What I've learned

I've been doing Insanity for over 1 month now. You've probably seen the informericals. Intense cardio, lots of jumping. My husband is the one who ordered the program initially, but i was watching the infomerical on TV and got really excited about it. I thought, well I'll do the warm up and see how it goes.

The warm up probably was the hardest I had ever worked, but I kept going. I discovered I really LIKED pushing myself hard, getting focused, and not giving up. Before you know it I finished the workout and was doing it 6 days a week from about week 2 on.

So now that I feel strong, I thought I would write how it's changed my life, my fitness, and my perpective on myself.

That I can run faster and push myself harder than I EVER thought Possible

That when my heart is pounding and I'm out of breath, I'm not really going to die. I just feel that way. I can still work and still push myself through a workout.

I feel empowered.

That I REALLY like digging this deep and pushing myself this hard!

That at 4:30AM it's okay to scream 'Let's Go' with Shaun T at the TV. Not only does it feel good, it always helps me get my second wind.

After finishing a workout I feel like I've just climbed a mountain and someone has pinned a medal on my sweat laden T-Shirt.

That it's possible to sweat more through a stretch than through a warm up.

That I can stop, take a swig of water, and then resume my workout WITHOUT feeling like a failure!

That when Shaun T says 'recovery day' he's laughing manically at ME personally. (okay, that one isn't really true...That I KNOW OF!)

Things I can do now that I couldn't do before....

Before I couldn't do one jumping jack. Now I can do them through all 3 intervals of the warm ups without stopping.

I can focus better now on the task of hand (exercise) even when out of breath, my heart pounding, and feeling exhausted. Insanity has taught me to dig deep and find power within myself.

Pushups. UGH. I can do like 20 pushups on my knees now and about 2 on my toes. After my C-Section last year, for me, this is a huge accomplishment.

I can get through a warm up without stopping and go right into a stretch without feeling like I should turn off the DVD and call it a day.

That my husband keeps waking me up at night to tell me how great I'm looking. Though I wish he wouldn't wait until I'm asleep to tell me this!

That across my breasts, waist, and hips I've lost over 10 inches!

When I first started, I could barely move side to side for hit the floor and most of the time my hand didn't actually HIT the floor. Now not only does my hand lay flat against the floor, I'm jumping up to change directions, with my arm up in the air.

That I can walk up the stairs now without having to use the railing to pull myself up.

Exercise done!

Before I start an Insanity workout, I always feel like I can't do it, or that I really am not looking forward to it, but once it starts I feel so GOOD. 10 minutes into the workout I'm jumping and doing my best to keep up with the guys on my screen.

I feel PUMPED and EMPOWERED to even attempt to be doing what they are doing. Sure, some of the moves I modify, like the pushups, but I feel way better reaching for the sky with them then doing some beginner program.

I like the feeling of pushing myself. I can push myself alot farther and alot harder than I thought. Now that I know that it makes it hard to go back and do an 'easy' workout.

The Insanity 'warm up' is 9 minutes long and then the stretching immediately after that is a little over 6. Those 15 minutes I sweat more than I used to doing other workouts for 30 minutes.

Today I did 38 minutes of Insanity and according to caloriecount.about.com I burned about 500 calories, as it counts as HIT Interval training. I feel great and am looking forward to the afternoon!