Those of you that have been following along with me have probably realized that Sunday marked the end of Insanity week 2 for me. Of course that means that Monday marked the beginning of week 3 and along with it, the second fit test. I can already hear you asking… “Well, how did it go? Where are your results? Do you have pictures?”
In short, it went well, my results can be found below (or on my results page for those of you that want to get straight to the numbers), and yes, the pictures can also be found below. I was actually pleasantly surprised after finishing the test. I didn’t expect very much in terms of results after only two weeks.
But it turns out that there have been some major improvements. But before we get into all of that, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on my second week of Insanity. On day 1 my plan was to update this blog as frequently as possible but at a minimum of once per week. So far, all of my updates are from week 1, which means it is time to play catch up.
A Word About This Blog #
To begin, I want to talk about the state of my blog. In truth, I had initially planned for this to be just a simple blog with the sole purpose of tracking my progress. But almost immediately after getting it online I thought about all of the time I had spent looking for a reliable source of information about the Insanity workout. Most of the resources I found were either short on content or obviously only existed to make money. I realized that I was probably not the only one looking, and decided to turn this into an extensive resource for the rest of the world. The problem was that as I thought about content I would have liked to see on other sites, this site grew much bigger in scope that I had originally thought it would. I already have 24 content pages with plans for a few more, plus a total of 4 blog posts including this one.
Where I am going with this is that you may have noticed that a handful of the pages are still more or less blank. As of this writing, I have finally finished my description and exercise list for of the 6 workouts performed in month 1. I also have a few informational pages, personal progress pages, a resources page for things I find useful and a contact form so you can get in touch with me. What remains are the last 5 workouts, my Insanity overview page and max interval training overview page.
To be brutally honest, this whole writing thing has turned out to be a bit more time consuming than I initially thought. Basically, what I am trying to say is that I haven’t already forgotten about my site, I just haven’t had time to fully complete it yet. I hope that by the end of this week everything will be up and running fully. If you have any unanswered questions in the meantime, feel free to contact me, otherwise check back at the end of the week!
So with that out of the way let’s move on to…
Insanity Week 2: Week In Review #
Week 2 looks like this:
- Day 8: Cardio power and resistance
- Day 9: Pure cardio
- Day 10: Plyometric cardio circuit
- Day 11: Cardio recovery
- Day 12: Cardio power and resistance
- Day 13: Pure cardio and cardio abs (first appearance of cardio abs)
- Day 14: Rest
With the exception of cardio abs and pure cardio (you can read why I skipped pure cardio in the first week here), I had already completed each of these workouts at least once over the course of the first week. I don’t think I have mentioned this yet, but I made sure to watch each video at least once prior to actually doing the workout. The reasons for this are that 1) I wanted to know what I was getting into, and 2) since I am often in positions where it is difficult to see the TV, I wanted to see how to properly perform each exercise beforehand. The problem is that this was a bit of a time-suck. It meant that each workout was essentially double length. But having already performed everything once last week, this time would once again be freed up.
Note: full descriptions and exercise lists for each workout can be found on the Insanity workouts page here.
Monday: Cardio Power and Resistance #
As it was in week 1, cardio power and resistance was super difficult! I definitely felt that I was able to power through much more so than the first time I completed this workout. Even so, once we hit the last set with moving push-ups, globe jumps and floor sprints I was completely out of energy (the same as the first time I did it). But the great thing is that when you are feeling this way, it is just that much better when you finally finish. And I was definitely feeling good when I finished.
Tuesday: Pure cardio #
I skipped this exercise in week 1 due to a combination of unavoidable obligations that took more time than expected and also a bit of laziness. If you’ve read my cardio abs description you will know that it is straight cardio for about 15 minutes (excluding warm-up and cool-down) without any real resting periods. Needless to say, it is tough. I didn’t make it the whole way through without rest, but I didn’t let that discourage me either! I pushed through to the best of my ability and felt damn good in the end.
Wednesday: Plyometric Cardio Circuit #
As I mentioned in my week 1 wrap-up, plyometric cardio circuit was killer! I did feel like I was able to give much more this time than before, but I was still completely burned out by the time we hit the level 1 drills. But in the same manner as last time, a little rest was all I needed to get back in the game. And thankfully at this point my body is now used to the constant exercise and the soreness has gone away (this changed on Saturday with cardio abs, but more on that in a bit).
Thursday: Cardio Recovery #
As I said before, this name is misleading. I don’t think there was very much recovery going on for me here. The reason it is so tough for me is all of the ‘deep’ muscle work. You are performing a lot of very slow movements followed by muscle pulses, and then to top it off, a lot of holding yourself in tough positions (like a low squat). My legs were like jelly all night on Thursday and Friday as well.
Friday: Cardio Power and Resistance #
I felt pretty much the same as I did Monday. It is very strange – I can already tell I am getting much stronger than I was on day 1 and yet this workout doesn’t seem to be getting any easier…
Saturday: Pure Cardio AND Cardio Abs #
Pure cardio also felt pretty much the same as earlier in the week. I pushed through and when I was finished went straight into cardio abs. All I have to say is ‘damn!’ While it is great that you do not have to do any sit-ups or crunches in the ab workout, this was still the first workout where I felt like stopping just a couple of minutes in so I could run to the bathroom and puke my guts out. I had a stark realization this day that my core muscles are some of my weakest. Oh, and the name ‘cardio abs’ is also a bit misleading… This was a full core workout. More than anything I came away feeling this in my lower back (it is now Tuesday and I am still feeling it). But this brings up an important point: I once had a trainer friend tell me to be careful when working out my lower back as it is one of the most easily injured muscles in the body. So be careful when doing this workout! It would suck to get this far and injure yourself, basically destroying all of the hard work you have put in up to this point.
Sunday: Rest #
Gracias a dios!
Second Fit Test #
As I mentioned in the beginning, yesterday was the second fit test (technically I have been writing for so long that now it was two days ago). And I was surprised at the improvements I have already made. In truth, I could feel myself pushing harder than I have in any of the workouts to date (which was also evident by my sky high heart rate after finishing the suicide jumps). I wanted to make sure that I improved across the board so as not to embarrass myself in front of the anonymous internet. However, some of the improvements were so great that now I am worried I have overdone it and won’t be able to top myself in the third fit test… Only time will tell. Below are my results and a comparison to the first test. For more insights on the fit test and a cleaner presentation on my personal performance, check out my results page.
- Switch kicks – 48 (up from 39, improvement of 9)
- Power jacks – 55 (up from 45, improvement of 10)
- Power knees – 78 (up from 70, improvement of 8)
- Power jumps – 32 (up from 20, improvement of 12)
- Globe jumps – 11 (up from 7, improvement of 4 or a total of 16 jumps!)
- Suicide jumps – 13 (up from 8, improvement of 5)*
- Push-up jacks – 20 (up from 18, improvement of 2)
- Low plank obliques – 34 (up from 24, improvement of 10)
*this is where I could feel exhaustion creeping in.
Second Round of Body Measurements #
There is less of a noticeable change here, but that is about what I expected after only 2 weeks. In addition, I had a very unhealthy couple of days in terms of diet leading up to the measurements. I will try to post more on this tomorrow (and update here with a link) along with my plans to keep this from happening in the future.
Changes in weight and heart rate are insignificant enough that I will chalk them up to daily fluctuations rather than actual improvement. Waist and hip measurements saw some significant improvement, possibly too much. The next set of measurements will say more. For bicep and thigh measurement, I had a realization that I wasn’t exacting enough in the placement of the measuring tape. I will write an update on this soon and will be keeping a double set of measurements going forward – one set following the guidelines laid out on day 1 and a second set taken in a bit more official manner. More on this soon. As with the fit test results, check my results page for a cleaner presentation and more insights.
- Weight – ~186 lbs or 84.3 kg (down from ~189 lbs or 85.7 kg, change of ~3 lbs or 1.4 kg)
- Chest – 38.25 inches (no change)
- Left bicep – 12.625 inches (up from 12.5 inches, change of .125 inches)
- Right bicep – 12.625 inches (no change)
- Waist – 33 inches (down from 34.75 inches, change of 1.75 inches)
- Hips – 36.75 inches (down from 37.125 inches, change of .375 inches)
- Left thigh – 24.125 inches (up from 24 inches, change of .125 inches)
- Right thigh – 24.125 inches (no change)
- Heart rate – 69 bpm (down from 70 bpm, change of 1 bpm)
Fit Test 2 Pictures #
Not much of a noticeable difference here, but I’m not worried. Especially considering the binge eating I have done the past couple of days that I mentioned earlier. In fact, I am more motivated than ever because I know the biggest changes are still to come! For those interested, you can view all of my pictures on my before and after page here.
Final Thoughts #
In my week 1 recap, I mentioned that I wanted to get through the second week without missing a single workout. It was a success! I feel really good about this, and am fairly confident that I have successfully jumped any psychological hurdles that may have been in my way coming into the Insanity program. That said, I have been doing a bit of further research and I am already starting to get a bit apprehensive about month 2. Stay tuned for that…
Regarding this blog: I previously stated that I would try to update as frequently as possible. I have refined this plan a bit and have decided that I will do a weekly, long-form update similar to this. In between I will publish shorter updates along with random (hopefully useful) insights. And like I mentioned at the beginning, I hope to have all of the informational pages fully completed over the next couple of days. I also plan to post a diet update (hopefully tomorrow) as diet is something that is constantly on my mind lately.
I want to take this chance to say that after two weeks, I am incredibly satisfied with my Insanity purchase. I stand by what I said in my week 1 recap – I am confident that any fitness beginner can do the same as I have and jump straight into Insanity (assuming you are taking all of the precautions mentioned in the dig deeper video and documentation). Going from a sedentary lifestyle to Insanity has not been nearly as difficult as I expected it would be.
Finally, I want to extend an invitation to you: If you are in the process of completing Insanity right now, please leave a comment below and let me know how it is going for you.
And as always, feel free to contact me with any questions you have and I will do my best to provide an answer.
Until next time!
Thanks for sharing.. I’m on day 10 and definitely feeling stronger with small body changes. I haven’t been dieting as such but eating very healthily… This is my 3rd attempt at starting Insanity, i’m a runner and thought i was cardio fit but obviously haven’t been pushing myself nearly hard enough! This is tough but i’m determined to finish it