Insanity: Max 30 Journey Day 54 - Friday Fight: Round 2 (The Final Workout)

During the course of two months, I'd like to take you into my journey as I strive to retain a healthy lifestyle through a healthy balanced nutrition program and Beachbody trainer extraordinaire -- and Men's Health cover man -- Shaun T's brand new workout regimen Insanity Max 30.

Day 54: Friday Fight: Round 2 (The Final Workout)

My two months has come and gone (that was fast). All that was standing in the way from me and wrapping up my (initial) journey was Insanity: Max 30 Friday Fight: Round 2 -- only the toughest workout in the whole program (Yes, I'm now changing my stance from Max Out Sweat to this, only because my Max Out Time has improved drastically in one, and not in the other).

If you've been keeping track, my first three weeks of this workout haven't been anything to write home about. I maxed out in the first week of Round 2 at 6 minutes, 17 seconds; aiming for a big improvement, I got anything but, maxing out at 6:23 a week later; and last week, I got out of that seventh-minute move, but managed only to make it to 8:23 before maxing out.

My short-term goal here was to make it to -- and beyond -- the 10-minute mark. It wasn't asking for much, just a minute and 37 seconds. The only thing: I woke up first thing this morning to bang out this final workout, a mere eight and a half hours since I wrapped up Max Out Strength, which my arms were still tight from.

No problem! I went strong through the warmup and first move, and the ski hops, which got me the first couple of times, I paced myself and concentrated on my form and got through those. After the first two moves, the third move -- a four-lunge runner with two X-hops -- seemed like a breeze.

The next several moves -- plank jacks, hook lunges and hit the floor-tuck jumps -- were more challenging, but I managed to get through them and into the 12th minute of the routine. The free runner move is what got me! It's such a simple concept, but to keep everything in tight as you jump, kick your legs front and back, and return to the floor the way you started just wore me down.

I hit my Max Out Time at 11:29, which was a whopping three minutes and six seconds better than my previous week; a whole five minutes, 12 seconds better than the initial go with this workout.

At this point, I'm thinking pretty flowers in a meadow and running through a garden with my wife in one hand; daughter in the other; and dog alongside. I'm there. I just need to finish the last 18-plus minutes and Max 30 is done!

I wrapped up this week meeting my short-term goal of besting my previous Max Out Time on every workout; and if not for a late night on Wednesday, I would have hit my second short-term goal of working out in the morning (to avoid the immense heat we are enduring this week). I'll take the Max Out Time success.

After maxing out, I still went full boar until the clock hit 30. I had to take many one- to two-second breaks, but kept jumping right back in. I wasn't about to cheat myself, not now. That last minute, where we are doing high knee punches, I was beat, but I wasn't going to stop a second. I was running to the finish line -- as hard as possible. 

The countdown -- "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" -- was the best sound I heard in the past two months. What an accomplishment. I'm floored and ready to embark on the next part of my journey. Next up: Recovery and onto the next phase of the journey.

Recap

Workout:               Friday Fight: Round 2 (The Final Workout)

Max Out Time:     11:29
Weep Time:           30:00 (Can't get any better than that)

Weekly Weigh-in:   Stay tuned for the Max 30 Journey recap

Monthly Photo:       Stay tuned for the Max 30 Journey recap