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Insanity Day 11: Cardio Recovery
Man am I thankful for Cardio Recovery.
My last few days of workouts were actually from Month 2 as Trig and I have been exercising together and he had 4 days left before completing the program. It is HARD. Today I jumped back in on my schedule and was thankful for a recovery day.
Having my spouse be so committed has helped me be committed too. This morning he got up at 4:45 AM to get his workout in before leaving for a work meeting at 6. When my alarm went off at 6:15 I was pumped to exercise knowing he had already gotten his workout done.
Cardio recovery is great because it’s like an active rest day, to me at least. Your muscles get a nice deep stretch, and with controlled movements they get worked too. My favorite exercise is the set of slooooow lunges and squats. You hold the squat at the end before pulsing it out – those always kill me.
A lot of the exercises throughout the whole program remind me of the plyo exercises I used to do with my trainer Sherri in RI before my wedding and also the bootcamp workouts I used to teach at the Art Museum before becoming pregnant with Raffi. I can’t say enough how much I like these DVDs. They are unlike any other exercise video I’ve ever done in that you are really pushed to the max and the workouts never get easy. There is always room to improve and work harder.
I’ve still been eating exactly on plan. My only addition I might eat during the day is raw sugar snap peas. They will me up for few calories and I really enjoy them. I’ve had a box of my second favorite chocolates – Nordstrom’s dark chocolate sea salt caramels – for two weeks and I still haven’t dug in. If you know me you know this is a huge deal! It just hasn’t been worth it to me to splurge on them yet. Sunday we are going to have a nice pizza and I’m really looking forward to it, but chocolate and sweets don’t have their usual appeal. Sarah had suggested that I have a shake of some sort as my after dinner treat, and since that suggestion I’ve done it every night. I look forward to it all day, and it helps me not crave sweets or anything junky at night.
By the way, my first favorite chocolates are Teuscher’s milk chocolate champagne truffles. They are hard to resist.
Why I’m doing Insanity (Days 7, 8, & 9)
I thought I’d share why I chose Insanity over any other workout DVD or program. My friend T, who has always been very fit and conscious of her diet, became a Beachbody coach after loving and completing Insanity. She shared her meals and experience with the program as well as her results. She was already so fit it was hard to imagine her body having any changes, but she changed so much! I wanted results like hers, but I was pregnant and just had to follow her journey from my couch. I now follow her blog religiously as her tips and posts are great reminders of eating well and often, working out hard, and staying motivated. I had lost all of that in the last couple of years. If you need some motivation follow along T’s journey and check out the archives too. For weeks she shared her meals and her workouts.
Then Trig was talking with some colleagues and came home one day and decided to do Insanity too. He was always in good shape, but suddenly he has hard rock abs and no fat on his body. I am shocked at how his body has changed and how he has been able to maintain it. It’s impressive. His mood is great every day too. I want those results! I made my plan while I was pregnant and knew that the minute I felt like my body had recovered from childbirth I would go for it. Two weeks post partum I did a few of his workouts with him with serious modifications (no jumping, not tightening my core, etc) and finally one month post partum I started the schedule.
Insanity also really appeals to me as someone who likes to workout for a short period of time but HARD. The workouts are 40 minutes to an hour and then you’re done for the day.
I love it already. My body has only made small changes in the last 9 days, but my outlook has completely changed. I feel good about myself for the first time in, well, two years. And I know the results will follow.
Week 1 results: lost 1 lb, .25 inches off my waist
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