Back at the beginning of July, Rick and I started the P90X workout from Beachbody. I had seen infomericals for this program a few times over the past 6 months and wanted to try it. I knew it would be tough and I wouldn’t be in the best starting shape. However, the idea that the workout was all about weights and muscle confusion – and had a workout style more like what I was looking for – really peeked my interest.
After the first week of the program, I showed Rick and told him I thought we should do it together. We both need to lose weight and are quickly approaching the BIG 4-0 number (which as Rick kindly reminds me often, I’ll hit it first). Our bodies have slowed considerably during the past 10 years and I felt (and still do) that if we don’t try to get our weight and eating habits under control now, it’ll just get that much harder as we get older. Rick agreed and so we started working out daily – together.
Every night when he comes home from work, we put in the next CD and workout. At first, I thought this would screw up our dinner schedule – since the workouts last usually an hour. But over time, I figured out that I could plan dinners around the specific workout. So for instance, on plyometric days, I’ll make something like Chili that can cook unattended while we work out.
Over the next 60 days, we developed into the daily pattern of working out regularly. Friday is our day off. If you read the P90X website or forums, you’ll see it mentioned over and over that P90X is not supposed to be a weight loss program. It’s suppose to be a muscle building program. This concept worked for me during the first 60 days… by day 61, I was actually getting very frustrated as I had not lost more than 5 pounds. Now I know I had gained serious muscle. My legs felt the best they ever have – even when I played basketball. However, my brain has a way of creeping in and creating self doubt and disappointment. I had ONLY lost 5 lbs – and I’d been doing this craziness for 60 days?? That was too sad for me. By this time in the Body for Life program, I had lost 15 lbs. I was starting to feel really burned out on the program. Rick had lost about 13 lbs by this time.
Now, I know all about muscle weighing more than fat and you can’t judge your progress by the scale – take measurements, yadda yadda. Actually I had been and I knew I lost inches. But I still had not lost a pants size and that was frustrating. Too frustrating for me. I started feeling like I needed more cardio in the daily routines.
I went off to start researching cardio routines and almost bought the Biggest Loser’s set. But then I went back to Beachbody to review their workouts and saw that they had just recently released a new program – INSANITY. I watched the video and was immediately impressed. THIS was what I was looking for. A serious cardio workout.
Now, Rick and I are not in the best workout shape. We realize this. In fact, when we started P90X, we had to skip about 30 minutes of the 90 minute yoga CD because we just couldn’t do it. By the end of the first 60 days, we were completing all the CDs and were pretty decent. We could stay with the workouts for the most part. We do have to modify some of the exercises because our bodies just can’t do them – like the guitar player jump. That one is just not happening with my body. But overall, we were able to do the exercises and keep going even if at a slower clip than the video. I could even get through the entire Yoga CD – which incidentally is one of the hardest CDs to do if not the hardest – yoga is tough.
Anyway, I figured we’d apply the same philosophy to INSANITY – go as strong as we could and modify as needed. I realized that we wouldn’t be able to keep up with the intensity level of the people on the CD at first – maybe never. But if we could do the exercises with some modification the program would work for me.
We took a week off in between P90X and INSANITY – which really helped my body recover however it makes that first week getting back in the workout groove all that much harder.
So last Tuesday was our first day of INSANITY. The first day, you take a fit test and record your results. There are 7-8 exercises (can’t remember exact count) and you record how many reps you can do in a minute. With this program, you take the fit test every two weeks – which I really like – to track progress.
Remarkably we were able to do the exercises (just not at the same intensity level as the people on the CD but still at a high level of intensity for each of us). By Thursday, my calves were hurting. I mean screaming! Not sure why they didn’t hurt like that during P90X but they were tightening up and making it difficult to walk. So we rested Fri, Sat and Sun and gave my calves and Rick’s thighs a chance to recover. My calves were back on track yesterday so we continued with the program.
Thus far it’s been exactly what I had hoped for. Real cardio – intense cardio exercises – but ones that we do at our own pace. We do push ourselves and feel the burn for sure. But we are definitely not in the shape those people are in. I also don’t think we could even have started INTENSITY had we not done P90X first. This is an intense program for sure.
I’ve been impressed with the program and myself. Shaun T is definitely different than Tony Horton. Each has their own ways of motivating and their own styles. I like them both. I’m definitely excited about INSANITY. And it’s sure good to be working out again after a week off. I think we had developed a dare I say it – a habit – and when it wasn’t there it was really strange for us.
At any rate, I hope to drop 15 pounds over the next 60 days. After that we’ll go back and do P90X again and then maybe a combo of both. We are trying to come up with a life routine where we eat better and exercise regularly. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.
If you’ve never heard of these programs before watch the video clips below and check them out.
Here is an intro video to P90X
And here is an intro video for INSANITY