Today was a bit unique (and perhaps a bit scary). Katie and I had planned to do today's workout after I got home from school, but as fate would have it, she sliced her finger really badly while cooking today and one of our close friends had to rush her to the ER!! She apparently was doing ok, but I received a string of texts and pictures of the wound from our friend to confirm. Fortunately, Katie got stitched up and should be back up and running in no time, but this meant that today I was on my own for Insanity (Katie instead took a walk with the dogs and some friends this afternoon after a little bit of recovering; I find that pretty impressive since I probably would have been curled up in bed nursing my finger!).
In any case, today's workout was the first repeat we've had so far: Plyo Cardio Circuit, which if you remember, is the first actual workout you do following the initial Fit Test Day. The first time we did this we almost passed out. Today, however, I feel like I can definitely say there was some marked improvement, which I am pretty excited about!
Workout
The warm-up, around 11 minutes of non-stop running in place, jumping jacks, heismans, and more, was certainly no walk in the park this time, but I managed to do the entire thing (really pushing myself) without stopping once for a break! I'll go ahead and give myself a little pat on the back for that one because that was no easy feat.
The stretch section, 8 minutes, was a much needed break, and I felt fresh enough to think that I could go through the whole workout this time without stopping (which would of course be a first). Well, let's just say my successful warm-up was causing some delusions of grandeur. This "no stopping" did NOT happen.
The actual workout, as you may recall, consists of suicide drills (aka mini shuttle runs), pushups, mountain climbers, ski jumps, power squats, and a whole lot more...delivered via some intense interval cycles. The first cycle or two I was fine, feeling good even. But by the last three, I mentally and physically derailed! Plenty of breaks, and lungs burning in the most brutal of ways. And even though I tend to be pretty decent at pushups, I was face-planting during some of the latter sets.
All in all though, I have to say that I am starting to see some real progress. It's only been a week and Katie and I have both started seeing some noticeable improvement, both physically as well as, well, aesthetically. And at least as Shaun T puts it: "Why do I work out so hard? To look good!" That's a bit of a simplification as far as my reasons go, but it's certainly a nice benefit to hold onto.
Latest Thoughts
Nothing new to report. After today, it just more confirms the fact that 5 days of agonizingly brutal cardio a week is probably overkill. Instead, I think swapping in some upper body resistance (whether it's P90x or something else) once a week will be very beneficial. As I may have mentioned before, sometimes guys haven't been as ecstatic with their Insanity results because there's such little upper body focus. I mean, I might come out of this program looking my legs could kick a football across my entire apartment complex, but you need to balance it out!
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