Saez

Lively animated compilation on human motivation. Whether you agree or not, it’s thought provoking, interesting and worth watching.

The world of fashion is cyclical and old styles come back every 10 years or so. Well, the same seems to be happening to the game of volleyball. Sir Karch Kiraly took a stand against the establishment by announcing the Corona Open Tour will be going back to old rules, big court and side out. Beach or sand volleyball is a 8×8 meters court and Karch wants to super-size it to 10×10, similar to indoor 6 player format. If you don’t play the game, you wouldn’t understand. If you play indoors and haven’t played doubles sand, you wouldn’t understand. if you play sand and you run down the court, train on agility, workout on endurance, develop your jump power, then maybe you understand how much more difficult is to play side-out game on a bigger court.

I can’t disagree with Karch’s reasoning for taking on this bold move. But if his trend grabs hold in other circuits, then P90X and Insanity may just be a warm up program compared to what I’ll need to play under then new rules. More about Karch’s new can be found here.

How sweet. I just got my invitation to google voice from a good friend and this thing rocks. I’m playing with every feature and still learning. You can read all about here. For now, I’m working on a widget that allows people from call me from the web. How cool is that! Go ahead and try it out. Who knows, I may even answer.

Life plays mind tricks on you. Two years ago, I found, or so I thought, the ultimate fitness conditioning program; P90X. Well, after two years and three full rounds, my body has changed, my life has improved, but I’m totally bored and need a changed. So, during a recent business event I met Steve Gable, CTO at the Tribune company. Initially we talked about the usual business stuff. A little time into our conversation I learned that he did P90X. He has a crazy workout discipline and runs long distances even during the scorching Texas summers, outdoors.  He suggested that I tried Insanity to help with my speed, cardio and agility. I did my typical Internet review hunting and got hooked.

Today in the mail I got a pretty nice glossy box and beautifully packaged 10 Insanity workout DVDs, ready to pop into my basement’s laptop for a good can-of-whoop-ass. I rushed to do a quick scan of all DVDs. First impressions, mixed. This is clearly a cardio get-lean type workout. It’s ideal for women looking for that beach toned body. Guys looking for mass and strength… I don’t think so. My goals are to increase speed/agility and endurance, so this could be my ticket to a great beach volleyball summer. I did my leg workout today and then went for the fit test with decent results. Insanity is intense, short workout sessions, no equipment and little space necessary. Gotta love that! Just like most other packages, this one came with a nutrition guide. When you burn over 600 calories per workout, I don’t think diet should be in your vocabulary. Eat good, eat plenty and eat often. What’s not to like about this rule?!?

I’ll post my progress here as I did for P90X. The amount of information and opinions on comparing P90X, Insanity and Crossfit is overwhelming and most of it pointless since this they aim a different results. Exercise is a very personal choice and life is all about experimenting. So I’ll have fun with this one.

Fit Test Results
Switch Kicks / 62
Power Jacks / 42
Power Knees / 72
Globe Jumps / 9
Suicide Jumps / 16
Push Up Jacks / 25
Low Plank Oblique / 45

If you want to learn more about the program, Robert Harden has written one of the best reviews on Insanity in the Extremely Fit website.