INSANITY Month 1 pre ‘Recovery’ week (Day 1-28): Surviving the shock to the system

Me Me Me 

Like many times in the past, I recently felt my fitness was slipping and, physically, I wanted improvements. This blog is for myself, as motivation, and aims to provide a support network for those of you who need the extra push! I am not a personal trainer or in any way qualified to give advice on health and fitness. I did, however, graduate with a degree in Biology and am now a full time PhD student. I am a 23-year-old female and having now completed month 1, I feel my experience may be useful to some of you. Apologies in advance for any cheese you may encounter!

Many of my friends will know through my relentless avocation of INSANITY, that I am a HUGE fan. When I say INSANITY workout, a lot of people know what it is because of its infamy; a 60 day intense interval training style workout with no equipment and no rest (apart from once a week). Having never been exercise shy and consider myself to be fairly fit, I can say that so far, this is NOT easy. Having posted this blog, there is no backing out now.

Buddy up

If I were to give you one tip, it would be to do it with someone just as motivated as you are to see day 60s completion. Alone, I’m sure my housemate and I would never have reached month 2. Shouting at each other helped. Pushing the other into exercising late at night when bed is calling also helped! Taking part counts, but a bit of friendly competition helps too! Some of you may be motivated enough to do it alone, but use the internet and tell people you are doing it via social networking sites (I was one of those annoying people posting motivational pictures, but it helped me!). The more people who know you are doing INSANITY, the more people will know you have quit if you do! Pressure is a powerful thing.

Your improvement is all that matters!

When you start, unless you are a professional athlete, you will not be able to keep up with Shaun-T and the rest of them (damn you Tanya). I admittedly never managed to keep up 100%. The fact that the people in the video are stopping and losing their form now and then just shows how hard it is. Do not let an inability to keep up with Tanya etc. discourage you. It is easy to think “well they’re athletes- of course they can do far more than I can”. Do not let negative thoughts of inadequacy hold you back. You can do much more than your mind thinks it can do! When you think you can’t do a single more repetition, do one more!

As the days go on you get stronger, you push yourself more and as a result you never find it gets easy.   At home, you are free to sweat an amount which may not be publically acceptable (who knew knee caps could produce beads of sweat??). Say goodbye to the 2-day hair washing routine unless you are prepared to use a lot of dry shampoo.  During week 1 I was tired and my body hurt, especially my calves. By week 2 I felt fitter. Placebo or not, I felt like I had more energy and INSANITY was working quickly. Results may not be physically visible but when you can sprint up stairs or for a bus without feeling like a heavy smoker you know its working.  My housemate could barely do a full press-up at the beginning of the program, but towards the end she was keeping up with the best of them!

Set your eyes on an achievable goal

DO not listen to those people who say “you look great!” and “you don’t need to lose weight!” This may well be true but you are doing this for you and you alone. You know what you want to improve and if you can find someone who also wants to commit to this workout for the same or different goals do it together. For me, it is looking MY best in a bikini with a stomach I am proud of and getting fit. Compare yourself to other ‘ideals’ and you will always be disappointed.

Spice it up

So I get bored easy, and routine is not something I enjoy. I have tried a few DVDs in the past but never completed the routine more than a few times until INSANITY. On some days, Shaun-T makes me irrationally angry. His encouragements such as “Dig Deeper” and “Faster!” is often followed by a “F*ck you Shaun-T!”. Once you get into the swing and know the routine, turn off the DVDs volume and blast a fast music playlist over the top. My flatmate and I found it made the workout more ‘do-able’.

No time? No excuse!

I am a full time PhD student and a part time nanny. After a long day at work, exercising is the last thing you want to do. Many people schedule a time to do INSANITY. We made the time flexible, sometimes in the morning before work, others at 10pm at night because that’s when we both were free. If we had a regular 9-5 job, a structured schedule would be more ideal. Performance changes according to the time of day. We found mornings to be tough; legs refused to move as fast and the whole routine seemed more difficult when compared to the evenings. Your body will get used to the routine and it will become a habit more than a chore. INSANITY comes first. If I can go to Paris for the weekend and manage to still do INSANITY, so can you! If you CANNOT do a certain day, swap it for the rest day. It is better to do it out of sequence than not at all. Be flexible, but most importantly, be COMMITED.     

Illness

I attempted to do INSANITY with a bad cold. Jumping around felt like my brain was bouncing around and I had to take 2 days off. If you are ill, take the days off and restart the week. Yes it’s a step back, but continue without completing the week and you will a) regret it in the following week when your body is not prepared and b) feel like that 60 day celebration is half hearted.

Eat right or prepare to feel it

Admittedly I didn’t stick to a calorie restricted diet due to the fact I cannot and will not calorie count. This is something I did for a week and found it too difficult to add everything up. If you have time to add ‘one tablespoon of olive oil’ to your phone app or other method go ahead! It depends what your goal is, but as long as you know you are not over/under eating you will be fine. Obviously, do not expect to binge on junk food and improve. I found I mostly craved carbohydrates and also healthy foods like fruit and vegetables. BUT I was hungrier. Although I don’t believe it, I have read that INSANITY can burn 1000 calories. What I do believe is your calorie expenditure will increase and you will need to eat more than you did if you were not a big eater to begin with. For me, more lean proteins like chicken will be added to my meals for month 2.

You’ve heard it 1000 times, and you will hear it again, drink lots of water. If your willpower to cut out alcohol for 60 days is stronger than ours, good on you! We didn’t cut alcohol out of our diets but did swap to lower calorie drinks such as vodka sodas. Its important to remember that we are not just doing this for the end photo, we want to make a change, and therefore making changes we do not intend to keep-up after the 60 days, in my mind, is not the way forward.

No weight loss?

If you are not overweight, do not expect to lose weight. As many of you will know, muscle weighs more than fat. If you are losing fat, you are likely to be gaining muscle weight which will likely mean you are not seeing the results on the scale. Measuring yourself will give a better indication of your progress. You may actually be losing inches but your weight is remains fairly stable. I’ve seen some blogs where girls have put on weight, but look incredible in before/after photos. It is much better to calculate % body fat, measurements and take photos instead of measuring weight and BMI!

A side note

If you are very overweight and/or unfit to begin with, I don’t consider this 60 day plan to be safe. The increase in heart rate and the likely injuries you will experience if you attempt to keep up will be unsafe. There are a few things I would suggest, the first being a pre- INSANITY preparation workout to get your body use to exercise. If you do decide to do INSANITY, be prepared to take it at your own pace.