I started the workout knowing it was going to be
harder. I’ve learned my lessons about
starting new programs and went to Team Beachbody to look at some message
boards. I knew the routines were
longer. The DVD said, “Fit Test and Max
Interval Circuit.” The time on it was
something like 63 minutes on the schedule, so I thought that was for both. It was a stretch but I figured that I could
handle it fine. I also thought, since
the Max Recovery was reviewed by so many as being very light, I would do the Fit
Test then. So, since I was doing no Fit
Test on Saturday…I’m thinking, “That time for the whole routine should be
considerably shorter.” So, like I had
been doing the last 5 weeks, I did my Ab Ripper X routine first.
ARX took about fifteen minutes. I have actually been able to do it so well
that I don’t even pause between sets. I
put the DVD in and start into the routine…by the time the DVD gets set and
goes through the normal pre-workout junk, I am already on the Cross-legged
Situps. So the whole thing takes me
about 15 minutes.
That done, I popped in the Insanity DVD for Max Interval
Circuit. Two routines on the disc as I
expected. I wasn’t doing the Fit Test,
so I hit the hit the regular program. Oh
God. I think it says 58 minutes. What the hell. Okay, no sweat. I have been working out for 15 minutes
already…I can do this.
Mathematically I was about to exercise for an hour and 15
minutes. Insanity is about 40 minutes in
Phase I. Today was going to add 35
minutes to that pace.
My breakfast had been my usual Oatmeal mix and I had drunk
about three cups of coffee…which was more than usual. The heat has been brutal, so my hydration
felt low and the temp in my family room basement was unusually high at about 74
degrees. The dehumidifier was going
non-stop and was adding to the heat.
So, given all the elements, I dove right in.
The workout started fine.
I kept up with all of the routines.
I will say, from a muscular perspective, this routine was a lot more
physical than the cardio intense stuff we had been doing. I enjoyed that part, but I hadn’t been
expecting it.
I was sweating like crazy.
More than usual in Insanity, and that was saying something. I went through a 24 ounce container of water
in the first 30 minutes. I had to push
pause just to run back upstairs to get more water. That’s when it hit me. As I went through the door to the kitchen
upstairs, it was actually cooler than the basement. That NEVER happens. The basement has always been the coolest room
in the house. I grabbed the water and
quickly hopped down the stairs. Oh my
God. The thermostat said “78.” The temp in the room had gone up 4 degrees in
thirty minutes. My body temp and the
intensity of the workout actually was raising the room temp!
I pushed play and just kept rocking.
Another 15 minutes went by and I started to notice
something. Even though I had taken in
another 24 ounces of water (total of 48 now), I had stopped sweating. I was in the middle of an exercise and I
could feel the heat coming off of my face.
I looked at the room thermostat.
81 degrees. My body was tingling
from my head to my waist…a very weird sensation if you have never experienced
it. I was more burnt out at that point
than I had ever been in 139 days. I
recognized the physical signs though…I was experiencing heat exhaustion. The tingling was because my electrolytes were
gone.
If you ever get to this point, you need to be concerned. This is the point at which your system begins to shut
down. It can actually cause your heart
to palpitate oddly and can be very serious.
Okay. Enough. Time to stop.
I left about three minutes of the routine out. I dropped the last set of the last
circuit. I went straight to the stretch
and cool down and finished.
I had to take some drastic steps to rehydrate. I immediately sat down and slowly got about
12 ounces of Gatorade in me. I ate half
a banana and a kosher pickle with it. I
needed to get the sodium and potassium levels up. I then made up my usually recovery drink of
Creatine/Protein and had that too. All
of this over an hour’s time…you can’t just pour this stuff into your body. I sat in front of a fan and waited for
everything to absorb and my body’s heat to go down. It did…but it took time. When I walked around, I was a little light
headed and seriously out of steam. I
headed up to take a cold shower.
I stripped off my sweat soaked clothes and turned to look in
the mirror. I could see my cheek bones
and my face was drawn tight. My skin was
white…drained of blood. My body was
still sweating. It hurt me just to stand
up. That’s when it hit me.
I looked at the fifty year old man staring back at me and
said to him, “What the hell are you doing?”
(to be continued tomorrow)
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