Insanity - Fit Test Update

What's up everybody? Back to the workout grind. I was going to do the last workout in the series which is called Insanity - Upper Body Weight Training but it requires you to have access to set up weights. Right now I don't have an active gym membership due to my low income right now. I watched part of it and it has some good stuff but I couldn't do the workout so I decided to just start from the beginning of the series again. Going to be updating you on my improvements for the Insanity - Fit Test. The protocol for the fit test says to do it every two weeks. I went over by a couple of days but I was still able to show big improvements despite the weekend off from working out. Each of these movements are very demanding. With all the jumps lined up in a row, the jumps towards the end the form was starting to suffer a little bit but I was able to do a lot better than the first time that I took the test. I'm glad to see improvements across the board. Globe jumps actually include 4 jumps per cycle to count for one. So that's why it doesn't look like the improvement is the lowest.

TIP OF THE DAY:

Today, I want to discuss the importance of stretching. Stretching not only helps lengthen the muscles but also helps prevent injury.

When doing very ballistic workouts, like the Insanity series, stretching becomes more important than ever. Stretching at the beginning of the workout after a warm out helps loosen the muscles and prepare them for work. Stretching is also very important post workout to allow the built up lactic acid in the muscles from the the workout. For those of you who don't know, lactic acid is what causes the burning feeling in your muscles during your workout. Also, stretching is necessary with ballistic workouts like these because as your muscles start to grow, their range of motion starts to slowly decrease. If muscles are built up and the muscles are not stretched, then it is more likely for those muscles to become injured.

Well, that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel

Insanity - Max Interval Sports Training

Hey everyone, just a short update today. Got back to my usual schedule of working out after taking a few days off. Did the next workout in the Insanity series. Max Interval Sports Training, I guess I went in with high expectations. It was a good workout but some of the exercises that were supposed to be sport specific weren't as good as I thought they would be. I've gone through sport specific training with my degree. The exercises were adapted to keep a high heart rate up like the entire series. Had then been specific exercises like you might actually use in a practice for a specific sport, I think it would have been better. Just my opinion, still love the workout series thought.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Insane Abs

What's up everyone? Didn't get a chance to blog last night. I was on the road and busy with lots of errands and what not. Going to be taking this weekend off from the workouts. But I did do the Insanity - Insane abs workout yesterday. I was well worth it. I have two workouts left in the series and I like it more than some of the other workout series that I've seen. The great thing about this series is that you don't have to own any equipment. All your need is space and workout clothes and you can do these workouts. All the exercises use our own body weight to challenge yourself. The last two workouts left are Insanity - Max Interval Sports Training and Insanity - Upper Body Weight Training. I bet those two are going to be very intense this coming Monday and Tuesday.

TIP OF THE DAY/EXERCISE OF THE DAY:

Oblique rotations, another great exercise that uses the plank position with core and shoulder stabilization.

First, start in high plank or push up position. Make sure your shoulders are shoulder width apart. Also try to keep your butt down keeping it inline with your legs and your back. Your feet are going to be about waist width apart.

While maintaining complete body control, stabilize your shoulders and bring your left knee to your right elbow. Keep your core drawn in and contract the obliques while brining your knee to your elbow.

Keeping the shoulders stable and while keeping the core drawn in, control your leg back to the original high plank position.

Next, bring your left knee to your left elbow. This exercise helps to activate the lower abs as well as the obliques. Make sure to keep your core drawn-in at all times while doing these movement.s

And lastly bring your left leg back to the starting high plank position. Do all your repetitions on one side before switching to do the other side.

After doing this exercise my abs and shoulders were burning a good one. The Insanity series is really good at incorporating a lot of oblique and lower abs exercises. Almost everyone knows an abs exercise that focuses on the upper abs which are actually the easiest ones to target. But its the pesky love handles/muffin top or the beer belly that people are always trying to lose. Even after I finish the series, I'll find more exercises from this series to share with everyone.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Max Recovery

Hey, what's up everyone? Just going to do a short review today of the next Insanity workout, Insanity - Max Recovery. This workout was designed to really stretch out the lower body as well as get plenty of core work in. With the high amount of ballistic type movements that the Insanity workout series asks you to do, it is very important that there are designated days for the body to be allowed to recover. The stretching of the legs and groin area becomes especially critical because of all the squat type of movements that are done through out the different workouts.

TIP OF THE DAY/EXERCISE OF THE DAY:


The high/low plank, its a very challenging multiple muscle group core exercise. Core, shoulders, triceps and chest are the muscle groups that will be activated from this exercise



First start out in the low plank position. Make sure that your butt is in line with your back so you look like a flat board. The guy on the left side of the picture has his butt up a little on the high side but its not that bad. At this point of the workout, its probably the last 10 minutes out of a 45 minute workout. Make sure that your elbows are directly below your shoulder and that your elbow forms a 90 degree angle.



Push up one side at a time. In this example, they are pushing up on the right side first. Use the right side to push the torso up while making sure to keep the core tight. Your upper body can rotate to accommodate one arm being extended while the other arm is still bent.





Extend the other arm like the first arm so you are now in high plank position. This should feel like your regular push up stance but your hands are probably lined up very close to shoulder width apart.








Next, go back down with the first arm while maintaining a tight core and your stomach drawn-in. Again, allow your upper body to twist all while maintaining complete body control. Make sure to keep proper form through out this movement. Don't go faster than you can control.







Bring the second arm back down so that you are back in low plank position. Repeat this sequence for the desired number of repetitions. Allow yourself a short break. Then repeat the exercise starting with the other arm in the sequence so that both sides are worked equally.






This was a very challenging exercise for me. Maintaining proper form was difficult. I took several breaks. From personal experiences doing the low plank, sometimes its easier to balance when your forearms are parallel to each other rather than allowing your hands to come together. Try both ways and see what works best for you.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

STAY MOTIVATED!! Also Insanity - Max Cardio Conditioning

What's up everyone? Just got to say STAY MOTIVATED everyone. Today was a good day. I checked my weight mid-week because I knew I was getting close to the 200 mark. And I broke out of the 200s and I'm at 199.6. Its a really good feeling. So far, I've lost a total of 12.2 lbs in a little over 5 weeks. Still have a long way to go but I'm on my way. I'm not sure how far I can push myself but you never know what the possibilities are. I would like to get to the 160s. I think to get to single digits in body fat though, I have to down to the 150s. We'll see though.

Today we're reviewing the next workout in the Insanity sequence. The next workout is called Insanity - Max Cardio Conditioning. Its a 45 minute workout primarily focuses on exercises designed to get the heart rate up rather than focusing on powerful movements like some of the other workouts. I liked this workout, although I'm starting to notice that I like the power workouts more than the cardio conditioning workouts in this series.

TIP OF THE DAY/EXERCISE OF THE DAY:

Push-up abs, this exercise targets the oblique abs in a unique way. It also provides a challenging shoulder and chest workout. To be able to do this exercise correctly you have to be able to stabilize and control your upper body so you can hold it in the proper position to do the oblique crunch of the exercise.

First start off in the normal push-up stance. Make sure your core is drawn in. Use a slow controlled downward movement. Hold slightly at the bottom of the movement. Then bring your knee to your elbow and control the oblique abdominals. Bring your knee back to the normal down push-up position and then push back up to normal stance. Repeat alternating on each side every repetition.

When I got to this exercise, it was getting towards the last twenty minutes of the workout. My shoulders and chest were already somewhat tired and I was already sweating a lot. I think I was only able to do about 4 push-up abs reps before I had to stop, mostly because my form was severely compromised due to fatigue. I also noticed that my back was activating throughout this exercise to also help compensate for my muscle fatigue in order to stabilize my shoulders so I could hold the position to do the oblique crunch. All of the abs exercises in the Insanity series seem to shape your abs due to all the repetitions of different exercises that activate the core muscles. Because the movements are done with the cardio, it doesn't cause you to get as sore as you might normally when you do pure abs exercises. The nice thing about doing abs exercises with your cardio is that you are burning the calories to burn the body fat so your abs can start to show after all your hard work.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Max Interval Plyo

What's up everybody? Thought I would get my post done early today. I think I'll start getting my posts done early now. I used to wait til the end of the night before I posted just so I could update my calories. My calories are basically almost the same everyday now. I eat basically the same thing everyday during the weekdays. It works out well. I think the body becomes efficient if it gets the same kind of fuel everyday. That way your body doesn't get hungry at weird times during the day. Today's workout was really good. Did the Insanity - Max Interval Plyo. I think my body is finally starting to adapt to the intensity of these workouts. I still need to build up my endurance to finish every movement for the proper duration but its getting better slowly.

TIP OF THE DAY/EXERCISE OF THE DAY:

The balance push-up, another crazy variation that I learned from the Insanity workout series. Here are the steps to do it right.

Start in the standard push up stance. Make sure your shoulders are slightly shoulder width apart. Make sure your butt is in straight line with your shoulders and your legs so you make a straight line with your body. You don't want to have your butt in the air.

Go down deep into the push up. While still maintaining your core drawn-in, make sure your body still is in a straight line like before. Keep the glutes activated.

On the push part of the movement, stabilize the core, shoulder and the hips on the same side and balance. After pausing for a second, come back down to your regular push-up stance and repeat.

This is a very challenging exercise. You get all the work of a push-up, plus the added challenge to the shoulder and the added challenge to the quads and glutes. The glute that is activated has to stay very tight, otherwise you will have a tendency to tip over. Keeping the shoulder tight and the abs tight is also very important to make sure not tip over. I've done similar exercises to this one but instead of rising the leg and arm on the same side, the opposite arm and opposite leg are raised. That one was easier to stabilize but that's not what was shown in this workout.

Well time to sign off. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Max Interval Circuit

What's up everybody? Didn't get a chance to blog last night. Took the day off from working out so didn't have a workout to review. Today I did the Insanity - Max Interval Circuit. I found this workout to be very challenging. I definitely don't have the proper endurance to complete the entire workout. This is the 8th workout in the sequence of 14. I think you're suppose to spend a few days per workout to get properly conditioned. There are many high intensity moves that need a very high amount of conditioning. I'm still going to progress through all the videos once so I can review all of them.

TIP OF THE DAY/EXERCISE OF THE DAY:


The plank punch, this is good for shoulder stabilization and core stabilzation. Start in the push up position. Take one arm and punch forward so the up arm is level in line with you torso. This will cause your core to contract and your shoulders to contract as well.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Core Cardio & Balance

Hello everyone, how's everybody doing? Another great day in rainy San Diego. Just a quick review of the next Insanity workout. The next workout in the sequence is called Insanity - Core Cardio & Balance. I liked this workout as the movements were very controlled with a slower tempo. This workout is designed to be done as a recovery workout so you're still burning calories but you're not putting as great of a strain on the muscles as some of the other workouts.

TIP OF THE DAY/EXERCISE OF THE DAY:


Shoulder burners, an isometric squat combined with shoulder circles, front raises, lateral raises and reverse circles.

This was a very tough exercise that I liked today. The isometric squat really got the heart pumping as well as all of the shoulder movements. Shoulder movements raise the heartrate which proved to be very challenging. It was a great way to get the cardio going without actually doing cardio.

Well that's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Cardio Abs

What's up everyone? It started raining tonight. It was a very nice relaxing Friday. Had a nice dinner with the girlfriend. I even helped with the potatoes. I checked my weight this morning and I'm about 2 lbs away from the 200 mark. I'm very excited. It will feel really good to be under 200 again.

Here's my review for the next Insanity workout. The next workout in the sequence is called Insanity - Cardio Abs. This workout was on the short side but it was still effective. The movements were well sequenced and I liked the new exercises that I saw today. The exercise adaptions worked well to target the lower abs and the obliques.

TIP OF THE DAY:


C-sit abs, use these exercises to stimulate the abs without crunches.

The c-sit abs exercises start in a seated position with the knees bent. Lean back until the abs are activated. You can add several variations with bent leg lifts or straight leg lifts.

Good night all. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Pure Cardio

What's up everybody? Just wanted to do a quick review of the next Insanity workout. Insanity, pure cardio was not as good as I would have expected. Had I been in better shape I would have gotten a lot better workout. This workout requires you to have a large amount of cardiovascular endurance. The heart rate doesn't spike up as quickly as the other workouts but it still requires the ability to be able to maintain a high heartrate. I needed several breaks in between movements.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Try out the push-up jack push-up variation.

The push-up jack is similar to the moving push that I mentioned a few days ago. You start in push-up stance with your feet close together. Arms normal width apart for push ups. On the downward part of the movement your feet pop to a wide stance. On the upward movement push your feet pop back to a normal stance.

Well thats all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Cardio Recovery

What's up everybody? You have to check out these awesome mini pumpkin pies that my girlfriend made tonight.

Sweet huh? They taste just like a full size pie but they're bite size. It's great. Good times.












So I want to update you guys on the next Insanity workout. It's called Insanity - Cardio Recovery. Shaun T, the creator of this workout, planned out the workouts very well so far. My legs were really tight today from the previous two workouts. So this workout worked well because he changed up the style of the program. This cardio recovery program slows down the tempo of the workout. Every movement is done at a cadence so all movements have to be done with complete control. He mixes in isometric holds as well as pulses with several exercises. It really made me sweat and my heart rate didn't go up nearly as quickly as the previous two workouts. If you like yoga, I think you would like this workout.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Adding balance training exercises are a good way to increase core strength and stability.

Balance training was something that was focused on a lot in today's workout. Balance training incorporates a lot of core muscles and greatly increases body control. Better balance and core work also helps prevent lower back problems.

That's all for tonight. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Insanity - Cardio Power & Resistance

What's up everybody? Okay a couple of things that I noticed today. You know there just aren't that many good samaritans anymore. But today I saw a lady in a relatively brand new Lexus SUV used her brand new car to push another lady in a "hooptie" into the gas station at the corner. The bumper of the Lexus was definitely scratched but I guess it didn't matter to that lady. It made me stop to think, would I have helped that lady push her car out of the street. In all honesty, I don't think I would have stopped, let alone use my car to push another person's car. That lady should get a round of applause.

Second thing that I noticed today, there was no can o pumpkin to be found anywhere in the UTC/La Jolla area. We went to Ralphs, Vons, Food For Less, Walmart, the 99 cent store, Fresh and Easy, and Trader Joes. Nobody had it except for the last Vons. The can o pumpkin wasn't even in the canned foods isle. It was in the baking isle with the marshmallows. What is that all about?

Anyway, I did the second workout in the Insanity series. This one is called Insanity - Cardio Power & Resistance. It was slightly shorter than the first workout but due to all the power moves/squats the workout could be shorter all while still buring a large number of calories. Definitely worked up a good sweat and I feel it in my legs already.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Here's a new push up variation to try out and incorporate into your workouts. It's called the moving push-up.

A moving push-up starts similar to a regular push-up but your hands start closer than shoulder width apart. They actually should be almost touching. Before you go down, widen the base of your arms to slightly wider than shoulder width apart and then go down. At the same time widen your feet stance so slightly wider than hip width apart. You'll feel like your a large rectangle when you do the push-up. Do two of these moving push-ups in one direction and then come back two push-ups in the opposite direction.

Well hope you liked the tip of the day/exercise of the day. Time to sign off. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

1 Month Down, Good Progress

Hey everyone, its the beginning of a new month and I had to report on my official progress. From one month ago, I'm down 8 lbs. My body fat percentage didn't go down as much as I would have liked but skinfold calipers are just a rough estimate. It will be easier to see the body fat changes when I get farther down the line and lose more weight. My target body fat range is ultimately single digits but that will take more time. My circumference measurements turned out decent although I would have liked to see more inches lost but its a start. I like where the changes are going though. I think I gained some muscle in the chest from all the push ups that I've been doing lately. Waist decrease is a good sign. Not sure but I think the butt measurement when up slightly from all the swimming and cardio on the elliptical.

So I tried the first official workout in the Insanity Workout program. Its called the Insanity Plyometric Cardio. It was quite challenging. There were several 4-5 move sequences that got the heart rate up quickly and sustained the high level intensity that the program promises to deliver. I wish I
was in better shape so I could finish out each movement for the proper duration time. At several different times during the workout, I could tell my heart rate was a little high. As I get in better shape, my body will be able to handle the intensity load. There were several combination moves that I thought were innovative. One example that the inventor, Shaun T demonstrates is called Ski Abs. It starts in a push up position and brings the knees up into a tuck bounce off to the side. There was another drill that he calls Level 1 Drills. It starts off with 4 push ups and then switch to mountain climbers in the push up position. Then you stand up tall and then pop back down to a push up position and it starts all over again. This one was exceptionally difficult as it gets your heart rate up very quickly and your shoulders really start to burn keeping yourself supported. I can already feel my body reacting to the exercise. My calves are tight and I feel like I worked out my legs well. I'll try the next workout tomorrow. I'll let you know what I think.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Never be scared to veer from your routine to learn a new workout from others.

Being a personal trainer, I always want to learn new exercises from other people. When I trained in the corporate world at 24 Hour Fitness, I always worked out with my co-workers. You can always get new ideas from other people and figure out how to incorporate their exercises to benefit your own routine. Very few people invent anything in exercise that hasn't been done before by someone else. What makes it unique is how you can apply it. I'm giving credit to this workout video creator. It doesn't mean by using what I've learned is stealing from him. And that's what is so great about exercise and fitness. Share knowledge ultimately benefits everyone.

Well, that's all for tonight. Good night, get your sweat on and happy dieting.

-Joel via iPhone