2nd Day of The Insanity Workout
Alright…I woke up today pretty sore and tight, but I still kicked myself in the butt and did the 2nd day of Shaun T Insanity. Good News!! I did not puke!! That was a pretty good accomplishment for me because today was a very tough workout. I feel though as if every workout is going to be tough, especially the first week because I do not know what to expect. But today I got my first taste of what the Insanity workouts are all about.
Before I start explaining how I did in the workouts, I wanted to mention that the Insanity workout is an extreme workout, and that you should consult your doctor before you jump into these workouts. And if you do decide to get the Insanity workout, then do not feel as if you have to keep up with Shaun T. Even Shaun T says it on the DVD, take breaks if you need to, do not compromise you form for speed. Other than that, if you can keep up with Shaun T, then give it all you got!!
Okay here we go…Today I did the Plyometric Cardio Circuit, from start to finish this workout is around 41 minutes long. The Insanity workout has a completely different opinion on how your warms should go. Other workout programs I am have done in the past, do about 5 minutes of warm ups, not the Insanity workout. You do about 3 and half minutes of warm ups, where you do around 5 to 6 different exercises, then you take a 30 second break. Then you do the same circuit again, but you push yourself faster, once again you take a 30 second break. When you think you will not possibly do the same circuit again…you do it again! You do the whole circuit three times, each time pushing yourself harder and harder. The great part about the third time around, is that you do extra moves at the end. Those are just the warm ups!!(Around 11 minutes) After the warm up, you finally go into stretching, which is a nice little break. With 23 minutes left in the workout, you then begin to actually do the Insanity workout. It gets harder and harder, but Shaun T does a great job in keeping you focusing on the workouts and your form.
I had to take breaks, I was literally pushing my body to failure. By the end of the workout I was dead tired, sweating like crazy. Between circuits you only get 30 second breaks, but it is important that you stay in the safe zone with your heart rate, so if you need to take a little longer break then it is okay. There are about 20 people working out in the video, and even people in the Insanity workout have to take breaks because they are so tired. But jump back into quickly, do not cheat yourself!
Nutrition – Today I had a sandwich with whole wheat bread, and I am about to have a Shakeology drink, to help replenish my body. I don’t exactly know what I am going to have for dinner. But no more soda, and no more sweets for right now.
So the Insanity Workout Begins!
Today was my official start day of the new Shaun T Insanity Workout, and the first day was….um…How do I say it?…Difficult. It has been a couple months since I have done any major activity, so I am a little out of shape. Actually, I am more out of shape than I thought I would be. It has been a long time since I have thrown up from a workout, and today I did just that!…Thanks to the Insanity Workout! And the sad thing about it was, is that it was only the FIT TEST. THAT’S RIGHT THE FIT TEST! I was pretty worn out near the end of the workout, when I tried to do the last exercise I began to feel queazy, so I ran to the bathroom and puked. I know this might not be what you want to hear right now, but I am going to be as real as possible when I write about my workouts. I am also not claiming to be in the greatest shape, Although I have lost 45 pounds since March 08′, I still have a ways to go. Anyways, even though I threw up a little bit, I am still going to go on with the workouts. The feel like the Shaun T Insanity Workout will be a great challenge for me, I have never been a huge cardiovascular guru, but I have always wanted to do more cardio. I usually lift weights with little cardio, but in this season of my life I will be doing more cardio and less weight lifting. Especially since I have shoulder problems that just won’t go away.
To fill you in on what the workout was like, I am going to try to explain it to the best of my ability. First off, the Insanity Fit Test was around 25 minutes long and had around eight workouts. You start off by doing a few warm up exercises and then you go for it. Understand, that you will not be working out the whole 25 minutes, there are break periods to catch your breath and to record your progress. But when you are working out, you are going for maximum reps. Which means you are pushing yourself to the limit, to the point of puking. (Disclaimer: Although I was working out hard and did puke, do not get the idea that I found my limit today, it was purely because I was out of shape) You do each workout for a full minute, and the minute seems like it takes forever!! You do difficult versions of kicks, squats, jumps. push-ups, and so on. After you do the the 8 workouts, there is a cool down time, where you get your heart rate to rest, and stretch your muscles. Besides the workouts, the thing I liked most about the Shaun T Insanity Workout was the trainers. Mostly just Shaun T, there were not a lot of cheesy motivational lines, not a lot of flair, it was just in your face working out.
I’m Back From Uganda!!
So it has been a few weeks since I have been able to write about what my plans are with Chalean Extreme. My original plan is still my plan now. I am still going to do the Chalean Extreme workout and I was going to start it the Monday after I got back, but unfortunately when I was playing soccer at a village in Uganda I sprained my ankle on the uneven ground of the soccer field. I have rolled my left ankle a couple times before that, but this was by far the worst I have ever rolled my ankle. It is starting to get annoying, I feel like i am just getting injured all the time, and it is stupid things like my shoulder or my ankle, it is probably a sign of old age, but I am only 26, I should not have so many problems or accidents with my body. I probably take care of my body more than normal people do, and for some reason I always injure it.
Anyways, Monday the 14th of September I am gonna kick this pig, and start with my Chalean Extreme workout and Shaun T insanity workout. It is going to be tough but I think I can do it, I probably need to make another bet with someone so I can remain motivated through the whole thing. I am a little nervous, because I want to do the workouts and the nutrition plans really badly, but I do struggle with seasons of laziness and I am kind of in one right now. Laziness is a hard habit to break and I never want to to be complacent in that, it’s a bad place to be!!
Along with my Chalean Extreme workout and Insanity workout I want to start using the Shakeology, I think that will help replenish my body and help cleanse my system of any unwanted toxins.
Getting Serious With Weight Loss
So if you do not know by now, I have put my Chalean Extreme Workout on hold. If you want to know what the workouts are like, you can definitely search my blog to find what you need know. I will eventually pick the workouts back up, but right now I am trying to get in shape for my 17 mile hiking trip. I absolutely love the Chalean extreme workouts, but I definitely need to focus on getting my legs and brain into shape for my hike. I also am going to lose 10 to 15 pounds before the hike, the minimum weight loss I would like to achieve would be 10 pounds, any more weight after that would just be a bonus.
So I did a couple more hikes from the last time I wrote, I did Poo Poo point again, which is a two mile hike up and then a two mile trip back down. It was a lot of fun, I actually pushed myself harder than I ever have. There are two clearings, after the first clearing there is about another quarter mile hike to get to the very top, well for the most part my friend and I ran that part, and that was after the hardest part of the climb. I also had another friend who was a little behind, so I ran back down to the first clearing and hiked back up with her. Running that last stretch really got my heart pumping, it was the hardest I have breathed in a long time. After the hike I felt really good, like I could have done it again. A couple days later Ben and I(Ben is going on the 17 mile hike with me did a hike called Mt. Peak. It is only about one mile high but it is very steep. I was breathing hard in no time, but we did not stop until we got to the top. Mt. Peak is the hike that we would like to do twice back to back with 20 pound packs on our backs. Ultimately that will probably be the hike that gets us into expert hiking shape.
Tomorrow I will be doing mt. peak again with Ben, this is our first hike since Wednesday of last week, because Thursday we left for New York and we were there till Sunday. I definitely did not stay on a diet when I was in New York because there is just so much good food, and if you go to New York, you got to do it up right. But we are back now and I am back to eating healthy and doing hikes.
My New Mission
So I have decided to put the Chalean Extreme workout routine on hold again, I have recently switched gears and am now in hiking mode. I am trying to lose 10 more pounds before I go on my Enchantment hike again in July, so I have the last part of May and all of June to get into hiking shape and get under 185 by the time the hike starts. I went on a 4 mile hike this morning to get a nice little warm up in before the grueling hikes begin. Our plan is to start small and then build up to some 8 mile hikes, but the real test will be when we do Mt. Peak, it is only a one mile hike, but it is very steep and we will do it twice back to back with 30 pounds on our backs. That is going to be the hike that will get us into shape, so we can conquer the 17 mile hike of the Enchantments. I still really would love to do the Chalean extreme program but it will just have to wait for a little bit longer, as great as the workout is, it will not get me in shape to do a 17 mile hike. It’s just a different workout.
So the new workout plan is simple, we are hiking three times a week in the morning and then maybe try to fit either another hike on a Saturday or go running at nights to get my heart back into cardio mode. I will be on a calorie restricted diet, so I will be throwing out a lot of carbs and eating a lot of protein just for the start. I lose weight pretty fast when I am on a high protein diet, however I will include carbs when I do hikes so I can give myself some extra energy and keep my body up to speed.
I am really looking forward to the challenge of getting back into shape, this was the hike last year that inspired me to lose 40 pounds, I have continued to keep all that weight off and actually lose around 10 more pounds since. But I would still love to lose even more weight and really be able to just knock this hike out. It is great to set up these type of goals for yourself every year, so you can continue to remain motivated to stay in shape. I will be posting about my workouts and the weight loss progress through the next couple months.
The ChaLean Extreme Fitness Routine
Let’s first just go over the basics. ChaLean Extreme is a 90 day workout, but you have the option of going 120 days. There are three main phases, the first phase is the Burn phase. In this phase you will lift weights so you can speed up your metabolism and break down any fat reserves. There are upper body and lower body workouts and most the time your are working them out at the same time. The second phase is called the Push Phase. There are different workouts and still weight lifting, but this time with heavier weights. Where in the burn phase you do a weight where you can get 10-12 reps, in the Push phase you use weights where you can only do 6-8 reps. It gets tougher, but you are still gaining muscle to burn away that fat. The third phase is called the Lean Phase. This is where you will really start to see the results, all that weight lifting and work you did in the first two months, lead you up to this point. You will do new workouts and exercises that will help melt those fat reserves right off your body. After this phase you can be done, but there is also another phase that you can chose to do called the Lean for life phase, it is an extra thirty days for anybody who really wants to push themselves. It is there as an option, so you can make the decision after the 90 days is over.
The great part about the Chalean Extreme workout and even the Px90 workout, is that they both focus on beating the workout plateau. The workout Plateau is when a person stops seeing results from their workout routine, your muscles adapt to your routine and even though you might be working harder, you still do not see results. But Chalean extreme addresses the problem, by continually switching up the routine every 30 days. The Chalean Extreme program also comes with a fitness guide and a nutrition guide, because eating is a huge part of the workout if you are going to see results or not. There are recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I am pretty sure there are some recipes for snacks. Chalean Extreme comes with a sculpting band and a body fat monitor, and if you get the deluxe version it comes with weighted gloves.
All this to say, the main goal is to build muscle so you can burn fat. Do not worry about bulking up though, because this program is designed for building lean muscle, not huge bulky muscles. The Chalean extreme program has a lot to live up to, because it says you can burn up to 60% of your body fat in three months….I guess they are right no matter what, because it do not promise 60% fat loss, but “up to” 60%. Anyways I am sure that if someone really took it seriously and did it by the book, then they can see great results from it and that is what I am going to try to do. My challenge is to see if this thing actually does work, so I will be sticking to a diet of my own and pushing myself to muscle failure. Let’s see how it goes.
Can You Do The Chalean Extreme Workout?
Here is an article that I wrote on my other blog, I thought that it would be helpful for anyone who was interested in the Chalean Extreme workout.
Before you begin your Chalean Extreme journey, it is important to know if you can even physically do the ChaLean Extreme workout. First you need to do the fitness test, to see if you are even in shape for the workouts. For the Fit test you will need a stopwatch, wall, towel, pen or pencil, comfortable clothes, water, 12 inch ruler and free weights ranging from 5 – 20 lbs. or resistance bands. There are eight parts to the Chalean extreme evaluation, you being with doing about 5 minutes of warm up. The warm up is crucial because it will help you to prevent injury that could happen. The warm up can including light jogging, jumping jacks, etc.
The first exercise you will do after the warm up are push ups. All you need to do, is complete as many push ups as you can do without a break, if you cannot perform a push up on your toes, than you can do the knee option. Just make sure that you keep good form, no butt in the air, flex your abs and butt, and do not lover your head. After you are done, mark how many push ups you did, whether on your toes or on your knees.
The 2nd exercise in the Chalean Extreme fit test is crunches, it is the same goal as push ups, do as many as possible. Lay on the ground with bent knees, with your hands behind your head, lift your shoulders off the ground until you come to a 45 degree angle. Perform as many as possible without having your shoulders hit the ground and make sure you do not pull on your head when you perform a crunch.
Thirdly, squats. Again, do as many as possible. Begin with your feet shoulder width apart and squat down like you are sitting in a chair. Keep your back straight and your knees bent, make sure your knees do not bend past your toes. To keep your balance, you might want to stick out your arms straight from your chest. Make sure your weight is focused on the back of your heels. Lastly so the Squats slowly.
The Fourth workout is the Forearm Plank, for this exercise you will need the stopwatch. To perform this workout , get in a push up position, but instead of being on your hands, lie down on your elbows with your forearms and hands faced forward on the ground. Start the timer and get into plank position, holding yourself up on your toes and your elbows, make sure you tighten your abs and butt. Go as long as possible and record your time.
Fifth, do an Overhead Shoulder Press. For this exercise you will need to do 10-12 reps with dumbbells or resistance bands. You will need to pick a weight so that by the 12th rep you can barely push it up, this is important because the Chalean Extreme program focuses on doing reps until your muscles pretty much fail. For the Overhead Press, stand with your feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, and back straight. Hold the weights or the band handles in your hands so that they are just above shoulder height or resting on your shoulders, then push the weights up straight over you head and slowly back down.
The Sixth workout is a Bicep curl. You will need weights or bands for this exercise. Again you want to pick a weight heavy enough so you almost fail at the 12th rep. This is pretty simple, it is just a standard bicep curl. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and slightly bent knees. With your arms down and your elbows by the side of your body, lift up the weights and stop just before you get to your shoulders. Do not rush it! Count to 4 when you are curling up to meet your bicep, and then do a 4 count on the way down.
The last exercise is a Sit and Reach, you will need the ruler for this one. This is a flexibility test. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. place the ruler vertically in between your legs, with the bottom of the ruler even with the bottom of your feet. Stretch three times with your hands stacked on each other. Record each stretch, if you reach past the ruler and your feet, than you meet the minimum requirements for the ChaLean Extreme workout.
