I haven't posted in almost a year and a half. This doesn't mean I haven't been working out. I have. I did another Round of P90X, my 8th, from August to November 2011. I did a Round of P90X2 from January to March 2012, a Round of Insanity in May and June of 2012, and immediately after that, a Round of Insanity: The Asylum (4 weeks) in July 2012. Since then, I've repeated a few weeks of Asylum, but mostly have kept busy with a mix of Cardio prograns from P90X, P90x+, and Tony Horton's One on One Series. In mid September, I decided I mentally needed some time off from 4 and a half years of continuous working out. I was only going to take off a week or two, but it stretched to 5 weeks. I'd never taken more than 12 consectutive days off before, and those 12 days were due to illness. The break did me well (mentally), but three weeks ago I decided I needed to get back at it, so I started back up with the cardio schedule I'd set up, just to get my body back into shape a bit.
Some thoughts:
P90X2 - I really liked it. It didn't seem to beat my body up as much as P90X, so I didn't get as sore, but it was still very challenging. It concentrated on core strength and balance. I lost only about 5 lbs over the 13 weeks, but I leaned out like crazy. It was noticeable, and I felt great. The one thing I didn't like about the program was that the warm-up in each routine of the first two phases was roughly the same each day. That got a bit old quick, but eveything else went well. There's still a few moves I struggle with (Lever Pullups, The Impossible Possible), but at the same time there were others I didn't think I could do, but I ended up doing well (4-ball pushups for example.)
INSANITY - I have to admit it. I was afraid to do it, and kept putting off buying it. I have a bad left knee and wasn't sure I'd be able to handle it, but I finally caved and took on the challenge. I shocked myself. Not only did I get through it, I NEVER HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON IN THE ENTIRE 9 WEEKS! Not even once. It's not like I sat through any of the exercises either. I pushed myself through this like a man possessed, never giving in to fatigue. There were a few times I had my hands on my knees to catch my breath through maybe 20% of an exercise, but in 90% of the exercises I did all the reps, and I know I did more than most of the people in the videos. I lost about 6 lbs through the 9 weeks.
INSANITY: THE ASYLUM (VOLUME 1)- This was a beast. It was more fun than Insanity, but a lot more challenging and exhausting. The warmups on some of the routines are out and out cruel. I never hit the Pause button during the 4 weeks, either, but there were times I had to go at a slower pace than those on the video, partly due to fatigue or lack of upper body strength, and other times because of my lack of coordination, especially my footwork. I got through it, but I want to go at it again because I feel I haven't even begun to conquer it. I lost about 4 lbs over the 4 weeks.
A GREAT MOMENT: On my last weigh-in after Asylum, on July 29th, 2012, I lost my 50th pound since starting the crazy journey back in May of 2008. My original goal was to lose 40 lbs, so this was a Bonus.
I weighed myself on Sunday 11/11/12 for the first time in about 2 months, and found I'd put about 10 lbs on since the start of my five week layoff. It's about what I'd expected, but it could have been worse. I'd let my eating habits go a bit, but not that much.
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