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Showing posts with label Insanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Insanity. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Taking a break from the Insanity... Asylum..

I've been thinking a lot about priorities. More specifically, whether my current priorities are reflected in my daily activity.

So, when I wake up in the morning and feel like I need to stay home because I don't feel well, it gives me a chance to reevaluate my priorities and activities.

Today, I decided to stay home. I just wasn't feeling right.

And I've decided that I'm going to stop doing Insanity: The Asylum, at least the 30 day program... for the moment.

I think it's a great program, but right now, my priorities are:
- Running
- Losing the last 10 pounds
- Toning up

I'm finding that I'm too tired to run on the days I do Asylum workouts. I'm finding that I desperately dread the 2 workouts, Speed and Agility and Vertical Plyo. I feel like I'm not getting enough strength work.

So I'm going to do something different, with the primary goal being to run a good half marathon on September 24.

More to come...

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Insanity: The Asylum, Day 7/30: I cry a little

Ugh.


When I woke up this morning, I decided I didn't want to get out of bed and work out. So, I snoozed until it was too late. I figured I'd do it later.

I contemplated skipping it. I just didn't have any energy. But, I knew I was committed to do it. (It didn't help that today's workout was Speed and Agility. I could have jumped out of bed no problem for Turbokick or Turbofire).

My daughter was taking a nap, but my son was awake. He was watching TV, but as soon as he saw the Agility Ladder, he couldn't stay away..

I explain it all here...



So, we'll see what happens with the 5K/10K. Basically, the 10K is just the 5K twice. So I may just decide to run it once and be a little more successful.

This is a hard program. I knew it was a hard program. I do my best to be super positive most of the time. I mean, I have a lot of awesome things going on. I'm healthy, I have healthy, wonderful kids, a full time job and a successful, rewarding business, and my husband is great. But I have a hard time taking "downtime" (because there's ALWAYS something that needs to be done when you're that busy), so when I crash, I crash BIG.

Anyway, have a great holiday. Sarah Fitness hit 351 followers this weekend, which was great, but then it went down to 349... I hope you'll stop by and click "like" to make up for those 2 people who "unliked" :-)

Remember, we're in this together.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Insanity: The Asylum, Day 5/30: Shaun T loses his ever-loving mind.



I switched Day 4 and Day 5, and I'm glad I did, because my body needed to recover a little bit. But after Day 5's Vertical Plyo workout, I realized I have to do Speed and Agility on Day 6, and I'm scared.




I'll do a full review of this workout later, but let me just say some of the thoughts that were going through my head:

- Running is easy compared to this.
- I'm a wuss.
- How are these people doing this?
- I'm 10 minutes into the workout and I think I'm going to quit and do Turbofire.
- I hate you Shaun T.
- Shaun T. is crazy.
- Shaun T.- remember how I hugged you when I met you. I totally take that back. You're killing me.
- I ain't ever doing this **** again...
There are more, but they're pretty much the same theme.

But, like I said in the video and above, running is getting so much easier compared to this!

Let's see if this helps:
Not much.

(Okay, maybe a little).

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Insanity: The Asylum, Day 4/30... kind of...

So, Day 4 is supposed to be Vertical Plyo. This is supposed to be one of the most challenging workouts EVER. I've seen hard core athletes brought to their knees by this one. These same people were able to complete Speed and Agility, while I spent most of my time gazing, open-mouthed at the tv, wondering how they were doing it...

Needless to say, I was a little afraid.

Besides that, I woke up with more pain in my feet, my calves, my hips, my abs, my side.. so I made a choice. I switched Day 5's rest day and did it on Day 4.




I spent some time with my man Eoin Finn and did some yoga. Despite the fact that I look incredibly tired in the video, my body felt a ton better..

And, this way, I can do my running and Vertical Plyo on Friday, and that way my rest day can be a proper rest day.

Just makin' it work.

By the way, if you haven't yet, stop by Sarah Fitness and click "Like". We have fun over there. We motivate, encourage and inspire each other.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Insanity: The Asylum, Day 3/30.. with another special guest.

Whoa.

I woke up on Day 3 with the following:
- Sore feet.
- Less sleep than I would have liked.
- Sore lats.
- Less time to workout and get ready due to oversleeping *just a little*...
- A baby who was wide awake and wanted to play.



Isn't my daughter cute? I mean, really.

Seriously, I love having my kids see me workout. I hope it's rubbing off on them.

I liked this workout. I have to admit, I'm terribly nervous about tomorrow's workout. It's supposed to be ridiculously hard.

But so far, I'm having fun.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Insanity, The Asylum: Speed and Agility

Holy moly.

Day 1 of Insanity: The Asylum. The workout is called "Speed and Agility". It uses the Agility Ladder and the Speed Rope (both come with the program, seen here:)
You can also see the Agility ladder here:
My daughter is doing some agility drills.

So, this workout taught me that I am neither Speedy nor Agile. I mean, really.

I watched the video ahead of time, and it looked kind of fun. It looks like you're just kind of playing with the ladder. Like a kid at recess.

Actually doing the workout? A different story.

1. I needed more room around the ladder. I kept having to move it. (I placed it on my yoga mat). You basically need space all around it.

2. I felt like I was hardly doing anything compared to the folks on the video.

3. I felt incredibly uncoordinated the whole time, and kept tripping over the ladder.

So here's a general breakdown of the workout:

Total workout time: 45 minutes

Warm Up 
- Jump Rope Drills: Luckily, a couple of the cast members show it without a rope. There was no way I could do it (first sign there is colossal room for improvement). High knees, criss cross, etc.

- Agility Heisman: Using the Agility Ladder going side to side (this is hard to explain).

Repeat that, with a few variations. For 10 minutes.

Stretch (very short).

Drills that never end:
(I'm just going to list some of the big ones here. I lost track after while, and starting to forget there was life outside of this workout about 25 minutes in...)

Mountain climber progressions: You are in plank over the ladder, then you jump both feet in together to the first rung of the ladder. 20 seconds into it you can move up to doing it into the 2nd rung, then 20 more seconds, the 3rd rung. Right... (Compared to the cast I was doing this in slow motion).

Bear Crawl: All fours, crawl to the top of the ladder, then jump both feet into the square- all the way back then put the hands in the square (a variation of that move involves doing V-shoulder pushups and Tricep pushups in place of the hands in the square).(Oh my).

Shoulder Tap Plank Side to Side (This may not be the right name..): This is one of those moves that looks really cool and fun when you're watching the video, but in reality, it makes you kind of want to cry a little.

Squat thing: (This is terrible how I can't remember the names...): You jump with your feet outside of the ladder, then squat down and tap, then move to the next rung. I really liked this one, despite the fact that I couldn't remember the name.

I had to take a few breaks. My daughter kept throwing her bottle down, and every time I was so happy to have an excuse to stop so I could pick it up for her.

Oh, and at the end, Shaun suggests starting over and doing the whole thing again. I can't even express how hilarious and unlikely that is... if I ever *do* get to the point where I can do that, I will be a superhero and expect everyone to bow in my presence...

Shaun T.: WTF?
Shaun T. gets a little mean in this workout. I've never seen him like this.

"I don't want to see you standing around! Move!"
"Come on, you can move faster than that!"
" I bet you couldn't get away with moving that slow when you were in the army!"
"It only counts if you're tired!"

He lightens up a little later and does say you can take breaks and work at your own level... but for a while there, I was saying some nasty things back to him.

Overall, I've got TONS of room to grow with this workout, and that's a good thing, right?

This picture kind of says it all:

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Workout at Home: Review of Shaun T.'s "Insanity: Fast and Furious"

This workout is a bonus workout for the Insanity program. Its billed as a 45 minute Insanity workout in 20 minutes.


If you've done any of the Insanity workouts, you know the concept is "Max Interval Training", where you work really hard, and then rest. Well, this is like one long max interval training interval... there is NO REST in the bulk of the workout!

It's filmed in a small gym space. Shaun T has two background exercisers, a girl and a guy. They are both super fit but still struggle to complete the workout (this is comforting to me!)

Equipment Needed: None

Breakdown of workout:

Warm Up:
- Jog it out
- Jumping Jacks
- 1-2-3 Heisman
- High knee abs/jumprope
- Fall squats: Like squatting jumping jacks, but you touch the floor on the squat.
- Plank squats: Holy moly. Kind of like burpees but you come all the way into a squat and don't stand up.

Go through this whole thing twice, then the stretch.

Each of the following is one minute. No breaks. Holy cow:

* Sprints: high, low, floor, and moving pushups

* Power knees/Diamond jumps

* Ski abs, In-and-out, oblique pushups

* High Knee Oblique Twist

* Burpee/Pushup jacks (with a jump, of course)

* Power jumps. For one minute. (if you're still alive). (The 2 folks in the cast actually stop here and Shaun T. calls them out. "Come on! Nobody's jumping! Let's go!")(At one point all three of them are just standing there looking tired!)

* Football runs/plank holds

* Plank punches ("This **** is crazy, I can't even talk!")

* 100 meter dash sprint

Holy cow.

"My goal is not to kill you. My goal is for you to kill yourself."
- Shaun T.

Good stuff: If you like getting an amazing workout in a short amount of time, this is the one for you. It is *amazingly* difficult, even though that workout portion is only about 12 minutes long (it's the whole "no breaks" thing).

Not-so-good stuff: 
- The production is not as fancy as the other Insanity workouts, so I thought that might bother me. That was silly, because the last thing I cared about while gasping for air and dying was the video production...
- It's FREAKING HARD!
- Did I mention it's hard?
- Seriously, finding a workout that is as challenging like this is great, because you have room to grow.

Difficulty:
Not for beginners. However, I do believe you should go at your own pace, and can take breaks as needed. The whole point, though, is to push yourself really hard, so you need to know you're capable of doing that. I look forward to getting better at this and taking fewer breaks.

(Oh, and on the back of the case, they suggest pairing it with another Insanity workout. Maybe one day. It wore me out so much I felt like I could just go back to bed...In fact, I got worn out just previewing it!)

Overall rating:
A

Do you have any workouts you would like to see reviewed here? Let me know and I'll do it!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Stacie at "I Love You Always and Forever" is starting Insanity today!

My good friend Stacie at "Love You Always and Forever" (how many of you sing that song when you read that title? Or, am I dating myself?) is starting Beachbody's Insanity program today. I'm going to help coach her through it..

She will be blogging about it, so I wanted to give you all the chance to follow her blog as she writes about her adventure:

http://www.loveyoualwaysgiveaways.com/2011/04/insanity.html

(She also has some pretty nice things to say about me over there, which make me blush :-))

If you've never heard of Insanity, here's a little bit about it:



And hey, if you like that, there's a sequel that just came out... so you can keep working!

Stop by Stacie's blog and cheer her on!

And don't forget to visit us on Facebook!

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Insanity Asylum...

No, I'm not talking about my house....

Insanity: The Asylum is the new workout by Shaun T. It has just been released. In this video, Shaun T. (I love him) explains a little bit about what it's about, and why you may want to try it...




Now, I love Shaun T. So does my son. Just in case he didn't charm you into trying one of his workouts, watch this video of what happened the first time my son tried one of his workouts (Fit Kids Club):



(He did come back later to finish it. That was a lot of focus for a 3 year old).

(P.S. Message me if you want to know how to get your copy of Asylum: uberlibrarian (at) gmail (dot) com.)

Monday, March 28, 2011

Running and Insanity (the workout, not the mental condition)

I had a pretty good 8 mile run on Saturday. It started out rough. I wanted to quit. I was coughing like a crazy person. I started out with a run 5/walk 1 plan, then at about 30 minutes changed it to run 4/walk 1. It's AMAZING the difference 60 seconds made. The last 30 minutes or so were run 5/ walk 1.

I learned during this run:
1. Always carry a tissue. I blew my nose a LOT.
2. Carry more water. I ran out about halfway through.
3. In a pinch, Nutrigrain bars work for nutrition during a long run.
4. Eminem's "Lose Yourself" is the absolute perfect pace for me to run during a long run. I think I'm going to loop it.

I finished in 1:29:48, and my goal was to finish in less than 90 minutes... so that was a victory...

And the day went downhill from there...

During the last 30 minutes of the run, I had fantasized about how, when I got home, I would ice, stretch, play with the foam roller, drink a ton of water, take a hot shower... apparently, while I was running, I forgot that I have 2 children.

My husband was swamped with work, and when I got home, I could tell the 90 minutes (well, plus warm up time) may have been a little too much to force both children upon him while he was trying to work.

I didn't even get to go to the bathroom.

My daughter saw me, and when I walked past her, she started screaming. So I picked her up. She was teething and needed her mommy.

I had promised my son a "special treat" if he was good for Daddy while I was running. Well, guess who has a REALLY good memory and NO patience?

Eventually, I got my stretch. I got my shower. I even got my chocolate baked oatmeal and rehydrated. But, everything on my to-do list that wasn't "Parent" or "Run 8 miles" pretty much did not get done this weekend.

Fast forward to Monday. Ooohhhh weeee I got it in my head that I miss Shaun T.'s Insanity workouts, so I'm throwing one or two in a week just to shake things up (along with some strength training.... watch for a blog post on this)

Oh, hello Shaun T.'s abs....


I decided to start my Youtube career with this video, completed at the end of Cardio Power and Resistance:



(Warning. I say "poop" a lot in this video.)

This was followed by a Monday afternoon Lunchtime Run... which went quite well, actually. I don't care if the people bundled up in coats laughed at me in a tank top and gloves...


(Come on over to Facebook! We have cookies! Well, not really...)

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

It's a New Month, and a March Contest!

Hey everyone!
Welcome to March! I am excited about the possibilities of a new month! I'm happy Spring is coming! My daughter turns 6 months old TODAY! I'm getting closer to the Country Music Half Marathon on April 30!

I wanted to let you know about this month's contest-

Have you heard of Insanity?

Well, there's a sequel coming:

Yeah, I know. Doesn't it look hard core? 

Well, anyone who orders Shakeology from my site on Home Direct (the monthly auto-shipping program) during the month of March will automatically be entered into a drawing to win this new program! 

Have you heard of Shakeology? Well, here's a little info in case you haven't:



Best of all, there is a 30 day money back guarantee, free workouts, and free shipping.

So, place your order and this time next month, Insanity: The Asylum could be on it's way to you!

Sarah