Insanity Max: 30 --- Getting Started with Month 1

Though my test group for Insanity Max: 30 isn't starting until after the New Year, I thought it would be best to go through the workouts so I can share more about the program from personal experience with you! I'll break the first month up into two separate posts, but you'll have to wait for the second month until I'm actually going through it come February.

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Cardio Challenge. 30 minutes of serious cardio. Shaun T will lead you through several rounds of cardio where you push as hard as you can for 4.5 minutes and then get a 30 second break before going at it again. I followed the modifier for roughly half of the moves, but even then, I still burned 283 calories with this workout. No joke!! I was sweating big time but it felt great to push myself. I can't wait to start tracking my Max Out times when the challenge group kicks off because I can't wait to see my improvement with this workout in particular.

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Ab Attack: 10. I did this workout after I finished the Cardio Challenge workout. Not easy!!! I need to double check the calendar but I think my plan is to do this at least 3 days a week (I really want to get some definition in my abs). I burned 63 calories doing this right after Cardio Challenge.

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Tabata Power. 20 seconds of pushing your hardest before taking a 10 second break, then repeat. Each round focuses on a different area of your body, so while you start by working your legs, there's a round that involves variations of push-ups (don't worry, if your upper body is weaker than you would like it to be like mine, you can do them on your knees), a round that focuses on your core, and a round that will make those triceps BURN! The last 4 minutes, you push straight through and go as hard and fast as you can. I maxxed out around 6 minutes for this workout. I did modify nearly half of the moves as I did with Cardio Challenge after maxxing out. I burned 210 calories doing this workout.

I'm LOVING these workouts so far. As a former sales person in the hospitality industry, I thrived on "competing" with myself... reaching my goals and pushing further so I'd never settle. That will come in handy as I try to beat my own max out times each and every day. Ready to join me yet?

~ Aly

I'm Maxxing Out with Shaun T

Intimidated by the name of Beachbody's newest program, Insanity Max: 30? I was too when I first heard about this program. I had tried a few of the Insanity workouts in the past but found that with a baby at home that I couldn't commit to an hour of working out every day. The thought of this being arguably the most challenging workout that Beachbody has ever released can absolutely intimidate some people, but I look at it this way... it's going to push me places I've never gone before.

Have you ever reached a plateau while trying to lose weight? You keep pushing through your workouts and keep eating right, but seem to be stuck on the scale? And then, the unthinkable happens... you actually start to gain a little bit of weight back... sound familiar? From my personal experience (someone who has always struggled with weight), I am constantly losing and gaining the same 7lbs. Which is just enough so that my clothes don't fit me right.

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Enter Insanity Max: 30. These workouts are 30 minutes a day of pushing yourself as hard as you can. The reason people say it's the most challenging Beachbody workout to date is because it is only a half an hour but it's a half an hour with as little break time as possible so that you continue to push yourself and improve each and every day.

The program is broken down into 2 months. The first month's workouts are as follows:
- Cardio Challenge is 30 minutes of intervals (4.5 minutes of pushing your hardest, followed by a 30 second break)
- Tabata Power is 20 seconds of pushing followed by a 10 second break (each round focuses on a different area of your body to really hit everything)
- Sweat Intervals is another cardio intervals workout to make you sweat to your max
- Tabata Strength... there's no rest in this tabata workout!!
- Friday Fight: Round 1... a fight between your body and mind to push yourself as hard as you can!
* Ab Attack: 10 is a 10 minute add-on workout to focus on your core

Month 2 will build on the workouts from month 1... still only 30 minutes, but Shaun will push you even harder...
- Max Out Cardio
- Max Out Sweat
- Max Out Power
- Max Out Strength
- Fright Fight: Round 2
* Pulse is an add-on recovery workout that focuses on stretching with small pulses

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So why is this workout for YOU?
1. There's a modifier like in most Beachbody workouts, however, there's an option to play each workout with the modifier locked side by side with the main camera that follows Shaun T. This means you can modify each and every workout and watch her every move.
2. Each day, you mark your "max out" time on the calendar so you can see yourself progress and improve each and every day, week after week. It's kind of like it's own "fit test".
3. This is easily a workout that can go beyond the 60 day calendar. This will always be a challenging program, but as you get stronger, you're able to push harder so that you essentially should never plateau.
4. There's great eating tips for at home AND on the go when you dine out with this program, so you will also be working hard to eat right so you don't undo all your hard work maxing out.
5. No equipment is needed!!

My test group will start on January 5th... what better way to start the New Year? If you're interested in joining, visit my Facebook page to get more info. :) I will be blogging about each workout as I get through them to keep you in the know, so stay tuned...

~ Aly

P90: "A" Workouts

When I first heard that Tony Horton was coming out with a new workout called P90 (based off of his P90X series of workout programs, only without the "extreme" aspect), I really wasn't overly excited. As more details were divulged as the release date got closer, I actually got SUPER excited. Tony has talked about how this program is the "on" switch to fitness for those who maybe haven't been active in awhile. After just 3 days, I can see how this would definitely get someone less active into shape, but I also think that this is a fantastic workout for people who have been active but just aren't looking for an extreme workout. Want to work harder? Work harder! It's that simple...

The first month of P90, you will complete the "A" series workouts. Sweat A is more cardio focused, Sculpt A is to work on building your strength, and Ab Ripper A... well, it works on doing just that... ripping those abs.

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On my first day, I did Sweat A and Ab Ripper A. 35 minutes total altogether. I was honestly focusing more on trying to get the moves right than I was on really getting a good workout in, but after completing it a second time, I absolutely LOVE it. The moves are all simple and straight forward. If you're like me and you are generally pretty active, just push harder and faster for a more intense workout... I sweat so much more the second time around once I figured out the moves (and burned about 50 additional calories too!)

I absolutely LOVE Sculpt A too. You can use weights or a resistance band (the kit comes with the band if you prefer to use the band... I want to use weights so I can increase my weights in another week or two, but I started with 5lb weights this week). What I loved about this workout... unlike most workout programs I've done in the past, you have to repeat each round of exercises. This gets those 16 reps in of each exercise and then you move on. I felt that these 30 minutes FLEW because of this.

Month "A" rotates through these three workouts plus you would add the "Saturday Special" cardio workout (stay tuned next week for more about this!), then we move onto the "B" workouts in the second month. I cannot wait to see my results with this program. I'm not following the meal plan but I did see some recipes in the booklet that I plan to try. I've just been tracking my calories in MyFitnessPal and have been following the 80/20 rule of eating clean 80% of the time.

I'm starting a P90 Challenge Group in 2 weeks... if this sounds like this program might be right you, I am looking for 5 people who are ready to commit to living a healthier and more active lifestyle with me! Comment below or message me on my Facebook page... I would love for you to start with me on October 13! Let's hit it! ~ Aly

P90: Get ready to increase your strength, flexibility and balance

Have you heard about the P90X workouts but always been intimidated by the "X" for extreme in the name? I know I have! The workouts include pull-ups... something I would LOVE to be able to do at some point in my life but I'm just not there yet. I've heard Tony Horton's workouts are amazing and the people who complete his program get killer results. But I have never felt like I was ready to brave P90X.

If you're familiar with Beachbody's workouts, you may be aware that Tony Horton's first program was called Power 90. It included only 4 workouts, but people got great results from it, which led Tony into developing his "X" programs. 15 years have come and gone since Power 90 and Tony wanted to revamp the program and bring us a brand new less extreme fitness program that would be more accessible for all fitness levels.

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Enter P90. I wasn't overly enthusiastic when I heard about this program a few months ago. However, as I've been learning more and more about the program and the workouts included, I'm getting VERY excited!! I had a long summer. It tends to be the busiest time of year for my husband at work, plus he had a few ladies out on maternity leave. And of course you know I'm a SAHM to a very energetic toddler. I worked out most days but I felt exhausted and I definitely wasn't eating as healthy as I normally would. So I am SO ready to take on P90 and am looking for some people to join me. Are you a mom looking to shed some baby weight? Shedding for the wedding? Just trying to finally get moving to get yourself back in shape? I want to do it together!!!

Let me give you a quick rundown on what the base kit of P90 is going to consist of and how the program works. There are 10 workouts in the base kit. The program (if you stick with the base kit) runs for 90 days. This is a sectional progressional workout, which basically means each month, there's a new set of workouts you will do that build up on the month's prior workouts (and so each month, the workouts do get a little longer as well). Let me explain...

Days 1-30, we complete the "A" Workouts...

Sweat A: 8 simple and fun moves (25 minutes)
Sculpt A: Foundation for resistance training (28 minutes)
Ab Ripper A: 10 core moves (8 minutes)

Days 31-60, we complete the "B" Workouts...
Sweat B: Ramps up the intensity of the workouts (32 minutes)
Sculpt B: Improve muscular endurance and strength (31 minutes)

Ab Ripper B: Adds 5 new moves to sculpt your abs even more (14 minutes)

Days 61-90, we complete the "C" Workouts
Sweat C: This takes the intensity to a new level to sweat and have fun while working the entire body (36 minutes)

Sculpt C: Strength, flexibility and balance... all in one! (42 minutes)
Ab Ripper C: Get ready for a lot of different plank moves to really define those abs (15 minutes)

In addition, there's the "Saturday Special" workout which is 25 minutes of core cardio. Who loves cardio? I do!

The base kit will include a nutrition guide as always, which gives details on the "6 Day Shred" to jumpstart your weight loss with Tony's best clean eating tips. This kit comes with a resistance band for the workouts, but Tony has mentioned that you certainly could use weights if you prefer. He designed this program so that there are modifiers for those who may have more weight to lose than others, but also made it challenging enough that you could benefit from P90 even if you've done is "X" programs.

This amazing program is going to be available on Tuesday, September 23rd to Beachbody Customers for $79.90!! There of course will be a Challenge Pack available for purchase which is always a fantastic savings if you're interested in starting your journey with Shakeology as well.

For those of you fitness enthusiasts, there will also be a Deluxe Kit available for purchase. I don't have complete details about that kit yet or even what the price will be, however, I do know the workouts will be Speed Sweat, Speed Sculpt, Speed Ab Ripper, and Tony's Greatest Hits. I assume that these workouts will build upon the "C" series workouts.

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Why am I excited for P90? I get bored easily with my workouts, so knowing I will be doing each set of workouts for only a month before moving on to new workouts sounds like something I can definitely handle. I would love to complete this workout (including the "Speed" round) and feel strong enough to take on P90X3. Sure, I may not be able to do pull-ups still at that point but I definitely should feel strong enough to take that chance. I love how fun TurboFire is, I love how strong I feel when I workout with PiYo and the 21 Day Fix, but I'm ready to do something different. Want to join me? Leave your comments below!

~ Aly

Getting "Strong Legs" with PiYo

I've said it before and I'll say it again... the workouts that come with the Deluxe Kits that Beachbody puts out are NO JOKE! I played around with the schedule a little last week so I'm still making my way through the workouts but I finally got to "Strong Legs", which is the other workout that uses the Strength Slides that come with the Deluxe Kit. I honestly think that both of these Deluxe workouts will give you amazingly strong legs. I love these workouts and hate them at the same time because I literally feel myself checking the amount of time left since it BURNS!!!

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And I swear that Chalene has a camera set up in my house. And if you've done PiYo, you may think the same. She always seems to sense just when you're not getting as low as you can go, or when you take a break from that squat. She jokes that she has a camera in your house during several of the workouts but I'm really starting to wonder!! I do feel like she's here with me because she catches me every single time and pushes me a little harder.

So back to Strong Legs. You will do a variety of squats and lunges with those Strength Slides... and those 25 minutes will feel longer than that, but at the end, you will know you got an amazing leg workout in. I know I need to do this workout more often to work on toning my legs more. How do you get through those workouts that you know you need to do and are great for you but you just don't feel like it sometimes? I love Chalene, but boy is she tough!! But as they say, this is how you see change. So bring it on!

I still have one more PiYo workout to report back to you on, and that's Sculpt. Stay tuned!

~ Aly

"Drench"ed with PiYo

I always keep it real. I hate long workouts. Except for TurboFire... I love those long workouts (for the weekends only). But generally, I hate long workouts. As a SAHM, my "me" time is very limited. Even if I wake up early to workout and shower before my daughter wakes, I always run the risk that she will wake up early and then I need to rush through whatever I'm in the middle of. And I just don't enjoy working out at night. That's my time to relax and enjoy some quiet time with my hubby. Which leaves naptime... which is generally long enough for me to get in a longer workout and shower and have lunch, but not always... because if you have a kid at home, you know that "you just never know what to expect!"

So I'm back to my mantra of hating long workouts. I was excited to do "Drench" because of the name. I've enjoyed "Sweat" so figured that "Drench" would be along the same lines. The workout begins, there's Chalene and her crew... and the timer in the corner that says 48 minutes.... WHAT?! I literally groaned out loud in my living room as I began to take my shoes off when I saw them all barefoot, and figured I would suck it up.

This workout FLEW by. I wouldn't have thought it was 48 minutes at all. If you're following the schedule that comes with PiYo, you will see practically every move you've already done in all the other workouts in this one workout. And you know how when you go on a water ride at an amusement park, there's a disclaimer that you "may" get wet on this ride? I assure you that you WILL be drenched before you even reach the halfway point of this workout. I know everyone burns calories at a different rate but I burned 328 calories doing this workout (and that was with taking some child's pose breaks in between moves and not doing every push-up because I'm not quite there yet to hold myself up that long).

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I know I've told you how much I've liked just about every one of these workouts. If I had to pick my 5 favorite workouts of all time, Drench will certainly be on it. Yes, 48 minutes is a long workout, but it's an ah-MAY-zing workout. I couldn't believe how good I felt after I was done. I did feel a little sore in my shoulders when I washed my hair in the shower afterward, but that's to be expected. This is the longest workout in PiYo. Sweat (another one I absolutely love) is 35 minutes, and the rest are 30 minutes or less, so one long workout isn't so bad if it's a great one, right?

Have you done any of the workouts yet? What do you think? Want to learn more? Leave me a comment below or send me a message on my Facebook page!

~ Aly

3-Day Refresh: My Thoughts and Results

I was excited when I learned about the 3-Day Refresh during the 2014 Coach Summit. I wasn't able to attend but was following everyone's posts regularly to keep up with the latest and greatest news. I had been interested in the Ultimate Reset, but 21 days seemed like a long-term commitment for a "cleanse" like that. 3 days: totally feasible. I have been struggling to stay on track eating right so this was a great way to jump start my upcoming 21 Day Fix.

If you're not up on the basics of the Refresh, let me give you a quick overview. For 3 days, your meals will be as follows (note that you must wait at least 1 hour after each meal before having the next):

Wake up: Drink 8-10oz of water
Breakfast (within 1 hour of waking): Shakeology and 1 fruit serving (fruit can be in the shake or eaten on its own)
(Optional) Morning Herbal or Green Tea
Fiber Sweep Drink
Lunch: Vanilla Fresh Shake, 1 fruit serving, 1 vegetable serving, and 1 healthy fat serving
Afternoon Snack: 1 vegetable serving and 1 healthy fat serving
(Optional) Afternoon Herbal or Green Tea
Dinner: Vanilla Fresh Shake, plus one of the dinner recipes from the Refresh booklet, and 1 cup (optional) of organic vegetable stock.
(Optional) Evening Herbal or Green Tea

So here are my thoughts. I ordered the Vegan Chocolate Shakeology with my Refresh since I hadn't tried the Vegan Chocolate yet and Beachbody suggests the vegan with the Refresh since it digests easier. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan. From what I've heard from the Vegan Shakeology lovers, they are best when blended with almond (or other) milks. That's not allowed on the Refresh so to me, it tasted a little more gritty than the regular Chocolate Shakeology I normally drink. It was absolutely still drinkable, but I did taste a difference. If you have tried Shakeology in the past but not the Vegan, this Refresh is a great way for you to try the Vegan without committing to it for an entire month since the kit itself comes with 3 packs of the Shakeo flavor of your choice (if you order it with the Shakeo --- there's also the option of ordering it without the Shakeo if you already have it at home).

The Fiber Sweep surprised me the first day. It has a hint of lemon flavor to it. I wouldn't say it tastes bad, it's just a grittier texture than I expected. I struggled to drink it the first day until I remembered my favorite TV show: Friends. Remember the episode where Chandler and Ross are being bullied at Central Perk and make their own coffee in Chandler's apartment upstairs? They have to stir while they drink... and honestly, I found on days 2 and 3 that it actually worked best this way. Keep stirring in between sips so it doesn't settle at the bottom of the glass and it actually goes down much easier. (Honest!)

The Vanilla Fresh shakes taste very similar to Vanilla Shakeology. I added a few sprinkles of cinnamon as I had with Vanilla Shakeo in the past to give it a little more flavor. Overall, I enjoyed the Vanilla Fresh Shakes. I thought on the last night that I would try a dash of orange extract to change up the flavor --- it wasn't my personal favorite but you can certainly play around with different extracts since they're freebies on the Refresh if you're looking for more variety.

Personally, I tried to wait at least an hour and a half in between each meal/shake/tea. I didn't have the evening tea any of the nights, nor did I drink the optional organic vegetable stock with dinner since my dinner was at 7pm. I also stretched out my lunch (I'm not sure that this is suggested but I did it and still was successful): I noticed I was getting hungry in the 11 o'clock hour so I ate my fruit from lunch to help me push lunch to nearly 1pm. Then I had my 3 cups of lettuce with oil and vinegar (sounds plain but it seemed like the most filling/substantial option on the list of veggies to me) and shake around 1pm (after I would do my PiYo workout of the day).

My plain looking salad --- it was filing though!

Each day, my afternoon snack was carrots and hummus. I accidentally bought the petite carrots instead of baby carrots so I had 12-15 of them since they are super tiny in comparison to the normal baby carrots (I probably should have had 10-12, but I needed to finish my hummus!!) Haha

I drank a lot of water in between meals to help me feel full, not to mention I would squeeze some lemon in for flavor. As for my tea breaks, I opted for a decaf Blackberry Pomegranate Green Tea that Lipton makes. You're not allowed to add milk or sweetener to it (Truvia is allowed but for best results, they suggest plain). I probably should have had plain Green Tea but I'm not a huge fan so I drank this stuff which was pretty good. I never finished the whole cup, it was just something for added flavor in between meals for me.

They also urge that you don't drink coffee. If you MUST, it should be black. I made my morning Shakeology with half a banana the first morning and wasn't a fan of it without my usual PB2, so the second morning, I used chilled coffee and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract (one of my favorite recipes). I had been trying to wean off the caffeine but did feel a little tired so I used Half-Caff coffee. It tastes like a Starbucks Frap (just not as sweet).

My breakfast of choice: Vegan Chocolate Shakeo
(blended with coffee and 1tsp vanilla extract) and 2/3 cup blueberries

Dinner. There are 9 different recipes to choose from. I opted for a Spinach Salad --- knowing my body, it seemed the most substantial and filling, plus it didn't involve any cooking. I actually really enjoyed dinner with my Vanilla Fresh shake and felt very satisfied after eating dinner each night. I added more tomato and cucumber since I don't like peppers.

3-Day Refresh Dinner: "Spinach Salad" ( I added more
tomato and cucumber since I didn't add peppers)

A quick note on working out. I know that Beachbody has said you can still workout while doing the Refresh. I did fine on Days 1 and 2 with "lighter" PiYo workouts, but on Day 3, I was doing "Sweat" which is a 35-minute fast-paced workout where I usually burn 200+ calories. When I got down to the last 10 minutes, I did start to feel a headache coming on and had to turn it off before I could finish the last 3 minutes because I was worried I was pushing too hard and just needed food. I think if I had eaten something and then worked out 30+ minutes later, I might have been ok, but you may want to consider doing lighter workouts on your Refresh days. I've read plenty of people's reviews saying that they still did their usual P90X3 workouts and others of high intensity cardio, but I don't think I could have done it. You know your body best, use your own judgment. I just wanted to share my experience with you.

I'm not going to lie because I definitely pride myself on being up front and honest: I had random hunger pangs throughout the day. More so in the morning because you have Shakeology for breakfast but no other "food" until lunch (just a tea and the Fiber Sweep). I stretched out my food more because I know I have a later dinner due to my husband's schedule. I think it's vital that you try to schedule each meal ahead of time so you know when you're eating and don't get too off schedule so you don't get hungry and have nothing to eat. And of course, there's no cheating allowed. I'm a Stay at Home Mom so there was temptation staring me in the face all day, every day when I fed my daughter (and at dinner time with my husband). If you can, I would definitely urge doing this Refresh with a buddy so you can talk each other through it each day. I did this with a friend (from a distance) and having her going through this with me was so helpful and encouraging.

So, after all of this, are you curious about my results? After my first 3-Day Refresh, I am down exactly 4lbs. I lost 1.75" around my waist, and 1" around my hips. I'm excited!!! My friend who did the Refresh along with me that I mentioned had even more amazing results, and I do want to share them too because it shows how two people can follow the same exact plan (and we pretty much had the same food choices daily) and the results really do vary based on each person's body, metabolism, muscle, etc. My AMAZING friend in just 3 days lost 7.6lbs!

I found this program to be easy to follow, the foods for the most part were satisfying. I just wish there was some sort of actual "food" between breakfast and lunch, but I realize that while I didn't have that, I also didn't starve myself. I obviously was daydreaming about foods I shouldn't be eating (my Facebook news feed was the worst because I follow all kinds of food bloggers --- both healthy and not so healthy). But here I am, finishing up my post about this program, down 4lbs, enjoying a much needed and earned cup of coffee as I begin my first day back on the 21 Day Fix Eating Plan. I would (and definitely will) do the 3-Day Refresh again --- possibly every other month. I feel great, slept better than I had in quite some time, and am re-focused on eating right.

So do you still have questions? I'm always an open book! The Challenge Pack is still on sale through the end of July if you want in on the 3-Day Refresh. :)

~ Aly