Insanity, a Workout... Success?

So, I did it.

I climbed the Everest of dvd workout bootcamps.

I completed the nine-week Insanity workout, missing only two workouts (one each month on days my little toddler refused to nap).

And I feel great. Suddenly, I can do pushups without completely dying. And pushup jacks, and all sorts of crazy moves in plank position. My results from the Fit Test (8 exercises at 1 minute each) improved dramatically, some even doubled from my original score on day 1.

I look great, too, not that you can tell in my winter clothes. My abs are strong enough to hold in that little mom pooch (yup, still got it) with little to no effort, I actually have a butt now, and I'm a bit more streamlined. At a gathering in the midst of Month Two, some friends (who couldn't see my tummy since I was sitting) asked if I was pregnant; I had a glow about me. Nope, not pregnancy (sorry, Mom). Just health. Or maybe confidence.

Wondering about pounds and inches? Here are my results:

Weight Lost: -3.5 pounds
Inches Lost (combination of all the places you'd measure): -6.5 inches

Wondering if you read that right?

Yes, there are negative symbols in front of those numbers. I gained weight and gained inches all over my body (see note on having a butt, above).

Now, I did Insanity as a challenge to myself and in order to get in shape, and honestly, I wasn't all that unhappy with my weight to begin with (about 30th percentile, according to this body mass index calculator). But I mean, what average woman doesn't want to lose 10 pounds? So yes, I was a little bit disappointed.

I can only assume I didn't shed pounds and inches for some combination of these reasons:

1. I lost fat while simultaneously gaining muscle, which is denser and weighs more. 
Maybe? Maybe? Please?

2. I overate... it was Christmastime, after all.
Mmm, fudge! Holiday roast! Pie!

3. I didn't eat enough. 
I didn't follow the 5-meal-per-day manual that comes with Insanity since planning meals for one food-allergic toddler is enough food stress for me, thank you. I did feel constantly hungry, tired and craving steak... but I suspect my post-workout protein shake gave me the extra calories I needed.

4. My body never adapted to the workout and kept releasing cortisol.
According to BeachBody, the people who sell Insanity, these intense bootcamp workouts put my body in a state of emergency and cause me to release cortisol, a stress hormone that enhances my performance but makes me store extra fat.

In any case, I wouldn't mind if a move to more sustainable workouts pushed the scale numbers south over the next few months. And, well, maybe I should share more of those Christmas goodies with friends.

In any case, I really am proud of myself for completing such a difficult workout program. And I did get in shape.

Insanity is designed to bring participants basically to muscle failure; even the people in the video have to take breaks during the crazy sets! Shaun T, the trainer, keeps reminding viewers, "Do what YOU can do; don't try to do what we're doing."

Shaun T calls the workout style in most of the videos "max interval training." He takes regular interval training (working out at a moderate level with short bursts of high-intensity) and turns it on its head: About 3 solid minutes of high-intensity exercise punctuated by 30-second breaks. Basically, he makes you do a few incredibly difficult moves, then once you think your body can't do anything else, asks you to do something even more difficult. And then you repeat all of that after 30 seconds of breath-catching. And then you do it all one more time.

It. Is. Hard. The warmups are more intense than the peak of most regular workout videos. I even had to modify some of the jumping moves (like high knees) after injuring my knee a little bit in Month One. But something about Shaun T is motivating. It sounds cheesy, but at critical moments, when he looks right into the camera and points straight at me, and says: "You. Can do it!" I keep going. Sometimes I felt like a machine following orders; it is amazing what the human body can do, even fighting through extreme muscle fatigue. Oh, man, do you SWEAT! I haven't sweat so much since junior high summer basketball camp.

During week one, I thought I actually might die... or become an Olympian. By the beginning of the second week, my abs were already showing more definition than they'd had since high school swim team. At the end of Month One, I got to where I could almost do the workouts without extra breaks. Almost.

Recovery Week was a breeze, though even the "recovery" workout video was harder than any other exercise dvd I've done.

During the first week of the longer, harder workouts of Month Two, again, I thought I might die... or maybe climb the actual Everest. Seriously, month two of Insanity was the first time in a workout program where I had to take breaks during the warmup. But the moves kept chiseling out more and more muscles, and I got better and better.

And then I finished and breathed a huge sigh of relief. But I'm a little tiny bit sad it's over.

It's only been a couple days off, but already I miss that daily adrenaline rush of attempting something nearly impossible. For the first time in my life, I look to working out as a way to reset a bad morning or to get out of a bad mood.

I'm taking it slow this week to let my body recover, but I can't wait to dive back into to regular workouts, alternating between a couple dvds I used to use, to help me keep these awesome abs.

...Maybe I'll even throw an Insanity dvd into my rotation. Maybe. I still have to decide if I'm crazy enough.