Sunday has always been one of my favorite days of the week. I get to nap, kind of sleep in and not go to classes. But four weeks ago, it became my favorite day for one very important reason: Sunday is my day off from Insanity.
For those of you who have never heard of Insanity, it is a workout program that lasts nine weeks, and if you follow the schedule, you get every Sunday off. The workouts are usually 40 minutes to an hour long and cardio-based.
Before I started this, I can say I honestly hated working out. Gyms and weight lifting aren’t my thing. I’d much rather go do something such as hike or play sports.
But then two of my best friends decided to start Insanity and dragged me along for the ride. I complained that I didn’t need to lose weight and there was no point to me doing Insanity. Boy, was I wrong — I think that I’m now toning muscles I didn’t even know existed.
The first week of workouts was pure torture. Going down stairs was one of the most painful things I had to do during the day and standing up from my chair made me grimace and groan. I would look at the huge chart taped on the door and think how in the world am I going to do nine weeks of this?
During that first week, I got my roommate to join us and the four of us are now finishing the fourth week.
It has become almost a ritual to do Insanity. Every night around 10:30 the four of us cram into the second floor study room in Kendall. One day we even did it in the kitchen because the study rooms were full. We turn on the air conditioning and open the window, but by the end of the warm-up are sweating and red-faced.
We’ve decided which are our most and least favorite workouts and quote Shaun T. as he tells us to keep our cores tight and drink our recovery drinks.
Every day we finish, fist bump and make our victory walk to the schedule where we check off the day.
As torturous as the workout itself may be, it’s so worth it. After getting through the first week of soreness, it makes you feel more awake and healthy.
So when you’re looking at the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, don’t be the person sitting on the couch complaining about not being in shape. It won’t get you anywhere. Dieting usually won’t get you very far either. And besides, who wants to not eat dessert? I, for one, would much rather work out and eat chocolate than not eat chocolate and not work out.
So get off your butt and get your beach body going — there are only three weeks until spring break. Or at least get your Heber Springs body ready. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
