Category: INSANITY
This is a re-post of a multi-part series I did over on the Yahoo! Blog about motivation. If you want the ultimate in motivation, there’s still time to join the FitLifeSF 10-Week Challenge!
Welcome back to our series on motivation and finding ways to keep your fitness regime from getting stale. We’ve already talked about ways to mix things up and keep it fresh as well as using goalsetting and progress tracking as motivation tools. Today’s topic is using rewards to keep you moving forward.
I often get asked “Why should I take ALL these measurements?” The simple answer is, we need a baseline to compare progress against. The actual answer (to me) is, the more data we have, the better we can assess your current state and then develop a proper fitness program. So, get to measuring before you: begin a program, every few weeks to see your improvements (or lack there of) and at the end to see what you accomplished (or didn’t).
And more importantly: Don’t measure yourself every week. That is just a waste of time. once every 3-4 weeks will do.
What should you use to measure? Start by finding a good tape measure that will fit around the largest part of you. A cheap 4-5ft+ long tape measure is great to have around the house for LOTS of things. You will aways find something to use it for. Avoid yard sticks, meter sticks and rulers. Not very accurate unless you are measuring a string you are wrapping around yourself.
Where and how you should measure:
Technique is key here. You need to be consistent not only where you measure, but the tension on the tape as well. You want to tighten the tape so it won’t slide down your skin. Not so much that it is changing the form of your body. (Don’t pull the tape tight. Don’t dimple your skin) Over time you will get the hang of it.
I like to have a number of measurements to use as a baseline. These are very similar to what a tailor would take when making custom clothes for you.
For these measurements, don’t flex, just relax. Stand up straight, but don’t be tense.
- Neck: Standing up straight, take a measurement around the widest part of your neck.
- Shoulder: I like to take this standing up. Someone help you. With your arms down at your sides, and with your shoulders back (stand up straight), measure around your shoulders. This means the outside of your arms, at the shoulder. Not the at the bicep. At the shoulder.
- Chest: Standing up straight, take this measurement just above the nipple line. (Yeah, I said it. NIPPLE) This measurement does not include the arms. So keep your arms down, set the tape, take a breath and then exhale. (you don’t have to force out all your air) Take the measurement before you take your next inhale.
- Waist: Standing up straight. Take this at the narrowest spot, or midway between your lowest rib and your hip bone. This may be very close to your abdomen measurement. Take it anyway.
- Abdomen: This is my first men/women variation. Standing up straight. Men, take this measurement around your body at your belly button. Women, take this at the NARROWEST part of your abdomen.
- Hips: Standing up straight. Take this around your hips at the point where your butt is at its widest.
For these measurements, you can take them with the muscles relaxed or flexed. Heck, take the measurements both ways. Just document them as such. You should really do both arms and legs, you probably have 2 of each. For the record, your dominant side is usually bigger.
- Thigh: Standing up straight. Take this measurement below the butt, but above the knee around your thighs widest point.
- Knee:Standing up straight. You want to take this measurement around your knee. Take it over your kneecap and around the back of the joint.
- Calf: Standing up straight. Take this around the widest point of your calf, below your knee and above your ankle.
- Ankle:Standing up straight. (I want pressure on your ankle for the measurement) Take this around the widest point. (Side note: If the measurement from your knee to calf to ankle are similar, then you have cankles. And it will be my mission to help you change that!)
- Arm (Bicep): Take this around the widest part of your arm. (flexed or unflexed or both)
- Forearm: Take this around the widest part of your forearm. Below the elbow but above the wrist. (Unless you are Popeye, it will be closer to the elbow)
- Wrist: This is really hard to flex. Just a FYI. So take this measurement about 1-2 inches from where your hand is connected to your arm. Again, at the widest point.
Consistency of measurements is just as important as accuracy. You need to take your measurements at the same spot every time. (Unless you should be taking the measurements at the biggest or narrowest part, heck, this may change over time) So make sure you remember where you took the measurements!
Final Side Note: If you don’t have someone to help you, there is a pretty cool measuring tape tool called MyoTape. It makes taking measurements alone easier. Check it out.
-Rob
I have, over the last year and a half, been throwing Insanity into my workout cycle. It is just what I need to kick start my body after the holidays, or right after a full cycle of P90X. I am not going to sugar coat it. The first 30 days are BRUTAL! Then the next 30 days DESTROY you. If you are looking for a “never gets easy” and super effective workout routine. This is it.
The biggest reason I like Insanity is because I am the weight. It is an “all you need is you” program. [Shoes or barefoot, I now do the workouts in Vibram 5 Fingers shoes. Fantastic for HiiT training] If you have limited space (10 X 4 is all you really need space wise. And a 8-10 foot ceiling is good.) and no weights, you are good to go.
You will need a towel, water, and recovery drink. I say you need a good recovery drink because this program will crush you. Get used to being sore. And not just muscle burn sore. You will be, “If I don’t get a good nights sleep tomorrow is really going to suck” sore. You will be forced to fuel your body right, not drink, and get on a good sleep cycle. If you don’t align everything, you will have a very hard time completing the program.
Like anything else, what you put in is what you get out. So, put in the sweat equity. Be prepared to leave a puddle on the floor, and be sure to clean the rug at the end of the 2 months.
For more reading:
-Rob
http://beachbodycoach.com/fitlifesfrob (If you want to purchase a Beach Body Program)
Thanks to everyone for visiting our site. We had our biggest day ever, 25,000 hits in one day! You all rock!
Now back to my regular cynical look at the world of fitness. We received a number of emails the other day defending several of the bullshit fad diets that are being presented to the general masses. People, please. Stop it! Don’t waste your hard earned cash on unproven supplements, diet pills, diets that promise quick results, or really stupid fitness equipment.
Let me elaborate. Unproven supplements: The health and fitness supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar business. For every good health supplement out there, there are 100 crappy ones. Do your homework, there is REAL information out there. Just because it says it is full of antioxidants or has some new super herb in it does not mean it is good for you. (See Phenfen, see any hormone inducer that gets decimated in that vat of hydrochloric acid you call a stomach, or any product only that has validation from marketing companies and bloggers.)
Diet pills: it’s a tool not a crutch. If you take them not to eat, and try to eat less than 1200 calories a day, you had better be 35 yeas old and 3 foot 5 inches tall. People need to fuel their bodies. That is what food is. Take responsibility. Track everything you eat, and make sure you are eating within you calorie range. If you do this, spread your eating across the day, you probably won’t even need the diet pills. These things are dangerous, and if you do them, tell your doctor you are using them.
Fad diet: Pick the latest and greatest. There are always a number of them claiming great results. If you think a shake, a cookie, cabbage, some insane cleanse or whatever is going to get you to lose weight and keep it off, you need a shrink. To lose weight you need to fuel your body with good food, in the proper ratio of fats-carbs-protein, and maintain a net calorie deficit. (what you burn to what you consume). This isn’t rocket science. It is resolve.
Stupid fitness gear: I don’t care if you shake it, slide it, squeeze it or swing it, stupid is stupid. What will get you fit is pushing and pulling weights (body weight or added weight). For the most part, when you see ripped people working a stupid workout device and the tiny words “results not typical” popup on the screen. RUN AWAY! (same holds true about supplements, mascara, and crap the drug companies try to get you to ask your doctor about.). Only spend your cash AFTER you have done your research (and don’t ask a nut job MLM marketer about it.)
Look, getting fit is a decision. A decision to build proper HEALTHY habits and a fit lifestyle. There is nothing easy about it. To get fit, you will sweat, you will feel discomfort and pain, and in the end, you will be WAY better off.
Life is tough, we are tempted to overeat all the time. If you do, adjust your eating and workout. For every action there is a reaction. Get used to it. Accept it. And if you fall down, get back up and start again. We are in this for the long hall.
And it DOES NOT get easier with age. So build those healthy habits now. The earlier the better.
-Rob
You are reading this because you are one of the normal people who wants to get more fit. I say “get more fit,” because some people want to lose weight, some want to add definition, and some of you want to put on muscle mass. All of you want to improve your fitness level, and are looking for that “magical something” to make it happen.
Well, here’s the secret. 99% of you already have what it takes to get more fit. You are reading this, and this shows me you have the desire to make a change. Now we have to make that desire an action, then a habit.
As you all know I practice what I preach! Here are my day 1 Fit test results for the beginnig of my 3rd Insanity cycle.
Week 1
Switch Kicks: 100
Power Jacks: 56
Fast Knee’s: 113
Power Jumps: 41
Globe Jumps: 7
Suicide Jumps: 15
Push Up Jacks: 31
Lo Plank Knees: 70
We recently got a copy of ChaLEAN Extreme here at the FitLifeSF headquarters and I have had a chance to tuck into it a little bit. Keep in mind that this is just a preliminary “review”– not even a review, really. A lot of folks have been asking us how to decide between P90X, Insanity and ChaLEAN, so this is a first stab at helping folks figure out what program might be best for them.
We are 5 weeks (a little more) into the new year… do you know where your goals are? We got in touch with the FitLifeSF Challenge contestants to find out how they were doing, and here is a little bit of an update.
That is the question I pose to all you guys. How are you doing 3 weeks in? I hope you have not started to slip into bad habits.
Me, I have been kicking into high gear. (Added 3 days of SAMBO on top of my Insanity workouts)