17 days in the Asylum!

Seventeen days ago, I decided to take my Insanity training to the next level with Insanity The Asylum. The last seventeen days have been more brutal than the whole 60-day Insanity program.  But it's a whole different kind of brutal. With Insanity, you want to quit because your muscles and body tell you that you have exhausted yourself, in Asylum, you want to quit because your mind tells you, you can't take any more. It really is a whole different ball game.

The Asylum has a total of 7 workouts - Speed and Agility, Strength, Back to Core, Vertical Plyo, Relief, Game Day and Overtime. Back to Core is by far my favorite of all the workouts, due mostly to it focusing on lower back strength. Because of my low back problems, it provides not just a new challenge, but really has helped me on stabilizing those muscles. Game Day is great too, a full 60 minutes of balls to the wall cardio working drills from running, to wrestling and everything in between.

Relief has been the biggest surprise for me though. I am not normally a fan of stretching workouts. Normally they are boring, or go to a place that I just can't get. Also most are really long. Relief in the Asylum though is only about 20 minutes and really gives a nice slow stretch. Maybe I like it so much because I actually feel that my body needs this stretch in this program.

Either way, I am super excited to only have 13 days left in the Asylum. It has been great, and I can't wait to try out some hybrids with it next year.

Do you know your real competition?

As a human race, we thrive on competition. This holds true to everything we do, be it in our personal lives or professional lives. However, sometimes when on our weight loss journey, we find the wrong competition to fuel ourselves with. What do I mean by this you ask?

Often times when working out or starting to workout, we decide our competition is the person on the treadmill or weight bench next to us. We see what they can do, or how long they go, and we decide we are going to beat them. Sure, some people find this motivating, but there is a serious flaw to this logic. You can always be better than someone. Let's say the person you chose to beat today is just there for a mild workout. Let's say this person is just wanting to do a 30 minute job on the treadmill, you hop on when they do, you glance and their speed and increase yours by just enough to be faster. They hop off after their 30 minutes and you go to 35 minutes. But where is the competition? It's not there, you beat someone who wasn't there to compete. Or maybe let's say you pick someone who looks like they can lift a lot of heavy weights. Well what if they can't, maybe they are just starting to lift and have no real experience, there is no competition there. You are only half way satisfying a need. Sure you think you are fully satisfying it, but you aren't.

So who is your competition? You are your own competition. Yes, I said it. Your main obstacle is you. You can never do better than yourself. This is something I knew from the beginning of my weight loss journey and my journey to a healthier lifestyle. I set daily and weekly goals, as I met those goals, I increased them as well. My first day on the elliptical was to just survive, I barely made it 15 minutes, each day I did the elliptical, I made a goal to go one minute longer. I didn't care what my speed was, I wanted to sustain on the machine. When I made it to 30 minutes, I started working on distance to complete in 30 minutes and so on.

Now in my daily workouts at home, I push to make it farther in my workouts without nearly dying. I will never be satisfied with what I do in my workouts, and no one really should be if they are competitive with themselves. Sure I have days that I tell myself that I am going to take it easy, but I still go strong to compete with me. You are your biggest competition, you can never be better than yourself. Remember that next time you are working out or decide to take on a fitness journey.

Do you know your real competition?

As a human race, we thrive on competition. This holds true to everything we do, be it in our personal lives or professional lives. However, sometimes when on our weight loss journey, we find the wrong competition to fuel ourselves with. What do I mean by this you ask?

Often times when working out or starting to workout, we decide our competition is the person on the treadmill or weight bench next to us. We see what they can do, or how long they go, and we decide we are going to beat them. Sure, some people find this motivating, but there is a serious flaw to this logic. You can always be better than someone. Let's say the person you chose to beat today is just there for a mild workout. Let's say this person is just wanting to do a 30 minute job on the treadmill, you hop on when they do, you glance and their speed and increase yours by just enough to be faster. They hop off after their 30 minutes and you go to 35 minutes. But where is the competition? It's not there, you beat someone who wasn't there to compete. Or maybe let's say you pick someone who looks like they can lift a lot of heavy weights. Well what if they can't, maybe they are just starting to lift and have no real experience, there is no competition there. You are only half way satisfying a need. Sure you think you are fully satisfying it, but you aren't.

So who is your competition? You are your own competition. Yes, I said it. Your main obstacle is you. You can never do better than yourself. This is something I knew from the beginning of my weight loss journey and my journey to a healthier lifestyle. I set daily and weekly goals, as I met those goals, I increased them as well. My first day on the elliptical was to just survive, I barely made it 15 minutes, each day I did the elliptical, I made a goal to go one minute longer. I didn't care what my speed was, I wanted to sustain on the machine. When I made it to 30 minutes, I started working on distance to complete in 30 minutes and so on.

Now in my daily workouts at home, I push to make it farther in my workouts without nearly dying. I will never be satisfied with what I do in my workouts, and no one really should be if they are competitive with themselves. Sure I have days that I tell myself that I am going to take it easy, but I still go strong to compete with me. You are your biggest competition, you can never be better than yourself. Remember that next time you are working out or decide to take on a fitness journey.

 

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Leaving everyday Insanity for THE ASYLUM!!

It's crazy thinking that this time last year I was still the shape of a ball, well more a football, but a ball none the less. I could barely workout, and what I was doing was just barely pushing myself. Fast forward to just a couple Sundays ago, and I finished one of the most intense workout programs on the markte! Yes, I finished my 60 day Insanity program! Ok, so if you have been following my blog, you know it was more than 60 days that I have been doing Insanity. In fact, I started Insanity back in May 2011, but due to some medical issues, I was unable to complete the program. After trying and trying to start from where I left off, I decided to do a full reboot. This was one of the best things I could have done. While I still had issues along the way with my back and at the end of the program my shoulders acting up, I finished.

Pushing play with Insanity was sometimes a chore, I admit it. It is a hard workout and really makes you question your sanity for doing it. Shaun T tells you to "Dig Deep" and sometimes it's hard to do when you barely have the energy left to stand on your two feet. But it has been so worth it. The best part, is I have my proof that I finished Insanity with my T-shirt that I earned! But I'm not done yet.

Last Monday I started Insanity The Asylum! I again have been humbled by Shaun T. I knew it was going to be tough, but I figured I would fair well with the program. It feels like I am starting Insanity for the first time ever! I am digging deep and powering through, but my body has not been through this kind of workout before. It is exciting though. I am already noticing changes in my legs after just 9 days in the program. I feel stronger and can jump higher. So far my favorite workout is Back To Core. It is one of the few workouts that I have found of any of the programs I have done that gives my low back a good workout. This is important to me because of my low back issues from the past.

I am down to just 20 days left in the Asylum, and I'm looking to earn another shirt. I am pushing myself even further, and will be doing Asylum a few times over in the future. But there is another Program on my list, and that is P90X2...Oh yeah, I am insane!