Deafeat

I have finally decided to admit defeat and move on from Insanity to another workout! Two weeks ago, I had the botox procedure done for migraines and it has done wonders for my headaches. However, I had to take time off of Insanity after that as well as modify A LOT of the moves. Post procedure, I'm no longer allowed to do push ups or pull ups anymore due to a trigger point in my traps... Now, the pull ups part doesn't affect me as far as Insanity is concerned, but the push ups do. There are a lot of pushups in this bad boy! Also, I have been forbidden from doing planks and such for 4-6 weeks post procedure. I keep attempting to go back to it, but with my neck still having some residual soreness, I can hardly make it through the warm up before deciding that the pain isn't worth it. I know, Pain is weakness leaving the body... but trust me, this type of pain is a little different than just muscle sore and I'm not willing to risk backsliding this time! I'm learning to listen to my body - and it says it just isn't ready for a workout this high impact and intense.

All that being said... If anyone has any suggestions of another program, I'm all ears. And in the meantime, I'm going to go back to TKB tomorrow... again... and I'll be the "modifier" near the front. :-)

Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit... among other things!

First things first... we have hot water again! Whew... I don't think I've appreciated a hot shower in a long time so much as I did today! In addition to working out, I also was forced to clean up the garage and move a bunch of stuff so that access to the water heaters and to move them around, etc was easier on the plumbing crew. I also worked on killing the grass behind our pool in an "earth friendly way" by using vinegar... however, I smelled like vinegar(enhanced vinegar to be exact, so vinegar, orange oil and molasses) the rest of the day - AND, I still have 2/3 of the grass left to spray tomorrow.

My fit test I had some great gains today, and a few that I had lower numbers, but I think I improved form on those.

Switch kicks 94, last time - 107. So, 13 less, but I got my legs up higher and straighter than I had before

Power Jacks - 66, last time... 57. Very hard to improve upon and keep your form good, but I got 9 more!

Power knees - 112, last time - 102, 10 more!

Power Jumps - 39, last time - 38 and the first day I only got 31... so still seeing improvement here too!

Globe Jumps - 12, 1 more than last time!

Suicide Jumps - 22, 2 more than before.

Pushup Jacks - 24, 4 more than last time and 8 more than day 1!

Low plank Oblique - 70, 8 more than last time... 20 more than day 1!

After this I had to take a break! I don't know if it was the medicine they'd tried me on not being completely worn out of my system or if I just went that much harder... but I thought I was going to pass out at the end!

Max Intervals... what the heck! 60 minutes of pure torture! Tons of punches and lost of pushups... and by the end I was so tired I forgot I was supposed to be modifying it to keep my trapezius from getting angry - I did it all in the last several sets. My legs feel like my shoes are cinder blocks! It's hard to walk, it's more like a shuffle... I don't know why they put these 2 things together... but dang, almost 90 minutes of high intensity cardio! And I get to do it all over again in just under 2 weeks!

As for the migraine that just won't go away... it's still here, but I'm putting up a good fight and trying to keep unmedicated so we can break the rebound pain cycle. I am exhausted. Over 3100 calories burned today in total...

Ugh... Not sure what else to say about today... :-(

Started off today with a little zumba. It was really rainy and Goofyboy was begging to get to play with some friends so we hit the gym early today! Angela was out, but Adrienne stepped in and it was a super fun class!

After class, I got a call from the Dr that my insurance has finally approved for me to get botox to treat the severe migraines I've been having for the last 3 or more months. This includes having injections along trigger points in my head, neck, and shoulder and it's what I've been waiting to get done - not b/c I want it done, but because I am sick and tired of trying new drugs only to feel like crap. They are hopeful that this treatment that's been FDA approved will help with both the classic migraines that I've been having way too many of, as well as the shoulder that's been having spasms and causing issues. I've never had headaches this bad, but over the last several months they've started to take their toll on my quality of life as well as my family's... In the past 2 weeks, I've had to take my emergency relief medicine 18 times, I've been tracking it, so I can show the doctor. Also, the most recent medication they tried me on as a "preventative" measure causes me to black out and faint... and I'm not exaggerating! Twice today the world went black while I was moving around at home and I found myself on the floor! I am truly lucky I had been away from furniture else I could have cracked my head open. It'd happened yesterday at the store as well, but I managed to grab the shelf so I didn't completely go down... Once I got my composure back, I shuffled Goofyboy out pretty quickly. It's got my blood pressure way down too, some readings as low as 80/59. They did tell me to stop taking it immediately, so hopefully it leaves my system quickly and I can get back to normal! I hate taking medicine - I'm praying that the injections will allow me to get back to normal and they can take me off all meds! Today they gave me some pain injections to help alleviate the current migraine while they wait for the botox to arrive.

All of this excitement leads me to my Insanity workout... after having had the injections, I became super tired and *knew* I wasn't firing on all cylinders and that the fit test wouldn't be an accurate measure if I did it today. I made it through the warm up and stretch before I decided I should let the head/shoulder rest after the injections today... So, I'll pick it up again tomorrow! No excuses then!

To top off my super fantastic rainy day... Hubby gets home and asks me if I knew about the hot water heaters running out... Both 50 gallon water heaters died. No showers tonight unless we want cold ones! Brrr!

Here's to tomorrow being better!

edit: I totally forgot to mention that that stupid medication that they had me on has caused me to gain 8lbs in the past 2 weeks... which I'm not even sure thats physically possible for me to eat *that much* extra a day to gain that! So, on top of the blacking out and low blood pressure... GRRRRR

Week 4...

Ok, I must admit I have not been on top of blogging this week! Sunday I made up Saturday's workout, out poolside - to the sounds of my 5 year old screaming "Come on mommy, you can do better than that!". It did make me laugh, and try a little harder. It's hard doing Plyometric cardio on an uneven surface... adds a whole new level to the workout, and my calves hurt pretty bad Monday!

Monday I did zumba in addition to Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs. I have so missed my classes and friends there, but it was a little much to attempt to do it 2 days in a row, so I skipped TKB to do my Cardio Power and Resistance... I'm fighting the migraines still, so I am trying to keep from overdoing it too often, but I'm also doing my best to stay on track with the workouts. I did my plyometric cardio again yesterday, a day our son is not in preschool... and I had him cheering/booing me on again!

I also took on a challenge this week to not eat any grains or dairy products. I lasted 3 days... :-( I couldn't tell in those 3 days if it was helpful to my migraines, as I had a pretty bad one that lasted 2 of the 3 days. I plan to try it again when hopefully we've got the migraines back under control! The medication they gave me for the shoulder I think is aggravating the headaches, so I have to taper back off of it and try something else as well! Such a fun process these migraines are causing me to go through!

Well, Today is Cardio Recovery day, so I better get to it!

Migraines and Insanity...

Yesterday I did Plyometric cardio circuit and I don't think I have ever come so close to throwing up as I did yesterday... I spent 2 hours yesterday afternoon flat on my back after getting struck by a migraine around 3 or 4pm...

Today was Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs. I wasn't feeling it this morning because I'd woken up with a migraine, but I was feeling okay so I went for it. My little boy decided to do parts of it with me, and that kept me going because it's very entertaining and cute to watch a 5 year old try to do some of these moves. Of course, today he told me he likes p90x better - and I haven't done that one since he was probably 3 years old!

Some days I wake up with them, others hit me in the middle of the day and some don't even come on until late in the evening... but in the past 2-3 months I think I've had more days with a migraine than without. I've gone through my entire back stash of my emergency medicine and insurance only covers 9 doses a month. I think I've used 33 in the past 60 days... Never in my life have they been this bad, and I've had them since I was in grade school. I used to get maybe 3 a month. The Physical Medicine MD I saw about my shoulder pain has even diagnosed that as some kind of abnormal migraine. I go to the neuro on Friday to hopefully get some answers and a direction to make this better. Until then, I keep going because if I let them get me down, I become depressed and insufferable to be around.

I do my best, and *try to* forget the rest... HA!

I'll take a Mulligan please... Week 3 Do over!

So, tomorrow I am starting my week 3 over again from where I left off last week. I did the fit test, and so tomorrow I am back on track exactly one week behind! I did some of the workouts, but I am the type who won't skip one to stay on the schedule and with all the sickness at my house and then my 3 day migraine... I just decided I want to completely do week 3 over again(minus the fit test).

Today I did ChaLEAN Extreme... I agreed to video a testimony for it, so my workout today consisted of a sample of Burn Circuit 2, Ab Burner and Burn It Off so that they would have plenty to choose from for workout samples. I hate seeing myself on camera... I sound like a complete spaz. I started the process last week before the migraine attacked and finished it up today. I think the workout clips are fine, and I'm 100% cool w/ what I had written for my testimony... but hearing myself talk about it and ramble on - I sure hope they get some good clips out of it! I never realized how animated I was when I talked either... I seriously make some strange faces, funny gestures, etc. I am okay with it though - if it helps even one person change their life and get healthier, than I've done what I set out to do.

Insanity 2 week Fit Test

Technically, I should have done the fit test a few days ago, but with our entire house being sick, myself included, I took a couple days off to recuperate. I will workout with congestion or a headache, but with fever and nausea I won't. It felt good to get back to it after a 4 day hiatus.

And now for the results...

Switch Kicks - 107, + 7

Power Jacks - 57, -11 (although now I'm curious how in the heck I did 68 last time, my form must have been bad)

Power Knees - 102, +1

Globe Jumps - 11, +1

Suicide Jumps - 20, +2

Low Plank Oblique - 62, +12

Not a bad improvement for only two weeks time, especially when I took 4 days off do get over whatever crud we'd all caught. I gained 1lb on my measurements, but I lost almost an inch on my waist, and just over an inch on my hips. My calves are about 1/2" bigger, and everything else stayed the same.

:-)

We've all caught the fever...

It seems that I've managed to catch what is going around. In fact, our whole house had it over the weekend and our son is on day 4 of a fever. I had fever still yesterday, but today I appear to be on the mend. I'm not 100% today, but I'm going to try to make up Saturday's workout today and then do my fit test tomorrow - 2 days behind schedule. Normally, I'd be beating myself up to stay on schedule, but... life happens. And if I don't get it done today, I'll be 3 days behind schedule and that'll be okay too. I'm getting lots of cuddle time with the little guy, so it's hard to pass that up!

Happy April Fool's Day.

Well, I'm almost 2 weeks in... and it's about time for another fit test on Monday!

Today was Cardio Power and Resistance day and while I completed it, I didn't put forth my best effort b/c I'm feeling a little under the weather.... Better to do something than nothing at all I thought so that's what I did.

I'm keeping it short today because the Laundry Monster is calling my name AND it's almost time to pick up kiddo from school!

Plyometric Cardio Circuit... again...

Day 10

So, I'm starting to think my husband has already opted out of Insanity... and I started it with him to help push him to complete it. Today makes the 3rd day he'll be behind me on it. I guess if he starts back up, I'll just repeat the days...

Today was a little more difficult than yesterday. The last series of the workout requires you to do a lot of pushups, which for a couple of weeks I have to avoid. I held plank through some of them, low plank, or jogged it out through them. I know I'm not getting the full "Insanity" experience since I was told to avoid a few things for the time being, but bouncing and hard cardio aren't included so I'm doing as much as I can!

I also went to PiYo today. It was my first class back in probably 5-6 weeks and I'd forgotten just how much upper back was included. I spent a lot of time sipping my water or holding plank since pushups are a big no-no until the inflammation has subsided.

One good thing though... My shoulder hurt today the least it has in probably atleast 2 MONTHS! We're making progress.

One too many Rest days...

So, I took a weekend blogging break and a mandatory rest day yesterday so here we are... What should be my day 10 is really my day 9 - and lots to catch up on!

Saturday was my day 7, or rest day... so I took it easy and hung out with my family. Our son, goofyboy, had his first ever t-ball game. He did pretty well and got to take a turn on the pitchers mound... which is basically where all the balls hit off the tee go in tball. He did pretty well, but watching them try to figure out what they are supposed to be doing is pretty humorous.

On Sunday, I did my Cardio Power and Resistance as scheduled and got to have a great night out with some great friends. I was going to wimp out on this day, as Sunday is usually my rest day, and if I pushed the schedule one day, it'd coincide with what my body is used to... but I decided not to wimp out. However, I waited until I barely had enough time to do the workout and throw on my clothes to go out with the girls.

Then we get to Monday, supposed to be my Pure Cardio day... but, I took it off. I'm not fan of excuses and if I'd gotten it in before my doctor appointment that would have been great, but I didn't. I saw a Physical Medicine MD and did get a real medical diagnosis on what's going on in my shoulder and neck. It's a form of migraine, so the good news there is that there's no injury, so no rehab is going to be required - I just have to figure out what to do to eliminate the migraine! She did some pain killing shots into the trigger spots and told me to take it easy for the day, but, she encouraged me to get back as close to normal as possible. Of course with that, there are a few exceptions - No over head movements other than stretches(no jumping jacks, squat jacks, etc), no push ups(but holding plank or low plank is fine), no pull-ups, and no hard punches. Of all the things she said I couldn't do until the muscle relaxes, the punches was the hardest to take... I've missed 6 weeks now of Turbokick, and that's a core component of the class! I want to be back in there! Soon enough though, soon enough...

Today - Pure Cardio. 38 minutes, just about 300 calories... and this includes about 10 minutes of stretching between the start and end. I had to do some modifications today to accommodate the restrictions I have until my trapezius calms down. The most notable modification was on the pushup jacks - I did plank for 30 seconds followed by a chataraunga and hold for 30 seconds(low position, nose/chin near floor but not on it - holding myself up still). Other than that, the rest of my modifications were mostly keeping my arms to shoulder height when they went over head.... pretty easy day to modify. :-)

I don't hate Insanity as much as I did a week ago... so we're making progress!

Day 6 - Knowing one's limits

Day 6

Day 6 should have been the Plyometric Cardio circuit, but I'm still dealing with the migraine from yesterday so after about 15 minutes of the workout I switched over to the Cardio Recovery workout. I still got in my 43 or so minutes, it just wasn't at the intensity defined on the Insanity calendar. I knew 5 minutes in that if I kept going I would end up making my headache MUCH worse and be putting myself in a bad position if I performed the whole workout, but I wanted to get a sweat on before I quit so I went at a lower impact pace until I was all sweaty and winded.

If you're not feeling good, by all means rest. If you're injured or over-sore, do what you can without pushing yourself to further injury. I know my limits when it comes to a migraine, so I'm taking it easy and will hopefully be ready to go hard on the next workout day .

Know your limits. Just don't make excuses. :-)

Insanity Day 5 - Pure Cardio

Day 5

So, today I woke up again way too early with a headache, only this time it was accompanied by severe nausea - aka... the nasty migraine, which are all too familiar to me. I fumbled around for some medicine and tried to go back to sleep. Sean was sweet to let me off the hook for the workout, but I still did it after I dropped our son off at preschool. While he was doing his workout, the nausea got the better of me... so I was already not in the best shape to start out the day. It can only get better from here though, right!?!

Overall, the workout wasn't too bad. I had several minutes logged on my armband as 8.8-14 calories a minute according to the read out device... and then the dang thing fell off again. I think I need to get a new strap, this one's velcro must be worn out. It's loading my calorie burn now... but I'm sure it's going to be off b/c it kept coming off my arm. I swear I spent a good portion of the workout trying to hold the dang thing on...

Anyway, back to the workout. It wasn't so bad - only he only gives you like 3 planned breaks throughout. However, he tells you when your form starts to go to take a break... so its up to your discretion to do so. I only had to really pause once, and it was during the suicide jumps, or what I know from TKB as sumo burpees.... some combo of that move plus migraine medicine was a recipe for disaster. I got dizzy and nauseous, and rather than describing it, lets just say it wasn't pretty.

As Shaun T says, "This Sh*t is Bananas Yo"! All in all, I look forward to doing this workout again when I feel better. :-)

Insanity Day 4 - Cardio Recovery

Day 4

So, today I woke up with a monstrous headache about an hour before our scheduled time to wake up for our workout. Of course, being half asleep still, I didn't think about why my head hurt and it wasn't until after I got up for the workout that I realized it was because I had low blood sugar and was seriously hungry! Even after my usual breakfast, I'm still hungry... AND somehow I'm up 4lbs from Sunday's preworkout weigh in! OUCH.

Today was actually a workout that I didn't mind doing and I didn't feel like cursing at the tv! I am more sore than I've been in MONTHS. I know this program is working, and cardio recovery was exactly what I needed today!

Insanity Day 3 - Cardio Power and Resistance

Day 3

So I woke up a little sore today. I think I over did it some by doing both Insanity and an hour of Zumba yesterday and my shoulder was not super happy. I pressed on anyway because I am committed to doing the series - and my shoulder felt better during the workout than it did before it.

I still had to modify a few things because of the shoulder, things that put my arms up over my head. I still did my pushups, granted at first I thought I needed to do the moving pushups on my knees, but I quickly moved up to my toes and just pushed through it. I'm sure my doctor and chiropractor would just be *thrilled* to know that! Haha

I loathe Power Jumps and Globe Jumps... Now I'm starting to see why my coach said this is a workout that you'll love to hate! It works in ways that I'm not used to being worked though, and that's a good thing. However, I didn't find today's workout as hard as yesterday and didn't sweat quite as much. Now, that's not to say I wasn't sweating.. b/c I was dripping. We did mix a lot of pushups and tricep work in today instead of all high intensity cardio, and while my mind may not have thought it as hard, my muscles are saying something else entirely! My calves are screaming, my quads are sore and my triceps are in the beginning phase of soreness. I know tomorrow morning is going to be tough!

I'm not sure on the burn today... I don't trust what my FIT logged because it kept falling off and appears it didn't register for around half of the workout.

More tomorrow. :-)

Insanity Day 2 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit

2 days down... 61 to go...

I felt so much better when I thought that was 58 to go, but I just looked at the calendar and its 9 whole weeks. ACK! I don't like boot camp style drills, but I am committed and I am going to push through it, and who knows... after a week or two, I might start to enjoy it?!?

I only had to stop a couple of times and it usually coincided with Sean having to stop also, so we paused the dvd and did every second of it. There were a couple of excercises in the last series that made my trap hurt, so I modified them to take the hop out until it is comfortable for me to do it.

40 minutes, 330 calories... Not bad for someone who is not a morning person at all! Time to get ready for Zumba. :-)

Insanity Day 1 Fit Test Results

Today my husband and I started Insanity. I just completed the fit test, and I am seriously whooped but wanted to post my results before I crash for the night!

Switch Kicks - 100

Power Jacks - 68

Power Knees - 101

Power Jumps - 31

Globe Jumps - 10

Suicide Jumps - 18

Push Up Jacks - 16

Low Plank Obliques - 50

My Bodymedia FIT registered 192 calories for the 25 minute test. This includes 8 minutes of rest, 1 minute between each exercise - Not to shabby!

I've taken several weeks off to rehab my shoulder for a trapezius injury, and this is my first venture back into working out, so I'm wondering what my results *could* have been like had I not been coming of a long rest/injury. However, I am pleased with my initial starting point and it'll only get better from here!

I will have to take my pictures and measurements, but I think I'll do those in the morning before our next workout since I forgot before the fit test to do that! Always measure before you workout - it's a rule I go by :-)