Almost HALFWAY Done!

This week is my recovery week, which means I am at the halfway mark..YAY!

Recovery Week is doing the same videos 6 times (its starting to get boring, but tomorrow will be my last day of recovery week). You may think recovery week is defined as relaxation and doing some chillaxing exercises..NO! I sweat as much as PURE CARDIO. haha The purpose of this week is to build up energy for the last 4 intense weeks.

Results so far: My body is starting to create more muscle (mainly around my thighs, buttocks, and calves) and my stomach is getting a little bit more toned (slight decrease of the "love handles" or the "muffin top"). In addition, as Shaun T notes, "you will eat more around this period". And boy was he right! I am consuming more in comparison to the first weeks of insanity. This does not mean that I decided to throw away what I have done so far but because my body is demanding more nutrition for my growing muscles. Remember..MUSCLES BURN FAT!

My future plans is I will continue with this insanity process one more time after this process ends. My reason is to become well-adjusted to the pharm school life and the work-out life. I hope I stick to this plan so that I can keep the body I have now... wish me luck! :D

Behold...Evidence!

Hey guys! This is Mai again :)
After coming back from So-cal, I felt so guilty for not doing the insanity workouts during the vacation haha. During the trip, I was eating so much GOOD food (yum!..go to Brodard for some nem nuong - a Vietnamese meatball - it is AMAZING), sleeping, and doing a lot of sightseeing.
During this insane process, I started to become lazy in watching my caloric intake. In other words, I just ate until I felt I was content (eating more meat and veggies and less on rice).
So..I know I have been postposting on the pictures of my stomach..and I apologize! So, today, I am posting what my stomach looks like..no photoshopping or any alterations. But, the angle of the mirror may distort on my height..but that's pretty much it.



**Side view



**Front View

Buddy System = Awesome

Today, I decided to skip my off day and do an insanity workout because i'll be in so-cal for the next three days --> I would be behind schedule and I already had an experience of doing two 40-min vids (outcome - gave up halfway of the 2nd vid and was dead tired...Kevin, you are crazy to do it, but props to you man!)
The insanity workout consisted of the PURE CARDIO and CARDIO ABS. My high school friend, who never heard of insanity workout, decided to try it out with me. She was an amazing trooper: she didnt stop, kept on pushing herself, and was very positive about the workout. I was in awe because these video sessions, especially, was the hardest for me in the beginning of the process. So...props to her! That means..don't fear insanity workout because of the crazy rumors..try it out! :)

Sin City

Hello again, Kevin here. I must apologize for my completely random, out of the ordinary disappearance from the Internet. I happened to venture off to Las Vegas, Nevada for the weekend and I haven't been able to get the workouts done/blog about them. I AM planning on making up all of the workouts AND utilizing a little more media to help bring the experience closer to you. I'm very pleased to be hearing so much positive feedback from everyone. The best feeling is when a friend or a friend of a friend starts this program with you and realizes that they can do it, just like you will/do. Please bear with me as I try to do 2-a-days to catch up. So, in a nutshell, I'm not dead and I'll be coming back with a vengeance.


P.S. As you'll notice, I finally found my camera so this picture is actually after 4 days of Insanity. I thought it was kinda cool that you could see my back in the picture too :).

Apologize for the short hiatus ^___^

Hello, its mai again!
On my third week of this intense insanity process, the videos become repetitious and recently, to be honest, I am becoming tired of it ahha. But, my goal - to get that sexy body like Hyori...LOL - keeps on pushing me forward.
Sorry, I broke my promise to you guys that I would post up the picture last weekend! I kept on forgetting..but I will definitely post it up this weekend..I PROMISE!

**I will go into detail on my workout vid process when new vids pop up later in this process :)

For you guys doing it, keep on going and don't give up!

Ready, Set, Fire!!

This is Mai again :)

I love OFF days...you don't have to worry about doing the workout haha. But anyways, today I started my third week (yay!) with THE FITNESS TEST - every two weeks you have to do this test to make sure that you are gaining muscle..however, they want to show you that insanity workout is not a hoax. I am definitely surprised that I didn't lose my hearing or feel nauseous as compared to my first test.

Here are my results (errr..i forgot the names of the exercise, but look at Kevin's previous post, the exercises are in the same order)

1. 59

2. 50

3. 96

4. 50

5. 11

6. 15

7. 7 (OK, just to tell you guys, I ONLY did 2 REAL pushups afterwards, I couldn't do it anymore so i switched back to girl pushups)

8. 45 (my abs were burning!! ack >.<)

I was sweating buckets and gasping for breath after the workout. During the workout, Lucy (my dog) kept on getting in the way..so that hindered the number count on some of the exercises of the test (its a legit excuse!)

Here is my nutrition for today:

I skipped breakfast

Lunch - LOADS OF KOREAN BBQ...omg, i was sooo overloaded with meat and I wanted to roll around to help digestion

Dinner - Rice with sauteed beef, boiled greens, watermelon and pound cake

Snack - strawberries and eggs

I'm noticing that as the workout progressed, I'm eating more than I did on the first day. It's a sign that I am building muscle..yay!!

Oh Hunnay!

It's Ish again. Okay so I still can't find the camera--I think my dad is hiding it from me :(. As soon as I find it I'll post pictures to show my progress, or lack thereof. Promise!

Day 3 - Cardio Power & Resistance
Interestingly enough I've been getting more sleep ever since I started Insanity. Last night I got a good 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep! Woke up around 8:00 and ate 1/2 cup of oatmeal with dried berries and a banana on the side. I don't know how much longer I can eat this for breakfast... it's so bland and I'm getting tired of it much quicker than I thought. Anybody have any suggestions to spice it up?

My legs have been really sore from all the jumping and running in place, so I was a little scared to do the workout today. Nonetheless, after stretching properly and filling up my water bottle I plunged right into it. Surprisingly it was not as difficult as I had imagined in my mind (maybe because I watched a torture movie last night O_O). I was able to do the exercises for almost the complete allotted time until halfway through the 3rd set. I had to take a couple extra 15 second breaks in between certain exercises, but did my best to make up for it by pushing myself harder. Shaun T is quite a tricky fellow as he makes you think you're almost done. After the 4th set he included a few extra exercises, including more squats, which made me feel like I was going to fall to the ground and not get back up. I did not wear a shirt for this workout and my sweat was literally pouring down. Excuse the graphic details, I just want to stress how challenging this program is.

I've got my meals planned out for today so I thought I'd share that with you. Keep in mind that I'm trying to consume 2,700 calories/day so this information may not be helpful to you.

Breakfast: 1/2 cup Oatmeal + 1/2 cup dried berries, 1 banana
Brunch: Spinach salad with seared tuna (pepper and salt only)
Lunch: Asian pasta with cucumbers, carrots, cabbage, and onions
Lunner: 1 chicken breast with brown rice
Dinner: Tofu, brown rice and *heavenly singing* Sriracha sauce

Oh, and Mai, this will describe your transformation. Muahahaha

Finally DID it!!

This is Mai here :)

Woooo..today..was the day I had to do two cardio vids - one for my whole body and one, designated for my abs. I usually work out at night because I always have the thought that all the food I ate that day is used to burn as energy. Anyways, breakdown on the intense workout!

1) The first vid is PURE CARDIO. I cringed at the name..even Shawn T expressed his nervousness before starting the workout. If you were an outsider and was walking by my house and watched me for 10 seconds, you would think I was a mad animal. This workout requires nonstop jumping, squats, arms in air, pushups, everything that you can imagine is in there..maybe not everything. But! it is one of the most intense workouts I have done so far.

2)The second vid is CARDIO ABS. I was praying that the exercise was not another 40 minute vid..and luckily, it was only about 16 minutes :D. However, be aware, the workout pushes your abs to the limit. I had to stop for 15 seconds because my abs were burning so bad.

Overall, it was a really good workout. I felt so energized and relieved afterwards. So..ladies, remember to remove all makeup when you exercise..it is not pretty to see a brown puddle around you..especially when you are doing insanity workout :)

Also, this is my nutrition intake for the day:

Breakfast - cereal and banana

Lunch - crackers (I didnt have time to grab lunch..so good thing there was crackers in the car)

Dinner - rice, soup, vegetarian fish, & mangoes

snack - fruits..and something with protein (i haven't gotten there yet)..NO MORE RAMEN at night!!!! (i had that yesterday because I was watching a korean drama and the ppl in there were eating it)

Here you go Kevin..the body you should be anticipating at the end of the progress:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0tkzuSLSlg&feature=related

(Rain's LOVE STORY MV)

Dig deeper!!

'ello there, tis your honorable sir here. My name is Kevin and as mentioned previously, I will be accompanying Mai on this insane trek. I am 10 days behind mighty Mai, so, hopefully, I can provide a perspective you may have if you choose to join us.

Day 1 - The Fitness Test
I was apprehensive about taking this "test" because they usually are either ridiculously difficult or way too easy. Yet, Insanity encourages you to do as much as you can, record, and improve in the upcoming weeks. As a former baseball player and avid intramural sports guy, I felt confident in my abilities. Man was I wrong! Both of the demonstrators kicked my butt in every single exercise. I didn't have time to complain though because Insanity kept me working hard and pushing myself. Here's the breakdown of my first fitness test.

Switch Kicks: 54
Power Jacks: 27
Power Knees: 70 (really started to feel the burn here)
Power Jumps: 25
Globe Jumps: 11
Suicide Jumps: 8 (gasping for air here)
Push Up Jacks: 15
Low Plank Oblique: 40 (lying on the ground after)

Day 2 - Plyometric Cardio Circuit
I have a small case of insomnia, so I was up until around 8 a.m. at which time I started off by eating a 1/2 cup of oatmeal with some dried berries. According to the Insanity program I'm supposed to consume ~2,700 calories per day. That's A LOT of food. When I woke up around 10 a.m. I started the Plyometric Cardio Circuit. In a nutshell... 40 minutes of my body being on fire. I don't remember sweating that much even after 5 hour baseball practices. Your body is constantly in motion--always jumping, squatting, running or pushing. The 30 second breaks seem like they end way too fast, but it's definitely doable. After finishing, I ate about a cup of teriyaki beef coupled with spinach, brown rice, and (my love) Sriracha sauce. I find that eating some kind of salsa or Sriracha sauce helps brings a little variety and flavor to "diet" foods. Cause let's be honest, they're bland and nobody really wants to eat them plain. As Mai has pointed out, there is a great web site you can visit to help you count your calories. Todays 1900 leftover calories seem so dreadful...

P.S. Forgive me, I haven't been able to locate my camera after moving, but do expect a series of pictures to show my personal progress.

P.P.S. For those of you who like Korean dramas, check out Personal Preference. Here's a link!

Dreading Tomorrow...

Hello guys..this is Mai!

Today marks my 12th day on insanity workout. yay! Tomorrow will be the day I will be dreading..ughhh.. I have to do two vids - pure cardio and cardio abs - (according to the calendar given along with the vids). But..at least my brother will be joining with me so I won't be a loner :)

I will post a picture of my stomach and legs this weekend to show the progress of the workout..hopefully my body will be in the most toned form *cross fingers*

Along with this workout, I make sure to eat right because I did hear nutrition is the most important to get a toned body.

What I ate today:

Breakfast - Porridge with chicken salad

Lunch - Banana and Snickers (I couldn't resist it! it was on my desk!)

Dinner - Rice with vegetarian fish; soup; 1 slice pound cake

Snack - Cereal with Banana

If you guys would like to watch your daily caloric intake, click here to learn about the nutrition facts on the foods you are consuming:

http://caloriecount.about.com/