Insanity workout!

I just started this week. Today was day 4!

I really enjoy it. I sweat like i was in a pool! Forget workout towel...need a bath towel!

I think you'll have a blast. There are some muscles I'm not used to using so I will get stronger and more endurance with time.

Good news is Thursday is a relaxing day (only 33 min and no cardio...mostly stretching). Then you have Sunday off...so it seems the pattern is Intense Mon-Wed then Fri and Sat. At least you know you will be able to recover. I swear i was happy today. I was just wishing for a break so I got lucky. I'll be ready to dig hard again tomorrow!

His 30 second breaks are crazy...and funny. He says" OK y'all break". Then i see water break on the screen and then I decide water or drying off with towel...no time for both (maybe i should leave the cap off the water bottle...lol). Right after I realize its a break he says "You have about 20 seconds y'all". Then sometimes he starts telling you what you are going to do and you should get in position and be ready to start. What kind of break is that? LOL

Just started and I have no way of tracking my calories burned. I used MyFitnesspal to track my calorie. But they don't have insanity on here. Can any one help me find a way to track them..

I am on Day #33. It is such an insane & intense workout but, really getting my money's worth. I love the structure of the program. You really have to be committed to the program. I am already anticipating doing a 2nd round when I get done the 1st week of July. The key is really to go at your own pace until you eventually are able to keep up with the video fitness models.
So glad I hopped on the Insanity train. Was so afraid that I could not do it but, I have proven myself wrong.

Great! I've heard most of the weight loss comes off in the second month. Is this true or have you seen good weight loss results in the first 33 days?

Tomorrow is my last day of week #4.

It's hard, but not impossible. First week is killer. My favorite video is probably Pure Cardio. Least favorite is Plyometrics. I'll probably do Asylum when I finish. But I'm also doing Power Yoga five days a week, Step Aerobics twice a week, and Spinning once a week. My instructor for those classes is worse than Shaun T, tbh. Insanity is like a walk in the park compared. For a fun day, I decided to do vid #1 of thirty day shred to test the difference between the two. 30DS will soon become ridiculously easy.

Prob going to get a heart rate monitor to figure out exactly what I'm burning. Never done HIIT so its all new.

I'm glad to hear you like Pure Cardio. I do that for the first time tomorrow! I had thought i would continue to use the treadmill and perhaps do some lifting but i don't feel like at this point. I don't want to burn myself out so that one day I'm too tired to do insanity and have to skip. Maybe week 2 or 3 I'll consider adding.

ps.. the manually set up is you initially adding these DVD exercises manually into your My Exercises and putting the estimate burn per exercise. Once doe they are there for you to pick going forward. Took me about 15 minutes to set up but now painless. you can always adjust teh calories once you have a HRM.

Hahah Awesome!! Kinda like the 10 second break Chalean gives me right now!! I am doing chalean extreme!! I look forward to it!!

To be fair, he does say that it is important to recover since it is interval training and maybe since I'm new, that 30 seconds just isn't enough for me. I would really appreciate just even 15 more seconds. I know it sounds strange but 15 seconds would be HUGE. Maybe i should pause and enjoy 15 more seconds for the first 2 weeks. He says things like "check your heart rate". I feel mine going fast yet i don't have time to count (I understand ranges etc...maybe I could consider a monitor.

In a way you can say taking an extra 15 to 30 seconds is cheating and I will get less out of it but I don't think so. If I had that then I would be able to complete whatever the next thing is and not have to stop in the middle. So it balances out. It's just a matter of choosing where to get that recovery. That's my opinion. Meanwhile pushing until I crash is good too "your hardest"...fine.

ps.. the manually set up is you initially adding these DVD exercises manually into your My Exercises and putting the estimate burn per exercise. Once doe they are there for you to pick going forward. Took me about 15 minutes to set up but now painless. you can always adjust teh calories once you have a HRM.

Now that you have the heart monitor, how far off were the estimates?(ballpark) Did they overestimate or underestimate? Thanks

Just started and I have no way of tracking my calories burned. I used MyFitnesspal to track my calorie. But they don't have insanity on here. Can any one help me find a way to track them..

Yeah...I've wondered this. I feel cheated but I use Aerobics high impact for most days but used Aerobics general for the Cardio Recovery.

Maybe someone should create one (after research).

The best method is to get a good HRM. The "estimates" from websites based on your age, weight etc are probably going to overstate the burn. Drop the money on a good HRM to get a little more accurate count on the calories burned. If you are using the Insanity nutrition guide, you will NOT eat back your calories so logging the cals burned in MFP will mess up your calories and macros. My suggestion (and the one that works with everyone I've suggested it to), do NOT use MFP to track your workouts or cals burned. MFP is a great site for tracking what you eat. Not so much on tracking workouts/cals burned. Plus as long as you follow the Insanity nutrition guide you'll have plenty of fuel for your workouts etc.

Yeah...Pure Cardio was fun! (Did for first time)

I sort of cheated myself a little and still feel guilty. He kept encouraging us to take a break if we need to so I took some breaks thinking I would push my hardest towards the end. It seemed like there was plenty of time left BUT...I had forgotten about cool down. That's like 4 and 1/2 min or something so just when i was getting psyched to push my hardest it was time for cool down stretch. You get plenty of rest there. As soon as I realized this, i should have rewinded it and pushed for last round. Oh well. i'll get em next time. I just wanted to mention it so you don't do the same.

It's something that could cheer you up...when it says 10 min, you really only have about 5 min left so push!

In general, once I learn where the water breaks are i will be able to push even harder. I try to push hard but if after that round, instead of the water break it will be a faster round, that makes a difference...LOL

I log Insanity as "circuit training" in MFP

Glad you liked it. For me, water breaks aren't really breaks so much as a) do I run to the fridge to fill up my water glass again, or b) do I run to grab another sweat towel.

I hope you enjoy adding in Cardio Abs later on. It really is a nice burn.

Thanks. I did that today actually. i had to run to the fridge to fill up my water bottle (paused of course). It still feels like a break...ha ha. Pouring the water in the bottle is a break.

I noticed breaks weren't as big of an issue today. It just comes with time I guess. Today was day 6 for me. I hate hate hate "Level 1 drills" and it makes me wonder what level 2 drills will be like. LOL

I still can't do the running Heisman well. The regular one I'm fine with and i can do it if i end with lifting the inside leg but I see they all end with lifting the outside leg. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong but tomorrow is my off day. I'll probably put it in and check the steps.

Now that I've finished a whole week, i know I can do it. I'm really not scared anymore!

Even though I don't like doing the stretches, I enjoy it in a way because I know it is eating into the time! LOL It's almost like a break.

Yep, they did! ????. Quite disappointed after I saw my burn on the HRM????

Yep, they did! ????. Quite disappointed after I saw my burn on the HRM????

Thanks...I won't bother with them then. I would rather underestimate than kid myself. I think the high impact aerobics underestimates so I'm fine with that.

Yep, they did! ????. Quite disappointed after I saw my burn on the HRM????

In general though, I would think heart rate monitors couldn't be accurate. It doesn't make sense to me.

Sure, they can give you an idea of how hard your body is working and your heart...but:

1. It would not know if you are moving just part of your body or multiple areas of your body.
2. This would especially be important during recovery...where if you used your whole body and worked to exhaustion, a bunch of the calorie usage would come from recovery.
3. that HRM is probably more effective in guessing the aerobic parts and not so much the anaerobic muscle training like the push ups, the stretching etc.

So it is possible that those estimates give you the impact calorie-wise of the workout including during and after and considering what body parts are used vs the hear monitor which just focuses on during and tries to generalize by how oxygen deficient you become and the demand on your heart.