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.