Day 30: RESULTS! Part 2: Stats

Photos are below in part 1. Note that I am 5'2".

Statistic	Day 1	Day 30	Change
Age	33	Still 33	No miracles?
Weight	118	115	-3 pounds
Waist	27.5-28"	25.5"	-2.5"
Hips	36"	35.5"	-0.5"
Upper thigh	20.5"	19.5"	-1.0"
Arm	10"	10.25"	+0.25"
Body fat percentage*	23.8%	21.3%	-2.5%
Resting heart rate	60	54	-6 bpm
Pants size	Loose 6	Loose 4	-1 size

*Using Covert Bailey's test.

Day 23: CARDIO POWER AND RESISTANCE

I notice an interesting pattern. First, I always feel kind of heavy and lethargic during the warmup, but by the third cycle, my energy kicks in. The second thing is, I found myself wondering today, "I'm almost done with month 1... isn't this supposed to get easier by now?" And then I realized, it never gets easier, and if it does, you're not working hard enough. You just push harder. It's just as hard four weeks in as it was the first week, but I'm amazed at how much more I can do/how fast/how high. I did ALL the moving pushups today. I did almost all of the globe jumps, and while I used to just touch my knees on the way down, I now touch the floor. Globe jumps used to be one of the toughest for me and now I'd say they're in the middle. Maybe I'll survive month 2 after all.

I also have continued to watch my heart rate, and get this -- at the end of the warmup today, it was at 200! The end of the stretch found me at 144, and the very end of the last circuit clocked in at 188. So there you go, guys. The warmup is not just a warmup. It's not only a full-on circuit, but it's without breaks.

I can tell I've made even more progress with measurements and my scale weight is also down since I posted my third week progress photo. Can't wait to give a full month-end report later this week. Also, I have more Insanity-friendly recipes to post later today.

Oh, one last thing. I've mentioned stevia several times as my sweetener of choice, a natural sugar substitute. I noticed in the Insanity nutrition guide today that it actually advocates using stevia as a sweetener! I missed this before and I'm pleased to read it, as using it was one way in which I thought I was departing from the nutrition guide. I much prefer it to Splenda and use Splenda as seldom as I possibly can. I'm actually following the nutrition guide more than I expected. Other than not using their uber-bland recipes, I'm following all of their suggestions, including eating five times a day -- and I'm gradually making the calories more equal at each mini-meal. I can see that's about to become even more important.

Maximum Heart Rate

The comment about my high heart rate made me begin to wonder about it, too. I'm not using a heart rate monitor and never have; I've always used the talk test and have figured that when my body gives out, I can't breathe, or I want to puke, then that's the limit. But I've been taking my heart rate for the last couple of workouts during the water breaks out of curiosity, and was surprised to find myself reaching nearly 190. Even during the stretch yesterday in the cardio circuit, I was still at 157 bpm at the end of seven minutes.

My resting heart rate has gone from 60 to about 56 in the last three weeks. Because my resting heart rate is low, I assume I am not overtraining. (One of the signs of overtraining is an elevated resting heart rate.) I still wanted to look into what's safe, though, especially considering my medical history.

If you use the typical maximum heart rate equation you always hear about (220 minus age), my absolute maximum would be 187. Therefore, for me, 85% of maximum that denotes the anaerobic threshold would be 159. There is a lot of conflicting information out there about all of this, and it's hard to know whom to believe. Although there are lots of sources that would support the above (that I should stay below 159), there are just as many that say that equation is not applicable to everyone and that it's not even physically possible to reach your maximum heart rate, so there's nothing to worry about.

I e-mailed my boss, the owner of the fitness center where I teach. He's a chiropractic physician and a professional bodybuilder (and a yogi), and I have always considered him the final word on fitness matters. I then walked around with phantom heart pains until I got his response! Good news:

"... HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is cutting-edge aerobic technology. The program you are on is only one of a multitude of ways to do it, but it's obviously working well for you. The formula you mention for estimating maximum heart rate is just that. Your real maximum heart rate is really what you can bring it up to. Therefore, it's impossible for you to have exceeded it. For a healthy person, the higher you can raise your heart rate, the better -- and that's why HIIT improves our aerobic conditioning so well. Keep up the good work and don't listen to any well-meaning critics."

I haven't had any critics, but I guess that means to avoid the same sorts of "experts" who told me not to lift more than 25 pounds while I was pregnant. It seems logical that our bodies would have their own built-in "stoppers," and I'm sure cavemen weren't running around worried about their heart rates while hunting. So, bring on Pure Cardio tomorrow! It's a good thing today is a rest day. I was up most of the night with a child with a screaming, thrashing ear infection whose ear drum ruptured overnight. He and I are both pretty physically worthless today, poor kid.

Day 20: PLYO CARDIO CIRCUIT

I FEEL LIKE A MILLION BUCKS!! My joints and muscles feel great. Week three is done. One more week of the month 1 rotation! I'm going to miss them. I have really gotten to like these (well, at least the cardio circuit and power/resistance). I love the length, the sequencing, everything. When I'm done with Insanity, I can't wait to come up with my own Insanity and yoga rotation, including the extra routines (Upper Body Weights, et al.).

I can see keeping up with this style of intense workout, even though I've been strictly a yogi for years. I'm smarter about it now than in my fateful early 20s as far as my joint health goes, and I'm so enjoying the sheer athletic performance and sense of accomplishment from doing something so tough. If nothing else, my standards of what constitutes an intense workout have definitely changed.

Day six of each week is always tough, although I felt less worn out today than usual. Still, this one was extremely hard and I found myself wondering why I have always considered it the easiest of the month one routines (besides Cardio Recovery). It most certainly is not, and in looking around the Web a bit I've seen that people with calorimeters report burning a lot more calories with this one than with Cardio Power and Resistance. I still seem to be taking breaks at the same spots and of the same length, but I did notice my speed is much faster and my knees much higher. I would love to be able to compare my form and power now to what it was three weeks ago. So I'm trying not to get hung up on the necessary breaks and modifications. I ordered a nice heart rate monitor for myself, as well. Another observation on the cardio circuit: my heart rate stays in the high aerobic zone even through the stretching. It was about 157 at the end of the stretch today. I took my pulse rate a few times during the water breaks, too, and it seems to hover in the 170s. At one point today, it was 188!

Scale weight is the other thing I'm trying not to get hung up on. While I dropped a few pounds quickly the first couple of weeks, I'm now only about a pound or two below where I started. However, the clothes are telling a different story. I would imagine all that lower-body muscle you have to put on to get through the plyos is heavy indeed.

No crazy cooking today, although I did create a great breakfast granola using the low-cal granola recipe I posted the other day but adding an extra 1/4 cup of high-protein, high-fiber cereal to it (Kashi) and an extra 1/2 TBSP of Cary's syrup. With the milk this gives you about 13 grams of protein and 250 calories. For lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a light cheese stick, and baby carrots.

Ah, rest day, here I come. I love the week's end because I polish off my recovery drink, wash all the bottles, wash my mat, wash all my clothes, and put them away. It makes it feel like even more of a success.

Day 16: CARDIO CIRCUIT (and Results, Part 2)

I think I finally fixed the commenting ...? I can't tell for sure and didn't know it wasn't working. Stupid ads.

First, PCC is probably my favorite of the four from month 1, and I was actually looking forward to it today. No soreness today even though I did Insane Abs yesterday and then taught a "fire" flow yoga class last night; I think I'm fully broken-in. I love the mostly aerobic intervals on PCC, especially the ones he tacks on at the end with the flying fists. Usually I get my second wind and pour it on there, but today my steam ran out at the end.


Sean's great month-end photo check-in inspired me to see where I was at mid-week three. Here it is, the belly check. Yes, minor, but noticeable even with having eaten too much salt yesterday. That and my fit test results from yesterday, which I didn't expect to be as improved as they were, have definitely motivated me to keep going and believe that yes, even month 2 will be doable.

Here's my refined recovery drink recipe with a different flavor of juice (slightly less sugar and slightly more salt and adjusted for one quart). Ugh, I realized I made the first batch wrong and added only about half the amount of water I should have, so I was drinking some seriously syrupy stuff. No wonder it was so tasty. For a one-quart bottle (dissolve the salt/sugar in the hot water and then add the rest of the ingredients and shake):

4 T organic sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup peach-mango juice (100%)
1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1/4 cup hot water
3 1/2 cups cold water
(Per 8 oz.: 65 calories, 12.5 g carbohydrate, 116.9 mg sodium, 32.1 mg potassium, 3 g protein)

Coming tomorrow... more recipes!

Day 15: FIT TEST 2 (and INSANE ABS)

The day of truth. I felt like an idiot, being all nervous about this fit test when I'm here by myself. The encouraging news if you're new to Insanity is that yes, this fit test is as awful as you think it is and it was just as hard the second time around. I was so tempted to hit "pause" and felt a little queasy a few times. Here are the results:

Exercise	Day 1	Day 15	Percentage increase
SWITCH KICKS	116	121	4.3%
POWER JACKS	48	53	10.4%
POWER KNEES	91	105	15.4%
POWER JUMPS	27	33	22.2%
GLOBE JUMPS	7	10	42.9%
SUICIDE JUMPS	17	18	5.9%
PUSHUP JACKS	20	24	20%
LOW PLANK OBLIQUE	75	74	-1.3%

Overall, that is an average of 14.98% improvement! I am pleased. Even better, my biggest improvement was in the areas I hate most: the hardest plyos. Here is what else I notice results-wise as I begin my third week:

• My skin looks fabulous. Increased blood flow? More water? Who knows.
• Lower blood pressure. I believe my resting heart rate is about the same, but my average BP is about 100/65 or slightly lower. I had mine tested in the doctor's office Friday and even though I was stressed out because I'd just had a bad blood test result monitoring my medication, my BP was 90/60.
• Big change in muscle tone in my shoulders. My shoulders were strong before, but they've increased in size and definition. I can see the little ripply vertical "fingers" a lot better, and the "heart tip" where they attach to the upper arm.
• My formerly too-tight pants are for the most part now comfortable enough to wear. I'm wearing jeans I haven't worn in many months. I'm guessing I've lost 1/2" off my waist at least, but that's just a guess. I can see muscle definition on my hips, and I couldn't before. My belly is definitely tighter.
• I was a good sleeper before, but now I sleep even more soundly. And eight hours is a must and almost involuntary. I only slept seven last night; not great before the fit test, and I'm feeling it. Just couldn't pry my glassy eyeballs away from the Olympics.
• I'm a high-energy person with some nervous energy, and yoga alleviates that for me as does Insanity, but for totally different reasons. Insanity sucks every last little bit of everything out of me. Plus, I'm so focused on just getting through the workout each day that other little things are bothering me a lot less. I feel like I can take on pretty much anything.

I decided the Fit Test wasn't enough for one day and I've been curious about Insane Abs, so I did it as well. I hate this routine, and I probably didn't give 100% to it for the first time since I started. I even had to modify in the warmup, I was so spent. It's longer than Cardio Abs -- about 33 minutes. After two circuits for the warmup (including power jumps and tuck jumps, which I hate most), you spend the rest of the time on the floor. It's much harder than Cardio Abs, although I do like some of the exercises he throws in that require a lot more balance and smooth transitions, such as coming to a plank on the elbows and lifting the leg and opposite arm straight out, and going back and forth.

I don't know if I'll do this one again until the rotation is over and I go back to creating my own workout plan. Then I can see throwing these in occasionally, but right now it's hard to envision tacking this one on after the Max workouts in month 2. Maybe my view will change.

Day 1: FIT TEST (and CARDIO ABS!)

The amazing news is that not only did I complete the fitness test when I am not entirely well, but I gave the participants a run for their money. I am living proof that practicing yoga alone is a complete fitness program. I am going to miss my practice, but my results today make me think I should see this through as long as my joints cooperate. I should add that because this is bodyweight resistance training and some of it is somewhat similar to some of the yoga postures I practice, it probably explains why they are very doable for me.

SWITCH KICKS: 116
POWER JACKS: 48
POWER KNEES: 91
POWER JUMPS: 27
GLOBE JUMPS: 7
SUICIDE JUMPS: 17
PUSHUP JACKS: 20
LOW PLANK OBLIQUE: 75

Because I’m a glutton for punishment, I decided 25 minutes wasn’t enough exercise for the day so I did Cardio Abs as well. This is the 17-minute program that I now notice doesn’t appear until week 2. The warmup was really hard, especially because I was tired. Those tuck jumps are definitely my least favorite. But the ab section was quite doable and I’m already strong there.

I was very tired after this and dragged a bit the rest of the day. My hopes also sunk when I saw that I had five straight days ahead of me before a rest. I was also hungry for dinner a lot earlier. I am going to follow their fitness plan for the most part, with a couple of changes. I’m not buying their recovery drink. Second, I am mostly a vegetarian, and third, I do use stevia as a sweetener. I will cut out diet soda as they suggest (or at least, I’ll try!). I also did their calorie requirements calculation and I really don’t think I need to eat that much food. About 2,000 calories a day for weight loss seems too high for me, especially for only exercising for 35-ish minutes, no matter how intense it is. I don’t count calories usually, but tend to eat around 1,600 a day with my yoga practice if I’m trying to lean out a bit, so perhaps I’ll need a little more than that. We shall see.

About Me

To give you some background, I am a vinyasa yoga instructor who for some insane reason decided to try Insanity. I am partially curious about my fitness level (because I only practice vigorous yoga) and I partially was intrigued by the stories and can’t resist a challenge. If you tell me I can’t do it, I’m going to try. I am short and my body fat is probably in the normal-athletic range but I am by no means skinny. I have had two children. Gack, my “before” pictures look awful, but I guess I went out of my way to make myself look like that. First thing in the morning, no makeup, dirty hair, ugly sweatpants, relaxed belly.

My objective: Assess how using only yoga for exercise has affected my overall fitness level, how Insanity changes my overall fitness level, and how the use of Insanity affects my yoga practice when I return to it.

Another thing to know about me is that six months ago I developed a blood clot behind my collarbone and into my armpit. I am currently taking warfarin, an anticoagulant. As of now, the clot is nearly gone and completely stable, and I have been cleared by more than one doctor for intense exercise. I notice the affected arm swells ever so slightly after a lot of intense muscle work, but the doctor has told me that’s to be expected with the slightly labored circulation there, and to just work through it. With my condition, intense exercise is actually good, because it increases blood flow. When you have a clot or a propensity for them (I have a minor genetic condition), sitting around in the same position is what you need to watch out for.

Current stats:
Age: 33
Weight: 118
Height: 5’2”
Waist: 27.5-28””
Hips: 36” at widest part
Thigh: 20.5”
Pants size: 4

For reference, my weight has been pretty stable for the last five years since I took off the pregnancy weight and amped up my yoga practice (and STOPPED traditional Western exercise… as a gym rat I weighed about 124) and started eating slightly less. My average weight has been about 114 pounds, and I peaked at the end of 2009 at 119 pounds after Christmas and several months of recovery from the clot during which I practiced yoga but differently and definitely did some emotional eating. My all-time low is about 110, and that was the point that my friends and family started telling me I looked way too thin.

I also looked at the different workout descriptions and decided that I can do just about anything for 40 minutes a day. I am used to practicing vinyasa/ashtanga yoga for 60-90 minutes a day, so I figured, wow – doing Insanity will actually save me time!

You might wonder why my thinking is so twisted, but your opinion will be cemented when I tell you this: I am suffering from a sinus infection and I decided to start Insanity anyway. I don’t feel too bad other than the difficulty breathing, but I reasoned that I could try the fit test and if it’s too awful, as he says, I can take it as a sign that Insanity is not for me. So, yesterday I took a very leisurely rest day, started this morning with a bowl of pumpkin oatmeal, and dived right in.