Insanity Report

NyxButterfly

I'm not 100% sure if this is allowed so if not, please feel free to tell me and I'll delete this thread.

I've reached the point where I've finally worked through my issues of body images and self love. Not perfectly but MUCH better then before. As such, starting February 17 (next Monday) I'll be doing the Insanity circuit. I was wondering if any of you have tips/advise. Also, I want to use this thread almost as an accountability thread where I report each day if I did the workout and the progress I've made.

Sadly I cannot rely on my family for this (don't ask; too messy) so I'm hoping it's okay to do that here. Again, if it's not, let me know and I'll delete/stop the thread.

lijsda1

The best advice I can give you is to take as many breaks as you need just don't pause the DVD. Jump back in when you are ready and the next time you do the workout push a little harder. It won't be long before you are doing the whole thing without stopping

Make sure you get plenty of water and eat according to the nutrition plan.

Good luck

Roadie2000

There are a lot of groups and threads about people doing Insanity around here, get involved with some of those and befriend some people that are doing it as well.

Make sure you have some decent shoes and a good surface to do it on. It's a lot of high impact stuff, many people complain about it hurting their knees.

As lijsda said, don't be afraid to press pause as many times as you need to. It's pretty challenging at first, don't let it discourage you. Just take a rest and get back into it. I remember laying in a pool of my own sweat after just doing the fit test.

Don't be discouraged if you don't lose weight for the first few weeks. Workouts that intense will probably make you retain water for a while. You'll first start to see results in inches, then lbs.

SeasideOasis

Congrats on making the mindset to start Insanity. I am on Day 2 today after seeing my results my best friend has had. She is on week three. Last week, I conditioned to build up to Insanity, which I think was helpful. I did high cardio workouts to get my body moving last week and I think it helped a TON (as I tried to start Insanity out of nowhere last week and ended up with such sore calves I couldnt do it again last week).

My Fit Test went better than expected.

Day Two (today) I was able to power through the workout, but not as quickly.

Those are just my very early on thoughts. Hope they help you!!

kbolton322

I just restarted insanity.. if you want to friends me you can... I love insanity.. I love my work outs.. we can be there for each other through the work outs

hellykill

Way to go for beginning the INSANITY journey! I am a certified Insanity instructor and will be glad to be here for support.
I have come a LONG way.... and I too just simply started this workout and loved it because it gave me such good results.
When I first started it was tough, but I pushed thru it. I agree to take it as you can, give yourself breaks when you need to,
and you will still get results no matter how much you modify. Good luck and I hope you enjoy your workout!!

Orion782

Oh, where to start...

I'm an Insanity graduate, and let me tell ya, it is TOUGH. This coming from a military veteran...it was mentally/physically more difficult than anything the military ever threw my way.

1) Don't stop. Keep going. You will pass out before you die, so you've got that safety net. (J/K, kinda?)
2) EAT. EAT. EAT. You WILL "bonk" in Insanity. It's not if, but when. If you don't have the calories to sustain you through this type of intense exercise, you'll never stick with it.
3) Anti-Inflammatories and Fish Oil are your friend. Your joints will hurt, bad. Stretch and drink a TON of water.
4) CONCENTRATE ON FORM!!! If you can't do it right, do a modified version. It is very easy to over exert yourself, and God-forbid you have bad knees/ankles.
5) Get a HRM and USE IT. Find your comfort zone to where you are pushing it, but not killing yourself. It will take 2-3 weeks to really figure yourself out, but it's a critical tool.

Insanity is just stupid. It gives you a crazy sense of accomplishment, but to do it and master it could take a long, long time. That being said, I DID IT. Many OTHER PEOPLE DO IT. Fat people. Out of shape people. It will test you physically, but the mental portion and overcoming burnout is most of the battle IMO.

Good luck.

Dean31

It is not a workout for beginners, but you can do it as a beginner as long as you KNOW YOUR LIMITS (very important!) and go at your own pace. It will make you want to push yourself over your limit, so you REALLY REALLY REALLY have to watch that if you are not conditioned already.

Also, A LOT of people complain of injuries, and my suspicion is that it is due to pushing too hard and not keeping good form. You can very quickly become exhausted, which leads to sloppy form, which leads to injury.

Make sure you are fully hydrated and make sure you eat. Take it easy at first. You WILL be sore. You WILL want to quit. But you can do it! Stick with it and you will have great results! It is very tough, but it is one of my favorites, and it gets the job done. Just don't beat yourself up about keeping up with the vid. GO AT YOUR OWN PACE. Can't stress that enough.

Also, I do these workouts barefoot, but my feet are conditioned for it. I run barefoot as well. I'm a firm believer that most shoes actually harm your feet by "baby-ing" them too much. Having strong feet will strengthen your whole body. If your feet are not conditioned already, however, do be sure to wear shoes with good support. Insanity is very high impact.

Roadie2000

And don't forget to......DIG DEEPER!

NyxButterfly

You guys are amazing!!! Thank you SO much for the replies, PMs and friend requests! I'll be answering each reply below:

@lijsda1: My mom also says the same thing of not pausing the DVD. I may have to do this since pausing and resuming eats up more time and sadly as a full-time student my time is limited.

@Roadie2000: Thank you for the tip about the water weight. I often forget that you can retain weight because of that. ^^;

@SeasideOasis: You can totally do it! I'll be cheering for you too! I won't be doing any pre-conditioning but I'm naturally a fast recoverer so I'm hoping that and my youth will help with getting used to the process.

@kcrow4102: What's your favorite part of the workouts? I'd love to know what keeps you going so I can maybe do that too.

@kellhill: Oh wow, you're an instructor!? That's so cool!! What's a common mistake people make while doing Insanity? That way I can try to avoid doing that mistake myself. ^^;

@Orion782: I actually hadn't thought about the fact that I would need to possibly eat MORE. XD Thank you for reminding me.! Also, I'll keep my form in mind like you suggested.

@Dean31: I actually dance sometimes for fun and wear heels all the time (my Achilles tendon shortened from all the dance and ballet I took) so I usually do workouts barefoot too. I just feel more stable that way for some reason...