Day 6 "...not my best aspects.... yet!"

I made a comment on facebook earlier, and after doing some things for a few hours, I reread it and now I'm actually being humbled by it. I said, "Speed & Agility are not my best aspects.... yet!" I've received a bunch of feedback from just one small word, yet. Unless you are a natural athlete, Speed & Agility take time and a lot of effort to make gains. You have to get inside of your own mind and push yourself, telling yourself that you can't quit, that you have to keep going, keep pushing even though you are tired, you are sore, you are out of breathe. Its all about getting that idea that you can do it! That's what Speed & Agility is all about in the Asylum. The first time I did it, I was trying to keep up with the moves and learn them. This time, it was about making gains and improving my body and form.

Here is my short video log from todays workout, with my out of breath message at the end.

Vertical Plyo Day 4

What a rainy day we had in MI today? I didn't have a whole lot to do today outside, so I put some time and effort into making a highlight video (although it wasn't my best performance after being murdered by the warm-up) of my Asylum: Vertical Plyo workout. I tried to pick out a mixed bag of clips to show those that have graduated a program such as P90X or INSANITY that you should not underestimate this program. Granted, I'm not the most agile of people, as you can see in the video, but I'm hoping to see it improve by day 30. Also my back was incredibly sore when I got up this morning, however it got better after the workout and Relief. Now down to business...

Vertical Plyo is the most brutal workout in the series thus far. Shaun T has taken plyometrics to a new level with this workout. The biggest change from this plyo workout and those within INSANITY and P90X is the idea of active recovery, which targets neuromuscular patterns while recovering from the explosive strength portion of the workout. Essentially you are working, but your heart rate is still recovering, although it doesn't feel like it. Shaun T comes out right in the middle of the workout during plyo push-ups and says, "This is *****" (You can here him say it in the background on the video). Right off the bat in the warm up, he says that, "This is not INSANITY," and he is right, its more than what INSANITY was. You spend a lot of time jumping in this workout, although I spent a bit of time on the ground at the end pumping out 20 pushups for hitting the ladder during the side long jumps (you would have seen this if my camera hadn't ran out of space). Overall, this workout, I think, is the toughest one put to DVD from Shaun T to date! He said it himself, "Shaun T is getting murdered here," and so was I!

Today I also went to the store and purchased some of the foods necessary for the 14 day Asylum diet plan. Spent $90 on a galore of different dishes picked from the diet plan. Some of these dishes look really awesome, such as the Toasted Pecan and Beet salad and the Sweet Potato Hash with Turkey Bacon, and others I am going out of my comfort zone to try, like Chermoula Tofu, Eggplant, and Red Pepper Skewers. I have also made the change to my diet to align it like the one in the manual, having my starches and largest meals in the morning and smaller protien-veg meals at night. I'm up to 6 meals a day now, having a shakeology around 10pm before I hit the sack.

After today's workout, I already am feeling my legs getting sore, and my body is all over sore, but it should get better soon. Rest day tomorrow, although I may do Relief once again.

Remember, we are "In it to win it!" Pay it forward!          

Back to Core

Wow is all I have to say about today and its workouts. Today was a hard working day. I'm 3 days into Asylum and I'm feeling it like none other. I don't remember feeling like this since I did my first round of P90X back 2 years ago. I'm going to put this out there, the Asylum is no joke!

With that said, today was Back to Core, a workout that I found to be very effective for working your back all over without the need for a pull-up bar. The real key to this workout comes from the use of the bands early on in the workout to really heat up the lats, then the real work begins with the iso and pulse warrior 2 type lunges. I noticed tonight as I was playing hockey how sore they were. Further into the workout you transition to working the mid and lower back along with the lats that are already on fire. Finally the focus transitions to the mid/lower back to strengthen it while engaging your core, which you have been doing throughout the entire workout. I really noticed this tonight as well, my lower back was a bit sore on the ice tonight whenever I bent over.

Back to Core is meant to target the areas of the core that are neglected by normal core work, and beings that the core is not just in the front of you, your back is targeted in the areas that normal training doesn't target. Couple this with the constant dialogue you are having with yourself and your pain tolerance, and you've got yourself a great workout that isn't as explosive, but its tough both physically and mentally. Overall, it doesn't look intimidating, but man it should be because it's definitely the hardest back workout I've ever done to date!

Tomorrow, Vertical Plyo...... And hopefully some photos or video from my workout...

Dig Deeper!

Strength Training The INSANITY Way

Hope everyone had a happy Easter if you were celebrating! I had my first opportunity to use the Strength workout in Asylum. Having done my last resistance work about 6 months ago using P90X, I was excited to see what was in store. There are two versions of this workout on the DVD, one is for those who have dumbbells and the other is for those who use the bands. The bands do give you an equally good workout, in some aspects, possibly better.

This is also the first workout that you use the pull-up bar if you have one. The workout does contain ways to work your lats without having the pull-up bar. These other moves I found came in handy when you have troubles doing wide pull-ups. I can do 2 wide pull-ups before my form goes bad, so what I did was the wide pull-ups with good form, then moved to the dumbbell floor lat work. Maybe when I get stronger in the back, I'll be able to do more. The rock climber pull-up is crazy hard, I tried to do a few, lasted about 10 seconds before I lost my form completely and went to the floor lat move.

I found this workout to be a bit easier than Speed & Agility, but I worked just as hard, I was completely sweat soaked. I agree with a fellow coach, Jeff Gamet, a strength program like this is something that was missing from the original INSANITY program.

I also started working through the Asylum 14 day meal plan. I am also trying to follow Shaun T's schedule for meals. Its different, it felt like I was eating quite a bit more than I should, although I didn't pass my caloric intake. This idea of having 6 - 7 smaller meals in a day seems crazy, but the idea is to prevent your blood sugar from spiking then dropping, getting your metabolism up and stopping your body from going into starvation mode. We'll see where I end up in a few weeks and see where my results land me.

IN IT TO WIN IT!

Asylum Week 1 - Day 1

"Power through! When you get tired, thats when the real work begins!" I kept this quote from Shaun T within my mind all day. Today was my first day of training with Asylum, the newest program released from Beachbody. It was crazy, and it was even crazier having an extra workout added to the bill.

My brother has a friend up this weekend and wanted to workout this morning, saw me put in the Asylum Speed & Agility DVD, and asked to work out with me. After gauging her workout level, and finding out her only training was through Yoga Booty Ballet, this workout would have her on the ground within a few minutes. So before I did Asylum, I popped in INSANITY Plyo Cardio Circuit for both my bro and his friends to do. No doubt, I got involved as well, coaching both of them on how to do the moves and giving them that extra push they need to get through the workout. It may have been the easiest workout for me, but it was the hardest they had ever worked!

After a couple hour break, I came back to the Asylum and hammered out Speed & Agility. Granted, it was the hardest I've ever had to physically work for something, but I pushed through even while tired and finished strong. The ladder still takes a bit of time getting used to, I'm not the most agile person by any means. I also have some trouble using the speed rope, I haven't really used one so its taking time to get used too as well. I also have to deal with the ceiling in my workout space, and the rope hitting objects around the room, I could use a bit more space in my den, however I have to make do with the space I have. 

I took the recommendation of Steve Edwards and did Relief, a stretch and breathing program in Asylum, and a crucial block for change, growth, and the prevention of injury. Steve posted on his blog that it would be best to use the Relief program after every workout in Asylum. I'll guarantee that, "Relief" was much needed, I was tired and sore, however, I felt so much better after this short program. I highly recommend that you use the Relief program after every workout, its 20 minutes and will help you feel a lot better! 

I would post a few pics, however I have no idea as to how on this blog. If someone could tell me, I'd appreciate it! 

Until next time, stay, "In it to win it!"

P.S. Have a safe and Happy Easter!

Heading to the Asylum

Good Evening,

Today, I had a gift left at my front door from the mail man. I was getting ready to do INSANITY Upper Body Weight Resistance when my dogs started barking. Come to find a box from Beachbody outside with INSANITY: The Asylum in it. Big thanks to them for getting it out quickly and getting it here before the 25th as expected from fedex online.

Over the next 30 days, I'll be logging my experience with this program and the routines, along with how they effect my others activities, such as hockey, officiating, working, and sports activities. I spent a bit of time reading on Steve Edward's blog about the program, the routines, and what to expect. When he said something about this program being much harder than the original INSANITY, I was like, "How can Shaun T make a program that's even harder than the original?" Now that I have it, I can already tell that its raised the bar to a new level!

I started by reviewing the manual, wall calendar (which btw is really awesome, it has the Asylum schedule for the first month, and then hybrid calendars for both P90X and INSANITY on the other side), and meal plan. The meal plan I'll come back to at another time because I'm excited by it and can't wait to try some of the dishes within it. A nice thing about the program is that all of the DVD's have instructions for how to use the new tools that are needed for the workouts. In the original INSANITY, it was all you. This time, Shaun T incorporates some tools to use to force you to increase your overall performance, such as the agility ladder, speed rope, a few bands or dumbbells, and pull-up bar. A good plyo mat or yoga mat comes in handy for "relief," a stretch and recovery workout that I'm reviewing before I start the program tomorrow.

I managed to make it through the Athletic Performance Assessment (aka Fit Test) today, my results were not as good as I hoped, however, getting used to the ladder takes time even with the intro videos. My results don't include the numerous times that I hit the ladder and knocked it half-way across the room. All moves are 1 minute in the assessment.

Day 1 performance results:
   Agility Heisman:                           5 reps
   In & Out Ab Progression:             21 reps
   Pull-Ups/Lat Push-Ups:               12 reps
   Mountain Climber Switch Kicks:   35 reps
   Agility Shoulder Taps:                  4 reps
   X Jumps:                                    27 reps
   Moving Push-Ups:                       3.5 reps
   Agility Lateral Shuffle:                  8 reps
   Agility Bear Crawl:                       4 reps

Tomorrow starts the regular workouts, Speed & Agility, which looks tough, but as the motto for Asylum goes, "In it to win it!"

Push through, Dig Deep!

Moving up in the world...

Good Afternoon,

I was recently approached by friends and asked a simple question, "What's your story?" Of course, beings that I had no idea as to what they where asking about, I go, "about what?" They hardly recognized me, hardly knew who I was. They hadn't saw me in well over a year. I was well groomed, clean shaving, and skinny and buff compared to who I was when they last saw me.

Backing up a few years ago, as they knew me when I was in college at Michigan State University, I really wasn't active, except for playing video games, and I was pretty heavy set. While in college, I was around 285 pounds, 5'10", a 44 pant size, 2XL, scruffy/hillbilly looking, and pretty much the epitome of being the stay in doors computer gamer during the day and the drink all night with friends type of guy, usually landing me either in someone's lawn, deck, or bush in the morning. I look back on those days and wonder, "What the heck were you thinking in those day?" I answered my own question with a, "you probably weren't thinking!"

Let progress forward, September 2009, I thought it was time to make some changes and the doctors agreed. I was having some chest issues, hip issues, knee issues, and sleep issues. The biggest hit came when my orthopedist, Dr. Sudhir Rao, gave me an ultimatum. Backing up again, I broke my hips when I was 12, slipped the capitol femoral epiphysis on both sides. It healed, however, between the way it healed and my weight, a bone spur grew across the top leading to the joint. It was pinching nerves and the hip capsule. The choices I was left with were to either shed the weight and get more flexible or undergo a complicated and dangerous surgery, leaving me on crutches for a year, possibly longer. I already knew how it is to be down for a year plus, I decided to make the badly needed changes to become fit and healthy. At this time, I got a hold of Beachbody, and chose to commit to the change through P90X... However that is another story.

The beginning of the new year 2011, I made a resolution to make it through INSANITY and further push for that above goal of becoming the healthiest I can be. It must have paid off, cleaning myself up a bit and have got into the best shape I have ever been in. I'm down to 210 pounds, a 38 or 36 pant size, XL shirts (Large UA), however I'm still 5'10"(I haven't quite figured out how to make that one go up). I Succeeded!

Going back to the beginning, I shared my transformation story with them and which acted in a way to inspire them to go for their goals and become more healthy. After sharing this with them, one person asked why I don't share this with more people. "Why don't you share your story and insight with others?" This got me thinking and with a little extra kick from another friend (Thanks Caterina!), why not blog about my experiences and observations in the world of health & fitness?

I look forward to sharing my experiences with everyone! Good luck on your journey....

Decide, Commit, Succeed!