Insanity

The Insanity Journey

On Aug 11, 2012. I began the insanity program. The program is a 60 day fitness program that focuses on very high intensity workouts. I am turning 30 in a month and at 5'5" and 165lbs I am probably 10 pounds or more overweight. Last year I was at 180 lbs, before I decided to change things up a little. 

Now I am hoping to hit 155 lbs before my birthday on 24th September. I am also doing Tae-Kwon-Do, and that was the reason behind my earlier weight loss. Before my son was born, I weight 155 lbs and swiftly started gaining weight in the five months since.

Day1: Fitness Test

Switch Kicks     138
Power Jacks      51
Power Knees    102
Power Jumps    30
Globe Jumps     9
Suicide Jumps  19
Push-Up Jacks 31
Low Plank Oblique 70

I thought I did pretty well for the first day. I struggled the most with the suicide jumps and globe jumps. Let me set a target for myself in 60 days:

Switch Kicks    160
Power Jacks     70
Power Knees    120
Power Jumps    45
Globe Jumps     14
Suicide Jumps  25
Push-Up Jacks 50
Low Plank Oblique 80

Week 1

I just got done with the first 2 workouts. I took it easy... not perhaps digging deep. I have a minor hip injury from TKD that is getting better and my shoulders a little sore..besides I dont see the point in pushing really hard for the first day and be sore for the next week. Slow and steady is best, IMO. The first workout was tough on my shoulders. The second was tough on my back. I am not jumping very strong for the latter half of the workout to conserve some energy. The power jumps are something I want to improve in. I think they are a very good indicator of overall fitness. Surprisingly, I am finding the moving push-ups to be quite challenging, since that is the one exercise I am somewhat regular with. And the last thing was that the overall "jiggle" factor on my body is a little embarrassing. I think that will change soon, in a couple of weeks I should tighten and tone.

Day 4 was cardio recovery. It was pretty relaxed compared to the usual pace. However, after TKD sparring last night,  I had a lot of trouble with holding the deep lunges. My quads are really fatigued. Lets see how challenging pure cardio is.

Day 5 was pure cardio. I had been warned about it. I started feeling really heavy and bloated, not at all in the mood for any workout.. I pushed through. I paced myself through the initial warmup. Things got looser and I felt a bit better. After the stretch I felt much better. For most of the workout, the sole of my left foot bothered me. I had to cheat several times. I paused the video on two occasions for about 10-15 secs. And several times reverted to a mild jog instead of what was asked of me. It was the toughest workout so far.

Final workout was nice. I pushed harder than usual and was drenched in sweat. Left feet and left hip still bothering me. Hope the rest day does me some good.

Week 2

The first 2 workout this weeks were really tough for me. On both days, I wasnt feeling too great... I was feeling lethargic and slow. Had way too much to eat on both days , and probably too high on salt/sugar. I am begining to feel that doing this without watching what I eat is not working. I am going to cut down on my high sugar cereal and swap in some protein. The other thing I have decided is to find a way to not do high intensity WO on the same day I have TKD. This unfortunately will require me to move the program around, exchange plyometrics with abs, perhaps. Today, I will get myself some arch supports on my shoes and see if it helps the arches of my feet. They have been a constant pain and stop me from pushing myself.

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Week 2 came to an abrupt end.... I am taking a couple of days of break from insanity... I am feeling injured and dont want to push myself into making things worse.
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Insanity 1.0 came to a sad and disappointing end.... too many injuries, not enough recovery.... I am not ready for this yet...

Sep 9th

Even though Insanity was a failure, I feel those 2 weeks did do me some good after all. I feel cardio-vascularly fitter than before... Over the past week or so, I have been trying to do some running. The last 4 times I ran:

4.34 Km - 30 mins - My feet hurt so I stopped
5 Km - 36:30 mins - Took it slow.
5 Km - 33:30 mins - Felt a little stronger...
2 day break
5 Km - 28:10 mins - Pushed myself.