Insanity Day 20

Insanity Workout: Plyometric Cardio Circuit Max Interval Circuit
Additional Workout: P90X – Ab Ripper X

Happy Leap Day!  Today was a pretty great day.  It was warm and sunny (minus the wind gusts) and I was just feeling so good in general.  On top of that, I won a free 1 year membership from Planet Fitness (http://planetfitness.com) by Retweeting one of their contest posts on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/planet_fitness/status/174991042385428482).  I actually had to cancel my membership there on Sunday because I wanted to freeze it for a couple months until I was done with my Insanity Challenge.  They only allow people to freeze memberships if you have a medical reason or are on military leave.  I haven’t been there since before Thanksgiving and I was still paying each month.    It’s not expensive but it adds up.  I do love having a gym membership at my disposal and having the ability to go there one days I feel like doing a little extra on top of Insanity.  A BIG thank you to Planet Fitness for the membership!

I went over to Eddie’s house (my Beachbody Coach/friend) to workout to Plyometric Cardio Circuit and Cardio Abs.  We waited for Marina, who was another girl in our challenge group, so we can workout together.  Even though we have a little over a week left in month one, Eddie had us try out Insanity Max Interval Circuit and starting with P90X Ab Ripper X so we can see how it was like and showed us how to modify.

P90X Ab Ripper X was a harder ab workout than Insanity Cardio Abs and Max Interval Circuit was really no joke.  The workout was a lot longer, it was faster paced, and three or four moves (including new moves) were incorporated as one into circuits.  I did my best to keep up, took breaks when I needed to but I couldn’t finish the video.  My jaw was getting more sore as I went further into the workout and we had to pause.  It turns out that I’m not getting enough oxygen back into my system.  I previously noticed my jaw was hurting during my a couple of my workouts but I didn’t think anything of it.  I was having some difficulty recovering yesterday too.  They helped me catch my breath by taking in deeper breaths and I had to end my workout while they kept going.  I joined back up during the cool down.  By that time, most of the pain went away.

I guess I need to do a better job of controlling my breathing.  I need take more breaks and not go as hard and remember that it’s okay to do that.  Just when I thought these month one workouts were crazy, month two is purely insane.  That was the most sweat I worked up so far.  I can already feel a little soreness in my body and I’m sure I’ll feel it when I wake up tomorrow.  Back to the challenge schedule tomorrow!  So glad it’s Cardio Recovery : )

Insanity Day 19

Insanity Workout: Cardio Power and Resistance

I have some good news!  After not losing any weight last week, I finally lost a pound!  That makes it 9 pounds lost so far.  I would’ve liked to have lost more by now because I have done so in the past in less time but it’s okay.  As long as I keep going in the right direction, I’m happy.  One pound at a time is better than losing nothing at all or even gaining a pound.

I could not decide which workout I thought was harder; Pure Cardio or Cardio Power and Resistance.  I finally decided that Cardio Power and Resistance was harder.  Having to control your body accompanied with cardio in circuits is a little harder than doing straight cardio moves that last one minute long each.  I was having some hard time recovering today.  Half-way through, I did not have the energy and it was like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen in my system to recover well.  I haven’t had to pause a workout since my first week and I was not planning on doing it today.  I took a few more breaks and didn’t have to pause.  Even though I was having a hard time, I know I still had a great workout if I was drenched in sweat by the end of it.

Tomorrow is Plyometric Cardio Circuit and Cardio Abs.  I’ll be working out with my Beachbody Coach, Eddie and Plyometric Cardio Circuit was actually the workout I did with him the first time I ever tried Insanity.  I was struggling that first time and I had to take so many breaks.  I was not even able to finish it because I felt nauseous from working hard too hard.  I have definitely improved since then.  I’m looking forward to my workout tomorrow!

Explosions In The Sky – “Your Hand In Mine”

It’s Tuesday so it’s time for my pick for my motivational/inspiring song of the week.  I picked “Your Hand In Mine” by Explosions In The Sky.  I’m sure some of you have heard this song before in a few movies and you never knew what it was called and/or who it was by.  And maybe you are already familiar with song.  People mostly remember it from the movie and TV show “Friday Night Lights”.  For those who first listen to it, it’s not your typical pump up song especially since the entire song is an instrumental.  For some reason, I think this song is inspirational in it’s own beautiful way.  It’s very strong while being sad but uplifting.  The band is able to express so many emotions without saying a single word.  Everyone has their own interpretation to it.  To me, it says not to look back anymore and always look forward.  If you’re feeling down, know better things will come.  Live life and live it to its fullest.

Explosions In The Sky – “Your Hand In Mine”

Insanity Day 18

Insanity Workout: Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs

I had a feeling that I would have a productive day today.  I had a lot of energy and I was like a machine.  I spent most of my day in the kitchen preparing my meals for today and some for tomorrow along with running some errands.  I am not that good at cooking but I try my best lol.  I came across a website while I was browsing Pinterest a couple weeks ago called Skinnytaste (http://skinnytaste.com).  It features low fat, family-friendly, and healthy recipes.  I have been trying to find a recipe for healthy chilli.  I try to stay away from anything processed and soup in a can in general has a lot of sodium.  I found a recipe called Crock Pot 3 Bean Turkey Chilli.  It takes about 6-8 hours in a Crock Pot and I’ll give it a taste tomorrow.  I will post a little about the recipe along with the link to it in a separate post for those who might be interested in trying it too.

Today was Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs.  Once again I decided to see how it was like if I did Cardio Abs first and then Pure Cardio.  I ate dinner a little later than I had planned which made tonight another late workout.  I finished literally right before midnight.  I’ve been pushing myself harder and harder each day.  For the past couple of days, I noticed a small “pain” on the side of my abdomen.  I used to experience this every time I ran back when I was in grade school.  It’s not really pain, more like a very minor strain.  I had to stop and shake it off a couple of times throughout my workouts but I kept on going.

Hello Readers!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to take the time out to welcome all of my readers, especially new readers, and say a big thank you for checking out my blog.  I really appreciate all of the support I have received so far on my weight loss journey.  Once again, I hope my efforts are able to not only keep me motivated and on track but to also inspire others to do the same.  If you are new to my blog, I post one update after every workout/at the end of each day.  Along with each update, I include one motivational quote that sort of ties with how my day went.  Every Tuesday I post a song that motivates me and pumps me up.  I plan on adding more to my blog including new healthy recipes I try out and health and fitness articles I find helpful and interesting.

I created a Facebook Fan Page for this website as well.  Please follow the page by clicking “Like” in the box located in the right side of the page.

I know a few of you have been directed to my website via Pinterest because of the quote I created and pinned.  I’m very excited to share this with everyone.  This quote was first written in my “Insanity Day 13” post at http://xtinec.com/2012/02/22/insanityday13.

Feel free to share my website with others.  Thanks and I hope you enjoy my blog!  Happy Reading!

Insanity Day 17

Insanity Workout: Off Day Fast and Furious

Today was supposed to be a scheduled off day for our Insanity Challenge group but I decided to “push play”.  I felt like I needed to do a workout especially since I was sick for 4 days last week.  I was also bored so I decided to try out Fast and Furious.  It’s not a part of the DVD set so it’s not on the schedule for our group.  This workout packs a 45-minute Insanity workout into 20 minutes.  There were moves in there that I haven’t even done yet!   It’s a crazy workout that literally moves along so fast and after that I was sweating like I did Pure Cardio.

Tomorrow marks 4 weeks since I began the Insanity Challenge.  I’m hoping I lost at least a couple more pounds when I weigh myself in the morning since I didn’t lose any this past week.  I have been talking a lot on my improvements the in my previous entries.  Even if the scale doesn’t say so, I feel that I have improved so much.   My energy level is so much higher.  Each day I’m slowly wanting to accomplish more things whether it’s cleaning my room, doing a workout, etc.  Today it happened to be cleaning out my whole car on the outside and inside.  Let’s see what tomorrow will bring as I’m look forward to an awesome Week 4!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Insanity Day 16

Insanity Workout: Plyometric Cardio Circuit and Cardio Abs

Today has been one long, busy day.  I wanted to get my workouts in before work but I did not have enough time.  I knew I had to get it done after a work outing otherwise I would be upset with myself if I didn’t get it done.  I can’t push it to tomorrow and make today a rest day either.  I was determined to complete my workouts no matter how late it was.  I started Plyometric Cardio Circuit and Cardio Abs before midnight and finished a little bit after midnight.  Like I said in my previous post that I was going to push myself harder today and I did just that.  I actually found myself smiling at times during my workout.  I think that was due to loving the sweat and loving how hard I was working.  I found out when I smiled, I had a little more fun and it helped me stay positive.  So the next time you are working out, give it a try and just smile : )

Insanity Day 15

Insanity Workout: Cardio Power and Resistance

Another day, another great workout completed!  I love the feeling after I finish an Insanity workout and all of the sweat that comes along with it.  Call me crazy but I think it’s awesome when I’m drenched in sweat.  It means I worked my ass off : )  I feel like I have accomplished so much each day when the workouts are less than an hour long.  I am definitely improving every day.  When I first started I modified a lot of moves.  I’m still modifying some moves but I’m slowly doing the moves on their own especially the jumps and anything that has to do with using your upper body.  As many times as I would like to take breaks, slow it down, or just stop, I push myself harder because in the end it’s benefiting me.  I’m going to push harder tomorrow and each day after that so I can be totally ready for Month 2!

Insanity Day 14

Insanity Workout: Cardio Recovery and Cardio Abs

Thinking back when I first started blogging again, there is always some sort of bump in the road I across with myself each day.  Last week it was being sick, yesterday it was no energy, and today my allergies are acting up.  Yes, they are in a way excuses but I am still able to push myself through them to get whatever I needed to get done on that day.  I guess I just wish I was 100% already and I was thinking to myself oh no, I’m getting sick again.  No, they’re are definitely allergies since my eyes are watery and I keep sneezing along with a stuffy nose.  I’m glad having a stuffy nose is not affecting my ears from getting clogged up again.  And by the way, they’re almost unclogged.

Allergies aside, today was Cardio Recovery and Cardio Abs.  I decided to switch them up and start with Cardio Abs.  My energy level today was so much better and I digged a little deeper.  It feels amazing to not take as many breaks and work up a great sweat even though it was a slower day.  My flexibility has definitely improved.

I haven’t lost any weight in the past few days.  I’m hoping this isn’t some sort of plateau already.  I’ve been working hard through my workouts so I’m thinking it could be from my diet.  I’ll have to change it up a bit  even though I’m eating healthy.  Either way, I know I’ll work through it : )

Insanity Day 13

Insanity Workout: Pure Cardio

I have a love and hate relationship with Shaun T and Insanity lol.  Working out today seemed a lot harder than any other day.  I had less energy today than yesterday and I felt like I wanted to stop in the middle of Pure Cardio.  I felt so drained and it felt like I had nothing left.  But the good news is that I didn’t stop and I powered through the workout as best as I can.  No matter how tired I was, I took those breaks when I needed it and kept on going.  Days like today are going to make me stronger later on.  I just can’t imagine how next month’s workouts are going to be.  Good thing these workouts are preparing me for them now.

Today was the first day of Lent.  All day yesterday I was trying to decide what I wanted to give up.  I decided I’m giving up excuses for Lent.  Even though I have been saying no excuses when it comes to my health and fitness, I’m saying no excuses when it comes to everything in my life.  And I plan on giving up excuses even after Lent.  Life is too short to let excuses get in the way of the things that you want the most.