INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 24 - POWER LEGS & AB SHREDDER

Hello you,

Well, day 24 of this amazing journey only contributes to the "fact" that this program gets harder every day, because of the following simple concept: with each week, you improve your stamina, strength and endurance,which makes you last longer and push harder which makes it eventually a harder workout!

That being said, I enjoyed doing the POWER LEGS just as much I did in any of the previous three weeks. I like leg workouts because that is where my strength relatively is, and because it helps me a lot with football (soccer).

The downsides I went through today is that I messed up the ladder more than I wanted to (Optimally, I would like to not mess the up ladder, but that's still difficult to achieve).

The upsides is that I managed to last longer in the squat pulses in the last burnout.

After finishing the power legs, it was time for shredding the abs. Now I must say that I took a short break between these brutal workouts because I was really hurting after the final burnout and it was a good move to do so.

I got better doing AB SHREDDER for the second time today and I managed to complete the V-Hold/In and Out Abs pyramid till the end.

I also did better with the elbow related moves such as the elbow rolls with the knee taps.

Tomorrow will be BACK & 6-PACK and PURE CONTACT, and it might be a crazy day if I show up for both volleyball and football practices. We'll see how it goes.

Happy new years!

Video highlights: http://youtu.be/uxDu9TlOdH0

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 23 - UPPER ELITE

So today UPPER ELITE did what it did the last three weeks - It killed me!

The workout is so brutal for my weak upper body that I start feeling the burn from the very first exercise, of course, push ups.

There are so many different variation of push up moves in this workout that made me think of counting just how many reps I actually do throughout these brutal 60 minutes. I eventually did that and according to my count from the video footage, I did about 148 push ups.

I think I managed to stick around with the heavier dumbbells a bit longer, and I'm also glad that I managed to finish the triceps dips successfully for the second time in a row.

The burnout at the end however is still so darn difficult and I still struggle getting many successive reps in.

Something else that I did not progress with are the jump rope swings, I still tumble and rumble around trying to get it right but I just can't. However, every time I say "I can't", I try to remember Tony Horton's words in P90X in which he says "Don't say I can't, say I'm currently struggling with" or something like that.

I will not miss this workout in the short periods of time in which I'm not going to be doing volume two workouts in.

Tomorrow's workout will be my dear POWER LEGS.

Stay tuned.

Video highlights: http://youtu.be/iav6Ijc8R58

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 22 - X TRAINER

Week 4, the final week of the program begins with the epitome of the athletic matrix, the mighty X TRAINER itself.

Now I was aiming at going all in on this one seeing it's the last time I'm doing this workout (for now), and I did feel like I was doing better on the agility work in the beginning but I was hurting at the end.

I lasted longer in the moving push ups matrix which is always a nice thing, and also managed to do more in and out ab reps and did not mess up the ladder while shooting back into plank position.

However, by the time I reached the final agility sequence I was dead, I started deteriorating so quickly and I was so slow and out of breath, and this reflected on my lateral jumps in the end in which I did not do as well as I did last week.

 To conclude, I got better in some moves and worse in others, but that's how life is.

I guess I did not have enough to eat today, I felt that throughout the day.

Tomorrow is UPPER ELITE which I'm never excited to do.

See you.

Video highlights: http://youtu.be/suvp-pv93Eg

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 20 - CHAMPIONSHIP (SUDDEN DEATH OT)

It's CHAMPIONSHIP day baby and I went in to win this thing.

I felt good going into the workout with enough sleep and well rested after yesterday's stretches and good nutrition today, so I was really aiming at doing better and eventually breaking my record on the OT fit test.

But first let me mention this: this is the first time that I did one of my Asylum volume two workouts in a different setting than the one I used in the previous 19 days, and the reason being is that I did not want to be noisy and loud seeing that our house is full of guests these days.

That being said, it was pretty nice working out in fresh air, but the balcony floor however was not as friendly as in the indoor one (although they are the same material).

I was so excited today that I started doing the power jumps over the ladder right from the first jumping drill, in which you actually only should power jump in place. I stopped with the third time after realizing I was ahead of myself.

Looking back at the video footage I saw that I have better form on the volleyball, soccer and football drills which is awesome because that's what it's all about.

Now let us get to the main event of the night, the SUDDEN DEATH OT fit test yo!

Last week I managed to get exactly 8 rounds after tumbling over the ladder, while today I only tumbled once and I had to fix the ladder one time really quickly, I managed to squeeze just under 9 rounds, which I would have completed if I had not messed up the darn ladder.

I must say I'm pretty satisfied because the folks in the video averaged 8 rounds and I already surpassed that with good form (my power jumps are much better than last week's), so I'm aiming at completing 9 solid rounds next week, which by the way, will be week 4 and the last of this amazing program.

Tomorrow is rest day.

Enjoy.

Video highlights: http://youtu.be/PpGAhPnG3cE

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 18 - BACK & 6-PACK and PURE CONTACT

Hello ya'll,

Today (25.12) I made the mistake of working out after my football practice that lasted well a over an hour.

I paid for this mistake during the second double day in a row, and the drawback was clear already during the warm up jumping jacks in the BACK & 6-PACK routine.

I think I had better form with the superman holds, but I still struggle with the superman dumbbell raises or what ever they are called.

Now after being totally destroyed and completely fatigued, I had to press play yet again with the PURE CONTACT workout which I did for the very first time.

It's aim is to train the athlete on how to contact the ground with proper form.

Shaun T goes nuts on the pike ups on this one, as if the abs weren't engaged enough in the previous workout!

I'm really extremely happy and glad that tomorrow will be OFF-DAY STRETCH because I'm very, very sore.

Peace out.

Video highlights: http://youtu.be/Mp5jWNDwsKA

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 17 - POWER LEGS & AB SHREDDER

Crazy, crazy day.

After dropping my mother to the hospital and checking my sister in to the delivery ward at midnight , I got a call at 8:57 AM telling me that I have become an uncle.

I did not have much sleep yesterday, and today was a hectic long crazy happy day!

I finally managed to find the time to do my double workout at around 10 pm, and I just had my post-workout meal and looking at the video footage I took while working out and started to fall asleep sitting on my desk and that is when I decided to starting writing this post.

Now I was kind of tired already, but I pushed through and I did really well with the POWER LEGS routine. The last burnout is still very, very difficult and its amazing to see how Scott whom is Shuan T's "professional soccer player" is struggling with the pulses.

But that's not all - today was the first time featuring the AB SHREDDER and this workout is no joke!

Some of the moves like the elbow roll looks easy and it is not difficult to perform but very hard to maintain.

What I personally need to have is a better mat, a one that doesn't move around easily and sticks to the ground. My mat was basically all over the place and I had to eventually remove it from underneath the agility ladder and do some of the moves over the rough floor.

Tomorrow's is also going to be a double day with BACK & 6-PACK and the new PURE CONTACT workout which I yet have to try out.

Happy holidays everyone.

Video highlights: http://youtu.be/AF8Q-b6iYAc

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 16 - UPPER ELITE

Woah, this is definitely the toughest workout in the series for me, and the reason being is that I'm really weak in the arms and the chest.

First of all, I stated earlier that I was using 10 kg's and 7.5 kg's. Well it turns out that the 7.5's were actually 6.25's so you see how bad I'm struggling!

I upped the weights up to make it 7.5's and I managed to stick around with the 10's a bit more this time, but overall I don't feel that I did much better than last week.

One move I managed to complete this week was the moving triceps dips, I was really thrilled I got that one right.

I've seen some practitioners up their weights by five pounds (2.2 kg's) every week, wow, that's real dedication. I'm still struggling with the same weights I've been using since day 1!

 I haven't checked my video footage yet, but I have the feeling that I had better form on the single arm assisted push ups.

The final burnout is still a filthy monster!

Tomorrow will be my lovely POWER LEGS and will feature AB SHREDDER for the first time.

I'm excited to see how that goes.

Peace out.

Video highlights: http://youtu.be/U8gdiO3Q7qo