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I take a picture once a week

quote="lozzle22;36296224"]

cardertaxidermy wrote: »

Today is Cardio Recovery which = Boring!!!!!!! 2 more days till my rest day and then on to week 4!!!!!!!!

I just did cardio recovery today (day 4 so first time). I actually found it quite hard, it's definitely showed up my weak muscles so I think it'll be good for strenthening those up.

I'm only on day 4, so don't really expect to see any results yet, but I guess I am scared of going through this program and NOT seeing any progress. What day are you guys planning on doing progress photos? I'm planning on doing a weigh in once a week, so next monday will be my next.[/quote]

nitesky83 wrote: »

I am at day 10 or 11. Results so far. Stomach was my main issue.

Before https://www.dropbox.com/s/b4knd681ephcg8k/20160404_141023.jpg?dl=0

After
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mfwrjelr6bqzc7a/IMG_20160428_085426.jpg?dl=0

Amazing job!!! Congrats!

MWGemini wrote: »

cardertaxidermy wrote: »

Question for the insanity experts. I am in week three I still cannot do any of the workouts straight through without stopping I have to take many breaks. is this normal? Even know I have to take breaks after I'm done week 4 for should I still continue to the second month? Or should I do a few more weeks of the first month until u get better????

I'm a marathon runner, former ultra-marathoner, long-distance triathlete, etc. I'm in my last week of Insanity and I've yet to be able to complete a single workout without taking multiple breaks (usually very short- a few seconds or so to shake it out and catch a breath). I can run or cycle or swim for hours on end, but my legs just don't have the strength to do all the jumping at that level of intensity for more than 30-90 seconds or so at a stretch. I try to go really deep on the squats and all jumping exercises, though.

I do like the Insanity program (and will be doing P90X and P90X2 and Athlean-X after I finish it), but I am not a big fan of how everything is lower body. There seems to be hardly any upper body or abdominal/core exercises, so I started supplementing the Insanity workouts with extra stuff of my own about 3 weeks in. Sometimes I would swap out a leg exercise with an ab exercise (hanging leg raises instead of power jumps, for example), or just use dumbbells or medicine balls or other stuff I have to add to the end of the workout. I also try to do a few runs each week. I will say, however, that in the last two months doing Insanity, my running pace has decreased by about 60 to 90 seconds per mile, and my heart rate at that speed has dropped about 10-20 bpm from what it used to be. So I've gotten *significantly* faster, and I'm working a lot less doing it. I'm *very* happy with that result.

That's really interesting. I have noticed it's mostly lower body too, but Im planning to do p90x3 straight after which should help my upper body. I'm nearing the end of week 1 and so far I haven't lost any weight and my measurements haven't changed, but I'm really sore so I know I'm doing something. I guess I'm hoping for that "23lb weight loss" haha! I don't think it's going to happen, so I'm just going to see what does happen I'm 5' 5" and about 150lbs right now with an overal goal of 120-125lbs

Just finished pure cardio, first workout with no breaks... woah that was hard!! I just did what I could and took breaks when I needed to (which lets face it was during every exercise!! I know 5 days is too soon to start seeing results lol, but I'm impatient and my irrational mind is telling me I won't change, even though I've been eating super clean for 2 week and am doing the best I can with these exercises

Yesterday was Cardio power & resistance. I almost quit when I got 20 minutes in, then 30 minutes in but I made myself push through even though I kept stopping A LOT. Feels good to finish the whole thing regardless of how much I stopped though. I will get better and stronger!

lozzle22 wrote: »

MWGemini wrote: »

cardertaxidermy wrote: »

Question for the insanity experts. I am in week three I still cannot do any of the workouts straight through without stopping I have to take many breaks. is this normal? Even know I have to take breaks after I'm done week 4 for should I still continue to the second month? Or should I do a few more weeks of the first month until u get better????

I'm a marathon runner, former ultra-marathoner, long-distance triathlete, etc. I'm in my last week of Insanity and I've yet to be able to complete a single workout without taking multiple breaks (usually very short- a few seconds or so to shake it out and catch a breath). I can run or cycle or swim for hours on end, but my legs just don't have the strength to do all the jumping at that level of intensity for more than 30-90 seconds or so at a stretch. I try to go really deep on the squats and all jumping exercises, though.

I do like the Insanity program (and will be doing P90X and P90X2 and Athlean-X after I finish it), but I am not a big fan of how everything is lower body. There seems to be hardly any upper body or abdominal/core exercises, so I started supplementing the Insanity workouts with extra stuff of my own about 3 weeks in. Sometimes I would swap out a leg exercise with an ab exercise (hanging leg raises instead of power jumps, for example), or just use dumbbells or medicine balls or other stuff I have to add to the end of the workout. I also try to do a few runs each week. I will say, however, that in the last two months doing Insanity, my running pace has decreased by about 60 to 90 seconds per mile, and my heart rate at that speed has dropped about 10-20 bpm from what it used to be. So I've gotten *significantly* faster, and I'm working a lot less doing it. I'm *very* happy with that result.

That's really interesting. I have noticed it's mostly lower body too, but Im planning to do p90x3 straight after which should help my upper body. I'm nearing the end of week 1 and so far I haven't lost any weight and my measurements haven't changed, but I'm really sore so I know I'm doing something. I guess I'm hoping for that "23lb weight loss" haha! I don't think it's going to happen, so I'm just going to see what does happen I'm 5' 5" and about 150lbs right now with an overal goal of 120-125lbs

I really can't stress this enough, for anyone out there doing Insanity or any other exercise/nutrition program: the NUTRITION part is *FAR* more important than the exercise part, but both are important. I see it like this:

There are three components to being healthy: 1) weight control 2) nutrition 3) exercise/fitness. Weight control is a fairly simple one- you just balance the calories in versus calories out. I could lose weight eating nothing but french fries and candy bars, but I wouldn't be Healthy. Likewise, I could gain weight eating nothing but super healthy food, if I ate enough of it. We're all on MFP logging our food, so we can get #1 figured out pretty easily. #2 is a lot harder, and is where most of us need to do the most work. This is about eating the right foods, cutting out sugary drinks like sodas and sports drinks, eating more fruits and veggies (I'm bad about this), eating on a more consistent basis (it's better to eat 6 smaller meals/snacks at regular intervals throughout the day than 3 larger meals, for example), etc. Most of these exercise programs contain meal plans/suggestions, and there's a lot of good info on MFP and other sites- read it and use it . I've found that making small steps and just slowly building on them over time has helped me to stick with things much more easily.

Lastly, there's the exercise/fitness portion, and there are tons of good programs out there, both for free or for sale, and lots of good info. Insanity is a good program, so is P90X. I don't have much personal experience with any of the others. None of them are perfect, and all of them require a little modification to your individual needs/goals.

As for losing 23lbs, @lozzle22, you can definitely do it, but you probably will not see it in 2 months. Personally, I dropped about 20lbs over the course of 6 months just by cutting out sugary drinks and reducing my portion sizes a little bit, without changing my exercise at all. Keep in mind that if you're not a very fit person right now (i.e. you don't exercise regularly), you may actually GAIN weight at first, or throughout parts of the program, as your body puts on muscle. This is normal, and it's a good thing, because that will help increase your metabolism, and burn more fat, and ultimately make you healthier, and you'll also look and feel better. Athletic/fit is a lot more attractive than skinny .

I'll also second what @Lorraine128 said to @cardertaxidermy:

Lorraine128 wrote: »

Hi @cardertaxidermy, don't worry about not being able to 'keep up' with the group on screen. ... As long as you are doing the best you can to keep up, using proper form, you will be improving all the time.

The people in the videos are all professional athletes/personal trainers/etc. If you can't keep up at first, that's okay. Go at your own pace. Push yourself (hard!), but don't push so hard that you injure yourself. If you need to turn the first month into a 90 day program because you're adding a rest day after each exercise, that's fine. If you want to repeat the first month a few times, that's fine. If you do the entire program and want to repeat it again (as I will be doing), that's fine too. The workouts and schedule are just a guide- adapt it to suit your needs. Just don't give up! Keep working at it, and as long as you are taking steps in the right direction (eating healthier, exercising more, pushing harder, etc.), you will eventually reach your goals. Slow and steady wins the race. Don't push so hard that you injure yourself or get burned out, because then you won't be making progress.

Being healthy is about making permanent lifestyle changes. Don't get tricked into thinking that all it takes is 60 or 90 days of hard work and then you're done. You started on a path to improve the rest of your life. Now all you need to do is keep moving forward. One step at a time, one meal at a time, one workout at a time, one day at a time. You can do it!

Thanks for all the helpful replies!' I absolutely agree nutrition is king! I started eating completely clean (with an occasional treat) and I feel good! There's no way I'm doing insanity and wasting all the effort with bad nutrition!! I just want to make sure I'm eating enough calories

Confidence booster today, I just finished week 1 so did Plyo cardio for the 2nd time. First time I repeated a workout and I could do SO much more than I did on day 1!! It's given me another reason to keep going and to know that the weight WILL come off, just maybe not in the first week haha!

And I'm definitely not in this for 60 days and nothing more, I plan to do p90x after this and I live in Switzerland where they are hugely obsessed with fitness so am going to incorporate more fitness/cycling/hiking into my everyday life I want a healthy lifestyle.

Going to be finishing up week one this afternoon with plyometric cardio