CHALEAN EXTREME Day 6: Burn Intervals

(Originally posted April 25, 2009)

This is the update for my workout last night. If any of you have read my update on P90x Intervals, you might not be too surprised to hear that I was a little bit anxious about doing the Burn Intervals workout for ChaLean Extreme. Intervals are no picnic! Just as a reminder about what these types of workouts actually are, they're all about moving your heart rate all over the place to different levels. While steady-state cardio (such as running) keeps your heart rate at about the same level the entire time, Intervals has you going at a slow pace followed by all-out sprints in intensity. Because this sort of working out is actually more efficient, you can get better results in about half the time or less of a regular cardio workout. And after you're finished your body will actually continue to burn fat while you're lounging on the couch later that day. But like I said, you have to earn that privilege, 'cause intervals ain't easy!

Anyway, the Burn Intervals workout is about 45 minutes...easily the longest of the ChaLean workouts I've done so far (they've all been just a tad over 30 min). For that reason alone, I felt like this was never going to end! Also, this intervals workouts was slightly different than what I've done in the past. Instead of doing a cardio move at low intensity, then medium, then high intensity, you instead do a minute or two of high intensity cardio followed a by a minute or two of low-weight resistance work for increasing muscular endurance. And I can't stress enough how necessary it is to use low weight on this part. You're lifting for a period of time, not for a goal number of reps. I only used 10 lbs but couldn't even finish some of the sequences.

Another thing to point out is that this workout gives you zero breaks. No joke. I actually had to pause a few times throughout, and this was definitely the most difficulty I've had in quite some time as far as finishing a workout goes. Some of that might have just been a motivational issue (after all, who's excited to work out on a friday night?)....but it was definitely a beast of a workout. Fairly fun though. I'll hopefully be able to look forward to doing this one again next week :) Hopefully!

Ok, that's it from me. Have a great weekend folks. Today is my rest day!!

P90X Day 6: Kenpo X

(Originally posted Jan 12, 2009)

Another 5:45 am workout. I've never ever been a morning person, and it really is a struggle to get my butt out of bed for this stuff. But, "do your best, forget the rest", right? Ha!

So I think it goes without saying that every single P90x workout is designed to rock your world. However, some of the workouts (I'm looking at you, "Chest & Back," "Plyometrics," and "Legs & Back") definitely rock your world a bit more! So, even though Kenpo was very difficult in its own right this morning, it was a walk in the park compared to yesterday's workout. There was a lot less pausing of the session this time, and I was able to mostly keep up with everything without too much fuss. And what's more, it was kind of fun :)

The Kenpo routine is basically a martial arts inspired exercise filled with lots of blocking, punching, and kicking. It might be a little more difficult for people who've never done any type of martial art training before, but thankfully I had done Taekwondo for a few years back as a young lad....just enough so that it feels fairly natural to be punching repeatedly into thin air. 

Of this hour long workout, the first 30 minutes is definitely the toughest! There are essentially NO breaks during this portion. At the halfway point it seemed to settle down a bit, and there were a whole lot more blocking exercises, which for me ended up being like breaks...much easier! 

Unfortunately though, and I'm not sure whether P90x is to blame, but I've been feeling increasingly sickish the past day or so. Every so mildly feverish, throat cliosing up, and, for whatever reason, I've been burping air a lot...which is extremely weird because I hardly ever ever burp. Let's just cross our fingers that I haven't developed stomach cancer in the past 24 hrs, and that instead perhaps my body is just ticked off at me for all the punishment being inflicted on it :)

Aight, tomorrow is Stretch/Break day. I need it!

P90X-2 (Day 6): X2 Balance & Power

So we finally made it to the end of week 1!  Well, tomorrow is technically the last day of the workout week, but it's a rest day.  This is big folks.  We might actually make it through!  Katie and I have started to feel pretty wiped the past few days from the combination of extreme workouts and decreasing our calorie count a bit.  It takes a lot of discipline the first week or so to remain committed :)

Overview
Today's routine was Balance & Power, which basically means a lot of plank moves and the use of the stability ball.  That's an oversimplification perhaps, but not by much!   It's sort of like X2 Core's cousin in a way.  In any case, as this is the last workout of each week for the entire Phase 1 of P90X-2, it does seem that Tony Horton's emphasis on strengthening the core remains integral to the focus, and again, I approve of the philosophy.  (Every day of the program so far we've woken up with muscles sore all over, but for some reason it's not in as demoralizing a way as it was in P90X when you might spend a solid 60 minutes basically doing lunges and squats or pushups and pull-ups ad infinitum).

Also, the exercises in Balance & Power are very technical in nature, and it would be pretty easy (as it would actually be with any P90X-esque workout) to injure yourself if you 1) overextend yourself too early on in the program, and 2) don't take enough care to study the form of a particular move before diving in.  There have actually been a few stability ball moves that Katie and I probably weren't ready for yet, and we went ahead and tried to plow through it only to wipe out right on top of the ball nearly smashing our faces into the floor.  In other words, be careful!

Plus, due to just how unique this workout was, it probably would have served us better to preview it beforehand so that we were already familiar with the moves.  Since we did not preview the video, we ended up during the workout having to watch a little of most of the different moves and then rewinding to the beginning of that particular section (once we were comfortable) to join in.  This made Balance and Power both easier (i.e. likely less effective) and longer than it needed to be.  Next time though, we should be ready to go all out!

Highlights (moves, etc.)

• 62 minutes long
• Structure
• 3 main rounds (separated by water breaks) of 6 moves each and followed by a 3-move "bonus round"
• Craziest Moves
• Crawly Crab Press
• This move is tough...and a bit awkward!  Basically you start by laying down your back on the stability ball, with your shoulders as the main source of support (basically in a bench press position), and a pair of dumbbells in hand.  From there, you shift your shoulders across the stability ball to where your now balancing just your elbow on the ball with your other arm thrusting its weight into the sky.  Then, you come back down on to your shoulders, shifting your shoulders across the ball in the other direction till you then are balancing your other elbow on the ball with the other arm/weight thrust into the sky.  Very difficult, and my form was all over the place as it was all I could do just to stay on the dang ball!
• Renegade Row 1/2 Lolasana
• This move has a hard version and a VERY hard version.  I tried a bit of both of them, but it might take a while before I can effectively do the latter, which is the one that I will explain.  Basically, you start in a pushup position using pushup stands or dumbbells.  Do a one-armed row with your right arm, then your left, before jumping your extended legs up and in towards your chest/hands...all while keeping your legs and feet suspended off the ground, using only your arms (still holding onto the pushup stands) for support.  Then shoot your legs back into plank position and repeat.  WHA!??!?

Summary

Well, we finished Week 1, and I still am really liking it!  Better than P90X (in terms of enjoyment at least), WAY better than Insanity (again, in terms of enjoyment), and we'll just have to wait and see if the results agree :)

Diet Notes

I haven't really spent any time talking about our diet as yet.  If you recall, I was for health reasons doing a pretty crazy paleo-esque diet while doing the Insanity program. Those two things coupled together got me awfully lean.  A bit too lean I'd say.  Anyway, this time we're following the P90X-2 diet book/guidelines fairly closely, at least for direction.  And we've even used a few of their recipes, which so far have been surprisingly good!  Katie of course has her ways of making any recipe better, but we've both been pleased.  

Similar to P90X, the guideline basically is to keep it pretty low-carb, high protein for the first month (not to an Atkins degree or anything), eating as many natural, whole foods as possible.  Tonight for dinner Katie made some deliciously healthy lettuce wraps that would put any restaurant to shame.  So lucky am I ;)

Insanity Day 6: Plyo Cardio Circuit (this again??)

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!