Insanity start date- Nov 15th

HollyMac20

Just finished up our first week on our work schedule. Everyone is doing great. Had a good sweat today with PCC. Taking a break from Insanity until next Monday after everyone is back from the holiday.

Turbo Fire tomorrow, 10k Thursday for me!

edorice

Also, the only space I have to do this is on carpet. I was thinking i should get some kind of mat to do this on because i dont want to sweat all over the carpet... lol. Does anyone have suggestions of cheap-ish ones or what kind would be best that doesn't slip around?

You can find a mat by Harbinger on Amazon.com, however Sports Authority stores have mats if you want to save on shipping costs.

jrlenig

So I am not looking forward to today, the fact is I am exhausted and not from Beachbody's Insanity, I need to push through this, cause my life is not about to get an easier, finals start soon, I still have 3 children in my house under 5 from 7am-6pm daily and my hubby still works inconsistent hours that total in the 70's each week, so I need to push through this and not use "life's craziness as an excuse". I am really glad I had this talk with myself this morning hopefully here I come Insanity!

SkierElle

jrlenig, that sounds super busy but keep at it! I know everyone says it but make it like brushing your teeth - something you have to do everyday no matter what. I have finals coming up soon so I am kinda worried about that as well, but 40 minutes a day is something I can fit in! I know we can do it!

edorice, Thanks for the suggestion about the mat. I got one from target but I really don't like it so I'll look into that one.

I'm off to do cardio recovery, sounds easy but I know it will be a challenge!

grouch201

Somehow I justified taking yesterday off. It was just one of those things that happens sometimes. I have the next few days off from school and I committed that I wouldn't let myself justify any other days off. So I did pure cardio today and depending on how the day goes, I'll either do the plyometrics later today as well, or do it along with recovery tomorrow.

Let's all keep it going!

SkierElle

Oh man, I did pure cardio today and about 10 minutes from the end i realized that no, i wasn't getting a break LOL! but I pushed through it. that was rough, especially because of the lack of sleep last night and having to get to work by 8 today. It's workouts like this that make me realize i can't just stuff my face because that is more than cancelling out a workout I put a lot of effort into!

Plyometrics tomorrow and then I can say I made it thru week 1!!!!

grouch, those things do happen sometimes but luckily the schedule allows for a day off per week, so just switch up the schedule a bit! I might have to end up using a few of those days off for workouts since I need to finish this 3 days before I am scheduled to because of something I have to do late January for school.. which involves sitting at a booth all day at a livestock show, haha! Can't perfectly stick to the schedule all the time when life gets in the way, but we can do our best!

SkierElle

Welcome Wendy!! good luck tomorrow with your first Insanity workout!

Well I finished week 1 and had my day off today (but still did some other easy workouts - running, elliptical and ice skating is a piece of cake compared to Insanity!) and am really glad I made it thru the first week... next week my goal is to DIG EVEN DEEPER!

I already feel stronger and like I have more endurance
I think pure cardio and plyometrics are definitely the most challenging DVDs!!! but such a good use of 40 mins. Gosh, i am already in nervous anticipation of the DVDs in month 2. Yikes!

jrlenig

Welcome Wendy feel free to join us! Took my 2nd fit test today, they are right when they Insanity doesn't get easier even when you do better!
Switch Kicks Power Jacks Power Knees Power Jumps Globe Jumps Suicide Jumps Push-Up Jacks Low Plank Obliques Weight Body mass
56 45 67 25 8 12 4 38 153.2 and from my measurements and the WOWY body fat calculator I lost 1% body fat! even though the scale barely changed!

SkierElle

jrlenig, great job on your fit test!! & the decrease in body fat! i just put my numbers in that calculator and I only got 17% which is below lean, but according to my BMI i am just under "overweight". weird. I dont know if that body fat calc is so accurate for me, since my waist is pretty slim but my hips and thighs definitely aren't! I really should get it officially tested somewhere!

Wendy, glad you enjoyed the first workout. I've never had problems with my knees & I dont notice it in these workouts, but the impact will definitely get you, just bend them less. Im sure you will still get a great workout if you reduce the impact and still do as many reps as you can.

I completed the first workout of week 2 today.. power and resistance. It went pretty well but I was feeling it after!!!

jrlenig

Which body fat calc did you use? The one on WOWY.com(the beachbody website) is the one I used, I am not "overweight" anymore on the traditional BMI scale! I will share another site to calcute body fat http://www.linear-software.com/online.html, this one is a little more accurate I think!

jrlenig

I will say though I did them all they all were different, I found the last on of the 6 to the be the closest to where I think I am, one had me had obese and 70 pounds of my body mass to be fat!

grouch201

Fit Test Results # 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
41 39 72 24 8 13 20 30

Hmmm...switch kicks seem to have gone down. I only count sets, so I'm wondering if I counted individuals on my first test. Ah well, either way everything else went up so that's pretty happy. Let's hope it's as much in another two weeks.

SkierElle

Grouch, good work on your fit test!!! nice to see most everything go up, just think how awesome your fitness will be in another 2 weeks!!

I used the body fat calc on the beachbody site, but I am checking out that other one now I am really curious now and want to get it tested somewhere, if it's not expensive. maybe they do it at the rec center at my college... I'll have to check into it.

I doubt if your BMI is normal that you have BF levels at obese!!! I just got under the overweight category too for BMI but after what that body fat calc said, maybe I was less overweight than I thought to begin with.

HollyMac20

Elle, check around at your school. I am sure that someone, somewhere has the handheld devise. You hold onto sensors and it reads the resistance of some sort of current through your body. They are actually not too expensive (in comparison to some other things). I have seen site were body fat is calculated by waist and/or neck measurement, in addition to height and weight. I would be interested to see what your BF is calculated out to on different site and devises. Beachbody also has calipers, were you pinch on your hip and look it up on a chart. Mine seems to be pretty close all around.

jrlenig

Wendy feel free to whine we all have those moments days, weeks,ect! I did pure Cardio today and I was wondering what you guys think speed or reps, sometimes I feel like I need to turn the cardio down and get my reps up, and I say speed or reps b/c if I dig deeper, I need to rest a little longer!

grouch201

As far as speed and reps, I pay the most attention to my heart rate. I'll let it cap at 165, but then I stop for a bit to let it settle back down to around 150 and then get back into it. I found that I really have to push to get it up there and sometimes my muscles are just creaming at me to take a break and that will rule out.

I just want to say that today was the worst day doing this for me. Just getting through the warm up I came down with the hiccups and it was driving me crazy. There's nothing that ruins a good breathing pattern like random diaphragm spasms. I was just thinking every minute how much I just wanted to quit, and several times, I almost did. However, I remember last week and how much I hated being a day behind. My goal this week was to stay on track. It took a lot of digging just to get myself back into the program. Something was definitely out of whack in my head and I hope that it goes away with tonight's rest.

I hope everybody else is going strong.

grouch201

The reason they stretch after the warm up is because cold muscles are more likely to become injured. Warm muscles are more flexible and limber and have an increase of blood flow and nutrients flowing to them. If you stretch while cool, there is an increased risk of pulling a muscle or otherwise injuring yourself.

I save my digging mostly for after the initial stretching. I've thought it interesting that about a third of the calories I burn during the workout is during the warm up and initial stretching. Anywho, I wasn't disgruntled with the workout last night as I was just in a bad mood for some odd reason. Today's feeling much better and I'm about to head in to some cardio and cardio abs.

pragya728

Hello everyone,

I have a silly question to ask but I really hope someone can help me out. I started doing Insanity last week and so far I love it. It's kicking my butt but it's awesome. However, I have a really hard time keeping my core tight. Does anyone have any tips on how to do that? I feel like the workout won't be effective if I don't have my core tight. I try every time but it's so difficult with so much going on so fast in Insanity.

I would really appreciate any tips.

Thanks!

jrlenig

My tips on keeping you core tight sounds like something my mother said but remember shoulders back chest up....And I am going to have to start over, I slipped and fell on a patch of ice, and have a huge bruise on my knee so I can't do any of the floor work!~ Should be good to go by Monday ( at least i hope!). So I am doing hip hop abs 2x daily to keep up the cal burn!

grouch201

I've found that working out right after eating is generally not a good idea for me. Once or twice I tried it, but my food was sitting like a ball and just felt like it was going to come right up, especially when doing some of the plank exercises. Better to leave some time after meals before going into it. I usually try to do it first thing in the morning.

You can always give it a shot and see how it works out.

PS: Thursday last week I decided I needed a break from the whole exercise thing. For some reason the scale wasn't going the way I wanted it to despite no serious deviations in my diet and it pissed me off. That and I was kind of in a bad mood last week anyway. So I did alright with the eating over the weekend and just took it easy. I'm also prepping for finals so maybe there's some stress-related stuff going on there. But after next Thursday the semester and finals will be over and then I'm just going to pound myself into the ground physically and finally get down below 200 pounds.

I measured myself a week early and saw that I've lost at least 1/2" from my midsection so there's some motivation. All the work isn't yielding pounds lost, but the fat is still coming off.

Happy week, all!

jrlenig

To all of those of us who did not make it through, it's ok! Picking up where you left off or starting over, as long as you continue working out! A double dose for me today! No studying so stressing, super excited to spend some time on me!

grouch201

To all of those of us who did not make it through, it's ok! Picking up where you left off or starting over, as long as you continue working out! A double dose for me today! No studying so stressing, super excited to spend some time on me!

I am in the midst of finals week right now, but I feel like my brain has absorbed as much as it's going to. Now I am in a plan of a quick review the morning before the test and then take it easy. I have come into this week with the plan to pick up where I left off on day 18 or the Cardio recovery in the middle of week 3. Starting Friday, I'll be double dosing through the rest of the year because I have time and I'd really like to see my weight go down by 8 pounds. Considering how many calories are burned in a workout, I don't see this being a problem. Today is also a grocery day, so it will be about loading up on lots of goodies to help stave off the increase in appetite.

I just wanted you all to know I haven't forgotten you and I'm still planning on killer results.

jrlenig

So I am back...I fell hard and never got back up, but started again Yesterday, but I am doing a hybrid of Insanity and ChaLean Extreme

liz827

I'm on day 2 of Insanity! I got through the first 2 weeks back in October and then life took over. I'm hoping to get through most of it this time around!