Day 2 - Tabata Power

Good morning readers. I hope you all had a pleasant evening last night and a wonderful day so far.

 I am doing fine so far, but the day is young.

As you can see by the title, yesterday's workout was entitled "Tabata Power". I had heard that word before, but didn't really know what it meant so I did what anyone would do....I Google'd it.

(If you are like me, I had no clue what Tabata training was before I did this workout.)

A version of HIIT (high intensity interval training) was based on a 1996 study by Professor Izumi Tabata. It initially involved Olympic speedskaters. The study used 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO₂max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles). 

So, in basic English, you go full out, like a crazy person for 20 seconds, then you go a mere 10 seconds to catch your breath and repeat.......until you die.

 Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this type of workout, because you never stop moving. There really is no 10 second rest in Insanity:Max30 Tabata Power, you keep moving with a slow jog, or something else less intense for 10 seconds. It's just enough time to think to yourself, crap that was a long 20 seconds, catch your breath, glance at the screen and get right back into the routine again. Every routine was intense, by design, but doable for just about everyone. The modifier is there for you to use if you are not up to 20 seconds of intensity. Even i had to use the modifier a few times. I can feel the results already. Sore muscles, abs are tighter than usual, quads are aching when i go down the stairs, you know how it goes.

 My wife and I are doing all 60 days together, just like so many programs we have done in the past.I am really enjoying working out with the wife once again, as we continuously motivate, encourage and support each other. We always give each other kudos during the workouts and we feed off each other progress. It's a win-win for both of us. We work out in a small room that is barley large enough for us to avoid kicking each other and knocking each other down, but we do what we have to to get the job done. Shaun T is amazingly motivating. Nuff said.

Since Monday, yeah only 3 days ago, I am down 3.5 pounds.  I know that doesn't sound like much but, I have not even altered my nutrition from my weight lifting plan. I am still eating 3000+ calories a day. I feel like I eat all day long, but it is all healthy lean protein, complex carbs and healthy fats. I do plan on altering my total caloric intake down to about 2500 or so and changing my macros a bit, from the 50p/30f/20c I am on right now. I may possibly increase the carbs slowly and dial back the fats (flip flop them actually) to see if the give me more energy for the workouts, but I am doing fine so far, so we will see. 

So, until tomorrow, I hope everyone has a pleasant day and thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. I appreciate it.

Day 1 - Cardio Challenge

Oh man....let me tell ya something.....Oh how I have missed Shaun T. Don't get me wrong, Sagi (body beast creator) is awesome and he really knows his stuff when it comes to body building, but the push, push, push, dig deeper, do a little more mantra that Shaun T gets you into is incredible. Since I have really only been lifting weights for the past 6 months, my cardio has suffered greatly. You can only lift weights so fast....sorry that's just a little lifting humor. However, muscle memory is amazing. Yeah, the heart is a muscle and it will get back into it quickly. I maxed out ( had to stop and catch my breath ) at a mere 2:05 last night, but I jumped right back in the game and kept pushing until I had to stop again. Some of the new moves took a second to get down and none were very hard to do, but the get the job done for sure. I really like the format of these workouts (assuming they all follow the same pattern). You do 3 or 4 moves, then you repeat them 2 more times ( i think ) One really cool and innovative feature of the Max 30 workouts is that you can choose the option to have the modifier ALWAYS on screen. As with almost all Beachbody workouts, there is one person doing the modified version of the workout. That is the person doing the no impact, less rigorous version of the move everyone else is doing. However, the modifier in some workouts is only shown very briefly for each move and that is it. Kudos to Beachbody for incorporating this very helpful feature into the DVD.

After the workout was done, a shower was, as you can expect, much needed and surely earned. I haven't continually poured sweat like that in a very, long time. I kept sweating for another 15 minutes after the workout and I got in the shower ! Sweat is fat crying !! Tonight we have a workout entitled "Tabata Power". from the description, it sounds to be right in my wheel house. But Shaun T will make it tremendously hard, as usual. I can't wait.

Insanity MAX:30 Starts tonight !

Good afternoon everyone. Thought I would start up my blog once again and see what happens. Sylvia and I hope everyone had a very nice holiday season. 

With all of our holiday feasting and getting off track, nutritionally, this new program could not have been more perfectly timed. 

Sylvia and I will begin our 2015 journey together tonight with 

Shaun T's brand new workout program......

The thing that intrigued me about this workout, when i first heard about it, is that you go all out for as long as you can, then when you absolutely have to take a short breather, you write down your time. That is your #IMAXEDOUT time. The next week when you do that particular workout again, you try and beat your previous time, until you max out at 30 minutes. I like pushing myself, so this is right in my wheel house.

Sylvia and I are both excited to begin this workout, since we both LOVED Insanity.(we did it twice) We did, however, find Insanity to be a tad bit too long for our time schedules, but we stayed focused and pushed through each workout and we were rewarded with fantastic results.

I have been doing Body Beast for the last 6 months and I am absolutely in love with weight lifting. I have seen tremendous results from BB, so I see no reason to stop. So, I will continue my regularly scheduled lifting program even as I do Insanity Max30. Needless to say, the following 60 days will be brutal to say the least.

Interested in what this program is all about? 

Follow this link to watch the promo video. 

CLICK HERE

I will be posting updates, daily, with my personal comments and feelings about this workout. I did have the privilege of doing one of the workouts at Beachbody's last Super Saturday and it was intense, to say the least. (there is not much cardio with Body Beast, so I got my butt handed to me)

In closing, I hope anyone who has even the slightest interest in starting the new year off right by taking the plunge, getting healthier and getting in shape, will contact me so we can start this journey together. 

It's going to be one hell of a ride, so lace up your cross-trainers, grab a towel and your water, and prepare to burn some serious calories with myself, my wife, and the amazing Shaun T.