Getting Insane with Insanity

Today is Day 5 of my 60 day journey through the Beachbody Program fittingly called “Insanity.” Insanity is a 60 day workout and nutrition program led by Shaun T. According to Beachbody.com, Insanity “might just be the hardest fitness program ever put on DVD. Your personal  trainer Shaun T will push you past your limits with 10 INSANITY^® workout discs packed with plyometric drills on top of nonstop intervals of strength, power, resistance, and ab and core training moves.” Although I plan to go into much more detail on the coming posts about the fit test, nutrition plan and workouts, I wanted to start with a summary of the program and why I chose it.

Insanity vs. P90X

Although Insanity is a product of the same company as P90X, it is very different in many ways and these differences are why I chose to complete it as part of my Ironman pre-season training, rather than go for another round of P90X. Some of the major differences are:

• Insanity is high intensity cardio mixed with strength training utilizing only your own body weight whereas P90X utilizes free weights
• Insanity is a full-body workout all the time; P90X concentrates on two or three muscle groups per workout
• Insanity is only 60 days and P90X is 90
• Insanity workouts in month one are only 30-40 minutes and 50-60 minutes in month two. P90X workouts are at least 60 min and can be up to 90 minutes.
• Insanity is more focused on sports performance whereas P90X is more focued on increasing muscle mass
• Insanity has much less upper body focus than P90X
• You will only do one targeted ab workout dvd per week with Insanity as compared to three per week with P90X (however, you will work your core and abs in every Insanity workout).
• The Insanity nutrition plan is more tailored to your specific goals and daily calorie allotment is calculated based on sex, age, weight, height and goals (lose weight, gain, etc) whereas P90X lumps everyone into 3 groups based on weight only
• The Insanity nutrition plan consists of 5 meals of equal size spread out throughout the day with a constant equal radio of carbs/fat/protein whereas P90X takes a traditional meal approach but has three phases which change the ratio of carbs, protein, fat and dairy during each phase
• The Insanity Fit Test is to be taken ever 2 weeks whereas you only take the P90X Fit Test at the beginning and end of the program

Many of the above comparisons were considered when making my decision to do Insanity in Ironman pre-season. Since I will perform significantly better during Ironman with a strong core, lower weight (high intensity interval training has been proven to be more effective for weight loss than steady state workouts) and increased agility and endurance, I chose Insanity. It also helps that it’s only 60 days and Ironman training starts December 1. Also, the shorter workouts make it easier to complete double workouts on weekdays (Insanity in the morning with a run, bike or swim in the evening).

After 5 days of this program, I must say that I’m impressed. Despite being short, these workouts are INTENSE. I am literally dripping with sweat after the warmup and my clothes are soaked by the end. I sweat more in 30 minutes with Sean T than I ever did with Tony during P90X Plyometrics. I can’t wait to see how much faster I get week to week and how much my body changes by day 60!

If this post has somehow convinced you to purchase this program, you can do so here: www.beachbodycoach.com/fitnessfatale