Today I got off to a bit of a later start  because it was snowing here!  I am in Atlanta, GA and snow is not all the common here so it is always a big deal for us.  It took me an hour and a half to get home from work and then the kids HAD to go outside and play in the snow (staples in head and all!). We had a great time throwing snowballs at each other.

Afterwards, it was time for some Insanity.  There was something satisfying about looking out the window watching snow fall while sweating bullets in front of the TV.

First up was Pure Cardio, and now I realize this is the last round of both of these workouts during this whole routine as I am rounding the end of Month 1!  Pure Cardio actually went pretty well, I got through almost half of the main 15 minutes before stopping.  I did have to take  about 10 seconds during the switch kicks (my nemesis).  Right in the middle though it gets really insane with power moves and jumps that are just not humanly possible   Overall though I was quite happy as I am confident I did more than I have any other time in Pure Cardio.

Then it was a short break of less than 3 minutes and on to Cardio Abs.  Its really hard to get started again after cooling down and stretching and then he goes right into high knees and power jumps which are really hard.  As usual, this workout really works the core as you would expect.  It’s all about keeping form and hanging on as long as you can tolerate the burn.

In a strange way, I am sad to see these go.  I guess because I am becoming so familiar with them and have sort of learned how to pace myself.  On the other hand, there is an element of boredom with the repetition.  One more day of month 1 and then off to the recovery week of Core Cardio & Balance.

Day 25 – Cardio Recovery Goes Bad

Today was supposed to be an uneventful “recovery” day with the Cardio Recovery workout.  I feel like I should be able to do everything in this workout, but have to admit that when he has you sit and hold in the squat position my legs turn to fire and force me to break for a few seconds.  So outside of holding a couple of these squats and lunges, the rest of the workout is pretty routine and a nice break from the usual cardio.

But something else happened today, not related to the workout, that was scary.  I was home alone with my 2 children ( 3 1/2 yr old son and 5 1/2 yr old daughter).  They were watching cartoons on our bed while I did my workout which is pretty standard to keep them out of trouble.  I was doing my final stretches with about 2 minutes to go and I hear “BAM” and then my son starts screaming!  Needless to say I ran to the bedroom to see what happened.  I found my son lying on the bed on his back holding his head.  I picked him up and saw blood dripping down from the back of his head!  Apparently, my daughter pushed him out of the way of the TV and he hit the back of his head on the edge of the wooden foot board.

I whisked him away and started putting pressure on it to stop the bleeding and so I could assess how bad it was.  It didn’t bleed very long (thank goodness) and I was able to wipe enough of the blood off the hair to see the wound.  It was a gash about an inch long, although not too terribly deep. Once my wife got home we decided it was best to go to the emergency room and have it checked out.  The final diagnosis was that they put in 5 staples to close the wound!  Dang, my boy is so rock and roll, he has five staples in his head!

I do want to mention though, he is just fine.  It sounds traumatic (which it was for me), but after about 5 minutes he was ok and did not complain.  He was just happy to get a popsicle from the ER   He is back at pre-school today and can resume normal activities and we will schedule to get the staples removed next week.

I know this wasn’t really Insanity related, but I had to share!

Day 24 – Plyometric Cardio Circuit

I think one of the biggest questions people have about Insanity is what to eat.  This is especially important to me because of 2 reasons:

1. I am not a meat eater (I do eat seafood, but outside of that I am a vegetarian)
2. I am trying to add some weight and put on a bit of muscle

So, I have been looking for some recipes that are high in protein and healthy for me that are vegetarian.  I recently learned about quinoa (pronounced like keen-wah).  Quinoa is a grain-like crop that is grown for it’s seeds primarily.  It is these seeds that you are eating when you buy quinoa.  It actually looks similar to cous cous and can be used as a substitute for rice.  The great thing about quinoa is that it is very high in protein packing in about 14g in a cooked cup.

Recently, my wife turned me on to this incredible vegetarian recipe website called 101 cookbooks.  You will spend hours there looking over all of the recipes!  They are all super healthy and vegetarian.  So I went there and found this recipe for Double Broccoli Quinoa and we gave it a try.  It is great!  The sauce is almost like a pesto and it is full of flavor.  You can modify the ingredients to your liking.  I ate it as a main dish, but I would think this would be a great side dish as well.

Try it out and tell me what you think!

One more round of the Plyometric Cardio Circuit today!  I think I am most familiar with this routine now and can actually anticipate the next move.  This is good and bad in some ways.  Good that you know what to expect . ..  and bad because you know what to expect!

Today’s workout went fairly well.  I was trying to improve on the last time I did this routine by getting through the first circuit without stopping.  Unfortunately, I did not   I had to pause about 20 seconds total through the 3 repetitions.  Some of the exercises, like the power squats, I think consume so much oxygen that it depletes you quickly.

As usual, I pushed myself through.  My cardio is definitely improving though and doesn’t seem to be a problem.  I rarely get my heart rate up too high.  What usually happens is that my muscles just get to burning so bad or so tired that I have to pause (i.e. in and outs!).

Every day I am getting stronger though and that is what matters most.

Day 23 – Power Jumps Anyone?

It’s day 23 now and I feel like I am on cruise control.  Not in the sense that each workout is easy, more like I am becoming very familiar with each of the workouts now and know what to expect each day.  Doing an Insanity workout (or two!) each day has become ingrained in my daily routine.

Today was back to Cardio Power and Resistance and my other nemesis, Power Jumps!  Power Jumps are to Cardio Power and Resistance as Switch Kicks are to Pure Cardio!  At least for me.  I am definitely improving and understanding the form better, but find it difficult to continually jump at the proper height one after another.  My legs just run out of juice.

Anyways, got through the workout today without problems pushing myself along the way.  I am noticing a few aches and pains here and there, but I think it more from the muscles working and ripping and growing than anything else.  It’s not injury or anything like that.

I think the food hangover from the Super Bowl has worn off and I am looking forward to powering through the rest of the week!

Day 22 – Switch Kicks Are Evil!

Today started the last week of the first month!  Too bad it has to come after Super Bowl Sunday.  This week on both Monday and Friday I am doing the dual workout combo of Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs.  I have done this combo a few times already, but was not looking forward to it today.

Leading up the start of the workouts I had a headache.  I think it is partly from all the bad food I ate yesterday and from not getting enough sleep.  Then I tried to start no less than 3 times before I had to run to the bathroom!  The digestive track is out of balance.  And the last thing I wanted to do was to get 15 minutes in and have to pause the workout (I have not ever stopped the DVD during any workout yet).

So I finally got started and the body was slow to respond, but by the end of the warmup you forget about everything else and are just concentrating on that last round of butt kicks, high knees, and mummy kicks!  Then I was able to find my groove and push through.  Of course, those darned switch kicks are the second exercise in the sequence and I still have trouble with those.  Besides the switch kicks, I did really well  during Pure Cardio performing more total exercises than I have ever done I believe.  So even with a food hangover I was able to push through!

I then took a little longer break before starting up Cardio Abs, maybe about 8 minutes.  This wasn’t because I needed to recover, it was because I had to help my son with his bath   Then it was back to the living room for the 16 minute workout.  It’s amazing how quick you cool down because it sure felt hard to start up again.

I also used a towel during Cardio Abs to both sit on when in the C-sit position and for under my elbows when in the low plank position.  This definitely helped.

Day 21 – Super Bowl Sunday / Rest Day

Yesterday was a true rest day in every sense of the word!  It capped off the end of 3 weeks and marks my accomplishment of being 1/3 of the way done!  I am feeling great and am looking forward to pushing through week 4 strong and getting to the recovery week.

I started off the morning with a power breakfast of eggs, Morningstar strips, and a bagel, so the beginning of the day was pretty healthy.  I then had to eat lunch early as i volunteered at my daughter’s school to help beautify the teacher break room.  I ended up having to do a bit a moving, but not much, on my day off!  Lunch was some leftover (semi-healthy) pizza and a salad.

Then later that evening I went a friends house and watched the super bowl. That is where I fell off the nutritional wagon!  I skipped out on the smoked ribs (since I don’t eat meat) but had heaping portions of homemade macaroni and cheese, tater tots, garlic bread, collard greens, potato chips, and chocolate cake.  Talk about a carbo loading meal!  My stomach is paying for it today too . . .

Time to get back on track and drink lots of water and get ready for another double workout tonight.  Bring it on INSANITY!  I’m ready!

Day 20 – Insanity Plyometrics Cardio

Today is the last workout of the week!  It went well and I am very happy.  I have done this workout know a bunch of times so I know what to expect on the Plyometric Cardio Circuit.

My goal on this workout was to try and get through the entire first circuit without stopping.  By circuit I mean the three repetitions of the first exercise routine. And I was SO close!  I had to stop for about 10 seconds in the third repetition.  This repetition consisted of:

• Suicide Drills
• Power Squats
• Mountain Climbers
• Ski Jumps
• Switch Feet (third rotation only)
• Football Sprints (third rotation only)

So, on the third go around I had to pause for 10 seconds during the ski jumps, but came back in and finished the rest.  I was very proud of myself!

Also, I feel as though my upper body is strengthening.  I did more pushups during the later exercises than I think I have done and can feel it now.  My pectoral muscles are a bit sore which is a good thing as I want to build some chest muscles.

I am very happy to say I have completed week 3 of 9!  One third of the way there

Day 19- More Cardio Power & Resistance

Ok, here we are on day 19!  I can say I am starting to feel motivated again.  I think because I am now starting to see a slight change in my body.  It isn’t drastic, but it is definitely firming and toning up.  There is a little muscle growth occuring.  Overall I can simply feel it.

Today was back to the cardio power and resistance workout.  I like this one because it focuses on strength for a good portion of it.  It does seem a tad more difficult than the other workouts, but the sets are shorter.

Getting through the warmups are not a problem any more, so now I am focusing on form and trying to add some speed.  I don’t perform all the warmups as fast as Shaun T, but I am getting close.

One of the hardest exercises for me right are the power jumps.  You do them right out of the gate.  The idea is to start from a squat and jump high in the air and hit your knees with your hands.  I am noticing now that I can do more of these with proper form.  My quads are getting stronger and I can obtain more height.  I still peter out though before the alloted time, but am happy about the progress.

Overall, it was a good workout today.  Got the heart rate up and pushed some muscles to the limit.  Feeling good and ready for tomorrows workout to close out the week!

Day 18 – Cardio Recovery Day

After yesterday’s workout, the Cardio Recovery was again welcomed.  I get excited each time this day comes because I think to myself “hey this is a workout I could do start to finish with no breaks!”.  But each time so far I have been fooling myself!

The workout isn’t tough in the sense of cardio, because after all it is a cardio recovery day.  But, he puts you through some deep muscle work.  I just don’t get how people can sit in the squat position for so long and hold it without falling over.  My legs get to a burning point where i just have to stand up for a few seconds and then can get back into it.

So, I was close to finishing it all, but there were a few squats and lunges that I just couldn’t hold for the entire time that he wanted me to.  Maybe this too will come in time.

Another thing is that I am getting some mild lower back pain now.  I think my back has just been worked so much that it is fatigued.  It’s not an injury or anything, but I can just feel that it is stiff and hurting a bit.  I guess I just have to Dig Deeper and power through it!  2 more days until the next rest

Day 17 – Two Insanity Workouts Back to Back