Insanity Day 1

Insanity Day 1 is a plyometric cardio workout. 

What is a plyometric workout?  According to wikipedia:

Plyometrics, or "plyos" for short, are a type of exercise designed to produce fast and powerful movements. They are generally used by athletes to improve performance in sports, especially those that involve speed, quickness and power^[1]. In addition, it is possible to find plyometrics used in the fitness field, but to a much lesser degree.^[2] Thus, plyometric exercises is when you use explosive, fast-acting movements to develop muscular power and to improve overall speed. In other words, it's an exercise that allows muscles to exert maximum force in the shortest amount of time possible.

So how did me and husband do on it?  It kicked our butt and then diced it really fine, then ran it through the grinder until it was a fine paste.  We couldn't even make it through the warm up without taking a break.  Shaun takes the work out through a series of movements, starting out at a medium pace and speeding it up through each set for a total of 3 or 4 sets.  By the final set even the people in the video were taking breaks, falling over, or looking like they wanted to puke.

At the end of the video, Vince and I sat in a daze unable to get up to turn off the TV.  The next day we were extremely sore.  But it was a good sore.  I haven't felt that kind of good burn in a while.

Insantiy Fit Test

My husband (who has no weight to lose) decided he will do the Insanity workout with me to provide me moral support.

Today we started it.  We setup in the living room, and did the test.  Our 2 year old daughter was also present.  Let me just say that having a 2 year old present definitely gets in the way of doing the test.  I was constantly afraid that I would kick her.  And it's also very hard to do push ups when a 2 year old is trying to crawl onto your back for her horsey ride. 

After the test, we both sat in a daze as we tried to catch our breath.  It was hard, and left us wanting to throw up.  I can't wait for tomorrow.  =)

ShrinQ pocket pedometer review

I went to my local sporting good store and chose a pedometer.  I figured the 10,000 steps a day fitness routine would be a practical way towards greater health.  I had a mechanical pedometer that used the traditional pendulum technology but it stopped working after a year.  I guess the mechanism just wasn't clicking anymore cause it was old?  Keeping this in mind I decided to splurge and get the Shrinq pocket pedometer for $27.  I liked the idea of the slim little pedometer in my pocket instead of clipped to my waist.  I also thought it might last longer than a mechanical pedometer since it uses accelerometer technology instead of the mechanical pendulum.

After 2 weeks, I'm returning it today.  Why?  It is way too sensitive.  If I even pat my pocket, it registers a step.  The process of removing it from my pocket to check how many steps I've taken registers as 4 more steps.  When I clipped it to my waistband to see if I could avoid those false steps, it registered my hip sways as steps!  

I feel very disappointed.  I was wondering how it was possible that I was hitting 10,000 steps a day without even trying.  Well, now I know the answer.  I will be buying the cheaper mechanical pedometer.  Even though it  will most likely poop out after a year... at least it will be accurate right?

Bodybugg SP3 Review

A year ago I had been very motivated to work out.  I was going to the gym everyday and wanted something that could show me how active I was being outside of the gym.  I was a fan of the show biggest loser, and loved the idea of the bodybugg.  It's supposed to track how many calories you burn throughout the day.   

For $99 I got a brand new bodybugg with a 6 month subscription.  Here are my thoughts on this gadget.

Pros:  

1.  The bodybugg really does register every single movement you make and then displays on a chart for you to see.  Looking at the chart of your daily activity level is pretty motivating.  It was stunning to see how inactive I was during the day.  It definitely motivated me to go run up and down the stairs in my office every few hours just to see the little spike in my activity level.  

2.  The bodybugg makes a very accurate pedometer.  I walked 1 mile and checked the bodybuggs pedometer... it showed that I had taken approximately 2000 steps!  Not bad!

Cons:  

1.  I highly doubt the accuracy of the calorie burnt estimation.  But then again, I never trust the calorie burnt estimation on any machine or gadget.  Not even my polar heart rate monitor which is hooked up to my HEART 

RATE  =D

2.  The website to log food was not very user friendly.  I believe the free websites such as dailyplate.com or my fitnesspal.com are easier to use.  The syncing software is also not very concrete.  It really depended on which browser you used.

3.  The gadget is not very discreet.  It's almost like a billboard advertising to the world that you are trying to lose weight.  It's a little bit embarrassing to have someone come up to me and ask: "What's that?"  It's even more embarrassing three months later when they see you and you still haven't lost weight.

4.  You have to PAY to access the information that the bodybugg has collected.  And the gadget itself does not really have a digital display for you to get instant feedback on how your doing.  

5.  The SP3 model did not sync with my android smart phone very well.  In fact it was almost a miracle whenever it did sync with my phone.  As a result I could not get feedback throughout the day on how my activity level was.  It was pretty frustrating to get home, check the bodybuggs' data, realize that I still had 1000 calories worth of activity to do and only 1 hour before bedtime.  If you can't check your bodybugg until you get home, it's already too late to undo a whole day of inactivity.

Summary:  

The bodybugg was not worth the money.  My favorite function of the bodybugg was it's ability to show my overall activity throughout the day.  This function can be provided by a much cheaper device called the pedometer!  

What did I do with my bodybugg after my 6 months subscription?  I gave it away to someone else to try.  It's a neat device, but it's just not practical for my purposes.