A Week in Review

So this weekend marked the completion of week 1 of Operation Get Sexy, aka Insanity.  Technically I was done on Saturday, but I guess I'll count Sunday since it's the required "off" day for the program.  6 dvds = 7 workouts (I'll explain later), so pretty much everything for the rest of the month is going to be repeats just not in the original order.  I'm not sure how I feel about this, but as of right now it's ok; the repeitiveness hasn't bothered me at all.  I don't remember any of the workouts in detail enough to en annoyed yet, but I'll be sure to let you know if/when that happens.  But so far, so good.  It's definitely excellent on cardio.  Last night's workout had me rolling 'round on the floor like a baby tryna keep up - don't make no sense...Anywhos, I'll do a little pros 'n' cons type business for you guys to keep my thoughts organized.

Pros

•  Excellent plyometric workout, which is good for speed and cardio.  This is exactly what I was looking for.  The movements are pretty easy, but the speed and duration of the intervals make them increasingly difficult.  Also, I officially HATE the "heisman" and it's mant forms *eye twitches*
• It's a secret ab workout - tightening your abs while you do all the movements is better than crunches, and I haven't even done the "cardio abs" workout yet...
• Great for hip flexor strength - good for lower abs
• The actual workouts are only approx. 15 min, but you get like 12 min of intense warm-up.  So of the 40 min of the entire thing, 27 min was hard-core sweating, and the rest was stretching mixed in with 30 sec water breaks
• It's great if you love interval training (super high intensity, short rest, repeat) workouts
• It's only 40 min - a perfect example of quality over quantity.  This is the shortest amount of time I've spent working out, but I still feel very accomplished at the end
• I feel like I'm getting a really good leg exercise with all the running, jumping, and high knees.  I couldn't do that many high knees before now, idk why, but that's one area I can def see improvement in
• It actually brings my heart mucho joy to see that the people in the dvd can't even do the routine.  Shaun T has to constantly tell people to take a water break/they simply stop in the middle and walk off the scene...'tis hilarious!!  Oh, and Shaun, don't think I haven't noticed you conveniently stop doing the movements when you get winded and start harassing "encouraging" the others to keep going...gettin' all in their face with the camera so they can't even sneak breaks in to rest when the camera ain't on them.  How convenient...
• The fact that you continuously get better at the movements actually makes the workouts harder because you start doing them faster and more efficiently.  So idealy you should start seeing results after the first 2 weeks (hints why there's a fit test at the beginning of week 3).  You're totally in control of how much you get out of the program.  When I get tired, I literally remind myself that I paid all this money for this product, and I HAVE to keep going; the people on the screen aren't being effected by my lack luster performance, I am.

Cons

• If you're into weights...you might feel like something is missing.  This uses all bodyweight, which I'm actually finding works pretty well.  In all honestly, I'm usually too tired at the end of the workouts to be looking for weights.  Bodyweight is very sufficient at making you work just as hard as you would lifting.  Or maybe I'm just fat and my body is heavy  *o.O* whatevs, don't judge.
• I feel like there should be more dvds.  There are technically 7 workouts if you include the cardio abs (which is actually on a dvd with another workout but is it's own separate workout), but there are 30 days in a month. Ya'll couldn't be more creative?!  I mean, the good thing is the workouts aren't back-to-back so there's a chance you wouldn't necessarily remember each one in detail, but still.  I foresee a repetitive future ahead of me.  This was one of the pros in favor of P90X
• It's something that can be done at home.  I've never been a fan of workout dvds and now I remember why.  For me, it's harder to motivate myself to pop in a dvd than it is to drive to the gym.  I have more enthusiasm about the gym than a dvd.  I usually find myself "praying for daylight" throughout the entire thing.  Once I get home I want to relax, put on my smurf suit, aka my forever lazy (Google it and don't jduge!), and chill.  I'm finding it increasing easy to say "I'll do it in a min"
• Personally, I don't like the stretches in any of the videos.  If you're someone like me who's used to really gettin' your stretch on after a workout, you'll notice this is lacking.  I mean, there aren't any true upper body stretches in any of the workouts...at least in this first month. The focus is clearly on the legs:  hip flexors, adductors (inner thigh), and hamstrings.  And to make matters worse, it's the same stretches in every.single.video.  Again, no creativity.  I sometimes find myself having to do some upper body stuff afterwards, especially on the days where we do a lot of push-ups and tricep work

Conclusions

As you can see, there are clearly more pros than cons of Insanity, at least in this first month.  My biggest issue, and this is something from a personal standpoint, is deciphering between Insanity results and how my body already looked before I started.  I already had muscle mass and some definition from the weight training I was doing before I started, and as a lady, I periodically get water weight around my mid-section during "that special time of the month".  Once the water weight dissipates, my abs are a little more defined.  Now I'm having trouble telling which is mother nature and which is Insanity; I want to make sure I give credit where credit it due.  But I do honestly feel like my legs are getting smaller, and I'm certain that's ain't momma nature there.  But I'll measure again on Day 15 after the second fit test to confirm or disspell my suspicions.

Let me know if you have any questions about anything, diet, routine, or otherwise.