Insanity Workout Chronicle: Week 1

With fear and trepidation, my wife Susan and I started the “Insanity” workout this past week. Insanity is a 2 month program led by trainer and former pro athlete, Shaun T. For the next 2 months I will be journaling through the program and give my thoughts on this popular home workout.

Insanity is quite a bit different from P90X* in that it is VERY heavy on the cardio and sport drills training. In fact, there is very little upper body resistance exercise, in my opinion, though my legs were definitely given a good workout. The set did come with a separate upper body weights workout, but it is not a part of the official “plan”.

The great thing about Insanity is that Shaun makes you dig deep to find another level of intensity and with each set he pushes you harder and harder. If you thought you could sit on a recumbent bike and casually read a book and lose weight, Shaun tries to coach you past that natural passive attitude and show you it is necessary to push yourself to succeed.

Prior to beginning Insanity, we did know that there was going to be a lot of jumping involved, so Susan and I purchased a couple of jump mats on Amazon, and I am pretty glad we did. This workout can be very hard on your joints and if actually done on a gym floor as shown on the video, month 3 would be the “Insanity Joint Replacement Recovery Series”.

If you are trying to use Insanity to lose weight, definitely utilize the meal plan as well. Since the workouts are a bit short, you will need to keep a strong focus on nutrition and perhaps add a few resistance workouts as well.

 *see previous post rating experience with P90x

P90x: The Fitness Road Less Traveled

There are many roads to fitness. There are roads that, unfortunately, are circles and lead right back to where we started. There are roads that are possible but require a level of knowledge that some people just do not have. There are others that lead to success, but require a lot of money and/or time that are not possible at this stage of our lives.  There are other roads that are risky because they require a level of self-discipline and commitment that are difficult to come by but, nonetheless, attainable. I would place P90X in the latter category.

In case you are one of the 12 people in America who haven’t seen the infomercial, P90X stands for Power 90 (for 90 days) X (Extreme). It is a diverse series of fitness videos including resistance training, plyometrics, core strengthening and flexibility training designed to keep challenging your body in different ways to encourage positive change.

 Susan and I decided to do P90X about 6 months ago for a lot of reasons. I was a bit resistant at first because I was comfortable doing what I was doing. But, the chance to do something different and to get to workout with my life partner was enough to give it a try.

After a short period of time I was impressed. Tony Horton (the host trainer) pushed us to a level of intensity that we had not ever been able to do on our own. He also pushed me to try “new” things, such as yoga and jump training, and things I have never been good at, such as pull ups and 1-arm pushups.

The other positive was that every time Tony would change things up, I would end up being sore and exhausted…in a good way. I knew my body was going to make progress, and it has. Another important part of the plan is to track your progress by writing down the weight and number of reps. This is something people rarely do on their own, but is helpful in seeing real meaningful progress.

There are, however, some things that concern me about P90X. One is that the workouts are probably a bit long for some. They vary from a little over an hour to 1 ½ hours. This may discourage some to stick with it.

 It also is, after all, just a video. The trainer is not watching you perform the exercises. Therefore, due to the intensity and speed at which the exercises are performed, there could be risk for injury if not careful. Another inherent weakness with a video series is that it is a cookie-cutter approach and doesn’t take into account each individual weakness.

So, the verdict is P90X is a good, affordable option to help jump start or push you through your plateau in your fitness plan. Finishing the P90X program feels gratifying because the road we chose was the road least traveled: good old-fashioned hard work, intensity, and commitment.

Below are my "before and after" photos. Pic #1 was in around February of 2011 (note the pale shade of winter :) ) and the after was in September 2011 after 6 months of P90x.

Top Physical Therapy Advice To Fuel Your Exercise Program

Every day I find myself handing out advice. It also tends to be the same advice over and over. So, for the next few blogs I am going to share the “tips” I find myself giving out most often that could help with your workouts, keep you from getting injured, and help maintain your focus for hitting your goals.

Part 1: Lifting and body mechanics

1. Knees behind toes- No, I am not suggesting you play Twister…although that sounds like fun. Instead, when doing squats or lunges, look down. If your knees are jutting out over your toes, there is likely undo strain being placed on your knees. Step out a little farther so when you squat your knees are behind your toes.
2. Chest and head up when squatting- if you look down when lifting an object, the tendency is to flatten out the lumbar spine and place increased strain on the back. So, think “head and chest up” when lifting to keep the lumbar spine in its naturally curved position.
3. Lift with your legs- everyone knows this one but so few do it! Perhaps it is because of lack of flexibility combined with lack of energy that people allow gravity to pull the trunk forward instead of lowering their trunk with their legs. You won’t lift with your legs if you don’t use them to get into position. You can start strengthening your legs by leaning against a wall and sliding down to do mini-squats. This can also help control dust around your house!
4. Use a wide base of support- unless you are trying to balance on one leg in the yoga “tree” pose, spread your legs apart when exercising, especially when lifting weights from the floor. It will increase your stability and help you be able to lift more weight safely.

So, there you go. Don’t worry, I’m not going to bill you for a 15 minute therapy unit. This one is on me. But now, it’s on you. As you exercise to achieve your goal, remember to use good body mechanics so you stay healthy and injury-free in the process.