Insanity Workout - Max Interval Plyo

So, did the Insanity Workout's Max Interval Plyo again last night, I'm amazed at how much better I'm doing it. Less fatigue, able to keep up with the moves a bit more, definitely improvements! One thing I do have to watch out for is my food intake for the day. I tend to cheat, and not just a little, but quite a bit! It's all the alcohol I'm drinking after working out... REALLY BAD! I KNOW! Either way, it's definitely something I need to be more careful about. Don't want to just let these past few months of working my ass off to just go to waste.

Tonight I have Max Recovery, I guess that's good, since I'll need some recovery with all the intensity workouts I've been doing. In terms of losing weight, I am still maintaining the same weight, which is a downer. YET, I do see my body starting to look a lot leaner. I truly believe Insanity Workout really works! Kind of going back to P90X, I believe both workouts will in return give the "Beachbody" that both program promises, takes time, as with everything else out there. Just got to put the effort in, and continue to pump out all the fat and turn them into lean muscles!

Day 2 of Month 2

So day 1 was harsh, day 2 was a little less intense. It still seemed long given it's a little more than 50 minutes, but compared to day 1, this seemed like a walk in the park.

I have been following my eating calories, and keeping track of mostly everything I eat/drink, seemed to show quite the improvement. I just found out I lost another pound today, so as long as if I keep this up, I'll lose about another 10 lbs by the end of month 2. I'm planning to get to around 170lbs. Technically, for my height, I need to be at 150 lbs. Unfortunately with how my body is currently toned, I don't think that's actually possible at this point. I can see myself dropping down at the minimum to around 160 lbs but nothing lower. In the mean time, let's shoot for 170 lbs, yeah?

Cool!

Month 2 of Insanity

Wow... never thought I'd feel like this again in Insanity, but I was wrong. Month 1 exercises seemed so easy, now that I've started my 2nd month's exercises. Yesterday was Max Interval Plyo, and it was pretty insane! The full workout is now 55minutes (including stretches) so about 10 minutes longer, and the warm-ups are more intense compared to those from the 1st month.

I did the fit test day before yesterday, and sad to say, it wasn't as much of an improvement as my 2nd fit test compared to the 1st. It's either that I'm not pushing as hard as I should, or possibly I am capped out due to doing the same exercises for the past 4 weeks or so...

Anyway, I can see why they had to increase the work-load on the exercises. I am seeing my abs getting tighter, as well as my lower body. What I need to do now is to continue watching my weight and what I eat, and definitely increase my liquid intake (since I don't drink enough water, at all). Not sure if there was a way to increase my water intake without spending $2-$3 per day on bottle water...

Let's go MONTH 2!! Time to kick some ass!

Recovery

Finally! I've reached the recovery week!

Loving it. No more intense workout for the week... but then again, next week is going to be a nightmare probably!

O well, I'll just have to enjoy this recovery while it lasts!

On a side note, I just downloaded an app for counting calorie intake. It'll correspond nicely with my workout, too bad it can't find the Insanity Workout on there, yet I think it has P90X on there! Closest thing I've found is probably Aerobics. Hopefully the calorie burned is the same! Trying to lose weight now and I think this app will help me better to lose weight! Guess we'll see.

Sloppy

Getting sloppy on the exercises... I need to push!

Last night I was doing the Cardio Recovery, basically just less cardio, more balance and strength training with a little stretching in between. During the last half of the training, the real estate agent came to take pictures, so I had to stop, and take her around the house to take the pictures. I know I should've went back into the exercise... but I was cooled-off and didn't go back into it. Plus I was raiding, and good thing I went because I got the helm I wanted!

Anyway, going off on a tangent here. I need to pay more attention to my exercises if I still want my 6-pack abs!

Update

Quick update of what happened over the weekend...

I left for LA on Friday/Saturday around midnight, and was out for Saturday and Sunday. Definitely ate more than I was supposed to, and missed my exercises for those 2 days. On Monday I was back into it, one thing I've noticed is although I had 2 days off, I was actually able to keep up with the exercises a bit better. Not sure if it's the extra rest, or something, but I definitely felt more energy. I missed yesterday again because I fell asleep right after I got home. I was dead tired. Gonna go at it again tonight, see what results I bring!

Power Through

Totally powered through yesterday's workout. Today is supposedly a rest day, but I'm gonna power through another workout. It's gonna be great! Leaving for LA this weekend, gonna be a lot of eating involved in the trip. Might as well prepare for it by doing more exercises!

sick...

I've been sick for the past 24-48 hours. Missed my exercise yesterday, and sick today. I've gotta stop missing my exercises. Hopefully it doesn't throw me off by too much. I just gotta push through today!

Losing Interest?

I don't know, but recently it seems like I am losing interest... This is bad, REAL bad!

I have to be able to motivate myself to keep on going with the program, yet due to the lack of results I am seeing, (i.e. I am still fat!) I am looking for alternate ways to keep on losing weight! One thing I can be sure of is that I have more energy, and I can do the exercises more frequent with more stamina to keep up with the intensive training. What's the use if I will remain looking like this though. Gotta keep telling myself, I don't want to be fat! Gotta lose that excessive weight, NOW!

Saturday the 24th of September

So this past Saturday, I skipped a day of exercise. Even though it's Cardio Recovery, I still should've gone through with it. In addition to skipping it, I believe I also went over my calorie intake for that day. Sigh, hopefully it doesn't set me back too much. I still feel the energy, but I think my weight has gone back up due to that one day.

I used to just starve myself to lose weight, although effective at losing weight, I also lose a lot of muscle mass and left with imbalanced metabolism and excessive % body fat. At this point, I think, I have more muscles, at least when compared with before I started to exercise. I feel stronger day by day, and how I can tell is my ability to keep up with the exercises, and during the stretches. Most of the muscle strengths is tested when I do the stretches. My ability to hold a certain stretch longer, with less difficulty shows my increased strength.

Overall, I think Insanity is a better workout program. The exercises are shorter, and more intense. Thus it allows you to push yourself MUCH harder even though both Insanity and P90X allows breaks if you're unable to keep up. I think I will stay with this program for a long time.

Fit Test 2

I did my fit test yesterday, and surprisingly I've done a lot better than my first test!

On average, I did about 25% more reps, and increased by a total of about 80 reps.

I guess the fit test shows some results...

In addition, I think I definitely loss some weight. total since I started Insanity (2 weeks) about 6 lbs, total since I started P90X (1 month) roughly 14-15 lbs!

My goal is to be at the ideal weight for my height... since I'm about 170cm, my ideal weight is 70kg, which is about 154 lbs.. Honestly I'll be happy if I'm under 160 lbs... Just gotta keep AT IT and lose that fat!

2 Weeks of Madness

It's been 2 weeks of Insanity now. I feel great, and I see slight changes still. But, I am assuming it's because I'm looking at myself EVERYDAY! I guess taking the pictures was a good idea, to get a better picture of the transformation as oppose to looking at myself on a daily basis.

Eating habits improved, yet, I feel I still over-eat quite a bit. I need to tone down on eating out with friends I guess. Past weekend went to a housewarming, at BBQ ribs, then went to Chou-Mama for dinner... THAT definitely broke my calorie intake for the day. I've been cutting down on food since Sunday, so hopefully my body will still keep up.

Fit test is tomorrow! I am really anxious to find out what my results will show... whether if I am stronger, or stayed relatively the same... or worse case scenario, did poorer than last time!! Maybe I shouldn't take today off... hmmmm....

Eating habits

SO my eating habits have improved a bit. I definitely have more desire to eat healthy now. One problem... I tend to over-eat when I go out. Especially with a group of friends, or for a party with some kind of gathering of some sort. Thing is, there are always more food than needed, and yet I have the tendency of not wasting any food (I had to learn it the hard way when I was little). So right now, whenever I see food left on the table, my initial thought is always, "finish it and DO NOT waste any food!"

I guess to balance it out, I can just starve myself the following day, but in terms of my training I think that's probably not the best way to go about this. One thing I should improve upon is eating less on my OFF day. Due to that the exercise is only 6 days a week, on my off day I should eat substantially LESS than what I normally eat. I'm seeing slight changes in how my body look, and I do mean SLIGHT as in "slim to none!" I can't really put my finger on what the actual problem is except probably I don't push myself hard enough on the exercises... I know it was a bit farfetched but I suppose it's just too early to tell. I had been on exercising program for nearly 5 weeks now (first 3 weeks on P90X with the last 2 on Insanity), so technically I am suppose to see more than a slim difference. My body weight definitely is not decreasing as much as I had anticipated, I just have to improve upon what I eat, and hopefully see a much MUCH better result soon!

Chicken Breasts Are My New Best Friend

So for the past week, 2 weeks, I've been eating nothing but peanut butter jelly sandwich for breakfast, and chicken breasts for dinner. Felt like it's the best and easiest mix of food I can quickly make, and also inexpensive. My diet has been overall improved in my opinion. Main thing missing is eating fruits and vegetables, which I may have to either find substitutes like V8 and OJ, or possibly just mix it in my cooking e.g. add vegetables as I'm boiling my chicken breasts.

So 1 week's passed, I am really unsure whether if it is due to that I've been on P90X for 3 weeks already before I started Insanity, or if it's just the 1 week of training on Insanity, but I definitely see some improvements in terms of how my body feels, and looks! Even so, I seemed to have plateaued in terms of my body weight. I started out on Insanity, without clothes, roughly 200 lbs, and now I'm kind of in between 200 and 199. I guess that either means I'm burning fat, and burning it just as fast as I'm gaining muscles, or there's simply no changes to my body composition (which is less likely). I definitely see some results in my body, and being that it's only 1 week into Insanity it's really too early to tell. My legs (thighs) definitely have not shown too much improvement, I am still having trouble with a few of the stances (lunges) in the stretching part of the program. In addition, when I can't keep up, I've noticed mostly it's because my legs are too weak due to that my upper body still had strength and power to do push-ups.

Leading from one of my last posts, I think running is definitely something I should look into. Not necessarily just to tone up my legs, but to seriously build more strength in my lower body below the belt. Only problem I see with running is that it sucks to run alone, and IF I really do run, I'd prefer to run with a partner, instead of running alone. I guess I can look into that...

Day off!

So, day 7 of each week is a day off (relaxing). I was kind of debating whether or not just throw in the stretching video from P90X or maybe just throw in a few push-up sets just to kind of maintaining my calorie burn throughout the day... I know I will enjoy having the day off though. It's just the thought of going back into Insanity tomorrow is killing me!

In terms of my food and nutrition schedule, I've been following the 5-meals a day as close as possible. Skipping any "sugar drinks" like soda, sweet tea and whatnot and changing into just water and coffee without cream or sugar (gotta have my coffee). I do feel like I've lost a few inches around the waist, although my thighs still seems to be the main problem (none changed thus far). Maybe I should go on a daily morning jog too... Well that's a laugh, because I've been saying it forever! (NEVER happened).

Anyway, some progress is better than NO progress. Just gotta keep the Insanity I guess!

Broke my eating habit

So this past Saturday was my brother's birthday, so I broke a few rules. Ate more than my usual amounts, and definitely had a few drinks. Hopefully that didn't throw my diet off by too much, but definitely it was SOMETHING. I did still continue my exercising schedule, no interruptions whatsoever, so that should balance it out a bit (since I do need a larger intake due to my increase in activity level). But even so, I know the Saturday dinner definitely threw me off by a bit.

I did supposedly the hardest training in the program yesterday, PURE CARDIO. Even Shaun (the trainer for Insanity) was saying he was "scared" of this exercise. It was a constant ~20min worth of cardio, I definitely had to take several breaks in between to actually keep up. I am still disappointed in myself in terms of my leg/thigh strength. I'm not able to perform successfully even the stretching part of the exercise (some of the lunging positions). I know I'm impatient and want faster results, yet at the same time I know this will take time to take into effect. At this point, I just want to trust the program, stick with it, and wait for the results to show!

Day 2 (Insanity)

So the Insanity workout has almost no breaks in between (or at least attempts to push you as hard as possible).

If you think the Fit Test was hard, that's NOTHING compared to the actual workout. Although it's about 20min less than what P90X was, the workouts that Insanity does pushes you to the limit! Toward the last 15minutes of the workout, I was sweating, tired, numb, and felt like quitting but I still pushed on and completed the workout.

Now... I felt the same way when I was in my first week for P90X but I'm 3 weeks INTO P90X NOW, and yet still not fit enough to do Insanity? That's not right...

Either way, I'm attempting to also follow the eating habits that the program suggests, which is 5 meals a day, each meal in small but moderate portions. My original plan to not eat dinner, well, I try to eat a LOT earlier, spreading my meals into 2 hr intervals starting from 8AM. So technically, I'll eat at 8am, then 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm. I will sometimes miss my 2pm or 4pm, of which I will just cover with a later meal at around 6-7pm when I get home from work. I think it's working out fine. That way I won't feel stuffed when I'm working out, and I don't feel hungry either.

The only thing I'm afraid of now is if I'm cutting corners. I tend to take breaks, but I'm not sure if it's too many break or not... either way I know I'd have to push myself to get a result, FAST!

Insanity? Day 1

So yesterday, I've made my decision. Looked over the nutritional guide that was provided by Insanity (in the same packet) and will continue using the guidelines provided to continue my fitness. The guide offered a wide range of meals, but I got the main idea. High energy meals, so carbs are fine. In addition, they focus on my calorie intake needs and use that against a multiplier to make sure I'm going to be able to maintain, as well as lose weight.

Day 1 of insanity is a Fit Test. Pretty much 8 exercises, go all out on each one with about 1min break in between. Each one is different, so I believe I did well on some and very poorly on others. Kind of a wide mix of exercises that target different parts of the body. I can see why this would only require 60 days. If someone goes through this set of exercises, on a daily level, 6 days a week, it's going to be very intense.

In all honesty although I like P90X, I"m sold by Insanity. The absent need for equipment, the daily cardio/calorie burn, and a meal plan that will ensure my nutrition intake as well as weight lost, I will stick to this for at least 3 weeks, and compare the result with P90X. If anything I'll alternate in between the 2.

Day 25

I've been through the program for 25 days. Sad thing is, I really don't notice any physical change in appearance. But, I do feel stronger than I was 25 days ago.

I think I'm heading down the right path...

I stumbled across Insanity within the past few days, friend is doing it, and it seems like a better program due to the lack in need of equipment. I'm debating myself whether to do Insanity or stick with P90X for now... or even mix up the 2 programs together even!

I am on my recovery week for P90X, so technically my changes doesn't happen as much until I start my 2nd part of the program.

Well, I think I should try at least the test, for today, and see how it goes!

Day 20

Getting ready for the weekend!!! LABOR DAY WEEKEND in VEGAS~~~ WOOT WOOT!

Good thing is, gonna have LOTS of fun~

Bad thing is, I don't have the workout!!!! I may miss a day in the exercise... which would mean I have to either find their hotel gym, or find something to replicate the exercise!

Either way, gotta keep pushing, even though next week IS the recovery week... I don't want to start getting soft!

Day 19

Yesterday was the Yoga X again for the 3rd week.

Like the video suggested, at first I was like, "Yoga? Hmmm...." Before I even started I thought this is going to be something easy, just some silly stretches. When I got into it, I thought to myself, "WOW... this may BE the most intense exercise in the entire series yet!"

Stuck through it, 3rd week, and I really find that I enjoyed Yoga. It is a balance of your own energy, Yin and Yang, It goes through moves that tends to be a little more intense at first, but then throws in these balance postures that you are just testing your own strength. Best part is at the end... I felt SOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo relaxed at the end it was as if I JUST discovered a new sleeping posture or SOMETHING. It was amazing, each and every time.

I'd have to admit, the Yoga X is a great complement to the other exercises. I definitely need to step up more on those moves, and have to do my best to keep up!

Day 18

I guess group of friends usually have the same mindset.

I just found out 2 of my friends are on exercise plans as well... but as opposed to going with P90X, they are going with Insanity!

So... I end up doing a little research yesterday to learn more about the differences in the 2 exercises, and trying to find out which is better, P90X or Insanity.

Mainly, the comparison websites shows that P90X is a less intensive exercising plan that follows a more conventional style of training exercises, each body part is separated into a specific exercise and alternates as the weeks go by. 3 intensive weeks followed by a week of recovery doing less impact exercises (yoga, kenpo, stretches)

Insanity on the other hand uses purely cardio and body weight, thus end up burning a lot more fat, but less muscle building. Similarly the program also goes through 3 weeks of intensive training, with 1 week of recovery. But, the exercises seems shorter (length of time) and requires ZERO equipments whatsoever.

Personally I had heard about P90X AND Insanity before I started doing P90X... the main attraction was the science behind the exercises in which they call Muscle Confusion. It mixing up exercises so while you are doing the program you do not feel stagnant, and just pushing through the same exercises over and over. I like having things mixed up, and I've tried exercising before (but just specific areas) and end up stopping because of the repetitiveness of the exercises.

Insanity does have some GREAT qualities as well. First of all it's 30 days less to get through the program, so you get faster results. Also, there are no equipment required so it's not necessary for you to purchase anything additional in order to go through the work out plan.

Overall, I believe the best way to find out which is better is to first ask yourself, what are you looking for? Are you looking to improve strength (P90X) or endurance (Insanity)? Are you looking to bulk up (P90X) or burn fat (Insanity)? Despite the general views of how Insanity seems to be a more intensive training, it is not in actuality so. Both exercises are intensive in their own specific way, so from my researching through different websites, the talk of combining the 2 programs together have crossed my mind as well. I may as well try it after I feel I am in the condition to do so, just to mix it up a bit!

Only thing I am worried about now, is my diet. I need to start eating more of what the program suggests. First Month: Fat burning (high protein low carb diet). Second Month: Energy Diet (Complex Carb and remain high protein). Third Month: Balance (40% carb, 40% protein 20% good fat like nuts, olive oil, fish)

I gotta set up my eating schedule now that I have my exercise schedule set.

O, by the way, mental note, I decided to do afternoon exercises, because I would require the extra sleep in the morning anyway due to my late night sleep habits/schedule. I guess as you get older, the more you become set to a specific time schedule! More organization is needed...

Day 16

Vegas trip is on the horizon... Leaving for Vegas this coming Saturday...

Reason I'm mentioning this is because this is going to affect my schedule for P90X... I will have 1, maybe 2 days in which I won't be able to follow the program... One thing I can do to make this up is to use the exercising facility at the hotel to burn the necessary calories...

One other thing is once I'm there, it seems like I would be eating quite a bit...

Well, that would simply mean I would have to push it EVEN HARDER this week!! To make up for the lost time... and party time!!

Day 15

3rd week already!

Well, I've gotta start pushing myself MORE and MORE!!!

I want a rock hard body~~ and gotta definitely WORK for it!!

Day 13

So the only problem I'm having is I don't have a pull-up bar... Thus any of the exercises that includes pull-ups I'm unable to do those sets, BUT... how I compensate for those sets is merely flexing doing those moves as if I am pulling down... for ONE it does still give some benefit from those flexing, and 2 it gives me breathing room in between the other exercises.

Even so, I do believe purchasing a pull-up bar will be necessary in order to get the most out of the exercises...

One thing that I haven't done consistently also is keeping a good tracking sheet... Mainly due to the fact that I don't have one, I figured that isn't TOO big a deal because I will just stick to the number that I place in my head (more reps = leaner, or less reps/heavier weights = bigger muscles) Either way, I should probably look online for the tracking sheet for the workouts...

Day 12

2nd Yoga exercise yesterday! I stuck through it and finished the entire thing!

Proud of myself... definitely feeling more energy, although my weight has stayed relatively the same... I would say I might have lost maybe 2-3 lbs... but then again I always weigh myself at different time and it might just be off a bit...

I feel my arms are a bit leaner thought, taking shape a bit.

My real troubled area is around my thighs and mid section, that's where all the fat is... I would assume running would help but I think as of right now I should just stick to the program... I might add more exercising to my schedule later on for sure!

~X~

Day 11

Today is Yoga X... I still remember how the first Yoga X kicked my butt! >_<

Hopefully I'll do better.

On a side-note, didn't eat anything after exercise yesterday, I think I'll keep that up. Drink lots of water and just ride out the hunger throughout the rest of the night! I think that'll help me lose the necessary weight as well.

Day 10

I am beginning to feel like I have more energy. I don't sweat as much. Plus I am able to keep up with the exercises more. Although I still can't do the full exercises perfectly.

I believe the next step is to tone up my eating habits, and what I eat. I am eating a bit later than most, and due to my schedule it seems I couldn't eat RIGHT BEFORE the exercises so I usually can't eat dinner until about 8-9pm. Maybe I can just drink the recovery drink and be done with dinner... that should help me lose weight as well... I just need the discipline now to make sure I don't eat!

Let's see how I do tonite..

Day 9

Tried to wake up, still can't.

If I want to do this RIGHT, I need to start sleeping earlier.

I got no energy in the morning at all...

I need to push myself tomorrow, to make sure I get up earlier!!

Well, exercise in the afternoon again today... at least I'll still stick with the schedule.

At this point in the program, not much noticeable changes. Mainly seems like my chest area are a bit firmer, and my arms seems to be a bit leaner. Other than that, the exercise doesn't wear me out as much... which is NOT necessarily a good thing. I believe higher weights are needed now for me a gain a better result. I'll test them tonite!

~X~

Day 8

Well, day 8.

I was suppose to wake up early and try out working out right when I wake up... kinda fell asleep though! LOL

Guess it didn't work as planned.

I end up waking up at like 10-11am instead of 5am, still did my exercise in the "morning" so I guess it still worked...

On to Monday, hope I wake up!

Day 6

Today is day 6.

I kind of feel like I should instead move my exercise to mornings...

For one, it'll help me wake up in the morning.

2, in case I had to do something in the evening, it wouldn't mess up my schedule.

Yesterday I had to go out for a delivery (since our driver moved to LA, so we have no driver now), and it actually pushed my schedule really tight. I wasn't able to finish my entire set from yesterday, although even if I had tried to finish the entire set I know I probably would've done pretty much the same...

Well, I think starting from next week I'm going to start moving my exercises to the mornings... question is... WHEN? 5AM? 6AM?

If I do 5am... given exercises are roughly 1-1/2 hour to 2 hours I would finish at the latest 7am, but if I had started at 6am, I would probably not have enough time to get to the warehouse in time...

Well... time to do some testing I guess... Next week will be my "Test Week" to see which hour would work the best!

Day 5

Yesterday was Day 4, Yoga X.

I thought it was going to be a relaxing day... BOY was I wrong!!

Yoga X was split into 2 parts. First part is more intensive moves, whereas the 2nd part focuses on Stretching. I was sweating within 15minutes into the first part.... I can tell by doing this I will definitely strengthen my ability to perform the other exercises though...

KEEP AT IT!

~X~

Day 3

Started P90X program this past Sunday (08/14/2011).

Sore all over today... been sore since yesterday. Thing is, the program actually works different parts of the body so I'm sore in different areas each day.

Right after my "legs workout" yesterday (plyometrics), I almost couldn't even feel my legs... GOD I'm out of shape!

I kind of realized how BADLY I need to continue with this program, get back in shape and lose the fat. I am not hoping for a ripped body... I just want to be fit enough to actually run even when I'm in my 50s, or 60s even!

I'll keep posting my status as I go along with the program. Only thing now is to keep going! STICK WITH IT!

~X~