To The Max

After a simply lovely recovery week with Insanity, I entered month two feeling strong and relaxed.  For about 30 seconds.  My intense love of Shaun T nearly spiraled into a dark hatred, that spiral being full of curses, tears, and copious amounts of salty sweat.  Then I remembered, oh right...It was I that chose to do this.  I'm doing this to myself.

And I dug deeper.

It sucked big balls, I ain't gonna lie.  I hurt.  I did not feel strong or badass or powerful.  I felt like the last kid picked for dodge ball and I wanted to curl into a little ball with some mint chocolate chip ice cream and watch Designing Women reruns.  But I didn't.  I stood tall when I could muster the strength to do so and pushed right through that workout.  And once it was over, it didn't seem so bad.

Then today, I did the next one.  SWEET MOTHER OF GOD.  I must continually remind myself that this feeling right here, this is what week one felt like.  And then week two was better.  Never easier, mind you.  Never easier, just better.  You will only understand if you are also doing or have done an intense workout - Insanity, CrossFit, TapOutX, or the like.  (And yes, I want to try the other two as well.)

Now, I get those last few paragraphs are not exactly what we in the biz call "selling points."  So let me show you some of the "pros." 

1.  I am stronger than I have ever been.  I did freakin' BALANCE PUSHUPS today.  Ten of 'em. 

2.  I am in the best cardio shape I have been in.  Running is pretty easy now, and I'm faster too.  Popped in TurboFire Fire 55 EZ the other day - still a great and fun workout, still love it - BUT...not the absolute killer it used to me.  Not even with my weighted gloves. 

3.  I am getting clear cut results.  As in, my muscles are cutting through my skin.  My arms, when relaxed, now look the way they used to look flexed.  Take that, First Lady Obama.

4.  I just plain feel great.  I take a lot of pride in completing these workouts and doing more and more of them every week.  It's the toughest thing I've set out to do thus far and I'm doing it.  That kinda spills over into non-workout life as well.  More steps have been taken towards teaching and training.  I self-published my first collection of posts from this lil' ol' blog.  My business is growing steadily.  Because my body is functioning better, my head is clearer, I have more energy and drive and focus...if you can believe that it was possible to have more.

I'm not saying Insanity is the program for everybody.  But I bet it is the program for more than you think.  That's right - YOU.  What are YOU doing today?  Wanna get crazy with me?