Day 52 of 63: Max Cardio Conditioning & Insane Abs

Workout Time: 82 minutes
Calories Burned: 870


Max Cardio Conditioning was ok today. I burned about 548 calories. As you can see this workout is the least intense among all 3 in Phase 2 of Insanity. However, it still works you out. The moves in this workout are more "do-able" compare to the others so it feels like a pretty happy workout overall.

Insane Abs is now officially one of my favorite workouts. This is my second time doing the workout and there was much more improvement over the first time doing them. It is probably because of muscle memory and (maybe because I am actually getting stronger. lol). I really like this workout because it does work your abs and also gives you some light cardio workout. Best of all, no crunches! So it does not feel like you are moving your head constant and getting dizzy. The second half of the workout is most of the work is done. You have to make sure you really push it and try to hold as long as possible.

No pictures today.

Here is an ad for Beachbody Insanity. I like looking at them and at the before and after pictures. Hopefully I can get something like that - maybe not in 60 days but definitely in 6 months.

Day 51 of 63: Max Interval Plyo

Workout Time: 56 minutes
Calories Burned: 620

Make sure you get enough sleep and rest the night before your workout! I felt just exhausted all day and working out an intensive workout was the last of my wishes.

I started off really pumped up but I didn't have much energy to keep it up. However, I still went through the entire video and still burned my 600 calories. Dig deeper Y'all!

I also took a couple of pictures after my workout (all sweat wiped out) and will hopefully be able to use these to compare my progress in 2 weeks.

I was really hoping to get 6-packs by the end of this 60-day workout but by the look of these pictures it doesn't seem like I will be getting there. I might have to do a Round 2 and Round 3. My scale broke as well so I can't track my weight loss.

Fit Test #4

Wow! Did I feel good doing these or what? After I finished my fit test I wasn't really worn out like in my previous one. I felt really good actually.

I started off the fit test and after doing the Power Knees I felt like I needed an extra push so I looked at my previous results. I am glad I did because I realized that I did not improve on my Power Jacks nor my Power Knees. However, after looking back at my results I pushed myself to beat my last result. It worked!

1. Switch Kicks:   88  105  117  120
2. Power Jacks:   31  57  60  60
3. Power Knees:   52  58  80  80
4. Power Jumps:   20  21  35  40
5. Globe Jumps:   5   8  10  8
6. Suicide Jumps:   7   14  11  17
7. Push-up Jacks:   16  22  24  31
8. Low Plank Oblique:   30  36  44  50

There is actually a decrease in Globe Jumps but that is because I didn't have my usual workout space so I was restricted doing this move. I know, I shouldn't be giving myself excuses :(. Everything else looks great though.


1 more fit test to go. 2 more weeks of insanity to go.

Day 50: Fit Test & Max Interval Circuit

Workout Time: 88 minutes
Calories Burned: 1006

Woah! I can't beleive I actually made it through both workout videos! Yesterday I was thinking I should probably do the fit test so that I wouldn't have to do 2 workouts back to back. But, I was lazy so I decided to enjoy my OFF day.

Today I was kind of scared going into the workout because I was not pumped at all. I thought to myself that I would probably just stop the workout after 700 calories burned. I went through the fit test fine and burned 295 calories and then I started Max Interval Circuit from the start. Remembering what happened last time I paced myself in the warm-up and slowed it down a little so that I wouldn't be too burned out. It really did help actually. I kept going and going and before I knew it, there was only 20 minutes of the video left so I just did it all the way to the end. Of course, I am never following 100% of the time but I do what I can.

By the end of the workout I was feeling great. I wasn't exhausted and I made sure to sip water throughout the entire workout to prevent having a headache.

The end result was worth it. this is the first time I consciously burn over 1000 calories in one workout (even though it was an hour and a half workout.

I wish I would have taken some pictures to track my progress. I'll try to remember to do it tomorrow.

Here is a youtube clip from Coach Shane Miles.

Day 48 of 63: Max Interval Sports Training

Workout Time: 56 minutes
Calories Burned: 600

Today was supposed to be the "Core Cardio & Balance" workout but if you have the DELUXE package you could substitute it with Max Interval Sports Training. That is what I did to try out something new.

First of all it started out great! The warm-up was different and it wasn't the usual 10 minutes. I was not sweating as much actually after the warmup. Also, I didn't really see a stretching section after the warmup but you know what that means? It means you are going to be working out more. 

The rest of the workout was kind of based on Sports. In the sense that he made themes out of each section which made it really fun and entertaining - boxing, football, track, etc.

There were also longer breaks taken 1-2 minutes. Great workout! Fun yet effective..

Clip from Coach Chaz

Day 47 of 63: Max Cardio Conditioning & Insane Abs

Workout Time: 82 minutes
Calories Burned: 843

This was a really long workout but that was because it included Insane Abs. At this point I had the option of doing Cardio Abs or Insane Abs and ofcourse I went for the tougher one. It was not that much tougher actually and it was a great workout. By the time I was ready to do the ab routine my legs were exhausted. So, I was not able to do too much without taking breaks. But that is ok.

I have a headache now after all that workout. I am probably dehydrated so remember to drink plenty of fluids and eat properly!

Day 46 of 63: Max Recovery

Workout Time: 47 minutes
Calories Burned: 340

This is my second time doing this recovery workout and I still think it is not as cardio intensive as the previous Cardio Recovery. I definitely do not sweat as much and I don't burn as many calories.

Today, however, I got a really good workout. I payed attention to what Shaun T was saying about squeezing the core muscles when doing your moves. I LOVE these balance moves such as the one where you go from low plank to high plank and etc. It works your core and your shoulders like crazy.

A lot of core exercises for sure but how else can you get a 6 pack?

A youtube.com clip from thefitnessrevolution:

Day 45 of 63: Max Interval Plyo

Workout Time: 55 minutes
Calories Burned: 630

Oh Boloni! I am so exhausted. I completed this workout about 1.5 hours ago and I am feeling it now. I feel like my entire body is exhausted and I could probably go to bed right now.

I think I gave it my 100% today. It is very important that you focus and keep yourself motivated. The one method I use is my Mio Sport Select heart rate monitor. It helps me keep a calorie count throughout my workout and I keep saying, "100 more calories" and it works!

Throughout the workout I also realized that I did improve. I am sure I did better than my last workout.

Day 44 of 63: Max Interval Circuit

Workout Time: 60 minutes
Calories Burned: 700 (approx.)

Bummer! I must have accidentally pressed the stop button while doing my push-ups so I don't have a more accurate count of my calories burned. But, I do remember having burned 660 calories when there was only 10 minutes left so I think 700 calories is a reasonable guess.

Today my workout was much better. I could tell I was a lot more focused and had a lot more energy to do the workout. For one, I noticed I was also doing the moves much better. That is part of the process - you will struggle and you will slowly get better.

One key point to keep in mind is that you should tighten your core muscles whenever possible. This does not mean hold your stomach in and be hardly able to breath. It means just firm the the tummy a little.

Day 43 of 63: Max Cardio Conditioning

Workout Time: 48 minutes
Calories Burned: 560

Today I didn't burn as much as I did a couple days ago doing the same workout but oh well. That is how things go. 560 calories isn't bad at all.

So far I am still having problems completing the full 10 minute warmup. I can almost complete the first set but once we start doing that hand stand twist move my thighs give out. I tracked my hear rate and it seems as though it doesn't go up as high as before. The maximum it reached today was 88% MHR but I know why. It is because I have to take breaks because my legs can't stand the workouts. Yeah, it is very thigh intensive.

Regardless, I am not giving up. I only have 3 more weeks to go and I can't wait to do a before and after picture and compare my gains (or loss in this case :D).

Youtube clip from Betterlife90. I like it at the end when he says, "This is what hard work looks like" because that is exactly what I feel at the end of all Insanity workouts.

Day 41 of 63: Max Interval Plyo

Workout Time: 50 minutes
Calories Burned: 615

I completed this workout last night but I almost skipped it. Well, originally Saturday's are my off days but I have things going on Wednesdays now that the sun is out and am going to take them as OFF days instead.

Anyways, so I almost didn't do the workout because I was not a good mood and had a headache. When I started the warmup I could really feel my headache but I kept pushing. I thought to myself, "working out helps with the blood flow. A headache is caused by a change in blood flow or additional pressure on the head. So if I workout, it will help my blood circulate and take my headache away." Hahaha, and it actually worked! I stuck to the workout and finished it (ofcourse, I didn't give it my 100% - more of 70%).

Regardless, I still burned 615 calories in 50 minutes. The workout was intense as usual but I got a really good workout on the shoulders last night (something I didn't really workout in the gym in the past).

P.S. My scale broke last night so I can't track my progress by weight. Last time I weighed myself I was down to 165lbs.

Here is a youtube clip from mkeithharris who summarizes the workout in 3.5 minutes.

Day 40 of 63: Max Interval Circuit

Workout Time: 60 minutes
Calories Burned: 725

Last time I did this work out I only got half way through. Today, I completed the video. Completed in the sense that I watched the entire video - not actually worked out the entire video :P.

The workout was divided into 7 sections:
1) Warmup
     - It has 3 sets as usual with things like jogging, jumping jacks, Heisman, jump rope, high knees, switch kicks, hit the floor, S-S floor hops (very intense). I could barely finish the first set!

2) Interval 1
     - Also 3 sets of sprint, lunges, ski abs, jacks, in & outs, oblique planks, power strike, and frog jumps
3) Interval 2
     - And yet another 3 sets of football runs, cross jacks,
4) Interval 3
     - 3 sets of hook jumps, high and low punches, high knees with twist, high & low jabs, floor switch kicks (worst exercise!!!!!).
5) Interval 4
     - Jab and step across exercises. 3 sets
6) Interval 5
     - Side suicide jumps, squat + hooks, full body drill, plank punches.
7) Cool down / Stretch

I took many many breaks actually but still burned 725 calories. Imagine if I did the entire workout.

My least favorite was definitely the floor switch kicks. You definitely need to have strong arms, legs and abs. I couldn't really do them properly so I just lifted my legs and didn't really do the jumping switch.

My favorite was the full body drill which consisted of running in plank, moving pushups, some weird side plank movement and so on.

This workout was definitely INSANE!! But, it did make me burn over 700 calories :D

Youtube clip from WeAreThatTeam. It is great they have a group to do the workout together:

Day 39 of 63: Max Recovery

Workout Time: 48 minutes
Calories Burned: 405

This recovery workout is much longer than the one in Phase 2 as you can see. It was 48 minutes long, that is about 20 minutes more than the previous one. However, I think this workout was a lot more of a recovery workout than the old one.

It did weird exercises as usual and it focused more on the arms and shoulders than the thighs like the old recovery did (in my opinion). Regardless, it was still very tough on the legs - I had to take a few breaks. LOL.

My favorite exercise was the 2nd to last one. It was going making you move from low plank to high plank and back and it worked your triceps and chest for the most part. For all exercises you have to do 3 sets each of 16/8/4 reps which made it really tough.

Here is a youtube clip from Juliefit.com. go Julie!

Day 38 of 63: Max Cardio Conditioning

Workout Time: 48 minutes
Calories Burned: 600

All I can say is that this video was a little less intense than yesterdays. It is also the video that does not provide any breaks!

Overall, I still struggled to complete all sets. This includes the warmup, the intervals, and etc. Yup, it feels like I just started this program. LOL.

Here is Jason Croxford's youtube clip:


Today's post workout picture. Sorry, it is pretty blurry as I took it with my phone.

Day 37 of 63: Max Interval Plyo

Workout Time: 60 minutes
Calories Burned: 712

Today I actually went through the entire workout and didn't quit halfway through like yesterday. This is my first Max Interval Plyo workout and I think it was great!

It starts off with a 10 minute warm-up just like yesterday's workout. It is composed of various different moves we learned throughout Phase 1 and it does get your body pretty warmed-up. I would say it is not as intensive as our Phase 1 warm-up.

It then continues with 3 sets of interval training followed by a few other different sets. I can't recall of off them but the hardest was definitely towards the end. Don't remember what it is called but it was some what of a push-up with balancing at the end with 1 and and 1 foot - I could barely keep my balance for 1 second.

Overall I rate this workout as 5/5 for high intensity and for being exiting. Going into Phase 2 I am glad that Shaun T has mixed things up to keep the motivation going.

On the downside, the workouts are now almost an hour long. On the brightside, you get to burn about 40% more calories. Look at my results, I burned 712 calories in 1 hour. My body feels exhausted and my muscles are really tired, but I feel good to have burned that many calories.

Remember to hydrate now that the workout level of intensity are much higher.

Here is a clip of the workout from Jason Croxford:

Day 36 of 63: Max Interval Circuit

 And so begins Phase 2 - I made the big mistake of doing this workout right after my Fit Test (see previous post).  Here is my combined workout summary:

Workout Time: 57 minutes
Calories Burned: 575

By the time I started this workout, I had already done 25 minutes of the fit test workout and was a little burned out. I also was not aware this circuit training workout would actually be 60 minutes long!!! I was expecting it to be more like 40 minutes, just like the other ones.

So what did I do? I stopped after I was 30 minutes into the workout. :(:(:( Why? Because this workout is
insane!!!!

After my fit test, I thought I could jump straight into the stretch after the warm-up. However, I decided against that and only fast forwarded the video 5 minutes. This landed me into the middle of the warmup. As I worked my way through the warm-up I noticed all the exercises were different. They used components of moves we made before but they were all just mixed together into the warm-up. I was beat by the time I finished the warm-up.

Once the stretching was done the real deal began. by this time I was already pretty tired but I tried to tough it through as much as I could. Moves are just as hard and my heart rate was going into the 90% MHR, more than it did in Phase 1. I knew at this point I shouldn't have tried doing 2 workouts back to back so I said, "I am going to stop after reaching 600 calories burned."After burning over 550 calories I decided to stop and skipped to the cooldown stretch and that was the end of my workout today.

I am still pretty tired, but it feels good. Lesson learned: don't do 2 Insanity workouts back to back.

Here is a clip from juliefit.com who did a much better job than me:

Day 36 of 63: Fit Test #3

I did take a full week off of BeachBody Insanity but decided to jump right where I left off today. I was fully motivated and focused once again. For this fit test, just like the previous one, I decided not to look at my previous results and just give it my best.

To my own surprise, I did very well. Even with a week off, I got amazing results. This proves my body is a lot healthier than before. Regardless, this does not mean you should slack off every other week and expect to see results :P.

The first numbers are my Day 1 results, the second numbers are my Day 15 results, and the third numbers are my Day 36 results:

1. Switch Kicks:   88  105  117
2. Power Jacks:   31  57  60
3. Power Knees:   52  58  80
4. Power Jumps:   20  21  35
5. Globe Jumps:   5   8  10
6. Suicide Jumps:   7   14  11
7. Push-up Jacks:   16  22  24
8. Low Plank Oblique:   30  36  44

So my suicide jumps dropped this fit test but I know why. I was kind of tired and took a break. LoL.... That was me being lazy but I kept working for the next 2 exercises.

This is awesome!

Phase 1 Review

Phase 1 of Beachbody Insanity was great. 

I was able to complete phase 1 without any interruptions and feel great after 30 days of working out. I did start up Phase 2 today but I wanted to write a little bit about Phase 1 before moving on.

In summary:
- The first week of Phase 1 was probably my worst week. I was barely able to keep up with the warm-ups. At the same time it was also my best week as I was really motivated to get back in shape.
- Improvements started showing during the 2nd week of Phase 1. By improvements, I am referring to greater endurance.
- More improvements came during the 3rd and 4th week of Phase 1.
- The last week of Phase 1 was a recovery week which was a great way to cool your body down and give it a little break.
- The workouts were always tough. Every single one of them needs 100% of your attention to get the most out of them.

Overall, Phase 1 was great to get your body pumping again and get yourself into a healthy habit of working out and eating well.

Taking a Break...

Sorry folks. I have decided to take a 1 week break. Why? It is an extremely busy week and I need to redirect my focus to what really matters at the moment. I understand health is very important, but that does not mean I will be pigging out. On the contrary, during this week I will continue to eat well but don't have time to exercise.

Day 30 of 63: Core Cardio & Balance

Workout Duration: 40 minutes
Calories Burned: 390

For a moment I thought I would be able to finish the workout 100%. But, 20 minutes into the workout and I started feeling tired. When I checked my heart rate it actually shot up to 90% MHR. That is pretty high for a recovery workout so I slowed it down. However, overall, the workout was a lot less intensive and I could feel my heart rate rise steadily unlike the other workouts where my heart rate would just shoot up.

I am not sure what is my favorite part of the workout but I am sure my least favorite are the last 8 minutes where we do the shoulder exercises!!!!

Keep pushing.. that is all I can say.