Insanity Workout Fitness Test

What's up everybody? For some reason I'm extra tired tonight. Not really sure why. Took another day off minus taking the fitness test from that Insanity workout video that I got recently. Was feeling a little fatigued but the batteries are recharged and should be good to go tomorrow.

Well I took the fitness test to the Insanity Workout. Here are the stats.

Fit test
Switch kicks 71
Power jacks 20
Power knees 50
Power jumps 10
Globe jumps 4
Suicide jumps 5
Push up jacks 10
Low plank oblique 20

Basically each movement was supposed to be a maximum effort for 1 minute and then rest for 1 minute. After the first two movements I was only about to last about the first 30 seconds of each of the subsequent movements.

The switch kicks are look like they sound. You alternate kicks making sure to kick on each foot and landing softly on each foot. Power jacks look like someone put a squat and a jumping Jack together. The minor difference is your feet come together when you hands are above your head instead of when they're by your side like on normal jumping jacks. Power knee are done in a somewhat a side lunge position. You bring the back leg up making short of a chopping motion with your hands touching your knee each time. Power jumps are deep squat jumps also while bring your knees up as high as you can in mid-air. So it's a deep squat jump combined with a modified tuck jump. Globe jumps are squat jumps done in a square pattern. Four jumps equal one rotation. Suicide jumps start in push up position and you quickly bring both feet to close to where your hands are. And then you jump up from there, land and then pop back to push up position. Push up jacks combine push ups and jumping jacks. On the downward movement of the push up pop your feet stance wide like a jumping jack and them when pushing back up pop your feet back together. Low plank obliques are done in the plank position and then you alternate bring your knees up one at a time towards your knees.

It was a pretty tough workout. Had I been in better shape I would have been able to do much better. Also because I'm heavier than I would like, my joints got sore from the ballistic type movements. I feel like these workout videos are very cross fit type. It should be interesting to see how my body reacts to the full workouts.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Listen to your body, don't overwork your body because that can be counter-productive to your goal.

Everyone knows how their own body reacts to exercise. If it feels fatigued, give it some rest and a chance to recover. If you over work your body, it is possible to injury yourself and then you could be out longer than if you had just rested for one day. Not saying that you will always hurt yourself if you workout too much, but it sometimes may be necessary to take short breaks to allow your body to recharge and regenerate new muscle tissue that you have developed over the workouts that you have been consistently doing.

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

- Joel via iPhone

My Girlfriend Has Skills

Hi everyone, it was a very nice and relaxing Saturday. So today my girlfriend got a new cast iron pot today. It was on sale and we just had to get it. So this is our first dish that was made with it. Check out the delicious brazed short ribs that she made. We had baked potatoes season with salt, garlic, fresh thyme and olive oil. We also had a little bit of sauteed mushrooms on the side. Don't know how many calories it was but we altered the recipe so it was the right size for two people. I was just the right amount of full. Not super stuffed but definitely won't be hungry tonight. Thanks a bunch babe, very delicious.

I took the day off from the gym today. I found a copy of the Insanity Workout video. I watched the first video which consists of a 20 minute fitness test. Will be taking the fitness test tomorrow and will share more about the actual fitness video. So far from what I've seen it uses all exercises that use your own body weight. It seems to be very challenging at first glance and I think would be good for any fitness level as the video is always encouraging you to push yourself.

No tip of the day today. Hope everyone is having a fun and safe weekend. Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

- Joel via iPhone

Interval Training

What's up everybody? Today was fun. Got my cardio in and tried to eat fairly clean. So I did my push up challenge today and I got to the 8th set. Not as good as I would have liked. But it's a start. Tomorrow is another official weigh in. And Monday will be a big day because I have to take full measurements to see where I've changed the most. My best guess is I probably have lost inches around the waist, butt and chest. We'll see what happens on Monday.

My tip of the day will be very general today.

TIP OF THE DAY:


Adding interval training can be a good way to change up your cardio.

Interval training consists of lower range intensity bouts of cardio mixed in with small bouts of high intensity of cardio. Generally the lower intensity bouts are longer than the high intensity ones.

I saw this info-mercial about this workout video called Insanity. It was developed by this guy named Shaun T. It's concept is reverse interval training. It includes high interval training as the long bouts while the low intensity bouts are the short ones. I'm going to try to see if I can get my hands on these workout videos and let you know how they are. It sounds like something I would enjoy because I really enjoy challenging myself. Plus it will give me something new to workout. And then once I've mastered it I can learn to adapt it to my own personal training style.

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

- Joel via iPhone

Nutrition Stats:

Push Up Challenge

Hi everyone, today was nice day. It's almost warm enough to get back in the pool. I did my workout in the gym today. I've pretty much incorporated push ups into my daily routine. 4-6 sets of push ups depending on how I'm feeling. Today I bumped up my reps to 30 push ups per set.

My food was on the low side today. My schedule today had me only eating 1200 calories today by dinner time. Right now, since I'm not taking any classes this month my day isn't very active besides the times when I go to the gym. So since I was only at 1200 calories after I finished my dinner, I ate a Lunchables that was in the fridge. My macro nutrients would have been really well balanced today but I didn't eat enough so I had to eat another snack to make sure my body doesn't start to think it's in starvation mode.

Nutrition Stats:

TIP OF THE DAY:

Today's tip of the day is more of a challenge then a tip. Here is the challenge and its about strength and endurance. The challenge is to do sequential sets of push ups, increasing by 1 push up each set. So its going to be a pyramid. After each set, stand up completely straight and then get back down to push up stance and continue the next set without rest. If possible, get up to a total of 15 reps. So it will look like this 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15 for a total of 120 push ups. Try to do this challenge as fast as you can while maintaining good form. If your form is horrible, then just consider that the end of the challenge.

As you guys know I'm a very big fan of doing push ups. My personal best was when I made it to the 12 or 13th set. Can't remember which one it was. I did that when I was in much better shape. If you try this challenge and you have no problem finishing it, do it for time. I guarantee it will get your heart rate up. Its a good way to challenge your strength and your cardio. I'm going to try to do the challenge tomorrow when I'm fresh. I'll let you guys know how far I get. Post your times or what round you get to in the comments section. Let the competition begin.

Get your sweat on and happy dieting.

-Joel

I Want a Cheeseburger!!

Hey everyone, it's getting rough. I'm getting tired of being hungry all the time. And I really want a cheeseburger with fries. In and Out sounds really good right now. They say it takes about two weeks to adjust to eating clean. I started counting calories at the beginning of the month but it's only been about the past week and a half that I've really cut out a large majority of the bad food that I like to eat. I can tell the difference now. The energy level is substantially lower in the evenings. It's okay though, got to stay motivated.

On a side note, everyone seems to be taking about the iPad. It seems like an iPhone/itouch and a MacBook got together and had a baby. It has some cool features but the price is just too steep. Don't think I'll be getting one anytime soon.

TIP OF THE DAY:

If you're doing cardio and weights on the same day, you should always do your cardio first before you lift.

The reason you want to do this is you don't want to be fatigued when you lift. Fatigue can compromise form and posture. It's just a general rule to follow but it makes sense. You can warm up before your lifting session but it's better to do your heavy cardio sessions after you lift.

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

- Joel via iPhone