Insanity Tracker

Have you seen the infomercials for the newest fittness DVD from BeachBody?

Heres the link: http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do?code=BBHOME_CONTROL_INS

Summary, fitness professional Shaun T, the face behind Hip Hop Abs ( my lil sisters favorite beach body workout series), has put together a group of cardio and strength exercises and organized them into high intensity cardio intervals.

What is the benefit to Interval Training?

Interval training is training the emphasize progression between work and rest ratios to allow you to work at your highest maximal rate and burn the highest amount of calories at a given time.

With a standard cardio program you would generally have a warm up and then maintain a certain heart rate level througout... for examples sake we'll say 145 ( 220 - age * 75%).

Interval training will send that heartrate way above 145, and bring you back around 145 or lower during the recovery. The higher your heart rate - the more oxygen your muscle use - the more calories you burn. Plus you get the added benefit of EPOC (excess post oxygen consumption) or "after burn", the calories your body continues to burn trying to return your body to homeostasis or baseline, the harder you work the longer this takes, and the more energy or calories are used.

Still with me?

Exercise hard and vigorous - burn more calories during and after your workout.


Insanity Week 1:

The Fitness Test - so the first thing you do before you begin your workouts is take the fitness test. I did decent on the strength test but the cardio/plyo test were pretty brutal.

OMG I have never been so sweaty doing an at home workout. I am dripping sweat in the warm up. By the end of the workout my chest is heaving my entire body is covered in sweat, but I feel amazing. Energized! And I feel this way during every workout during the week, I am so thankful for the "recovery workout" midweek, cuz my muscles are kinda hating me by day 3.

After one week I am already feeling stronger and more confident about the workouts. The workouts themselves aren't that complex its the sequencing and the speed that are really challenging. I am sweating buckets every workout. One of the things that I love about the DVD is that the people in the video are in really good shape but they as well as the instructor have to take frequent breaks during the exercise, which makes you feel comfortable when you need to take a break yourself, frequently.

I have also been following their "elite nutrition plan" that reccommends you eat 5 small meals a day with 10 options for each meal that include tasty options like cream of wheat and sushi. It gives you areound 1700 kcals a day , based on your current weight.

I am just so proud of myself for making the commitment to do this for the next 60 days.

I'll post an update on my progress week 4, and week 8.


After week 1: - 2 lbs, - 1% body fat

1/2 Marathon: The Finish Line

So how did it all end...

It was a gorgeous fall day, sunny but cold, I got to start in the first corral.
I was nervous but excited, mostly nervous that I would need to pee and there would be no where for me to go. I remember every beautiful mile like it was yesterday...

Ready - Set - Go
A lot of the men dart off to the sidelines - apparently they forgot to go pee.
Mile 1 - okay my pace is a little to fast, my goal is 10 min miles so I can finish at 2hrs and 10mins. If i start to fast I'll burn out. Feeling good tho, the crowd is thick and people are cheering me on...the faster runners dart by me.

Mile 3 - okay i've completed a 5k, still ahead of my pace, averaging about 9:30 miles.
Feeling good feeling great.

Mile 6 - Okay i've completed a 10k, still ahead of pace, feeling great tho! starting to get a little warm, wondering if I wore to much clothing.

Mile 10 - Okay just 3 more miles to go! I am feeling so good. And there is my boyfriend wait at the corner, he gives me a smile and a wave, I skip by blowing kisses - I wonder if the skipping was a bit much.

Mile 11 - Oww my ankle hurts Everything else feels fine but what is up with my right ankle.
And where did all these hills come from.

Mile 12 - I guess the seritonin kicked in I am feeling great again. Can't feel any pain in my ankle anymore. Still ahead of pace. Legs feel strong, heart feels strong, and look, yaaay another hill.

Mile 13 - Finally, I am almost there. .1 mile to go... i didn't know .1 mile could feel so long. Up the hill to the olympic rings and it's all downhill from here. I take a deep breath and sprint it out!

Finish time: 2:06:50 about 3mins 10secs ahead of schedule!

Oh yeah, I did it, kicked butt.

An hour later...I felt my ankle... rest-ice-compress-elevate!

Haha and I haven't run since - can we say burnout.
I went to crosstraining on the eliptical and bike to keep up the cardio.
I plan to start running again to pre-qualify for the peachtree.

But my new venture is the 60 day workout - INSANITY!

Stay posted for that.

Health and Happiness

L