I just finished my Insanity workout for tonight, and let me just say I absofreakin'lutely love this program. It doesn't get easier, You just keep pushing harder. I really do notice that my strength and stamina has increased exponentially. This is coming from someone who has run a half marathon and lifts weights (and I don't mean the 5-10 lb dumbbells). This workout KILLS in a great way. At the start of this routine, I wasn't at all able to come close to making my way through the entire warm up - THE WARM UP, YOU GUYS! Now, I can almost completely work through it (increase in intensity and all) without stopping.
I endorse this program 100% - Beachbody is an amazing company with amazing products. The workout programs, the Shakeology powder, everything. I can't imagine NOT using any of these products. Shakeology makes me feel so good when I make that my morning breakfast. I mean, I feel it when I DON'T drink it. That actually surprises the hell out of me, since I've used so many different protein supplement powders. This one is very very different, and I'm very happy that I discovered it.
I always feel so much better after I work out. I just have to remember that feeling when I'm especially tired or lacking motivation one day.
Oh, Beachbody, I love you. You give me as intense a workout, if not moreso, as I would if I enrolled in a gym. I will forever continue to dig deep.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
It's been a minute
Sorry you guys, I'll try to update on a more regular basis.
still doing Insanity, and I just adore it. Seriously. It kicks my ass. I'm still trying to get in an lift in the mornings, but I've just been too tired to get up in the mornings. I really need to nut up and get on that.
I also need to get on top of trying to get a challenge group together for the new year. If any of your are interested, let me know. Beachbody is an amazing company, so I know you'd have amazing results. I wouldn't tell you if I didn't think it was true.
I'll have a fuller post next time, I promise, you guys.
still doing Insanity, and I just adore it. Seriously. It kicks my ass. I'm still trying to get in an lift in the mornings, but I've just been too tired to get up in the mornings. I really need to nut up and get on that.
I also need to get on top of trying to get a challenge group together for the new year. If any of your are interested, let me know. Beachbody is an amazing company, so I know you'd have amazing results. I wouldn't tell you if I didn't think it was true.
I'll have a fuller post next time, I promise, you guys.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
well then
I had a little hiccup in my workout routine this week ...
I usually try to work out twice a day if I can, but if not, definitely once a day. That once being my Insanity videos. Anyhow, after my workout on Tuesday night, I settled into my normal routine: cook dinner, talk to my querido online, and watch a little netflix while my body recovers. As I was getting ready to head off to bed, I decided to peruse Facebook one last time before I shut my computer down for the night. I stumbled across something that for all intensive purposes, shook me down to my core. I didn't really expect to have such a physical response on top of whatever emotion I was feeling at that moment. What it was is irrelevant at this point, what caught me off guard was how strongly I reacted.
Any hope I had of sleeping was completely and effectively derailed. So .. instead of going to bed around 10 pm like I'd hoped, I didn't end up falling asleep until after 2 AM ... only to wake up to start my day at 5 am as per usual.
So that was it. No weightlifting that morning ... not on less than 3 hours sleep. I was a zombie the rest of the day. I kept hoping I'd at least get my energy back to power through Insanity when I got home from work. Nope. Not even a little bit. The moment I sat down, I could feel my body sinking into my chair. You know that feeling you get when your entire body starts to lightly tingle when you have had little to no sleep? That's what was happening to me.
I had my dinner, talked to my querido, and laid down to go to bed at a much more reasonable hour that night.
I feel better today, but I've learned that I need to be much better about managing myself and how I respond to things. I can't let myself get so worked up that it affects me physically like that. It's a hard thing to manage, as I'm sure it has happened to all of us at one point or another in our lives. What's important is that you pick up and keep going. You'll stumble, but you have to right yourself and continue on.
Insanity tonight was just cardio recovery. I left Plyo Cardio Circuit right where it was, and am not going to try to make up for it. Just keep looking forward.
I usually try to work out twice a day if I can, but if not, definitely once a day. That once being my Insanity videos. Anyhow, after my workout on Tuesday night, I settled into my normal routine: cook dinner, talk to my querido online, and watch a little netflix while my body recovers. As I was getting ready to head off to bed, I decided to peruse Facebook one last time before I shut my computer down for the night. I stumbled across something that for all intensive purposes, shook me down to my core. I didn't really expect to have such a physical response on top of whatever emotion I was feeling at that moment. What it was is irrelevant at this point, what caught me off guard was how strongly I reacted.
Any hope I had of sleeping was completely and effectively derailed. So .. instead of going to bed around 10 pm like I'd hoped, I didn't end up falling asleep until after 2 AM ... only to wake up to start my day at 5 am as per usual.
So that was it. No weightlifting that morning ... not on less than 3 hours sleep. I was a zombie the rest of the day. I kept hoping I'd at least get my energy back to power through Insanity when I got home from work. Nope. Not even a little bit. The moment I sat down, I could feel my body sinking into my chair. You know that feeling you get when your entire body starts to lightly tingle when you have had little to no sleep? That's what was happening to me.
I had my dinner, talked to my querido, and laid down to go to bed at a much more reasonable hour that night.
I feel better today, but I've learned that I need to be much better about managing myself and how I respond to things. I can't let myself get so worked up that it affects me physically like that. It's a hard thing to manage, as I'm sure it has happened to all of us at one point or another in our lives. What's important is that you pick up and keep going. You'll stumble, but you have to right yourself and continue on.
Insanity tonight was just cardio recovery. I left Plyo Cardio Circuit right where it was, and am not going to try to make up for it. Just keep looking forward.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Because they can't all be uplifting
I'm feeling pretty down on myself today, despite the strides I'm making in the gym these days. We all get this way, so I think it's important to chronicle this as well as all the great things I'm doing too.
I just feel unattractive. I look at other people, and then look at myself and think "what the hell, why am I not there yet? What's wrong? I am never going to get there, I should just give up now." You think I'm joking? Ask anybody I talk to on a regular basis. I guess it just comes down to us being our own harshest critics. That's a good and a bad thing, I guess. Good in that we know our own limits and how much harder we should be pushing, versus how hard we're pushing now. Bad in that we may sink far enough down to where we don't see any good whatsoever in what we're doing, and eventually give up, because what's the point? I have no plans on giving up everything I've accomplished so far, but I gotta say that I'm in a real funk right now.
I just feel so ... so ... BLEGH. I'm squishy, I still can't make it all the way through Insanity without stopping between designated breaks in the intervals, and I still cannot for the life of me do a chin up.
I'll probably feel a little more positive once i've completed my Insanity workout for the night. Hopefully, anyway. I hate feeling so down on myself, especially when I know how much I've accomplished, and am still accomplishing.
I just feel unattractive. I look at other people, and then look at myself and think "what the hell, why am I not there yet? What's wrong? I am never going to get there, I should just give up now." You think I'm joking? Ask anybody I talk to on a regular basis. I guess it just comes down to us being our own harshest critics. That's a good and a bad thing, I guess. Good in that we know our own limits and how much harder we should be pushing, versus how hard we're pushing now. Bad in that we may sink far enough down to where we don't see any good whatsoever in what we're doing, and eventually give up, because what's the point? I have no plans on giving up everything I've accomplished so far, but I gotta say that I'm in a real funk right now.
I just feel so ... so ... BLEGH. I'm squishy, I still can't make it all the way through Insanity without stopping between designated breaks in the intervals, and I still cannot for the life of me do a chin up.
I'll probably feel a little more positive once i've completed my Insanity workout for the night. Hopefully, anyway. I hate feeling so down on myself, especially when I know how much I've accomplished, and am still accomplishing.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
My arms ... I can't ... lift... them ...
This morning's workout in the weight room was similar to Tuesday morning's, in that we once again did the tricep extension, rotating hammer curl circuit. We added in chin ups (assisted if you can't do one on your own ... which I cannot) to the mix, and removed the reverse dumbbell fly.
Before that though, we worked chest and back with alternating between bench press, and lat pulldowns. Today was a heavy day this morning, and I definitely feel it in my arms. Thank god today is Cardio Recovery day for Insanity. While still a workout in and of itself, the likelihood of my collapsing into a pile of sweaty, breathless, death, is not as likely.
Anyhow, a breakdown of this morning's weight room antics:
Bench press - 10 reps (I started at 2 sets at 65, 2 sets at 75, and finished strong with 1 set at 85 ... dropped back down to 65, and went until failure, which was probably only about 8 reps)
Lat pulldown - 10 reps (3 sets at 110, 3 sets at 130)
Tricep extension - 10 reps (2 sets at 55, 2 sets at 65)
Tricep extension w multigrip - 10 reps (2 sets at 40, 2 sets at 55)
Rotating hammer curl - 8 reps (2 sets at 15, 2 sets at 20)
Chin up (assisted) - however many you can do - (I only only do about 5 assisted. I tried to support as little weight as possible while doing this move)
Last, but certainly not least, we did something my friend likes to call "Reduction Fun." Really it's an exercise in torture. We did it with hammer curls this morning, but what you do, is you look at what the max weight you put up was, and then go up in weight just slightly. Do as many reps as you can within the normal set (we usually go with 10) and immediately drop down to the next lowest weight. Repeat, until your arms don't work. We usually do this with bench press, so we go until it's just the bar, but with dumbbells, we usually just go 4 down from where we started. You think those dinky 15s look easy? Just wait until you try to curl them after having started at 35 lbs until you just can't go anymore, with no break. Not so easy then!
I feel sufficiently worked today.
Before that though, we worked chest and back with alternating between bench press, and lat pulldowns. Today was a heavy day this morning, and I definitely feel it in my arms. Thank god today is Cardio Recovery day for Insanity. While still a workout in and of itself, the likelihood of my collapsing into a pile of sweaty, breathless, death, is not as likely.
Anyhow, a breakdown of this morning's weight room antics:
Bench press - 10 reps (I started at 2 sets at 65, 2 sets at 75, and finished strong with 1 set at 85 ... dropped back down to 65, and went until failure, which was probably only about 8 reps)
Lat pulldown - 10 reps (3 sets at 110, 3 sets at 130)
Tricep extension - 10 reps (2 sets at 55, 2 sets at 65)
Tricep extension w multigrip - 10 reps (2 sets at 40, 2 sets at 55)
Rotating hammer curl - 8 reps (2 sets at 15, 2 sets at 20)
Chin up (assisted) - however many you can do - (I only only do about 5 assisted. I tried to support as little weight as possible while doing this move)
Last, but certainly not least, we did something my friend likes to call "Reduction Fun." Really it's an exercise in torture. We did it with hammer curls this morning, but what you do, is you look at what the max weight you put up was, and then go up in weight just slightly. Do as many reps as you can within the normal set (we usually go with 10) and immediately drop down to the next lowest weight. Repeat, until your arms don't work. We usually do this with bench press, so we go until it's just the bar, but with dumbbells, we usually just go 4 down from where we started. You think those dinky 15s look easy? Just wait until you try to curl them after having started at 35 lbs until you just can't go anymore, with no break. Not so easy then!
I feel sufficiently worked today.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
these titles are getting annoying
first is the overhead tricep exension:
We also did another set similar to that with multigrips. One extension with palms facing up, release, and then do another exension with palms facing down. doing one of each equals one rep.
Next, we did rotating hammer curls. The image below shows you the traditional hammer curl. We followed that motion while rotating the dumbbell. palms up, then rotate down. So ... about 180 degree rotation. That definitely adds a whole new dimension to the traditional hammer curl. I can usually do a traditional hammer curl with about 25 lbs in each hand, and still put out about 10 reps. Add that rotation, and I've gotta drop down to between 15-20 lbs, and even then I can't even get ten reps after a couple sets.
Last, we did something like a dumbbell reverse fly, but instead of doing the full range of motion, we held it at the top position and just pulsed it for at least 20 reps (or however long it took the person doing the overhead tricep extension with the multigrips to complete their full set. For that move, you don't need very much weight. Even with 5 lb dumbbell, you feel it in your back muscles. It burns so good, haha!
And that's pretty much it. We did four sets of each workout, and let me tell you that was enough for me. My triceps are sore as hell today.
Overhead tricep extension with rope: 10 reps (should be at a higher weight than w the multigrips. I did between 55-70 lbs)
Overhead tricep extension with multigrip: 10 reps (palm facing up then rotate for palms down = 1 rep)
Rotating hammer curl: 10 reps
Reverse dumbbell fly (pulse): at least 20 reps
4 sets, or as many as you can eke out with good form.
And that was my Tuesday morning, kids! After work, I did Insanity's Plyometric Cardio Circuit. It was killer, and I loved it. Gotta try and keep my stamina for these 2 a days.
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