Insanity: Week Five

Week five was different and interesting. It was "recovery week." A whole week of Core Cardio and Balance. Shaun T. tells us that we shouldn't feel exhausted after the video. Yeah right.

Because of our schedule, our recovery work out usually falls on Friday. Instead of doing the Core Cardio and Balance video we did the Cardio Abs video. We thought we deserved a little break I guess. Cardio Abs is shorter and not all that much cardio. We did do the cardio and balance one the rest of the week.

Aside from my getting sick at the end, it was a good workout week. At the beginning Katja brought her Wii Fit so we can all track out progress that way. It was highly entertaining. Also, I had never touched a Wii before. According to the Wii Fit, my "physical age" (based on BMI, weight, and balance?) is about 30. Funny funny.

Now the results! We have all noticed improved endurance, muscle tone, and flexibility. My calf muscles have had a hard time adjusting to the workouts, but they are getting nice muscle! My abs aren't coming along quite as nice, but I am getting some decent oblique toning. I am still fluctuating around my normal weights. As of this week, I did lose half an inch in my waist, which was unexpected because I have a pretty slim waist. I expect more changes in my hips and butt though. They were about the same but loose, if that makes sense. No change in my thighs sadly.

In case anyone is wondering about the measurements I decided to take, I should debrief you. I call myself "the great pear-shaped woman." I have almost no chest and I gained no weight in my chest or my rib cage. My waist is slim, too. Proportionally, I have larger hips and gain all my weight in my hips, butt, and thighs. Therefore, that is where my focus is. I actually was only taking my waist measurements to check my consistency.

The next month is going to be tough. The workouts are longer and all hive titles like "Max Interval so-and-so." We are a little nervous already. We also do the fit test tomorrow. I will post results.

Last week I talked a little about knee pain while working out. This week, for whatever reason, was hard on my knees. It took most of the week to learn to be careful enough to avoid hurting them. To that end, I found some good links (on Pinterest because, let's be honest, where else would I spend time online?) to help with my knees.
1. Build A Stronger Knee. Be careful with these because some of them may strain your knees if you are not.
2. Hip strengthening exercises. With these make sure you are working from the hips, not the knees. Turn your legs at the hips. Especially for us women--our wide hips can hurt our knees.