ups after doing all those other shoulder and tri workouts. I. Did. Them. Last week, I could do 2 push ups, and not well. This week. I did 8 after shredding my shoulders and triceps in earlier workouts. It hurt, I won't lie and say it didn't, but I pushed through it and did them. I can't describe how awesome that feels.
-Triceps are getting more defined. Really, my upper arms in general, though my biceps were decent to begin with. I'm assuming that's why push-ups are getting easier.
-Rings are very loose. Like, scary loose. They've always been slightly loose because they were about half a size too big when Doug bought them. Now I'd say they're probably a full size too big. They'll slide right off when I wiggle my hand around enough.
- A full inch and a half lost around my stomach! This is exciting for me because I can finally wear my Seven jeans without the ugly muffin top. It wasn't bad before, but it was enough that I noticed and it bothered me. Not a problem now!

Tonight is Pure Cardio again. My stomach just dropped just thinking about it, but at the same time I'm pretty pumped. Pumped to have my ass handed to me? Sure, why not. I'm determined to do better tonight than I did on my first go-'round with Pure Cardio. I'm not sore today (disappointing. I like being sore) so I should have more to put into it tonight. There's only one way to find out!

Insanity Week One (5/21/2013)

{Originally posted on May 21, 2013}

So, I have a confession to make.
I'm in love with Insanity.

You're probably thinking I'm crazy right about now, and I would have to agree with you. It kicks my ass from here to Sunday six days a week. I'm drenched in sweat and feel like my lungs and every muscle in my body are about to explode after every work out. I wake up sore and stiff. How could there possibly be anything to love about it?

The challenge it presents. The fact that I'm already seeing differences in my body. The fact that my endurance is markedly improving after only a week. The unspoken promise that after these 60 days I'll be in the best shape I've been in in recent years. 

Doug and I started Insanity together last Monday. I had been doing it on my own without him the week prior by looking the videos up on Youtube. Then we bought it and I decided to start over at Day 1 with him. Here's a quick recap of week one:

Each day, you begin with the same warm-up routine. Start by jogging in place, following with jumping jacks. Both are pretty self-explanatory. After jumping jacks are Heismans and 1-2-3 drills. Heismans are simply jumping from one foot to the other, keeping your knees slightly bent and just wider than hip-width apart. When you land, contract your oblique muscles and lift the leg that isn't on the floor to be about level with your hip. 1-2-3 drills are Heismans with a quick 1-2 step between jumps, where on the 3 count you'll land like you did when doing the Heisman and lifting the leg that you didn't land on. Next up are butt kicks and high knees. Again, self-explanatory. Finally, mummy kicks. Arms are straight out in front of you, and legs are kept straight. Alternate kicks while keeping your legs straight, and bring your arms together in front of you so that one arm goes above the other (keeping arms straight the whole time). Bring the arms back out to shoulder-width apart then bring them back together, this time with the opposite arm going on top. Easy peasy.



Day 1 - Fit Test (Monday)




Going into day one, you might be thinking, "Oh, it's just a fit test. It can't be that difficult." You'd also be wrong. The Fit Test consists of eight exercises, each to be performed at max speed for a minute all while keeping count of how many are done correctly. After the warm-up, I was sweating and feeling it, but I wasn't beat. If anything, I was looking forward to doing the rest of the workout and seeing how well I did.

First were switch kicks. To correctly perform a switch kick, you hold your hands in a boxing stance and kick one leg as high up as you can, contracting your core in the process. As soon as you land, kick the other leg up. That counts as one repetition. When I did them, I counted each individual kick instead of every other, so I ended up with 90 kicks, or 45 reps. Not bad for my first try at them. I wasn't able to get my legs as high as the girl in the picture, but I'll get there.

Next were power jacks. Oh, how my butt and thighs hate power jacks. Basically, do a jumping jack but when you come back down you land in a squat position. Power back up from the floor, then back down into a squat. I did 37 of them.

Then on to power knees. As you can tell from the pictures, they aren't complicated. Balance on one foot and bring your other knee to your chest, starting with that foot behind you. Exhale with each lift and keep the core tight. My lack of solid balance led to questionable form. Total number of those: 54

Power jumps came after that. Jump as high as you can and bring your knees level with your hips when you're in the air. Simple, right? Wrong. By this point, my thighs were dead. Not painful, mind you. They just didn't want to move. Total: 30

Globe Jumps. These killed me. Killed me. Squat down. Jump straight up and travel forward. Land in a squat-like position with your knees bent and hands touching the floor. Jump up and to the right. Land. Jump up and backwards. Land. Jump up and to the left. Land. Congratulations. You've done one full set. Now do that for another minute. Eff. That. I got all of 4 sets of those in.


Suicide jumps were actually not that bad! I like anything that involves plank position, so these were alright. Crouch down and jump your feet back into plank position. Jump your feet up between your hands and power up from the floor. Feet should leave the ground. Land, crouch, and do it all over again. As much as I actually enjoyed these, my ass was dragging by this point so I got 17 of them. Not where I'd like to be, but it was only my first time doing them.


Push-up Jacks might be the death of me. They will, at least, be the death of my upper arm flab. Given my lack of ability to do even one correct push-up, these were rough. Basically, do a typical push-up but when you lower yourself back down, jump your feet out to be wider than your shoulders. The feet part isn't bad. The push-up part needs work. I can't remember off the top of my head how many of those I did either. I did 20 of those.


Last but not least, Low Plank Obliques. By this point, my shoulders and triceps were aching and my thighs were nothing more than dead weight. But, by God, I was getting through this last exercise. Get in the plank position and bring one knee up to meet your elbow, contracting the oblique in the process. Switch legs and do the same thing. These were a nice change of pace. I did 50 of those!


Finish that off with some stretching and cool down work, and voila! Done!



Day 2 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit (Tuesday)

Warm up. Stretch. Go!

Round 1:

Suicide Drills – Moving side to side and touching the ground each time! You know with a name like “Suicide” it has to be fun! You really have a great opportunity to work the abs in this move as you go down and contract the lower ab muscles.

Power Squats – This move is hard for me, primarily because my legs need a lot of work. Your quads will be screaming in this move. Imagine doing a jumping jack, only going down into a squat instead of up in the air!

Mountain Climbers – It’s like rock climbing, only you are standing up and extending your arms and climbing in the air.

Ski Down – Picture yourself literally skiing down a huge mountain. You do this while jumping back and forth. This move is death for my legs.

Repeat round 1 two more times. Tired yet?

In between the two rounds, you do Switch Feet and Football Wide Sprints just for fun with a few 30 second breaks at the end of each circuit. Again, tired yet?

Deep breath. Round 2:

Basketball Drills – Fun sports drill where you are aiming for the 3-point shot. Get down, pick up the ball, and shoot it up! Again, and again, and again. Tired? Shut the hell up and get the ball!
Level 1 Drills – Go down, do 4 push-ups. Do 4 mountain climbers. Stand up and put your hand in the air. Go back down. repeat. Love. Love. Love. Love. Easily my favorite move of them all. Easy? Hell no. Does it work every muscle you possess? Sure does!
Ski Drills – Ab work to the maximum. You stay in plank, and move your legs from side to side. Shoulders and Tris were screaming at me. Obliques felt nice and tight.
In-and-Outs – Still in the plank move (you spend a lot of time on the floor in round 2). This time, instead of going side-to-side as you do in the Ski Drills, you are going in and out with your legs. A full ab workout. Love it!
Repeat round 2 two more times. By the end of the third circuit, I was getting in the plank position just to end up putting my knees on the ground, curling up into Child's Pose and pounding the floor with my fist in frustration. It was tough and it took every ounce of energy I had to get back up. But I loved every. single. minute.
Okay, finished with that so it's cool down time, right? HA! Shaun T says think again.

Jabs – take on your boxing skills with some jabs!

Cross Jacks – one arm up, both legs cross, and switch. This is a cool move once you get the hang of it.

Uppercuts – Punch that guy under his chin! This is a good move for your biceps. Also, keep your core tight on all of these moves and it will pay off nicely.

Attacks - in the same pose as the football drills. This time you are throwing open palms against your target. I wasn't doing these much, if at all. My quads were done, so just getting into the correct stance was a joke. But I half-assed it and finished them. That counts for something, right?As soon as the stretching and cool down were finished, I was stoked. Not because it was over, but because I had made it the whole way through. Did I take breaks? Absolutely. Did I want to quit? Never. Turning it off and saying I'm done was never an option.

Day 3 - Cardio Power and Resistance (Wednesday)

We didn't do this one last week! Doug took the dirt bike out to a practice track and didn't get home until after 9. He was beat, so we decided to just pick up with Cardio Recovery tomorrow. Day off!


Day 4 - Cardio Recovery (Thursday)

Recovery = Easy, right?

Wrong.

So wrong.You start of with low squats and move straight into squat holds and low pulses. This quick exercise really gets the hamstrings and glutes burning. I had to take a couple second break in the middle of low pulses but was able to finish strong.

After a short break, you start working your right glute and quad with 16 slow lunges and then you go directly into lunge holds and pulses. Once again, the quad and glutes are going to explode.
Another short break and you switch to your left leg with 16 slow lunges and lunge holds and pulses. No break yet, you go into about a 2 minute plie yoga stretch. This one really opens up your hips, and made me want to lay down and die. My quads were on fire and I was drenched in sweat. Drenched. We weren't even moving that much! Sad.

Quick break and into quad strengtheners This was a new move for me and actually a pretty difficult one, given how dead my quads already were. Get on all fours and bring your knees together. Now lift your knees off the floor so only your toes and hands are touching. Lift the right leg straight out and work the glutes by pulsing them higher in the air. Switch to the left leg and you're done with quad stretchers. This was about the time that I remarked that Shaun T. is the spawn of Satan. 

Break. Now it’s time for an oblique move. Get into the same position as before but this time instead of lifting your leg straight and towards the ceiling, you ‘crunch’ your right leg into your right arm and then repeat on the left side after a short break. This one I loved because my obliques need some serious work, and that's exactly what they got. The burn felt good!

No more breaks, it’s time to finish strong with more core isometric and stretching moves. From downward dog you move into a hip flexor stretch and then right into a table top balance pose (right and left leg). Balance here can be pretty difficult so concentrate on your breathing and try to find a single spot to focus your eyes. Next, stand on one leg and bring your knee to your chest. Another balance posture, and you do both right and left legs. Now, knee to oblique stretch is the same concept but instead of bringing your knee to your chest you bring your knee up and open it out wide. Finish off with a simple hamstring stretch, hip openers, and then contract and relax your back from the hip opener pose. All done!
Day 5 - Pure Cardio (Friday)

This one should be called "Pure Hell". You know it's going to be a good time when even the instructor says he's nervous for the upcoming workout. Shaun T. literally forgets the name of his moves near the end of the workout. The people in the DVD start falling over and taking massive breaks. Shaun T. literally says at the end: “This sh** is bananas!” You know the drill. Warm up. Stretch. Get to it! This time you do the warm up three times, increasing the intensity and speed with each circuit. Kill me now.

Then comes the fun.

Suicide Drills

Switch Kicks

Wide Football Stance

Stance Jacks

Pedal

Hooks and Jump Rope

Power Jacks

Level 2 Drills – This is like Level 1 Drills, but instead of 4/4 you do 8/8 (Push-Ups/Mountain Climbers). It was right about here that I was thinking, "Are you FUCKING kidding me right now, Shaun T?!"

Frog Jumps

Power Knees

Mountain Climbers

Ski Down

Scissor Runs

Push-Up JacksThe workout is 38 minutes and 18 seconds long, and is made up of an eleven minute warm up, a six minute stretch, the main workout which is only 15 minutes, and a final five minute cool down stretch. Total number of water breaks? Two. Total number of seconds of both water breaks combined? 120. That’s right. Pure Cardio is practically non-stop. You may be thinking that a 15 minute main workout is nothing, but consider: you don’t get to stop. I took quite a few more breaks than we were given, and I was on the floor curled up through more exercises than I'm proud enough to admit by the end. The point is, though, that I was up and doing the last exercise and stretches. I finished it, which is important. I felt like I was dying, and I was disappointed because I knew I could have given more than I did. Good news is, we get to do it all over again in a few days since day 2 of next week is the same routine. Bad news is, we get to do it all over again in a few days since day 2 of next week is the same routine.


Day 6 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit (Saturday)Repeat of Day 2 and I'm thoroughly disappointed in myself at this point. I expected to do better this time since it was the second time through it. In a way I did, but in others I didn't. I made it through the entire warm up with only taking two breaks more than what Shaun T gave us, and those breaks consisted of standing with my hands on my knees and breathing deeply for 30 seconds then I was back at it. So I rested only a full minute more than what was worked into the routine. That I'm proud of. High knees usually do me in because my lower abs need work. This time, I stared at the spot where our living room wall meets the ceiling and zoned out for that minute and kept moving. Did it suck? Abso-fucking-lutely. Did I do it anyway? I surely did.

But once we got into the real work out, I realized that pushing myself that hard during the warm up was dumb because I had next to nothing left to give. I half-assed a lot of it, which isn't acceptable. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm still new at this and, while there's room for improvement, I'm not going to be as good as the people on the dvd or even as good as Doug. Yet. That's the important word. Yet. Give me 54 more days of this and we'll see just how often I decide to take a break.

Progress:

-My calves and quads are noticeably stronger and more solid

-My size 5 jeans are falling off after I wear them for about an hour. My thighs are still pretty killer so my jeans have to stretch to accommodate them. Once they do, they're falling off.

-Endurance is getting better, as demonstrated by my being able to get through the warm up almost in its entirety on day 6

-Hello, upper obliques! I'm already getting a slight dip between my upper abs and obliques. Granted, I have to contract my abs to really see it, but it's there!

All that just in the first week. I'll take it!

Introduction Time!

Hello there, and welcome to Kiddos and Kettlebells! This blog is dedicated to helping you to live a healthy, active lifestyle by showing you how simple and fun it can be. Even the busiest person can benefit from learning to eat healthy (even on the go!) and fitting simple, short work outs into your day is easier than you think! The main focus will be on BeachBody programs, but I may throw a few extra tidbits in here and there. So follow along and make the decision to start making healthy choices TODAY!

Please bear with me as I get this blog up and running. Things might be a bit disorganized for a few weeks, but it'll all come together slowly!

A little about me:
I'm Megan, and I'm a married, 25-year-old mom of two (hence "Kiddos"). I've been married going on 4 years, and our littles are 3 and 1. Soon to be 4 and 2! I work full time as an optician, and I'm a Beachbody Coach! Truthfully, I enjoy the Beachbody coaching the most ;) I'm a little sarcastic, and a lot disorganized. I adore running, and I'm looking forward to building on the foundation I built last summer/fall and really getting back into the running scene soon! I've completed Insanity twice and I'm currently halfway through the new 21 Day Fix program. My first few posts here will be the posts I published when I did Insanity the first time. That way, all of my Beachbody themed posts will be in one, easy to access place!

About my journey:
At my heaviest, non-pregnancy weight, I weighed 148 pounds. I'm 5'5" so that wasn't terrible, but I wasn't happy with it. That was in the fall of 2011, shortly before I got pregnant the second time around. I gained 16 pounds with that pregnancy and immediately dropped all of that weight and then some, down to 125, after delivery. I assumed it was going to be smooth sailing after that, as I had reached my ideal weight with little to no effort. Okay, so delivering a 9lb 7oz baby took some effort, but that wasn't an effort toward weight loss!. Unfortunately, and obviously, that wasn't the case. I never allowed myself to get back to my highest weight, but I did tend to yo-yo between 130 and 140 pretty consistently. When I was running faithfully last summer, I got down to about 127, but my diet wasn't on par so that didn't last long. Summer was also when I completed Insanity for the first time. Loved it. Loved. Can't say enough good things about it, as you'll see in my upcoming posts.

But then winter came, and the running had to stop. Living in Pennsylvania makes for some pretty rough running conditions in the winter, what with the 2+ feet of snow we had at one point. Between that and the consistent negative temperatures, running was out. So I turned to Insanity again. I loved it, of course, but it lost it's appeal part way through it and I tanked the last two weeks. I just didn't have it in me to keep going. I was bored. Enter: 21 Day Fix. I'll tell you all about how amazing I think that is in upcoming posts!

I think that's about all you need to know for now! Stay tuned for lots of Insanity posts and lots of raving about the magic of 21 Day Fix!