smelly melly:

Switch kicks  102  118   132 142  146

Power jacks  58   60   66    74  80

Power knees  41   73   88  99  105

Power jumps  35  51   56    74  81

Globe jumps 9  9.5   10.5    12  12.5

Suicide jumps  17  20   22    22  25

Push-up jacks  27   31  34    37  50

Low plank obliques  42   59   81   94 108

DONE. BOOM!

slightly shocked (in a good way) by the number of push-up jacks I managed to do today- the only thing I really struggled with was globe jumps, though I pushed through as best I could.

so two injuries and three countries later, I’m finally done with Insanity! Off to some boxing training now, and going to work on my half-marathon prep now that I’m finally done with this madness.  

smelly melly:

Had an unintentional 2-day break because of my crazy schedule from a lack of a proper routine being in place - ended up bringing a fresher I ran in to around town to get things before hanging out for a long time with one of my seniors who had just graduated on Friday. Thereafter I had to drag myself out of bed at 5.45am to be at Heathrow for the early morning meet-and-greet shift with Jasryn - we didn’t get back to Oxford till 3pm, at which point I promptly fell asleep till 5.30pm. I woke up to the realization that I had invited people over for dinner and had to get things ready… which left me with not much time over the past 2 days for Insanity.

I was also much sorer from boxing on Thursday than I expected though - I should have just gone with my gut instinct and taken some protein. Ah well!

Started off Max Cardio Conditioning somewhat tired - not my best day, but I pushed through. The fire alarm in my house went off during the cool down stretch, so I suppose it was a timely break.

Insane Abs was a better workout - made better by the lack of jumping. :D

Tomorrow is the last fit test (finally), so I’m going to make sure I get a good night’s rest for maximum results. ;)

smelly melly:

last ever pylo, and no more crazy 3 sets of 45 seconds of power jumps to do! urghhh not such a great workout today, but just 2 more days left!

smelly melly:

finally hit 60 days, just 3 to go! Today’s workout was good but a bit chilly - I did it in the kitchen of my new house in Oxford, and was quite pleased with today’s results. I did think I could have pushed myself harder with sprints, but I think I did pretty well otherwise. Had a small scare when my right foot slipped a bit while doing football drills, but thankfully I caught myself just in time.

tomorrow is my first day back to university, so I’ll probably slot in tomorrow’s session some time at night, or early in the morning if I get up soon enough. There’s possibly a boxing session tomorrow afternoon as well, which I’m quite excited for - can’t wait to get back into OUABC. :)

smelly melly:

beasted through the last Max Interval Circuit ever, very pleased with my plank punches! :D Great workout followed by a very welcome shower - now to pack up and get ready to go back to Oxford to sort out my house and other things.

4 days to go yo.

smelly melly:

I spent most of today meandering through the meadows and rolling fields of Bourton-on-the-water in the Cotswolds. English countryside has its charm - I ran into very few people, and quite a few of those people were walking beautiful dogs. One was a mongrel named Storm that pranced and jumped about like a show pony, and the last lot I ran in to were a trio of adorable pugs with matte black fur who were quite the handful (their owner described taking them for a walk as being akin to herding sheep). 

I also spent a lot of that time keenly prepping myself for Insanity when I got back to Cheltenham later in the evening, but ironically ended up being really tired initially then procrastinating for a fair bit before finally getting into the gist of things.

Although it was a bit of a silly thing to do (run off to the Cotswolds the day after I arrive without recovering from jetlag, and without fully sorting out my house), in a way I am glad because I haven’t really figured out where in my new house to finish the last few days of Insanity. My room is of a decent size, but I have a double bed, which I initially thought would be useful, but now seems to be quite the hindrance. The only feasible option I have is the kitchen - thankfully I’m down to the last week of Insanity.

At least while on holiday, I have enough space to work out in and no boxes and bags to keep unpacking..

Anyway, enough rambling. Today’s cardio conditioning was pretty good - I got quite into it even though I was sweltering in the heat and opted to do it in just my bra and knickers. This is the first time I’m doing Insanity in England, and boy am I not used to the lack of air circulation. I did a bit better at plank punches though I still want to improve, and I also want to be able to do the in-and-out-abs + push-up-jacks combo sets in their entirety before I finish the program - I have one more shot at this!

Also really loving Insane Abs, probably a video I’ll keep to do when I feel up to it, along with Max Interval Sports Training. :)

It’s almost midnight and I plan to do tomorrow’s workout around 8-ish before I leave, so I better hit the showers now!

A.K.A. THE FINAL FIT TEST AND MY LAST DAY OF INSANITY!

Okay, I don’t have much to say because I’m busy being pleased with myself, so here are my results.

Switch kicks - 96 145 150152 170

Power jacks - 54 63 6567 69

Power knees - 88118 129131 138

Power jumps - 34 40 4463 - 

Globe jumps - 10 10.5 11.511.5 12.5

Suicide jumps - 22 29 3132 33

Push-up jacks - 27 35 3740 41

Low-plank obliques - 42 67 7378 84

Improvement! Improvement everywhere! Except power jumps because I decided to skip those to prevent further injury to my shins. I did high knees for the whole minute I was supposed to be doing power jumps and had a shorter rest so I’d sort of be the same level of tired before getting into the other exercises. I’m not too fussed about not getting more power jumps in as I managed a 19-jump increase from the third to the fourth fit test anyway.

Today’s workout went exceedingly well. I’ve been out all day and had a fairly heavy meal not too long before I started the workout and felt ‘heavy’ but got through Max Cardio Conditioning very well and powered through the whole of Insane Abs without stopping for breaks at all! Okay, maybe one teeny, tiny break…

Substituted all power jumps, tuck jumps and diamond jumps with squat hops or alternating lunges. Legs are definitely feeling better today.

Feeling two ways about the Fit Test tomorrow - a bit anxious (just a little) about what the numbers are going to look like, but also excited about really finishing Insanity. Still amazed I’ve actually managed to stick with it without giving up halfway through or making up excuses or something. And definitely looking forward to WEIGHTS. I NEED TO LIFT HEAVY THINGS AND PUT THEM DOWN AGAIN.

Okay, my protein is calling for me (or is my stomach calling for protein?) so off I go to refuel the machine, have a shower, and snuggle in for the night.

Last. Ever. Max. Interval. Plyo.

DONE.

Wow. Not gonna lie - it’s not my favourite workout and this being the last time I have to do it didn’t make it any better! Pushed through and took my shoes off after the warm-up because my feet were aching. Swapped power jumps for high knees, and diamond jumps with alternating lunges. Shin splints aren’t doing too well with anything that involves landing from a position where my legs are completely folded at the knee.

Also - I’ve run out of tape! Ahhhh! Emergency!

Looking forward to tomorrow’s workout (and more substitutions) and I am DONE. Well, almost. There’s the final Fit Test, but I’m not sure how I’m going to get through that without my splints getting in the way or worsening them. I may skip the power jumps altogether but keep everything else. Plus I did have like a 19-jump improvement from the third to fourth Fit Test so maybe I could split that into a 10- and 9-jump improvement over two tests.

Am also thinking of postponing the Fit Test for a day so I can recover a little bit. Or not. Maybe I should just get it over and done with so I can pat myself on the back and go for that massage.

smelly melly:

started out doing this in the early afternoon, which is probably the worst time of day to do it in Malaysia because it’s so damn hot, but I went through with it. Was seriously battling the urge to give up and take a break during the warm-up, but pushed through because that really isn’t an option. Things got better (they always do!) thereafter with the rest of the workout - I can do all my Level 3 drills now, take that! Though I do start aching about halfway through the second set.

Also there was a power trip close to the end of the workout -___- and I had to wait ages for the computer to start up again so I could continue with the workout.

Finished up with some yummy mee sua that my ah mah made for me since I won’t see her until a year from now - I will miss her and the rest of my family like I always do, but you get used to that. At any rate, it’s my last year, after which I’m likely to be working in Malaysia for a bit.

Also contemplating carrying on with the workout on Saturday since I arrive in the morning and then maybe take Sunday off instead? Will see how I feel after a 12-hour flight…

The Big Six-Zero!

Max Interval Sports Training took the place of Max Recovery, which was a big plus for me. None of the burning held positions and pulses…

Shin splints aren’t going to go away anytime soon and because I don’t want to stop Insanity when I’m this close to finishing, I decided to tape my shins. See here for pictures and video.

Worked pretty well, I have to say! Felt much less pressure during the workout and got through pretty much everything with no problems. Still laying off the power jumps because I reckon those aren’t going to help at all.

Just a disclaimer: I am not a physiotherapist and have no expertise or qualifications whatsoever in this area. However, I have accumulated quite a long list of injuries owing to my martial arts involvement and also from not knowing when to quit; having these (sometimes) recurring injuries has taught me how to deal with them more effectively. It also helps that I’m very in tune with my body and know exactly what sort of movements have been affected by a particular injury, and how to support it (with tape, mostly). Plus I’m observant and I pick things up from my physiotherapist. Youtube and other Internet resources are also great for learning about these things, which is what has helped me (correctly) self-diagnose torn muscles, damaged ligaments, a bucket tear in my meniscus, and so on.

But what I’ve also learnt is that if it really fucking hurts, or if it’s bothering you excessively and not going away, you need to get that injury checked. I learnt this the hard way and spent about 3.5 weeks with a metal pin holding my ulna and radius together sticking out of my wrist. It wasn’t fun.

Moral(s) of the story:

1. Never sacrifice form. Ever.

2. Don’t panic; do your homework and educate yourself.

3. If you’re not sure what to make of the problem, see someone who does.

EDIT: I do not have shin splints. Please see here.

smelly melly:

I was alright with all the exercises up till we hit basketball guards - my glutes wouldn’t take any more jumping about half way through. Other than that, am pretty happy with my progress, though I did end up with stitches during the ladder sprints. Definitely still my favourite workout of the series :)

Hit the gym with my dad after that, fully intending to do 10k. Instead I ended up running 2k and then doing some weights after that. Finished up with 300 front kicks on the bag and 100 knees, ala Rawai Muay Thai.

I’ll be postponing my rest day to Saturday since I’ll be flying back to the UK tomorrow night and will arrive in London on Saturday morning, and want to spend the day unceremoniously unpacking all my stuff in my new house and stocking up for the academic year ahead. As such, I’ll be pushing through some pylometrics (ew) tomorrow instead of taking a break, and from there it’ll be a week till I finish Insanity!

LAST EVER MAX INTERVAL CIRCUIT WOOOOOOO!

Workout was pretty good despite the shin splints (at least, I think they’re shin splints). Definitely felt those throughout the workout and did my best to substitute power jumps and tuck jumps with high knees or squat hops to avoid (too much) further damage to the shins.

Wore shoes today as well to avoid the ouchies to my toe. It was… different. The middle of my foot felt strained at points but I just rested whenever that happened and that was it. I’ve got Max Interval Sports Training tomorrow (woo!) to mark Day 60.

Freedom is near - I can smell it! And right now it smells like my sweaty body.

smelly melly:

I think I’m getting a better hang of this workout - my goal now is to be able to get through plank punches at the very end without having to take a break, but boy does it take its toll on my shoulders. I’ve got one last edition of this workout to prove myself in next week before the end of Insanity, so I’m looking forward to that (and to the end of this prolonged 63 days!).

Tomorrow is Max Interval Sports Training :D can’t wait to try doing long jumps in a bigger room now that I have my dad’s office to peruse - shame I won’t have it for next week when I’m back in the UK. :( 

Also I really need to get more disciplined and do that 10k run I was talking about, preferably before I leave for the UK…

Not applicable to my weight as that has never been an issue for me… okay, well, it’s been an issue, but the reverse of the issue. At any rate, I am imagining this Sunday pretty damn hard!