Insanity - Week 5: Tough Month Ahead

Yep, another post on Insanity. Thankfully, there are only (!) nine weeks in the program.

If you've missed them, here are my previous posts:

Month/Phase 1
Week 1 - Secret Insanity
Week 2 - Can't Stick to Any Diet
Week 3 - How Hard is It?
Week 4 - Running versus Insanity

Week 5 Reflections:

I spent the week recovering. Recovering from the marathon, and, coincidentally, it was the Recovery Week of the Insanity program.

Doing these workouts post-marathon was no joke, even if it was "recovery." I was still dripping sweat by the end... how does that happen?! I actually found that (carefully) following the Recovery Week helped with the stiffness, but I had to fight both my body and creeping doubts about my ability to safely continue. Let's just say there were squat hops, high vertical jumps, and other post-marathon no-nos embedded in there, but as I mentioned, if you're doing it right, most of your energy should come from the core, anyway, and landing should be controlled by it, too.

The "Recovery Week" consists of repeating one workout six times (I modified it):

Monday - Core Cardio & Balance (the day after 26.2 = funny)
Tuesday - Core Cardio & Balance
Wednesday - Core Cardio & Balance
Thursday - Core Cardio & Balance
Friday - Core Cardio & Balance
Saturday - Fit Test #3 and Relay for Life (in lieu of Core Cardio & Balance) -- I'll post about the Relay experience sometime soon...
Sunday - 5-mi walk (to end the event above) and rest

All I can say is... no matter what is ahead... doing the same workout in a row like this is booooring!

I'm beginning "Phase 2" this week. This is supposedly when real changes are supposed to occur. What these "real changes" are is beyond me. Frankly, although I'm decently satisfied with my results so far, I don't think I have it in me to change any more, somewhat due to my lack of eating discipline. I'm back to where I was at the beginning of the year weight-wise and am a bit more toned in my abs, legs, and upper body. I don't think it's enough for others to notice, but I do, and it is a sign of my work so far. I think the most rapid changes occurred in my legs.

Regardless of physical changes or lack thereof, I both look forward to, and fear, Month 2. I will need to wake up earlier to do the workouts, and in return, I will have to push for that much longer when it was already hard to push to the end of the Month 1 stuff. (***Edited to add: Just tried a Month 2 workout. It's a new level of drain... wow. More on this next week.***)

Here are the results of my Fit Test #3 alongside the rest. Some exercises stayed the same, others went up a little, but man... I'm totally reaching my limits of what I can do in 1 minute here!

	Fit Test 1	Fit Test 2	Fit Test 3	Fit Test 4	Fit Test 5
Switch Kicks (2 sides=1 rep)	58.5	53.5	60
Power Jacks	59	61	64
Power Knees	76	92	92
Power Jumps	29	33	35
Globe Jumps	10	12	13
Suicide Jumps	20	23	24
Push-Up Jacks	26	33	36
Low Plank Oblique (2 sides=1 rep)	37	43	43

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