Author: steve

Posted on

Insanity: The Asylum — DAY 3 – “Back To Core”

Okay, so I should have guessed, and, in fact, figured out last night, that “Back to Core”, the third day of The Asylum was not a reference to getting “back to working the core” but that we would be working our backs. As I’ve said before … sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake.

When I did this workout today, I was very impressed with the focus on my back. Any criticism I had about Insanity‘s lack of back work is corrected here, because this is one great back workout! It is also the least aerobic of the non-recovery Shaun T workouts I’ve done to date.

The only equipment needed is one of the bands supplied with the program, and, if you choose to use it, a pullup bar. The band is used to add resistance to several of the moves and also as a prop during another. During the one exercise the pullup bar was used, I did use it the first set, but then switched to the band for the next two, just so I could make the transition easier.

Based on the first three days, The Asylum seems to be an excellent way to get into all-around good shape. This is kinda how it’s marketed, but, of course, I only had Shaun T’s Insanity to go by, and this program invokes the name of that program in its title, so I expected The Asylum to be closer to the original. While I love Insanity, I am pleasantly surprised by the direction The Asylum is headed.

Be prepared for quite a bit of floor work during this 45-minute routine, both on your stomach and on your back and shoulders.

I know my back appreciated the attention we paid it today, but tomorrow’s workout — “Vertical Plyo” — should be more aerobically challenging.

Posted on

Insanity: The Asylum — DAY 2 – “Strength”

Day 2 of  The Asylum is entitled “Strength”.

I don’t know about strength. Strength is usually built with low reps, size with 8 to 12 reps, and endurance with high reps. We were doing a lot of reps, and, of course, there was a huge cardio aspect to the routine. This is, after all, a Shaun T program!

But when I question the title, I am picking nits. This is strength building, for sure, compared to the original Insanity program.

Shaun T's AsylumSo let me drop the nitpicking there, because this is the best Shaun T workout I’ve ever done.

I really enjoyed “Strength”. The moves were challenging and I felt that my body — my whole body, including back, legs, chest, arms, shoulders, abs — were all worked — I will be sore tomorrow. And this was all done in only 50 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down.

The equipment needed is a set of dumbbells, fairly low weight (I used 12.5s, but will probably go to 15s for the next time through), and a mat. Again, as I mentioned in my review of Day 1, I really needed more space to complete this workout, but only for one move toward the end, and I was able to adapt the move to accommodate my smaller space.

This routine is really well constructed, starting right out of the gate with using a single dumbbell during the warmup, and progressing from there.

The best sets of the day consisted of a multi-move piece that involved a curl, a squat, a pushup, two lateral moves, another pushup, and 8 plank runs, with a jump up at the end. Try doing that 8 times fast. Wow!

I cannot wait for the next time this comes around and will definitely be adding it to my hybrid workouts.

Day 3 is called “Back to Core” and I’m thinking, “Right. When has Shaun T ever left the core to need to get back to it?” Looking forward to it!

Posted on

Insanity: The Asylum — DAY 1 – “Speed & Agility”

Today I started The Asylum. I didn’t mean to start it today. I needed to do a cardio workout, and I planned to do one of the Insanity month two DVDs.

Then I got to thinking. I have to take a break in about a month to do some traveling and partying. Hmmmm…. Now would be a good time to start The Asylum, which is a 30-day program.

So I did.

The Asylum Volume 1 (currently there is only one volume of The Asylum, but I guess they’re leaving room for sequels) is marketed as a sports training workout. I’m not an athlete and I’m not involved in sports of any sort, but, what the hell, right? I’ll give it a go.agility ladder for Shaun T's Asylum workout

The first DVD is “Speed & Agility”. It incorporates extensive use of the agility ladder that was included with the program. The ladder is thin plastic rungs that are connected with nylon bands. You can see a picture to the right, but the ladder is in its collapsed state. Expanded there is about a foot between the rungs.

The ladder is designed to lie flat on the floor, and you use it to know where to put your feet and hands during the moves.

For this workout, anyway, the ladder was really less help than hassle for me. I have limited area to workout in, about 6 feet by 6 feet, so I had to keep rearranging the ladder, depending on which exercise we were doing. In addition, the ladder is pretty flimsy, so it was hard to keep it straight.

However, I did find that the ladder, while it’s nice if you have room and probably does provide incremental benefit, was mostly unnecessary, so I did most of the moves without it.

As for the workout itself, well, it’s a Shaun T workout, and if you’ve done Insanity, you know what that means. It’s tough. I had to stop and rewind the DVD a couple times to try to figure out what the heck he was doing. Hey, I am not the most coordinated person in the world. Sometimes it takes me a minute to figure moves out.

The title of the workout is “Speed & Agility”, so there is a lot of jumping, some balancing, a good amount of moving pushups and bear walks. All in all, a very good total body cardio workout that lasts about 45 minutes, including warmup and cooldown.

I had to take extra breaks along the way — that’s the way Shaun T designs his workouts: impossible — but I got all the way through “Speed & Agility” without ever thinking about quitting early. The workout is varied enough to hold my interest.

Oh, btw, in case you’ve looked at The Asylum and seen the jumprope, you may be concerned, as I was, about space restrictions. For this routine, the jumprope was only used during the warmup, and I was able to simulate the movements without the rope.

Tomorrow is “Strength”. I’m looking forward to that and will report back on it.

Posted on

Setting your own rules (and then following them)

I’ve never had a problem with rules.

That’s not to say that I like rules when other people impose arbitrary ones on me — I don’t — but I understand why that happens. After growing up in a semi-strict household, attending a Baptist university for 2 years, and spending 20 years in the military, I suppose I’m just accustomed to living by rules.

When it comes down to it, I believe the main reason I don’t mind rules is because I like a streamlined life without a lot of surprises, i.e. I don’t want to deal with the consequences of breaking the rules.

For example:

  • I don’t smoke pot, because it’s illegal and I don’t like the variables involved
  • I overpay on my taxes, because I don’t want to end up on the short end of an audit
  • I drive an acceptable speed on the highway, because I don’t want to deal with being pulled over

And so on…. Some would call me overly cautious. Whatever.

Anyway, when I find myself in need of some added discipline in my nutrition consumption, I set new rules for myself.

Recently I have found myself staying up later, and so doing a lot of late-night snacking — sometimes 1000 calories worth. That’s not good! I don’t need those extra calories, and there is no real reason to be doing the snacking.

That called for a new rule: No eating after 8:00pm.

At various times in my life, I

  • quit caffeine for 18 months, because I wanted to see if life was better without it — it wasn’t
  • quit drinking for 18 months, because I was having liver issues — my liver is fine, but now I drink a whole lot less, because I found I enjoyed not drinking
  • quit grains for 6 months, because I wanted to see what that was like — it was okay, but I’ve added grains back into my diet in quite a bit more moderation than before
  • quit eating meat for 36 months, because I wanted to break my fast-food habit — it worked!

For whatever reasons, I set those rules for those times in my life when I felt I needed them, and I somehow stuck with them until they were no longer necessary.

How about you? Can you create some rules to help yourself reach a goal? If you think that might work for you, create those rules and stick to them!

Posted on

Excuses, excuses

One of my favorite mantras is “there’s always a good reason not to do something.” There is. I can always come up with some really good reasons why I should not do something that I need to do.

In the fitness arena, the good reason could be a sore or pulled muscle, a really busy schedule, sickness — you name it.

I pride myself, however, on being able to work through or around those excuses. That’s really what they are, after all, excuses.

How can a legitimate injury or sickness be an excuse? Those sound like valid reasons to skip a workout, don’t they?

Sure, but that’s why the mantra: There is ALWAYS a good reason not to do something. If I let the good reasons keep me sidelined, I’d be sidelined more often than not.

Pulled muscle? Don’t work that muscle, or, better, just work it less. Unless it’s a really severe pull, working the muscle lightly will help it heal faster.

Busy schedule? Get up earlier. Stay up later. Be creative with exercise by walking and working when you would normally be sitting and working — for example, walk around while on the phone. Traveling? Walk briskly through the airport. Use your luggage for some resistance training. Stuck in the office? Put your pullup bar in your office doorway and sneak a few in whenever you get a chance.

Sick? Got a cold, or, more likely it seems, allergies? Work through it. If it is indeed a cold, you may want to avoid heavy breathing, but you can still do some resistance training.

There is always a good reason not to do something, no doubt about it. But to have success in our fitness programs — or in any part of our lives — we need to push those excuses aside, and do what we know we need to do.