Insanity Day 10: Plyo Cardio Circuit (Katie's back!)

So Katie's back in action!  Mostly.


This morning Katie, after using the past few days to rest herself a bit to recuperate from the stitched finger, joined me on Plyo Cardio Circuit.  Fortunately my school schedule this term works out perfectly for doing Insanity since my first class isn't until 10:30!  And from experience, I can say that doing the workouts in the afternoon is much more of a gamble; you're tired from the day and don't want to work out, and after school is usually when the extracurricular activities creep in.


Anyway, today was another solid, butt-kicking workout, but I think I probably did my best job on this one yet.  Nailed the warm-up, and got a good bit of the way through the interval portion before I started taking breaks.  Unfortunately, Katie wasn't able to keep up the whole time because Hattie, our new canine companion, was being a nuisance, and so Katie decided to run her outside to go the bathroom while I continued on.  And, to keep from aggravating her finger, she had to modify some of the pushup moves, etc.  But that still doesn't make it much easier!


In any case, I can definitely see a lot more definition in my legs and abs, and it's only been a week.  Like I've said before, the upper body isn't addressed quite enough in the program, but I plan to switch in a P90x upper body workout on Wed.


DIET UPDATE
To help with my diet commitment, Katie picked up a bunch of overpriced, alternative groceries today.  It's no wonder that people eat fast food all the time...it's a great deal!


Anyway, some of the items I tried today were:

• Trader Joe's unsweetened almond milk
• Great alternative to dairy, it has a slightly toasted, nutty flavor, and is probably just a bit creamier than skim milk.  Not bad.
• Whole Fruit coconut fruit bars
• Delish!...however, I just glanced at the nutritional info and it looks like we just assumed they were non-dairy.  Dang it!
• Multigrain Puffins cereal (gluten free)
• I love Puffins Original, but I have to say these aren't my favorite.  Maybe some more exploring is in order
• Indian inspired tacos that Katie made for dinner (awesome!)
• corn tortillas, barley medley, onions, chicken

Although I have to point out that Katie was making a delicious smelling bread pudding earlier tonight that I can't eat.  It looked SOOOO GOOOD!!!! :(

Insanity Day 4: Cardio Recovery (thank the maker!)

Finally!  A break!  Well...kind of.


This morning, bright and early before my first day back at school, Katie and I got up to do Cardio Recovery, a 30 minute relief from the craziness of the first few days.  If you've done P90x or other similar workouts before, this is basically Insanity's version of Yoga X.

However, my enthusiasm for this workout has more to do with the fact that cardio was minimal (sort of automatically making this the easiest of the bunch so far), not because it made me feel like it was helping me actually recover.  As a matter of fact, this workout really did a number on the lower body, and Katie and I still couldn't finish a few of the movements.  Holding an isometric lunge or squat for minutes on end (or at least what seems like minutes) is brutal whether cardio is involved or not!


Also, the little amount of stretching that was done was disproportionately skewed towards the legs.  I'm not sure any upper body stretches were even performed despite the fact that the workout had enough plank position exercises to send your arms and shoulders into shock.


At this point, I have to say I enjoyed the workout, but Katie and I might end up swapping it out with another that would hopefully be a bit more comprehensive.


Latest Thoughts on the Program So Far:
If you aren't in pretty decent shape already, don't start with Insanity.  It's probably even a mistake for me to be doing it.  Also, if you do Insanity and don't end the 60 days in great shape, you must not have been doing it right!  That's pretty much the same assessment I gave for P90x the first time I did it, but at least with P90x I think there's a lot more flexibility in terms of what your starting fitness level should be.  Tony, unlike Shaun T, is constantly pointing out ways to modify exercises based on a) what equipment you have available, and b) what your fitness level is.


See you tomorrow!