Round 5: Day 76: Insanity: Cardio Power and Resistance

It was a very tough workout today, for some odd reason. I found the warmup to be really exerting, which is not a good sign with an Insanity workout, as the warmup is just a hint of what's to come. I managed to work my way through the exercises, but I never really felt that my heart was in it. I found the "Hit the Floor" exercise to be tough on my lower back, so part of the exercise felt like I was just going through the motions, rather than really jumping and leaping.

So, the end of Week 11 goes out with a whimper, rather than a bang. It just goes to show that, even with a lot of workouts behind me, there will still be off-days, where your body just doesn't respond the way you'd like it to. It's important to realize that off-days aren't what characterize your workout regimen, as there will be many, many more "on" days, and you shouldn't feel discouraged by one isolated workout. Still, as the Round is wrapping up, I would have liked to have pounded this workout into submission. There will be other opportunities in the future.

I'm looking forward to a good sleep tonight and a rest day tomorrow. That should recharge the batteries for Week 12.

Round 5: Day 75: Shoulders and Arms

I've made a subtle adjustment to my nutrition by eating non-fat, non-sweetened, plain probiotic yogurt for breakfast instead of millet cereal in soy milk. That cuts down a little bit on my soy consumption and eliminates some grain from my diet. I've read The Primal Blueprint and have been somewhat convinced by its arguments, so cutting down on grains is a goal I'm working on. It's been difficult to do that, as my wife prepares our meals and she can't really get her head around eliminating grains. Also, the kids can be picky eaters, and it's tough to convince them to eat something other than those soothing carbohydrates. As always, I seem to be the poster boy for alternative nutrition in our family. I'll try to lead by quietly setting an example.

I'm really pushing myself now that the end of this Round is in sight. I try to spend a few minutes studying the workout sheet prior to each workout, to examine what I've done in the past, to consider what the day's objectives are, and to establish goals for the workout. Do I want to match what I've done in the past? Should I increase the weight? Looking over the sheet is a good way to see trends in your workouts. Have things been flat for a number of weeks? Is it time to push yourself harder? Today's review led me to believe that I could be doing heavier weights, so I set that as an objective and specifically targeted several exercises where I felt improvements should be attempted. I say "attempted" because I don't know whether I'll achieve success. Attempting is the key. If you attempt, but struggle and fail, you'll eventually succeed, because ultimately, success lies in the struggle.

Also, I'm of the opinion that your mind causes more failure than your body. Get your mind right, and your body will usually obey. Today's workout demonstrated all of the above. I set out to exceed what I had done in previous workouts, I got myself into a good frame of mind, and I pushed myself like crazy. The last three reps were extremely tough, but mostly, I succeeded in improving. The result was really satisfying, and I now know that I can bring this workout to yet another level. It will take a few more workouts before I hit 10-12 reps again, but it's nice to know that it's still possible to break through a plateau and keep challenging myself. Now, if I can only bring the same mindset to Insanity.

Round 5: Day 74: Yoga

I just realized that I've written more about yoga than any other workout. That's because I likely do yoga more than any other workout. I've now been stretching regularly for about 16 months, and the change in my body over that timeframe is nothing short of remarkable. I used to think that I was just not a flexible person (physically, that is; mentally, it's a completely different story). Even sitting cross-legged was a difficult task, and I couldn't maintain that position for more than a couple of minutes. Crouching low was uncomfortable, bordering on painful, and bending over to pick something up off the floor left my knees sore. Now, I don't suffer any kind of pain related to movement, my joints are more flexible than ever, I have a full range of motion in all my limbs, and crouching is no problem. I owe that to regular stretching, yoga, and probably, Plyometrics and Insanity workouts.

So, I never approach yoga with a sense of dread or foreboding. I always look forward to the stretch, knowing that it's going to benefit my body (and mind, as an added benefit). It's also perfectly placed within the workout schedule, right smack in the middle of a week of resistance. Although some of the stretches can be challenging, I never (rarely?) get a sense of failure. I just do my best. For me, yoga is a workout critical to succeeding in personal fitness. If I didn't do yoga, I probably wouldn't be as successful in other workouts, due to a restricted range of motion or lack of mental toughness. Yoga is the glue that holds my workout schedule together. As such, it's indispensable.

Namaste.

Round 5: Day 73: Back and Biceps

Prior to starting the workout, I was musing about changing the schedule for the next Round to re-introduce Upper Plus and Total Body Plus into the mix. Recently, Day 3 and Day 5 have been alternating between Just Arms/Diamond Delts and Back and Biceps/Shoulders and Arms, and I'm starting to get a little bored with the Back and Biceps/Shoulders and Arms combination, having done them so frequently. On the other hand, following the workout, I'm not so sure I feel that way anymore.

Like other P90X workouts, this workout grows with you. I saw improvements in about 6 exercises today, which is 25% of the workout. I either increased my repetitions or increased the weight. I'm still following my self-imposed rule that if I reach 12 repetitions, I'm going to increase the weight. I don't want to do more than 10 repetitions, unless the exercise specifically calls for more. On Lawnmowers, I'm now pulling 50 pounds per side, and could likely do more weight, but 50 lbs is the maximum weight I have. In that case, I'll increase the number of repetitions. I increased my weight on strip-set curls, hammer curls, curl-up and hammer down, and others. I like that after 16 months, I'm still progressing.

I might still make a change in the schedule for the next Round, but not because this workout fails to challenge. Sometimes I like to make changes just to keep things fresh and interesting. Just as long as I keep pushing play, it's all good.

Round 5: Day 72: Insanity: Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Today was the last time for this workout during this Round, and I desperately wanted to complete it without pausing the DVD. This has become an ongoing theme for Insanity workouts for me and, although I don't apply this metric to other (non-Insanity workouts), for some reason, I hold myself to a higher (or different) standard for Insanity. These workouts present a certain type of challenge to me, in that I deem myself successful if I can persevere without pausing. I used to feel the same way about Plyometrics and Core Synergistics and felt that once I could do the entire workout without pausing, I had achieved some sort of milestone.

Unfortunately, I didn't achieve that milestone with today's workout, so I am forced to look for other signs of success. Those would be: completing the warmup without being completely exhausted; making it through the first round of circuit training with my lungs intact; almost making it through the second round of circuit training, but still getting hung up on the ski abs and in-and-outs; increased lung capacity; increased leg power; increased awareness of what my body is capable of doing and achieving; increased understanding of where my threshold tolerance lies; increased mental toughness. Success has definitely been incremental with this workout program. Perhaps if I had been doing it on a daily basis (heaven forbid!) I would have seen more tangible improvements. On the other hand, since these workouts have kicked my butt, I'm going to keep them around for the next Round. I'm not giving up on the workouts or on myself; I'm going to keep at it until I can make it through a workout without pausing. That may even take several rounds, but I'm not going to roll over and quit.

I like Shaun T. He doesn't come across on the DVD as personably as Tony Horton does, but his workouts are much tougher than P90X cardio workouts. He just has a different style. Personally, I prefer Tony's style. Tony seems more forgiving and understanding of your weaknesses and failures, whereas Shaun T screams at you to push through your pain. I think I'm more responsive to Tony' sympathetic approach than Shaun T's tough-love approach, but different strokes for different folks. It's all good if a workout encourages muscle confusion and assists in changing your body.

Round 5: Day 71: Chest and Back

I still have a huge crush on this workout, and opened Week 11 with a strong Bring It attitude. I increased my weight on the weightlifting exercises, and hit good numbers on the pushups, managing to match the first round numbers during the repeat round. The next goal is to increase the number of pushups again, to push my goals a little further out of reach and to put me slightly out of my comfort zone. There's still room for improvement.

On the other hand, while the workout went really well, my nutrition messed up a little. For some reason, I was really hungry, and ate like a pig most of the day. Not that my food choices were bad (they weren't); I just was a little out of control in terms of portion sizes. No matter how much I ate, I was still hungry. I should have had a ton of water to drink, which might have quelled feelings of hunger, but at the end of the day, I just chalked it up to being an off-day, and promised myself that I'd improve in my nutrition plan starting tomorrow.

Everyone's entitled to a little slip-up now and then. It's not going to make a difference overall.