Insanity Month 2!!!

Hey my viewers! It has been awhile since I posted about Insanity. Or, at least that's what it feels like! I am suppose to be doing WEEKLY posts about my journey this time around but as always, life got in the way. I finished up month 1 and moved on to Core Cardio and Balance week. Which is the week before month 2. It kind of preps you for the second month. The workouts are less impact but you still sweat a lot! That week for me was a little hectic. I had a family emergency out of state. We ended up packing our bags and leaving for 5 days. It threw me off some. I am not a person who can handle "change", if you will. I feel weird working out in someone else's house! I know...maybe I'm weird for feeling like that. Anyways, needless to say, Core Cardio and Balance week didn't really get done. But that's okay! I am DETERMINED to finish this round of Insanity strong! I am not giving up! I did do one day of the Core Cardio and Balance. So I have 5 more. I am planning on doing those workouts on Sundays. If I don't end up doing it that way, I will just tack them on to the end of month 2. Either way, it's going to get done!

Today is my first day of month 2 and I have to say, I'm a little nervous. I have done Insanity before but it's been about 2 months since I've done these workouts. They are MUCH longer than month 1. I think today's workout is 59 minutes. Why not just make it 60?! I guess so they can put on the infomercial that the workouts are under an hour. Haha. They are pretty much the same as month 1 workouts, the only difference is the moves are more advanced and the time is longer. Let's just say month 1 is just to get you ready for the REAL insanity in month 2!

One pro about month 2 is that results come faster. Which, I suppose makes sense beings the workouts are longer and harder. But I kind of like that. If you're going to sweat anyways, mind as well work as hard as you can! You will be sore all over again. At least that's what happened to me the first round. It might vary from person to person. I will be doing my fit test the end of this week only because the second month you are suppose to do the fit test AND a workout all in the same day. I personally feel like that is TOO hard considering how much I push myself during the fit test. I am definitely burned out by the end of it. So I wouldn't have any energy left for the actual workout. Anyways, I just thought I would write this to let you know I am still here! I haven't gone anywhere nor have I quit the workouts. By no means am I a quitter when it comes to making myself better!

I do have plans for my future workouts. After this last month of Insanity, I think I am going to jump right into another round. That will be my 3rd and FINAL round. At least for awhile. I don't want my body to get used to the workouts. After my final round, I think I am going to do P90X. I have been bouncing around between P90X, ChaLean Extreme, and Lesmills Pump. And now, Beachbody just came out with a new workout program called Lesmills Combat. So now I'm on the fence with that one too! I want a program that focuses more on muscle building rather than cardio. I love my cardio, but it's not going to give me the body I want if I  want to have nice muscle definition. Plus, muscle burns fat! Who wouldn't want to build muscle?! Welp, I guess I will end this! I am going to try to do daily posts on my workouts. If not, I will do weekly ones. Thanks for reading!

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Insanity day 16/63 Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Slowly but surely I am moving "down" on the Insanity calender. It sure is a pleasure to mark off the days as they go past! Today's workout is the LONGEST of the workouts in the first month. It is 41 minutes long. You spend about 10 minutes on the warm-up and 7-8 minutes stretching. Then you move on to the first circuit:

Suicide Drills- you run one way, touch the ground, then run back the other way and touch the ground

 Power jacks- squat down with your hands in front of you, then you jump back up and put your hands to your side

Mountain climbers- high knees while pretending to climb a mountain with your hands

Ski Jumps- jump to the right and left with your knees slightly bent and your hands to your side like you are skiing

You do that circuit 3 separate times with 30 second breaks in between. This circuit is easy the first 1-2 times, then that last time you have to do it, it starts hurting really bad and you feel like you're going to die. But don't worry, you won't! Before you move on to the second circuit, he makes you do two more moves directly after which consist of

Scissor Legs (something of that nature)- You move your legs back and forth with hands going opposite of legs. Both your feet have to be touching the floor.

You are going to shoot me but I can't remember the other move!! Next time I do it, I will be sure to let you know what it is!

 After another 30 second break you move on to the last circuit:

Basketball Hoops- squat and jump up like you are making a slam dunk

Level 1 Drills- Jump down in push-up position, do 4 push-ups, do 8 floor sprints, then jump up

Ski Abs- Stay in push-up position, jump your legs to the right of your body, back to push-up position, then jump your legs to the left of your body.

In and Out Abs- Stay in push-up position the jump in, hold it, then jump back to push-up position


After you do that 3 times, you have to do these moves directly after:

Jabs- act like you are punching a punching bag

Uppercuts- Act like you are uppercutting a punching back

Can't remember the name of this move!(haha)- but you basically go into squat position, keep your hands open and stretch one arm at a time in front of you, bring it back and then do the other, then keep doing that fast.

Somewhere in the mix you have to do Cross Jacks. I can't remember when you have to do that one but you basically criss-cross your legs while throwing one arm up in the arm at the same time. Okay, I'm sure you got it by now that I'm horrible at describing workout moves! LOL. Any ways, it's a really good workout and you will sweat your butt off! I have no problem with the Plyo workout only except that it's the LONGEST workout and there's a lot of jumping involved...hence the name. haha. I heard for some people that it is rough on their knees but I haven't had a problem with that. The only problem I have is I tend to get chin splints often. But that could be due to how I land and how I run. I'm not a light lander nor runner so it usually leads to chin splints and that can get quite painful with all the high knees and what not. But that's kind of my run down for today's workout. All of the moves are 30 seconds long I believe. I started my day off with a tall glass (well..protein bottle) of chocolate shakeology, then greek yogurt with frozen berries before my workout. Of course, I ALWAYS have my water and a handy paper towel beside me as I'm working out to hydrate myself and wipe off all the sweat.

Thanks for reading!!!

If you want to watch my weekly VLOGS on you tube, look up the name Rachel Holcomb

Also you can add me on facebook if you would like to join one of my Insanity Challenge Groups. They are awesome! I would join if I were you :)

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Insanity week 3 fit test!

Yesterday I did my second fit test of Insanity and I must say, from the very first round of Insanity that I ever did, I have improved a lot. The fit test isn't a walk in the park that's for sure. If anything, it's harder than the actual workouts because you are pushing yourself even harder just so you can beat your previous scores. So every fit test just keeps getting harder and harder. Once of these days I will buy a heart rate monitor so I can see how many calories I'm burning. In the meantime, I'm just going by how much I sweat, and that's a lot. So here is my fit test this week. As with the first, the moves are the same:
1. Switch Kicks- 58
2. Power Jacks- 58
3. Power Knees- 100
4. Power Jumps- 27 (less than last time)
5. Globe Jumps- 9
6. Suicide Jumps- 15
7. Push-up Jacks- 30 (less than last time)
8. Low Plank Oblique- 23

As you can see, two of the moves I did less in. My only explanation for that is I didn't check my first fit test scores before I did this fit test yesterday. Had I of looked at them, I would have made SURE I beat my first fit test scores. So next time for sure I will look over these scores before I do it a third time! That's all for this post! Check back in 2 weeks for the next fit test results!

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Insanity Day 4/63 Cardio Recovery

I actually managed to wake up early and do my workout instead of doing it late in the morning. I must say that I kind of like doing it early because I still have the whole day to do whatever else I need to do without worrying about working out!

Today's workout, Cardio Recovery, wasn't really that bad. There were a few exercises that I don't enjoy to much. Those are the squat pulses and the lunge pulses. Basically you have to go in squat position and hold it, then do small pulses. It's a KILLER. And it's the same technique with the lunges. The Cardio Recovery workout is only 33 minutes long. Compared to all the other CD's in the program, 33 minutes is NOT bad. Also, there is NO cardio in Cardio Recovery, which is nice! You just really focus on stretching your deep muscle tissue.

I overall enjoy the Cardio Recovery workout for a couple of reasons: One, it's only 33 minutes. And two, there's no jumping involved! I do however prefer the second month's recovery workout better. But, we will save that for next month! Check out my blog tomorrow for tomorrow's accountability post! I think tomorrow is Pure Cardio. That ought to be fun!

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Insanity Day 3/63 Cardio power and Resistance

WHEW!! I.am.sore. The end. Haha....SERIOUSLY though. After I woke up the next day from doing the Fit Test, I could barely get out of bed. It's crazy to think that only 3 weeks out of the game, I am getting sore all over again. I guess that goes to show how fast your body will bounce back without exercise! I will forever keep that in the back of my mind from now on.

So today consisted of a lot of jumping and push-ups. Now, I'm NOT a fan of jumping. I LOVE cardio, but if I cared for jumping, I think I would have signed up for track in high school instead of cross-country if you know what I mean. Today's workout was 39 minutes long I believe. Basically, how Insanity works is, you start off doing your warm-up, which is about 6 or 7ish exercises for about 30-60 seconds each (don't quote me, I'm just kind of going off memory), then after that, you do the warm-up AGAIN....and AGAIN. And the last time you are suppose to go "turbo-speed", but by then I'm usually burnt out. Now in between the circuits you have a 30 second break. Which, let me point out in case you didn't notice, it's a "30" second break. If you're anything like me, that means wipe off the sweat, grab a swig of water, and then you're back at it. Not much of a break huh? The clock counts down the whole time as your working out. Once you get past the warm-ups, you do different stretches for about 5-6 minutes. By time the clock gets to 21 minutes, you start your circuits. You do each circuit 3 times, with 30 second breaks in between, kind of like how you did the warm-up 3 times. There are 2 circuits each in the first month of Insanity, unless it's the Pure Cardio CD. That's non-stop. Then when the clock gets at 4 minutes or so, you stop and do your stretches and then your done! Not too bad right??? Wrong. It's devastating! Fun, but devastating. I have never sweated as much as I do with Insanity in my life! Not even in sports. But at least you know the job is getting done. If getting a hot body was easy, EVERYONE would have one. I tell all my friends I am glad that God didn't give me a fast metabolism and that I do have flab on my stomach. Because that means I actually have to WORK for my body. Which in turn means I am getting healthy. Never forget that just because someone is "skinny" doesn't mean they are healthy. Remember what I said about my Fiance in my Clean eating post? Yeah, he applies to that.

Okay so that's all I have for my accountability post! I hope it helps you understand more of what today's workout is about. The first week of Insanity is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS the hardest. If you are just starting out do NOT get discouraged. Your body is going through some INSANE changes and it will eventually adjust to the intensity. I promise next week will not be as hard on your body. The workouts will still be hard, but you shouldn't be sore or anything anymore. Good luck to your workout and like always, Subscribe, Share, Comment! It would be gladly appreciated! :)

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Insanity Round 2! Day 1/63: Fit test

So here I am, over 2 months later from my first day doing Insanity, and some how, it is STILL as hard as the first time! I guess that is some what encouraging because that means I still have a lot of room for improvement. Today was just the Fit Test, THANK GOD! I couldn't imagine having another work-out tacked on to that...well...actually I can because that's what Shaun-T does to you the rest of the times you do the Fit Test. Anyways, I will doing daily "accountability" posts until the end of the 63 days. So if you are thinking about trying out Insanity, but are not sure if it's for you, then follow me on my journey for the next two months. I will give you my review on how I felt about the work-outs. Hopefully I will inspire you to give it a try! Insanity isn't for everyone. If you have serious health conditions, then I would advise you to ask your doctor first. If not then give it a go! I love Insanity and there are people all around the world who are having AMAZING results with it! The first round I lost 11 1/2 inches and 3 pounds!!! And I didn't even finish the last 2 weeks of it (Due to travelling and what not). These are REAL results by committing to Insanity, Shakeology, and eating CLEAN.

Now, moving on to the ACTUAL review! All I can say is today whooped my butt all over again. Just when you feel like you are going to KILL a work-out, it ends up killing you. I actually had to stop for a 5 minute break towards the end because I felt like I was going to pass out! Shaun-T always tells you "Form over speed". So if you feel like you are going to fall or injure yourself, it's probably best to take a quick break like I did. Now, for those of you who have never done Insanity, the Fit Test consists of 8 different moves;

1. Switch Kicks (56)
2. Power Jacks (44)
3. Power Knees (80)
4. Power Jumps (30)
5. Globe Jumps (9)
6. Suicide Jumps (11)
7. Push-up Jacks (35)
8. Low plank obliques (23)

The numbers in parentheses are the number of times I completed one of the moves. Not bad for the first Fit Test of round 2 huh? Notice all of the "Powers" and "Jumps"?? Yea....it gets pretty intense. The ones I HATE the most are Switch Kicks and Power Jumps. The one I LIKE the most is Power Knees. Those are pretty fun..at first. Haha. So overall the Fit Test is a great way to see where you stand and how much you have improved throughout the program. I believe there is a total of 5 Fit Tests. You should see a dramatic difference in your results when comparing Day 1 to Day 63. Do not beat yourself up about it if you think your results aren't good the first time around. I GUARANTEE that if you stick to Insanity, Shakeology, and eating clean that you WILL see a major difference. I look forward to you following my posts! Leave a message and/or share if you would like. Don't forget to subscribe!! :)

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