Those weird girls at number 46

INSANITY IS a spectator sport

It wouldn’t surprise me if a fair few neighbours have branded us as insane. If any of you have done INSANITY, you know it’s not pretty. You know those gym goers, the ones with more mouth work than workout, and minimal sweat? This isn’t us. We look like we have run fully clothed through a shower. No amount of dry shampoo can help you now. Its hair washing daily I’m afraid. Rosy isn’t the word for the shade we are and the occasional burp due to excessive air gulping can surely be heard from at least 2 houses down. I won’t even go into the grunting noises. What I’m trying to say in a roundabout way is it’s not sexy. We have our living room window and curtains open every time, because without doing so we would collapse in a heap (it’s HOT!). We look ridiculous, we know, but we just DON’T CARE! We have had multiple passers-by doing double takes and stopping outside our window. Some laugh (most laugh), some shout encouragement and one creepy man on crutches after we pulled the curtains closed shouted “MORE!!” The rare times I have entered a gym, the fit people far outnumber the overweight. For those of you who are scared to enter the gym before getting to a reasonably fit level, I understand, but remember: we all have to go through looking our worst to look our best.

Week 1 completion!

Day 42. I have managed to complete what must be the hardest week of INSANITY. Could I keep up 100% of the time, most definitely NOT. I’m hoping the improvements in fitness will come, but when Shaun-T is stopping for breaks you know it’s bad.

Avoiding Injury

The likeliness of injury or illness is relatively high when you are doing such intense exercise. Whether you are on Day 1 or Day 50 of INSANITY, there may come a time when you physically cannot go on. For me, the further into the program I went, the more I got into the routine of daily exercising. Even on the recovery day, I now feel like I should be doing something. Three days into month 2 (Day 38), I noticed pain running along the inside of my shins. Self-diagnosis points to inflammation of the connective tissue caused by the frequent and intense periods of exercise and the repeated stopping and starting involved in interval training. The predictable advice: stop the activity that is causing the pain. My willingness to stop and let my legs heal completely is hampered by the time constraint I put on myself and the fact the pain was not huge. If like me you are aiming to finish before a certain date, illness and injuries are a huge inconvenience. 

It may be obvious but before you start, ensure you have trainers which can take high impact and tie them properly! I noticed a need to do additional stretches before and after the DVD to help release the tension, particularly in the calves, and reduce the chances of injury further. In addition, it is easy to go for the high jumps but forget about the landing. Land softly and controlled (as Shaun-T says “Keep your form!”), even when you are tired. The clue is in the sound; if it sounds like a 10kg bag of potatoes hitting the floor, you are NOT controlling the landing. If you start to feel discomfort that points to impact, try swapping moves for ones which are reduced in impact but as similar as possible.