Insanity Results

STWBTT followers know that I started the Insanity Workout at the beginning of January.  The program lasts 63 days and I went over that by a few weeks because of an ankle injury.  I also did a few extra 'workouts' here and there... mostly surfing and playing basketball.  I supplemented my workouts with vitamin packs and whey protein from GNC.  Hopefully that improved my results and now I'm done, it's over and I'm relieved.

So onto the results.  I notice more muscle mass in my arms, lats, shoulders and chest and my abs are a bit more defined.  I would guess that I can jump higher from all of the squats, lunges and jumps but I don't know for sure.  I think my weight is about the same - what I lost in fat I gained in muscle.  I'll have to confirm that when I finish this two week trip for work.

I also didn't really change my diet... although I eat a fairly healthy diet I'm sure I could've been more strict to enhance my results.  I didn't get the drastic results you see on the infomercials, probably because those were atypical cases and I was fairly fit before I started.  The caliper (body fat measurement tool that came with Insanity) measurements I took before and after the program say my body fat went from around 11mm to about 6mm.

The biggest improvement has definitely been in my cardio endurance.  Every two weeks the program instructs you to do a fitness test of 8 exercises.  You do as many repetitions as you can in a minute and track your progress throughout the program.  The difference is easy to see.

FITNESS TEST CHART

Move	Day 1	Day 15	Day 36	Day 50	Day 63
Switch Kicks	122	125	130	143	145
Power Jacks	53	53	60	60	62
Power Knees	101	115	118	125	128
Power Jumps	33	37	41	56	66
Globe Jumps	10	11	11	12	12
Suicide Jumps	16	16	17	19	21
Push-Up Jacks	25	25	33	39	41
Low Plank Oblique	42	46	55	62	68

I'm not usually so vain as this, but I'll post my before and after pics for you to judge for yourself.  The Insanity instructions ask you to take pics in certain poses to display your results.  If you send them the pictures they reply with a free t-shirt to reward you.

I've never done P90X or any other long term program but I would definitely recommend everyone try Insanity over any other because you can do it anywhere, anytime. There are no weights or tools to lug around - you just need a DVD player and about a 8x8 section of floor. I've done a few weeks worth of the program from hotel rooms. So what do you think? Want to take the challenge to get in shape quickly?

Also - a big thank you to my roommates for putting up with me as I took over the living room on random days, weekends and when they had friends over!

Insanity... setback

Things have been going well with my Insanity workouts... until today. I haven't missed a workout yet - that means 6 days a week I've put in the DVD and completed it for the past 6 weeks. With only 3 weeks left, I'm on the home stretch. It wasn't easy at first and the workouts kick my butt every day, but the routine of taking time to work out every afternoon hasn't been that bad. I started playing basketball in a league on Sunday nights with Eric, my friend Anna's husband back in December. It's probably against practical advice to ignore the rest day on Insanity and I paid for it. I did something to my right ankle in the second of a doubleheader we had to play tonight. I didn't turn it or even fall down, but I can barely walk. It looks like I'm going to have to take at least a week off of the program to try to rehab it. I'm not sure what kind of effect that will have on my results, but I'll try to get back into it as quickly as I can. I guess I'll redo week 6 whenever I heal up and hit it hard on the last 3 weeks.

Insanity

New year, new goals. I'm not one to make New Years resolutions, but I asked my parents to get me Insanity for Christmas. You might have seen the infomercial below.



The program is 60 days and is split up into 2 sets of DVDs - 5 for the first month and 5 for the second.  The before and after pictures are pretty convincing.  The program comes with nutrition recommendations but I'm not sure I want to be that strict about it.  I also went to GNC for some vitamin supplements and protein recovery mix.  The Insanity program recommends their own supplements, but I figured that it would be easier and cheaper to get them separately.

I thought I could use the fitness boost since I've been back in Atlanta for a few weeks without access to waves. Paddling on my board along with pullups and pushups over the past year to bulk up my arms has kept my strength up, but the cold weather and travel have pulled me away recently.  One of the best benefits of the Insanity program is that I only need DVDs with no extra equipment.  I can go anywhere and pop in a workout.

Here is one of my 'before' pictures... I'm not out of shape by any means, but we'll see if I can get the results they promise on the video.  I'm starting out at about 12mm body fat on my abdomen (measured by calipers) and 190 lbs.  We'll see where we go from there!

Which way to the gym?