Merry Christmas

Insanity Overview

For those asking me about the new program I’m getting ready to start.

I ordered Insanity tonight

While I advised in my previous post that I probably wouldn’t be ordering Brazil Butt Lift, I did in fact order Insanity.  I had been debating getting this for a while now.  I really love P90X still, and didn’t want to change to another program that would cause me to lose the fitness I have achieved with that program.

I had posted about some of my goals with triathlon on My Fitness Pal, and a couple of other Team Beachbody coaches had advised on how much they enjoyed Insanity.  One is even a triathlete, and said her running times have come down since doing Insanity.  Since getting faster is one of my needs, I think this move is a no brainer.

Once I get it, I will review.  I will take before and after photos.  I will also post weekly calorie burns like I did with P90X.  I can’t wait!

Brazil Butt Lift – Out today!

To be honest, this sounds like an interesting program.  While I don’t think I’ll be ordering this, I think I have some people already interested in it.  I just want you guys to see it first, and make up your own mind.

Of course you can order it by clicking on the “I’m a Team Beachbody Coach” link on the right.

Tabata Treadmill Workout

I was surfing through the videos on the Crossfit website, and came across the running videos.  They had this video call “Tabata Treadmill Run, CrossFit Newport Beach…”, so I clicked on it to find out what the workout consisted of.  Well it had the treadmill on an incline, and two guys running for 20 seconds, then would hop on the sides and rest for 10 seconds.  They repeated this 8 times.  The guys looked beat! (Watch the video)

Well, I wanted to do it to see if it really was that good of a workout.  I mean, it was only 4 minutes!  I decided to try it today at the gym.  Since I had all day before I would get to experience this monster, I wanted to find out more about this “tabata” stuff.  It turns out that Dr. Izumi Tabata came up with this and found that “just four minutes of Tabata interval training could do more to boost aerobic and anaerobic capacity than an hour of endurance exercise”

Well, I was a little skeptical actually.  Especially with the video above.  I thought I would have to push the pace a lot higher to do any good.  I didn’t!  I put the incline setting to 15 and MPH at 6.7 (9 min mile pace), and went to work.  After the 3rd interval, I knew I was in trouble.  The seventh and eighth, I didn’t know if I’d finish.  It took 10 minutes for me to come back down from that workout.  I’m in LOVE!

Routine Checkup

I can’t tell you the last time I have visited a primary care physician.  It’s been over 10 years.  Probably closer to 15.  Now that I’m on the road to better health, I wanted to get in to see if there’s anything I should be concerned with.

I met with the doctor.  The only thing that seemed awry was my blood pressure.  This seems to always be high when I go to the dr.  I need to look into this more to see why seeing a physician causes my hp to spike!

The doc and I hit it off well.  I told him of my weight loss, and my future running/triathlon goals.  Doc made me feel good with the comment of “You’re a portrait of good health”.  He even told me it’s unnecessary to see me every year, which I thought was odd.

I do have to go in on Wednesday for a tetanus shot, and a cholesterol reading.  Other than that, going to the doctor wasn’t so bad.

My eating habits have gone to…

Crap?  Not totally, but I’m not being as disciplined as I used to be.  I need to reel things in, especially since the holidays are here.  It’s harder to be good, and I can’t waste all the hard work I’ve done this year on just being lazy.

I also know why this happened.  A couple of months ago, my George Foreman grill stopped working.  I started going to frozen dinners, or making sandwiches.  The food isn’t good enough fuel for me, so I ate more.  And by more, it meant anything.  Snacks especially.  I don’t know what it was/is about the GF that makes me make dinner.  It just does.  So, duh, I went and got another one yesterday.

Now, I promised myself to be more focused.  I need to be fueling my body appropriately so I can perform at a higher level!  And there’s some vanity in here too.  I really want to have my sixpack back!  Once I do, I’ll post a picture (by saying it here, now makes me HAVE to do it).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I wanna run faster!

My first half marathon was a measly 8:51 average mile.  My first 5k a couple weeks earlier average mile was only 8:21 mile!  I want… NEED to get in the 7’s before next race season.  I’ve worked hard to get my body to where it is today.  Now I see I need to work even harder to get it to perform where I want it to perform!  Now, how the hell am I going to do that?!

Well, my current running schedule is as such:

• Sunday = Speed day (really, I just push to run in the mid 8 min pace)
• Tuesday = Easy run day (usually about 45 min – 9 min mile pace)
• Wednesday = Easy run day (usually about 30 min – 9 min mile pace)
• Friday = Long day (gradually increasing in distance at about 10 min mile pace)

I need to change things.  So here’s what I’m going to change to:

• Sunday = 60 min – Easy (8:50 mile pace- current half marathon pace)
• Tuesday = Intervals (800m warm up, 400m – 8min mile, 200 9min mile x 8, 800m cool down)
• Wednesday = 45 min – Easy (8:50 min mile)
• Friday = Long Day – Slow (distance gradually increases each week)

So what I did with the new “plan” is speed up my slow days.  Moved my “speed” day to Tuesday, and made it into intervals.  Now the intervals will change every few weeks to a faster pace.  I’ll also be adding in swimming, and cycling soon, to get my triathlon fitness going.

Now if anyone out there, has a better idea/plan for me to get faster, I’m all ears!!!  Please post in the comments!  If this plan doesn’t work, I’ll have to break down and hire a coach, and I definitely don’t have the money to do that right now.

Who needs a gym?

This is no slam on exercise facilities.  Heck I belong to one, and getting ready to join the YMCA.  They serve a purpose, but to be honest, have never done anything for me.  I felt out of place and insecure.  That’s not the type of way you want to feel when you wanna get your exercise/sweat on!

I found my way around this, and that is with Beachbody DVDs (Power 90 & P90X specifically).  No, this isn’t an advertisement for me to try and get you to buy shhh from me.  What I’m saying is, the gym isn’t for everyone.  Not only that, it’s kind of expensive.  There is also an initial cost to the Beachbody programs that I do.  So what about the people who don’t want to spend that money, or who can’t spend that money.  Here’s some things that I have been looking at recently…

Crossfit – “CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.”

These are real world workouts.  I have been really itching to start the “workout of the day” (WOD).  But with my P90X workouts, I haven’t been able to.  I plan on it starting in the spring.  Talk about getting fitness, this will do it.

For those wanting to become fitness trainers, they also list all the certification classes on the main page.  They have a LOT, and from the looks of it, they sell out quickly too.

If anyone out there is currently doing Crossfit workouts, please comment and tell me/us about them.

Also, check out this video of some ladies working out (I’m in love, btw)

On-Demand Workouts – These can be had from cable TV operators, or online.  I came across one from this month’s Triathlete Magazine, ExerciseTV.tv . Now not everything is free on this website, but some are.  And you can’t beat free!

Cable channels like Fit TV are also a good option.  Unfortunately, your workout program of choice might be when you aren’t available, but who doesn’t have a DVR now-a-days (me!).  If you don’t have Fit TV, then I feel for you.  No where else can you get Shimmy, and Namaste Yoga (which is the best show ever to sleep to, just sayin).

If you are a gym rat, then be a gym rat.  There is nothing wrong with that.  It just isn’t for everyone.  So for those that aren’t, maybe I just showed you a couple of different options.