"Must be the Shoes!"

Completing P90X and 30 days of Insanity: The Asylum, has really made me a "workout junkie!"  I just can't get enough and being lucky enough to have a beautiful wife who not only shares this passion with me but is my inspiration, we just continue to build up our workout libary.  Currently we own P90X, Insanity, Insanity: The Asylum, Body Beast, Turbo Fire and Turbo Jam.  We have purchased Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 2, RevAbs and pre-ordered Les Mills Combat.  All that I can say is that these programs work!

When I started getting serious about transforming my body, I had bought a pair of Nike Free Run 3's.  I had purchased a couple of pairs previously for my wife and she had really loved them.  I really like these shoes and they are very comfortable.  I'm not a runner, but I'm sure that these shoes would really excel and that I'd feel the comfort running in them.  The only thing that I noticed and which is to be expected from wearing running shoes to do cross-training is that they offer little lateral support.  Because of this there were times in my training that my shoes felt fairly loose, side-to-side.  I still use them from time to time while cross training and would purchase another pair, but for serious cross training I would recommend the Adidas Adipure Trainer Shoes.

These are those funny looking Adidas Toe shoes that you see people wearing around the gym.  I hadn't really heard of them and probably would not have tried them on my own.  I heard the benefits of these shoes from my wise father.  And because my parents own and operate a sports store in Western Samoa, they even sent me a pair to try out.  The first time that I went to try them out, I couldn't get my toes to go where they're supposed to and gave up.  While getting the toes in place is still something that takes me some time, as I manipulate them in.  Other than that I do not have any problems with these shoes.  In fact they are now my primary workout shoe!  They really make all the different movements in my workouts feel more natural.  They are comfortable, extrememly light weight and cushion surprisingly well.  Currently Insanity Asylum Vertical Plyo would be my extremly high impact workout, and I wear these shoes doing this workout as well.  I do not notice any addition jarring or discomfort.  While I will still buy regular cross trainers and running shoes, I am also going to buy more of these Adidas shoes and will continue to use them for the large majority of my workouts!

Insanity: The Asylum

While going through P90X, I was excited for and getting ready to start 90 days of Body Beast!  I've always loved body building/weight lifting and the Body Beast workout program looked to be my kind of program.  However after dropping 24lbs and starting to expose my abs by eating well and following the P90X workout program, I decided that I really wanted to have a well defined and ripped mid-section.  Because of this I decided at the last minute to do Insanity: The Asylum!  Cardio workouts and my aerobic level in general have always been a weak point in my fitness, and I knew that I was gonna be in for some very rough days!  In fact after following the workout program for about two weeks, I was really debating if I wanted to continue.

All the workouts are pretty intense and they left me feeling wiped out.  There were many days that my body was so sore, and I really didn't know if or how I was going to make it through my workout.  But, I kept with the program and did the best that I could everyday.  In the end these were usually some of my best workouts, I had to dig deep and find the mental focus to push my body through.  The sense of accomplishment at the end of these days, helped to fuel my fire and want more!  I would say that the roughest part of The Asylum is the Gameday with Overtime workout, and then following that up by doing Vertical Plyo the very next day!

After 30 days here are my results!  I

Weight: Starting-181lbs  Current-173lbs
Waist: Start-35.5"  Current-34"
Hips:  Start-38.5"  Current-37.5"
Right Thigh:  Start-23"  Current-22.5"
Left Thigh:  Start-23"  Current-22.5"

Athletic Assessment Test

Agility Hesiman:  Start-8  Current-10
In&Out Ab Progressions:  Start-33  Current-42
Mountain Climber Switch Kicks:  Start-59  Current-67
Agility Shoulder Taps:  Start-4.5  Current-6
X Jumps:  Start-22 Current-29
Agility Lateral Shuffles:  Start-10.5  Current-16
Agility Bear Crawl:  Start-6  Current-8

Next up I'm very excited to try out Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 2!  From the previews and hearing Shaun T talk about this program, it is going to be a killer!