It’s hard to believe I started this little journey a month ago. I was sitting on the couch on a Saturday morning feeling a bit sorry for myself. I was glancing occassionally at my stomach and something clicked in my brain. Enough was enough. Lets do this! Ordinarily “this” equates to about 2 days of activity and a recession into the same old form. This time has been different. There is no doubting though, that Christmas was my biggest worry. Turkey and Ham, Stuffing and Mince Pies, Boxes of chocolates and endless amounts of Bad Things do not for a good recipe make when you’re looking to drop weight and improve your general tone.
I am pleased to report I have made it through relatively unscathed.
Seven days ago I clocked in at 94.1 Kilograms. This week, 92.9 Kilograms. Since day one, that’s a drop of 6kg, or in old money 0.94 Stone. I would have dearly loved to make it to a full Stone lost in a month, I guess strictly speaking I still have a day or two left to achieve that!
New Toys
Let’s not talk about Fucking Cable Ties. The toys that your children get which I am utterly convinced are packaged by The Devil himself. No, not those (and not those toys either, this isn’t 50 Shades!).
I’m talking about my new toys, which come in the shape of a Heart Rate Monitor and Iron Gym. Yeah, as my good friend Martin Lawrence would say, Shit Just Got Real. One of the main reasons I like Insanity is that you have no need for any fancy accessories, you just need yourself and a DVD player. However, let me explain why I’ve opted for some gear.
Heart Rate Monitor
“Check your heart rate! Check your heart rate!”
Source: Sean T: Insanity Workout DVD
You can check your heart rate quite simply by counting the pulses over 15 seconds and multiplying by four. Trust me though that if you’re doing Insanity correctly, you won’t have the time energy or interest to do this. So I’ve opted for a fairly cheap heart rate monitor. It consists of two parts. A watch which shows you your heart rate, how long you’ve exercised for, how many calories you’ve burned and a few other bits and pieces. The second part is a heart strap – which stretches around your torso with two small pads which feed the watch with your actual heart rate.
Great little device, costs less than £30 and will last a lifetime. If you’re looking for one, this does the job nicely: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9352687.htm
Iron Gym
How many pressups can you do in a row? 1? 3? 10? … I discovered quite quickly that my upper body strength is PANTS. I can lift a reasonable weight but only by curling my arms. Any sort of straight arm exercise is frankly embarassing. I mentioned this in passing to a work colleague who said he used the Iron Gym style pull up bar to help improve his upper body strength. After a little investigation I settled on another cheap and cheerful model from JML. There are more expensive variants around but this one really does the job just as well. It fits together very easily and simply hangs from your door frame.
I was a little nervous the first time I used it (I managed ONE pullup! Yay! …) – it says it will hold your body weight but uh … it’s just a door frame …
However, it did. Quite well actually. If you’re looking to build some strength in your shoulders and upper body this seems like a nice little option. No drilling or bolts in the wall, so you can hop it on once per day, do as many pullups as you can manage and move on. Quick, simple, cheap and effective.
Linkage again for those interested: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-Total-Upper-Body-Workout/dp/B002GHBRWA
Month Two
Harder. Faster. Stronger.
I’m led to believe month two is much more difficult that month one, which y’know, sounds … fun? I’m currently in what’s called “Recovery Week” – which is less intense exercise but still enough to keep you ticking over allowing your muscles to recuperate in preparation for the fun ahead.
As ever, I’ll keep you all up to date with my progress, and if I don’t get around to writing my objectives for 2013 on this blog, I’d just like to take the time to wish you all a very Happy New Year and thank you sincerely for all the support and well wishes I’ve had since this started. It really helps. Until next time …