a whole lot of nothing.

yo.

some days, i don’t have anything specific to talk about or much to show you. i know, strange, since i am such a professional rambler. today is one of those days! i guess i will just start typing and see where it takes me..i am sure i will end up with a lengthy post. it never fails.

one thing i know for sure is that if you do the insanity workouts, you will have no trouble sleeping. you might, however, have trouble waking up.  i could not pull myself out of bed this morning!  so, no, i did not get my workout done in the AM.. and i also did not have time to take a photo of my breakfast. you are lucky i didn’t have time, because it was egg whites and cereal.. i probably would not have shown that to you guys anyway. much too boring.

i didn’t even have time to make coffee today, so i made my boss bring me a tall cup of joe on his way into the office. what? you don’t boss your boss around? i do. he got the coffee at mcdonald’s.. i will say this: mcdonald’s makes pretty OK coffee and really good soft serve (even though i haven’t had it in years, i am sure it hasn’t changed). i guess they have those two things going for them.

lunch was leftover balsamic chicken & peas.. so no photo there.. but i will say it made for delightful leftovers.

my snack was something i haven’t had in ages because i was under the impression that my magic bullet at work was broken.  you see, my old receptionist had told me that it was broken and i never had the sense to test it out for myself because i really had no need to blend up an ice cold smoothie during the winter months.  plus, i have a magic bullet and a vitamix at home, so my blending needs were covered.  when i made HEAB’s cookie dough smoothie the other week, i remembered that i had a magic bullet at work and wondered if it really was broken or if my old receptionist was just challenged at operating a blender.

turns out, it works just fine. sheesh, glad i figured that one out before summer hit! protein smoothies are a staple of mine during the warmer months.  this one was tasty and tropical!

it contained a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a scoop of EAS vanilla premium protein powder, a cup of mixed fruit (from sunday’s fruit bowl) and a handful of ice.

i sometimes forget how awesome protein smoothies taste. they really are as good as ice cream shakes, in my opinion. and my opinion is all that matters when it comes to satisfying my taste buds. thank goodness.

because i was a lazy ass this morning, i had to complete my insanity workout after work. i kind of hate working out after work now.  i can’t believe i did it for so long! ever since i started the morning workouts, i have grown to love the free time after work.  instead of getting home, working out, showering and making dinner, i am able to get home.. sit on the couch with the dogs for two hours cross things off my to-do list and be really productive before having to start making dinner.  someone please call me tomorrow morning and make me wake up for my workout, kay? thanks.

despite my reluctance, i came home and immediately changed and started up the DVD.

i had spectators.

today’s insanity workout was another new-to-me routine.  it was the max cardio conditioning workout and i had the sense to read through it along with a few reviews so i knew what i was in for. luckily, it was very similar to my favorite workout from month one: pure cardio.  i like this workout because it does a single move for a minute solid and then you are DONE with that move for the rest of the workout and don’t have to go back to it two more times like the circuit workouts have you do. i think i like this format better because it is easier for me to get through the workout mentally.  i say “just one minute! you can do it!” and i get it done.  the kicker is that month 2’s version of pure cardio was not 15 moves like month one.. it was 24 moves. oh, and it had a longer, harder warm-up. just a couple minor details.  even though it was long and hard (TWSS), it was definitely my favorite one of month two so far. i was reallllllly glad when the cool down stretching came.

stretching is my favorite part! also the easiest part, ha.

dinner was pretty effortless.

TACO TUESDAY!

taco salad tuesday, that is. seasoned ground turkey, salad greens, black beans, salsa, avocado, cheese, cilantro and greek yogurt.

stole the tortilla bowl idea from lisa. i simply put a tortilla in my cast iron skillet and popped it in the oven at 375 degrees for a few minutes until the edges got crispy.

yum.

well, because this post has been ridiculously pointless, i will try to give it some redemption by tacking on some answers to a couple questions i received on yesterday’s post regarding insanity.

Q: Is Marshall still doing Insanity?  I would be interested to know what he thinks of it and what kind of results he is seeing from it.

A: marshall did all of the insanity workouts for the first five weeks.  he started out doing them in the morning with me, but then decided he performed better in the afternoons.  he switched to afternoon sessions of insanity and he also has been going to the gym to lift nearly every single day. i am not quite sure how he manages to do all this, it takes a lot of energy!

as far as the second month goes, marshall is taking a bit of time off before completing the last four weeks.  he has a really big job at work this week and still wants to focus on lifting, so insanity will be set on the back burner for now.  i can see why he would rather spend his free time and energy at the gym lifting—he has different goals than i do and while insanity caters to my goals of fat loss and increased endurance, it does not really cater to muscle growth.  plus, the second month is so intense that i really don’t see how someone could do the insanity workout and go to the gym each and every day. unless they wanted to plan their own funeral, that is.

it is hard to say what kind of results he is seeing from insanity, because he has been lifting regularly.  his progress is very noticeable, that’s for sure! but the progress is a result of the combination of lifting and the insanity workouts.

Q: I’m curious about how you would compare your insanity progress with your body for life progress  in terms of body composition. You said it is one of the hardest workouts you’ve ever done but how does it compare with a traditional cardio + weightlifting routine? I would love your inputs since you’ve experienced both.

A: it is a little hard to compare these two programs for a couple reasons.  one: they are TOTALLY different programs! and two: i am in MUCH better shape going into insanity than i was going into body for life. i think that when you go from doing nothing AT ALL to doing any food & fitness program (and you stick to it), you will see great results. when you are already in good shape and start a new program, the results will be good.. but not as drastic because your body is already used to healthy eating and regular exercise. make sense?

i would say that the body for life program is 80% eating and 20% exercise.  the reason i had so much success with body for life is because i followed the eating regimen to a T and never slipped off track.  i also did the workouts, but i don’t think that had as much to do with my success as the eating part did.  however, the reason i gained so much muscle during body for life is definitely thanks to the weight lifting regimen.  if you are new to weight lifting or just want to gain some quick and easy muscle, the body for life lifting routine is definitely the way to go.  the cardio part of body for life is great for fat loss but i wouldn’t say it is the best way to train for endurance since the HIIT cardio sessions are only 20 minutes long.  they definitely increase your endurance, especially if you have never done this type of workout before, but they don’t prepare you for anything that requires lots of endurance (like a super long race or something similar.)

the insanity program is awesome for endurance.  i have seen huge improvements in my ability to perform various exercises in a short amount of time, as i showed you all in my fit test results yesterday.  i also feel much more fit, although the changes are not very visible.  i believe this is partially because i don’t have much to lose in terms of body fat and also partially because i am not focusing on any sort of eating plan.  the insanity program does come with a nutrition plan and outline, but i am not following it.  i have read through it and it is almost identical to the body for life eating plan—believe it or not.  it instructs you to balance you protein and carb ratios and make sure to include some healthy fats in your day. it also instructs you to eat five times a day, once every few hours.  i know that if i was following the insanity nutrition plan to a T, i would have more visible results.. but the reason i am doing insanity is to improve my physical fitness, not to get skinny.  one thing i want to mention is that insanity is great for cardio and endurance, but not so great for muscle gain.  while i am looking and feeling more toned and my muscles have been (and currently are) very sore from the workouts.. there is not any really intense strength training involved.  i believe the best way to gain muscle is through focused strength training rather than the cardio/strength hybrid that insanity offers.  but.. i am not saying that i haven’t gained muscle. i know i have! just not as much as when i did body for life.

last but not least, i will address the question of how the difficulty of the workouts compare.

first, insanity.  the insanity workouts are the same for 4 weeks, then you have a recovery week with a lot of core work, followed by a second month of more intense workouts. i said that the first workout of the second month of insanity was the hardest workout of my life. yep, that is for sure. it was an hour of intensity and i am surprised i made it through!  the first month of insanity is tough, but not too tough (for me). the nice part about the insanity workouts is you don’t think.. you just do.  yes, you do the workouts according to your ability and go at the pace that you are able to.. but it’s a DVD with a whole group of people doing the workout and it pushes you to try to work out at the same speed as the people in the DVD. it also has all the moves outlined for you.. so you just hit play and go, go, go.

body for life workouts consist of the same type of workout for the whole 12 weeks and the only changes made are ones you make on your own.  you have to plan your workouts each day using the body for life outline.  there are HIIT cardio days, lower body weight training days and upper body weight training days.  you could essentially do the exact same workouts over and over for the whole 12 weeks, although i don’t recommend that because our bodies like variety and change. i would say that the body for life workouts are only as hard as you make them.  you complete them based on your own RPE (rate of perceived exertion) scale and you are supposed to hit your max (level 10) a few times throughout each workout.  if you don’t hit your 10s, you are just selling yourself short and not getting the most bang for your workout buck.  the reason the body for life workouts don’t get the label of “hardest workout of my life” is because while they are tough—they are short. some of the HIIT workouts i completed while doing body for life were just as hellish as the insanity DVDs.. but they were over after just 20 minutes, and the real intense part was for only a few minutes of that total 20 minutes.  with insanity, the intense part is the majority of the DVD and there are very short, small breaks. you are working harder and for longer with insanity.  oh, and the weight days on body for life are challenging, but they aren’t intense like insanity is intense. there were days that i barely sweat on the body for life lifting plan.. but then the next day my biceps would hurt so bad that i couldn’t lift a pencil.  it’s hard to compare insanity and body for life because they are such different types of working out.

hope that sheds some light on the topics! again, if you have any other questions about my insanity challenge, please ask. i am happy to give my two cents.

welp.. check you guys later!

Qs~

1. is there anything you eat only in the warmer months that you are excited about? i love protein smoothies but don’t have them a lot during winter because they leave me so cold. i am excited to bask in the sun with a protein smoothie in hand all summer long.

2. do you prefer strength training or cardio/endurance training? if i had to pick, i’d choose to lift weights every day.

xo. janetha g.