Fitness Challenge: Week One

It's been one week since I've begun the 60-day fitness challenge that my friend Gianna began. Everyone who is doing this is trying something different, something that is appropriate to his/her level.

For me, that means I'm doing the "Insanity:Asylum" workouts and replacing my pathetic lunch choices (read "Lean Cuisines") with a Shakeology shake.

I was completely intimidated starting the Asylum workouts. If you've heard or read anything about them, you'll know that they are intense. The warning at the beginning of each DVD is enough to scare you away, if you didn't believe what you'd heard.

In my first workout I was gasping and sweating in 3 minutes...and that was just the warm-up. The coach during the video, Shaun T, told me, "If this is making you sweat, you're in for a real workout."

Gulp.

After my first workout I emailed Gianna and asked if she would loan me her "Insanity" for this challenge. I did not think I was up for this. But she convinced me that you do not have to do the first "Insanity" workout to take on this one, and that I was probably already at a fitness level that could handle this challenge.

At the end of the day, as I reflected back on the start of my morning with this workout, I was pretty proud of myself. My muscles were kind of sore but not TOO sore, and I felt like I was going to make myself stronger if I stuck with it.

So I plowed on, day after day. The program is four days of workouts, one day of rest. This is on top of your other physical activities, not in place of them. So if I spent my morning workout time inline skating, that meant that I got to spend time in the evening getting my Asylum workout in.

Speed and Agility. Strength. Vertical Plyo. Back to Core.

I had to improvise in some cases. I can't use the jump rope provided in our basement with 8-foot ceilings, so I jump along and pretend. For the first strength workout I didn't have any weights, so I used a gallon of paint that was half full. I have to keep moving my equipment around in my small little space. Instead of making excuses and saying "I can't do this one, I think I'll sit it out," I found a way to make it work for me.

Saturday came and I was feeling great. So great that when I hit the lakes for an inline skate, I managed to skate 10 miles in 51 minutes, an average speed of 12 mph, in considerable foot and bike traffic. Every time I got tired and thought of slowing down, I heard Shaun T in my head, saying, "Push it push it push it! You've got it in you!" Or if I took a break, I would take short one and hear, "That's enough of a break for you. Get back at it."

I was damn proud of myself, until 3 hours later when my legs seized up. My hamstrings were strung so tight you could pluck them. My quads were killing me and my calves were mooing. It was surprising how my body reacted to this workout after no break for the entire week. Ow ow ow!

I told my loving and supportive husband how sore I was and he said, "Well you stretched, right? You do know to stretch?" in his usual loving and non-sarcastic way.

Uh...yeah, I know that! That doesn't mean I did it, though.

So I put in the "Relief" DVD and did 20 minutes of stretching, along with additional stretches before bed. Aahhh! Much better! I skipped that day's workout and did it on Sunday instead, which was supposed to be my day of rest.

So I'm a week in, and feeling pretty good. I'll let you know how I'm feeling at the end of week two.