Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

I’m not going to write a lot about Max Recovery in Insanity.  It’s no Yoga X or Fountain of Youth Yoga (which if you follow my blog, you know my love for yoga in my workout mixture).

But, Max Recovery can be just plain torture.  Lots of plank work.  Lots of uncomfortable stretches (even more than with yoga).

Slow motion push-ups are just killer.  They are killer in P90X and they are killer in Insanity.

Anyways…enough on this.  Nutrition was pretty good.  I did allow myself to have a small amount of a desert tonight, mainly because we were trying to figure out what all the ingredients were.  Didn’t have a lot, but what I did have was great!

Brent insanity insanity, insanity max recovery

Can’t say whether I was tired, or what, but Insanity Max Interval Plyo just never got going for me today.  I mean, I still burned 670 calories, but I was aiming for 750.  I felt like I was pushing, just never could get my heart rate up enough to matter.  It was a bit weird honestly.

Nutrition was solid today.  I may be taking in a bit extra sodium, and I’m out of Shakeology and have been since last week, but hoping to have some in by Friday of this week.

Not much else to write.  I’m tired from a long day, softball practice with the kids, and need a good night’s sleep!

Brent insanity insanity, insanity max interval plyo

This morning was pretty uneventful with Insanity, other than my wife asking me if I enjoy killing myself!  She came in at the end of the last circuit when I was doing plank punches and thought I was crazy.  I was tired but not too tired at the end of this, which makes me think I was being a bit reserved with my routine.

My HRM was a bit goofy today so I’m not real sure what my true burn is.  I need to replace the battery, but I do not have a screwdriver small enough to do it.  I hope to get somewhere tomorrow that can do it so I can get the info I need.

Nutrition was spot on today and back in line with my daily calorie goals.  I’m enjoying what I’m doing right now and it does seem to produce results.   However….

I did get home today and see my wife had managed to bring home cookies, a banana split cake, and other goodies.  Trust me…nothing I wanted more to partake, but I opted not too.  After all, I’m dead set on a goal right now.  I made awesome progress in just one week, so keeping up with it I should be able to reach my goal by August 1st.

I can’t wait to see what results look like at the end of this week.

On a related note….I ordered the Insanity Deluxe workout set today.  Instead of doing Core Cardio and Balance this month, I’m opting to do either the Max Interval Sports Training (which is what the schedule recommends) or the Upper Body Weight Training.  I may even look at adding in Insane Abs instead of Cardio Abs if I have time.

I just wanted more of a push than what Core Cardio and Balance could provide.  Plus, after doing it for a week solid, I got a little burned out by it.  So I’d rather push myself.

Someone also suggested doing a small doubles rotation with the upper body weight training and then the full Insanity schedule.  Debating that one.  I’m not that big on doubles due to time with my family (have done it before, didn’t like the time it took from them), but not opposed to it if I decide I need to push for a goal.  Just right now is not that time.

Brent insanity insanity, insanity nutrition

After making the adjustments to my Insanity nutrition plan, I’ve made significant progress in just one week!  I dropped .25″ off my waistline and .5% body fat.  The changes seem to be keeping my energy up for the workouts and giving me the fuel I need while still getting results.

That’s just after Insanity Month 2, week one.  Now I’m on week 2 and resolving to follow the same nutritional plan.

Last Friday was Max Interval Plyo and today was Max Cardio Conditioning.  Both of these I increased the amount of calories burned over the first time I did it, but I still have room to push as I get stronger and in better cardio condition.

I’m going to be cutting a video soon to discuss the diet changes as well as more about the exercise.

So ready to get through this and see the final results!

Brent insanity insanity, insanity nutrition plan, insanity results

Today I set a goal with my Insanity workout:  I wanted to burn 1000 calories during Max Interval Circuit.  Sadly, I only burned 813.  I felt I pushed pretty good, but definitely some room for improvement in there.  Near the end was rough, but I think I’ll be able to push even harder next week.

And I love this workout.  I think it is my favorite of all the Insanity workouts.  It pushes you, it works total body, but it is a bit easier to pace on since the power moves and cardio moves are spaced out well.

Nutrition was spot on, if not a bit below calories goals.  That may come back to haunt me tomorrow, but I had to resist the urge to eat more at supper than what I allot for just because I thought I was under for the day.  I’ll take that chance.

I’ll measure on Saturday and then decide if I can continue on this path or if I need to increase calories.  2400 seems to be working well for me right now, but the real story comes in the “tale of the tape” (and calipers!).

Brent insanity insanity, insanity calories burned, insanity max interval circuit

Insanity’s idea, or Shaun T’s idea, of recovery must be a bit warped.

Sure, I wasn’t jumping.  I wasn’t running.  I wasn’t doing things that make the typical Insanity highlight reel, but I’m not sure I can consider what I went through today a “recovery” by any stretch of the imagination.  Tons of plank work, tons of pulses in deep squats, lunges, etc…just crazy.

Still managed to burn 400 calories in this short workout.

My knee is a bit sore today.  I’m thinking it may just be from being tired, so I plan to go to bed a bit earlier than normal tonight and try to get things to relax.

My nutrition is spot on!  In fact, since last Saturday (Day 35) I’ve lost 1.6 pounds.  I’m going to measure more often this month so I can make sure my nutrition is in the right place.  The lower carb supper and no dairy (as well as a smaller supper) is probably helping and is something I’m going to continue with.

Tomorrow brings back the normally intense “MAX” workouts.  My goal is 1k calories.

Brent insanity insanity, insanity max recovery

Talk about fatigue and soreness.  That is Insanity for you folks.  This morning, just a bit drained.  Not a lot of good sleep last night due to two of my daughters having a restless night, and woke up a bit drained.  Muscles were definitely feeling it.

But, I’m a no excuses kind of guy.  And I might not be at my best, but I’m still doing something.

So I did.

Only burned 600 calories on Max Cardio Conditioning, which is VERY low for me, but that just shows me there is room for improvement.

Nutrition is spot on again.  I hope to get a good night’s sleep sometime soon to I can evaluate whether I’m getting enough calories or not.  I plan to measure weekly to see how I’m doing.

Brent insanity insanity, insanity calories burned, insanity max cardio conditioning

Today was day 37 of Insanity – MAX Interval Plyo.  And after what I guess to be a net of only 600 calories AFTER exercise, energy was low.  I still pushed hard, but with the power that is requried in this routine, I had a hard time muscling through it.

Today the goal was to eat more.  I wanted to increase the amount of intake at Breakfast, 1st snack, and lunch, and taper off the amount I eat later.  My 2nd snack was 300 calories, and then aiming for a 400 calorie supper, which should put me around 2400 calories for the day.

I’m playing around with an experimental recovery drink.  Here’s what I have so far:

12 oz water
2 tbsp Gatorade Orange Powder (100 calories, 28 carbs)
1 tbsp Orange Tang (60 calories, 15 carbs)
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (2 carbs, 1 fat, 13 protein)

This mixture taste pretty good and is a great alternative if you cannot afford the Beachbody Results and Recovery drink.  It hits roughly the 4-1 ratio that is needed to refuel after a workout, plus will have some creatine, L-arginine, etc in it.

Brent insanity insanity, insanity max interval plyo

So I got sick of writing about the same routine over, and over, and over again….so, I just quit writing for a few days, took some time with my family instead, and now it’s back to business.   Hope you all didn’t miss me too much!

Today began the hard month:  Month 2 of Insanity is anything BUT easy.

When it starts out with the Fit Test and THEN throws you into a 59 minute workout, you know you are in trouble.  And that’s what today did.

Fit test results are as follows:

Switch Kicks: 64-69-84 +20
Power Jacks: 50-69-70 +20
Power Knees: 93-106-118 +25
Power Jumps: 32-48-50 +18
Globe Jumps: 6-11-12 +6
Suicide Jumps: 12-21-20 +8 (down 1 from last time though)
PU Jacks: 33-38-39 +6
LP Obliques: 41-67-74 +33

Suicide jumps were not good.  I never felt like I got into a rhythm with those at all.  It was probably because I was gasping for air (didn’t eat well at all yesterday, combined with a big push…and you get a lot of exhaustion).

So after the test, I took a few minutes to fix a recovery drink, take about half of it (leaving the other half for the workout), and then jumped into Max Interval Circuit.  I honestly forgot how hard, yet fun, this routine is.  59 minutes of interval training is brutal, but a good burn.

1.5 hours and 1220 calories later, I was burned out!

To make things interesting for tomorrow, I’m under my calorie goal…so will be interesting to see how I feel in the morning.  Tomorrow begins my first full day of adjusting my meals to be more like the Asylum meal plan (with just more calories throughout the day).  We’ll see how it goes for a week, remeasure, and then decide from there if I need to increase calories or not.

Brent insanity insanity, insanity fit test, insanity max interval circuit

Another Insanity recovery week day, another round of Core Cardio and Balance.  Today was about pushing.  I burned more calories, pushed harder, and felt like I got more of a workout out of it.

Other than that, nothing really to report.  REALLY looking forward to doing something other than this same routine.

Brent insanity insanity, Insanity recovery week