The Book of Lost Tales: Chapter 9 - Rest Well, my Child

During the two weeks I took off after Insanity, I got plenty of rest and I remember that I didn't work as much. I basically slept all day and when I woke up, I would watch several movies all night and then repeat the next day. Honestly, I welcomed the rest at first, but it soon became very boring. Watching movies all day and then occasionally working a four hour shift here and there was not difficult at all. I was looking for a challenge, and I was kind of shocked that I missed working out so intensely. But I wanted more. I wanted to change my whole lifestyle. This wasn't about just shredding some fat and getting a six pack anymore. It was living a healthy lifestyle for good. That was my new priority. I wasn't ready to just throw the towel in on healthy living.

The first week of my rest period, I researched the internet like a scout trying to decide what I would put on my plate next. I briefly considered another round of Insanity, but I wanted to start gaining more muscle. I also considered the extreme of gaining muscle and try something ridiculous like Arnold's Pumping Iron workout. However, I don't have that much equipment at the house and that would just be ridiculously insane. I considered trying a hybrid program of intense sports training for a month or two as well. There were really a lot of options to choose from, and I kept an open mind to everything. I still wasn't exactly sure what was in store for me after my rest period but I knew I wanted something challenging.

I still followed my diet pretty well during the rest week. I logged all of my calories and was taking about 2250 or so a day during my rest week. The important thing to keep in mind is not to indulge after finishing an intense workout program. I have read a lot of stories about people who put on about 70% of all the weight they lost from Insanity after a two week period of finishing it. You need to be careful and continue to eat healthy. I knew that just because I finished an intense cardio workout program that I wasn't going to "treat myself" because I deserved it or something. In reality, I probably did deserve an off-diet day, but I wasn't going to partake in it. I just wanted to rest.

The Book of Lost Tales: Chapter 8 - Congratulations, You are Officially Insane!

After 60+ days of running, sweating and crawling on the floor riddling in pain, I finally finished my insane journey. I think everything went incredibly well. All the fat that was remaining in my gut pretty much vanished. Even my chest was starting to shape up nicely.

The stats from my journey are as follows:
Height: 5'10"
Starting weight: 158 lbs
Finish weight: 146 lbs
Weight difference: -12 lbs
Waist: 29.75 inches
Body fat % = 8.43%

Fit test exercises (I lost the numbers from the first fit test I performed in a washer):

In conclusion, Insanity is a great workout for shredding fat and toning up muscles. I think it would be difficult to gain muscle weight with the workout though. It's practically all cardio, and intense cardio at that. My guess is that eventually you would start burning muscle near the end of a workout. Light cardio with weight training would be a much better option for gaining muscle, in my opinion. Therefore, I probably won't attempt Insanity again as I would like to start gaining muscle for awhile. I'm happy with all the fat that I lost, and I averaged losing a little over a pound a week.

After pounding my body for 60 days, I decided it would be a good idea to take at least a two week rest period. I was ready to take it.

The Book of Lost Tales: Chapter 7 - Get Ripped!

"Anyone have some tape? Because I'm ripped!"

-Ben "Coco" Williams, Scott Francis's Math Class, 2006

The last month of Insanity makes you feel like you approaching death during every workout. Even the recovery workouts weren't a change of pace by any means. However, at the same time, it is rewarding to finish every workout and have no feelings of guilt of not bringing effort. It's a love / hate relationship. Someone once explained to me an analogy that summed it up pretty good. You feel horrible while you're working out, but you feel great afterward. The opposite is said for when you don't workout and eat unhealthy food and drinks. You feel good while you're eating all those sugary sweets and beverages, but then you feel bloated or guilty afterward. Just look up the meaning of the word hangover.

The exercises became much longer and therefore the duration of my pain was extended. At the same time, my body was gaining much more muscle and fat loss for all the extra pain that was getting signaled throughout my body. My goals of losing fat were happening rather quickly. I was shredding a handful of pounds every week.

While there were many changes going on physically with my body, there were also great changes mentally. My mood improved greatly it seemed. I had more energy than ever before and this time it wasn't from a energy drink or several large coffees. I also noticed that my taste buds were evolving. The first time I tried V8 vegetable juice, I almost gagged! By this point, I was downing V8 like I use to down soda and energy drinks. I actually looked forward to the taste. It's rather odd how this happened, but I guess I just got use to the taste. My favorite meal of the day though easily became my mid-morning and evening snacks. I included a protein bar or shake in both of those daily meals. Usually, I found myself eating a lot of Myoplex bars and shakes and Pure Protein bars. The Pure Protein bars probably have the best value of any bar. They are dirt cheap and have a decent amount of protein (20 g) in them. The taste of Myoplex is incredible in my opinion, however, they can be expensive. I still didn't have a full time job at this point, so I just stocked up on Pure Protein mostly. The Myoplex bars were like a treat I bought when I worked more hours at Lowe's.

Some noticeable physical changes to my body were that my shoulders were starting to develop nicely. Also, I felt a lot of strength build in my hamstring throughout the weeks. My abs started to develop around the recovery week, but near the end of the program is when they started to shape up nicely! I was just about done on my insane, little journey and I couldn't have been happier "getting ripped".

The Book of Lost Tales: Chapter 6 -The Take Over, the Breaks Over

After a week and a half or so, my body was fully healed from the horrible bug I caught. As a result, you better believe that I was ready to seriously punish my body. I got back into the swing of things with a fit test which kicked off my last month of Insanity. The Insanity Fit Test is a series of high intensity plyometric moves for about 25 minutes or so. Basically, the idea is to keep a log of all the moves every time this workout is performed and beat the number of reps on each move you did last time.

I absolutely crushed my numbers from the previous time. I think the main reason why that happened is because I felt so antsy to get back into working out the entire time I was sick. Strange as it sounds, it actually helped me get more explosive and mentally pumped. Believe me, whenever I started to warm up for workouts, it always use to feel like I had 5 pounds of sand in each of my shoes. It was getting pretty easy now it seemed though. I guess I built up some endurance. The energy drink kid was getting in shape! Who would've saw that coming?

My diet was advancing and I was getting a good blend of protein and carbs in my daily diet. Protein shakes were taken after every workout. They were pretty clutch as they got some pretty good nutrients in my body. My personal favorite protein shake is BSN's Syntha-6. It's pretty cheap if you order it on Amazon, the taste is pretty good for being whey protein, and two scoops will give you over 50 grams of protein. Some quality carbs I was eating daily included oatmeal in the morning, whole wheat pasta or whole grain brown rice for lunch in the afternoon, and the occasional whole wheat wrap or bread to go with some tuna at night. Tuna was by far my most used protein source during my Insanity diet. I stocked up on canned Tuna like I was preparing for a nuclear holucast. I'm being serious. No joke. At one point, I counted 24 mixed cans of tuna in my cupboard at home. Solid White Albacore, Chunk Light Tuna and Prime Filet Albacore were incorpated into my diet daily. Yes, I am aware that there is mercury found in fish, but I never set off any metal detector alarms with my body, so I'm not too concerned.

The first week of the second month of Insanity is pretty intense. The workouts get extended by about 20 minutes, and there are more training circuits to go through. This was a little tough to get use to at first, and my body did not like the first and second week of the second month. I loved it anyway though! After all, I was getting into the best shape of my life.

The Book of Lost Tales: Chapter 5 - The Setback

I knew that entering week five of Insanity was going to be a bit rough, but I also felt that the timing of the injury was perfect because week five is a recovery week. The only problem was that at the end of week four, I felt pretty worn down. Also, to my dismay, I woke up on my rest day with a pretty wicked cold. I started thinking that I would only be doing light cardio throughout the entire week (which turned out not to be the case anyway), so I had visions of actually completing the week on time. However, it didn't turn out this way at all.

By the time Monday rolled around, I was sick as a dog. I had a sore throat, major headaches, blocked sinuses and a higher temperature than normal. There is no way that I would made any gains doing cardio comparable to walking that week. I knew that Insanity would be a stretch. For the first time, I did something safe and responsible. I figured that I would take a rest until I felt that I was 100% ready to get back into working out again.

I have to admit that I felt pretty useless during this week. Heavy doses of Nyquil were a regular daily requirement during the week. I must of used up at least four boxes of tissues during the time of my cold. I called off work for a couple of days and tried my best to get back into the flow of things physically and mentally. Most of my days being sick would go like this- I would wake up feeling extremely horrid and force feed myself breakfast and every other meal of the day so I didn't lose muscle and too much weight. Chicken Noodle soup was a pretty clutch meal during this sickness. It's a good idea to try and get healthy through nutrition when fighting a sickness. If I didn't eat much when I was sick, for example, I would of probably seen less muscle development.

In reality, this was probably a risky point in which I could of just quit Insanity. Many people quit by the recovery week. On the other hand, I knew that there was no way I was going to stop "being insane". I had goals and for once, I was having fun on the way to achieving them. I was mentally ready to come back and finish strong.

The Book of Lost Tales: Chapter 4 - Dealing with Injuries

During the 4th week of Insanity, I made some pretty big strides to achieving my goals at first. Something happened to my ankle during the third day of week four (Plyometric Cardio Circuit) that had me uneasy. Perhaps I was just getting worn down, or perhaps I was landing too hard on my feet during the jumping exercises. At this point, I took my routine into the laundry room. Normally, my laundry room is very cold. However, since it was mid-summer by the point, it was actually refreshing to be working out in that room. Originally, I was doing the exercises outside because it was so nice out. One thing that may have hindered me though was the concrete floor in the laundry room. Doing jumping jacks, power jumps, tuck jumps, basketball shots and mountain climbers were probably putting a good amount of pressure on my legs from landing on that concrete. Also, I was a bit of a n00b at this plyometric stuff, so my form probably wasn't the greatest.

By the fourth day of the fourth week of Insanity, my right ankle was pretty sore. I would get delivered an agonizing pain on the inside part of my right ankle whenever I landed on it when doing jumps. I tried many different things to counter this pain. For instance, I tried putting most of the pressure on my left leg when landing from jumps. This probably was not a great idea by any means, but I was so determined to finish this journey that I was stupid. By the fifth day of week four, I could really feel pain in my right ankle from performing simple tasks such as walking. However, I was such a meathead to get Insanity done on time, that I went to CVS and bought some tape for my ankle. In my ego's defense, the fifth week of Insanity is a recovery week, so I figured that my ankle would get a chance to heal then. Bad decision.

When I looked at the schedule and saw that Pure Cardio was on the list for that day, I cringed. I wrapped up my ankle with about three layers of tape and sucked it up. I pressed play on the video. At first, I felt like the tape took all of the pressure off my ankle. However, at the same time, it limited my mobility and agility to move lateraly. This was especially bad when doing lateral movements on moves such as the Heisman or Football Shuffles. I felt like Football Shuffles became Football Sticks. It was like a game of one legged hopscotch - very sloppy. Movement was all over the place and the form was just atricous. By the end of this workout, my ankle throbbed with pain. The pain was almost unbearable and I was close to being forced to stop several times. However, my ego told me to keep going.


When week four was all said and finished, it was determined that I had a Grade I ankle sprain. While this type of ankle sprain is minor at best, a grade II ankle sprain involves tearing of ligaments in the ankle. I think if I worked out a few more days after suffering the initial injury, I could of possibly tore a ligament.

To sum up the fourth week and the injury, I think I made a huge mistake trying to continue my workout. The only reason I say this is because I now realize that I probably wasn't making any gains that week. I was risking a lot on the line just to crank out two or three more days off the calendar. I was putting more pressure on my left leg and also putting risk for that leg to get injured. Also, my form was terrible for the entire week. How could I possibly get any gain out of that? I should of stopped and let my ankle heal, but my ego wanted no part of it. I probably would of stupidly kept on going and risked more injury if what happened over that weekend never occured next.

The Book of Lost Tales: Chapter 3 - Coming into a New Zone

Insanity is a two month journey that can ultimately lead one to their ultimate goal of cutting weight. Suddenly, I was just a week away from entering the recovery week. I still had a decent amount of fat on me that I wanted to shred and rip off of my body and never see again. I was on bad terms with fat. I had visions of molding the fat I had left in my abdominal region into pure muscle. However, I know it does not work this way. Your abs are covered by a layer of fat until you burn that layer off. In order for your abs to be visible, your body fat percentage needs to be roughly around 10% or less. Now, if it were only THAT easy. I went into Insanity with roughly 20% body fat. I was sluggish, slow and out of shape. I had a feeling that was changing though.

When the fourth week of Insanity came around, I noticed I wasn't gasping for air during the warm-ups. I felt... fine. I am confused at the thought of how I suddenly had more endurance. The last day of the third week seemed brutal, and I could easily recall how much I was discouraged that my stamina and endurance wasn't improving. Then, the day of rest came and it was like magic happened.

It was like a rare, exotic spider bit me overnight and I suddenly had acquired superpowers. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the warm-up to Pure Cardio (the most evil video of all time), was finished and I still had breath. To the best of my knowledge (it was always fuzzy doing Insanity), I never stopped. Of course, when the real exercise came in, my ass got kicked all over the place like a lost dog on the streets. The sequence of moves is still a blur to me now that I have finished the video numerous times. There are mountain climbers, high jumps, high knees, rapid lateral moves, shuffling and crazy things of all sort.

Needless to say, the video ended, and as I laid on the ground begging for air, a huge smile came across my face. I loved it. I wanted more. My brain was shouting "smother me in pain"! I cannot accurately and descriptively explain the euphoria I felt from this beating. While my body tingled with numbness, my brain felt it too. There were many things going through my mind. First, my mind was delivering messages of pain to my legs, core and the rest of my body. Believe me, a lot of these messages were sent that day. The smile on my face was definetly brought on by my brain telling me I was done for the day. Also, I knew my body's figure would be rewarded handsomely for my efforts. I got up from the ground and figured I would take care of my body's drastic need for glyocen and sugar with a nice beverage. After I finished my mountain dew... Alright, that was a joke. I grabbed a Myoplex protein shake and bathed in my feelings of success for the rest of the night. That night, no one could of brought me down to planet Earth. I was in a whole new zone and world. Everything seem to come together and make sense.

The Book of Lost Tales: Introduction

It's 4:00 in the afternoon and I have just stumbled out of bed. It's July 5th, 2010; the day after the fourth of July. While I am regaining consciousness and slowly coming back to life, I quickly recall the great fun I had the previous night. Watching fireworks, eating loads of hamburgers and hot dogs, drinking beverages, swimming in the pool at midnight with a whole bunch of close friends and all the laughs exchanged throughout the night. As I fumble around my desk looking for my glasses, I suddenly realize that there is no need to do so. I slept the night with my contacts in again. Darn. I am discouraged that my eyes feel terrible but I play it off as no big deal. While walking around during the morning, I feel particularly different. I can't seem to figure out what it is at first, but something definitely feels different. The difference is noted in a bad way. It's one of those things where you get a bad feeling in the gut of your stomach about. I am suddenly able to discover that I feel very sluggish and bloated. Could it have been all those hot dogs and hamburgers I had while watching fireworks? I am quickly intrigued by my own question and decide to take a walk to my bathroom. As I grab the scale out from behind the door, I wonder when the last time I weighed myself was. It had to be awhile. I just finished my senior year of college where pulling all-nighters was a thing of regularity for me. Energy drinks, wings, beef jerky, soda and other unhealthy beverages were the main points of my daily 'diet'. Suddenly, I am scared to see what my weight has become, but I am prepared for a slight change. I weighed about 155 pounds during my junior year, which was pretty consisent with the weight throughout most of teenage years. I step on the scale and my jaw dropped at the sight of 178 pounds. "Whoa!" I exclaimed. I really let myself go this year. I gained nearly 25 pounds in one year. At this rate, who knows what will happen next? Being in an extremely bad genetic situation with family heart problems, surgeries and high blood pressure can only add more importance to this issue. The weight I have gained is not characteristic of me. Not only am I beginning to feel unhealthy, I am starting to look unhealthy too. Things need to change.