One Nutty Guy

Absence of posts

2010-03-24T13:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the absence here lately. I had the flu for a week, then spent the next week trying to recover from that. Just didn't have the will or way of making any updates. Insanity took a lot out of me and so the rest, albeit some while sick, was much needed. More P90X and Insanity updates will flow shortly.

Insanity Day 44 - A whole lot better this time!

2010-02-16T19:30:00.002-06:00

Man am I slap wore out! Today was day 44 of my Insanity journey and it was a lot better than what I put in my last blog. Same workout (Max Interval Circuit) but better results.

My quads didn't burn/hurt near as bad, which was a great help. I feel like I was able to go just a little further with each move as well... again, probably because of my quads. By the time the 3rd circuit came around I was running out of gas, and quick! Those side suicide jumps are aptly named. The full body drills really should have been named suicide part 2. By the time I got this far my arms were just noodles.

I did get pretty warm in today's workout. I had to stop the fan and reverse its rotation so it would start moving cool air around the room. I also had to take a small break because I got choked up on my water... nuff said!

All in all I feel like today was a pretty good day. I didn't conquer the workout, but I didn't falter like last week either. I really have to push myself in these longer workouts. At the 45 minute mark I'm pretty much spent. The last 15 minutes takes every once of umph that I've got to finish. Hopefully that will change as the days march on.

At this point I'm looking forward to filling out the form for my free Insanity t-shirt. I didn't take an appropriate starting picture (per what the form states), so I'm going to have to find a pic that is acceptable. Should have read the form before starting. Opps!

I'm also 3 weeks away from my 1 year anniversary of taking control of my weight/health issues. I've got a goal in mind and it's just in sight. More on this later though.

Thanks for reading.

Dig deeper y'all!

Insanity Day 40 - Just didn't have it in me

2010-02-12T15:34:00.001-06:00

I just didn't have it in me today; simple as that.

If I could pin-point anything that kept me from pushing in today's workout (Max Interval Circuit) it was my quads. From warm-up to the first round of the first circuit my quads just didn't hold up. As hard as I tried to push myself through each round I could barely make it past the half-way mark of each exercise.

My heart rate was fine, my breathing was under control (I'm asthmatic), and my will was there. Definitely felt the fire in my legs today.

I finished though. I'm pouring buckets of sweat right now. My wife kicked my bootay all over the place and this was her first time doing MIC, so I can at least be proud of her.

Tomorrow's another day and another dollar. Another round to complete no matter how bad I hurt.

Dig deeper y'all.

Insanity Day 37 - Been mostly-dead all day

2010-02-09T19:35:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I posted a daily blog about my workout of the day; mostly because I had blogged about each workout already. Well now I'm on to a new month and new workouts, so expect more blogging.

Today was my second "max" workout of the second month of Insanity - Max Interval Plyo. I believe a quote from "The Princess Bride" sums up how I've felt today...

Westly: Why won't my arms move?
Fezzik: You've been mostly-dead all day.

As yesterday's blog mentioned I had a fit test AND max interval circuit all in one day. Boy was I sore before even going to bed. I work up this morning and had to take some Advil. As the day wore on the soreness worked out, but after working out this evening I'm right back to where I was last night. I'm sure it will get better as time moves on, just like it did last month.

There were a lot of leg exercises in the first circuit. A lot of squatting and even some jumping. One of the moves even reminded me of a move from the P90X Plyo workout. The heart rate really stayed up there on this circuit.

The second circuit was just as hard as the first, having more upper body moves. A few push-up exercises were thrown in and really challenged my tennis elbow. My triceps really got a workout today and they're letting me know it right now!

The last circuit was a combo of 4 moves which seemed to target strength and keeping my heart rate up. The side push-ups were really a challenge.

This workout was hard, very intense, and definitely INSANE! I wasn't keeping up with some of the harder working people in the vid (can you say Tanya?), but some of the others I was. I was surprised that in several points of the workout that several of the people were taking quite a few breaks. I'm nowhere near as fit as they are, but it was surprising that I was hanging with them. I'm getting the big head, I know. Sorry.

All in all I'm very tired. Enjoyed today's workout immensely.

Dig deeper y'all!

Insanity - Recovery week finished, 1st day of Max

2010-02-08T19:40:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I last posted on Insanity. Last week was a super busy week for me and I barely had time to work out, much less write a blog. Forgive me.

Last week was recovery week for Insanity. Honestly, the work out was very welcome. Don't get me wrong, you'll sweat just as much with this workout, but it moves at a much slower pace. I'll be honest here, I missed two days (Monday/Thursday) of working out. Monday I didn't feel good and just couldn't make myself do it. Thursday we had our cabinets worked on in the kitchen and the workers didn't leave until it was almost time for me to make it to a planned engagement that evening. Time just wasn't on my side. All in all it was a good week and I lost 0.4 lbs. Not much, but without burning as many calories during the week, and then missing two days, I wasn't too upset.

Now on to today's workout. A combine fit test + max interval circuit. I think I died somewhere around 30 minutes into the max workout! I'm tellin' ya it was rough! The workout itself wasn't bad at all. I think I can hang with it the next time. It was the fit test right before that made it so bad. I pushed myself hard in the fit test (as you're supposed to) and then had to do a max workout right after. Oi! I rested about 15 minutes between the two, but it didn't help much.

Here's my results from the last 3 fit fests:
Switch kicks: 103/115/132
Power jacks: 30/40/50
Power knees: 47/83/102
Power jumps: 10/22/31
Globe jumps: 3/7/8 (Yeah, I suck at these.)
Suicide jumps: 7/10/12
Push-up jacks: 20/32/34
Low plank oblique: 15/26/40 (I count these as 2 moves = 1 rep.)

A pretty good improvement on most of them!

The moves in Max Interval Circuit aren't really that bad. There is one though that killed me... the combined ski abs/push-up jacks/in & outs/oblique push-ups. I couldn't hang on this one very well. I moved a whole lot slower than they were throughout the whole vid. But I loved it! I was ready to quit and almost did on the 2rd round of the last circuit. My oh so loving wife looked at me and said "You've only got two more moves. Finish it." What she didn't realize was that I had another round to go. So what did I do? I finished ALL OF IT! According to the calorie counter at SparkPeople I burned 1092 calories for the combined 90 minutes of cardio. Now. That. Is. INSANE.

I'm totally spent. I have no energy and I'm currently melting into my chair as I write this. It's probably going to be an early bedtime for me tonight.

Dig deeper y'all!

Insanity month 1 results!

2010-01-31T08:04:00.000-06:00

Well, it's finally come and I survived to tell the tale!. Insanity month 1 is now history and I'm stoked! (Man, that's an old word.) First off, today's workout...

Today was Cardio Circuit. This is probably the first time that I've realized a massive change in my ability to complete the workout. I wasn't with them move-for-move, but I could tell I completed more than I ever have. Not sure why honestly. Maybe it's because I've been doing this for a month, or maybe it's because...

Of this!

These are my measurement changes for the whole month and I'm super excited! That's a total lost in the last column, just in case you're wondering. Pretty good in my opinion. My hips didn't change any, but I don't have much of a bum to begin with anyway. I had my wife re-measure my chest twice just to make sure we had things right. I'm shocked that I lost this much as Insanity doesn't work your chest that much. On the other end of the spectrum I'm surprised I have any thigh left. A lot of these moves just kill me in that area.

I have taken some pictures, but um, they shall remain off of the Net. Main reason is I'm practically naked, and trust me, you don't want to see that. If there is a 2nd reason, it's because while I've lost 45 lbs I'm still out of shape in my opinion. Bulgy here, lumpy there, love handles kinda thing. I do have two noticeable top abs though for the first time in my life. Even my wife noticed them. I've never had abs before! Definitely excited about that one.

Now on to my weight. I'm writing this blog before weighing in tomorrow morning, so as of now I have no idea what I weigh. I honestly won't be surprised if I don't lose much, and here's why.

(Pardon the formatting; Blogger isn't cooperating tonight.)

While my calories were under the maximum almost all week (except Thursday), they were high Friday and Saturday. I'm still struggling to get my protein where it should be. Guess I need more meat. That's all for tonight. See you in the morning.

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Alright, it's Sunday morning, and that means weigh-in day! Drum roll, please! And I come in at 192.0 lbs!!! That's a loss of 1.8 lbs. Pretty good considering how I ate at the end of the week.

Snow!

2010-01-30T09:25:00.001-06:00

It's not much, but we still got some. It's still falling, but not much
is expected.

Insanity day 22

2010-01-25T21:33:00.000-06:00

Wow! Today is the beginning of the end for the first month of Insanity. This week is comprised of the "normal" workouts, with next week being a recovery week. One solid week of Core Cardio & Balance. I have yet to watch that one, so we'll see what it's like then I guess.

I really like how I feel along with the 3 lbs that I've lost this month. I still have another week to lose more though, so hopefully I can say I've lost more than that. I always hope for more than just a pound a week, but realistically that's probably what's best.

With P90X it wasn't uncommon for me to loose 3-4 lbs a week, and I kind of got used to that. It spoiled me I guess. Not every week was like that, but it happened often enough I came to expect it. That hasn't happened yet with Insanity, probably for a lot of reasons, and that's good. For one I won't continue to expect that kind of loss. Two, it's probably better if I just lose 1 a week anyway. Three, I'm a whole lot lighter than I was last year!

I lost 44 lbs with P90X, so my calories burned were "easier" then. (Can you really call P90X easy?) Now I have to work much harder to burn just as many calories. That's one reason why I'm into Insanity. Intense cardio. It's something that I need and something that I've always shied away from. I hated cardio in high school. As a baseball player it was something that I always dreaded. But not now. Insanity pushes me to work harder than I've ever worked before. Why do I do it? To quote Shaun:

Cause I like it!
It makes me look good!

Well, at least it makes me think I look good!

Weigh-in day

2010-01-24T07:11:00.000-06:00

WHOOP! I lost 2.2 lbs this last week.

Insanity Week 3 completed!

2010-01-23T18:46:00.000-06:00

Oi! It's been a few days since I last wrote, sorry about that. It's been a busy week and time to sit down and compose a thought has been scarce. Lack of sleep, and bad sleep when I actually got some, didn't help either. Enough excuses though. Let's get to it!

Today marked the end of week 3 of my Insanity workout. I've noticed that I'm doing a little more of each exercise. Not much, but every little bit counts, right? Pure Cardio still wipes the floor with me though. Keeping up with that will come one day. Maybe in a couple of months.

I think I've ruined my typical go-to shirt for working out in. Can't remember what day it was, but my shirt was useless as far as soaking up sweat as involved. I think I could have wrung it out if I tried.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day yet again. I'm looking forward to it honestly. I've pushed it hard this week and hope that it pays off on the scale. At the beginning of the month I took measurements of all the key parts of my body. I won't know how Insanity will pay off in this area until the end of this coming week.

My nutrition has been good this week, with the exception of yesterday. We ate out. Honestly that's big for us. We live in town, but it's VERY small and "going out" means driving 30 minutes or more to find something respectable. We're also on Dave Ramsey's plan of paying off our debt. I know how Dave feels on eating out, but when you can see that your wife needs a night off from cooking, it's time to take her out. The kids went with us, which always makes for a fun night. I also had ice cream for the first time in over 5 months. While I enjoyed it, I can't say as I have really missed it. It wasn't Cold Stone quality, so meh. All week long I've stayed around the minimum (actually under) calories that I'm supposed to have. I need help in with my protein intake bad. All in all, a good week for nutrition.

That's enough for now. Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!

Hit up an early Firefox 3.6 download!

2010-01-21T08:53:00.002-06:00

Firefox 3.6 for Windows - http://bit.ly/5LGSk4

Firefox 3.6 for Mac - http://bit.ly/5Uea0R

Insanity Day 16

2010-01-19T18:57:00.001-06:00

Gonna keep it short today seeing as how I've written about Plyo Cardio Circuit before. At first I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to workout at all. Toward the end of work today a headache started brewing on the horizon. It wasn't too bad when I got home, but was definitely building. I immediately took two Advil and hoped for the best.

I got dressed and working out right away. Each move jarred my head, but by the end of the warm-up either the Advil kicked in or the endorphins took over. It wound up being a pretty good workout! As always I was pouring sweat by the beginning of the real workout. I think my workout shirt is ruined though. You know how shirts get when they're constantly sweat in. The collar gets all warped and saggy. Kinda like my body... used to be! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Looking forward to more results at the end of this week. Let me know in comments how you're doing or if you have any questions about Insanity or P90X!

Dig deeper!

Insanity Day 15 - Fit Test #2 results

2010-01-18T13:26:00.001-06:00

Well, after a day off physically and spiritually yesterday, today it's back to the mill... at least for my workout. Today was day 15 of Insanity and Fit Test #2. Roughly 30 minutes of pushing yourself as hard as you can to see how you've progressed over the last two weeks.

Even though this is ONLY a test, I sweat buckets. It's still an Insanity workout, albeit with 60+ second breaks between each move. And you need those breaks too. Let's see how I did.

(Just so thing will make sense, I'll list the results in this manner: test1/test2/rep change.)

Switch kicks: 103/115/+12
Power jacks: 30/40/+10
Power knees: 47/83/+36
Power jumps: 10/22/+12
Globe jumps: 3/7/+4 (These things are KILLER! Four jumps = 1 rep!)
Suicide jumps: 7/10/+3
Push-up jacks: 20/32/+12
Low plank obliques: 15/26/+11

Let me explain low plank obliques. To me it appears on the vid that this exercise is counted as 2 moves = 1 rep. I might be wrong though, so if I am I could list LPO as 30/52/+22.

All in all I think that this was a very good improvement. I only doubled one exercise, but got close to doubling on several more. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Weigh-in day: Well, it's a little better

2010-01-17T06:43:00.001-06:00

So today is my weigh-in day after two weeks of Insanity, and while I'm not as disappointed as last week I'm still a little bummed. The scale said 196.0. That's a 0.6 lb loss. I really shouldn't be bummed, but I guess I'm expecting more. My wife hasn't lost a single pound yet and she's doing it right beside me. Actually, I think she did lose some, but it went back up on her weigh-in day.

I still can't move my ticker on SparkPeople yet, so maybe next week. I'm still going to keep pressing play though. I may not be losing much weight now, but I think I'm seeing some physical changes. Hopefully the weight will start dropping off as I progress through Insanity.

Have a great day!

Insanity week 2 FINISHED!!!

2010-01-16T19:14:00.001-06:00

WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!! Today was the end of Insanity week 2! Wow, two weeks ago I was wondering what in the world I was getting myself into. Now I look back on what I've done and see nothing but good. Hopefully it will pay off on the scale tomorrow.

Today's workout was Pure Cardio AND Cardio Abs. Oi! No breaks, at least not scheduled, and throw on top of that a 20 minute insane ab routine. I noticed that I'm doing better about doing each exercise for the allotted 60 seconds. I'm not quite up there on keeping up with their pace yet. Yet!

As for abs, I felt every bit of ab strain imaginable today and my shirt was a sopping wet mess by the end. I felt pain (good pain mind you) in places that probably haven't felt that way in years. I thought that there was no way that I'd be able to do another 20 minutes of exercise, but it flew by. By the end I was thinking, "That's it?" The recovery drink was a necessity today and I enjoyed every minute of it.

My wife pointed something out to me today that I've never noticed. In the Pure Cardio workout Shaun goes to one of the girls and asks how she's doing. Her response was, "I wanna leave!" Pure hilarity right there boys and girls. If you've done this routine before you know exactly why she says that.

It's hard to believe that I've made it this far. I've enjoyed every minute of it and look forward to more. Tomorrow is weigh in day and Monday brings Fit Test #2. Here's my nutrition for the week.

Dig deeper y'all!

Insanity Day 12 - Crash!

2010-01-15T18:52:00.002-06:00

You come crash into me
And I come into you

There's a little Dave Matthews for ya! Taken slightly out of context, but that's sure what today's workout felt like! I wasn't being crashed into, but I sure felt like I was crashing today. Let me 'splain.

I got home for lunch today and didn't feel like having the same ole, same ole. My wife talked me into going to the local greasy spoon for a hamburger. I figured once wouldn't hurt too bad, but oh was I so wrong. Not only were the calories high, but something about eating bad just didn't help in today's workout.

Both my wife and I struggled a little more than usual in Cardio Power & Resistance. The warm-up is always a workout within a workout, but by the end of the 1st round of the real workout (there's 3) we felt like we were bottoming out. I felt draggy, no power, and overall just blah. My wife got a little bit of indigestion on top of her feeling blah too.

Lesson learned. If I'm going to eat bad, eat bad in the morning; not so close to working out...
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

Don't eat bad silly! Really though, I could tell a difference between today and the rest of the time that I've been working out. I've had 8 glasses of water this evening as I feel like I'm all greasy inside. Gross feeling. BLECCHH!

Insanity Day 11 - What recovery?!?!

2010-01-14T17:35:00.000-06:00

That's right... what recovery?! I thought today was supposed to be called Cardio Recovery? What, it is? Oh, if that's what you want to call it...

You're probably asking yourself, "What in the world is he talking about?" I'm talking about Insanity day 11 - Cardio Recovery, that's what! Indeed, the opening sentences of this blog are "tongue in cheek" and today really is a recovery day... at least compared to the other days.

Cardio Recovery is like a super stretch workout. You wind up stretching what feels like every muscle in your body, and boy does it feel good! This workout reminds me of P90X's Yoga X and X Stretch. It is called a recovery, but you sweat almost as much. It's all about balance, stretching, stamina, and of course, digging deeper. As short as this workout is (33 minutes) I really like it. Right now my muscles, especially my quads/gluts feel good.

Well, it's time for dinner, so until tomorrow!

Insanity Day 9 & 10

2010-01-13T16:56:00.000-06:00

Sorry about missing Tuesday's blog about Insanity. It was Pure Cardio day (remember? the one with no breaks) and I was just bushed. Immediately after working out and showering, I started up the grill in 45* weather because my wife had a hankering for chicken fajitas. I feel a Bill Cosby "Baaaaaaaaaaaar-Baaaaaaaaaaaaay-Quuuuuuuuue" coming on!

Today was Cardio Circuit. It ran the whole gamut of moves; from head to toe and back again, and I feel great. A little winded today and sore in my calves, but not too bad. Followed this up with a recovery drink and I'm good to go tonight!

I'm keeping this one short for today. I've got some duties to prepare for tonight and I need to get moving...

Insanity Day 8

2010-01-11T19:47:00.001-06:00

Today was the 8th day of my Insanity workout and it has worn me OUT! The workout for today was Cardio Power & Resistance and lasted for approximately 40 minutes. Correction... 40 GRUELING minutes.

Today was rough on me for some reason. By the 2nd round through the moves I was having trouble keeping up and found myself finishing about 10 seconds before they did. That might not be too bad considering this is my first time through Insanity, but I know that I can do better.

If I was to place my performance blame on anything I'd say that I didn't have enough fuel. I typically workout as soon as I get home from work. Today I was quite hungry when I walked in the door so my wife fixed me four crackers with peanut butter. (Yes, she's a doll!) I waited about 20-25 minutes and then we worked out together and, well, the rest is history.

Today's workout is definitely tough. The standard warm-up is there of course, and that in itself is its own workout. By the end I had sweat dripping off my nose, ears, and cheeks. Each round (there are 3) start with you working from the bottom up... Gluts, quads, abs, chest/shoulders, triceps.

I feel really good doing this workout. It's really kicking me all over the living room and I'm enjoying ever minute of it. I burned a total of 500 calories according to the calorie counter on my fitness page at SparkPeople. I have an inclination that it's probably more, but I need a HRM to prove that. Oh, if you're willing to donate, let me know!

Dig deeper!

Smoothie diet / recovery drink

2010-01-11T19:08:00.004-06:00

My wife ran across something the other day called a smoothie diet. Thinking that it might help boost her weight loss she's decided to try it, and tonight we gave it a test drive. The diet itself consists of drinking one smoothie for breakfast and one for lunch. Dinner was supposed to be in the 500-600 cal range, and of course be balanced.

Here's what it consists of...

1 frozen banana
1 tbsp protein powder
1 cup water
handful of frozen strawberries (we actually tried mixed berries)
8 oz of plain yogurt
6 ice cubes

You mix all of this together and drink as a meal replacement. We halved the smoothie between the two of us and drank as a recovery drink after working out. Honestly it wasn't that bad. Kind of strong on banana at times and had a bit of a twang to it, which I assume is from the berries. It would probably be better if we stuck with just strawberries or just one particular kind of berry, instead of mixed. I'll continue to drink it for a recovery drink, considering it's lighter on calories compared to what I was drinking.

It made a TON of smoothie too! I can see how this could replace one meal simply by the volume that it makes. As far as calories are concerned the whole mixture totaled up to 274. We haven't figured up fat and carbs yet, but will.

As far as how much $ is involved, if you're already eating healthy you might have most of what was listed. I assume you have a blender already, so if you don't add that to the cost. We didn't have those particular fruits, the powder, OR the plain yogurt (which we both think is gross by itself), so we had to run to the grocery store. The total cost came to $21 even. We got a small container of powder considering that each smoothie only requires 1 tbsp. I didn't think it was too bad. Of course the items will eventually run out, but what doesn't.

So there you have it. Give it a try; you might like it.

Weigh In Day = Mild Disappointment

2010-01-10T07:03:00.000-06:00

You mean to tell me that I sweat as much as I did this last week and I only lost 0.2 lbs? baaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Doesn't really make sense. With the exception of one day this week I stayed within my nutrition ranges. In fact, here they are:

Oh well, better luck this next week.

Windows Movie Maker - Audio file length doubles when imported

2010-01-09T20:33:00.000-06:00

I ran into a curious little problem while working in Windows Movie Maker this evening and I'd like to share the fix.

Last year I had a "One pic a day" project of my two children. I'm currently putting their pictures together using Windows Movie Maker and wanted to add an audio track to help spice it up. The audio file I selected was an MP3, about 3:35 long. When importing the file into WMM it exactly doubled in length. I didn't notice this until I was adding additional pictures to the slide.

Now I knew this song wasn't that long. I played it in iTunes and WMP to check, and it was indeed 3:35 long. So I imported it again. And again, it exactly doubled in length. After doing some extensive searching and digging I found the fix for this. For some reason this often happens with MP3s. Not all the time, mind you. The fix is this: convert the MP3 to WMA or WAV.

I did this using GoldWave, saving a 2nd version of the original file. I then imported this new file and BOOM! It was exactly 3:35. Oh happy day!

Insanity Day 6

2010-01-09T15:30:00.001-06:00

Well, today was a bit more of a struggle than the rest of the week, or at least it felt like it. After looking at my heart rates through the workout I may have been pushing harder. More on this in a minute.

Today was a repeat of day 2... Plyometric Cardio Circuit. The 2nd time through made it a little easier to anticipate what move was coming next. Being new to this I don't know the next move yet and that slows me down a bit. The plank/push-up moves bugged my left elbow, to the point of stopping a few moves because of pain.

Heart rates... Highest was 216 BPM, lowest was 192. My lowest BPM was just about my highest through the previous days of the week. Funny how it works out like that. I'm using the count 10/count beats method. Not the most accurate, but it works. I know that I need to get a HRM, but the models I want are a bit out of reach at the moment.

According to SparkPeople my calories burned for the day were 562, bringing my total for the week up to 2700+. Again this is somewhat inaccurate because I don't have a HRM.

So after the first will I continue to do this? The answer is a most resounding YES! I love it. I like how it makes me feel. Of course I can't give a weight lost/inches lost just yet, but that's coming.

So in the words of Tony and Shaun... Keep pushing play and dig deeper!

Insanity Week 1 complete!

2010-01-09T12:23:00.001-06:00

562 calories burned today and 2700+ calories burned this week!

Insanity, Day 5 - I've been mostly-dead all day

2010-01-08T14:51:00.001-06:00

Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.
Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

WOW! It doesn't seem like I should be on day 5 of this already. Time is just flying by. Day 5 of Insanity consisted of Pure Cardio, a 40 minute, intense workout. To me today was the hardest workout of the week. Now I know that I may be taking that back tomorrow, but it's true.

Why was it hard? It wasn't necessarily the moves themselves, but the fact that you're given only one 30 second break during the whole thing. If you're doing this with me (or have done it in the past) you're probably saying that there's a break at the end, but that's the point... it's the end. Not really a break in my opinion.

Again, I can't really tell you what I did. Now that I think of it, I need to write down each exercise so I can relate that to you. You may not know the moves (there's always Google), but you'll at least get the drift.

The group working out with Shaun T was bigger today and you could tell that the workout was getting to them. In the previous 4 days you could see a few dropping out for a few seconds along the way. Today was different. They were dropping out like flies at one point. In fact, there was one point where almost the whole group took a break. The scene quickly changed and they were all back again. Nice editing Beachbody! ;-)

Some of the group has more metal to them than others. There's a particular guy that just doesn't seem to push it until the camera is on him or Shaun is near. Hmm... I understand limitations; I wouldn't have been selected for the workouts at this point, but still.

It was good working out with my honey today. I really enjoyed it. I normally can't do that, but work was called off due to the weather. Saturday is our normal day to workout together, so I'm looking forward to it. We seem to play of each other as we're going through and that really helps. Especially in this INSANE workout.

Dig deeper y'all.

Insanity recap - Days 1 through 4

2010-01-08T14:23:00.002-06:00

Before I get into each day, let me give you my stats prior to starting Insanity.

This is an Excel spreadsheet that I created for tracking my progress. I also track on a site called SparkPeople (a great site by the way). Weight loss is tracked in the green area and measurements in the blue. My weight loss is automatically calculated for me each week. I plug in my weight in the center column and what I've lost is displayed on the far right column. (It's showing that I've lost 196 lbs because I have yet to do this for a week.) Now on to the workouts.

Day 1:
Day 1 of Insanity was what is called the fit test, a simple 30 minute test for tracking your progress during Insanity. There were 8 moves that you do for a given period of time. This test is taken every two weeks. My results are as follows:
Switch kicks = 103
Power jacks = 30
Power knees = 47
Power jumps = 10
Globe jumps = 3 (Ok, this sounds like I barely did any, but there are 4 jumps per globe jump. Do the math.)
Suicide jumps = 7
Push-up jacks = 20
Low plank obliques = 15

Not bad. My wife did better on some of these than I did and vice versa. I was sore all over my body the next day. Not really to the point of taking a pain reliever, but close!

Day 2:
Day 2 of Insanity brings on the real workout. For today it was Plyometric Cardio Circuit. I really can't tell you what all was in this workout, but that it was definitely a killer. I felt like I did pretty good over all. It was INSANE!!!

Day 3:
Ok, I was definitely sore on this day, taking some pain reliever to help out a bit. Today's workout consisted of Cardio Power & Resistance. Again, I can't really tell you what I did. So far these workouts are not like P90X, where you track what you did for each move. Again, it was INSANE!

Day 4:
Guess what? Still sore. More pain reliever during the day, but not as much as day 3. Today was Cardio Recovery and boy was it needed. Don't be fooled by the name, as it's still an extreme workout. Think of it as yoga on steroids. It felt good to be doing all of the stretching in this workout. So far this was the shortest workout time-wise... roughly 30 minutes.

Here are some screenshots of my nutrition over these 4 days. With the exceptions of one day having a spike in fat, all in all not too bad. (The green band you see is the range where I'm supposed to be.)

Until next time, DIG DEEPER!

This is just insane!

2010-01-08T13:49:00.001-06:00

This is just insane! With good reason you're probably asking yourself what in the world I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is Insanity. Here's a quote from the website:

Are you ready to dig deep? Then you might just complete the hardest workout program ever put on DVD. Your personal trainer Shaun T will push you past your limits with 10 workout discs packed with plyometric drills on top of nonstop intervals of strength, power, resistance, and ab and core training moves. No equipment or weights needed. Just the will to get the hardest body you've ever had.

A little background... Last year I started P90X, an extreme home workout program created by Tony Horton and Beachbody. I completed 3 rounds, loosing a total of 44 lbs in roughly 8 months. Before I finished the 3rd round I was getting a little burned out. My weight loss had slowed down and I was having some issues with left elbow/shoulder pain. I needed to lay off the weights for a while so my arm could recoup. It was during this time that I found out about Insanity, another home workout program produced by Beachbody and created by a guy by the name of Shaun T. In just looking through the website it's pretty apparent that this is another extreme program. The fine print at the bottom of the site states:

INSANITY is an extreme and physically demanding workout. This is NOT for beginners or individuals with any medical condition that may be compromised by extreme cardio and strength exercise. Consult your physician and read the enclosed materials before beginning the program.

And boy it is definitely not kidding either! Just the warm up for each day feels like a workout in itself.

Now I'm a little late in posting my results for each day because I started this blog after I started Insanity. I'll post a summary of the first 4 days here shortly. One of the goals of this blog is to help me keep track of my progress, to keep me motivated, and to provide a creative outlet that needs to be scratched. So with that said, I hope you enjoy reading. Dig deeper!

My iPhone just went on a diet

2010-01-07T18:10:00.004-06:00

That's right, I just put my iPhone on a diet. I went from 99 apps down to 69 apps. It feels a little confusing at the moment as I used to run Categories. But Categories was getting a little out of hand. I wasn't using apps that I normally used before I categorized everything, and Categories was getting a bit slow. May have just been me, who knows. Anyway, here's a screen shot of an app called Overboard in action. If you want to know what a specific app is, let me know in comments.

Hi, my name's Josh and I work in a button factory...

2010-01-07T13:52:00.002-06:00

OK! My first real post. Now what to post about... Let me give you my background, or at least a little bit of it.

First off, I'm an IT Specialist for a community college. I've been in the IT field for 11 years, working mostly for K-12 school system. Technology is my life, needless to say. And I glad for that. It's provided a descent living with something that I love to do.

I'm married (10+ yrs), have two awesome children (1 girl, 1 boy), and am a licensed minister within a Pentecostal denomination. I took a break from IT for a year to pursue a calling within the ministry, only to have it go belly up on me. Why? Who knows... I don't.

Shortly after returning to work I had what I thought was a heart attack while on the job. I was severely overweight and stressed with the changes of life. Turns out that I didn't have a heart attack, but did get to spend a wonderful (tongue in cheek) week in the hospital, only to never be diagnosed. I spent the next year not making any changes to my eating habits, even with the scare of possibly having cancer. (One of the possible diagnoses I was given, but later proven false.)

Last year I was introduced to a home workout plan called P90X by a co-worker. I weighed 238 lbs and was wearing size 40 pants. After 3 rounds of this amazing, extremely hard program, I am down to size 36 pants and have lost 44 lbs. I just recently started the Insanity workout and am currently on day 4. I'm hoping to lose another 25 lbs with this program, so you'll probably see a lot of posts about this.

All in all life is good. I've got a wonderful wife, children, job, and church. I couldn't ask for more. Well maybe being out of debt...