Day 37 -- Day 49

Ok. You probably think that you can tell that my dedication to blogging about my Insanity challenge has fallen off just a bit. Well, it's not so much that I have lost the dedication as it is a lack of time after all the stuff that been going on. The last 2 weeks of the challenge have gone mostly like the calendar advises. I had one switched rest day last weekend because I was too sick to do the workout.

Today, I decided to do the "Fit Test" on the Rest day because I wanted to find out my progress, but I didn't want to spend 25 extra minutes tomorrow when the scheduled workout is already an hour. Sophie "helped" count the reps and Eliza "helped" during the Push-Up Jacks and Low Plank Obliques. With those two things said, I am pretty pleased with the Day 49 (50) results. They are in the table below with the Day 1 results for comparison.

Exercise	Day 1 Reps	Day 49 Reps
Switch Kicks	35	52
Power Jacks	26	53
Power Knees	53	92
Power Jumps	22	43
Globe Jumps	6	9
Suicide Jumps	8	16
Push-Up Jacks	11	25
Low Plank Oblique	22	46

I have doubled (or more) the reps on 4 of the 8 exercises.  I may double all of them when I take the final test 2 weeks from today.

~ Notes ~

• My resting heart rate is now in the high 50s to low 60s bpm.
• My blood pressure is in the normal (115/65) range after working out.
• When it feels like an earthquake at night, that is a muscle spasm.
• I have gotten out of bed twice and wandered to the living room to ask Kristy if she felt an earthquake.
• The spasms are likely caused by muscle exhaustion mixed with an slight electrolyte imbalance.
• I am ready to be done so that I can get a real rest for a week or so before deciding what to do next.

I am stuck at the 5-6 lbs of weight loss, but my body is definitely changing. I am still trying to decide whether or not to post my before and after pics on the blog.

Day 36 - Fit Test PLUS Begin Max Interval

I finished off the Recovery Week by missing only the Thursday session. I was too exhausted from traveling back from Albuquerque to do the Core Cardio & Balance session that night. This week marks the beginning of the REAL Insanity Challenge as I found out about 26 minutes into the scheduled workout. The 60-day calendar has "Fit Test & Max Interval Circuit" listed for today. As I remembered, the Fit Test took 25 minutes and the results compared to Day 1 are below:

Exercise	Day 1 Reps	Day 36 Reps
Switch Kicks	35	48
Power Jacks	26	50
Power Knees	53	82
Power Jumps	22	33
Globe Jumps	6	8
Suicide Jumps	8	14
Push-Up Jacks	11	21
Low Plank Oblique	22	44

I felt pretty good about my progress while I loaded up the Max Interval Circuit session. The timer on the session read "60:00." This means that after my 25 minutes Fit Test that I only had an hour workout left in the evening. I know that you are probably thinking that this is just a hyped up refresher on the moves that I have been doing for 5 weeks, and YOU would be wrong! Don't feel bad, so was I.

The whole workout was like starting over at Day 1. My shirt was dripping as were my shorts and socks. My socks were the grossest thing ever (see Kristy's blog for details). Anyway, I am still on the train. I now have just about 27 days until I attempt to get the free T-shirt. Tomorrow is a "Max Interval Plyo" session. I have a feeling my tail is going to get kicked again.

On a related note, I don't think that I will do that Fit Test again until Day 63 (there is one scheduled for Day 50). The time commitment of an hour and a half is a little much.

Day 23 - Day 30: Still on the Horse

My Insanity challenge has continued for the last 8 days. It appears that my dedication to the workout program is much greater than my dedication to blogging about it. On Days 23-28, I finished off Week #4 of the calendar with a slight hiccup. On Easter weekend we had company, so I switched the Rest day and Plyometric Cardio Circuit day -- no big deal. I was actually able to work my way through that strange calf muscle issue. I have some optimism that the injury or strain or tweak is finally behind me.

Day 29 and Day 30 (along with the next 4 days) are sessions with the "Core Cardio & Balance" DVD. This DVD is a bit different. The goal of this disc is to allow you to keep what you have gained over the last month and give your body a rest from the hammering it has taken over the same period. It would be a bit easier EXCEPT that I am in Albuquerque (elevation ~ 5400 ft) for the week. That means that my recovery week has actually become altitude training. I must say that my timing is pretty good (lucky really) because I don't think that I want to be doing anything associated with Insanity that starts with "Max" at altitude for the first time.

I have had some strange conversations with a few people over the last month that mentioned that they had gone 35 or 45 or 50 days into Insanity before stopping. I have high hopes that I won't have that story to tell in a little over a month. I am rapidly approaching the halfway point, but looking at the calendar, I don't think that it is downhill from here.

Day 20 - Day 22

Since none of the workouts are new until next week, I thought that I would summarize these 3 days of my Insanity challenge into one post. Saturday (Plyometric Cardio Circuit) was a tough one for me. The calf injury started to reappear late in that workout. I nailed the session scheduled for Sunday (OFF), but we have already discussed that the OFF sessions were my specialty for at least 10 years.

Today was the much despised Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs workout. I am continuing to improve on the effort that goes into it, but I can't see ever looking forward to it. Tomorrow is another Cardio Power & Resistance session, but I will be in Walgreen's in the morning looking for a way to keep my calf and Achilles tendon from hurting so much.

~ ~ ~

We are getting a new family member tomorrow. Bentley currently lives in Ft. Smith with a couple that has to travel a ton, so boarding him is expensive and he hates it. Sophie is so excited that she can hardly control herself (not really all that different from non-excited Sophie). Eliza loved chasing Lily (the Wheaten terrier down the street) a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, we have happy girls and a happy dog this time tomorrow night.

Day 19 - No Injury

Well, this time I made it through Day 19 without an injury during the "Cardio Power & Resistance" session. When I finish the "Plyometric Cardio Circuit" tomorrow, I will be 1/3 of the way through the Insanity Challenge.

- - - Notes from Day 19 - - -

• I need to start the workout before 10:30 pm. It will take forever to cool off enough for sleep.
• There is a whole lot of jumping on this particular DVD.
• Kristy claims that I made a funny noise. It must have been my thoughts because I couldn't have said anything -- I didn't have enough breathe.
• I am starting to think that if you aren't REALLY sweating and hurting a little, then you probably aren't doing enough to lose weight.
• I also think that doing ANY workout for 55 out of 63 days will cause you to be in much better shape, but Insanity is good for those who have an athletic/competitive background.

Day 18 - Curing Soreness

Day 18 of the Insanity Challenge is a "Cardio Recovery" session. After the Pure Cardio and ab work yesterday, I had a lot of delayed onset muscle soreness. The session tonight got my blood pumping enough to make me feel a little better. Tomorrow is a "Cardio Power & Resistance" session. I am hoping to be fully recovered from my soreness.

- - - Notes on Day 18 - - -

• I don't find myself flat on the floor begging for mercy at the end of the Cardio Recovery. I was definitely there last night.
• Based on the sessions, it is clear that my overall muscle strength level has not declined near as much as the cardio health over the years. I was more consistent with strength work compared to any other type of exercise.

~ ~ ~

On a funny note, the first email in the hopper this morning was that I had a "Message on Facebook that was urgent." It turns out that the urgent message was about the logos and color schemes of the hats of the Hendrix Warrior baseball team from 1993-1996. I guess the definition of urgent varies from North Carolina to Arkansas - right, Jaybird?

Day 17 - Pure Hatred, Uhh, I Mean Cardio

Day 17 of the Insanity Challenge is the day that I felt the initial tweak in my calf 2 weeks ago. It has come and gone again with nothing happening this time. So, I don't think I can blame the DVD anymore.

- - - Notes on Day 17 - - -

• I still want to punch Shaun T every time he says, "I am not trying to hurt you, just trying to make you better."
• If you ever hear me say, "I think I am going to relax and do a Pure Cardio session," then I have either lost my mind or started doing some sort of illicit drugs (or both).
• I think Josh has a point when he commented that "Stupidity" might be a better name for the workout series, but it probably wouldn't sell as many copies.
• I always look forward to the "Cardio Recovery" session that is coming up tomorrow.

Have a good evening!

Day 16 - Toil & Plyometric Trouble

After yesterday's reset, I was feeling pretty good about my chances of cranking right back into the Insanity challenge without skipping a beat. It turns out that it was a false hope. While my cardio fitness stayed with me to a reasonable degree, the stamina that I thought I was gaining in Monterey faded quite a bit.

Day 16 of the challenge is a"Plyometric Cardio Circuit" session. After getting both girls in bed at a respectable parenting hour, I started up the DVD. Midway through the warm-up, I was again hoping that a IXII phone call would not be necessary (sorry, I couldn't help throwing in that Roman numeral pun that I heard last weekend on the drive to Hot Springs). My fitness level is greatly improved from Day 1, but I am still only able complete about 3.5 of the 6 circuits with any real gusto. That leaves a lot of room for improvement over the last 75% of the challenge.

[Once again, I can say...] Now that Day 16 is complete, I am officially over 25% through the 60 (63) day Insanity Challenge. Tomorrow is a "Pure Cardio" plus "Cardio Abs" day. It is my least favorite day as I have mentioned on other occasions. Which leads me to wonder, "does it get worse during a Max Cardio session?" I guess I can answer that in about 3 weeks.

Day 15 - Time Machine Test

If you are playing along with my Insanity challenge, you already know that I had to take a week (really 9 days) off to recover from a pretty substantial calf injury. As of Saturday, I was walking around with no pain and felt pretty much back to normal. In order to keep the integrity of the challenge, I decided to rewind back a week to account for the week away. It also works out that I start with a test to see where I fell back during the siesta. So, I am going to pretend that the last 2 weeks didn't exist from the challenge standpoint (except that you will see the "real" day 15 results in parentheses below).

Day 15 of the Insanity challenge is a "Fit Test" session to determine if you have made any progress in the last 2 weeks. Here are the results from today's Fit Test workout along with the results from Day 1 (and real Day 15) for comparison:

Exercise	Day 1 Reps	Day 15 Reps
Switch Kicks	35	38 (38)
Power Jacks	26	45 (40)
Power Knees	53	75 (73)
Power Jumps	22	27 (25)
Globe Jumps	6	7 (8)
Suicide Jumps	8	13 (13)
Push-Up Jacks	11	18 (17)
Low Plank Oblique	22	32 (30)

So, based on these results, the rewind plan looks legit. Once again, the numbers in the table give me some sense of accomplishment and fortifies my resolve to keep going. Tomorrow (Day 16) is a "Plyometric Cardio Circuit" session.

Injury Update - Rewind Plan

A few days ago I mentioned that I had a possible overuse injury in my right calf. As it turns out, it is a real injury instead of a possible injury. The treatment plan for this type of injury is basically rest from whatever caused the insult. If you been following along, you know that the Insanity Challenge has caused the insult. Actually, it is likely the 10 years of mostly inactivity, but who is really counting this stuff? (10 years of sloth versus 3 weeks of high intensity exercise -- it must be the 3 weeks, right?)

So, my tentative plan is to rest from Insanity for this week (it would have been Week #4 of the challenge) and rewind back to the start of Week #3. I am going to try stretching the calf muscle, walking quite a bit, and maybe some time on the stationary bike to maintain my cardio fitness level. I am hoping that this doesn't disqualify me from the free T-shirt.

This plan lets me redo the Fit Test to see the damage done by the week of rest and get back into the swing of things from where I left off. I was very happy that I was able to maintain my workout on the road. That has always been a real challenge for me. I would have continued on Saturday if I didn't have that weird swelling in my lower leg. Also, the pain in that calf muscle makes it quite clear that any more Insanity would be a bad idea right now. I would rather take a short break than to tear the muscle and force a really long break. Sometimes the no pain, no gain cliche is just wrong -- This is one of those times.