Insanity diary days 68-70

Day 68: Max Cardio Conditioning. Getting home from work at 7pm on a Friday night and choosing to work out rather than go for a drink will never get easier. But I did it.

Day 69: Max Interval Circuit. Only about 14 hours after doing the Max Cardio Conditioning session on Friday night, I find myself back in front of the telly in a pool of my own sweat. This felt particularly tough, and I struggled to catch my breath throughout. I put it down to tiredness, and just kept trying! This session is a full 59 minutes long, and it's a killer. One of the rules of Insanity is that you should keep moving between exercises so you keep your body going and between warm up and cool down and you don't cease up - physically or psychologically. I love this screengrab, complete with "don't stop moving" reminder - it shows you that even the mega fit types on the dvd are struggling:

At least I got to follow it up with afternoon tea and a night at the theatre.

Day 70: Max Interval Plyo. Definitely my least favourite workout. I put it off til late afternoon, and made it a condition on myself that I could only have the lovely hearty (but healthy) dinner we had planned if I worked out as I needed to "earn" some extra calories. It got me through, but I'm now sat on the sofa, watching a film, and wondering if 9pm is too early to go to bed.

Ax

Skincare empties

It's been a while since I did a skincare post - it's been a while since I posted anything other than Insanity! So it's time to get back on it, and what better way to do so than with all the products I've finished in the last few weeks?

Soap & Glory Supereyes Moisturising Gel

I've not been serious about eye treatments all that long, but since I've been losing a bit of weight I've noticed my eyes are looking a little more tired now there's less fat in my face to keep the skin plump. And when I do long hours at work and don't sleep enough, it REALLY shows. I've had this eye gel a little while, but not using it religiously until a few weeks ago, and I have to admit I'm not sure how effective it is. It has a lovely cool gel texture and is pretty wet for easy application (not too thick, doesn't drag the skin). If I've exfoliated, I get a slight tingle too, which makes me feel like it must be doing something. But I haven't really noticed any visible difference - though I'm aware I maybe didn't give it a fair trial. The jury's out.

Cost: I think this was around £10, but it appears to have been discontinued so I guess it doesn't really matter!

Repurchase? I might have given it another go, but if, as I suspect, it's no longer around, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Balance Me - Cleanse and Smooth Face Balm

I wanted to love this. I so wanted to love this.

I'm a huge fan of Balance Me's signature rose scent, their lip balm is one of my all time favourites, and I'd heard great things about this cleanser, but I just couldn't get on board with it. It's a really thick balm, and I struggled to get enough slip to really massage it into my skin. Then I had issues in removing it effectively even after going over my face 3 or 4 times with a warm wet flannel.

It smelled divine, and I'm sure it would be ok on a dryer skin (or perhaps in cold weather where it feels like it might do some good against cold air), but I just couldn't stop feeling like it had left a sticky residue. I did however use it up - mostly using it as a pre-exercise make up remover - so it wasn't a total waste.

Cost? £18 for 125ml
Repurchase? Sadly no

Bioeffect EGF Serum

I got a tester of this in my advent calendar, and having done a little research I was unsure as to whether I should use - there has been a lot of debate as to whether EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) technology is safe to use on the skin, but having discovered that Bioeffect's EGF is plant-based (meaning it's copied from human DNA rather than cloned from it), my mind was suitably put at rest.

And then once I decided to use it, I discovered how much it cost and decided I REALLY didn't want to waste this stuff if it was going to be anywhere near as effective as the price would suggest. So, having read that's it's most effective when used on fine lines, I decided to use it in a targeted area, focusing on the fine lines around my eyes for as long as it lasted to give myself the best chance of seeing a difference. So did I? Not really... Maybe my lines aren't severe enough to see a marked difference. But at £83.33 per 10ml I wanted to see SOMETHING.

Cost? £125 for 15ml
Repurchase? I'd maybe give it another go sometime if I had any particular areas of concern, but only if I was feeling particularly flush. So probably not.

Origins High Potency Night-A-Mins night moisturiser

My last night cream - by my beloved Lancôme - was just a little too rich for me, so I did a lot of research before investing in this little beauty. And boy am I glad I did. My super oily skin still needs a big old moisture hit, but the traditional thick night creams leave my skin feeling smothered, and I wake up feeling greasy. I've used a cream-gel day moisturiser for a while, so I guess moving to a more gel textured night cream was an obvious move. And they do an oil-free version for greaseballs like me.

I LOVE this. It's a lovely cooling translucent gel which feels incredibly moisturising but also very light, and it has an amazing refreshing orange scent. In the evenings, when I layer up with toner, serum and moisturiser, this lets me enjoy the combination of different products without feeling like my skin is clogged and suffocating.

Cost? £34.50 for 50ml (currently 10% off in Debenhams)

Repurchase? Already have :)

Ax

Insanity diary - days 64-67

It's been a tough week at work, so I'm very chuffed with myself for making it through and not skipping any further workouts!

Day 64: Max Recovery session. The recovery session from the first month did not prepare me for this. 47 minutes of serious stretching and strength exercises. I got through it - albeit with difficulty - but the next day I felt like I had serious bruising all round my ribcage! But the sadist in me liked it - I love feeling like I've earned my aches and pains.

Day 65: Max Interval Circuit - tough, working with the aches from the previous day, and I felt really sluggish. But I got through.

Day 66: Max Interval Plyo - this is (currently - it changes) my least favourite workout. It's a real split of upper body work and glutes - and by glutes I mean squats. My legs were shaking in no time. But again, I just had to keep pushing. It feels a lot like the first week of the first month, when I just needed to get through the first few sessions so I had a base level to improve upon.

Day 67: Rest day. I make no apologies for eating a steak and watching a film.

Ax

Insanity diary - days 59-63

I always said the biggest challenge with Insanity would be fitting it into a busy schedule, so its not really a surprise that I had to skip another session this week due to getting home from work so late (had I done it, I wouldn't have had time to cook and eat before bed). I did pretty well the first few weeks when work was quiet and I didn't have many weekend plans, but it's got a lot harder recently between longer hours at work and being away for a couple of weekends. Day 60 should have been the last day of the programme, but instead marked the start of the Max sessions.

In better news, I'm starting to see some real change in my body. Nothing drastic, but my waist is definitely smaller and I'm feeling a bit better about myself in general. More importantly, I feel strong.

Day 59: Another unplanned day off due to getting home from work really late.

Day 60: Max Interval Circuit. Wow. Ow. This session cranks the volume up to 11, and the duration up to nearly 60 minutes (all the sessions from the first month are 38-45 mins). It takes the same circuit format, but every exercise is done for 45 seconds instead of 30, and they're all a lot more intense - everything is faster and harder. Even the warm up. And lots more upper body work - my weakness. It definitely wasn't easy, but I'd say I found it about as difficult as the first time I did the first sessions, so I'm hoping that within a week or two it'll be tough but manageable.

Day 61: Another day off - and boy was it worth it to have a lovely catch up over some fab food at House of Ho with my bloomin' gorgeous chum (and chief bridesmaid).

Day 62: Max Interval Plyo. Again, ow. At least slightly shorter than Max Interval Circuit. Lots of legs, lots of upper body. Squat push ups were a personal favourite - genuinely enjoyed an upper body exercise. Level 3 drills nearly killed me. And don't start me on some of the combo exercises.

Day 63: Max Cardio Conditioning. This was like the Pure Cardio session from month 1 - individual exercises were performed for a minute with no repeats and no breaks, other than the 5-10 seconds you get while transitioning and Shaun T is demoing the next exercise.

Bring on tomorrow's recovery day of stretching :)



Ax

Insanity diary - days 57-58

A very quick post:

Day 57: day off - whoop!

Day 58: Fit test. I was really worried about this as I've not strictly been on the schedule (more's the pity, as if I'd stuck faithfully to it I'd be done in a couple of days!). But it was surprisingly ok and I made at least minor progress on every exercise - the below shows my starting scores, my 2 week progress scores, and today's scores for each exercise:

Switch kicks: 90/45 -110/55 - 112/56

Power jacks:   50 - 56 - 60

Power knees:  85 - 104 - 118

Power jumps:  0 (ankle) - 26 - 30 

Globe jumps:   5 - 8 - 10

Suicide jumps: 8 - 12 - 14

Push up jacks:  0 - 12 - 16

Low plank oblique:  33 - 42 - 50

I was meant to do my first Max session after this, but I just couldn't fit another hour of exercise in after it, so I did the abs session instead, and will get on with the Max session tomorrow.

Pray for me.

Ax

Insanity diary - days 43-56

So I'm pretty far behind now, but ready to get back on it!

Day 43: Day off - one I was meant to have

Day 44: An unexpected work celebration meant getting home about 1.30am and not working out...

Day 45: Day off. One I wasn't meant to have, but one which day 44 necessitated.

Day 46: Decided that as I was going on holiday, there was no point in doing one workout when I also had to work late then get home and pack etc... I did at least go for a run!

Days 47-50: 4 fab days in Copenhagen. Lots of food, but lots of walking meant I didn't feel atrocious!

Day 51: Time to get back on it. If I'd picked up where I left off, this would have been the Fit Test followed by the first of the Max sessions, so a full 90 mins of HEAVY going workout. But I decided that as I'd had over a week off, that would be the best idea. My Fit Test results would undoubtedly be depressingly poor, and the Max session might just kill me. So instead I embarked on a self-prescribed catch up week. Starting with Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Doing this session convinced me I'd done the right thing. Admittedly, I'd eaten very lightly that day which might have contributed to it, but I felt awful. I struggled to keep up, I felt sick and lightheaded, and I had to take a couple of breaks. I felt like I'd really let myself go just by having a few days off! But I got through it.

Day 52: Cardio Power and Resistance. Tough again. But no lightheadedness or nausea - progress!

Day 53: Pure Cardio. This was always my least favourite, though recently I've started to like it better. Still harder than it was, but again, felt my fitness coming back.

Day 54: Day off - should have been a rest day (cardio recovery) - but I had an awards do to go to which meant another late night.

Day 55: Core Cardio & Balance. Got through this reasonably easily and enjoyed it. Almost there!

Day 56: Repeated Core Cardio & Balance, and again I got through it without too much difficulty.

Which means I've finished my catch up week... got tomorrow off, then on Tuesday I'll be doing the Fit Test and attempting the first Max session. Oh dear. Oh dearie dearie me.

Ax