This is my least favorite routine of this month.  I think it is mostly mental just because I know it is the longest.  I mean, working out at your max for a full hour?

I left work a bit early today (hey it’s Friday) to get home and bust this out before my brother came over.  He was passing through for one night on his way to Florida and I didn’t want to spend my time exercising while he was here.

The routine went fairly well.  I am definitely getting better conditioned as the weeks go by.  I was able to power through most everything it felt like, until I got to the last circuit.  By the second round of that last circuit I start to fade.  I did my best and kept form and dug through it.

The knee is doing doing fairly well too.  I mentioned yesterday it was feeling better and I am happy to say that has carried into today.  Although I still feel it, it is less painful than before.  I am extremely conscious of form of course and slow down through the many squat and knee pounding exercises.  I am fairly sure when my 9 weeks are up it will come back to full strength after a few days of good rest.

Pushing it burned a ton of calories today. . . . 727 to be exact!

Day 53 – Max Recovery

It’s always nice looking forward to Thursday and the Max Recovery days.  Today was no different.  Although it is still 47 minutes long, there is not the usual cardio to kill you.

Today was quite good.  I was able to do more of the exercises than in previous weeks.  There is a lot of deep muscle work that will have your arms or legs shaking at some point.  The slow push ups are deadly, but feel good at the same time.  I was also surprisingly better in the plie squat exercises (although I did have to break a few times).

My one concern is still my left knee.  Going into the workout it had been bothering me throughout the day.  I can feel it when I stand up, or go up stairs, or just bend a little too far.  I was very careful during the workout not to overextend it.  Since everything is a little slower, it makes it easier to maintain the form.  During the workout, the pain was more noticeable than ever before.  Some simple moves, like jumping back into plank , were causing me pain.  I just took those moves slow and walked the leg back.

Now for the odd part.  I noticed after the workout was done that the knee actually felt better!  It is not back to normal, but it seems as though the pain has gone away?  I wonder what happened.  Maybe the knee got stretched out or something or magically has popped back in place.  I don’t really know, but I am knocking on wood right now that it is getting better.  I will let you all know tomorrow if the pain returns.

I also did not wear the heart rate monitor today.  Since there isn’t much cardio, you don’t really need to monitor your heart rate.  It’s all about stretching and muscle work on Recovery day.

Day 52 – Max Cardio Conditioning

I just realized as I am posting this that I only have one more rest day during all of Insanity!

As always,  a rest day is much welcomed.  And, as has been the standard the last 2 weekends, I have worked hard in the yard on these beautiful sunny days.  So, I didn’t rest in the true sense of the word.  I was out there tilling soil for the garden and raking leaves that have been sitting for months from fall.  But the yard looks great and we are ready for spring!

The past 2 weeks by Saturday my knees are feeling tender.  It was the same this week.  However, as I write this Monday morning, my knees feel fine.  I think the rest day is so important to this whole program.  In weeks past I would have shifted workouts around to get them all in and workout on Sunday.  But I will not do that anymore as I realize the value of letting your body recuperate.

Only 2 more weeks to go!

Day 48 – Max Interval Sports Training