Ok, so I REALLY need to do some more video updates, but have been busy. I’m lucky to get my blog updated over the last week or so!
Today was Insanity Asylum Strength. I can feel myself getting stronger and better in this routine now that I’m actually eating the right amount of calories for what I need. I’m getting more assisted pull-ups done, my push-ups are getting easier, etc. Of course, this routine still kicks my tail, but it is designed to.
Off to get more things done, get to bed early, and enjoy relief tomorrow (gearing up for Game Day + Overtime on Saturday).
Back to the old habit of not getting sleep before a tough workout like Insanity Asylum…
Actually, not a bad habit. In fact, not even purposeful. Work issues last night and a 4 year old who decided to come into bed with us and kick me half the night leads to a very exhausted feeling in the morning. So much so that I plan to do my personal development reading and go to bed!
Nutrition was back on track for the most part today, but still want to improve some. I need to get back into my routine of bigger meals early, smaller meals later. That is the one thing I took from the Asylum plan that worked for me when I was doing it with Insanity.
Wow, last week got INCREDIBLY busy and I simply did not get a chance to post. So here are my thoughts and highlights:
First, Asylum Game Day…rough. Very rough. A very long 60 minutes.
The rest of the routines went as planned. This morning was rough coming off of a holiday weekend. So my calorie burn today was quite a bit less (but I’m okay with that). Tomorrow is a new day and a new chance to push hard. Verticle Plyo is still one of the hardest routines in the set, and that is what I do tomorrow.
I hope to get back into posting. I will say this:
Between doing Insanity, and then Asylum, I miss P90x. Granted P90X is “extreme” it’s a pace I enjoy a lot more. I like to lift. I like challenging my body through weights. I like a pace where I can focus on form and not feel rushed because there is a very small time limit and a rush to the next activity. So I will be starting a new round of P90X after I get back from the beach.
My nutrition? Well, hasn’t been good. Going to be cleaning it up over the next few days and get back into a routine of small deficit eating of clean foods and pushing hard. I moved away from the Asylum diet but the holiday weekend threw me off track a bit. Nothing to be concerned with, just need to clean it back up.
No video again. I took one, just did not get a chance to edit it in time. I’m working on that tomorrow and will post a day 8 and day 9 video. Back to Core felt pretty good this morning. I needed something to work on my shoulders and neck a bit, and this routine did it.
Not much else to write. I have already decided to move off the Asylum diet and move into something a bit more practical.
Ok, so no video today. I took none of my Asylum Strength workout for my Insanity Asylum review blog posts. And tonight, I’m pretty wiped. The 1800 calories is kicking my booty!
But, as for the workout, it went….better. My back is still my weak point, and being on this few calories trying to improve pull-ups just isn’t happening right now. I started out with 20lbs on this, but had to drop to 17.5 to finish everything but the final chest section (bumped back up to 20 on those). That’s 2.5lbs gain on each arm this week, which is improvement. My goal is by next time to stick with 20 throughout the workout.
As for the nutrition plan, my goal is to move away from 1800 calories at the end of this initial 14 days. In fact, I’m returning to a P90X/Insanity hybrid diet that I did the last month of Insanity (and saw great results doing it). I’m a bigger fan of feeling good, feeling strong, and feeling energetic than I am how I feel now.
And if it means I cut fat more slowly, so be it. I’d rather cut 1% a month and feel great than cut .5% a week and feel like crap.
I think the worst thing about today is I strained my neck. Not sure when, not sure how, but I think the lack of calories and strength to hold certain things cause a bit of additional tension to build in the neck, the absolute worse place for it to happen. Nothing serious (feels like I slept on it wrong), but definitely has made my day a bit more miserable.
So wrapping up for now, will record Back to Core tomorrow.
After a very needed (and nice) rest day yesterday, and a LOT of sleep last night, I got to push plan on Insanity Asylum Speed and Agility again this morning. I did MUCH better than what I had last week. I felt like I knew a few more of the moves and could push harder. Amazing what a little bit of good sleep can do for you! 46 minutes recorded, 635 calories burned.
Confession time, though: I HATE the Asylum diet. Not that I hate the foods on it, but rather it’s tough. I liked my routine of 6 days of good eating and one cheat meal, having a few more carbs, and slightly less veggies than what I’m taking in now. But…I’m focused on the goal. The goal is to put the “Get Shredded” plan to the test and see how much body fat it could help me lose in 30 days.
I might only make it 14 on it though. Honestly, I can feel my body needing more carbs. I’m giving it through day 14 and focusing on getting good amounts of sleep to decide whether it is not enough to continue.
Tomorrow is another video and doing Asylum Strength. I have a lot to improve on with this routine. I did HORRIBLE last week on it, want to lift heavier, and do better on it tomorrow.
O.M.G. Hardest 40 minutes ever. In fact, hardest WARM-UP ever! Shaun T says something early on about lactic acid build-up and he was not joking. Within the first few minutes my legs were on fire. I have so much room for improvement with these routines its unreal.
That being said, this is my first time through all of them and I expect an improvement in performance each time I do them. And I will improve. It is a bit frustrating to me that I had this much trouble with them, both cardio wise and just learning what I’m doing. But, the first 4 days are down and now it is time to pick up the pace.
One interesting note: I did have to pause the video at one point. I had to go get another resistance band (the heavy red band). I put on my HRM at that point and started tracking. In the last 19 mintues (including the over 3 minute cool-down) the calorie burn was over 250. My heart rate was constantly in the 166-172 range, which isn’t bad for me. I think next week I’ll wear it throughout all the routines and start tracking progress through how much it says I’m burning.
The nutrition is tougher than what it looks. I’m having 1 starch a day most days, with 2 being the max. My shake has banana in it, but other than that my fruit count is low. 1800-1900 calories on this plan is working, but is tougher than it may look or appear.
I’m holding my own with it. I’m dedicated to getting my results, and if it means sticking out a plan like this over a period of time, so be it.
Tomorrow, thankfully, is a rest day. My legs are sore. I hope they can recover some before Sunday starts it again with Speed and Agility.
Today was a bit “easier” if there is such a thing with Shaun T. It was Back To Core, and while I wasn’t doing crazy moves with a ladder, rope, or weights, I was moving in some (right now) uncomfortable positions. Some of the moves I simply did wrong. But, plenty of time to improve on that.
So far, so good on the nutrition. 3 days down of an Asylum style plan and no hiccups. As of this morning I had already lost 2 pounds. I don’t think that will sustain, though, but progress is progress. I hope to get one body fat measurement in this weekend and see how things look. My goal is still 10% body fat by August 1, and it might take all 30 days of eating on the Asylum plan to get there!
Here is a look at some of the two Asylum workouts I did yesterday and today.
So after another night of having a 4 year old kick me most of the night, I attempted this workout. Not a great performance at all. I was winded early on. I was tired. All I could think about was going to bed and getting more sleep.
Yet I completed it anyways.
Sometimes you just have to suck it up regardless of how tired you are and just do what you are scheduled to do, and that is what I did. I took video, but it was UGLY! It will take me a while to edit down so I may edit this one sometime this weekend and show some of it.
Nutrition was spot on again today. I’m following Asylum’s plan for nutrition and it isn’t too bad so far. We’ll see how I feel after a few days of good sleep.
Asylum’s difficulty doesn’t lie in these crazy moves, it is within the precision it takes to do the moves. Day 1 was rough just because I was spending so much extra energy trying to figure out how to do the moves. This routine left me mentally tired as well as physically tired!
But, room to improve.
I’m following Asylum’s meal plan basics. I’m using some of the meals from there but also working on my own meals too. The goal is to go 30+ days without a cheat meal, eating on this plan, and see how much I can lean out and get shredded over this time period.
I’m excited for the chance to do this. I think I’m going to get pretty ripped on this plan following this workout.
Hi, my name is Brent Worley and welcome to my fitness blog. You can follow my fat loss and weight loss progress here, learn about great routines you can do to lose weight and get fit, get new recipes, and so much more. Thanks for visiting and feel free to ask questions!
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