Insanity Workout Day 13: Saturday Morning Insanity

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Saturday workouts seem to be my greatest challenge when it comes to finding time alone to complete my workout routine. I am a little shy when it comes to working out in front of other people even if the people are my family. I have never been the girl in a sport bras and yoga pants "shaking it like a Polaroid picture" for the entire gym. Quite the opposite really. If you come in the room that I am working out in I will stop until you walk back out. That is if I am doing a workout video had home. If I made the choice to go workout at a gym I lean into my discomfort and remind myself that everyone is there for the same reason and then I block them all out with my headphones. In the past I have participated in group workout sessions doing cardio Combat classes, Zumba and even worked out in the middle of the gym with a personal trainer but it is not my preferred setting and it is definitely not in my comfort zone. But I am a firm believer that if we never push outside our comfort zone in life regardless of the actual event we will never become the people we are suppose to be.

With the Insanity workout I am still in the embarrassment phase of the exercises. Trust me, I own a mirror and I know what I look like when I am standing in front of it so I can only image what the high jumps, frog jumps and my Heisman's look like while I am performing the INSANITY routine. So like a teenager sneaking out for a big party on Friday night I am sneaking into my living room Saturday morning hoping to complete my workout before the house is awake. What I didn't anticipate is the noise that would come from my "soft landing" jumping abilities. We live in a 624 square foot apartment so I am not sure why I thought sneaking out of the bedroom into the living room to do a noisy workout was necessary but alas I tippy toed out and softly closed the door. I did manage to get through the first forty minutes of the workout before I heard the bedroom door open and a head pop out to make sure I wasn't wrestling an alligator or big foot monster in the living room. Lucky for me there was no alligator or big foot wrestling in progress but instead the head popper got a nice backside view of my body in V position , rear in the air while completing the pulsating abs. I guess it was bound to happen during Saturday Morning Insanity!

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Insanity Workout Day 12: Mandatory Meeting with THE BOSS

I once read that if you want to stick to your workout schedule you have to treat it like a mandatory meeting with your boss because no one cancels on "THE BOSS!" Strangely enough this theory is actually working for me. Everyone has a shifting schedule and that can easily be an excuse to not follow through on your commitments to your workout program or yourself.
Today would have been the perfect example of how to make up multiple excuses NOT to follow through. Here are just a few to get you started:

1. It's Friday
2. I have plans at the time I normally workout
3. One day won't matter
4. I don't want to have to shower again before going out to dinner
5. The sun is shinning
6. I have been doing really good so far, I deserve a day off.

Yes, all of these things run through my head just like they run through yours. Then I have to remember why I started this program and that the only thing I am doing is making EXCUSES! Then I employ my "mandatory meeting" theory and that reminds me that:

1. ...just because it's Friday doesn't mean you can cancel a meeting with "THE BOSS."
2. ...just because I have plans during my normal workout time doesn't mean I can't propose a better time to meet with "THE BOSS."
3. ...ONE day ALWAYS matters to "THE BOSS."
4. ...just because you don't want to get ready again doesn't mean you cancel with "THE BOSS." It means you workout before your first shower!
5. ...just because the sun is shining doesn't mean you can't meet "THE BOSS" outside.
6. ...just because you are doing really well doesn't mean your reward should be a day off from "THE BOSS."

The moral of the story if you haven't figured it out is that YOU are "THE BOSS" and the investment in yourself is one of the most important investments you will make.

For the record, all of the above applied to me today; however, THIS BOSS didn't cancel!

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Insanity Workout Day 11: Building a Bridge

After the first week of INSANITY I quickly labeled Cardio Recovery day as TGITH! (Thank Goodness it's THURSDAY) Now that it is towards the end of week two and my body is starting to adjust to the routines I am slowly recognizing that my mind is now able to focus on completing the exercise within its proper form. If we are being real with each other I think it is safe to say that the goal of the first week is simply to survive and to keep going!

Today's routine focused on breathing and working the muscles without the all the cardio. Does this sound like a familiar exercise? Maybe a very trendy, well known exercise? I personally have not experienced it myself but from my reading and again being honest my favorite TV shows it seems strangely similar to Yoga.
I have read a few articles about Yoga because being a person that lives in the fast paced world of Corporate America I often wondered if I could break into the spiritual side of this trendy exercise. For me doing yoga would be a way to become more flexible because I spend long hours sitting a desk and more importantly if there was a way to learn how to quiet the anxious world that lives within me. In my mind I could never really bridge the gap between spiritual meditation, breathing, stretching and a physical workout that toned your body into a beautiful shape.

INSANITY has built that bridge for me.

Today as we concentrated on slow squats, lunges and then into various stretching poses (warrior pose, downward dog) I began to see sweat beads rolling down my nose and hitting the floor. I noticed that my body was shaking as every muscle in my core, thighs and arms tried to find a way to hold their own weight and remain balanced. At the end of this workout I was physically tired, sweaty but not amped up from the cardio.

After spending two days lacking enthusiasm and energy I find myself once again inspired by the possibilities of what lies ahead when I finish this INSANE challenge.

I might just take the walk across the bridge that was built for me by this INSANITY program and take on the YOGA challenge.

HAPPY TGITH!!

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Insanity Workout Day 10: Where do all the energy go?

Today was almost a repeat of yesterday. I am seriously dragging this week when it comes to energy and enthusiasm. I am not even certain of the why? I am never opposed to a challenge so I don't think it is because of the difficulty of the workouts. It could be the long, stressful working days but let's be honest those are never going to go away.

So how do you push through?

I know myself and I know that although I completed the workout I struggled the ENTIRE time to do my best? If you were to ask me if I did my best I would say NO based on my past performance but a 100% YES that I gave my best today.

Thank goodness tomorrow is a cardio recovery day!

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Insanity Workout Day 9: Choices

Today was one of those days where a long, rough day of work was bring me down. Juggling meeting after meeting and using every bit of brain power that I had left in my possession only pushed me further into feeling like all I really wanted to do at 4:30 was throw in the towel on INSANITY. The very thought of being a couch vegetable was becoming more appealing as the day wore on. Mentally, it wasn't helping that today was PURE HELL/Cardio day! So I did what I think most would do if there were in my position and on the INSANITY journey. 

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DIG DEEP!! 

So, I "dug deep" and laced up my sneakers for Day 8!

Capturing this moment in time where I am feeling less than enthusiastic about this work out felt important to me. I think that those of us who are not a professional fitness guru find that we experience days where we just want to throw in the towel. Hell, professional might feel this way too but I am betting it is much harder for them to "take a day off" from a workout when it is their profession. For me, I didn't want to go through this entire journey updating my blog only shooting out rainbows and butterflies about how I am one hundred percent pumped every day to be INSANE. I want to make sure I am presenting a real image of a person who is trying to stay motivated but does have moment of weakness when a CHOICE must be made.  
Today for me was not only about being mentally exhausted from work day but also the frustration of doing the physically hard workouts without results. Over the last week and half I have had the best eating habits I have probably had in my entire life. I went from drinking a six pack of Diet Dr. Pepper to drinking twelve plus cups of water a day and only have one or two diet sodas in the evening if I really couldn't stand to go without. I have even begun to eat Greek Yogurt and fruit for breakfast! I know this might not sound like a stretch but for anyone that knows me understand that my daily routine consists of coffee and the more coffee until around noon. I have been on the diet/health roller coaster ride before and I know how quickly motivation can be lost if the positive changes don't come with at least a little bit of positive results. 

With that being said I  am very thankful for the Shires INSANITY Support Group helping me through this journey because they are a month ahead and have said that if I stick with it I should start to see small results by the end of this week.

So today was about a choice and I choose to be INSANE! 

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Insanity Workout Day 8: Not looking cute but more importantly feeling strong!

Round two of Cardio Power and Resistance was not as bad as the first time I did the routine but I am hoping that the third time really with be the charm!

By end of last week I was able to feel my legs again and when I started today's workout I could feel that I was starting from a stronger place. What a difference six days of working out can make on your muscles! I am still having to focus on my breathing to ensure I am inhaling and exhaling through each move. I have found at times that I start to get winded and making more of an effort to exhale causing a muscle cramp in my right shoulder blade. I have also noticed that I am still having to take a few  more 30 second breaks than the professionals but not as many as week one.  Don't get me wrong, I am doing my best to focus on the positive improvements but also wanting to share my challenges and learnings as I go through this process.

The POWER behind today's cardio workout was that I noticed I am able to get through the entire warm up without having to stop. I know this might not seem like much to someone who has been doing this for more than a week but for me I remember my first day  and thinking "THIS IS THE WARM-UP!" 

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Insanity Workout Day 6: Remembering WHY!

After finishing my sixth Insanity workout I would like to take a moment to reflect on finishing week one of the hardest workout I have EVER done.  It is hard to believe that I made it through an entire week and that I am going to put my body through week two in less than 24 hours. When my mind starts to tell me how INSANE that sounds I simply hit the MUTE button on those little voices by remember WHY I started this challenge, this journey.  

Happy Sunday... See you on Monday! :D  

Picture posted from Pinterest.