My other workouts
So, I haven’t done a in-home workout for a while. Lately I have been wanting to get outside, or go to the gym. So This is what I have been doing for the past month. I have been meeting my future father in law at the gym, so we can have some bonding time.
We always start off with lift weights, we usual do chest and triceps, back and biceps, and legs and shoulders. We alway do around 20-30 mintues of cardio afterward to. So that is what I have been doing at the gym. Lately at the gym, I have been doing the Stair Machine or the elliptical. But I have also been wanting to run, but haven’t been able to because I have injured my knee again, the ground and pound is just to much. So I decided that I needed to start riding my mountain bike again. I didn’t go on any trails, but I did make a round trip of 16.2 miles, which is pretty good. I haven’t biked in a long time but it was definitely worth it, although my butt is hurting from the seat.
I hope to continue on update my workout site, so you can continue to read my progress. There are a lot of things I want to do. I would love to take another run at the Insanity workout, plus I would like to possibly do the Turbo Fire Workout one of these days. I have also been wanting to do the P90x workout again. I just have no idea which prder I want to do these workouts in. I know these workouts are great and they do work, but it is hard to do workouts everyday in front of a television.
I have also been trying to eat healthy again, my fiance is really trying to help me with that, because she is incredible at staying in shape and eating correctly.
Insanity workout review: Still Recovering
I am still getting closer to feeling better, I went to the health store today and got some cold and flu medication to see if I can finally knock this thing out. I am excited to get back to my insanity workouts and finish this second month strong. I might start doing the workouts again on friday, I want to do a couple workouts to help myself get back into shape before I full get back into the Insanity workout. I have lost a total of 8 pounds since I started doing the Insanity workout, and I am going to try to lose 5 more pounds before it is all over. I am still eating pretty decently, I could be doing better, but i am not doing terrible anymore.
I am also going to continue to go to the gym for some extra cardio work. I am going to do the cycling class on Mondays, plus do some weight lifting and core work on Wednesdays. It is going to be a stretch but I need to try to get in the habit of going back to the gym after my Insanity workout is over. It is important to me to not give up exercising after I am finished with the insanity workout. I feel that is where most people fail with their fitness goals, they stop when they should continue to press on.
So i will have some more Insanity workout reviews coming soon.
The 18th Day of My Insanity Workout Review
Today I over slept a little bit, but that is okay because the scheduled Insanity workout was Cardio Recovery. Last night was a good night, I did some more ab workouts before I went to bed on my Swiss exercise ball, plus some other on the floor lower ab workouts. Then I also did some dumbbell lifting before I went to bed, I just worked out my biceps and shoulders, I also did some push ups to workout my chest a little bit. It was nothing to strenuous, just enough so I started feeling a burn…I do not want to wear myself out for the Insanity workout, so any other exercising I do besides the Insanity workout, will be in moderation. It was a good night to fit in some extra exercises, because I knew the next day I was going to have a recovery day.
So the Insanity workout today is said to be a recovery day, but I am still a little skeptical if that is true or not. There are exercises in this Insanity workout that really suck. When you have to hold a squat position and holding a lunge position is just not easy to do, then you after your done holding you pulse up and down in the squat and lunge, it is very difficult to get through, because your legs are on fire. Another difficult exercise in this Insanity workout, are the plank positions. There is a workout that works out your glutes, quads, core and shoulders, all at the same time. There are a couple more exercises in this Insanity workout that burn, but mostly all the rest have to do with balancing and stretching. Some of the balancing poses are difficult for me, but I am getting better…it’s all this darn Yoga stuff…I know it is good for you, but it is weird…who thought up these crazy stretch positions?!! Anyway, I enjoyed my Insanity workout today, it was not to long, so that was nice.
Nutrition: I had another awesome day with my Insanity workout nutrition plan. After my mid-lunch shakeology drink, I had a turkey sandwich for lunch, on whole wheat bread, and an apple. I am pretty sure I just had fruit for my mid-dinner, but for dinner I had a delicious steak. Steak is so good!! I do not understand how anyone can live without eating meat, is it seriously the best thing in the world! All you vegetarians out there are really missing out!
So tomorrow I will continue my Insanity workout review, and do the Cardio Power and resistance workout. I am so happy I have not missed a day yet, but I might have a difficult time doing the workout on Saturday because I am not going to be home, or anywhere with a TV. So I have not figured out what I am going to do yet.
Day 11: Insanity workout review
Wow I can’t believe that I have already been doing the Insanity workout review for 11 days, it seems to be going bye pretty fast and It feels good to get the “day” count into the double digits. But I still have a long way to go, I was recently talking to some people who have done the Insanity workout, and they told me to enjoy the first 30 days because the last 30 days are way harder. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! They might as well have told me to end my life now, because you are going to die anyway! I seriously can’t imagine how this workout is going to get harder…I mean I assumed it would get more difficult, but the way they were talking about it, seemed to give me no hope. The only thing I can do is to make sure I get everything out of the first 30 days, so I can get in the best shape before the last 30 days of MY LIFE!! That is the last time I will talk with people who have done the Insanity workout ever again…Thanks!
Today was the easiest workout, it was the recovery circuit, so I go to take it nice and slow….umm yeah…nice and slow with someone lighting a fire in my thighs!! Even though this workout feels great afterwards, it is still a difficult workout to get through without giving your legs a break. There are a lot of slow squats and lunges, there times when you have to deeply hold your squats or lunges, then there are times when you have to pulsate deep in the squat and lunge position. Your legs are “en fuego’” that is spanish for “on fire”. I learned that on the Dora the Explorer. Okay, back to the Shaun T Insanity workout. This workout session is kind of funny to watch sometimes, because you can tell Shaun T is just dying to bust into a dance move, he wants to relive his Hip Hop Abs and Rockin Body days, but he keeps it under control. There are some great stretches in this workout, mainly taken from Yoga, there are even some balance poses.
I ate pretty well yesterday, however I did not get to eat my steak. I did have a couple of turkey sandwiches and some fruit, inculding an apple and some strawberries. I even had a shakeology shake with some mixed berries, it was delicious. Today I had a bowl of kashi cereal, and have yet to have anything else yet.
See you tomorrow! (if anybody is even reading this)
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.
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.
