A Review of the INSANITY Workout, including a list of exercises

By now, most people have heard of P90X by Beach Body. P90X claims it will get your body fit in 90 days through Muscle Confusion. Trainer Tony Horton uses Muscle Confusion by creating workouts that constantly confuse your body and mix things up so your body won't plateau. The newest craze, however, is another workout by BeachBody called Insanity.

Isanity's trainer, Shaun T., is just that--INSANE! In a good way, of course. I decided to try Insanity instead of P90x for a few reasons:

(1) You need less equipment in your home to do Insanity (no weights or bands).This is huge if you're wanting a great workout but you don't have money to spend on equipment.

(2) Shaun T. uses MAX Interval training, which is going to get your heart rate up super fast, and then you get a short break. I find it easier to work out really hard if I know a short break is coming. Personal preference. (If you want to read more about how interval training works, you can read my hub on interval training.)

(3) The Insanity program is 30 days shorter than P90X.

Since I just started the program, I thought it might be helpful to write a series of hubs about my experience because I know I always want advice about a workout program from someone like me who has actually tried it. To give you a background, I work out 4-5 times a week for about an hour, and I alternate between cardio and weight training. If you work out around the same amount, seeing my experiences with Insanity will be especially helpful for you. However, I will say that beginners can do this program too; you might just have to take more breaks.

While I don't think I will publish a hub for every day of the program (although see the poll below if you want me to), I will publish hubs periodically providing you with my personal experience and insight into the program.

On my actual "Day 1," all I did was the fitness test. The fitness test consists of 8 different exercises (such as switch kicks and globe jumps) that you do for one minute each, and you record how many you do so you can compare your results every 15 days while you're doing Insanity. I was tired enough after the fit test, so I started the first workout, the Plyometric Cardio Circuit, the following day.

Plyometric Cardio Circuit

• Warm Up: Even the warm up for this program is hard! Get ready to sweat. The warm up consisted of exercises such as jogging while kicking your glutes, standing wall climbers, high knee runs, and jumping jacks. You do short intervals of each exercise, and then Shaun T. has you start the whole circuit over again--but faster. Finally, you do the circuit a third time, at the fastest rate you possibly can. Each circuit lasted three minutes. I was already sweating a ton by the time we finished the warm up.
• The Workout: The actual workout consisted of three different circuits at three minutes each, and just like the warm-up, you do each circuit three times, going faster each time. Shaun T. had us doing exercises such as:

1. Ski jumps
2. Basketball jumps
3. Power squats
4. Suicide drills
5. Heismans
6. High knee runs

You get to take a 30-second water break between the circuits, and believe me, you will need it.

I would recommend going on YouTube and searching under the names of some of these exercises so you can actually see what it looks like to perform them. One of my biggest problems starting out was that everything was so fast, I'd miss the first two or three reps of each exercise because I was watching the video and trying to figure out the proper form.

There is also a stretching portion of the workout that follows the warm up. These stretches are somewhat of a break, but they work your muscles, too. It's important to stretch to avoid injury, so be sure not to omit this part.

I will continue to advise whether or not I think the program is worthwhile as I do it. However, so far, so good. As someone who works out regularly, I felt that I sweat more than I usually do. Plus, the workout was around 45 minutes, including the warm up and cool down. Can't beat that. Shaun T. constantly reminds you to check your heart rate and take a break if needed, which is why I think beginners can try this, too. My recommendation, however, is if you are a beginner, look at some of the videos on the web, and try out some of the moves you see others doing. Many people have blogs with videos, pictures, and entries about their experiences.

Reminder: Always be sure to stretch and drink lots of water when you are doing any type of exercise, but especially something this intense.

Nutrition

Don't forget that what you eat is part of the equation. You can follow the nutrition plan that INSANITY provides, but honestly this workout is intense enough, that those who are already fairly fit might not need to. You can view some really simple tips for maintaining/keeping weight off here.

Other fun workouts

Another workout I love is TRX training, which builds muscle while working your abs. Boot camps are also really fun and build muscle while burning fat.

Reference:

Beachbody.com (accessed April 6, 2010).