Insanity: The Asylum

Are you ready to take your game to the next level? Insanity: The Asylum will do just that! Here is my review on this great program from Shaun T. and the Beachbody team.

Switching Gears AGAIN!!!

Can this guy stick to just one thing? I think I can, I mean... I did fully rock P90X and Asylum... It is just this mass lifting. I am going to have to give it up (for a while). Here's why!

About 2 weeks ago, I was contacted by a manager at Beachbody. She had received my results from Asylum's Earned T-shirt offer and had a question for me. Would I be willing to share my results and a little interview with BB and see if they can use my story? OF COURSE I'D BE WILLING!!!!

I have no clue if this will turn into anything, but I had to jump at the opportunity. So back into the Asylum I went. They want about 30 minutes of exercise video and a set of interview questions. I needed to get dialed in and quickly. I have dropped back to 1900 calories (I miss you 3000... ) and have been hanging out with Shaun T. again. My plan is to do at least 15 days again of straight Asylum and then head into my "Tools at Hand" Hybrid.

My "Tools at Hand" Hybrid will be fully detailed in a bit, but it uses what Beachbody DVDs I have and mixes in some fun. For a sweet 1st Father's Day gift, my son (with Erin's help I am guessing) got me 3 One on Ones with Tony Horton (30-15, Diamond Delts, and Just Arms). I will have an awesome hybrid now!!!

Keep posted to Xshred, it is summer and I will be blogging much more. I will also be including more multimedia stuff as well. Reading is great, but live action is cool too.

I leave you with a recently uncovered picture of the David of old... enjoy... or don't...

Blessings,
David J.
davidcjeffries@gmail.com

I'm out of the Asylum!!!

The review board has decided to release me from the Asylum... I hope I am rehabilitated!

The last 30 days have been crazy to say the least. The Asylum from Shaun T. is like nothing I have ever done. The cardiovascular aspect of the workouts is truly extreme. You should not even begin to think about this program if you are not already in great shape. I was fresh out of a round of P90X and I still was humbled. P90X gave me a great base, but the Asylum needed more. I burned more calories in 40 minutes of the Asylum than I ever did in a full hour PlyoX day. Even the lifting day requires great cardio. Shaun takes you through what he calls a "cardio dumbbell rotation." These begin with a curl into a squat, dropped/kicked out to a plank, push up, and back up to start again. Each time you add moves to the plank portion... spiders, and then mountain climbers. Running 30 lb. dumbbells did the job nicely.

I ate cleanly again for the Asylum. I started with going back to 50p:30c:20f at 1800 calories. I then bumped to 2000 as I was feeling really tired. I evenly ending up at 40p:40c:20f at 2200 calories. Still below my maintenance, but I didn't feel I could push without the extra carbs and calories.

What did it do? Well I dropped 3 lbs... and roughly 2% BF. Oh and this is about sports performance: I dropped 36 seconds off my mile: 5:59 to 5:23!

Here are my fit test results:
Agility Heisman: (10) - 12
In-Out Ab Progression: (52) - 57
Pull-Up/Push-Up (specify): (40 push) - 48
Mountain Climber Switch Kicks: (75) - 99
Agility Shoulder Taps: (5) - 7
X Jumps: (37) - 43
Moving Push-ups: (5) - 6.5
Agility Lateral Shuffle: (17) - 19
Agility Bear Crawl: (13) - 16

Injuries

"Oh man... that doesn't feel normal. I mean, I know what sore feels like, but this is different!"

That was me, 6 days ago. After some really intense Asylum work, my left quad began to feel a little different than  normal. I have become quiet used to feeling tight and sore over the past month. The Asylum has worked my body in many new ways. I knew something was off and I knew something was different this time. As the day continued, and evening came, I was concerned. It was rather difficult to lift my leg higher than my waist. Walking was ok, but anything over a little lift and swing was painful. What do I do now? I am suppose to be doing some Vertical Plyo.... agh, and I need gear up to obliterate my pre-Asylum mile time (5:59 - shooting for under 5:30 - tough stuff).

At times like this you need to focus on you ultimate goals, and don't let your ego get in the way. I would have loved to stay exactly on the Asylum schedule but that was not an option. I switched some days to allow my legs to have some rest. I ran Back to Core and Strength to take the pressure off my quad. "It's about getting results, not getting hurt." Thank you Tony.... you were so right. After an extra couple days, my leg was feeling noticeably better.

That was a case where working out was still an option. I just needed to change what I was focusing on, and I changed the focus to other muscles. What if you really hurt yourself and can't do anything? For these extreme cases, you MUST focus heavily on your nutrition. Dial back your calories to compensate for a reduction in your exercise burn, and stay clean. Don't let getting down be a reason to fall off the nutritional wagon. Turn all that energy you had been directing towards tearing up your workouts and focus on eating well.

You may be a little set back from missing your workouts, but you won't be starting over like you would from disregarding your diet. You will also build up some good mental strength to stick with your new eating habits. This is about reinforcing the lifestyle change you have committed to.

Hope these words help! Look out for Asylum updates SOON! Day 30 is tomorrow (5/30/11)!!!

Blessings,
David
davidcjeffries@gmail.com

The Asylum - Overall Impressions

If you have followed Xshred at all, you know that I am taking on Shaun T.'s newest creation, The Asylum. Designed to be a graduate program of sorts for Insanity, The Asylum is all about sports performance. Repeated all over the place in the program is the goal of getting faster, jumping higher, and hitting harder. The workouts are a little shorter than P90X (about 40-50 minute average, Game Day at a full hour), but they are SUPER intense! There is no quit in The Asylum.


I have really enjoyed the program so far. It is definitely a departure from P90X. The cardio aspect of the program is far more intense. Whereas the lifting does not address each body part like P90X. Basically each set of moves are completed directly following the previous set. There aren't the nice 30 second breaks. There are times of "active recovery." Where you are still working but your HR can recover a bit, but little rest. The cardiovascular aspect is even evident in lifting. This week, in the final part of Strength, I was completing a 6" leg lift, chest press with 45s, for a minute straight (max reps), all with my HR over 155. That was crazy... probably why I am in the Asylum!


Shaun T. stresses form and "staying within yourself" all the time. You have to get the form down to increase your speed and endurance. This isn't just jumping around, this is control aimed at getting the most out of each movement.


I have realized that once I got my mindset shifting off of the P90X lift BIG picture, I was able to really enjoy myself. I've said this before, but let's face it, I'm no Arnold. I am working at this program to see what type of athlete I can become. If I really desire to get big, I will use something else. The program is for sports performance. I am getting stronger, but I know that bulk is not what I am aiming for, or really desire right now. I want to CRAZY athletic!!! I think I can get there...


The first thing I have been amazed with, even in only 17 days, is that my desire is to compete. I want to do more, run, hike, climb, bike, etc. I want to use my abilities. I want to play sports and beat people. I want to see how fast I can do a mile or 5K. I have taken my son in his stroller running 3 times in the last week. No need to do extra work (I do get to eat more then!), but I just desire it. I can't tell you the last time I have logged more than 10 miles in a week. I am even doing my first mini-triathlon tomorrow (5/20 - I will try to post that experience too!). The Asylum has changed me into a competitor and I love it!


I am leaning up as well. I dropped back to 1800 calories at roughly 50p:30c:20f for the first two weeks. Now I am at 2000 calories and still roughly 50p:30c:20f. I refeed with higher carbs twice a week. That is where I bump carbs by 100-125 grams and drop fat and protein to compensate. I still aim for around a 2000 calorie total. Those are different days. I am so used to what I eat and don't eat, that eating extra of anything feels odd.


Keep pushing play and keep it up! My wife is doing ChaLEAN eXtreme and I am going to have her post soon.


God Bless,
David

Insanity: The Asylum - Vertical Plyo

Today I decided to sub in the Vertical Plyo workout from the new Insanity... PlyoX has been great, but I wanted to practice Vertical Plyo before the teamRipped challenge. I should have know something was going to go wrong when I slept in a little too late. My wife told me if was time to get up, but I must have rolled over and fell back asleep... 

What the world! I mean come on?!?! The warm-up was crazy. I first noticed how bad I am at jump rope. I ended up just doing the moves without the rope for the warm-up. It was killing me, and this was only the beginning. At the 10 minute mark stretching begins. I was so thankful to stop and stretch. The workout in its entirely is only 40 minutes. Nice and sweet right? Wrong. It is devastating. Each move is directly after the previous move. Moves are completed for a minute or more at a time. I maybe kept up with about 50% of the workout. There was a lot of knee grabbing and plenty of bending over. But this is why I am practicing, to get better. The moves were not too complicated, just hard. Single leg power jumps made me feel foolish. Can't I get up more than this? All in all, it was awesome. I felt entirely defeated and determined to get better. I can't wait to do the 30 days of this program. I am sure I will be a better athlete because of it! 

By the numbers: Time: 40.05 AVG HR: 146 Peak HR: 175 (would be higher, I just had to recover) Total Cal: 581

Close to 600 calories in only 40 minutes... pure awesome. I can't wait until next Tuesday to do more and to be better.

DIG deeper! (New line...) Oh and BRING IT!

Many Blessings,

David