A recovery week from all this Insanity

It's the Insanity Recovery Week which means an entire week of only the Core Cardio & Balance workout. Six straight days of the same workout every day? Doesn't that get repetitive? Well, a little bit. But compared to the intensity of the usual workouts, it is a welcome relief. I like to think of the Core Cardio & Balance workout like the workouts in the old days. Back when you bought one DVD and it only had a couple of workouts on it. Before workout plans were as comprehensive and included 12 or more DVDs. This is a workout you could do every day for a week.

So I'm wrapping up the recovery week and then move to month 2 workouts starting Tuesday. I have not previewed any of the upcoming workouts, but I hear from some of my online workout buddies that the workouts are longer and more intense. Bring it on.

I found a few indoor track and field meets coming up in the next few months so I am going to try to make it to a few of them if I can. I need to throw everything into getting ready for the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships next summer so this will give me some meets to work on my 400 meter starts and curve running. Insanity and P90X2 will be my only training for these meets so it's a good experiment to see how the programs prepare me without any on-track training. I believe that I should have comparable times to my outdoor season without any track training. We'll see how that turns out for me.

One important thing I want to bring up. If you are even considering doing P90X2, this is the very best time to put in your order. Until December 1 you can get free shipping and guaranteed delivery by Christmas. After December 1 - no more free shipping and you may not get it by the New Year. The free shipping will probably save you about $20, so now would be the time to place the order. There's a banner above or you can go to my teambeachbody site - Promisetobefit.com and find details there. If you order from me you get free coaching from me and two bonus workouts.

Enough advertising - go and Bring it!!!

Steroids in my eyes

"I have never knowingly taken steriods."

Sounds like something a pro baseball player would say. But I could honestly say that, until today. I know you must be thinking to yourself, "how can you have a body like that without steriods?" The answer is just lots and lots of hard work.

I've had this issue with my eye for the past five weeks or so. It's called a chalazion and is similar to a sty. It's kept me out of my contacts for the most part. I am not really able to do Insanity workouts or play basketball with my glasses on so I put my contacts in for my workouts and then take them out right away. Other than when I am working out I have had to wear my glasses. I really don't like wearing glasses, but I can't read anything more than a foot away without them. I've had contact lenses since 9th grade and they have never really been all that effective.

When talking to my eye doctor about my contact lens issues and wondering if I should switch to a different brand again, he suggested that I get a Lasik evaluation. Working at a healthcare institution I can get a discount on certain procedures and Lasik is one of them. All I needed to do was get my evaluation in before November 30th to see if I am elegible so I can submit some flexible spending account money for next year and I'll save a lot of money and be out of my contacts and glasses for good.

Unfortunately, they need to take very precise measurements of the eyes and any obstruction can throw off their numbers. They even need me to be out of contacts for at least three days before the evaluation because that can affect their measurements. They will not do the evaluation with the chalazion so I have already rescheduled three times. Next week is my last chance before needing to submit my flex spending elections.

So today I got steriod injections in my eyelids. It's not as fun as it sounds. The doctor thought he may have hit a blood vessel in one eye because blood was running down into my ear after the shot.

It's all good now. My chalazion seems to be going away and I have the added bonus of my eyelids feeling stronger than ever.

So I can no longer say that I have not knowingly taken steriods, but I can say that I have built my body naturally over the years and will continue to do that.

Last Month 1 Insanity Workout

I've got my last workout before the recovery week tonight. I played basketball yesterday so I did not do an Insanity workout. There is just one workout in the recovery week that you repeat for the entire week. I will probably watch through it first, but if it doesn't seem too challenging I might not take the day off tomorrow and go right into it.

My back has been bothering me just a bit these past couple of days so I'm going to be very conscious to not overdo it. I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning. I know I've got a full day of being on my feet for a video production at work on Wednesday. That's what usually hurts it more than anything. You would think that jumping around for forty minutes down in my basement would be bad, but I don't normally have any problems from the workouts. It's either standing or sitting for an extended period of time that seems to give me the most trouble. I also usually see a chiropracter once every 5 weeks or so. I had to move my appointment because of a work conflict last week and couldn't get in until next week.

We'll see how it goes.

Starting Week 4 Insanity

I finished out week 3 a little rough, but now I'm back at it for week 4. I took yesterday off since I played basketball on Sunday. I didn't want to make the same mistake as last week and I new I needed some rest for my calves. I'm not sure that this is a workout I can stick with long term since I end up working my calves so much. I think the P90X/Insanity Hybrid might be a good solution, but for now I'm going to try to get through it.

I had some great encouragement from some of my workout buddies on teambeachbody.com. It helps a lot to know that you're not alone and other people go through the same things. You know that if they can get through it, you can do it too. It also helps to take a step back and really remember why I do this. That got me through the rest of the week. Then I had a good game of basketball on Sunday and made the decision that I would take Monday completely off. Tonight's Pure Cardio went much better than last week and by the time I finished Cardio Abs I was feeling great. That's how it should be.

When you get knocked down, you get back up. Only sometimes you need to catch your breath first.

Didn't Bring It

Ever have one of those days where you're just not into your workout? That was me yesterday. That's right, it even happens to me. I was doing Insanity Pure Cardio and realized pretty early on that it was going to be tough to get through. My left calf was really bothering me during the warmup and I started feeling pain in my neck and shoulder. This is one of the more difficult workouts so I knew what was coming up and I just couldn't get myself up to "bring it". I took more breaks than I have since I started the program and found myself watching the people working hard on the television while I was hunched over with my hands on my knees.

I also knew that I had the Cardio Abs workout on the schedule after I finished Pure Cardio. All I wanted to do was sit down on the couch, turn on the tv, and veg out. Maybe it was the long day of work with some less than ideal things to deal with, then stressing over being able to learn my lines for an upcoming Christmas play at church. Who knows. It just wasn't what I wanted to be doing when I got home.

So what did I do? Finished the workout and did the Cardio Abs. That's the advantage of scheduling your workouts. You know what you need to do and once you press play on the DVD player, you do it. I didn't do it well, but I pushed on.

During the workout Shaun T says "The stronger you get, the better you'll feel."

From that point on I knew that if I could just get through it, the next time will be better.

Insanity Week 3 Fit Test

I ended up doing my fit test a day early so I could get a jump on my workouts for the week. Instead of taking a day off on Sunday and playing basketball, I did the fit test and then played basketball. Don't get me wrong though, the fit test is a workout in itself. I just have a lot of things going on this week and I'm not sure if I will be able to get in all of my workouts. This puts me ahead of things so I have a little flexibility to take a day off during the week if needed.

Here are the results from the Day 15 fit test compared to my Day 1 fit test:

1. Switch Kicks
Day 1 - 82
Day 15 - 95

2. Power Jacks
Day 1 - 42
Day 15 - 48

3. Power Knees
Day 1 - 62
Day 15 - 80

4. Power Jumps
Day 1 - 24
Day 15 - 30

5. Globe Jumps
Day 1 - 7
Day 15 - 8

6. Suicide Jumps
Day 1 - 14
Day 15 - 16

7. Push-up Jacks
Day 1 - 25
Day 15 - 30

8. Low Plank Oblique
Day 1 - 44
Day 15 - 45

I improved on all of the moves, but not much on the last four. That makes sense because I improved quite a bit on the early moves so I probably wore myself out by the end.

Sweat in my eyes

"I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm just trying to make you better." - Shaun T

Well, I've made it through two weeks of Insanity now. I accomplished my goal of making it through an entire warmup without taking a break. I would like to say that there's no going back now, but I realized today that one of the reasons I have been stopping is that my left calf is hurting so much. With my compartment syndrome I need to give it a break now and then and there is no break during the warmup.

Today I had my second dose of Pure Cardio for the week and an additional workout of Cardio Abs. Cardio Abs will take a little getting used to since there are no crunches. What's unique about this workout is almost every move is using your core from the bottom up. Instead of bringing your chest toward your waist you bring your legs toward your chest on most of the moves. It seems to work for Shaun T so I'm not going to argue with it.

One issue I have been having is trying to keep the sweat out of my eyes. These workouts do make you sweat a lot. I got a sweatband a while back for my head and it helps a little bit, but not enough. I always keep a towel handy so I can wipe my face during the breaks, but the Pure Cardio workout doesn't have many breaks. By the time I get to the stretch and cooldown at the end I'm pretty much doing it with my eyes closed. I guess it's good that I am getting so much of a workout to be sweating that much, but it gets pretty annoying. One of the guys that I coach has said he has the same issue with the P90X PlyoX workout and we haven't been able to come up with a good solution. If you have things that have worked for you, let me know.

So next up on the schedule is a day off, but I plan to play basketball. Then I do another Fit Test on Monday. Look for me to post the comparison of my day 1 and day 15 Fit tests on Monday night.

Insanity Week 2

I'm starting to notice more differences in the Insanity workouts as I get used to them. The most difficult workout for me has been Pure Cardio. Unlike most of the other workouts, this one has no breaks once you get past the stretching portion. You start out with about an 8 minute warmup with no breaks, then some stretching, and then a whole lot of cardio. Each move is one minute and you go right from one thing into the next. It is challenging, but Pure Cardio has the most variety since you're not repeating the moves like in the other workouts.

I have Cardio Recovery today which is good since I have been a bit sore lately. It's a lot of stretching moves and holding of Yoga-like positions. There are a couple of times in the workout where you have to hold some uncomfortable positions for about a minute and do small pulsing movements. Those are really the only areas where I have had to take a little break now and then. Otherwise it is by far the easiest day.

The only other thing I need to work on right now is to quit eating peanut butter cups. I haven't had any today so I think I'm getting back on track. People say that Thanksgiving and Christmas are the most difficult holidays to get through in their diet. Mine is Halloween.