How is it going? This week worth of holiday is almost ending and I couldn’t be more grateful. I am so off my schedule when I am on vacay. I am an eating mess and my exercise is slacking. You’d think that just when I have MORE time I’d actually work out more. Nah ah, not this girl. I am just bumming around, hitting YouTube and watching re-runs of One Tree Hill.

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I did go on a 10 K run Wednesday morning which went by extremely well. My half is on the 27th which gives me about 3 more weekends to run. I am planning to run a 15 K this weekend, a 20 KM next weekend, and another 15 K the weekend before. I am not going to do more than 2-3 runs a week because I am just getting back into it. And I love Insanity too much.

Last week, I ordered this book of which I heard good things on other blogs:

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I am a strong advocate of a) books related to exercise/fitness/health and b) the theory that our minds play such a strong role in how we live.

When I ran track in high school my coach kept telling me how it was “all in your head” but I never seemed to get that. After doing a lot of Insanity and spending the last couple of years running, I know he was right. But like all things, it takes time to realise it and to exercise it (no pun intended).

Anyhoo, I am off to eat breakfast which I KNOW will not be a healthy one and then get my hair cut.

Have a fab Sat!

How is it going? Things here are muy bien!

I just finished this book:

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This was a good and interesting read. I was occasionally disturbed by the language and …hmm…imagery (Virgin Mary writing here) but it was interesting and powerful. I have not watched the movie yet although the sister gave it to me last night. Better say, I watched about 20 minutes and turned it off. I have a thing for Eric Bana but books are always better than movies and I don’t want to be disappointed.

In the meantime I am going to start on something else till my new books arrive. When they do I shall share!

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I am on a week holiday. I hate being on vacation. It drives me insane. I feel like my entire schedule is messed up. For example, instead of my usual 5 AM call I ended up waking up at 8. I don’t want this week to mess up my sleep habits. So its early to bed tonight!

In other VERY IMPORTANT NEWS (which should have been written at the start of this post) I run outside on Saturday!!!

Yes people, after over a month and a half, I actually headed outside. It was lovely after the first 2 KM. I did a total of 6.3 KM and am supposed to run longer tomorrow (assuming the winds here will slow down, its been crazy these last couple of days). I have to say, that my run was okay in terms of cardio only thanks to INSANITY. I cannot even imagine in what shape I would have been if it weren’t for Shaun T’s kick ass workouts. Amazing. My abs and quadriceps are extremely sore. I guess its the whole total body cardio that got to me.

Alright kittens, this girl is out of here. I am gonna update the playlist for manana and will post it up here later. I also need to update my training

How has your weekend been? Everything was so relaxing here. As usual, I did a whole lot of nothing, ate too much junk Friday night and Saturday…
I am really trying hard to keep this under control…I used to be quite determined but I don’t know what is going on now.

On the good news, things are definitely warming up here, I could probably start running outside again, however I am a little concerned because I run early in the morn’ and its like -6C which usually means really icy roads (melted snow = black ice). So, its just a matter of DAYS as far as I see it.

I also watched Valentine’s Day with the sibs and a bunch of friends. Was okay. Hated the fact that Patrick Dempsey was an ass. And that Eric Dane and Bradley Cooper were gay (such a waste of assets). However, the worst part was having to stand Taylor “frog” Swift. Can’t stand her. Something so fake about her act. And voice. And attitude.

So, big INSANITY news, this week I finally tried another new workout from the MAX series

INSANITY MAX CARDIO CONDITIONING

The day before doing this workout, I tweeted the following to Katie:

I knew this was going to be total kick-ass. I was actually afraid of what’s going to come up!

The warm up started with the following drills which are repeated twice:

• Jog
• Jumping Jacks - Arms Up
• 123 Heisman
• Jump Rope Side-to-Side
• High Knees – Arms Out
• Switch Kicks
• Hit the Floor - Bend down at each side to touch the floor
• Side-to-Side Floor Hops

Then the last set lasts about a minute and a half and consists of the following drills:

• Jog/Sprint
• Jumping Jacks
• Heisman (bring knees up from one side to the other without turning your torso)
• 123 Heisman
• High Knees

And then the workout. 29 minutes of CARDIO:

• High and Low Jab with Squat
• Football Runs

Football Runs

• 4 Basketball Shots with 4 squats to each side
• Right and Left Kicks
• Diamond Jumps

Diamond Jumps

• In-and-Out and Push Up Jacks – do 4 in-and-outs followed by 4 push up jacks
• Suicide Jumps
• High Knee/Sprint/Floor Sprints – eight high knees, eight normal sprints, eight floor sprints
• Ski Abs
• Kick Step Back – a recovery exercise also known as Charleston Kick to all you P90Xers
• Squat Twists – another recovery exercise
• Over the River Hops – last recovery exercise in which you sort of skate from side to side keeping your core tight
• Attack - push palm outs twice on each side
• Power Knees
• Ski Down Hooks – feet together, hop from side to side, while doing a hook
• Belt Kicks – kick each leg while bending at the hips
• Forward Back Suicides – like frog jumps only with running feet

Forward Back Suicides

• Push Up Abs
• Plank Punches
• 8 Jump Ropes/8 Hop Squats
• Speed Bag – in a squat, rotate your hands as quickly as you can

LOVED every second of this.

Today I just did 4 repeats of this week’s WSU Challenge, and am just about to plan out my workouts for the next week. Will definitely post them up here today or tomorrow.

So, tell me how hard you workout this weekend. And how do you deal with the weekend eats? I just can’t seem to resist. I need to get out of the casa more often!

How’s your Monday going? Things are nice and boring in my part of the world. El Dia de San Valentin passed without any vomiting/eye-rolling thing interesting happening simply because I hang out with the familia and the home dwellers and that’s as interesting as it gets.

A fellow home dweller got these at the mail this afternoon:

I hate Cosmopolitan . I don’t think I ever read garbage that was so not worth my eyes time. I always make fun of my home dweller for reading it. But she is 17 so maybe that’s why? Still, I didn’t even read it when i was 17. So she is not excused. Harper’s Bazaar has a little bit more class to it, and I do enjoy the pictures and advertisements excessively.

Anyhoo, this AM started with INSANITY’s Plyometric Circuit which was nice and sweaty, followed by shower, breakfast, car stuck in the snow, getting into work late and yada yada yada.

Actually, about 15 minutes after lunch was consumed (cauliflower, 2 soy burgers, bowl of soup ) I started having an intense pain in my upper back, chest and neck. It wasn’t muscle pain but just PAIN. Inside the body. I don’t think it had anything to do with the food I had (stomach was fine). I let it last for an hour or so and then I couldn’t handle it any more so I popped an Ibalgin. I hate taking medicine for no particular reason but it was either this or being unable to perform at work.

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Ibalgin. Ibuprofenum if you are not from this continent. My saviour.

The original plan was to do INSANITY Core Cardio and Balance this afternoon, because this girl desperately needs cardio in order to lose fat, but I was feeling fairly weak so after some Yoplait yogurt and a handful of cereals it was time for INSANITY Cardio Recovery . Don’t fool yourself people. There is no such thing as an easy INSANITY workout. This will have you in pain within the first 10 minutes.

Manana I am planning on INSANITY Max Interval Circuit in the AM and WSU Challenge (week 1 repeat – WOW) for the PM. And if you wanna see, here is the plan for the week:

Run on Saturday. Oh please God, let me be able to run. Just one little short 1 hour run. I cannot even remember the last time this happened.

I’m out to watch some telenovelas in order to enhance my Spanish skills and then its time to hit the hay!

Oh – and I am still on twitter!!

How are ya’ll doing? Big Valentine’s Day plans ? Nothing too romantic happening at this end. I know many people are going to hate me for saying this, but I absolutely do not get the point of Valentine’s Day. Its a highly commercialized holiday which encourages people to spend money. And besides, we do not need a calendar to celebrate love. We still love every day.

I was sent this interesting tale….Why Do We Celebrate Valentine’s Day?….so click on the link if you are interested.

On The Hot and Fit front I have thus far (in the last week) completed 3 of Insanity’s Max workouts. Because I am so in love with them, I thought I would post some reviews…

The main differences are the duration (60 minutes as opposed to the 40 minutes), the different drills during the warm up, and doing three different workout circuits as opposed to two (obviously cause its longer)

INSANITY MAX INTERVAL CIRCUIT

I did this workout twice this week. I was very nervous and scared and if it wasn’t for this lady who kept reassuring me that I would love it I would have probably postponed it some more.

The warm up started with the following drills:

• Jog
• Jumping Jacks – Arms Up
• 123 Heisman
• Jump Rope Side-to-Side
• High Knees – Arms Out
• Switch Kicks
• Hit the Floor - Bend down at each side to touch the floor
• Side-to-Side Floor Hops

First two sets are 4 minutes each, and the last set is 2 minutes

Side-to-Side Floor Hops. You will be feelings your obliques. Oh yes.

Circuit #1

First circuit is 4 minutes, last two are 3 minutes, 30 seconds break in between.

• Pedal/Power Lunges – sprint and do 4 lunges.
• Ski Abs – Push Up Jacks – In and Out – Oblique Push Ups
• Power Strike – punch twice left, twice right
• Frog Jumps

Power Strike

Circuit #2

First circuit is 4 minutes, last two are 3 minutes, 30 seconds break in between.

• Hook Jumps – 4 hook punches high, 4 hook punches low, 4 high jumps. Switch sides.
• High Knees with Elbow Twist – High Knees run with elbows moving from side to side.
• High-Low Jab with Squat – Jump high and punch, squat down as you land and punch down.
• Floor Switch Kicks – Kind of like a tricep dip position only you are kicking your feet up and down.

Floor Switch Kicks

Circuit #3

First circuit is 4 minutes, last two are 3 minutes, 30 seconds break in between.

• Side Suicide Jumps.
• Squat Hooks – Squat and hook punch
• Full Body Drill – run in place 8 times – walking push ups – 8 knee to elbow running in place.
• Plank Punches - In a plank position, punch straight out, changing hands.

Plank Punches. Abs, Shoulders, Arms…I cannot thing of something that was not burning.

There are also three “bonus” moves in between the sets, which last 30 – 50 seconds each.

INSANITY MAX PLYOMETRIC CIRCUIT

I did this workout yesterday. I don’t think I have ever done something that hard. I used to think my high school track workouts were tough. I am not too sure anymore…

The warm up started with the following drills:

• Jog
• Jumping Jacks – Arms Up
• 123 Heisman
• Jump Rope Side-to-Side
• High Knees – Arms Out
• Switch Kicks
• Hit the Floor - Bend down at each side to touch the floor
• Side-to-Side Floor Hops

First two sets are 4 minutes each, and the last set is 2 minutes

Circuit #1

First circuit is 4 minutes, last two are 3 minutes, 30 seconds break in between.

• Switch Jumps
• Squat Push Ups
• Wide In – Out Abs
• Power Jumps
  

Squat Push Ups. Just when I thought I was starting to master normal push ups.

Circuit #2

First circuit is 4 minutes, last two are 3 minutes, 30 seconds break in between.

• Pogo – standing on one foot, bend down to touch the floor then jump up using your arms
• Power Push Ups – from Push Up position, jump up to bring finger to toes
• Globe Twists
• Level 3 Drills – 16 Push Ups, 16 Running in Place

Pogo.

Circuit #3

This entire circuit lasts just over 6 minutes.

• Side Push Ups – palms are in L shape
• Kickstand Touch the Floor - similar to Pogo in a way
• 8 Power Knees – 4 Diamond Jumps
• Balance Push Ups

Balance Push Ups. Total kick ass. I can’t even depict the feeling.

I have said this SO many times before – this program is a total kick ass. It is tough, it will make you so much stronger and it will make you that much leaner. Basically you get what you put in it (and I am not getting it 100% cause I am majorly slacking with my diet).