So Long Mini Plateau.

I am back on track friends. I weighed myself this morning and I was down 1.5 pounds, and I am thrilled. I had hoped that I would be much further into the Insanity program by now and down a good five to seven pounds but I have to be realistic. I had big set backs last week with not finding the time to workout and it was a serious challenge to get through the Pure Cardio DVD. I did it 3 times this weekend and it is bananas! Even the people in the workout with Shawn T were grunting and drooling and tapping out for water and to catch their breath, it was a beautiful thing! Ha.


There is a warm up which is vicious, I can't even get through the warm up without having to take a few 5 second breaks, by the time the stretching after the warm up is done, I am too! But nooooo, it's time for  the workout. 17 minutes of torture! There are 17 exercises and each interval is one minute long. Suicides, power jumps, football drills, push up jacks, power jacks, power knees, switch kicks, level 2 drills...and on and on with no break until you're ready to cry. And let me tell you, it feels glorious when you're done! It shocks me how much I cannot complete and how out of shape I am and will be for a while. But if that isn't motivation I don't know what is. 


I read a Jillian Michaels quote today that said "The biggest mistake people make is to look outside themselves for inspiration. Here's the key, if you have a why to live for you can tolerate any “how”. Identify all the reasons you want to be motivated in the first place and let that drive you towards success." It's so true. Why do you want to be motivated? For me it was simple, I want to be motivated so that I can work hard and become healthy to become a better mother, wife and friend to myself. With that in mind, I gave the fit test a shot again today as I should be two weeks in and ready to take the fit test again anyway. I improved on seven out of eight exercises and I completed 22 more reps of the last exercise. All in all I was pretty impressed with the results from a half assed attempt! Imagine how well I will do going full out! 


I am technically starting over with day one today. I don't have it in me to say I quit because I wont and haven't, so lets call the last two weeks a settling in period. Daniel will not be travelling again until July and I have some amazing people in my life who have already agreed to help me out with workouts as much as possible, while he is away next time. I am so grateful for the support around me and for you guys, knowing people read and enjoy this blog as much as I enjoy writing it, keeps me motivated and accountable. I will never come here and a write a post that says I quit. So really, I couldn't do it without any of you!

And Around We Go.

These are the times that you have to stay focused, when life gets in the way and days pass a little too quickly. I haven't worked out properly in 7 days and I felt like a bag of crap! Last Friday I developed a boil on the inside of my leg. It's not quite as gross as it sounds but it hurts like you wouldn't believe. Just my clothing rubbing against the inflamed skin made me want to cry, so I had to drop the workouts for almost 4 days. On Monday I managed to get half a workout in. This better than nothing but not enough. I did, however, eat well and do a fair amount of walking and running around with James. Daniel was in Virginia for work for 3 days and it became very clear that I cannot workout with James around. I would have put the DVDs on the laptop and workout out in the backyard while he slept, but Daniel had the laptop with him also. 

So, I am pretty annoyed that I haven't gotten very far with the Insanity program right now. That being said, I do not accept defeat. So this morning I threw on the Pure Cardio DVD and partway through I said that I will not miss any more than one workout at a time because the climb back in awful. That DVD damn near killed me let me tell you. It's 15 minutes of non stop hardcore cardio. 15 minutes doesn't sound like a very long time until you're doing "suicides, push up jacks, and level 2 drills" with no intended break. You know you're in for an ass kicking when there is 3 full minutes of stretching after the warm up, which almost kills you to begin with.

I will be doing the Pure Cardio workout until Monday to get my endurance black up, blast out some last minute fat and get focused for Monday. Because this program is so specific, I like to stick to it as literally as possible.

I was down 0.8 pounds as of Mondays weigh in, and I am perfectly happy with that. They can't all be 5 pound losses, and as long as it's moving down then I am happy! I am a little over 7 pounds away from my 2nd goal of 10% body fat lost. I have accepted that I have plateaued, but I do not accept staying here! 

Bring on the cardio! 

Some Days It Is Just As Much Mental As Physical.

I have never been so happy to do a 30 minute yoga based workout in my life, as I was this morning! Today is day 4 of Insanity and I am quickly becoming addicted. I look forward to it in the morning, and while I know it's early days yet, I haven't looked forward to a vicious workout in years and it feels so damn good. 

Today was a recovery day which was yoga, light cardio and deep muscle stretching. I was happy with how much my yoga poses have improved since I last gave it a go in spring of 2011. Thanks to years in ballet I am a huge fan of stretches and despite my sizes through the years, I have always maintained the habit of stretching often and deeply. Not much feels as good to me as a deep stretch. Hell, I could still put my hands to the floor at 9 months pregnant, and if you had seen the size of my belly (11 pounder) you would be floored by that. I am already looking forward to next Thursday so I can do it again! 

Yesterday was a different story. Day 3 is Cardio Power and Resistance and it was so very hard. In reality I probably properly executed about 55% of the whole workout. I had a hard time keep me up and it pissed me off to no end. I have no shame in telling you that I cried after the moving push ups because I was so frustrated and felt so out of shape. But I realised that I was crying because I couldn't do it and the only way to be able to do it was to get up and try again. So I did. There was no epic revelation or Oprah a-ha moment but I got through it and I was proud. I realised that some days mentally getting through these workouts is just as important as perfect form and speed. 

I have to give a huge shout out here to my husband Daniel. He gave the fit test a whirl last night and I am so proud of him for it. It was a great laugh for both of us, too! Despite the fact that Daniel goes to the gym as often as possible, he does not do much, if any cardio. My big old hypocritical ass was always giving him hell for it. However, he stayed motivated and did the best he could with pretty good form! Well, I have to call him out after all that love because his fit test scores did not "destroy" mine as he had so boasted! I'll leave it at that :)

59 DAYS TO GO!!

Insanity Isn't Even The Word For It.

Today is day 2 of the Insanity Workout Program and I can see how this is going to transform my body! Let me go back a few weeks. After I completed the 30 Day Shred I had a few weeks of downtime before Insanity showed up. So I continued to use the Latin Cardio Jam that I started with and also the Killer Buns & Thighs dvd that I purchased with the Shred. I quickly realised that I need a structured time limited program in order to succeed. The first two weeks I gained 2.6 pounds overall, however I lost 1.9 pounds this week. That leaves me with a .7 left over, but I am pretty sure the last two days with Insanity have destroyed those few ounces.

The Insanity Workout program is made up of a series of videos that are 35-55 minutes in length . You workout 6 days a week with a different video each day. Sunday is your rest day and there is a week of recovery in the middle of the program (I am already looking forward to that). The program is 28 days on, one week of recovery workouts, and another 28 days on for a total of 63 days total. I have googled before and after photos and some of them are mind blowing. I accept that there will likely be days that I miss it and will have to make up the next day, but I really am hoping that between Daniel and I we can get it done in 63 days. As with the Shred, I hope to stick to the program as accurately as possible.

A Quick Overview

The first day was a simple fit test to gauge your personal fitness level and set goals. I can tell you that it was a workout in itself and I was stiff this morning! There are 8 specific moves involved and you have one minute to complete as many reps of that move as you can. There is a chart in the package that you can use to track your fit test scores every 2 weeks through the program. I was pleasantly surprised by my own numbers I must say!

Day 2 was a Polymetric cardio circuit, and it kicked my butt. I was completely soaked with sweat when I was done but my sweet baby Jesus did I feel amazing! There was a few moves that I spent my time dry heaving through, and some that I couldn't complete one rep, but that motivates me so much! I look forward to trying it again next Tuesday! I went for a nice walk after the work out with one of my closest friends and as always it did wonders for my heart and mind and I think it will really help with the inevitable soreness that awaits me in the morning.

I am a little scared and completely intimidated but I am focused and ready for this challenge. I am already considering learning to run with Couch to 25K when this program is over. But lets not get too ahead of ourselves shall we?!

I'm back!

It's been way too long and I have to apologise for my absence. I have been wrapped up in a lot of emotions surrounding my dad over the last few weeks, and I needed some time away from everything but my family. It happens like that, grief. In random patterns of tidal waves and still waters. Early May was a tsunami of emotions. My dad's birthday is May 12th and this year was the first birthday since his death. It was surprisingly hard for me to get through. That being said, Daniel has been wonderful and kind and I appreciate that so much. Moving on, it was just Mothers Day weekend! Daniel and James were just amazing yesterday and I couldn't have asked to have felt more loved and needed.
I did work in the morning, but upon my return I was showered with gifts from my guys! James gave me the INSANITY Workout DVD Program and flowers and I am so pumped about that. I have been not so subtly making it known that I 'desperately need' to do this program. I saw it online a while back and I know a few survivors who highly recommended it. So in my mind I have been gearing up the balls to try this program. I started it this morning and will be writing a separate post about it in a few hours. I was so appreciative that Daniel was able to purchase it for me! Daniel himself gave me a bottle of my favourite wine. Which I must applaud, that is not something that Daniel pays attention to and to receive it as a gift was very thoughtful. Awwww :)
After the gifts Daniel made and gave James lunch while I had a nice long bath and read and had a small taste of my wine. The boys both napped while I baked a cake and got ready to host my mom and Daniels mom for a nice dinner! I made porcini mushroom tortellini, roasted porchetta and oven roasted asparagus! It was a really good time and I am so happy we did it! I gorged myself, knowing that I was back on track this morning and it was lovely!

Happy belated Mothers Day to all mom's everywhere!

xo