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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

Lorraine128 wrote: »

Ewestlu wrote: »

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

Fantastic @Ewestlu, Week 1 over! How did you find it?

It's been good but tough! I've gotten through month 2 week 2 twice and quit before so this time I am determined to make it all the way through. This time I do feel I am able to keep up with the workouts better but it's still kicking my butt every day!

cardertaxidermy wrote: »

Hello everyone. Hope everybody had a great weekend. Today was Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs. Can't believe u am already at week 4. Seems like a lot of people quit during month 2. I am hoping to battle thru

Keep up the posting and motivation!!!!!

Well done!!! I know the feeling, I just completed day 9, and I can't believe I'm already in week two and can already notice a difference in myself and my ability to do a bit more. I took a side by side pic and thought I would post it as I couldn't believe the change in 1 week. I'll post it in my next post

Drive by Helloooo! W2D1 as well as Wk2D1 C25K are in the books. Feeling awesome.

I have those dvds. I do it for a while then quit at the second month. Not good. Can't stay motivated

cardertaxidermy wrote: »

Week 4 day 2 Done!!!!!!! Cardio Power and Resistance.

Have a question. I feel like I need a warm-up for the warm-up. During the first round on every warm up my legs hurt like crazy I could never make it through the warm-ups I feel like I do awesome through the regular workout once I am warmed up. Does anyone else feel like this?

Congrats! I had that problem too during my first round of Insanity. Muscles should only be stretched when warm and does it ever feel good to stretch after that intense warmup! What I found helped was to take down my warmup intensity. While Shaun T's stretches are effective, I did better with spending much more time stretching my quads, hams and particularly my glutes before starting the regular workout.

I feel ya too! Pure Cardio for me today... intense. It's the one I found hardest so far so dreading it a little! Still, once I'm done with today I've done 10 days which means 1/6 complete!!

This week started month 2 max workouts. Holy crap! Month 1 circuits ARE the warmups for month2.

This morning I hit "play" for max plyo. All i got to say is. Level3 drills!!! WTH. 16 pushups Soooo many pushups. I sit here at work now and can hardly move my arms.

cardertaxidermy wrote: »

Week 4 day 2 Done!!!!!!! Cardio Power and Reisitance.

Have a question. I feel like I need a warm-up for the warm-up. During the first round on every warm up my legs hurt like crazy I could never make it through the warm-ups I feel like I do awesome through the regular workout once I am warmed up. Does anyone else feel like this?

Yes! Quite often. I just remind myself to take the intensity down a notch if I feel my muscles seizing up.

lozzle22 wrote: »

Day 1 on the left,
day 9 on the right, can't believe how much that little bloat has disappeared!!

your posture also

unnichacko wrote: »

Week 1 done.
during the workout I am not really out of breath but my legs give up a lot of times. Does this happen to anyone else also?

Yes me too! I am relatively out of breath but that isn't what causes me to take breaks, it's the muscles getting tired. I'm noticing tireness more in week 2, although I'm not sore at all anymore. Now I think it's just a case of pressing on and getting stronger so I can start to push myself. I find Pure Cardio the WORST, I hate it haha