Finally released from the Asylum

Thats right, I've finally hit day 30 of INSANITY: The Asylum. It was Athletic Performance Assessment day (aka Fit Test) and boy was it off the hook. It was like 8:30a.m., super warm and humid already. But I took it like a champ, gave everything I had, held back on nothing, and was almost sick after I got done. You have to work hard to get results, and thats what I did. So without further waiting, here's the results:

                                                      Day 1:     Day 15:     Day 30:
Agility Heisman:                              5 reps       6 reps     6.5 reps
In & Out Ab Progression:                21 reps     35 reps     42 reps
Pull-Ups/Lat Push-Ups:                  12 reps     17 reps     3+18 reps
Mountain Climber Switch Kicks:      35 reps     40 reps     55 reps

Agility Shoulder Taps:                     4 reps     5.5 reps     5.5 reps
X Jumps:                                      27 reps      32 reps     34 reps
Moving Push-Ups:                        3.5 reps     3.5 reps     4 reps
Agility Lateral Shuffle:                     8 reps      14 reps     15.5 reps
Agility Bear Crawl:                           4 reps       5 reps     7 reps

This extra heat and being used to the cool temperatures adds another element to the mix and you have to balance your work with breathing and smarts. Its relatively easy to overwork yourself, become light headed or dizzy, or even make yourself sick. You have to stay within your level until you are ready to move on! Thats what I did, I got results, and I probably could have done a bit more, but I risk getting hurt, getting sick, or serious injury by crossing that fine line where my limits are and going above my limit. Always be mindful of what your body is telling you, especially if you are not used to something. You can work hard, but work within your limits. 

So here is my video from this morning's fit test, enjoy.... 

Days committed to The Asylum: 25, days committed to this marathon of health and wellness: 632

You are probably wondering why I have a picture of Tony Horton on an Asylum blog post?? Well there is a small story to go along with it...

So yesterday was just an all around crazy day, was all sorts of busy and it seemed like I was everywhere. On top of it all, I didn't get my workout in, beings that it was sunny outside, I figured it be best to work on some farm equipment and make a few repairs before it got crummy out and before bees had a chance to make hives, especially those european hornets. After I got done with everything, spent some time in the shower washing all the grease off and got changed for night, I figured I'd jump on the scales just to see what if anything happened over the past few days. I read it the first time, was stupefied, walked off to fill my water bottles up, came back, got on again, still puzzled, walked off and did some more errands around the house, came back for a 3rd time, and once again, weighed myself. Each time I set foot on that scale, it kept reading 200lbs. I was stunned by that!

I remember a long time ago when I was a very different person, I had said to myself, "Gosh it would be nice to become skinny!" This thought was back when I was in college full time, seeing my fraternity brothers and how good they looked compared to me. I was envious, it was something that I wish I had, but didn't. Well, when I wanted to make a change, at that time, life got in my way and I didn't have the tools to deal with it like I do now. So I went on, doing what I did best, drinking beer, eating bad food, and being lazy. It wasn't until June 2009 that I would come the repercussions of that choice, when I went to my orthopedic doctor to have some hip pain looked at. I had injured them about 10 years before that playing football and a side effect of the injury caused a bone spur to grow across the top of the femoral arm on both sides to support that slipped epiphysis. It was a bad injury, was down for a year an a half and lost all eligibility to play sports in HS. Having remembered this, I was left with 2 choices, I could undergo another surgery, be down for a year, possibly 2 again, or loose weight, become more flexible, and learn to deal with it.

I sat on those decisions and finally on Sept 5, 2009, I made a choice, I was watching a info-commercial for P90X, and saw what they were doing, listened to Tony Horton talk about the program, and more importantly, it was like he was talking to me motivationally. It was at that moment, I made what I feel would become one of the most life changing decisions I have ever made. 632 days ago, I went out of my comfort zone, I reached out, and I set my first goal. At that time, I was 285 pounds and probably on the verge of a heart attack at 30. My first goal happened to be that by the time I was done with the program, I wanted to be down to 200 pounds. 200 pounds, did I fall on my head or something. You might wonder why in the heck I set my goal for the moon? I knew that if I kept my eye on the moon, and kept pushing for it, eventually, I would get there. If you really want something that bad, you'll do whatever it takes to get there. Shaun T reminded me of that fact along the way continuously when I started INSANITY and The Asylum.

Well, the magic number was 632. It took that long to reach my first goal, granted, I had other small steps along the way, sometimes even doubting myself, but I had this nagging need to push through and strive for my potential. And thats what I did. I proved that a guy like me, who has struggled most of his life with weight and sickness can change the tides with his bare hands. I shown that with effort and the right frame of mind, you can do ANYTHING that you set your mind to!! (Thanks again Shaun T for setting me straight!)

I've also had this pursuit to survive The Asylum, and I'm doing pretty good with it as well. It's been 25 days since being committed and it was my best and worst Gameday yet. Some things I was very good at, like the track stuff, the wrestling, the soccer drills, and surfing. Others, not so much, just struggled with the tennis drills, swimming, and rock climbing. Its just the way it goes sometimes, everyday cannot be easy. There will always be challenges for you to deal with. Overtime was rough too, but I made the best out of it and gave it my all. My control has come along way from day 1, my lungs have opened up a bit more, and my endurance is amazing. Now that I have better agility, I can work on my speed in the ladder and my control on the jump rope. Its amazing how you can change in such a short time.

I wish I would have got video today instead of having to type, but the weather didn't want to cooperate here in Michigan. Oh well, in the meantime, think really hard about this.... You can be your own biggest diehard fan, pushing yourself to the goals that you want to succeed, or you can be your own worst enemy, holding yourself back from achieving your potential and your goals... Which one would you want to be?

20 Days in the Asylum...

Believe it or not, jumping is an integral part of any hockey players training program off the ice, and sometimes is needed in game day situations. As Herb Brooks said, "The legs feed the wolf." This phrase is so true with this sport. Strength, speed, and endurance are all vital to hockey players at every level. Without the strength, there is no speed and no endurance. Strong legs are the most vital tool to a hockey player, if you cannot skate, there isn't any need for puck-handling because you will always be out of position. This is why plyometric training is such a vital tool in a hockey players arsenal.

Today was day 20 in the Asylum, having done Vertical Plyo, which is a beast having done Game Day & Overtime the day before. Instead of writing tonight, I decided to do a video for everyone to watch since its been 11 days since my last. Enjoy!

Asylum: Gameday + Overtime = Falling over...

Imagine that you are playing your favorite sport, whether you watch it or actually play it. Imagine that its the biggest game of your career, do or die in the playoffs, game 7. You are giving it your all, playing as hard as you can, laying it all out there for your shot at glory. You come to the end of regulation and the game is tied. You are beaten, battered, scared, and tired but somehow, you have to dig even deeper than you have ever before. Its overtime, it's your team's last chance to win. You have to push and leave it all out there on the field, on the court, or in the rink. 

This is the idea behind Gameday & Overtime is similar to the situation above. You work hard all the way throughout your game, and then at the end of regulation, you go into overtime and push for the win. Those of you who played sports or still do, you realize that the game can change in a heartbeat. You may be ahead one moment, the next, you're behind. In hockey, coaches get so irritated with their teams when they get a comfortable 2 or 3 goal lead, then a few seconds goes by and the game is now tied, all because they let their guard down or they relaxed. 

In Gameday, your are constantly told to push, give it your all for everything you do within that 65 minutes. You're tired, but you still have to keep going. You have to get that frame of mind that you cannot stop, you may be tired, you may be feeling the burn, but you have to dig deep and push. And when you think its over, there is overtime, another 15 minutes that forces you to give it your all. 

Overall, today (Day 17) was my best day so far, I noticed my strength and agility have improved immensely since day 1 and my speed is slowly coming up. I was able to do 8 reps of the mountain climber pull-ups in each 2 minute set, which is impressive since I couldn't do any when I started. However, when it came to overtime, I was whooped, I was dragging, I was trying so hard to stay with it. BTW Shaun T, that was BS at the end, saying that we're done, then go no wait, we are not, 12 straight up pull-ups and 25 push-ups right now, which btw, I got 8 pull-ups without assistance (which is my personal best) and 22 push-ups in the time allowed. Luckily, the camera wasn't rolling because when I got done, I was on the floor for a good 5 minutes trying to pull myself together to do relief since there isn't a cool down as part of overtime. It would have been embarassing....haha.

So is this short program working?? Heck yeah it is! All you have to do is get your mind focused on your goal and keep working towards it. You may stumble, you may fall, and thats life, just get back up and jump in...

Half way up the little mountain...

You are reading that right, the little mountain. That's what the first 30 days of Asylum really is, its the little mountain compared to what's to come. This is how the journey works, think of INSANITY and P90X as the training to get ready to climb the mountains, then comes INSANITY: The Asylum, which is like a little mountain that you have to go up in order to get to the ones you want to actually climb. Only after this, you've reached the base of Everest and can start the real climb, a 60 day hybrid fusion of Asylum with either INSANITY or P90X. You think 30 days was tough, how bout another 60 that pushes you to the max! 


So as I stare at the large mountain in the horizon, I look onward and upward an refocus on the mountain that I am currently climbing. I've had a few stumbles, some near falls, but I'm still here hanging on and driving to the top! 


Ok so enough with the philosophy, moving back to reality. I completed days 15 and 16 of the Asylum, having done my Athletic Performance Assessment (Fit Test) and Vertical Plyo. Here is the assessment from day 1 and day 15.




                                                     Day 1:      Day 15:
Agility Heisman:                           5 reps       6 reps
In & Out Ab Progression:             21 reps      35 reps
Pull-Ups/Lat Push-Ups:               12 reps      17 reps
Mountain Climber Switch Kicks:   35 reps      40 reps
Agility Shoulder Taps:                   4 reps      5.5 reps
X Jumps:                                    27 reps      32 reps
Moving Push-Ups:                      3.5 reps     3.5 reps
Agility Lateral Shuffle:                   8 reps     14 reps
Agility Bear Crawl:                        4 reps      5 reps




So as you can see, I have shown improvement. On the scales, I have dropped 5 pounds, which is awesome, and my BMI has dropped 2% which is excellent for only 15 days. The combo of the program and the diet is absolutely excellent! I've changed my eating habits once again, having my starches in the morning or midday at the latest, and eating proteins/veg in the afternoon and evenings, and as we speak, Shakeology at night an hour or two before bed. I'll post a video up on the bottom of this about what it is since I don't want to go too in depth about that right now. Overall, I'm seeing success and people are noticing that I'm looking a bit more cut.

As for today's Vertical Plyo, things are still getting better, granted, the Plyo Push-Ups are still BS...lol. However, I noticed my agility in the Active Recovery Jump Rope exercises was a lot better. I also saw a lot of improvement in the tuck jumps and power jumps, I'm getting hang time! I still struggle with the double jump rope tuck jumps, but I'm making progress, at least I can do every other jump rope exercise now with some control. By the way, this Active Recovery is now joke! Remember when Shaun T says stop, take a rest for 30 seconds in INSANITY, you do it. Not in Asylum, your rest comes in the form of the jump rope. Its about getting ready for Game Day, whether that's in the Asylum, or on the court, on the field, or my personal favorite, in the rink. You recover and work at the same time, thats how it is in sports and thats exactly how you train in Asylum!

So to go back to phylosophy, we are all climbing mountains, some with obstacles in the paths, some more slippery than others, some that seem like they are really easy but are way harder once you are on, and some that seem to fight you all the way to the top. However, with the right frame of mind, the right skills, and the right tools, you can climb ANY mountain that you set your mind and goals to! Just got to hang in there, get your mind right, and push through!

Dig Deeper!!

Game Day in the Asylum

I'm going to keep this short today, I did Game Day on Friday and all I have to say is WOW! It is 65 minutes of fun and craziness! I can't believe how hard I worked through it and yet was still having fun doing it! I haven't been running for a long time, yet I hung with it, did the six and a half minute run and finished strong! It was great having a variety of different sports to do, doing wrestling, tennis, swimming, surfing, football, soccer, and more. I was super proud of myself, I was able to do 6 pull-up mountain climbers, which if you are doing them with good form and for the entire minute plus, you are insanely strong all the way around! Overall, Game Day in the Asylum is a great workout and it builds from what you are doing in the regular workouts. Go Team Asylum!

Asylum Week 2

It's been a few days since I've posted on here, so before I go into my Asylum workouts from the second week, I've got a few notes from the previous weekend. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to officiate both lacrosse and hockey games, so I got to see how this training is affecting my games. I noticed with the hockey that my core strength had improved and I was able to hold a better posture on the ice during my stride. I also noticed some improvement with my ability to jump up on the boards when the play had come towards me and I am unable to get out of the way of it and hold myself up there for extended periods of time. With Lacrosse, I noticed slight improvement in my speed running. I also noticed a little bit more endurance in the legs, since I was on the field for 6 hours. It may have been the first week of Asylum, but improvements are being made.

I started week 2 of Asylum going into it with an open mind. I know the moves now so I should be able to better keep up with the workouts. And thats exactly what I did. Asylum: Strength was a good workout this week, I went from the 20lb dumbbells to the 30's for most of the workout, except for the hip extension work. I was also able to do a couple wide-fly pull-ups before I had to use the dumbbells to finish. My favorite moves in that routine come at the end with the chest and ab work.

Another big improvement came from Back to Core. I was able to get my mind set correct and push through the pain that my shoulders were in and fight to hold the positions the best I could. I was also able to do the reverse plank work a lot more effectively this time around. With this workout, its all about form and having the right mind set. Don't be hating on Shaun T, just embrace the workout.

I finally got my video camera out and did a bit of footage for Vertical Plyo. I'm super happy that I got the jump rope issue figured out, half way through, I shortened it by about 4 inches and it finally works. I was thinking that maybe I just wasn't agile enough or coordinated enough to use it, it was getting frustrating. I made that adjustment, and I was able to keep up during the second half of the workout. Although I still need more work on the double jumps. Speaking of which, this active recovery is no joke! You work really hard doing a few moves, and then you hop on the jump rope and you get the legs on fire. Shaun says that your going to get a lot of lactic acid building up in your legs, and that is really the case, you have to embrace that burn. Enough on that, here is my video...

As a final thought, keep in mind that the real work doesn't begin until you are already tired.