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INSANITY Asylum Vol. 1: Week 1

Finished up the first week of oInsanity Asylum Vol. 1 and it is fantastic. Every single one of these workouts feels fresh and original. There is definitely a lot more variety and the program seems to address the redundant nature of the first Insanity program. Not only that the exercises are much more challenging and Ive found myself struggling with some of them. Looks like I got a lot more work ahead of me to get to excellent form.  As far as nutrition goes, I’m following the guide pretty well so far which requires eating 5 meals a day which is a lot. Ill talk more about that later. Just felt like giving a quick update. I have more to say about the program which I will through my future videos.

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Committing to INSANITY: The Asylum Vol. 1 Sports Performance *NEW VIDEO WOOT!*

I am now at the beginning of doing Asylum and have already started my journey.  So far it rocks and I can’t wait to try everything else out.  As promised, I have a short video with all my initial thoughts so I’ll leave that to be viewed.  Look forward to more videos in the near future!  Let’s dig deeper!

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Week 13: P90X / INSANITY hybrid *** FINAL RESULTS & RECAP ***

Three months fly by in a flash and now I’ve completed my 4th round of P90X ( or more accurately 3 and 1/3 rounds of completion ).  The last final week went by fine and it was just a recovery week so no hard workouts.  I initially thought I would push for more working out but it didn’t turn out that way so I settled for doing the minimum.  Nutrition has been good but I felt that I didn’t eat enough and not only that I didn’t really vary my meals ( a lot of PBNJ sandwiches and smoothies 😛 ) with good nutritious content.  Food was running low and I always try to shoot for doing my main shopping every 2-2.5 weeks starting from the beginning of the month.  I notice that I have a tendency of sliding away from eating well once my food supplies drop or that I don’t have a good plan in place.  It’s always a good idea to recognize these kinds of behaviors so I do recommend following some sort of nutrition plan and even better keep a food journal of some sort.  Anyway I’m more than happy with the results I got even though they’re no nowhere near as dramatic as my first round when I went all out.  Though I definitely feel physically stronger overall.  I’ve attached some stats and pics to illustrate.  Be sure to click on them to view them larger:

Final Results July 02 – Oct 1 / 2012

Progress Chart

Overall Stats

Bodyfat composition over time

Looking at my overall progress using pictures, spreadsheet, and a graph we can definitely notice my change in composition.  My progress was pretty steady during the first half and then began to level out with areas of no progress and decreased results.  These non-progress areas are highly attributed to poor nutritional behaviors such as eating out quite a bit or eating food that does not have good nutritional value.  In addition days where I was pretty sedentary despite working out were also a factor in these non-progress areas ( I’m looking at you Netflix on Demand, in particular Breaking Bad which is pretty darn good TV show by the way 😀 )

Overall, I almost met my goal of dropping down to 32in on my waist and only missed it by 1/2 of an inch which is not a big deal.  Having a specific goal in mind whenever embarking on an a committed routine is always a must and keeps you focused on whatever tasks you need to do to successfully meet it.  Consistency is also key so stick to your workouts and keep track of them as you go along.  As I’ve done in the past, print out a calendar and cross out those days where you’ve finished a workout.  By the end, you’ll feel proud that you committed yourself to working out X number of days.  On another key note, try not to be like me where I have a tendency to see-saw with my fitness.  I’ll go at for awhile when I’m committed and then for whatever stupid reasons or BS excuses I let go and lose everything I worked hard for.  Be reasonably steady overall with your fitness, except for periods like Christmas and Thanksgiving :).  Anyhow, those are my tips for anyone doing any kind of exercise program whether it be P90X or your own wkout at the gym.  This round is now finished and I’ll be keeping it easy this upcoming week while prepping up for Asylum.  I did mention the return of the vlog  so I’m pretty stoked to go at again with that format so look forward to checking it out!

 

 

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Week 12: P90X / INSANITY Hybrid

Last regular workout week of the program.  This week just as last week continues to feel great.  I can actually see the results coming in gradually. Nutrition has been on target and it looks like I’m on track to meet my goal or at least come very close to it.  This last week is a recovery week but more than likely Ill make it a bit more challenging by adding in a second workout with Insanity. I’m looking forward to the end of this round since last time I reached Day 78 which was still good but I prefer to finish everything completely to the end.  Post plans for this round will be a nice week of light exercise and then Ill hit it hard with Asylum which I plan to vlog.  I sure would love to get that Asylum Tshirt

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Week 10: P90X / INSANITY hybrid

Finished up the 10th week of my program and it’s been going great.  I felt like I really pushed things and was able to “dig deeper” than my usual workout mode.  Nutrition is iffy but I’m not complaining.  Though I’m not getting the insane physical body results I’ve gotten in some of the other times I’ve attempted, I’m content with getting stronger with every workout ( it feels great being able to lift heavier and get that muscle pump ).  Overall I’m feeling pretty good.  Could be better but there’s no need to beat myself over that.  It’s better than being sedentary and not exercising at all.  Three more weeks remaining in this round.  The tentative plan after this is to take a one week breather and then finally hit INSANITY: The Asylum.  I’ve had the program for well over a year a think and I haven’t even done any of it!  I actually started previewing the workout material and man it looks challenging.  Not only that it looks like a lot of fun so I can’t wait to start doing that.  As with any of the other times I first start on a program, I always strive to put 110% effort with following it to the tee.  Asylum is designed for 30 days so it should not be too difficult to implement into a schedule as well as follow the nutrition.  I can’t wait to try it out!

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Week 9: P90X/Insanity Hybrid

Just realized I didn’t write a post for week 7 so I corrected the title for the previous post to include Week 7.  Time sure does fly.  With the completion of the workout today I am now counting down 28 days exactly until this round of P90X is in the books.  Compared to some of my other rounds, I’m doing okay.  It’s not exactly as good as some of my other rounds, but that’s definitely attributed to my diet being spotty.  Not only that I’m not doing double workouts consistently.  However I did notice in my first round of P90X, I dropped a lot of weight.  However, I have a feeling a lot of it may have been due to muscle mass loss as a result of doing the Doubles routine and not eating enough.  This time around, my weight seems to be stabilizing around 160-162lb and not dropping off quickly.  I prefer it this way rather than consistently dropping down.  I’m not really looking to drop weight but to maintain my weight and consistently shred body fat.  Anyway, this last Phase I am going to try being a bit more strict with my diet and also be a bit more active overall.

Lately things have been slow and I’ve been on my butt quite a bit which is never good.  From what I read about, they say it’s better to be on your feet majority of the day then to be sitting down.  Supposedly you live longer if you keep that up.  I don’t know if that’s true but being a bit more active and moving around sure beats sitting down majority of the time.  Now at cafes where there are standing tables, I’ll stand up and work on my netbook.

On a side note, the Fat Gripz accessory sure does work your forearms which I expected.  The little tweak of changing the grip really does make a difference and I can feel my forearms burning.  Even with assisted pullups, my arms continue to get a work out.  I told my friend this thing is great training for a situation where you have to hold on for dear life such as hanging on a cliff.  You never know when having strong forearms will help in a survival situation :P.  I highly recommend getting them as they’re a great investment!

*** I used to way back a 1.5 year was doing a vlog on my fitness stuff, so I am contemplating doing that again for fun.  I have a better rig for video editing and have been getting back to doing some filming so we’ll see ***

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Week 7-8: P90X/Insanity Hybrid — New Accessory FAT GRIPZ —

A bit of a late post.   Last week was a recovery week and it’s been the laziest yet.  I only really completed 3 workouts or so some of which were different than what was supposed to be scheduled.  No biggie but things have slowed down quite a bit in terms of effort.  Feel like I’m losing that motivation to really push things hard.  Not only that, nutrition has been suffering and I have been eating like crap.  My friend is getting busy with her schedule since she’s off to school and working so things have slowed down a bit for her but hopefully she pulls through and can manage working out at least 3 times a week.  It’s the last Phase!!! Can’t give up now!

Anyway, on a side note.  I happened to come across a new accessory for making pullups more challenging.  They’re called “Fat Gripz” which are designed to fit on a standard sized pull-up bar.  By making the grip larger, this accessory helps to develop your forearm muscles which are pretty important for making things easier with pullups as well as other exercises like bicep curls.  I have yet to try it out but I will tomorrow with P90X Chest & Back.  We’ll see how much of a difference it makes.  Just from doing a couple I can already tell, it’s a whole different feeling.

Fat Gripz

Time to challenge myself by doing pullups with these…

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Week 6: P90X / Insanity Hybrid

Finished up the 6th week of the program. This week I felt like I didn’t give it my best as I just wasn’t feeling too motivated to go hard like I usually do.  Oh well, there’ll be ups and downs. Almost done with Phase 2. My friend is continuing to improve and is having awesome results. She’ll be lean and mean in no time. Anyway, this will be a short post. Till next week!

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Week 5: P90X / INSANITY / Other Activities Hybrid

Finished the 5th week of the program.  All is going well as  I continue to shred more bodyfat and gain more muscle definition.  I can finally start wearing my skinnier shirts and jeans!  This week I definitely noticed more strength gains than when I finished off Week 3.  INSANITY workouts are not feeling as exhausting anymore.  Though my friend and I did Max Interval Plyo and it kicked our butts.  We were a bunch of sweaty socks by the end :P.  I’m really proud of my friend for hanging in there.  She’s been tagging along with me for 3 weeks now and has shown a lot of improvement with her fitness levels.  Her core strength is a bit weak so she has trouble doing some of the exercises like pushups but over time it will greatly improve.  I remember starting P90X for the first time and my core strength was pretty so so but after going through one round it was rock solid.  Core strength is really important not just for exercise but for real life activities whether it be picking up heavy stuff of the ground or even salsa dancing.  Anyway, my friend let me know that she’s starting to see results and even bought some new clothes to accommodate the changes!  Helping out a buddy achieve their goals feels great inside and is also a lot of fun.