Pushing Through (when the exercise porn doesn't do it for you anymore)

My husband calls me a hobby dropper. I get something new. I love it to the point of obsession. I fill my hours and days with research about it and participation. And about a month later, I am sick of it and move onto the next shiny, sparkly thing I find.

I have reached that point with Insanity. I was so pumped to get it in the mail and get started. Even though the first week (or two) were so hard I spend more time on the ground than actually working out, I was pumped to run down to the basement every morning and work out. I creeped around the Beachbody message boards to see what everyone else was saying. I poked around on some Insanity survivors' blogs to see what their advice was and what their results were (I love seeing the before and after pictures - exercise porn!) I would get sucked in for hours dreaming that those would be my results too. I tracked my calories. Invested in  a BodyMedia Fit band (which is kick ass by the way and I will talk about soon.) Planned my meals. A week in I even gave up all my hesitation about the online support groups and contacted a colleague of mine to be my coach. She had great success and honestly if I was going to do this, I was going to do this. I signed up for a challenge group. Ordered Shakeology to try it out for a while. I was driven. I was going to do this.

I struggled to finish month 1 but made it through to the month 2 workouts. When I stared the new workouts, Insanity was all shiny and new again. The workouts were different. Yay!

Well the sparkle started to wane before the week was up. Every step of this week so far (and even the end of last week) has been so hard. I don't want to press play. I don't want to look at Shawn T's face anymore. I am sick of it. (Ironically, this lined up with reporting my 30 challenge group progress. I saw results in my pictures, weight and measurements this still was not enough to push me through.) I was dragging ass when I pushed play not giving it my all. There was no digging deeper. So what was the point. This is where I had to stop and assess what exactly I was doing.

Why am I doing this? Am I trying to make myself crazy? No, I want to see some results and not drop this hobby so my hubby can't say I told you so. (The monetary investment isn't anything to sneeze at either...)

So today I busted out my old gym playlist. I haven't really touched it since I let my gym membership lapse when I was pregnant (which was in 2010.) And I busted a groove. Music seriously motivates me. I love to dance and shake my ass. So I turned off the terrible music that plays in the background of the DVD's (sorry Beachbody, but it's bad) and I turned some Brittany on. I love me some poppy dance tunes and it never fail to not only put me in a better mood but to get me off my ass. I did what I used to do when I would run on the treadmill for an hour, I choreographed in my head. This maybe really weird but if in my brain I am dancing around (and not doing squat jumps or pushups) it really helps. During the water breaks, I wasn't laying on the floor praying for the minutes to move faster. I was dancing around in circles with my toddler. And then was ready 30 seconds later when it was go time. It was so motivating. I've had the best workout I've had in a few days.

Today's lesson: Find what motivates you and use it! As humans, we get bored easily so mix it up. Make it shiny and new everyday and your workout will feel less like work and more like a dance party (for me anyway.)

And when I am sick of my late 80's -90's jams I may just turn on some Pandora. I am hoping this will keep me moving and grooving (and sticking with this Insanity program) for another couple of weeks. Because I will finish this time.

Insanity: Starting Month 2

So I started month 2 of Insanity. It wasn't easy getting here and it took me more like 7 weeks to get through month 1 instead of 4. Squished into those 7 weeks was a cross country (temporary) move to a tiny apartment so we could hang with my husband why he works (all the time.) An injured knee. A funeral. A wedding. B's second birthday and potty training. Just thinking back makes me exhausted (and itching for a cocktail.)

But I ended up repeating week 4 not once but twice. Because I was scared wanted to make sure I was ready for month 2. Between the jet lag and my achy knee I was more than willing to skip my workouts. (And I had some halibut fish and chips calling my name. Seriously, they are kind of the most awesome fish and chips ever. Pretty much one of the three things I look forward to out here.) Plus I had the excuse of not having a basement to escape to for my workouts. I was trying to do them with a two year old crawling all over me (or peeing on the floor, or chasing the dogs with a shoe...)

After a completely lazy week of not working out and eating terribly I decided to get back on the wagon. I pushed through my jet lag and the exhaustion of trying to get a toddler on a different time zone and repeated week 4 for the second time. And I wanted to die. I wanted to quit or punch Shawn T in the face or take out the dvd and throw it out the window every day for a week. Then it all started to come back (and I was sick of doing the month 1 workouts.)

Cue month 2. And it's not as scary as I thought. Once I suffered got through the warm up (which uses exercises from month 1. Like exercises from the main part of the dvd. I may or may not have cursed him out at that point.) I found there were a lot more strength exercises and a little less death by cardio. I may not feel like I worked out until I sweat from some cardio but I love me some strength exercises. (And some straight arm jacks. They might be my favorite thing about month 2.) But it is Saturday and I made it through the first week of month 2 (and I may or may not like it better than month 1.) Here's to keeping it to 4 weeks.