Wednesday, January 29, 2014

BEACHBODY Agility Ladder dimensions/measurments

Hey everybody,

As I mentioned in my previous post, I received my BEACHBODY® Agility Ladder yesterday and I'm extremely anticipating using it for the first time with one of the THE ASYLUM's workouts, but that I have to do after my half-marathon and final exams.

The reason for me making this post, is that I still can't find a source on the world wide web that states the 100% exact measurements of the agility ladder sold by beachbody.

Why is that an issue?

Well, I for starters, don't live in the U.S. and so do many others. That means, for many of us, most of the beachbody gear and supplements and whatsoever products are inaccessible, which in turn means that we have to find substitutes for these products that are implemented with the workout DVD's.

After graduating from INSANITY, I made the life changing decision of stepping up to THE ASYLUM, but what held me back from starting it as early is the gear required.

Myself being in the middle east, decided to look online for agility ladders on amazon, but meant that I had to find something similar in size and shape to the original beachbody ladder, but I never found two sources that gave the same number, so I went ahead and ordered myself an Erima agility ladder that had more rungs but that was ok, because I did not open them all.

But still, the distance between the rungs was not the same both in length and width, the length of the plastic between the rungs is also longer, which overall meant that the quality of the workout would be different. Some of the moves were easier and some were harder. I did not want that.

Although the two ladders look identical, the yellow plastic on the top (Erima) is longer, which means more overall lateral length, and the rungs are 17' in width, where as the BB ladder is 14.5' 

Where are you heading with this?

Well after getting my official beachbody agility ladder, I thought I would assume the responsibility myself and share precise, accurate documented measurements of the ladder, for those in need of some sort of reference.

1) Firstly, the ladder measured from end to end, the tape shows 61.5 inches or 156 centimeters or 5'1.25".

156 centimeters/61.5 inches 

2) Secondly, the length of one rung measured in two ways, with plastic 40.6 centimeters/16 inches, without plastic 36 centimeters/14 inches:

A)
Length with plastic: 40.6 centimeters/16 inches
B)
Length without plastic: 36 centimeters/14 inches



3) Finally, the width of the rungs measured within the the rung without the black rubber connector, to give 37 centimeters / 14.5 inches

Inner width: 37 centimeters/14.5 inches


So there you have it, I hope you have no reason to delay ordering or constructing your own DIY agility ladder, and you simply start pressing play!

If you have found this information of any help, please share and subscribe or comment.

Take it easy,

Peace.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

POST THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO UPDATE!

Hello ya'll,

So I promised myself to write a final review about NSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO after having finished the program earlier this month, but I was busy with field trips and university and well, life, so I'll eventually get to that soon enough.

But since I finally got my official Beachbody Agility Ladder and my brand new Polar FT7 heart-rate monitor today I felt that I should get back to this blog, because even if nobody reads or cares, it is the way in which I feel the application of my commitment.

Say hello to the new ingredients of my fitness gourmet recipe

I've been taking it a bit easier ever since I finished the volume two, mainly between running, football (soccer) and beach volley ball. I also tried one of P90X3's cardio workout, "Accelerator" and it was no joke, and also did a couple Beta T25 workouts.

It all comes down to one very special event that is taking place on the 31st of January, which is my very first Half-Marathon race.

This being my first race my main concern and target is just finishing, but my ego wants to do that in less than two hours, which is very far away from happening by the look of my average pace during my previous runs which did not come close to the 21.1 kilometers mark.

My first recorded workout using the FT7

Today was my last training session in which I ran a light 5K, tomorrow will be "Relief" which is just stretching, followed by an off-day before the race.

See you afterwards,

Peace.

Friday, January 3, 2014

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 27 - CHAMPIONSHIP (SUDDEN DEATH OT)

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO:  ☑

Yes, I'm extremely and sincerely glad and proud that I managed to complete my first round of the second volume of Asylum without skipping a day, missing a workout, or changing any thing on the schedule.

However, this post will be about the day 27 workout itself, the CHAMPIONSHIP and I will post a whole review about the program sometime next week.

Today's last workout was the highly anticipated grand finale, the mother of all sports. 

I did very good throughout the workout, pretty much like last week. I had better form on the speed skating exercise, that I can say.

The Olympic weight lifting round 3 and round 4 remains my hardest enemies, due to my weakness to anything upper-body strength related.

The final SUDDEN DEATH OT fit test was awesome, I managed to get all the sequences correct with no mistake at all with minimal mess to the agility ladder, and I broke my record and met my goal of doing 9 solid rounds.

I really wish I had my Polar FT7 heart rate monitor already, because I felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest after I was done doing the fit-test.

This concludes what I have to say about today, it was a great ride with this program and I'll definitely get back to it.

Write you soon.

Peace.

Video highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MG2SXWIhnc


Wednesday, January 1, 2014

INSANITY: THE ASYLUM - VOLUME TWO: Day 25 - BACK & 6-PACK and PURE CONTACT

Hello everybody,

Working out on the first day of the new year. New year's resolution? No, just me continuing my quest towards getting fitter, every day. 

So I'm sitting down sipping my post-workout milk shake (Avocado, Kiwi, Skimmed Milk and Strawberry protein powder if you want to know) and writing this post after the second double workout day in a row. 

Now BACK & 6-PACK is a really strange workout when it comes to duration, in the sense that it is not a short workout but time flies by so quickly because you're constantly changing from working on your back to working your abs. 

Today was without doubt the best time in which I performed this workout, I got more reps in and had better form. 

The PURE CONTACT was also better because I knew what was coming and I did not need to look at the screen so often, but those damn pike up routines are hard as hell!

Volleyball practice did not take place, and I'm still thinking on whether I'll join football later on.

Tomorrow will be the blessed OFF-DAY STRETCH.

See ya'll after tomorrow.

Peace.

Video highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQQ7RQeOAQg


Tuesday, December 31, 2013

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

Monday, December 30, 2013

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


Sunday, December 29, 2013

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