Day 63 - Final Fitness Test

Yesterday I said that I wanted to start early. Unfortunately family matters meant that I could not start until 9pm, so I was a little worried whether having less energy at this late in the evening would affect my results.

I did a longer warm up before this fitness test. I played the warm up twice and did the stretches then got in to it. Here's how I did:



I really wanted to improve on the switch kicks, but again my score was lower than my best ever result for it. I went like hell on them too and briefly rested for only 2 secs twice. I know my speed was good because I was keeping up with the guys in the DVD. My technique was sound too and I put in the maximum effort.
I am seriously thinking that the results from Tests 2 and 3 are incorrect and I must have miscounted, because I don't think there is any way I could achieve 127 switch kicks in week 2. That's over 2 per second with NO rest and I know I rested whilst doing them on all of the tests. I have a feeling that my counts may have messed up, perhaps done 68, 69, 80, 81 or something like that, because it is tough to concentrate counting, kicking away, breathing, sweating and trying not to collapse. But taking away those suspect results from Tests 2 and 3 it still shows I made a 15% improvement from the first week to today's final test.

For all the other exercises this week I bettered the results from the last fitness test I did (bar the Globe Jumps which I equalled). I felt fitter doing the exercises - I had more energy, did not tire as earlier on and had the strength to keep pushing.

What I am really impressed with is the huge improvements I have made from my scores in week 1 to the final fitness test in week 9.

15 MORE Switch Kicks - As I have described above.

14 MORE Power Jacks - This shows how all the jacks type exercises have been beneficial in every warm up. Plus all the squat work has given leg strength to achieve this score.

57 MORE Power Knees - This is a massive 78% improvement. The key here is stamina. I did not rest on tonight's power knees and I had the strength to power through to the end at a rapid pace. This is at a rate of almost 2 per second, very fast.

27 MORE Power Jumps - I am really impressed with this result as these are very tiring. I remember in week 1 when doing these that I thought 'why the hell am I doing this?' It requires leg and core power and tremendous stamina to just keep bouncing and powering the legs. I bettered my week 1 score by 87% - a  huge improvement - and the pace I went at tonight even impressed me.

3 MORE Globe Jumps - This is 12 more individual jumps which is a good improvement since it is a full body movement exercise.

DOUBLE the number of Suicide Jumps - These were another tough one from week 1. I found it hard just to do 3 initially, but once you get the technique the number you can do soon improves. It requires legs and abs power to make you perform better. I did rest for about 5 secs twice during this exercise, so there are probably another 3 or 4 in me.

9 MORE Push Up Jacks - These show how my chest and arm strength have improved. I can now easily knock out 16 of these until I start to feel it, whereas it was about 6 in week 1. I rested about 3 times on this, so again I reckon I can probably do about another 4 of these if I was to try again. Although a 45% improvement overall is a great result.

16 MORE Low Plank Oblique - These are a highly technical exercise. It's a low plank balance and you need to alternate the legs. It's a big concentration exercise since it is at the end of the test it is one of the hardest because you are tired. I managed a 42% improvement over my 1st test scores so this is another big result.

I feel ecstatic about my results. I never thought I would get such massive improvements. I maybe thought a 15-20% improvement would be good, but I've achieved 31% to 100%. Insanity has been an AMAZING fitness programme and it has not only made me lose weight and body fat but it has also made me fitter, stronger, have greater stamina and more muscle power. The results shown here prove that conclusively.


Thanks Sean, it's been tough but really enjoyable.


Peace. Out.



PS - That's not the end of my Insanity Diary or the fitness programme:
I'm going to write up a summary of Insanity.
And I'm going to carry on doing it.
(Yes I must be crazy).
So the diary will continue too.

Day 63 - Final Measurements

The final day of Insanity has arrived and I started by doing all my body measurements as soon as I got up this morning. This is what all the hard work has been for. How much weight I can lose, how much I can lose off my stomach, how fitter, faster and leaner I can become.

I was really apprehensive before I did all the measurements, but once I did I was really pleased with the progress I have made over the 9 weeks.



Overall I have lost 4.7kg (over 10lb) and my weight is now 12st 13lbs. I am really pleased I have got to under 13 stone in 9 weeks. I attribute this to the Insanity programme and the healthy diet I have been on.

The next thing I'm pleased about is my reduction in body fat by 2.4%. This is visible in my physical appearance as my face and waist are both noticeably smaller.

With regard to my waist then I have lost 8.3cm from it - I just know that is down to the Ab's work that is one of the core parts of Insanity. I can see for myself that my stomach is smaller and other people have remarked too. Even though there is still fat there, I can feel my abs are tighter and there is a lot less fat being carried around my waist than before.

These are the key components that I wanted to improve on by doing Insanity : reduce weight, reduce fat, lose the gut. I have achieved that and I am so pleased with the results.

When you look at the rest of the measurements then overall they have all improved :chest and hips have gone down in size, my bicep size and body muscle percentage have both increased (as expected).

Tonight is the final fitness test. I'm confident now that I can do better on my best scores, so bring it on!

Day 62 - Max Recovery

The last time I did this workout I said I would not do it again as I felt it was not as beneficial as the Cardio Recovery workout.

The first issue I have with it is that I don't feel you do a proper warm up at the start. You go straight in to the stretches which increase in pace, but I did not feel sufficiently warmed up by the end of it. This was proved somewhat with that I pulled my right calf muscle when it went into the next series of exercises. I had to stop the workout as every time I put tension through my lower left leg I was getting sharp pains from the muscle. It took me 5 minutes of massage and movement in my legs to ease the pain, but it has not completely gone as I right this.

The next issue I have is that I don't think some of the exercises are beneficial and can be repeated for too long a period. Such as the low-plank, high-plank that is done which consists of 4, 8, 16 reps starting on your right arm then another set of the same reps starting on your left arm. I find this just tiring and think that other exercises could be done rather than spending so long on this single one.

As it happens I completed the workout, but with the calf pain. I'm not exhausted or sweating a great deal, but I suppose it is a recovery workout and that is what it is intended for.

Tomorrow is my final day of Insanity and it is the final fitness test. I have today been looking over my best scores and my goal is to try and beat them:
Switch Kicks      127 (Test 2)
Power Jacks        53 (Test 3)
Power Knees       100 (Test 4)
Power Jumps        46 (Test 4)
Globe Jumps        10 (Test 4)
Suicide Jumps      13 (Test 4)
Push Up Jacks      25 (Test 4)
Low Plank Oblique  50 (Test 3/4)

I think the key is to warm up well. When I did the last test I did not think that I got a good enough warm up, so I shall do a longer one tomorrow before I start. I normally have food when I first come home from work at 530pm and then exercise at 8pm. I may forego food tomorrow evening and start at around 730pm.

My other targets are to get my weight down to 83kg, chest size to 102cm and waist down to 102cm also. I've really watched my diet this week and exercised well. I'll be doing the body measurements when I get up tomorrow morning (and after going to the toilet). I even went for a haircut today to try and give myself the best chance of losing the most weight!

I am apprehensive about the final fitness test, but if I focus, dig deep and push hard then I can give it my best shot. Good luck Ade!!

Day 61 - Max Interval Circuit

This was a long one - 1 hour of tough workouts. I got to about 40 minutes in and then lost all my energy. Exercises I normally manage ok were very tough. I really had to focus and "dig deep" to get through the barrier. I can liken it to when I am running and I hit a point where I am knackered and need to push through. Once I'm through it I then go on to perform well.

What hit me as well was the full body drills which are in the 3rd group of exercises. You don't expect this tough an exercise late on in the workout and my body finds it really tough to get through it. I certainly cannot keep up with the people on the DVD with the speed they do the full body drills at. They can manage to complete 2 sets in about 45 secs, I'm lucky to get one.

And so that is my last "intensive" workout with Insanity. What's left is a recovery workout tomorrow and then the fitness test. I then have to consider what comes after Insanity. I want to continue with it, but also want to take up the running and get back to the gym. We'll see next week when it's all over.

Day 60 - Max Cardio Conditioning

I have now worked out the effective sessions I have missed and scheduled them for this week:

Mon 11th April - Max Cardio Recovery
Tue 12th April - Max Interval Circuit
Wed 13th April - Max Recovery
Thu 14th April - Fitness Test

So Thursday is the big day for the final fitness test. I really hope I can better all my scores and get my weight down to 83kg. That is my target so I am going to try extra hard this week.

The weather has been nice for the last week or so and it is really making me want to go for a run, but I don't want to so to conserve my energy for the final fitness test.

Tonight's workout went well. I had a bit of a purple patch half way through when I felt really tired, but got through it and did well. One of the big motivators of the workout is the camera focussing on Arial (think that's her name) as she's doing jumps - that sure does get you moving faster!

Once again I was sweating like hell during and after the workout - that just shows how much it is working. As Sean says, "Keep breathing, keep sweating."

Another Rest Day

Weekends are proving to be very difficult to fit in Insanity when you have a family. Today has been another of those days where spending time with the family and going for a day out has made me miss the Insanity session.

I've got 4 days left and I shall finish them in the evenings this week, although I need to work out and schedule which workouts I need to do on what days.

By the way, we had our first BBQ of the year today. Just a small one to make sure I kept the fat and carbs intake down!

Rest Day

It's Saturday and I should be doing the final fitness test today if I was on plan, but I'm 4 days behind so using today as the usual rest day.

As usual it's a busy Saturday and I shall have to see how tomorrow looks for catching up on the 4 days.