Get Fit or Get Out!

So I am now on the second week of Insanity but don't think I blogged about the Pure Cardio DVD. If not it's because that video kicked my butt so bad that my brain wasn't working right. LOL it's  not THAT bad but it's pretty challenging for sure! Well in this DVD you do the regular warm up that is featured in the Plyometric Cardio Circuit DVD and the Cardio Power and Resistance DVD and have your stretch afterwards. What is the biggest difference between this workout and the other ones is you go straight through the workouts with NO break unless you have to take one. With the other circuit workouts you do a three minute circuit then you take a 30 second break. Not with this one! It's straight through for about 20 minutes. Now I know that 20 minutes doesn't sound that bad but with Insanity it feels like you worked out for 90 minutes, that's how much you will sweat! The best part of this DVD and all of the others ones is that the moves are so challenging and many you may have never done before. This is where you will probably never hit a plateau and you will gain so much strength in your fast twitch muscles it will really blow your mind. I had to take a break several times I just did not have a choice, it's NUTS! But again like I have said before when you get through a DVD it's a real accomplishment because yo know you have worked harder than before and you are doing your body such a service it loves you for it! There are a couple things that Shaun says that I love, the first is "Get Fit or Get out People" What I think he means is do the best you can do and push yourself harder than you have ever before, if you are not willing to do that then don't step in the room. That is so true with this workout and any other workout that is very challenging and that will push you beyond your limits. If you just want to get off easy then this isn't for you. When you are trying to lose weight, or any other fitness goals you may have you can't take the easy way out. It just won't work. Constantly skipping a workout or constantly skipping a meal just won't get you the results that you desire, you have to put the effort in to get the results you want out. Another thing that he says that I love is "I'm not trying to hurt you just trying to make you better" This is true. You may think he is trying to kill you (and yes it does feel that way sometimes LOL) but when you are challenged and you accomplish your goal through that challenge that keeps you coming back for more when you are working towards something bigger.  This can seem like a big monster to a lot of people I mean heck it was to me! I NEVER thought I could get fit and love doing it at the same time but I do! You can feel the same way too! With any challenge and it doesn't have to be Insanity when that challenge is overcome your confidence goes through the roof. Whether it's public speaking, teaching a class, overcoming your fear of heights when you break through those mental walls that feeling is indescribable!  This was a challenge for me to take on because when the workout first came out I was literally too scared to do it. I thought it would be too hard but I  knew in the back of my mind that I needed a bigger challenge to continue getting results and to continue feeling healthy and fit. Believe me this challenge fits the bill for sure! You have to get out of your head about it and just show up, that is what doing Insanity has taught me. Do the best you can, it's not about keeping up with the people in the videos or being competitive it's about doing what YOU  can do and trying to get better and stronger everytime you come back to it. So if you are ready you CAN do it! GET FIT OR GET OUT!!

The Insanity Continues

So yesterday was Cardio strength and resistance. I thought Plyometric Cardio Circuit was crazy  but this was bananas too! What this DVD focused on was upper body strength and speed. There are a lot of push ups, tricep dips and sprinting! The warm up again kicked my butt and I love how the warm up starts the sweat dripping down and after you are done you get a good stretch in. This allows you to prevent injury and gives you a few minutes of mentally preparing for what is coming next. I was reading in my Insanity materials and a lot of the moves that Shaun T introduces came right from his track and field training when he was in college. No wonder he's in such great shape! So of course the warm up killed me I just knew that I was in for a massacre when the actual workout got started. I am not trying to scare you away from this workout but dang it is hard and it is INTENSE! I love the feeling that I am being challenged so much that I know I will never plateau doing this workout. See the better and stronger you get the more you can do and the harder it can be because you do so many more reps than you had in the beginning. That's what makes Insanity so brilliant and one of those workouts that you can do for years to come and still get great results as if you had just started on the first day. With these two workouts out of the way I am looking forward to doing the fit test in another couple weeks to see where I have improved and where I could still use some work. I am sure with two weeks out of the way I will see great improvement from the first day! The one move in this workout that blew my mind was the very last drill. You had to do eight jump squats then get down on the ground and do eight push ups right after! Now by the time you get to this move you are SPENT! This is after you've done power jumps, hurdles, v-pushups, tricep dips, tricep dips with each leg in the air, pure CRAZINESS! So when you try to eek out eight squats and push ups right after I mean you have nothing left and you begin to understand the comparison of feeling like you are climbing mount everest when you are taking on this Insanity challenge. It's one of those workouts where you feel so super accomplished when you are done because the moves are super challenging  but if you never press pause and never give up you will be so proud of yourself and actually look forward to the next workout to see what you can do and how you can get past those mental walls that tell you it's too hard or you can't do anymore reps. Just know with all that hard work and you are thinking that Shaun T is OUT of his mind there is a method to the madness.With crazy workouts like that you have NO choice but to get in shape! Follow the eating, eat enough and eat often, do the workouts and you are on your way to a healthier stronger leaner body!

Today is cardio recovery day which will be a welcomed day since the first two or first three if you want to count the fit test has been crazy! Today it will be working on deep muscle work and stretching which is what the body needs to help it recover! If you are thinking of doing Insanity DO IT! You can! It's all about breaking down those walls and pushing past your limits which gives the greatest sense of achievement. Never say I can't!

DIG DEEPER!

Man oh man oh man! Today was day 1 of the Insanity adventure. I had been thinking about doing this workout for months and months and to be honest with you I was pretty scared to try it. Now in the past I had done P90X, Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Abs, Turbo Fire and ChaLean Extreme. All challenging workouts but WOW Insanity knocked my socks off! What Insanity is is a 60 day INTENSE cardio conditioning program that will have you shredded without the use of weights, just your own body weight does enough and challenging yet effective workouts that will get you results that you have been working for! What you could do in a year is done in 60 days with this program. That's how intense it is! Before I had started my first day I had watched all of the DVD's to see what I was getting myself into. Now the people that are doing these workouts are in great shape and in fact they had been in the test groups before Insanity was released. Needless to say these people are all in phenomenal shape! They had done the 60 days and they all looked great. What blew my mind while watching these DVD's is the fact that people had done this workout got great results and they STILL could not get through the whole workout. That's right, they had to take breaks during each circuit because they were getting so tired. That made me crazy nervous! I mean not to toot my own horn but I have been involved in fitness for a couple years now and thought I was in pretty good shape but seeing these machines gas out was crazy!  I really loved Shaun T's attitude of being right there with you and he kept saying over and over "dig deep!!" He is so right about that. you have to really get out of your mind and not tell yourself that you can't do it or it's too hard. Of course it's hard and no one is expecting you to blast through it the first time but what Shaun T is saying is give it your all and do your best and you will get there! You will get the results you want! I swear hearing him telling me to dig deeper was the only thing that got me through!

Day 1 was the Fit test. What this entail is a series  of exercises that are featured in the workout. He has  set of 8 things that you do for 1 minute and on your card that helps you keep track of how many that you do. Tania and another Insanity graduate are in the video doing the fit test also and they are keep track of their results since they have finished the program and they both improved greatly so I am excited about where this will take me when the 60 days are over! This DVD is about 25 minutes long and even though it was the fit test it had me sweating pretty good if that gives you an idea of what kind of workout this is...

Plyometric Cardio Circuit: This was the workout I did today and man I did not think I was going to make it.. I am not trying to scare you from this workout but it is TOUGH. When you are done and you are dripping with crazy sweat you can wear that like a badge of honor! All that sweat will tell you how hard you have been working and and your body will thank you! Each circuit was three minutes long with a 30 second break enough of a break to get water and to prepare for what is coming next. 30 seconds is not very long but when you get through those 3 minute drills that 30 seconds feels like a vacation! Also with this workout and all workouts that are very challenging take a break when you need one. Listen to your body and give it a rest when you need then jump back in! Believe me I was taking all kinds of breaks and I'm glad I did so I didn't hurt myself or make myself sick from working out too hard.

Get out of your head about it! You can do ANYTHING! Remember what Shaun T says: DIG DEEPER!!!

A change is possible! You CAN do it!!

Turbo FIre Get on it!

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Stay Accountable!

Well it has been a while since I've been on here but things have been whirl wind crazy! Even though the schedule has been challenging and drives me out of my mind sometimes it is worth it and for those of you who are asking no I have not been skimping on the workouts. That is one thing that keeps me on track, relaxed and focused on what I need to do. What helps me in my accountability? Working out with my husband! I am sure I have shared this with you before but my husband and I put together a workout/meal plan together that has really been getting us great results! I had reached a major plateau in my fitness journey and my husband wanted to get back to working out like he used to so we decided to switch things up. Yes you have to do that if you want to keep seeing results that keep your body happy! For a long time I was sticking to the same thing for cardio because I am a Turbo Fanatic! I am not saying that this isn't a great workout because believe me you burn a ton of calories and fat! But in order to keep it coming with your body especially when you get in better shape, you have to keep challenging yourself and keep your body guessing. Along with switching up the workouts you have to make sure you are eating ENOUGH CALORIES. I hear so many people freak out when they hear the word calories. That's because they associate calories with weight gain and not with energy. Yes there are times where you can eat too many calories and start to slowly put on weight that you don't want. But that comes down to knowing how to eat for ENERGY instead of eating for the sake of eating. Sure treat yourself once in a while, you work hard so have that meal you have been craving whether it's dessert or something sort of greasy LOL. But if you want to see the results you have been working so hard for then being diligent with your nutrition and fitness routine is the only way to accomplish this.

Staying accountable is the number one way to achieve any one of your goals. Whether it's building your own business, checking items off your to-do list or getting fit making goals and sticking with them will make any task doable and not so mundane. Get a fitness buddy! Find someone that you have a common bond with when it comes to fitness and help each other stay on track. Now this doesn't mean being the food police when you guys go out to eat but just help each other and lead by example! You may be tempted to eat that junky meal but help each other keep in mind how much better you will feel when you make the healthier choice! If you have a spouse or significant other that is into fitness this will make it worlds easier to stick to your healthier life style and have someone to run, walk or lift weights with. Push each other! Don't try to hurt the other person but you know what you are capable and what the other person is capable so push them! Go farther, go harder, lift heavier! You CAN do this!!

Set goals, accomplish them, achieve them! Remember: One day at a time, one meal at a time, one pound at a time, one workout at a time....

Three Spectrums to Fitness

So in this journey I have been taking with fitness I have found that there are three spectrums of it that people can be faced with. One isn't bad but the other two may not be seen as so favorable. The first facet is beginning the fitness journey. You may not be happy about where you are at, you haven't worked out in a long time, put on some weight and are feeling hopeless. The second is you finally took that step to starting an exercise and eating program and you find that you like it. The first couple of weeks are tough and it's a major change but you can start to feel the difference of eating better and liking your workouts which you stick to for a long time. Then the one that I think is most dreaded is the phenomenon of a plateau. This is where your body literally gets used to what you have been doing as far as eating and exercising and the results quit coming. You may not lose anymore weight even though you sweat buckets during your workouts. You eat good, stay away from the sweets and fried foods but this still doesn't seem to be making a difference. This can be a NIGHTMARE but it does happen and it happens to the best of us.

I went through all three and the plateau happened to me recently and it was a real wake up call! It taught me that you have to pay attention to switching up your workouts and making sure you are getting enough calories to justify your workouts. If you are doing too much calorie restricting but still keeping up with the high intensity cardio and weight training your body will go into defense mode because it thinks it is starving. Now this doesn't mean I was starving myself on purpose but I fell into trap of "I eat all the time so I'm good" but the trick here how much are you eating? Do you get enough calories in a day to prevent your body from doing the opposite of what you want it do to? I wasn't doing that :-( A part of me felt like a fraud because I try to help people stay fit and give them advice on how to keep their metabolism going by eating right and exercising and I wasn't getting enough calories in the day to even keep my own metabolism on fire, ouch... The general rule of thumb for women is if you are getting under 1200 calories a day you can bet on that your body will slow down and protect itself from the starvation it thinks it's under. Not eating enough calories a day is just as bad as over eating, both will do the same: cause you to gain weight. Doesn't seem to make sense? A lot of people fall under the assumption that if they don't eat and don't consume calories then how can they gain weight? Well think of your body as a fireplace with a slow burning fire (your metabolism) and what keeps the fire going? The wood (food) so in order to keep this fire burning think of eating the right foods, at the right times, and the right amounts as the wood you need to keep the fireplace burning. Now this doesn't mean you can just eat what you want and pig out because eating the wrong foods with sugars that don't break down very easy and they can be stored in your fat stores, and this can be hard to get rid of. But even if you are eating good foods you can still over do it. For active women it's good to try and consume between 1200 and 1700 calories a day. This is good when you are doing cardio and weights and it may seem like a lot to eat in one day but you need the energy to get through your workouts no matter how intense or long they are. Food is fuel, food is your friend! Some clues that your body will give you that you are not eating enough are: being over tired after workouts, you seem to be gaining weight even though you are eating good and and exercising, not being as hungry as often (this can be a big clue that your metabolism is starting to slow down) if you are feeling this way then take a look at what you are eating, how often and how much. If necessary make the adjustments to increase your calories and make sure you are getting enough proteins, good carbs and good fats in your diets. Don't worry carbs and fats are nothing to be scared of if you are eating the right kind and eating the right amounts. I do have to admit that seeing I had hit a plateau and gained some weight back was a HUGE ego bruise for me. I thought I had it all figured out and that I was plateau proof because I do high intensity workouts, I make sure I hit the weights and eat good. But that's where I got tricked by my "know it all" confidence, you may be eating good foods but you are not getting nearly enough as you need to really fuel your body. Don't get caught up in you think you have it all figured out, write down what you are eating and pay attention to your body. If you are feeling that your energy is way too depleted or you can't seem to explained those freaky pounds you are gaining chances are you got bit by the plateau bug. Switch up your routine and change your eating then you will be able to see the changes come back to your body and your hard work pay off.

The first two facets I mentioned especially the beginning of the workout routine I think can be the hardest. It's like you know you need to get more active and take control of your health but you just don't know what to do. I feel into this trap a million times and it made me feel helpless because I thought I would never get the extra 50lbs off my body. I would either get bored, feel embarrassed to go to the gym or just get lazy and figure " I'm not going to lose this weight anyways so what's the diff?" Don't fall for that! Don't talk yourself out of it! Find something that you like to do and stick with it! Whether it's turbo jam, turbo fire, P90X or your own routine in the gym, stick with it! You will be so happy you did and determination ALWAYS pays off. Keep those negative voices out of your head, keep focus and I'm telling you now you will be able to move mountains, or make your body move in ways you never thought possible! I had so many negative things in my head when I started on this journey it's not even funny. Like I said before the biggest doubt I had was whether or not I could even lose the weight. I thought I was stuck forever with this weight and this was the new me. 50lbs overweight, unhealthy and unhappy, I was getting ready to settle into this new miserable life of mine when I found a workout that spoke to me and I knew it would give me the results I wanted and it was no fail! The nutrition was there and everything so that got me started and three years later I haven't looked back. If you are struggling with getting fit, getting started or sticking with it I can always help you or go on a soul searching quest and see what fits you. What kind of cardio do you like? Do you like to lift weights? The weights questions will have to turn into a yes because this is a huge part of burning off the fat and getting lean and mean!

Now that I'm done blabbing, the bottom line is stay focused, write down what you're eating and put together a solid food plan. There are many resources to help you put one together (websites, Oxygen Magazine, Facebook groups) and stick to this like it's your job! Once you have these set in stone you are ready to go and do not deviate! It sounds strict but you will see the results and you will not look back at your old self. One day at a time, one pound at a time and one workout at a time and you will get there...

Yours in Wellness...