Day 2 (10/26/10)

Ok. Today was called "Plyometric Cardio Circuit".
It was 45 minutes total, but it was like 5 minutes warmup, 10 minutes stretch, 25 minutes of work, and a 5 minute stretch/cool down.

My heart rate peaked at 163. My max is about 193 (the general formula is 220 minus your age, so 220-27=193). This calculates to just about 85% max.
Perceived exertion was similar to calculated exertion, I rated the work at between 85% and 90%.

I definitely rode the pause button more that I'd really like to have, but I suppose that's to be expected.

Also, I'd like to note that my living room has a much greater cat hair content than the average gym. I guess that's the first downside.

See you tomorrow.

Day 1

I actually started Insanity yesterday, following the included workout calendar, and starting with a baseline fitness test. This test puts you through eight different exercises, each a minute in duration, and you're supposed to write down the number of reps of each exercise you're able to complete. Here are my baselines (and accompanying heart rate, where applicable)


# of reps HR
Switch Kicks: 47 150
Power Jacks: 33 161
Power Knee: 54 144
Power Jumps: 15 152
Globe Jumps: 8 148
Suicide Jumps: 8
Pushup Jacks: 15 135
Low plank oblique: 20 125

I realize that these exercise names mean nothing to just about everyone (they meant nothing to me prior to yesterday).

The purpose of this baseline test is to give me something to measure myself against. It looks like every couple of weeks they have you retake the same test and compare both your number of reps and your exertion levels to see your improvement.

In addition to the above baseline levels, on October 25, 2010 I was 226.0 lbs and 16.9% body fat (as measured by BioElectric Impedance Analysis).

My calculated daily caloric intake is 3,000 kcal (thus, I'm eating roughly 500 kcal, 6 times a day).

I will continue to post workout results for each one of the 60 days. I will include a rundown of some of the exercises, and my exertion level both in terms of heart rate (as measured with a Polar wireless heart rate monitor) and my "perceived exertion" (i.e. how hard out of a possible 100% capacity I feel that I am working).

Insanity

I'm sure everyone has seen the commercials for P90X- a fitness program put out by Beachbody. I've checked it out, and I did the program for a few weeks. Though I think the workouts are scientifically sound, the system is impractical. The average American living room doesn't have a pullup bar or a full rack of dumbells... Also, Tony Horton is maybe the most annoying man on the planet. More recently, Beachbody has come out with a newer program call Insanity. It appears to be more cardiovascular workouts and bodyweight exercises. The program is 60 days and comes with a series of different workouts and a nutritional guide. Over the next 2 months I'm going to post a few times a week with updates and reviews of the program.