Insanity- Days 17-29

Phew! It's been a while since I've updated. Here's the low-down as to why...

After I completed week three (day 21), I left to go vacation in Florida for a week at Disney World. Yay! But not so good for keeping up with Insanity because I was staying in a tiny hotel room with three boys, meaning no room to do anything. I was so afraid of gaining back the 7 pounds I'd lost! Luckily, upon returning home, I had actually managed to lose half a pound! And anyone who has been to Disney World knows what a feat this is. I'm quite proud of myself.

But now I'm back and back at it. I just started my recovery week today after gardening for about five hours so boy was I exhausted! My body is totally hating on me right now, but I feel good about myself knowing that I did it anyways. I do really like Core Cardio and Balance, which I am apparently doing six times this week so it's a good thing I enjoy it! I do wish there was more variety to this week though. It seems kind of cheap/weird that they would just have you do the same thing over and over again for a week. All well- I am not passing judgement until the week is complete!

I've also grown to enjoy Cardio Power and Resistance (forgive me if I screw up the names of these... they all feel very similar). For the first few weeks there wasn't any workout that I particularly loved but now I can at least say that I like one of them. It's not to say that the videos aren't effective- they are. Incredibly so. It's just that, again, in comparison to P90X, they don't seem to have much character. I miss Tony's jokes and his attitude! He gaves lots of advice and varying motivation- I felt very connected. With Insanity, it feels like the same thing over and over again, nothing truly unique or interesting about what Sean T. has to say.

I guess another con that I'd like to point out is the fact that when I'm doing a move, I use the videos to keep my pace. Insanity makes that very difficult because it changes focus so much during each workout. Not only that, but it changes to give you a view of lots of different people in that gym who are doing it, and they're all going at a different pace! It makes it really hard to get a good flow going because it's not exactly clear how fast/slow/whatever I'm supposed to be going. There's not enough consistency within the group for me to be able to keep pace with them.

On the Pros side, I really do feel the results from doing these workouts. I know that my cardio vascular health is improving and I can feel my body changing. I think it's really going to help once I start training for my next marathon. After each workout I can really feel the difference in my body that Insanity has provided me.

Another workout I've also come to enjoy- surprisingly- is Pure Cardio. In the beginning I really almost hated this one because it didn't provide enough breaks, but now that I've been working at it and that I've been pacing myself properly, I've really started to see that I don't need those breaks- or at least not as many of them. The only complaint that I really have, and this is about the other videos too, is that the videos bunch together the arm work. All of the moves done in plank and pushup position are all bunched together within each video and it makes it really difficult for me to keep going as much as I should. This is probably a sign that I need to increase my arm strength, but I just think that it would be better if they were spread out a little bit. Same goes for the leg work. Insanity is already extremely leg-work heavy. Bunching that work all together does not help that! I'm sure that in the end it's for my benefit, but I'm really not a fan of it as of right now!

All in all though, it's been a really good couple of weeks for Insanity. I had this amazing moment last week during Plyometric Cardio Circuit, where I was at my mental breaking point but not my physical breaking point (it had been a hard day), and I just collapsed into child's pose in the middle of the workout and pounded the floor with my fist and told myself that I was better... that I could do better. And I was able to get up and press through. It was an amazing testament to what I am capable of. I proved to myself that I can do more than I think I can. If I can remember that moment through week 9, then I think I'll be in amazing shape. Putting everything else aside, Insanity has really changed my view on what I can and can't do.