How awesome was it waking up this morning at 8:00 AM and NOT coming out to the living room to workout? So awesome.
Though I almost feel like I need to exercise today. It’s weird, and difficult to explain but I almost feel like I have to work out now. I hope this lasts over the next few months because that could only serve to help me.
But today is a rest day, so I will be putting the notion of working out aside until tomorrow. Until then, I’m enjoying my rest.
Death be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
– John Donne
Divine Sonnet X
I’m feeling so pumped right now. Bekah and I completed the second installation of the Plyometric Cardio Circuit this morning and, though it was physically demanding, it was not nearly as devastating as it was just this past Monday.
I managed to make my way into the second segment of the second warm up routine this morning without stopping, which is better than yesterday. And I was able to complete almost all of the first half cardio routine without stopping this morning.
Yes, the second half cardio did kill me – I barely got through it – but I was able to make it out alive and all the way through it without stopping too much.
Both Bekah and I are seeing some incredible results when it comes to our physical stamina and endurance with this. After just six days we are recovering much faster than we did a couple of days ago. We are also able to work faster and longer on each exercise not to mention we can actually talk to each other while working out.
On a side note, I’m so very proud of my daughter for going through this with me. She didn’t have to do this. She could have given up whenever she wanted. Yet daily she ensures, daily she sacrifices her sleep to be up with me at 5:00 AM to get her sweat on. It is wonderful father and daughter time and to be honest, it is helping me tremendously because she can push me just by being next to me to challenge me though the hardest of the hard times.
So for the end of the first week of Insanity, I have to say that I like the progress I’m, well we’re, making. I’m actually looking forward to next week, to see if we can step it up even further.
But more than that, I am looking forward to tomorrow, when we get to actually take a day off and rest our bodies. Oh sweet relief.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
– Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The Charge Of The Light Brigade
Well, let me preface this post by saying that I was totally wrong about which routine I was going to be doing this morning. I thought it was Plyometric Cardio Circuit. It was actually Pure Cardio. That, in and of itself, should have been enough to scare me. And it was.
But what really scared me was when, in the middle of the stretch after the warm up, Shaun T, the very fit instructor, says to the camera “I’m nervous about what we’re about to do”. It was almost like watching a horror flick when the last victim is walking in a dark house, down a long hallway with lots of doorways attached to it. I thought the grim reaper would jump out of my TV any time.
Shaun T was not kidding. The warm ups went as usual, about 10 minutes of gradually intensifying cardio work in 30 second bursts with no rest. Quick side bar to the warm up… I actually was able to complete the entire first 3:30 routine without stopping. That’s the first time I’ve been able to do that.
The stretching was likewise business as usual, save for the warning Shaun T gave about what was to come. And you know what? It was with good reason.
The exercising started with about 20 minutes left on the disc and proceeded to stay at 100% intensity for 15 minutes straight. Minutes, each exercise was one minute long. Rest? There was none. Nope, it was literally 15 different exercises at a “fast as you can go” pace, one minute in duration for each, until almost everyone in the video was on their faces. For the record, Bekah and I were right there with them, prostrate on the ground considering our will to live.
But we pushed on, dug deep and fought hard until the end. When it was all over we were tired, sweaty and totally revitalized from the insane workout we just completed. Yes, we completed it. We stopped at times along the way, but we made it to the end of the routine where even Shaun T himself admits, while laying on the ground drenched in sweat, “That s*** was hard”.
Yes Shaun T, you are correct. It was indeed hard. You son of a… nevermind, I have eight more weeks of you. 
Thought for the day
As I completed the fifth day of working out with this stupidly intense work out regimen I am reminded that a little endurance through difficult times produces even greater endurance. Like a muscle that is worked out gets stronger, so does one’s resolve to not quit, not accept failure and push through until success happens.
It is hard to stay in the thick of this work out. I stop working often. But I always try a little harder today to push through pain. And I am seeing the rewards of that already, even after five days. I was able to push through the first five segment warm up routine for the first time. On Monday, I wasn’t able to make it past the middle of the second segment of the first routine.
So if I can encourage you a little bit, when the pain seems unbearable and you feel like you just cannot do it anymore, try to do it for just one more second. Each second. I bet you’ll find, as I have, that you have at least one more second of endurance in you.
Today was a welcomed change in the Insanity routine for me. It was a “rest” day of sorts. There was no high speed jumping or intense cardiovascular exercise. Today was a day of working out in a way that allowed my muscles to recover from the insane pounding they have taken the last few days. And it couldn’t have come at a better time, either.
I’m finally starting to feel somewhat human after these workouts. I’m still a little sore today from some of the exercises yesterday, but this mornings workout actually made me feel better when I was done than when I had started. There was lots of stretching in this one, and lots of no impact muscle work, like squat-and-holds, squat pulses, butt work and even some enjoyable core work.
Bekah and I were able to stay almost in time with the program for the entire program, which was a small victory for the both of us. And when it was all over we both gave each other a high five and were able to walk away from it. That was awesome.
Tomorrow will be a different story, as we head back into Plyometric Cardio Circuit training. But for today, I will enjoy the “rest” I got and the small moral victory that comes from being able to actually stick with the program for the length of the training.
Thought for the Day
I was thinking this morning, on my way to work, that any time you have something challenging and difficult to overcome that there must be something of at least slightly greater importance driving you to get through the challenge. Otherwise, what motivation would you have for conquering it?
What is my motivation for putting myself through this insane program of extreme physical torment? What drives me to continue on even when all I want to do is roll over and die?
There are several answers for this. For me, my family is one of the greatest motivating factors in my life. I have a wife that depends on me providing for her, who loves me and the company I keep her, who actually wants me around as long as I can be. I have kids with a zest for life that requires a father with an equivalent zest for life. I have a son that needs to know that times do indeed get challenging but that working through those times is significantly more rewarding than the fleeting feeling of relief that quitting offers. I have an ego that needs proof daily that I am not a moron, but am indeed a smart, strong man.
There are so many reasons for me wanting… no, needing, to do this. What are your reasons?
Stop being a cream puff.
Coach Rich Swift
I finally feel like I’m making some progress with this thing. Not bad for only being on Day 3.
When I say progress I mean being physically able to push myself through some of the pain and discomfort associated with the exercises. Yes, I died out several times throughout the course of this workout this morning. But I managed to stay moving, even when not doing the exercise of the moment, and I managed to make it to the end. Which for me is a pretty decent accomplishment.
Of course, I had some motivation behind me. All five of my kids, all of them, and my wife were awake and in the living with me while I was working out. Some of my kids even participated in the workout somewhat. So of course, I had to keep paces.
I will say that it was hard waking up this morning. I was laying in bed at 5:30 – a full half hour after I want to be up – thinking that I could just sleep and put the workout off until this evening. The soreness in my back, arms and legs was in complete agreement with that line of thinking. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that letting myself off the hook after just two days was weak and would ultimately cost me lots more than one lost day of working out.
So I got up, tried to straighten out my legs which had locked in place because of soreness, got myself dressed and headed for the living room. A few minutes later I got started and felt extremely accomplished if even for just getting out of bed. But as the workout progressed, and I stopped every now and again and again and again, I realized that I could either wimp out and let my body win or I could try to fight through the pain, soreness, tiredness and heavy breathing to at least complete the task set before me.
Which leads me to want to remind anyone that may consider doing this workout… you have to dig deeper.
I know it sounds cliché and commercial and like I read it from the packaging, but it is the truth. From the first moment you pop a DVD in the player you will be challenged to continue with the program. It is hard. Painfully hard. And it requires a certain about of resistance to failure in order to stay with it. I know this because within the first few minutes of just the fit test I was ready to throw in the towel. In yesterday’s workout I was ready to call it quits. And this morning I didn’t even want to get out of bed.
It is not easy at all to push yourself through the mental blockages you’ll invariably face when trying to do something your body doesn’t want to do. But I think in the case of Insanity it will be totally worth it. At least I hope it is. I have a wife and five kids depending on my resilience, durability and long life. So if there were ever a motivation to get my butt in gear, there it is. What’s yours?
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters;
W. H. Auden
Musee des Beaux Arts
Suffering is probably the best way to describe my experience on Day 2 of the Insanity program. Plain, simple, painful suffering. Yesterday was a rough day for me. Getting my big body moving after how many years of no significant activity put me in a place of anguish and pain. This morning, after 24 hours of letting that anguish and pain fester, it has evolved into morbid suffering.
I’ve been sore before. And this morning was really not the worst I’ve been sore, before. But it certainly was more sore than I have been in a long time and, guessing by my desire to not touch the DVD player, it is a good thing that I am working myself out like this.
So up I was, at 5:15 this morning, to get my Insanity on. I popped in the DVD and let it play. But there wasn’t much playing.
The exercise started pretty much right away, and opened with the warm up I described yesterday. Except this time, the warm up calisthenics were done not once, but three times through, each time getting faster and faster. That meant opening up this morning with about 10 minutes of extremely fast paced warm ups, and lots of sweating, before ever getting to the actual workout.
Which invariably leads me to admit that I don’t recall much of this DVD at all. After the warm up I spent most of the next 30 minutes on my face or jogging in place. I managed to do some of the exercises in the program this morning, but the truth is I was dead after the warm up and didn’t really get to too much of that actual plyometrics this morning. Which really is to say that not only did I not complete the program this morning, I ended up worse off than I was yesterday, in a much worse state of soreness and anguish.
I hope I can adjust to this quickly or I may find myself repeating the entire program after I get through it this time. Which might not be a bad idea, seeing as I should probably already be in that good of shape to even be considering doing this one.
Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him;
John Donne
Why in the world would I have ever thought that I could withstand intense cardiovascular exercise like that of the Insanity Workout given my current physical condition? You’d think I had a death wish. Or that I was just too stupid to realize that I could kill myself by just reading the literature.
This thing is no joke boys and girls. When it says that you should not try this without first consulting a doctor, they aren’t kidding. It is intense. It is rigorous. It is freakishly over the top. And it is awesome.
Today I started the program. Today’s workout was not really a workout so much as it was a benchmark of where you are starting. Called the Fit Test, it measures your current physical condition in eight different core cardio routines. It does this by having you perform a particular routine as many times as you can in one minute. The test allows for one minute of rest in between each routine.
But before we get into the fit test, I have to make mention of the warm up. The warm up is, in and of itself, a workout. Especially if you are coming from a sedentary lifestyle like mine. Yes, it is only three and a half minutes of moderate intensity exercise. But it will kick your butt.
The warm up routine is simple and consists of 30 seconds of: jogging in place, power jacks – jumping jacks in which you lower yourself into a squat, Heismans – in which you step high from side to side alternating your arms so that your elbows touch your opposite high knee, 123 Heismans – same as the Heisman but with a 1-2-3 step stutter in between each high knee, butt kicks – in which you try to touch your heels to your booty, high knees in place and mummy kicks – where you very quickly kick your feet out on straightened legs while scissoring your arms directly in front of you.
After the warm up you stretch and shake out your muscles for a short time before diving right in to the fit test. The fit test routines are:
- Switch Kicks – High, straight leg kicks while your core is tightened and your arm are pulled in tight to the body but still held up.
- Power Jacks – Jumping jacks, except you lower yourself into a squat on the down swing.
- Power Knees – High knee kicks where you bring your leg from the ground to about chest height to kick your own hands.
- Power Jumps – Vertical squat jumps in which you jump, level your hands in front of you then try to kick your own hands with your knees.
- Globe Jumps – Vertical jumps, from hands on the floor, in a square pattern. Once square counts as done.
- Suicide Jumps – Stand then hands to the floor to push up position to legs up to vertical jump. Like an intense burpie.
- Push Up Jacks – Push ups, except when you go down you kick your legs apart like a jumping jack.
- Low Plank Oblique – Push up position except on your forearms, then you kick your knee to your side alternating legs with each kick.
One of the best demos of these routines can be seen at Brad Gibala’s blog about his Insanity journey. You should check it out, just to see what is involved.
I wish I could say I did well, but the truth is I am fat, overweight, unhealthy and out of shape. Still, I think for coming from a cold start to this level of exercise, my numbers are somewhat promising:
My Insanity Fit Test Results, through day 1
| Routine |
Reps |
| Switch Kicks |
82 |
| Power Jacks |
35 |
| Power Knee |
69 |
| Power Jump |
20 |
| Globe Jumps |
6 |
| Suicide Jumps |
11 |
| Push Up Jacks |
16 |
| Low Plank Oblique |
35 |
I’m hoping that I can continue this through for the full 60 days. I say hoping because honestly this is one of the most physically painful and taxing experiences I have had. Still, I love how badly it kicked my butt as I was doing it, so I’m pretty sure I will be sticking with it.
At least for today.
Oh. My. God. What have I done?
I have been toying with the notion of buying the Insanity Workout from Beachbody and trying it out for some time now. My wife has actually accepted the idea and said she would get on board with me when I chose to do it.
Well, last week I chose to do it. I found a smoking deal on it on eBay, bought and received it this past week. I looked through the material and I have got to say, this scares the hell out of me.
The warnings are all over the place. I’m not sure if this is hyper-vigilance on the part of the Beachbody legal staff or if it is legit, but after a few lines of the material it becomes blatantly clear that the Insanity developers see this as an extreme workout that could possibly kill you if you are not in enough shape to actually perform the exercises. I think I fall very comfortably into that class.
Still, the very nature of the workout is attractive to me. I love cardio based, high intensity workouts that leave you exhausted, sweating and begging for more. I like to push myself physically beyond the limits I’ve set for myself. I like that I can do everything in the program without the need for anything other than a floor.
Of course, after I start the program I’ll probably be whining like a little girl, but that is for a different post.
On a side note, sort of, I had a look at the day 1 exercise last night. The “Fit Test”, the baseline you use to measure your progress throughout the program, is freaking insane (no pun intended). Hell, the warm up before the fit test looks hard. I was feeling tired, scared and overwhelmed before I even saw what was in store for me on the first day. That has to be a good sign, right?
Getting back on target… over the next 60 days I will be tracking my exercise routine and progress with this program. I am hoping that I can stay on target with the exercises and eating program as they are outlined. And I hoping I will see some awesome results not only in my body but in how in shape I am from the inside.
We’ll see. I plan on taking you all with me. 
Yesterday, while doing some yard work I went into the back yard to handle some massive overgrowth in our lawn. Completely disgusted with our yard, and utterly frustrated with the growth of the grass that my push mower just could not cut, I decided that the yard would just have to wait a little while so I could focus on the front of my house.
My 12 year old daughter, Rebekah, had other plans. Always the entrepreneur, she actually offered to cut the grass for a mere $10. To which I promptly replied “thanks, but no thanks”. I was of the opinion that the grass was maybe a $3 job since I had already cut some of it and the lawn is not that spread out.
So Rebekah sweetened the deal a little bit, offering to not only cut the grass but straighten up the patio. After much back and forth over price and what the work would cover for that price, we agreed on the following:
- Cut the grass
- Clean up all dog poop
- Clean up all trash
- Straighten up all patio furniture and toys
- Clean up the tan bark areas
- Sweep the patio and sidewalks
- Do it all within three hours (from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM)
And the cost? $15, as agreed upon by the two of us, which to Rebekah was a bargain and to me was a steal.
So while I was out in the front yard working up a sweat she was out in the backyard earning her money. And you know what? For her, I discovered, money is an excellent incentive.
She managed to accomplish everything on the list of things to do (with the exception of cutting the grass completely, but this was no fault of hers). And she did it in two hours, not three. I was so impressed by her work ethic, her focus and her quality of work that I actually paid her $20 for doing such a fine job.
Looking back on this, I know there is a lesson in this. I could have asked the kids, all of the kids – you know, the ones that made that mess? – to clean the yard they helped dishevel. And I would have saved myself $20 in the process. But Rebekah, who has no problem working for her earnings approached me with a proposition of services rendered in exchange for payment. And ultimately it was that payment that drive her to accomplish such an impressive amount of quality in her work.
So if I take anything away from this, outside a clean yard of course, it will be that with the proper incentive, almost anyone can accomplish almost anything.
If it’s any indication as to my whereabouts and free time, this post was originally started on January 22, 2010. Crap.
I wish I could tell you where I have been and what I have been up to this year. The truth is, I can’t remember. It has been a whirlwind year so far, wrought with long hours at work, long hours working at home, cleaning the house, riding Bart, more cleaning the house, more long hours at work and all sorts of other goodies along the way. I can honestly barely remember the ball dropping to ring in the new year let alone what I have done since then. But the few things that stand out the most are:
- My car is getting fixed
After more than a year of trying to raise the money to buy my replacement engine and have it installed I have finally been able to get it done. Almost. My car is in the shop as I write this and the motor should be in within the next couple of days. This will be such an enormous stress relief for me because I am going to now be saving literally three extra hours a day on commuting. I so can’t wait.
- My career path is currently under review
For some strange reason I decided that I’d post my resume on Dice.com a couple of weeks ago. Holy crap, was that every a crazy thing. Within an hour I had two calls and by the end of the day I had eight calls and five emails. I guess the valley is in need of PHP developers. Whatever. All I can say is that it is nice to know that in this crazy economy my skill set can still provide for my family.
- My weight is still an issue for me
I have been trying hard to get my weight back under control for the last couple of months. I had lost about 35 pounds toward the end of last year then allowed myself to fall victim to the Christmas holiday. That was so stupid of me. I have put back on about ten pounds since then, but the worse thing is that I don’t feel as healthy as I did just a few months ago. I’m battling this every day, and I feel like I’m losing the battle. But still, onward I fight.
I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting about a boat load of things to mention for this year so far. I hope at some point I can slow down and remember enough of them to post about them. If not, just know that if I vanish again it isn’t because I have forgotten about my blog or have died or something heinous like that. It is probably because I am either at work or sleeping.
Mmmm, sleep.