Recover

I just completed day 38 of Insanity. Today's workout was Max Cardio Conditioning, and I have to say, after Monday's Interval Circuit and yesterday's Plyo workout my body is HURTING. My legs are sore, my butt is sore, my pecs are sore, and my back is sore. I think of the three workouts, Max Cardio Conditioning is the least difficult (notice I'm not using the word 'easiest') but definitely still a great workout. It's the Max version of Pure Cardio from Phase 1. So it's pretty much 30 minutes of straight exercises with no allotted time for water breaks. There are definitely some less intense workouts thrown in there though to give you a couple "breaks" in between. 

Somehow after today's workout I didn't feel as exhausted as I typically do. Imagine: me on my hands and knees on my garage floor, dripping sweat, gasping for air...yeah, you get the picture. But with this feeling of pain, misery, and exhaustion always comes the feeling of accomplishment, pride, and satisfaction. I think the workouts in Max Cardio Conditioning are more slow and controlled, focusing on raising your heart rate through burning your muscles as opposed to by doing a lot of quick movements. With that said, it was really difficult for me to push past some of the exercises because of how sore I am! I was trying to think of why I could possibly be so sore. The workouts are obviously new to me and they're undoubtedly physically exhausting, but I never felt this sore with any previous Insanity workout. Even during my first week of Phase 1 when I came off of doing nothing!

I thought about it and came to the conclusion that my muscle fatigue must be do to lack of proper recovery after days 36 and 37. I'm making more of a conscious decision to cut back on calories during this Phase because I don't think I did it enough during the first phase, but my efforts might have been too extreme. I didn't replenish my body with enough protein, carbs, fat, and calories afterwards to give my muscles the fuel they need after a rigorous workouts!

Always remember to give your body a good amount of protein and carbohydrates after you workout. There's a window of about 30-45 minutes after the completion of your workout when your muscles are starving to be fed and you don't want to deny them any replenishment or you won't have a successful recovery. Your body has just used so much energy that it needs the proper nutrients back to reap all the benefits of exercise. Your muscles are going to be looking for any source of energy, so something is better than nothing! Ideally, you'll have protein bars or shakes on hand. Chocolate milk works well too because it has a lot of carbs and protein.

If you don't recover properly, you'll likely be sore and/or fatigued and won't be able to work as well as you normally would.

Recovery is just as important for your body as the workout itself! I know I'll be remembering that because I hate being sore like this! Stay safe!

Working Through The Wall

I'm officially in week 4 of my Insanity workouts and I have to tell you, it hasn't gotten much easier. That's one thing I love and hate about this program. I know that if it were easy to me after doing it for a few weeks, I'd love interest and feel that it wasn't really benefiting me in an optimal way. I'm still dripping sweat, on the ground, grasping for air during and at the end of each day. 


One thing that's frustrated me about these last couple weeks is the lack of results I'm seeing compared to week 1. During the first week of any new workout regimen, your body is going to change more because it's being shocked by new training. I was using my muscles differently and in turn, burning more calories. But now that my body's accustomed to this workout, I almost feel like I've hit a wall. When I don't see results, I tend to return to old diet habits instead of sticking with what/when I know I should eating. So...just a couple tips I'm trying really hard to keep in mind and that I feel are most important to a healthy diet.

• Eat 5-6 small-medium sized meals throughout the day.
• Don't deprive yourself of food so that you binge later on.
• Try to eat the foods that digest the quickest earlier in the day (i.e. fruits early in the day, salad for lunch, grains and fibrous foods later on. You don't want all the benefits of fruit rotting in your stomach with everything else. Eat 'em early on.)
• Drink lots of water.
• Remember that food is only energy. Eat because your body needs it, not because it wants it.
• Eat the most fibrous foods like vegetables before your carbs to fill you up.

I've been on a smoothie and yogurt kick lately, and they're awesome foods/drinks to keep you full! Foods that have a lot of water like fruits and veggies are always great to consume and will help keep you full. Healthy soups, smoothies, and salads are great for meals. Bon apetit!