Insanity Peer Pressure

Last time I blogged, I went on about how everyone on Dailymile was on the naked running kick. So I had to try it out for myself. Well, there's also an Insanity thing going on. Everyone is either doing P90X or Insanity. I looked into P90X months ago. I was turned off from the cost, along with additional contraptions needed that you have to buy separately. I hate strength training anyway. Not a good match.

But everywhere I looked, people were talking Insanity this, Insanity that. I've done triathlons and Insanity still kicked my ass but I love it, type thing. So let me check it out. Apparently, some part of me wants to get my ass kicked. Luckily, I found a website that sold legit ass kicking dvds for cheap. It was shipped from China, but who cares? I paid only $65 AND got the deluxe version that would cost close to $200. So I got it, put it off for a couple weeks, got a little visit from a year + old injury, then started the program.

Each dvd starts off with a disclaimer basically saying: If you're a couch potato, this is not for you. Please consult with your doctor because you may end up within an inch of your life. Don't be a fool. If you know your fitness sucks, we won't call you a punk for starting with something less intense. It's better to be a wuss than to be dead. For whatever reason, I decided to go through with it. So I began last Thursday with the Fit Test. He starts you off with a warm up that I quickly learned is not a warm up. It's a mini workout. Yeah, I had sweat dripping into my eyes and everything. Then into the actual test of various exercises that I expected to hate. Come to find out, the exercises I thought I'd be bad at, I was pretty good at. I did more than I thought I could. After doing some online research, I saw that my initial results were better than average. Go me! Really, I surprised myself (I've come so far, but that's a story for another blog post all together). But then I got worried wondering if I'll actually improve on the next Fit Test. Will I get any better?

As of yesterday, I finished up the first week of workouts. I've noticed improvement in my endurance so far. I'm able to go faster in some exercises. There are some exercises that still kick my butt, and will continue to do so. That's what they're designed to do. In between circuits, I find myself gasping for air like I just did sprints. And it's all good. Do what you can, take a break if you need to, and keep it moving. If you can do that, it's not scary at all. And believe me, I was scared to even begin. But now, it's Kool and the Gang. I'll actually start running again soon while doing Insanity. I don't think it will be too much for me to handle. I guess that says something about my fitness. I've come a long way, baby!

So I've put three videos up on Youtube about Insanity. But I'll just show the one I did yesterday. It's a wrap up of my first week. I think I'll keep the videos to once a week. I figure if I do videos, it will keep me motivated to continue with the program. Well, just the workout portion. There's a handy guide for meal planning and such, but food is not my issue. I have no weight loss goals. I'm at a healthy weight and my body fat percentage is in order. Actually, I wouldn't mind shaving a bit of fat. Just a bit. But mainly, I want to improve my fitness. You can always improve your fitness. I get stronger every year. I love knowing that I get better with age.