Insanity Workout? Is it for the insane?
ByHere we go again
A couple weeks ago I got a message on my facebook page asking me my thoughts on the new “Insanity Workout”. He had sent me the marketing video that was floating around on youtube and I checked it out and I said it looks to me like a p90x copycat from the way it was being promoted. I told him harder is not necessarily better.
That’s my opinion and I am sticking to it.
What I hadn’t realized was that it was put out by the Beach Body Company which is the same company that put out p90x which would explain why their marketing behind it would be the same. It is also the same company that put out Hip Hop Abs and Turbo Jam and I guess with the explosion of popularity behind p90x they realized the profit potential in that market and decided to run in that direction. Can’t really say I blame them.
Now the attacks begin. First let me say I am doing this critique based upon opinions and biases that I have picked up over the years. First bias is I don’t do aerobics which this program along with the Plyometrics X disc from p90x simply looks like glorified aerobics. You can dress a civilian up in as much Marine Corp attire you want but unless hes been through Marine Corp bootcamp and came out the other side a fighting machine he is no Marine.
Now as for the “secret” behind their Insanity Workout? They say they flipped interval training on it’s head to make it more effective. Wow…why didn’t I think of that. Just take what the top dudes in the industry are doing and do the opposite to get more results. Well sorry it doesn’t work like that. You see you can workout hard, and you can workout long. But you can’t workout hard and long. Your intensity is directly proportional to the length of the workout. If your workout is going to be an hour and a half do you really think you can train at the same intensity as if it were 10 minutes long? The answer is “no”. If I were to take their concept of doing long bouts of intense intervals followed by short rests to a new level of just doing the hard intervals all the way through with no rest…guess what you get. Steady state cardio, something that has been shown inferior for fat loss.
…and speaking of cardio. On just about every disc it is promoted as having cardio in it and yet they want to make you think you are going to build muscle. Cardio doesn’t build muscle unless you are already genetically predisposed to it. And if you are looking for conditioning (which they also promote this as a conditioning program) then go for Kenneth Jay’s Viking Warrior Conditioning. The science behind KJ is sound and blows me away every time I read it. Yes, real science from a real scientist/in the trenches coach/freak of nature in terms of strength and conditioning. (did you notice my bias towards my fellow Kettlebell coaches? it’s because the Party is always right)
Since it is all body weight exercises completely devoid of anything pulling related you will not get the biceps that they do in Insanity. I don’t think you will build anything with it…well maybe some leg muscle but the plyometrics that the beach body company has an infatuation with is not good for building muscle. True plyometrics is a shock tactic for training the nervous system meant to be used sparingly and it doesn’t have enough time to load your muscles with the tension that is necessary for building muscle. Same kind of reason running won’t build your muscles.
If you were going to go with a program from the Beach Body Company I would rather you went with p90x. And as you know I recommend Turbulence Training over p90x since the before and after pictures are about the same across the same timeline even though Turbulence Training has you training about 2 1/2 hours a week while p90x has you train a minimum of 6. While I am on that subject it was the amount of before and after pictures from p90x that had originally caught my attention. I thought to myself “How on earth did they get people to actually stick to the program?” Well the answer is p90x (and insanity also) has a multimillion dollar marketing machine behind it producing an extremely high volume of sales. That’s why p90x is practically a household name and that is why there is over 2 million searches a month on google. Now if you sell close to a million copies do you think you might get a couple people that actually see it through to the end? Yup. It’s not that they have a high rate of compliance…they just have a lot of people doing it….and newsflash healthy eating and exercise together work….not exactly new. Here is my video review comparing the 2 programs
Incidentally did you notice that those 2 programs by the Beach Body Company use negative states of mind to promote their products? Confusion, Insanity…both undesirable traits.
Eric Moss RKC over and out
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16 Comments
February 13th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
How do the kettlebells you have an ad for on the side compare with the dragondoor kettlebells? I am looking at buying soon and I noticed the ones you have an add for are about $40 cheaper with shippping figured in. Thanks.
February 14th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
they aen’t bad. If you have the funds go for Dragondoor because it is worth the difference. If you don’t then first place kettlebells will still get the job done. remember i don’t put things on my site i don’t believe in. i put the links there myself
when i first started training with kettlebells dragondoors were A LOT more money. since then they have dropped their price even though they are still a bit mroe money they are very nice and worth the extra…if you have it
Eric Moss
February 17th, 2010 at 6:16 am
We can always make our body very good by hard nsanity Workout.
April 29th, 2010 at 10:03 am
I’ve been doing the insanity workout for 4wks mow, I’m starting my recovery wk in 2 days, I love it.
I’m kind of a big boned person,so I really don’t want any bulk, this is perfect for me, I tryed the P90X, and I liked it, but it was pretty difficult for me to stay motivated, I did see a change, but I didn’t finnish the 90 days.
I started insanity and love the results, I am so much more motivated and I like the way it works, now I don’t like to know how much i am on a scale, but I’ve noticed a huge change in my size, It’s kind of like I’m just schrinking, the fat is meltig off and I am starting to look more cut, there is defenition in my arms, my abbs, my legs, butt, my pants are getting bigger, I love this, so you do build muscle, it just isn’t bulk, which is great for woman.
I’m gettin married on June 26th, so wish me luck, i wan to be beautiful for my future husband.
May 1st, 2010 at 10:34 am
i’ve been doing Cardio workouts for about 3 years and it really helps in making me fit and healthy.,’*
June 28th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Insanity Workout – A for sure way of cutting down on your physique…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog
…
May 17th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
For the VAST majority of people, any workout that they do is better than the best workout plan they don’t do. If people start doing Insanity or p90x or whatever the new fad is, and they make exercise and fitness a habit, they can move on to one of the products you have an interest in. But saying it sucks is missing the point. The point is that people need to find what works for them, and they isn’t always the best. But if people always did the science proven thing, they’d not be overweight to begin with. So I say good for people who use Insanity or whatever and like it.
May 18th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
that’s only partially true. If a training plan injures them or convinces them that “it’s too hard” and forces them to the sidelines then no it isn’t
May 24th, 2011 at 10:35 am
I am a 6ft 2, 33 year old guy who is recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered 4 months ago. I train specifically for basketball. I started using the Insanity program and I followed it religiously for the first 23 days of the program as I write this review right now. Here’s what I’ve discovered. The first 14 days were quite effective. I toned up everything and started to get my wind back. Since that time I notice I have already plateaued as far as the progress I’m accustomed to making using weights, sprints, and 2.4km runs. As the author suggested and as I suspect now… the program is not intense enough for muscle growth and is pretty poorly designed for a true athlete. Your not going to get big doing this program. You won’t become a real athlete with this program. Your not going to get ripped and lean. As a basketball player I don’t want to get jacked but I do want a long lean and explosive frame and I just can’t get that doing this program. My playing weight for my frame is around 182 pounds at approximately 6% body fat. At my peak I squat 245 and deadlift 350. I do pistol squats all day. In this program I won’t burn fat as effectively if I haven’t stimulated my muscles more via weight training. I need shorter bursts of higher intensity training with longer rests inbetween sets to train explosively. I just can’t recover enough in this program to push hard. I am currently able to keep up with Shawn T on the disc’s and I use better form then most of the people in the background while doing the exercises in Insanity. I also feel I’m overtraining my legs without sufficient recovery from the plyometrics and its so cardio intense I don’t feel like working out with weights afterwards. I’m just too spent from giving it my all on the discs. Basically I’m training cardio like crazy with mild, long term muscle toning. This program is quite similar to running for the entire body… but not sprinting. I need more muscle stimulation and more recovery between jumping days to increase my vertical. I’d also like to comment that the stretching is not very effective in this program. To properly stretch you need more time then 3-4 minutes they give you and you need to be relaxed and calm. Holding a lunge pose for close to a minute is not stretching. I want to elongate the muscles not strain them.
Basically I’m going to move Insanity to once a week (not six days a week in the program) by using the Plyometric disc as one of my 2 cardio days. The other day will be a 2.4 km intense run followed by sprints. I’m going to go back to working out with weights an additional 3-4 days a week and train explosively for 20-30 second sets with 1-2 minutes rest between.
Insanity got me started but its already served its purpose. You just can’t get true athletic performance using this program.
May 24th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Thanks for deleting my post eric. Your a champ
May 25th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
I didn’t delete your post. You are a new person and had to have your comment approved
June 1st, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Hey, Eric.
I accidentally came across your blog when researching p90x vs insanity and found it very informative and entertaining. Kudos! I was wondering if you might be able to give me some advice. I’m 28, 5’6 tall, 140 lbs, kinda small guy but in pretty good shape since I have been a long distance runner since high school. however, I’ve always wanted to bulk up but have always failed to do so. I want to get to about 155-160 lbs by the end of the summer. Again, not interested in losing weight, I dont really have much to lose. What do you recommend I do to achieve this goal in less than 3 months?
–Luis
June 7th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
glad to entertain and inform you…that’s what this blog is about
January 15th, 2012 at 7:37 pm
Lol by the looks of you and you’re site, I don’t understand why you are throwing a program that has helped so many people loose weight, get motivated a.d do it at home not spending a dime on anything else. They never said you will “get big” and by the looks of things you’re not very big you’re self. Anyone can achive the way you look by running an hour a day and eating the correct way. It’s not that you are lean, its that you have close to no body fat. Gg on sounding like a tool.
January 23rd, 2012 at 2:56 pm
I completly agree with kevin. I am an avid runner… i have ran just about every distance you can think of from a 5k all the way up to my most recent ultra marathon (70.3) and i looked just as “lean” as you do from your pics. I was rocking an eight pack and all that good stuff. I am in the military and had a bunch of friends starting insanity last deployment, well i jumped on and saw crazy results. I did get bigger, but not huge, which is good because i have no desire to be. I also have much more explosiveness (sp?) in the end of my runs, which makes me beleive my endurance is even better than what it was. when i started getting bigger i also started getting more defined. insanity is a great program for me. As another reader posted, why bash it… its getting people off the couch and getting fit in some way or another. Who cares if it isnt with kettle bells. Thats like me saying Kettlebells are crap because your not our running 50 miles with me, or in the ring doing martial arts with me. Everyone has their thing, Insanity has worked for SO MANY people, so its obviously not just a crap program.
February 12th, 2012 at 5:24 am
I am in the process of doing insanity right now… my advice is to actually complete the workout and then come back and actually write a real review.