Insanity.

If you read my husband's fabulous blog, you know that we are doing the new workout program, Insanity. First of all, let me say that the cheesy--but accurate--name drives me crazy and I want to come up with a code name/shorthand for it so if you have any ideas for me, please leave me a comment! Whew. Now that I have that off my chest, we have finished 1 full week of the workout so I figured it was time to blog about what that has looked--and felt--like for us so far. Don't worry, I won't do this every week. I think that we are supposed to take 4 Fit Tests over the 60 days so I've decided that is when I will do an update.

A little background about Insanity if you didn't click on the link above: Insanity is another program from the geniuses that brought P90x to the world. Our friends Jeremy and Nicole did P90x and as interested as we were in it, Aaron and I didn't want to have to buy all the equipment (weights, pull up bar) that is required for that program. When Insanity came out, we liked that there was no equipment involved. Apparently your body weight is enough for a kick butt workout--who knew! Another difference between P90x and Insanity is that P90x is 90 days long and Insanity is 60. Content wise, P90x is about building strength and muscle. Insanity seems to be the answer to people who felt like there was not enough of a cardio workout in theP90x program. Thus, Insanity is a cardio-intense workout with tons of plyometric exercises and strength training and resistance work using, yep, your body weight. There is an eating plan that comes along with the workout so I'll get into that. So, I'm sure you are thinking that our lives are now overrun by long workouts...not true! the workouts are only about 40 minutes the first month and closer to an hour the second month. It's pretty amazing that you can get such a great workout and not spend your entire day in the gym.

So, the workouts. As I mentioned, we will be taking 4 Fit Tests during the program. We took the first one last Monday morning. The fit test consisted of 8 exercises. The goal was to see how many of each exercise you could do in a minute. The workout was only 30 minutes long and let me tell you, we were tired after the warmup. It was tough! The fit test was also challenging but we recorded our numbers and I'm really excited to see how we will have improved by next Monday when we are scheduled to take it again. Technically then, our workouts officially started on Tuesday. I was really excited about it because I just didn't know what to expect at all. What we got was a kick-tail 40 minute non stop routine of all the exercises you have probably dreaded for your entire life. Anyone who has played sports (or had a 6th grade gym class), think star jumps, mountain climbers, burpees, jumping jacks, etc. Then think about doing those as fast as you can for about 35 minutes with about 4 30-second water breaks. That's Insanity so far! But to tell you the truth, the time goes so fast and before you know it, you're in a puddle of your own sweat and you're done. I have really loved how much shorter the workouts are in the morning compared to my usual workouts. It gives me more time in the morning to actually sit and eat my breakfast and watch the news...it's great! But oh the soreness we had this week! Aaron and I were a pretty sad looking lot by Tuesday evening. It took a lot of effort to get up and walk around, especially after sitting in a chair or sleeping in bed. We had a good laugh about walking around like old people for the majority of the week, haha. But, we made it and we're feeling good about the surprises this week has for us. At this point, we've seen almost all of the workouts for this month. Each day, we just refer to our calendar and it tells us which of the DVDs to put in. It's pretty fool proof and you know that whatever it is will be a great workout. On Thursdays for this first month, we have a cardio recovery day. It's really different--it's 35 minutes of stretching and lunges/squats/planks to relax and stretch your muscles (just so Shaun T can kick your butt real good the very next day!) So, that's the workout..

The eating plan is a different story. Aaron and I had high expectations for ourselves that we would stick to it. However, we were pretty overwhelmed by the amount of calories that we are supposed to consume every day just to maintain our weight. The program is so intense that you have to be eating...a lot. The recipes were really basic and really similar to the way that we eat so that was a nice surprise. The basic premise is that you are supposed to eat 5 small meals throughout the day and you're supposed to be eating good food, in balanced amounts. After buying a lot of the basics, we decided that we were not going to follow it to a T. We're more concerned with making it through the workouts and we think that if we eat as we normally do, with maybe a more focused attention on what kinds of foods we are eating, we'll be fine. To give you an idea of what I'm eating, I eat a bowl of oatmeal (with brown sugar and a splash of fat free milk) at about 7:30am, some fruit and cottage cheese or yogurt at 10am, a peanut butter and jelly or turkey sandwich with carrots at lunch, another snack of fruit and string cheese at about 3:30 and then dinner at 6 which runs the gamut of whole wheat pasta with chicken or chicken and veggies and a starch or turkey chili. The biggest change for me has been not eating dessert--which is SO hard for me! Don't get me wrong, I still eat sweets. I just try to eat a piece of dark chocolate or something in the middle of the day rather than at night. In my head, I feel like my workout will feel better if I don't eat "empty" calories at night. Hopefully this can be a lifestyle change for me! So anyway, don't worry--even though we've taken on this new workout, we're not turning into crazy health nuts who never eat anything that actually tastes good. Come on, we're probably the two biggest sweet tooths you know!!

The best thing about Insanity so far is, hold your lunch because it's about to get sappy, getting to spend the time with Aaron in the morning. As you may or may not have known, I've been a morning workout person since college. It's my favorite time to work out because I think it is the best way to start your day. It gives you energy (I don't drink coffee any more!) and you just feel like you've done something good for yourself before most of the world has even gotten out of bed. Anyway, I love being able to work out with Aaron and I am so proud of him for committing to this craziness. I know that I'm unlike 99% of the population in that I actually enjoy working out and Aaron is really handling all of this like a champ. I wouldn't go so far as to say he is enjoying it just yet (he wouldn't say that either), but he doesn't complain and he just does it and I do think that he'll get hooked when all is said and done. Even if he doesn't, he is a source of encouragement for me as we go through these next 60 days. And of course, I'm thrilled that, together, we're going to be "in the best shape of our lives"!!!

Sweet Jesus, I never thought I'd be doing this. Because blogs are better with pictures and because I'm really curious to see what this will all be like in 60 days, I'm going to post my "before" pictures. Photoshopped, these are not, so be kind!



Intimidating, I know.

I did not get clearance to post Aaron's so you'll have to read up on us in the next few months for the big unveiling. I'm really excited to see how our hard work will pay off!! YAY Insanity, only 54 more days to go!

Hope you've been doing great!
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9