Day 85 - Rest Day & Ninja Training.

Had a lovely stretch in Relief this morning, and was joined by my three girls.  They really tried hard, and it was just lovely.

I did my measure and weigh-in this morning;

Just a small improvement this week, but progress is progress, and I'm happy with that.

I also took my hybrid workout "after" photos.  I'm not quite so happy with those.  I'll save them for now, and will hopefully share them with some more impressive looking photos in the future.

Although today was supposed to be a day off, we had a family Taekwondo introductory lesson booked at Family Martial Arts which was fun, but definitely burnt a few calories.  I'll have a bit more of a rest tomorrow :)

Day 84 - Rest Day, Week 12 Analysis & The Hybrid Workout Review.

It feels like I should be writing a final blog entry.  After almost three months I have finally completed the Insanity/Asylum/Asylum 2 hybrid workout.  That means quite a bit to me, but it does not mean the end of this journey.  I am fitter, but sadly, there are no chiselled abs hidden beneath my shirt.

So, my quest shall continue.  Tomorrow I'll do my normal weigh-in and measurements, and will start a recovery week.  I need a rest, but don't want to waste all that hard work by just stopping.  I'll build up the workouts gradually, with the aim to start another crazy routine after Christmas.

Before I share my thoughts on the Hybrid workout, let's take a look at this last week's numbers.  As per normal, I pulled the data from my Polar H7 Bluetooth 4.0 Heart Rate Sensor and recorded totals for duration and calories burnt.

Week 12 has been the shortest so far.  This is entirely due to me cutting Tuesday's Max Recovery short.

That resulted in another record low - Just 2225 calories burned this week.

It's hardly surprising then, that this last week has been the lowest intensity of the entire programme.  I may be lighter and fitter, but I'm also burned out.
I'm glad it has been a lighter week.  I probably wouldn't have made it through otherwise.

So what are my thoughts on the Insanity/Asylum/Asylum 2 hybrid workout, and would I recommend doing it?

I am, without any doubt, fitter than I have ever been.  I know that's a bold statement, and 17 year old me would probably argue, but I'm pretty sure I could beat him on every fit test.  My improvements in all of the tests over these last 12 weeks has been pretty good;

An average 32.7% improvement is to me pretty impressive, and I wasn't far off from beating all of my previous bests.  However, compared to Insanity, a 32.7% improvement after 12 weeks is nothing;

I know that I'm physically a different person now and that's not really a fair comparison.  However, I also feel completely wiped out by the last 12 weeks, and have a feeling that this week's test results could have been better.  If I'm too tired to show what I'm physically capable of, then what was the point?  This hybrid is just too long!

I want to talk about the length of the hybrid, but let me give it some context.  Here's what an average week looked like in each of the standalone workouts and the hybrid;

For the past 12 weeks, I've been burning an average of ~4000 calories in ~5.7 hours per week.  That sounds good, until you compare it to any of the other workouts.  The calorie burn per minute (I'll call it Intensity) is significantly lower, meaning that I've been wasting time.  It's not that I haven't been pushing myself - You can see on the yellow graph above that on weeks 2 and 11 I was close to the Insanity burn rate.  It has just been a long, slower paced programme, and that's disappointing.  I could instead have done 5 hours of Insanity per week for the last 12 weeks, and would have achieved a higher calorie burn.

I know that a lot of what I'm perceiving as wasted time was the stretching, and I do appreciate that.  I've noticed the difference in my flexibility, and would definitely have popped or torn something without it.  I just think that the Max Recovery and Cardio recovery could easily have been swapped for Relief or Off Day Stretch, and not have wasted time that could have been spent either burning calories, or sleeping.

So would I recommend this hybrid workout to anyone?  I think you can guess my answer.  I can't figure out who this is for.  If you're thinking of doing this hybrid, then it means that you've already done the three standalone workouts.  You'll get better strength from Asylum/Asylum 2, and you'll get better Cardio from Insanity.  If you want a mixture of the two, then just do Insanity month 2, but swap a couple of the workouts for Strength/Upper Elite.  There's no real need to put yourself through these 12 weeks, unless you really want to start falling asleep at your desk in the middle of the day.

Of course, if I magically lose a load of weight overnight, and abs appear in the morning, I may change my mind :)

A huge thanks to my family for putting up with me through this, and to the UK Insanity Facebook group for their motivation and support.

Day 83 - Championship and Sudden Death Overtime

That's it!  The last workout of this Insanity/Asylum/Asylum 2 Hybrid is done!

I'll write a bit more about the entire programme in tomorrow's weekly analysis, but for now will just say that I'm really happy that I've made it through, and even happier that it's over.

Today's workout went better than expected.  I took just one small break during the gymnastic jumping section, but otherwise pushed through.

My fit test improved slightly.  In week one, I only managed 5 rotations of the agility sequence.  Today I managed 6.5.  That's still a whole rotation lower than my personal best (7.5 set in July), but it yet again shows a 30% improvement over my week 1 results - at least I'm consistent!

So that's it for this hybrid.  I'm going to take tomorrow off completely, and then will do a recovery week next week.  I'm going to a taekwondo class with my family on Saturday, but hopefully that won't be too much work.

I'm really happy :)

Day 82 - Off Day Stretch

It's almost over!  I have one workout left to do!

Today was lovely.  I turned my alarm off, had an hour's extra sleep, and did the 30 minute Off Day Stretch after work.

It's a really gentle routine - Far more relaxing than either of the Insanity recovery routines.  I enjoyed it.

I'm not sure if I'm any more flexible than I was in week 1.  I might do some side-by-side comparisons once this has finished.

Just one workout left - It's going to be a big one, as it's the Asylum 2 finale - Championship + Sudden Death Overtime Fit Test.   I'm not looking forward to the workout, but am definitely going to enjoy what it represents - The end to this Hybrid workout.  It's certainly not going to be the end of my quest, but I need to have a bit of a rest.

Day 81 - Max Recovery

Am feeling pretty rough.  Hoping it's just a cold on it's way, but it's possibly an ear infection.  I didn't sleep particularly well last night, and my balance was screwy this morning.  As a result, I cut this morning's Max Recovery short.

I have two workouts left - I'm not going to be happy if I can't complete this programme!

Day 80 - Athletic Performance Assessment & Relief

It has been a while since I last did this Asylum fit test - It was back on Day 3!

After Day 78's 36% improvement on my Day 1 Insanity scores, I was fairly confident that I'd show some improvement again today.  Did I manage it?

Just a 29% improvement over week 1, and two personal bests missed.  It'll have to do.

I get another rest tomorrow in Max Recovery.

Day 79 - Cardio Recovery

Today's Cardio Recovery went as expected.  It was a nice, light, short routine, in which I didn't even break a sweat.

It's Asylum's Athletic Performance Assessment tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing the difference since week 1.

Day 78 - Fit Test & Relief

Today was the final Insanity Fit Test of this programme.  I underperformed on a couple of tests, but overall did better than last week;

It would have been nice to have finished with better scores in every test, but in the last 8 days I've either matched or in most cases exceeded my personal bests, so I'm happy with that.  I have the two Asylum fitness tests to complete later this week, and it will be interesting to see what improvements have been made since week 1.

I did my normal Saturday weigh-in and measure;

After my stomach issues earlier in the week, I was expecting a slight drop in weight, but it's nice to see my hip and waist measurements also drop slightly - That implies that it wasn't just water weight going.

It's another nice relaxing round of Cardio Recovery tomorrow.  I'd better not get too used to these lighter workouts, as I need to start thinking about what to do when this programme finishes.

Day 77 - Rest Day & Week 11 Analysis

One week left!

This has been a tough week.  I've been unwell, and work has been a sod again.  I skipped Max Recovery on Wednesday and Overtime on Thursday.  But I did some workouts, and that's better than none.  I even made it through one last Game Day workout, which I hate s much!

This week's numbers are obviously going to look pretty bad, but let's take a look anyway.

5.4 hours.  It's a long way off the 6.9 that I should have done.

Skipping those two smaller workouts, feeling rubbish and starting the week with higher fitness levels meant a 1216 calorie drop compared to week 2.  That's not insignificant.

But by skipping a low intensity recovery session, my burn rate for the week was pretty good.  In fact the duration and calorie burn were not far off a typical week in Insanity, so it wasn't a wasted week.

Tomorrow it's just the Insanity Fit Test and Relief.  I probably don't need to set an alarm for something that short!  Woo!

One week left!

Day 76 - Game Day

That's right - Game Day.  Not Game Day & Overtime, because I'm shattered.  Those extra 15 minutes would have been me in a heap on the ground, so I skipped it.

Game Day itself was as horrible as normal.  I think this will be the last time I do this workout.  I feel stupid doing it, and there are much better workouts to do.

That's me finished for week 11.  I want to get through next week without missing any workouts, so need my rest day tomorrow.

Day 75 - Max Recovery

No workout today.  I'm still recovering from yesterday, and just need a break.  Hopefully it will be enough to get me through tomorrow's Game Day & Overtime.

Day 74 - Back To Core & Ab Shredder

Well I now know why I was feeling so rough yesterday - I didn't make it into work today due to what I'll only describe as severe stomach issues.

I really shouldn't have done any form of workout today, but I'm so close to the end, I don't want to miss any.  I made it through Back To Core ok, but really felt Ab Shredder, and am still feeling it several hours later.

I also don't have any appetite, which will have a knock-on affect on at least tomorrow's workout.  Luckily it's just Max Recovery, so I should make it through ok.

Day 73 - Max Cardio Conditioning

Today was supposed to be Max Cardio Conditioning & Cardio Abs, but there was a traffic incident, so I had to cut Cardio Abs so I could spend time driving very slowly to work.........

I struggled to get my heart rate up this morning.  Hopefully it's just tiredness, and I'm not coming down with something.

I'm hoping to have a bit more energy for tomorrow's Back To Core & Ab Shredder.

Day 72 - Strength & Relief

Today's Strength and Relief were fairly tough.  I awoke this morning with very sore shoulders.  Now sure why, as yesterday's workout shouldn't have affected them too much.  Whatever it was, it made the overhead presses more difficult than normal.

I matched my personal best of eight in the pyramid row push-ups, which I'm happy with.  Not sure that I'll ever get to nine, as I'm pretty close to running out of time for the eight.

The rest of the workout went ok.  Once again, my efforts in the pyramid row completely wiped out my arms, and I was unable to complete the following set of hip flies.

It's back to Insanity tomorrow for some Max Cardio Conditioning and Cardio Abs.

Day 71 - Max Interval Circuit & Fit Test

This morning was proper work!  90 minutes of Insanity should wipe anyone out, and it certainly did.

Today was a repeat of Day 8 - Which held my record for calories burned in a day.  Did I beat it's 1345 calorie burn?  No.

  

 Am I upset about it?  Again, no, and I'll explain why.

Firstly, let's look at today's measurements;

No real difference to last week, but you'll see that since day 8, I've lost 2.5Kg.

Now the important numbers - The fit test results.  Today's fit tests went pretty well if I do say so myself;

I didn't just obliterate my Day 8/Week 2 numbers - Apart from the Globe Jumps, I either matched or beat my personal bests set back in March.  Combined I improved by a smidge over 5% on my personal bests, and 25% better than my Week 1 numbers.  I'm fitter than I've been in years!

So, I'm lighter, and fitter.  That means that my calorie burn has to drop.  It's a bit of a pain, as I'll have to get fatter if I want to beat that Day 8 calorie burn.

I'm obviously fairly chuffed.  Hopefully I'll nail that 11th Globe Jump next week and have improvement across all my scores.

It's Strength & Relief tomorrow.  For now, I'll leave you with today's time lapse;

Day 70 - Rest Day & Week 10 Analysis

There's just two weeks till this is finished, three weeks till The Force Awakens, and four weeks till Christmas!  Things are looking good!

I've enjoyed this last week.  Even though I failed to complete week 8, those previous three weeks were a slog, and I needed this downtime.

I'm not going to go too mad with the data, but for those who are interested;

That's 2888 calories burned in just over 4.6 hours this week.  It's strange to think of that as relaxing, as it wasn't that long ago that I wasn't doing any form of exercise.  It'll do for this week.

That's 10 weeks done!  The final two weeks are going to be tough, but I know I can do it!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's Fit Test - It has been 8 weeks since the last one, and I'm hoping to see some improvements.  The rest of next week is a repeat of week 2, which is a little daunting, as that holds the record for both calories burned in a week, and calories burned in a single day.  Sounds like a challenge :)

It has been a few weeks since I included a third party video, but this has to be shared;

Day 69 - Relief

The child in me couldn't miss day 69, so I forwent my Friday morning lay in for some relief.

All went well, until I noticed that my GoPro had stopped recording.  I'm hoping it's just a dodgy SD card, and will be testing some spares to make sure it's ready for tomorrow.  If not, then I may have to look at other cameras, which would be a bit of a pain.

Here's what I did manage to capture;

So that's the final stretch before the final stretch.  Just two weeks left to go!

Day 68 - Max Recovery

Yay! More recovery!  I'm ready for a workout now.

I've still got a session of relief that I should squeeze in at some point, but I think I'm done for this week.

Day 67 - Core Cardio & Balance

Better late than never!  I ran out of time yesterday to complete my workout, so will be shuffling things around a bit.  I plan to either do a double one day, or simply switch my day off from Friday to Tuesday.  It's not a hardship, as it's a very light week, an simply a case of squeezing Relief in somewhere........

Today's Core Cardio & Balance went great.  I feel really good after completing it.

It's Max Recovery next............

Day 66 - Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs

It was freezing this morning, but a return to Insanity warmed me up nicely.  I've missed the Insanity workouts, and Pure Cardio is a good one - Just the right length, nicely paced, and a good variety of upper and lower body work.

Cardio Abs on the other hand felt like a bit of a waste.  I need more of an ab workout that it could provide, but this is supposed to be a lighter week.

The week gets even lighter tomorrow with Core Cardio & Balance.

Day 65 - X Trainer & Relief

Today was X-Trainer, and I loved it!  I don't know why, but I felt good, Shaun T kept making me smile, and everything just came together for a really good workout.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs - Bring it on!

Day 64 - Cardio Recovery

It's recovery week!  I'm going to enjoy this one.

Today's cardio recovery was nice and short - Just half an hour.  That meant I got extra time in bed, did the workout after the heating had kicked in, and still had breakfast with my family.  Awesome stuff!

I also did my weekly weigh-in and measure;

There's only one number that significantly changed, and that's my weight - I lost a whole kilogram!  That's my biggest single week loss of the programme!  I'm happy with that.

There's a bit more work to do tomorrow in X-Trainer & Relief.  It's starting to get cold here in the UK, so I might wait for the house to warm up a bit before starting.

Day 63 - Rest Day & Week 9 Analysis

It has been a tough week, made tougher by the preceding two weeks.  If I had another week like this, then I might very well have thrown in the towel for good on this hybrid, but thankfully, it looks like I've reached the peak of this workout, and will get a bit of a rest before it picks up again towards the end.

That end is well and truly in sight - Just three weeks to go!  That's pretty exciting.

So how did I do this week?  I'm not expecting much, as I was still feeling the effects of a rubbish week 8.  As per normal, I pulled the data from my Polar H7 Bluetooth 4.0 Heart Rate Sensor and recorded totals for duration and calories burnt.

Firstly, lets look at the last nine weeks of this Hybrid.  We'll start with the total duration;

The difference in time between weeks 7 & 9 is due to me skipping Relief on day 59 (Back & 6-Pack).

Now we look at the calorie burn;

I burned just 4782 calories this week.  Whilst not terrible, it's almost a whole workouts worth less than week 7's 5302.

Now let's look at those two graphs combined;

It's not great, but this week was not about beating my personal bests - It was picking myself up after last week's fall.  I made it through, and will now hopefully make it through the rest of this Hybrid.

Purely out of interest, I thought I'd take a look at this week's individual workouts compared to week 7's to see where that difference was;

The Back & 6-Pack calorie drop is understandable, as it was 23 minutes shorter than week 7.  Otherwise, I was consistently worse in three of the five other workouts.  It wasn't all bad, and I did feel fitter in this week's Vertical Plyo - It may have just been my imagination, but I felt I was jumping higher and for longer.

To sum up this week, I didn't do great, but I'm feeling better.  I'm looking forward to a lighter week 10, and really looking forward to the final two weeks - I want to see how I've improved in the fit tests.

That'll do for this week.

Day 62 - Speed and Agility & Back To Core

I feel tired.  Constantly tired.  Three more weeks of this, and then I'm taking a few days off!

Today was a struggle.  There were many, many breaks, but I really don't care.  These last three weeks have been very tough, and I'm surprised that I managed to complete this week at all.

Today's calorie burn was lower than day 48's;

I'm not hugely surprised.  Most of my workouts this week have produced lower than expected calorie burns, but I don't think I could have pushed any harder.  I'm wiped out.

Next week I'm repeating week 6's recovery week.  I'm looking forward to a lighter week!

It's rest day tomorrow, and I'll be looking back at this week's numbers.

Day 61 - Max Recovery

That was tougher than expected.  It seems that 12 hours was not enough time for my arms to recover from yesterday's Overtime, so I struggled with what should have been a fairly light workout.

At least I'll have at least 22 hours before tackling tomorrow's Speed & Agility and Back To Core.

Day 60 - Vertical Plyo, Overtime & Relief

That's more like it!  Tonight's workout was a beast, but not only did I make it through, I also managed to improve on week 7's workout by 90 whole calories!  Not too shabby.

Overtime was as horrible as ever, but that's what it's for.

It's Max Recovery tomorrow.  Am looking forward to a slightly more chilled workout.

Day 59 - Back and Six Pack

I was running short on time this morning, so no Relief today.  If I start feeling creaky, I might do it after work.

Back and Six Pack went OK.  I was a bit annoyed, as I was pretty close to completing without a break.  The hip flies and those final flutter kicks are a real git.

It's Vertical Plyo, Overtime and Relief tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to get them done before work, but need to be in early to setup some exams, so may have to postpone.

Day 58 - Power Legs & Relief

This morning's workout was a little disappointing - I was miles off the previous two week's calorie burn.  Not sure why, as I felt I was pushing.  Oh well.

I am starting to enjoy power legs.  It's a fairly low speed workout, but it really feels like work.  The final squat/pulse sequence is a killer, but Shaun T manages to keep me entertained and motivated, so I manage to get through without stopping.

I managed to tear my heavy band at some point during today's workout.  I'm glad it didn't snap, as that would have stung.  I picked up a replacement this afternoon, so I'm good to go for tomorrow's Back & Six Pack.

Day 57 - Upper Elite & Ab Shredder

After having three days off, I'm back, and it felt OK.  Not great, nor bad, so that'll do for now.  I was close to postponing/skipping it, but am glad I didn't.  Back to taking it one day at a time.

The workout itself went slightly better than expected.  I didn't match day 50's calorie burn, but very slightly improved on day 43's, which surprised me, as I wasn't expecting too much from myself.

 

Ab Shredder was as unpleasant as usual, and I was fairly shattered after Upper Elite, so there were many, many stops.  I'm again just glad to have gotten through it, so am not hugely bothered about my performance today.

I did my normal Saturday morning weigh-in and measure, and am happy with the results;

The three days off didn't have a negative result on my body, and both my weight and body fat weight dropped slightly.  That's pretty good news, as once I get to a place where I'm happy with my weight, I know I won't have to work out for 7 hours per week to maintain it.

It's Power Legs & Relief tomorrow.  Right now it's time to spend some quality time with my family, have a bit of a chill out, and not worry about anything.

Day 56 - Rest Day & Week 8 Analysis

I'm not going to bother with my normal weekly analysis, as I can sum this one up with one word: Rubbish.

This is my third "Rest Day" in a row, and I'm starting to feel human again.  It has obviously helped that a large chunk of the stress from work has almost gone, so I'm sleeping better, but a bit of a break from the workout has definitely helped.

So that's it for week 8.  I failed miserably, but am not too bothered, provided I can get through week 9.

Day 55 - Speed and Agility & Back To Core

I'm throwing in the towel for this week. The stress from work, and resulting lack of sleep has caught up with me, and at 5 this morning, sat in my exercise clothes ready to push play on Speed & Agility I just couldn't do it. I'm going to have a couple of days off, get some rest, and hopefully start week 9 on Saturday.

Day 54 - Max Recovery

Well it finally happened. Day 54 of my Insanity/Asylum/Asylum 2 hybrid, and my first DNF. 10 minutes into Max Recovery, and I'm just not enjoying it. Feel a bit guilty, but it has been a git of a week, and the double Asylum workout tomorrow might make things feel a bit better.

Day 53 - Verical Plyo, Overtime & Relief

Just a quick update this evening, as I need some sleep.  Workout done, but was again disappointed with myself.  Looking forward to finishing this week,

I gave up half way through Relief, as I had children who wanted feeding, and I still had work to do.

Max recovery tomorrow.  Night night.

Day 52 - Back and Six Pack & Relief

Am still having a rubbish time at work, which is having an impact on my workouts.  I did manage to do day 52's workout on day 52, but it was after dinner (not recommended) and just before I went to bed (again not recommended), so I'm now posting this on day 53.  I've yet to do day 53's workout, but am hoping to fit it in before eating tonight.

As I was doing Back & Six Pack, I thought I was doing pretty well.  Whether it was the food in my stomach, or the long day at work, something made me think I was giving it 100% when in fact I didn't even match last week's calorie burn.  Oh well.

I've accepted that I'm not going to improve on last week's calorie burn, and that's ok.  It has been a weird start to the week, and I doubt it's going to improve.

It's Vertical Plyo, Overtime and Relief later today.  I'm not really looking forward to it, but hopefully I'll find some motivation before then.

Day 51 - Power Legs & Relief

Well it has been an interesting morning.  We had a fire at work, which luckily was contained in time and didn't reach my server room.  Lots of water damage, and a very stinky office, but otherwise everything seems ok!

I was definitely distracted during this morning's workout.  Hardly surprising, but annoying, as my calorie burn dropped from last week.  Not much I can do about it.

It's Back and Six Pack tomorrow.  I might have to do that one after work, as I suspect that I'll need to head into work early.

Day 50 - Upper Elite & Ab Shredder

It's week 8, and I'm still going.  Last week was a beast, but this week I planned to do better.  I think I managed that in Upper Elite, but was running on empty by the time I got to Ab Shredder.  Even so, I slightly improved on last Saturday's calorie burn, so that's good enough for me.

I attempted to Periscope this workout, but the camera on my phone doesn't really have a wide enough angle.  I got fed up with having to move the phone, so gave up.

I did my normal Saturday morning weigh-in and measure before my workout;

Not a huge difference.  My body fat did go up slightly, presumably due to the Pizza I had on Monday, but it did taste really good, so I'm not too upset about it.

It's more jumping and squats in Power Legs tomorrow. 

Day 49 - Rest Day & Week 7 Analysis

The workout has finally begun!  I've been complaining for the past few weeks about the falling duration and calorie burn, but this week things got turned back up to 11.  I did six full Asylum/Asylum 2 workouts (two in one session) along with the normal relief and a round of Insanity's Max Recovery.

I should be feeling pretty good about completing that lot, but I feel that I didn't really push myself again.  Let's take a look at the data and figure out why.

As per normal, I pulled the data from my Polar H7 Bluetooth 4.0 Heart Rate Sensor and recorded totals for duration and calories burnt.

Firstly, lets look at the last seven weeks of this Hybrid.  We'll start with the total duration;

Just over 7 hours of workouts in 6 days - Not too shabby!  If nothing else, it's been the longest workout week of the programme.

Now we look at the calorie burn;

 

A 5302 calorie burn for this week again isn't bad, but that week 2 record of 5443 was just out of reach!

You can probably guess where this is going.  Let's look at those two graphs combined anyway;

 

Yup - Week 2 still takes the crown!  It also surprises me just how close last week's recovery week is to this week - they felt incredibly different, but the pace was very similar.

What can I say about this week?  It felt harder, but I feel like I could have done better.  Week 2's data shows that I'm capable of pushing harder over a similar duration, so why didn't I?

If we look at week 2 vs week 7, we see many similar workouts - Strength matches Upper Elite, Game Day matches Speed & Agility, but the two Insanity workout days in week 2 is where I think the difference could be.

If we look at how this week compares to the standalones, hopefully you'll see what I'm getting at.  As we've now run out of Asylum/Asylum 2 data, I'll be comparing this week to an average week in Insanity/Asylum/Asylum 2;

Insanity just kicks butt at burning calories.

It's not hugely surprising then that a week including a few Insanity workouts would have a higher calorie burn than one without.   So if I'm not burning calories with high intensity cardio, then am I building muscle with strength and power?  That's pretty hard to gauge, but maybe tomorrow's weigh-in and measure will show some improvement.

In summary, this week was looong, and a lot of work.  I feel I could have burned a few more calories if I'd either pushed harder, or paced myself better, but I'm not hugely disappointed.

Next week, I get to do all this again.  Yay!

Day 48 - Speed and Agility & Back To Core

Damn that was tough!  Still not as bad as Day 8's 1345 calorie burn, but even so;

That's what two full Asylum workouts look like back-to-back!

Could I have beaten that 1345 record?  I think so.  I think I overdid it at the beginning of Speed and Agility, as I was struggling towards the end of that first workout, and was burnt out by the time I started Back To Core.  I was taking breaks during the Back To Core warmup, which is pretty bad.

That's week 7 done. I know I could have done better, so that's my goal for the next two weeks.  If I can beat this week's calorie burn total, I'll be happy.

It's rest day tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this week compared to the others.  It felt like I got a few good workouts in there.

Day 47 - Max Recovery

Just for fun, today I broadcast my workout on Periscope.  Not sure how successful it was, or if I'll make this a regular thing.

Today was Max Recovery.  It went pretty much as expected.

I'll be finishing off the week with Speed and Agility & Back To Core.  That's two full Asylum workouts back to back!

Day 46 - Vertical Plyo, Overtime & Relief

That didn't go well :(

Yesterday I said that today's workout would take just over 100 minutes.  It turns out that the three videos did indeed have a combined duration of 103 minutes, but I'd forgotten about the 10 minute Shakeology ads after each video.  So today's workout only lasted 78 minutes, and I didn't need to get up at 03:30 after all!

It was bloody cold when I started my workout.  The heating hadn't yet kicked in, and I didn't want to wake my wife or children by turning it on early.  It wasn't until 23 minutes into Vertical Plyo that I started to feel warm, and by then I'd wasted half a workout.

I can only describe this morning's performance as "half arsed".  I struggled to keep my heart rate above 80%, so my calorie burn was down on what it should have been.  It did mean that I wasn't completely burned out for Overtime, but I didn't do particularly well there either.

It's Max Recovery tomorrow.  I plan to regroup, and hopefully do better on Thursday.

Day 45 - Back and Six Pack & Relief

I feel like I'm improving!  I made it till half way through the 14 pulse set of the pulse up/mountain climbers before needing a break.  A quick breather got me back into it, and I completed the 16 pulse set.  Pretty happy with that, and should make it all the way through fairly soon.

There are still plenty of other areas that need improvement.  My side planks are still useless, as are my hip flies.  Hopefully I'll see some improvement there.

It's Vertical Plyo, Overtime & Relief tomorrow - That's 100 minutes of Asylum!  Think I might have to postpone that until after work so that I don't have to get up at 03:30!

Day 44 - Power Legs & Relief

This morning's Power Legs went as well as expected.  It started as an uncoordinated mess, and ended in pain.  That's not a bad thing.  I tried to make up for my inability to remember a simple ladder sequence by just improvising, and I made it through the final set of squat pulses.  I'll chalk this one up as a successful workout.

There's certainly plenty of room for improvement, in both form and pace, so I'll try to do better over the next couple of weeks.

It's Back and 6-Pack & Relief tomorrow.

Day 43 - Upper Elite & Ab Shredder

Well I asked for it!  I wanted to step things up, and I got just that.  This morning's workout utterly destroyed me!
 

 I'm not quite sure what's wrong with me, but I'm pretty happy with that.  My good mood was probably helped by this week's measurements;

It's not a huge improvement, but as last week was very light, I'm happy that I didn't stand still, or take a step backwards.  I was careful with what I ate, and lost a little more body fat.

The madness continues tomorrow with Power Legs & Relief.  It has only been a couple of months since I last did Power Legs, but I can't remember anything about it.  I'm guessing there will be many squats........

Day 42 - Rest Day & Week 6 Analysis

Reaching the half way mark in this 12 week programme should feel like an accomplishment, but this recovery week has wound things down a bit too much for me.  I'm not convinced that a recovery week was needed at this stage.

When I think about Insanity's recovery week, it made sense (at least the first time I did it anyway).  The first four weeks of Insanity gradually build up in in terms of duration, whilst maintaining a fairly consistent calorie burn per minute;

That meant that the first time you did Insanity, by the end of week 4 you were pretty worn out, and needed a break before stepping up a gear in month 2.

The Hybrid is a very different workout.  Firstly, it's intended for people who have already completed Insanity, Asylum and Asylum 2.  I'm not an elite athlete, but after completing all three of those, I'd consider myself above average in terms of fitness, and after five weeks of the Hybrid, I'm not feeling burnt out.  Secondly, both the duration and intensity of the hybrid has been dropping since week 2.  Even when I pushed extra hard in week 5 (read about that HERE) I still couldn't match the week 3 numbers.  Lastly, and most importantly, compared to the standalone workouts, this Hybrid has really been looking after me.  Weeks 3, 4 & 5 all included at least four rounds of Relief/Recovery - That's two hours of stretching per week on top of the normal cooldown stretches!

So, how did this recovery week compare to the previous 5 weeks?  As per normal, I pulled the data from my Polar H7 Bluetooth 4.0 Heart Rate Sensor and recorded totals for duration and calories burnt.

I won't be looking at the standalone workouts for this analysis, as neither Asylum workouts have a recovery week.  Let's start by looking at the total duration of each of the last six weeks;

That's more than a 100 minute drop compared to the previous four weeks!

Now we look at the calorie burn;

Unsurprisingly, there's a significant drop in calorie burn.

Now if we combine the two graphs to look at the calorie burn per minute;

Now that's a bit more interesting.  By throwing in a couple of proper workouts, the week's workout intensity hasn't dropped by too much.

How do I summarise this week?  Initially I thought it was just a waste of time, but I clearly got some work done.  I'll know tomorrow after my weigh-in and measurements what affects it has had on me physically.  Mentally, I'm ready to work out, and that's got to be a good thing.  I know I shouldn't look too far forward, but the next few weeks don't look quite so daunting;

Before I started this programme, I looked at the second half, and thought "Holy ####!"  Now I'm thinking "Bring it on!"  Was that the point of this week?

So, I have three weeks of solid Asylum/Asylum 2 ahead of me.  I've done it before, and was fatter then.  I'm rested, and feel like I'm in reasonable physical shape.  This could be fun.

I've just added a "Totals So Far" widget to the top right of my page.  It's just a little table showing what I've done, and how it's affecting my body.  As my chest, arm and leg measurements have not really changed, I won't track those on the widget, but some of those other numbers look pretty good!

Thanks for reading.  I'll leave you with another cool video.  This week it's more humans doing awesome stuff;