What I'm Watching: Bunheads

A few months ago when I was catching up on Secret Life of the American Teenager (don't judge; I judge myself), I saw an ad for a new show called Bunheads. The first thing that struck me was that the series was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. Sherman-Palladino created one of my most favourite series - Gilmore Girls - so I was understandably excited. As the promo continued, I noticed that the Bunheads star looked uncannily like Lauren Graham. (Let me just say, I am VERY bad with faces. I could see someone right now and five minutes later be unable to recognise him. It's even worse with actors and actresses. I use context clues to help me recognise people so if you're out of the context, I'm clueless.)

Source: ABC Family

Could it be Lauren Graham? I love her. I loved her as Lorelai in Gilmore Girls but I also love her in her current show - Parenthood. If she was in Bunheads, it meant she wouldn't be in Parenthood. I had mixed feelings about this. Lauren Graham in another Sherman-Palladino creation would be great but Lauren's character is a central one in Parenthood. But then I saw a new angle of the promo. No, that wasn't Lauren Graham. She was just someone who looked like her. I swear I had that debate every time the promo came on and it came on every time there was a break in the Secret Life episodes I was watching.

Two weeks ago, my friend, who loved Gilmore Girls as much as I did, mentioned Bunheads to me and I decided to watch. Oh my confusion. There were just too many Gilmore Girls similarities. The central character (whose name I suddenly can't remember) still looked like Lauren Graham at some angles but she sounded nothing like her. For the first episode, it just felt like I was watching someone try to be a Gilmore Girl. The witty dialogue that I loved in Gilmore Girls was here too but just not delivered as effortlessly.

Source: ABC Family

By episode 2, there was too much GG deja vu.
Small town just like GG? Check.
Quirky small town characters? Check
Kelly Bishop from GG? Check.
Rose Abdoo from GG? Check
Sean Gunn from GG? Check

I am having a difficult time liking Bunheads because I keep wanting to compare it to Gilmore Girls. I just can't help it. Everywhere I turn, there's a Gilmore Girls reminder. Unfortunately, the delivery is just not as good as Gilmore Girls so it's failing in my eyes.  I'm still watching, hoping that I will eventually start judging it on its own merits. And also hoping that it will improve and become an ABC Family powerhouse.

Back to Basics

I drafted this at the beginning of August. since then I fell off the wagon once more. I blame it on the Olympics. Once Track & Field started on August 3, I spent all my time watching the Olympics and never once exercised. Maybe that will change today. 

July was not the month for exercise. Every day something happened (most days laziness) and I wouldn't exercise. I decided last week to get myself back in the habit and was greeted by knee pain. I am way too young for knee pain. I had a long talk with myself (what? you don't talk to yourself?) and decided Insanity was just not for me. I wasn't achieving my goals and I felt that I had lost some of the muscle that I had gained during the time I did P90X. The knee pain was the last straw.

I am not completely cutting out Insanity and so have started a P90X and Insanity hybrid. It's 4 days of P90X and 2 days of Insanity. I may try P90X's Plyometrics one of those Insanity days since I have never done it before. If my knees don't like it then I will do the less intense P90X Cardio until my knees feel better. It's funny that one of those days of P90X is the dreaded yoga and I am actually looking forward to it. I miss that flexibility. So that's 3 days of strength training, 2 days of cardio and 1 of yoga.

BRING IT!

Caramelized Onion & Thyme Sourdough Kringel

Just a quick pic of a bread I made in the wee hours this morning instead of working on a report.

Honest Toddler

I can't wait until Friday to share this. Last night I was Twitter-surfing and came across the Twitter account of Honest Toddler. I laughed. A LOT. And then I moved on to the blog. Love it! I am quickly making my way through the posts and cracking up over every one. I would have tried to read every tweet too but I had to go out..

Enjoy!

Tony Horton vs Shaun T

I'm halfway through Insanity so it's about time I actually wrote down this post that has been in my head since Day 1 of Insanity. When I first started Insanity, I felt like I was cheating on Tony Horton (P90X instructor). I had spent 90 days with him. How could I now jump ship? But it really wasn't jumping ship, I needed something different so that I could keep exercising and not just go back to my sedentary life. I was at the point where I was saying Tony's corny jokes before he said them.

The first day of Insanity was the Fit Test and I honestly felt like I was going to die. I was gasping for air throughout. Cardio is not my thing and Insanity is INTENSIVE cardio. P90X has cardio but not this much. I must note that I did not do the Plyometrics workout in P90X as I was doing the Lean Routine. Plyometrics includes a lot of the jumping around that Insanity has. I quickly learned to pace myself in Insanity and now the workouts are a lot easier to get through.

So what's the difference between P90X and Insanity?

• P90X's premise is muscle confusion and it works every muscle in your body over the course of the week with a variety of exercises. At the end of my first week, parts of my body that I did not know could hurt were hurting. Insanity is interval training. Other interval training videos that I have seen have you work hard for a short amount of time (e.g. 30 seconds) and then rest for a longer period (e.g. 1 minute). Insanity does the opposite - you work hard for 3 minutes and then rest for 30 seconds. I can't say I am a fan of this. I am getting better at it but sometimes 30 seconds is simply not enough time to recover and from what I have read, you should have recovered before you move on. How do you know that you've recovered? I am not sure. Shaun T never really explains. In fact, he doesn't mention "recovery" until probably day 3 or so.
• P90X gives you a full body workout. Insanity does not. Your legs will be exercised as there is a lot of jumping and running in Insanity. But honestly, my legs felt like they got a better workout when I did the P90X's Legs & Back video. Your arms will also get a good workout in Insanity as most of the videos include lots of push-ups. Shaun T loves push-ups and he does many different types. I am not a fan but I try to do them since I would just be standing around through a lot of some of the videos. I am still not good at them though. There is also a video dedicated to abs and I must say it is pretty good. The first time I did it, I definitely felt the burn. I am still skeptical that people really develop a lot of muscles from Insanity but maybe I will see how in the second month. I think you will develop more endurance.
• I find that Tony Horton is a better instructor than Shaun T. Sometimes Shaun T is just a little too busy doing the moves himself to instruct. He isn't a bad instructor. I am just so used to Tony Horton who provides a lot of details. There are some videos that Shaun T does better in that others. One could argue that some of his moves don't require detailed instructions but it would make me feel better. Shaun T will scream, "Don't compromise form!" and I usually want to scream back, "But I don't fully understand what is good form! I want Tony!"
• If you choose to do Insanity,.expect to sweat A LOT. You are either running, jumping, doing pushups then jumping or bending down then jumping. You are soaking wet after the warmup. Yes, you will sweat in P90X but not that much.
• Now let's talk about that warmup. I think Insanity's warmups are too intense to be warmups. I learned after the first video to go a lot slower so I wouldn't feel like collapsing at the end. You will hear Shaun T screaming "Push! Push!" or "Go faster!" but tell him to shut up and go at your own pace. You don't want to injure yourself or burnout before you finish the warmup. I am currently having a weird leg pain that I am worried it may be an injury. I am monitoring it and taking it easy. And speaking of pace, there is nobody in Insanity to follow to modify exercises but don't worry if you can't do as much as they are doing. In fact, if you look into the crowd, there is always someone collapsing. All P90X videos that I have done have a wonderful warmup that I love and there are people modifying the exercises so that you can work your way up. I guess the modification in Insanity would be to do fewer reps. 
• I don't think there is enough stretching in Insanity. I almost miss Yoga X. Sometimes you just need to stretch and really take care of your body. I don't think Shaun T got the memo. Admittedly, I have not done his "recovery week". Maybe there is more stretching in recovery week. I think I will have to insert some yoga into some of my Insanity days. I liked the flexibility that I was developing with P90X. I don't want to lose that.
• P90X is looooooooooooooong. I think this is the main complaint. You have to dedicate an hour each day or an hour and a half on Yoga days to P90X. If you are not highly motivated, it can be a chore to get through. I know that I struggled some days. But you know what? The X in P90X stands for extreme. This is not supposed to be a simple workout. Insanity, so far, has been shorter - about 40 minutes or so. I am told that the videos are longer in the second month. I guess I will find out next week. I am not sure how I will handle jumping around for an hour. However, I did the Plyometrics Circuit video today and almost felt like I didn't exercise at all. I guess I can handle a longer video.P90X is a 90 day workot while Insanity is 60 days. People talk about the fact that Insanity is shorter in that sense. Honestly, it isn't that big of a deal. If you want to just keep exercising on a regular basis, it shouldn't matter if you're on a 30, 60 or 90 day program. What would matter is if 90 days is too long to be doing the same things. For me, it was. But  I don't get that exercise high and get bored very easily.
• P90X requires equipment - weights or resistance bands (I used bands) - while Insanity does not. That's a pro for most persons. You need a yoga mat and a heart rate monitor for both. I am ashamed to say that I do not have a heart rate monitor. You probably should NEVER do Insanity without a heart rate monitor. Yeah, you will see that some persons (including Shaun T) are not wearing one but you really, really should. That would be how you check recovery actually.

That's all I can think of for now. Maybe at the end of next week, I will write another rambling post about my Insanity experience. It's 3 am and I should go to bed. 

Updates

1. I finished P90X yesterday. I will admit that I skipped a few days but I am so glad it is over. I never got the endorphins from exercising and near the end, it started to feel like a chore. I am glad that I did stick it out with yoga but I have no interest in doing yoga ever again. 

2. I started Insanity today. I still don't have my firm abs and I needed a change. Insanity is definitely a change. I wanted to throw up at the end of the fit test. I will talk more about that tomorrow if I survive Day 2. 

3. I've been baking a lot. I made focaccia, ciabatta, and chocolate sheet cake most recently. I could post about those I guess but I have to be in the mood. 

4. That's all for now.

Just in case

If you ever get home one evening and see thousands of bees in your house, grab a bottle, fill it with water and add a few drops of dishwashing liquid then SPRAY!*

Now if you'll excuse me, I have dead bees to clean up.

* Do not attempt if you're allergic to bees. Be extremely careful.