Poor and Prejudice

Insanity Month 1

2012-01-28T04:55:00.000-08:00

Wowwwwwwww!!!!!!!!! I actually did it!!! I actually completed all the workouts from month 1. I should feel excited about this but all I am feeling right now is my heart pumping because of Plyo Circuit just completed.

Pure Cardio yesterday was STILL HARD! I think it was because I did not eat enough carbs yesterday. Thursday was also bad nutrition wise and yesterday I ate more fruits and fish than I did carbs. Hard as it was, I got it done!

On Sunday, I will check out Month 2 workouts and start the recovery week! WELL DONE to myself and to everyone who persevered!!!

I am not sure I like seeing 238 max heart rate on my polar. I have to do some research on this so I can relax about it. What's not so much worrying is that the heart rate does come down quickly and my resting heart rate taken this morning in bed was 65 bpm. So that's good.

Cardio Recovery

2012-01-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

Day 25: Cardio Recovery done! I don't wear a heart rate monitor on recovery days but its amazing how my body tells me whether I am working hard enough. My legs don't shake as much which tells me that I am getting stronger in the core. It's amazing how doing things over and over makes you 'better' at it!

In the afternoon, I also did Lean Hot Body to learn the moves. Only did 15 minutes of it coz my heart rate jacked up to 238 bpm!!!!! Thank God it came down within seconds of slowing down!

Plyo Cardio Circuit

2012-01-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

Day 24—Plyo Cardio Circuit: DONE!!!!!! Today the body was on fire! I am not sure whether it was so because of the time I worked out at (3pm) or whether it was what I ate (1 tortilla with fish and squash) or whether I am getting stronger or the combination of all.

The calories burned was the best yet and I was drenched today! Literally all drenched! And I can understand why based on my maximum heart rate!

4 more workouts and month 1 is done! Can you believe it????

Cardio Power and Resistance

2012-01-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

Day 23—Cardio Power & Resistance: Done! I couldn't wake up at 5:00 am today so I worked out at 7:15 pm today. I hope I can sleep tonight otherwise tomorrow will be messed up.

Not much to add except here are my stats

Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs

2012-01-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

Day 22—Week 4: Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs: We must have multiple minds within us because the self talk that was going on before and during this workout was 'award worthy'! I swear, my biggest enemy is my own mind most of the time—but not this time!

Last week of Month 1 started as scheduled! As promised to myself, I took it easy and didn't rush at a crazy pace. My goal is to lose those last 10# plus the 2 I gained in the first three week of Insanity.

Week 4 will also have me on a different diet. I am still working on that because I have yet to figure out the most simplest of diet that doesn't contain too many grains or dairy product. I will have a better idea at the end of the day. Today, I am eating clean, that's all I have promised myself.

Cardio Abs

2012-01-21T06:53:00.001-08:00

Day 17, Cardio Abs completed today, January 21, 2012.

Suppose, I will try to do Cardio Recovery later today or Sunday.
I think my knees yesterday were complaining because I didn't do
any recovery program this week.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Plyo Cardio Circuit

2012-01-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

Day 20—Plyo Cardio Circuit: I was once again ready to give up this program when Beachbody posted a "success story" video on facebook which got me really fired up about what I am doing and the possible results to be achieved.

The excitement did not last long. Through the first exercise during warm up my knees started to complain and they wouldn't let up. So I had to slow down on everything! My jumps were pathetic, my kicks were .. okay, they were kicks but it felt like I was kicking a cat instead of the powerful karate kick and my suicides were ... I think more like lunges.

But, I survived and SURPRISE I burned 359 calories in 40 minutes!!!! I think this was my POLAR giving me a thumbs up for my efforts or ... maybe I really NEED to slow down to blast the calories!

I think I will try this approach next week! WEEK THREE - OVER AND OUT .. Thank God!

Cardio Power and Resistance

2012-01-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Day 19—Cardio Power & Resistance: I am bored with this program. Just like before, after two weeks it takes A LOT to get motivated to continue working out with Insanity. The last 2 days, I have been skipping/postponing workouts which is a sign of me 'wanting' to bail. But, thanks to a few good friends at the teambeachbody forum that I was able to push play today and complete the workout.

Throughout, I kept thinking only 1 thing—FINISH IT! It doesn't matter what the performance is like, if you have started, then workout through to the end. And if it wasn't for a buddy's support, I would have definitely bailed today.

Here are the results. I have moved Cardio Abs and Cardio Recovery to Sunday. If I get motivated to complete the workouts before then, I surely will.

Pure Cardio

2012-01-17T03:45:00.000-08:00

Day 17—Pure Cardio: This workout is still tough but at least I am not scared of it anymore! Today, it's Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs day. Pure Cardio completed this morning. Cardio Abs to follow later in the afternoon.

Not sure how the heart rate calculates the # of calories burned but I am surprised that when the heart rate is working harder, I am burning less calories. Huh!

Plyo Cardio Circuit

2012-01-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

Day 16—Plyo Cardio Circuit: My knees and back were moaning all day today, bitching about how much stress they are under. My mind almost listened to them and didn't workout today but then "we" were reminded of the weight gain and decided to stop the bullshit excuses and just do it!

And do it we did! Week three officially underway today with two workouts done!

Second Fit Test

2012-01-16T03:53:00.000-08:00

Day 16, Fit Test #2 and Plyo Circuit Workout: Cannot believe that I actually GAINED weight!!!! I am sooo disappointed with the scale but at least my cardiovascular condition has definitely improved!

Here are my results of fit test #2. It was, surprisingly NOT tough to do this, this morning at 5:00 am. I think, last week's plyo workout in the morning encouraged me to do the fit test in the am so that I don't have to do back-2-back workouts tonight (as you know, I just cannot workout over the weekend and have to double up one day a week on Insanity workouts).

This time around, the globe jumps (again) took everything from me. I won't lie, I did take a full 120 second break to recover my heart rate which was hovering at 199 bpm! Wooo!

The trick today was to set a number (like Tony Horton always tells us to in his P90X workouts) and then beat that number! So I set 2 more reps for each exercise than what I did the last time and ran with it. I ignored the screen to see how much time I had left and just waited for Shaun to tell us how many seconds we are left with.

The suicide jumps were a disappointment. After the globe jumps, my mental capacity shut down and try as I may, I could not talk myself into doing anything more than necessary. So this, is the task to beat in Fit test #3—crush my mind and run without it!

Overall then, here are the results:

Please note that my initial bodyfat calculation was done online somewhere, I cannot remember which site so this time, I added the calculation to my excel file and the number came out way different from what I had used earlier. So from now on, this excel calculation will be my gauge.

Plyo Circuit Workout to follow this afternoon.

Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs

2012-01-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

Week 2 - Two and Final Workouts for this week DONE!!! Really excited about it! I have to admit today I was looking forward to Cardio Abs but by the time I was done with Pure Cardio I was pooped and got tired pretty quickly with Cardio Abs. Maybe, I should not have done the intense warm up for Cardio Abs especially if my body was already super hot from Pure Cardio. Next time, I will split it or skip the warm up!

Cardio Abs looked easy when I reviewed it but it is not! The C-sit were a killer! My back felt it right away!!! This is definitely a CORE workout not just abs workout!

Not bad calories wise. My heart also worked hard as per my polar.

Cardio Power and Resistance

2012-01-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

Day 12: I had some chocolate about an hour before this workout and boy did I have energy even though when I came home, I was in no mood to workout and my body was aching!

All day I felt exhausted but once I had some chocolate (few balls or chocolate covered soft caramel - maybe about 8) I felt better. Also, I think 3x750ml water is not enough but at the moment I am unable to drink any more water. I feel too full already and then can't eat. So I have to come up with a solution or two!

One more day, two more workouts and week two is done with! I am so looking forward to the fit test on Day 15 and week three workouts. Because if I can complete the workout on January 18th then that means joining CoachDave63 is paying off with dividends!!!!

Plyo Cardio Circuit

2012-01-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

January 11th—Plyo Cardio Circuit: This is day 11 - can you believe it? Two weeks already gone past!

The workouts are defo getting easier, except for when the mind goes "I hate switch kicks!". I don't know what happened but I actually used to enjoy this workout. Now, I seem to enjoy only Cardio Power & Resistance. Every other workout seems like WORK!

If it wasn't for Beachbody support team, I would have definitely quit by now!

Day 11, PCC, DONE! Tomorrow was supposed to be cardio recovery but since I already did that yesterday, I will move on to Pure Cardio. If time permits, I may do Cardio Recovery too - one can never stretch enough, especially when working out with super high intensity workouts like Insanity and The Asylum (that will be next or sometime this year depending on what the other people in the challenge are doing!)

Pure Cardio

2012-01-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

Week 2, Day 3 & 4—Today, Pure Cardio (Day 9) & Cardio Recovery (Day 10). I doubled up on the workout today because I skipped Sunday workout (lifted weights instead). This will bring me up to date tomorrow (day 11) with Plyo Circuit.

The performance is definitely getting better. I am not sure about my caloric intake. I think I am eating less than I should but ... I don't know. I feel good, energetic and well, the body is changing shape but not sure what the scale says. I shall find out next week on Fit Test day.

Cardio Power and Resistance

2012-01-09T14:14:00.001-08:00

Week 2, Day 1: Wowiee!!! Today's workout seemed so easy until I got to globe jumps and then I was pooped! Power jumps today were really powerful but globe jumps failed me. Still, overall I can feel getting stronger and more powerful if you can believe that.

Something is definitely wrong with my HRM. At one point, all I saw was heart rate = 00 not sure if battery is dying or the heart was beating so fast that the HRM got confused. It doesn't matter! I feel great!!!

I think the performance today was more powerful because I took 2 full days of rest. One day this week, I will double up to catch up with the rest of the team who started on Jan 1st with me.

Plyo Cardio Circuit

2012-01-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

Week 1, Day 6—Plyo Cardio Circuit: Wow, back to square one!!!! I cannot believe I managed all the workouts this week. I am really happy with myself but not so happy with today's stats on the Polar HRM.

How is it possible that on one hand it is telling me I worked out really hard but it did not reflect the hard work in calories? Am I getting better at this or is the Polar HRM dying?

Tomorrow is rest day so I will post my stats for today and tomorrow in this post.

Pure Cardio

2012-01-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

This has got to be one of the hardest workout in the PLANET!!!! I have no idea what Shaun T was thinking when he put together this workout. He must have thought that people are super humans and they can push themselves to fly!

The only consolation or motivation to even attempt Beachbody's Pure Cardio workout is to hear Shaun T himself say, right in the middle of the program, and I quote "Shaun T is tired right now"!!!! LOOL! Music to my ears!!!!

To see all the participants also take soooo many breaks was no surprise and a great boost to my ego which refused to stop, even if I modified every move! And the modification is evident from my polar heart rate monitor watch.

Here are the stats

Pure Cardio—Day 5: DONE!!!!!!!!

Here's the full workout from YouTube

Cardio Recovery

2012-01-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

Week 1, Day 4: Cardio Recovery! And boy did the body need all this stretching! Absolutely loved the work out! My body heated up very quickly and the small of my back started to burn initially but later felt fine. I was however, shaking quite a bit! This goes to show how tight my muscles were!

I did not wear the heart rate monitor today because I didn't deem it necessary.

Check this out! Someone actually uploaded the entire workout on YouTube! Huh!

Cardio Power and Resistance

2012-01-03T15:21:00.000-08:00

Week 1, Day 3: It took everything to keep my appointment with Insanity Workout Group. If I did not have to answer to anyone, I would have surely missed this workout because I was having too much fun this afternoon on Facebook!

The workout is TOUGH yet the number of calories burned is less than yesterday's. I think this is because of all that floor work. Based on my Polar HR, the heart rate shows I worked out really hard today. I couldn't ask for anything more!

Day 3 complete! Yay!!

Plyo Cardio Circuit

2012-01-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

Week 1, Day 2: My performance was not as good as I would have liked it but instead of quitting, I modified A LOT.

One of the reason for poor performance is lack of energy.
This means that I MUST eat something substantial before working out with Insanity DVDs and therefore, I have moved my workouts to late afternoons (5pm or later EST).

I know no one needs my stats for each workout but I am pasting it anyway as motivation for myself and others to dig deeper. The numbers are from my Polar F7 Heart Rate Monitor.

The self talk is what got me thru today. During one water break, I actually had to wear my back support belt, not for the back but for the belly because I was really feeling the cramps. I kept telling myself, if the contestants in the Biggest Loser TV show can go through hell for 5-6 hours with Bob Harper then I can definitely go thru it for mere 40 minutes!

I plan to add a 1/2 total body weight lifting session this week. Will document that when I have completed it.

Day 2 - DONE!! BOOYAH!!!

Sixty days Insanity Challenge

2012-01-01T10:46:00.000-08:00

This is not going to be my first time scheduling a fitness challenge. I have previously jumped on the Beachbody program challenge and have failed to follow through in the past despite having seen some great results.

This time however, with the help of Beachbody CoachDave63, I shall succeed!!!

And I must succeed because I have gained 10 pounds in the last 6 weeks thanks to all the drinking and eating over the holidays! This, despite eating clean most of the time when at home or alone. I fear to even think what would have happened had I not started on a raw food living (70/30) in October 2011.

This holiday weight MUST come off by Day 60 of Insanity! And if I am lucky, I may even get a 2pack if not a 6pack abs!

I SWEAR TO DIG DEEPER THROUGHOUT!!!

Today's Nutrition/Meals - After the Fit Test

500ml freshly squeezed ginger-pineapple juice with 1 scoop of Greens+ Multi
1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1 whole wheat pita (600 calories!!!! Eeesh!)
grilled vegetables, tilapia and 1 cooked cup of whole wheat pasta. My body was craving complex carbs and since I didn't have lots of veges in the house, I had to add pasta. Let's just hope I did not over do it in calories.
Water intake today = 1.5 liter
1 cup spicy chai with 0.5 cup milk (no more milk in the house, so buh bye tea/coffee)!

I think my caloric intake is over by 200 calories but I was starving today! I don't think I will be able to do the 70/30 raw foods on this challenge but will try to stick to it. If I fall short, I will at least have eaten a CLEAN diet. :o)