Review: Insanity max 30

This program is more insane than the original Insanity. This is challenging from day one and is for the already fit. There are no weights involved and its only 30 minutes a day or till you "max out"
You do the workout and write down your time and get back to work. You get a mixture of cardio, ab, arms and legs. Although even if your doing abs, legs and arms you still do cardio with it. Each workout has a modifier if you want less extreme.

"I'm about to kill you, but you'll live" 
             -Shaun T

Here are the workouts:

 Month 1

• Cardio challenge- the hardest cardio workout you'll ever do
• Tabata power- 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. Strength training with tabata style.
• Sweat intervals- you'll sweat and burn off the calories in this challenge.
• Tabata strength- no rest tabata style strength workout. Yep NO REST!
• Friday fight: round 1- first break 15 min in non stop fat busting workout. 

Month 2

• Max out cardio- you think month one was hard. Be prepared for a more intense program starting with this fat burning workout. 
• Max out power- intervals are 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off. Tabata and plyo combined. Lots of push ups.
• Max out sweat- the further you go the more calories you'll burn. Dripping in sweat in the end.
• Max out strength- upper body focus. Everything will be screaming in pain by the time your done. 
• Friday fight: round 2- hardest workout ever. Moves are a minute long and harder than ever.

Rest days:

• Pulse- recovery workout. Low impact combo and stretching with a pulse.-20 min
• Ab attack 10- a full blown attack on your abs.

Deluxe edition:

• Max out 15- half the time, but more intense. -15 min
• Max out abs- alternate from seated to standing moves. Max out your abs. -15 min
• 360 abs- 360 degree attack on your abs and core. -15 min

Month one was amazing. I loved cardio challenge and tabata power. Tabata power was a combination of cardio and upper and lower body workout. Cardio challenge was just cardio and it is very hard, but the moves were enjoyable. The first week was very difficult. My muscles were sore and stiff.

"Your gonna max out, you're gonna push, and I'm gonna motivate you all the way through!"
                                             -Shaun T

Here are my max out times for month 1:
* I beat my time from before

Week 1-                                                                                     

• Cardio challenge- @10:00                   
• Tabata power- @ 20:00
• Sweat intervals- @10:00
• Tabata strength- @ 23:33
• Friday fight: round 1- @17:50

Week 2-

• Cardio challenge- @17:35*
• Tabata power- @30:00*
• Sweat intervals- @ 15:00*
• Tabata strenght- @ 30:00*
• Friday fight: round 1- @ 20:00*

Week 3- 

• Cardio challenge- @ 22:00*
• Tabata strength- @ 20:35
• Tabata strength- @ 21:35*
• Sweat intervals- @ 20:21
• Friday fight: round 1- @ 15:00

Week 4-

• Cardio challenge- @ 25:00*
• Tabata strength- @ 22:20*
• Sweat intervals- @ 30:00
• Tabata strength- @ 30:00
• Friday fight: round 1- @ 25:31*

As you can see I did not fully max out on all of them. Some days they were way hard and some days they were fine. On week 4 of cardio challenge we had 5 minutes left till I started getting really dizzy. The room started spinning and my workout partner says that we needed to stop. Turns out I didn't eat enough calories that day and I had already burned all of it off. Luckily nothing serious happened and luckily my workout partner was there.
I didn't keep my max out times written down nearby, I had them in my work planner. What I should have done was print a calendar out and hang it up where I was working out.

"When I lost all of my excuses I found all my results"

Month 2 is a more higher level of difficulty. It is very challenging and you are dripping in sweat withing 7 minutes. My favorite workouts are Max out power and max out sweat. I love on max out sweat how withing 5 minutes I'm covered in sweat and out of breath. Max out strength works your abs, back, legs and arms in this whole workout. While getting your cardio in. 

Here are my max out times for month 2
* I beat my time from before

Week 1-

• Max out power- @ 25:51
• Max out Cardio- @ 23:33
• Max out sweat- @ 18:00
• Max out strength- @ 23:35
• Friday fight: round 2- @ 11:00

Week 2- 

• Max out cardio- @ 20:00
• Max out power- @ 30:00*
• Max out sweat- @ 18:00
• Max out strength- @ 30:00
• Friday fight: round 2- @ 18:00 *

Week 3-

• Max out cardio- @ 18:24- I had to stop because my son was sick and wanted me to hold him:(
• Max out power- @ 30:00
• Max out sweat- @ 22:00 *
• Max out strength-@30:00
• Friday fight: round 2- @20:00 *

Week 4-

• Max out cardio- @30:00 *
• Max out power-@ 30:00
• Max out sweat-@ 30:00 *
• Max out strength- @ 30:00
• Friday fight: round 2-@ 30:00*

Max out sweat was the hardest of them all. I had such a hard time getting past 18 minutes... let alone 8. On week 3 I was at 18 min and told myself I can go till 22 min. Oh man I don't think I have ever pushed myself that hard.. EVER! 

It felt so good to finally beat that time. Especially when I maxed out at 30:)

This was after I pushed myself as
hard as I could

Friday fight took me a long time to get over that 18 min mark too. The water break is not till 15 min in the workout. There is a reason why he doesn't have a lot of water breaks in this one. Your doing so much jumping and burpees that if you take to many water breaks and drink to much water the water in your stomach will start to swish around. It'll make you sick and wanna puke. Trust me, my workout partner realized it and needed to warn people.
On the last week I got a really bad sore throat and chest congestion. I should have rested but I did the workouts anyway. I had one more week!! Come on! I had to get sick on the last day. I don't know what I had but I think it was strep... but I don't know. I had to take my rest days early I had shallow breathing, chest pains and major congestion in my sinuses. I had 2 more workouts left till I was done. I finally got enough energy to do max out strength, I mainly modified throughout the workout.  

Matching with Shaun T. 

Funny story on week 3, max out power I was doing all the push-ups that Shaun has you do and my toddler decided to add his whole 42 pound body on my back. I did 8 or 9 different push-ups for about 9 minutes with my toddler on my back. He was having fun and so was I.  I woke up to sore shoulders, butt, back and legs. It felt awesome!!! That means that I worked a new muscle. Also you do one armed burpees! its hard but you feel like a freaking rock star. 

"Burpees. Love them. Hate them. Do them."



Here are my results.
If you look at the bottom one. You see a huge difference in my back and arms. They are way more toned. Mainly toned in this workout.

Benefits of drinking Barley tea むぎちや

I have been drinking Barley tea for months now ( well technically years but I just started drinking it again.) and I have noticed a lot. Its actually called Mugichya　むぎちゃ in Japan. That's where I get mine; my neighbor is Japanese and she gets me a huge bag whenever she goes to japan. One day I googled on what the benefits were and I could not believe it. I drink about a whole pitcher in 2-3 days. It takes a while to get use to it. But once you get use to it you can't stop.

Here are some benefits of drinking Mugichya:

• It helps regulate and enhance blood regularity. Also helps maintain healthy blood circulation.
• It is very rich in antioxidants. High in vitamin C and A
• Helps prevent tooth decay. Leaves nice healthy teeth.
• Can help prevent cancer. The high levels of antioxidants can assist in averting cell damage.
• Works as a blood cleanser. Blood sugar can be reduced and regulated when drinking barley tea. Also can lower cholesterol level.
• Barley tea helps in alleviating the symptoms of cold. Barley tea is said to be an effective treatment for fever too. It contributes in cleansing the system. It breaks up the phlegm and congestion's and assists in treating asthma and bronchitis. Drinking 2 cups of barley tea can give respite from a sore throat too.
• Can help treat nausea and and can act as a natural antacid.
• Beneficial to male fertility and can help keep a healthy prostate and can help prevent prostate cancer.
• Loaded with fiber, barley tea can help with easy and regular bowel movements.
• Barley tea contains melatonin and amino acid, which facilitate healthy and good sleep patterns by working in combination. Barley tea is caffeine-free and does not interfere with the sleep routine.
• Helps detox and cleanse the body from harmful toxins.
• May help cope with stress and physical problems, such as gaining weight and over eating during stressful periods. 
• Gives you a sense of fullness. Helps maintain and lose weight. 

To sum it all up, Barley tea is a great source of phytonutrients and antioxidants that protect the body from the damage caused by free radicals. This tea is also a delicious and nutritious alternative to green, black and herbal teas with and between meals.

あなた　が　のむ　さいこ　の　お茶

よんでくれてありがとう

Review: 3 week yoga retreat

This program is for anyone. For beginners and there is no need for experience in yoga. Help build strength and flexibility and feel relaxed. In just 21 days; 30 minutes or less you learn the basics of yoga.
There are 3 different levels

• Foundation
• Expansion
• Progression
• Take 10

The calander below is the schedule. Im not gonna explain all of them because that would take a very long time. Its pretty simple.

Mondays core days- this will activate, engage, and helps build awareness in your muscles.
Tuesdays Stretch- stretch, extend and lengthen all your muscles.
Wednesdays balance- challenges your body to learn to balance and engage your core.
Thursday flow- everything put together that you learned from the past 3 days. Practice breathing and learn to "Flow" through each move.
Fridays flow on the go- shorter more advanced version of flow.
Saturday relax- unwind and relax from the long week
Sunday take 10- short 10 min classes. AM to help wake up. PM help wind down from a long day. Abs wake up those abs and get them active. Do all in one day or just a few or one.

Each one can be longer or shorter than the other, or have different trainers and moves. Anyway you do it your still gonna feel great and so relaxed.

It took me a while to finish this program. The only time I would do it was on my rest days. I did a hybrid with BBL master series and now Insanity max:30. I absolutely loved doing this on my rest days. Especially when my muscles were so stiff and sore from my workout. It stretched and helped me relax from a long, hard week.
I can say that I have been one with my self and you know what... its nice. I have a toddler and I'm a

working mom so life gets pretty crazy and this yoga program helped me a lot.
I have noticed a huge difference in my balance, flexibility and being able to relax. Now I have done yoga before; from P90X and P90X3. Those yoga workouts were nothing like this. This isn't your average yoga routine.
Iv'e noticed that I am able to do a lot of moves I wasn't able to do. I have bad knees and wrists and this has helped me so much with the pain. All of the following above is true. This is a big reason why I love practicing yoga.
I am prone to seizures so when I would have a bad day I would continue with this program on my rest days. Believe it or not it has helped me with that too. I have seizures from stress and other things so this program has helped me so much with that subject.

After every workout I would feel so refreshed and amazing. I admit some of the workouts did give me some sore muscles, but that's because I haven't used those muscles in a long time. You should see my toddler do some of this program with me. He is getting very good at it. He loves to do yoga with mommy. I love that hes so active with me during this workout.
Now for the workouts.
 Personally I have really enjoyed progression (week 3). I really liked the moves and the stretches that were on it. I felt more relaxed and got a better stretch with this one. Don't get me wrong the other ones are amazing too, but for me I loved progression.
Expansion (week 2) was a little on the hard side... to me. I activated a lot of muscles that haven't been used in a very long time so when I was finished I had sore muscles. You know what though... it felt amazing. Because I know I'm using and working those muscles and getting them stretched and worked.
Foundation (week 1) was on the easy side. I liked it because it helps you get ready for the other weeks and what's to come. It prepared your muscles, body and mind for the next 2 weeks.

I think I really enjoyed balance and stretch. I really like working on my balance and stretching all my muscles. Especially after a hard days work and a long busy week.
This program is a perfect match to do with Insanity max 30. You get all your cardio, push ups and burpees in than on your 2 rest days you do this. It feels amazing!!

Now that I have finished this program Iv'e noticed some changes. My balance, breathing, learning to relax, flexibility and meditation. All of these have enhanced. It has also helped with my hips. After having my son I have had hip and even back problems. I would get really bad shoots of pain up my back and down my hips. They would hurt so bad that I couldn't breath or move. Guess what this program has helped with this. My hips feel more open and comfortable, my back is more stretched and flexible. I feel less stiff and I loved using every single muscle in my body.

I was doing this program during Christmas. My toddler was in bed and I was gonna get my yoga on. On Nextflix they have this fireplace movie. You can choose from 3 of them. They have one with music and without music and one with that does a close up and other things. I chose the one without music and played it while I did yoga. Wow did it enhance my relaxation. I spoiled myself that night. Right after I had my warm cup of tea and it was bedtime. I slept so good that night.

For finishing this program you get a really cool bracelet.


I don't really have a before and after because it took me so long to finish. So here are some poses that I practiced while doing the program. These are poses that I wasn't able to do at the beginning of the program. ( the bottom picture)

Little problems, Big worries

Ever since Nash turned 1 I have had a lot of people ask me when I'm gonna have another kid.
Ok seriously there's a reason why we don't have another kid right now and Nash is 3.
Once Nash turned 18 months I really wanted a another baby. Than my husband said that we weren't having anymore kids. This upset me pretty bad. The whole time I'm thinking why doesn't he want another baby.
Does he not love me enough?
Am I a horrible mom?
Will I go through the horrible labor I went through with Nash?
These questions would be in my head for weeks. I would hide in the shower and cry.
I had a hard time having that sink in for months. We would argue about it and he wouldn't tell me why. I would see all these other families getting pregnant with their 2nd or 3rd kid and I would be so jealous. I would tell my husband that Nash will never have a best friend, be an uncle or a big brother at all. He would just shrug it off and walk away.

When Nash turned 2 I started to slowly understand how my husband was feeling. Between 2 and 3 I now noticed that Nash really needs our attention and help. He is behind on some things; this includes his speech and communication skills. He has a hard time understanding certain things and sounding out words. He is being evaluated at school and they said that he needs our attention more than ever. We aren't gonna let him be a spoiled brat, we are going to teach him the things he needs to get his speech skills up. If I had another baby I wouldn't be able to give Nash the help he needs.
Nash will still learn his manners, sharing and responsibility, we will not treat him like a baby. He has learned a lot of that from daycare and school, especially patience.

Every kid is different and every kid learns differently. Every family is different and they raise their kids different. I raise and teach my kid possibly different from other people and what I'm doing is working so I'm gonna stick with that. I know my son more than anyone so I know what works for him.

You know what I couldn't be more proud of my son. Hes smart, funny and loves to help people. There are some things that he likes that make him seem like we are babying him. Like not sitting in the big boy swing, he chooses to use the one where he puts his legs in because that's where he feels safe and comfortable. As long as it makes him happy and enjoying life I don't care. Its the small things that matter.

It also got me thinking about my health. People don't realize that it is very hard to be a mom and have seizures. The last one I had lasted for about 30 minutes and I was awake the whole time listening to Nash yelling help. My husband was at work and I just put Nash in his high chair to eat and he was done and wanted to get down. It killed me that I was so helpless... I couldn't help my toddler at all. I tried to get up and I ended up falling off the couch. I had to hear him cry for help till my husband got home from work. Luckily before it got bad I was able to call him. If I had 2 kids I don't know what to think. I want to get my health under control so I won't have to hear a newborn cry for its mommy and a toddler be in pain while I'm loosing control of my body.

I know if we have another kid it will be in a couple of years. I want Nash to be able to help with the newborn and to teach him responsibility and sharing. I don't really care how old Nash will be. I don't care that having a newborn is gonna take some getting use to with another kid. Right now I'm going to concentrate on my health and helping Nash. I know a couple of people that have kids that are about 17 months apart... thats amazing. I never hear them complain about the kids being so close together. They always seem to enjoy it and they also work together to help each other not loose their mind. I seriously can't imagine having a kid right now, especially with Nash and his 3 year old tantrums and attitude.

I'm at the point where I have this gut feeling that I need to wait. I'm gonna listen to my gut and see what happens. Something is telling me to help Nash and get stronger before I have another baby.

As of now Nash's vocabulary is growing everyday. Ever since he's been going to school he has been just amazing. His speech, communication and social skills have sky rocketed. He's only been going to school for a month and a half now and he is so ahead and learning things so fast that it's changing him into a whole different kid. He still needs help with things, but I know he will get it down. Nash is so smart and catches things right as soon as he sees it. He is now repeating everything I say and learning everyday. When he was 2 I did teach him some ABCs and taught him to count to 6. Now he can count to 10 all by himself and sing the ABCs clear to the letter K than he asks for help and once I start singing with him he'll sing the rest of it. He puts his dishes away throws trash away when hes done, and is very good at doing his chores. He now uses the word "help" and "please" and puts them in sentences.

Now your gonna read this and think wow what a complainer, oh she has no idea what to expect, why in the hell did she write this post. Guess what.... I don't care. I want people to know why my toddler is 3 and we don't have another one yet. Also to let people know that if your child is behind in development it's not your fault. I know it took me a while to stop blaming myself for his delay.
This isn't a rant its just an info post.
I hope one day that I will have another baby for me and Nash to cuddle and help each other. Hopefully that I won't have a hard time bringing another child in this world.