Tag: Pure Cardio

R7D38-42 – Pure Cardio. Pure Hell Part 3 (and the worlds worst excuse).

I just realized that through the evolution of my workouts from my first days with Tony to my divorcing ShaunT, albeit temporarily, I have stuck to one notion when it comes to the Pure Cardio workout. After typing the entry heading I thought it looked familiar so I went back and checked. I already have 2 entries entitled Pure Cardio, Pure Hell. I guess that speaks volumes about how I feel about this particular workout. You want to know what the problem is? It’s the fact that you get so used to doing 30 second stints that when you are confronted with the notion of doing 15 full minutes it is a touch overwhelming. Possibly also because you forget (at least I do) that it’s 60 second intervals until the workout is already started and there is no getting out of it. I hate the bait and switch!

Getting through the workout however is a great feeling of accomplishment and leaves you knowing for sure that your choice to get to work that day was the right one!

To end the week, I managed to finish back and biceps for the first time, yet again confirming that once you take some time away from P90X it can be just as good as it was the first time around! I thoroughly enjoyed the workout even though I voluntarily cut it short, realizing that there really isn’t enough you can do to your biceps in an hour that you can’t get done in about half that time. I do still enjoy the workout, regardless of whether I choose to modify it a little or not. The weekend was not good to me, I was supposed to do something, anything, but didn’t quite make it. I am thrown off my game by not having a heart rate monitor at the moment and I used that as possibly the worst excuse in the world not to work out.

Speaking of which, I am hoping to get my hands on a Suunto T6D for the price of a T3D tomorrow. If not, I will have to order the T3D online and pay the ridiculous shipping. Too bad my local MEC store doesn’t have stock, as I found on the weekend after driving to Barrie. If anyone has experience with the Suunto T6D please let me know your feelings. My plan is to use it in conjunction with the Firstbeat software to give me a much better idea of my fitness and if I am working hard enough to meet my fitness goals.

Round 4 Day 34 – Pure Cardio, Pure Hell

That's 300 calories...

Yesterday I started using Fitday as I noted and was amazed at how little calories I ate. Most likely due to the fact I am eating Paleo which basically just means real food. I am staggered at how much fruit and vegetables it takes to reach even 2500 calories, never mind 4000! So I knew I was undernourished (a little) and I think it messed with my head during my workout. Now I do have a bery sick wife and a sick baby at home so it is entirely possible that I am coming down with something however, I think I faked myself into thinking I was tired due to the fact I only managed 1500 calories before my workout. You would think, given my copious amounts of stored “energy” that I would be fine on the fuel front… apparently not so. And for those people who are claiming that I am on a high protein, low carb diet, check out my stats on Fit Day and tell me that 48% of calories from carbs is low carb…

Anyway, I am trying to eat more today before my workout to try and up my energy level but also to prevent having to scarf down 2500 calories late in the day. I am at almost 1100 and it is 1:30pm.

So I didn’t feel good at all yesterday during the workout. I didn’t skip it however, and I didn’t even duck out early, I gave it what I could and saw it through to the end. Thankfully I am doing such a varied mix of workouts right now because I don’t know if I could face another Insanity workout today. Instead, before I go to coaching I have to do a gym workout of chest and triceps regardless of the fact I am listed as having a day off. This is due to the fact that I inadvertently had to take off Saturday since we didn’t get back from dinner with friends at 6 like Nicole said but rather at around 11! I had taken Thursday off also which left me short on workouts and long on laziness. So I think I will try to make it to Friday this week and take that as my rest day.

Which brings me to planning for my WOD tomorrow. Since I have back and biceps the following day I don’t want to go crazy with pullups so I think I will be looking for something more squat and jump or shoulders and abs…

I am also on the brink of bringing in the chin up bar from the deck and installing it in the garage. However, I know once I do this I will be restricted to doing my chin ups upstairs rather than out on the deck. I did consider not moving the bar at all and sticking with the outdoors all winter but I can’t see myself doing chin ups in sweats, a wooly hat and gloves! It’s just the timing I am worried about. That and maybe taking the plunge and doing the whole workout in the garage while the bar is in there. But I don’t have an insulated garage and it is often -10 or colder in there during the winter months. Hopefully we will get a mild winter and I will be able to withstand the cold. Ugh, I hate the thought of having my well established routine messed with…

Round Two, Day 32 – Pure Cardio, Pure Hell

Pure Cardio is the epoch of everything that is wrong with the Insanity program. Well, let me rephrase that, it represents everything that is wrong with the way I am approaching these workouts. I am so used to Tony giving us breaks and time to recover before again blasting the bodypart that my feeble brain is trying to comprehend the logic to Shaun T’s method. You see, Insanity is not the same, not by any measure. The fact is that it will take you at least one run through of each Insanity DVD before you get the hang of it. Maybe it’s just me, but I like to know where the end of the workout is so I can focus on it and work towards it. I can’t push myself hard not knowing when the break will come, it’s just not rational for me. So I end up taking breaks in various places and ending up not having worked at my optimal rate. However, now I know what Pure Cardio is like, the next time I do it I won’t be taking breaks because I will know that there is really only 18 minutes or so of pain to the workout.

Last night, regardless of my back pain, I worked through the Pure Cardio DVD and was happy with the workout as a whole with the exception of the timing being difficult to manage. What I did realize at the end is that unless you really push yourself as Shaun encourages you to, you may not get the workout you were expecting. It is easy to underachieve during these sessions if only because they are so short. As long as you go in knowing that the counter on the screen indicates the total time left minus about 4 minutes you will be fine. Work as hard as you can for as long as you can and then take a break. But… if the counter is sitting at 8 minutes, push through. You can do anything for 4 minutes or so can’t you? For me, the workout was a little frustrating. I was tired, I was pushing but I was in pain. It was not a pretty site. By the end I was left wanting more, only because I had neglected to heed the timer. Had I realized what little time there was left, I would no doubt have pushed harder. Next time…

Pure Cardio, then, is in fact everything that is right with the Insanity program. It is truly a High Intensity workout with only around 18 minutes of lung busting cardio as long as you don’t include the “warmup”. Learn to manhandle that 18 minutes and you will learn the joy of Insanity. It may not be for the faint of heart or the “fat burning zone” treadmill losers but in order to get what you can out of it you should be prepared to push yourself harder than you have done before and that, my friends, is no joke.