There were several reason why I decided to tackle a hybrid in the first place. I genuinely had a positive experience with both of Beachbody’s products and I wanted at least one more run through of each program just to make sure I had the routines down pat. However, I didn’t think I wanted to devote another five full months to repeating both programs in their entirety so I took the shortcut and melded the two together. Second, I had nothing else in line in terms of a workout schedule and a lot of the blogs I read were also tackling hybrids of the two in one form or another (yes, I acknowledge I’m a total sheep!). Lastly, although I think both P90x and Insanity are top notch products, I also think each has weaknesses that could be compensated for by merging it with its respective counterpart. Namely, with the exception of Plyo X, P90x needs a good cardio kick in the ass while Insanity requires a bit more of the upper body / strength building focus Tony’s program has in abundance.
Like my other reviews, I’ll list the likes and dislikes of the hybrid.
The Likes.
Liked: Varied exercise composition. The ‘biggie’.
Although both P90x and Insanity tout themselves as full body programs, each package does hold a decided slant regarding the exercises they favor. P90x leans towards weight training / strength conditioning while Insanity focuses on intense cardio / aerobic routines. And with regards to each program’s ‘bias’, both seem to do their respective focuses justice. As a result, when combining the two in such a way that they shed their “weaker” components (I’m looking at you Kenpo X and Total Upper Body Conditioning), the remaining amalgamated package is all the better for it.
In my own hybrid experience, I found that Insanity profited a great deal from being paired with P90x. I got manageable bursts of cardio intensity from Shaun T. without the monotony of doing crazy aerobic routines every day for two months. What’s more, you only do each of Insanity’s routines once a month (a different Max and Regular routine paired per week). Thus, if there is a program you absolutely dread (*cough* Max Plyo *cough*), you thankfully only have to do it once every thirty days.
This isn’t to say P90x isn’t improved by Shan T.’s presence in its schedule. It is. Namely, you get a much more strenuous workout regimen by ridding yourself of Plyo X, Cardio X and Kenpo X and subbing in *any* Insanity DVD in their place.
(As an aside, I don’t really know what Kenpo X is supposed to develop. Is it cardiovascular capacity? Strength? Flexibility? It comes up short in all three categories when compared to any other routine in Tony’s arsenal).
Where P90x could decidedly use more variety is in its lower body routine. I found doing Legs & Back almost every week kinda lackluster as numerous moves in that particular DVD were easy. For this reason, I swapped a modified version of Crossfit’s “Angie” routine (10 circuits of 40 reps divided between pull-ups, crunches, push ups and squats / lunges). I thought this gave a much better return for the time spent doing it. As an added bonus, cutting Legs & Back prevents Katie from re-entering your living room.
Interestingly, though, if I were to re-do this hybrid I probably would re-introduce Legs & Back (sans sound) OR (more likely) get another routine that focuses on lower body work so I could interchange that with the Angie. *Any* routine repeated ad nauseum every week for the duration of 90 days will get stale. Having at least one other lower body workout would go a long way to alleviating this problem.
Liked: Cutting out the warm up and cool downs was a great way to speed up the workouts. I wouldn’t advise doing this if you workout early in the morning as your muscles are especially cold and tense just getting out of bed. However, if you’re like me and you exercise late afternoons or evenings and your body has already been loosened up by the course of the day’s grind, I’d say go for it.
Liked: Having already gone through P90x once, I was familiar with Tony’s instructions and, armed with the tracking sheets, I was often able to forego DVDs altogether. This sped up my completion time on days when I was really motivated / energetic as I could move faster than Tony and company and take fewer breaks. Of course, going on my own worked against me on days when I felt sluggish or distracted as I took longer pauses between sets than Tony would have allowed. With regards to Insnaity, they’re not the kind of routine I could memorize and perform without the timer and Shaun’s cues so I never attempted them without his guidance.
The Dislikes.
Disliked: I think the impetus to do a P90x / Insanity hybrid usually comes once you’ve done both programs in their entirety. At least, that was the notion I got from reading bloggers attempting the hybrid; it was something they committed only after completing an initial run of each program. So, despite its inherent variety, the hybrid *still* gets repetitive as you are revisiting the same DVDs over and over again. The foibles of the instructors will continue to drive you nuts (that is, if you keep the sound on) AND you’ll find new things to be annoyed with (Shaun T.’s constant repetition of phrases like “Dig deeper!”, his miscounting of moves and the fact that everything seems to be reversed in his directions [i.e. when he says stretch to the right, it’s actually to his left he’s going to… or is just me and my imagination that this is happening?]).
Disliked: I didn’t know if I should write this down as it’s not really a fault in the hybrid per se but rather in the way certain routines were designed. Namely, there are a lot of isolated exercises in several of the P90x routines (i.e. curls / kickbacks) which only work one muscle group. For the time spent, compound moves would have been a more efficient use of time and effort when building muscle and / or strength. Likewise, Shaun’s routines recycle the same moves over and over again. Even his favorite upper body move (the push-up) could have used mixing up as he mainly seems to use the same 4-5 types of push-ups throughout the entire program (and there are TONs of variations on push ups).
Final Thoughts
I really liked doing the hybrid as I felt like I was getting the best of both worlds from Beachbody’s top selling products – Tony’s weight / bar work and Shaun T.’s killer aerobic routines. I would be more apt to repeat this hybrid than either Tony or Shaun’s stand alone products as I think it shores up some of the weaknesses to be found in either. Having said that, I *probably* won’t be revisiting either for some time as I just need a bit more variety after 8 full months of these guys.
If I had the resources and a gym nearby that offered it, I think I would dive headlong into a CrossFit program. As killer as both P90x and Insanity are (I think it’s fair to say they are the most “hardcore” programs offered by Beachbody), from what I read of Crossfit on the internet, it takes the word ‘intensity’ to a whole other level.
Of course, they are making an official sequel to P90x… so there’s always that to look forward to. Hehehehe….
Ah… I was feeling a bit better today and so did a lot of extra walking and runninng to make up for my lethargy over the past day or so. In all, I ran / walked approx. 7 km. After work, I decided to get a haircut. Seriously, I need to figure out a style. I usually just go for a loosely spiked look as I am lazy when it comes to doing anything with my hair (that’s a big part of the problem really). I get it trimmed really short then wait like 2 to 2 1/2 months before returning to the barber for another haircut. In the interim it grows out and I start to look more and more like I am homeless (at least that’s what my mother told me once when I had gone for like 3 months without a cut). The people who cut my hair are always like “You want spiky hair?!?!?! You sure that was your style” because it gets so grown out there’s no way you’d associate the mop on my head with spikes.
Yeesh… like anyone cares (then again you could say that about this entire blog hahaha).
Once I got home, I took a bit of a rest then decided to do the last Insanity bonus workout: Upper Body Training. This is Shaun T. basically trying to rectify (in one video no less) the fact that Insanity neglects upper body development. It’s basically Shaun and two others working with weights inwhat looks like a community gym center.
Let’s just say my impression of this is: AHHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHHAAHHAHAHAAHAAHAHAA!
Let me repeat that: BAAAAAHHAAAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAHHAHAHA!!!
*whew*
Man, this video is ghetto. Unlike the rest of the Insanity dvds which have pretty decent production values, this Upper Body Training routine looks like it was cooked up in an hour and they got a camcorder along with an extra (probably Tanya) to film it at the nearest gym. Hell, the gym isn’t even booked off for the shoot. In the background you can see a bunch of people (who are NOT extras) milling about using equipment in another portion of the weight room. There’s this one slightly portly, older man on a treadmill slowly plodding along that gets caught in a couple of the shots. It would have been hilarious had Shaun T. gone up to him and yelled “DIG DEEPER!” then ramped up the speed followed by his trademark “THIS IS INSANITY BABY!!”
*ahem*
So yeah, Shaun T. does weight training. You’ll need a varied set of dumbells and a bench to do all the moves he asks. Really, I don’t find any rhyme or reason to the sets. Even some of the compound work seems slightly contradictory. For instance, during one exercise he pairs bent over rows and and bent over flies in the same set (one row then one fly repeat till end of the set). Well, maybe it’s just me but it feels like a row could really call on some very heavy weights while flies generally require much lighter weights because of the nature of the muscles it targets. So pairing the two together in one exercise … I dunno, it feels like you never get the optimal workout you should. It seems like he tries to target everything with the exercises he chooses but then he also adds tiny bits of cardio, abs and lower body leg work. If you’re going to focus on the upper body, focus on the upper body man! The stretch at the end doesn’t make much sense either as it is basically an abbreviated version of the regular Insanity cool down…. a cool down which generally targets the LOWER BODY! Not much help when the bulk of the dvd was spent working your shoulders, triceps and biceps.
What else… oh yeah, the two extras working out along with Shaun T. are pretty much non-existent as the space they are working in is so cramped that the camera man almost never even gets a full on shot of them exercising. It basically on Shaun T. 80% of the time. In short, this video is pretty sloppy. Sad really, considering how well put together the rest of the dvds were. This just brings home the fact that if you want dedicated upper body work from Beachbody, you gotta go to Mr. Horton for it (definitely Shaun T. is your man for cardio though).
In any case, this was the first time in two months I’ve used my brother’s awesome powerblocks. Man, have I missed using weights. Makes me even more excited to get into this new hybrid program. Just putting the last finishing touches on it and I think I’ll be able to post it this Friday. K, peace out!
Like a lot of people, I was introduced to Beachbody via P90x. However, last year they released Shaun T.’s Insanity which they billed “as the hardest workout series” ever put on dvd (Shaun T. BTW is the same guy who did Hip Hop Abs). That kind of advertising seemed like a challenge and so I decided after completing round 1 of P90x I would give Insanity a go (looking around the interwebs and blogging community, this seems to be a very logical progression for a lot of people: P90x –> Insanity). However, structurally and thematically, Insanity is a very different beast from P90x.
Here's the package in all its glory!
What is it?
Insanity is a 60 day cardio-intensive fitness bootcamp. The program is broken up into 2 four week phases divided by a recovery week. Since the bulk of the workouts in both months are cardio-centric, what differentiates them is primarily duration and intensity. Phase 1 workouts are approximately 35-45 minutes in length while phase 2 varies from 45-60 minutes. As well, during phase 2, it seemed to me that there were more push up variations and plyometric / ‘explosive’ movements (thereby resulting in greater ‘intensity’). As such, phase 1 workouts are the ‘regular’ workouts while titles in phase 2 are preceded by the “MAX” moniker.
The addition of an extra 10-15 minutes may not seem like a lot but in the world of Insanity, this is plenty of hurt. See, while P90x marketed the concept of ‘muscle confusion’, Shaun T.’s product pushes the notion of ‘max interval training’. A basic definition of interval training would simply be a period of intense physical exertion (say 90% -100 % effort) followed by a period of recovery (say maybe 20% effort or less or just complete rest altogether [0%]). In more traditional settings, the duration of the rest is often near equal to or greater than the period of exertion. So, you might sprint for 1 minute then rest for 1 minute. In tabata intervals, the ratio is 20 seconds of hard work versus 10 seconds of rest. Insanity turns this concept on its head by asking you to exert yourself for far longer than usual and rest for a much shorter period of time. The common ratio for most routines is 3 minutes of hard exercise followed by 30 seconds of rest (and in the both the regular and Max Cardio conditioning series, there’s no real rest at all… it’s 30 minutes of solid exercise interspersed with low impact moves maybe every 10 minutes or so).
All the workouts also follow the same general formula. Everything, including the 9 minute warm up, is laid out in circuit fashion. You bust your butt for 3 minutes on approximately 4-5 exercises, rest for 30 seconds, then repeat twice more thereby completing the circuit 3 times total. Once done, you move on to another circuit which is again repeated 3 times. This continues until the cool down stretch found in the last 3-4 minutes of each video.
An Insanity week, like a P90x week, is divided into 6 days of exercise followed by a day of rest. During the week, there is one day in Phase 1 dedicated to low intensity exercise or stretch work (dubbed a ‘recovery’ or ‘Max recovery workout’). This doubles in Phase 2 as most weeks have a recovery workout and a Core Cardio & Balance workout (stressing, you guessed it, core exercises and balance work). However, unlike P90x where you could expect to do Yoga X every day 4 and Kenpo X every day 6, in Insanity the order of the workouts change from week to week. As well, where P90x had you doing Ab Ripper X 3 days a week, in Insanity core work is emphasized in EVERY workout as Shaun T. is constantly reminding you to “keep your core tight” or “lift with your core” when doing running / jumping motions. There is a dedicated 15 minute video emphasizing pure abdominal work but this done only once per week, usually after a cardio endurance routine.
Lastly, unlike P90x where Tony’s always reminding you to write down your progress with regards to weights / reps, Insanity instead has a ‘Fit Test’ that you take every 2 weeks (by program’s end, you will have done the fit test 5 times). The fit test itself is 25 minutes long and you are given 1 minute to complete as many reps of a given exercise as possible. You write down reps accomplished for each and, as you progress through Insanity, the hope is that these numbers go up with each test completed. There are 8 exercises during the test and each is followed by a minute of rest.
Wow, that took much longer to explain than my P90x summary. Whew…
Equipment Needed:
None. Insanity is pure body work. No weights, no push up stands, no pull up bars, no wall or chair needed. You don’t even need shoes. I did the entire program barefoot in my carpeted basement (I did, however, do all my running and jumping on a yoga mat).
Now onto the “Likes vs Dislikes” (Everything here is, of course, in my own humble opinion).
The Likes
Liked: Instructor and crew. This one is contentious as I wasn’t a big fan of Tony Horton’s personality in P90x but I know that there are a lot of people who really dig his cornball sense of humor (it’s ok in small doses I guess… just not daily over the course of 3 months). Shaun T., on the other hand, I like very much. He’s all business in the sense that he doesn’t ham it up for the camera or tell side stories about his life or do bad impersonations of actors. He’s also very ‘minimalist’ in what he says. Rather than telling you how to do the moves, he sets up almost every exercise by doing a rep or two himself then counting down “3…2…1” for the start of the interval. The rest of the time he’s usually just yelling at you several catch phrases like:
“FOCUS!!!” “Dig deep.” “Dig deeper!” “C’mon people!!” “Use the core!” “Lift with your core!” “Land softly, people.” “Get to your spots!” “C’mon and get there!” (These last two occur after water breaks and he wants you and his crew not to dawdle).
On a related note, I also like the crew that Insanity presents especially since I DON’T GET TO KNOW THEM! I think the most insightful pieces of information you get is that one of the participants is a Beachbody coach, another is a former marine, one is a b-boy, there’s a guy who does marathons while another was a spin class instructor. There’s no weird extended interviews with people about their lives and the people with him are pretty much silent throughout the workouts (yeah they yell incoherent stuff in the background, give each other plenty of high-fives or say one or two things when Shaun T. goes beside them to showcase form… but you won’t see the same nattering types like Katie or Dreya here [thank God]).
Liked: Format. The Insanity set looks to be a simple community basketball court. Unlike P90x’s dungeon gym, this is a nice bright airy space. I don’t have anything bad to say about it. I really like that you see more than the Instructor and 2 participants at a time when the camera pans out. Why? Well, because it’s a regular thing to see people doubled over in exhaustion throughout the videos (especially Phase 2). I found this ‘communal’ sense of pain comforting as there were many times I found myself doubled over heaving. Even Shaun T. gets wiped which is nice… he doesn’t attempt to keep up the same façade Tony maintains of being a “machine”.
Added to this, I really dug the timer format they superimposed on the screen. Throughout the video, there is an animated bar with demarcations that move slowly to the left alongside a timer counting down at the bottom of the screen. Both visual cues indicate when an exercise ends and another begins. This was nice as I often found myself thinking while looking at the screen, “Ok, I just need to make it until this yellow bar is gone… just a little further… *collapse*”. Occasionally, helpful hints / reminders pop up such as “Go at your own pace” or “Land softly”. It’s a format I hope they use in future Beachbody products. (Pic courtesy of Fitbomb).
What I mean by 'bar' and 'timer' format.
Liked: Difficulty / Intensity. This is probably the best thing about Insanity. As I said earlier, Beachbody has billed Insanity as the hardest workout put to DVD. I wouldn’t know how to even start testing a claim like that but I do know one thing: Insanity will kick your butt! The very nature of interval work asks you to give an exercise a 100% in controlled bursts. As such, I don’t think it’s possible to get through a video without feeling totally burned down. I remember feeling the same way about Plyo X when I first started doing that workout but by the end of P90x I actually found it quite manageable. I never once felt that way about any of the workouts in Insanity. Moreover, there was this level of fatigue and exhaustion I encountered throughout Insanity that was really only present for me at the start of P90x. In short, I love the intensity of this program. Although, as a caveat, because of its intensity I could not see myself doing this program over and over again the same way you could P90x. The high-impact nature of the moves (there is a tonne of jumping, running, squatting and lunging going on) will kill your legs (knees especially).
Liked: Simplicity. Insanity requires no workout equipment. As such, it’s a very portable system. Fly away on a business trip or on vacation, pack the DVDs in your suitcase and you’re still good to go (provided your accomodations have a TV and movie player). It also makes the purchase much cheaper than P90x as you won’t have to invest in weights, resistance bands or a pull up bar. You will probably want a water bottle close by during the workouts as you’ll be drowning in your own sweat once you’re in the thick of it.
The Dreaded Dislikes
Disliked: Similarity of workouts. This point might seem slightly odd considering I said I liked the simplicity of Shaun T.’s program. However, the one thing that will strike anyone doing Insanity after a week is how similar each DVD is to the other. I guess this couldn’t be avoided considering how limited Shaun T.’s reptertoire of exercises must be since he stuck to the no equipment rule (not even a chair or a wall to work against). The routines, as such, seem to blend into one another and you would be hard pressed to clearly point out key differences between Max Interval Plyo and Max Interval Circuit workouts (I think the former is just a bit harder than the latter because of 2 or 3 different moves but other than that they are pretty interchangeable). It doesn’t help that the warm ups and cool downs used for all regular and Max workouts are near carbon copies of each other and recovery week is comprised of the same routine for six days straight. As much as I love this system, there were times when it was slightly monotonous. This ’sameness’ is also the reason I didn’t do separate reviews of each DVD in the manner I did for P90x .
This similarity between workouts actually segways well into the next point…
Disliked: Lopsided development. This is the biggest strike against Insanity. Because it is cardio based, strength development takes a backseat to ramping up your body’s cardiovascular endurance. As a result, if you don’t supplement Insanity with some form of upper body conditioning, you will more than likely feel yourself weakening in the arms and back (at least, this was my experience coming from a total body conditioning program like P90x and some weight training prior to that). What limited upper body work Shaun T. does comes primarily in the form of push ups (and boy does he love push ups… in all shapes and sizes). And while push ups are great for the chest, core and triceps, your back, biceps and shoulders are somewhat neglected. Oh sure he does one or two exercises here and there to strengthen these regions, just not enough I think to make much of a difference. For my part, I supplemented Insanity with a grease-the-groove pull up system that you can learn more about here.
Your quads, hamstrings and calves sure do get a hell of a lot of punishment that’s for sure.
Things other people may dislike: No modification / Slightly exclusive. I had originally intended to do these as two separate points but realized they are interrelated. Unlike P90x where Tony is always showing you how to change a move if your abilities can’t match his, I think I can count on one hand the number of times Shaun T. downgrades an exercise. Granted, I wouldn’t even know how to start offering variations to the moves in the routines as many of them seem ‘unalterable’. Example: How do you do a low impact version of a jump knee tuck or high knee runs? Those two moves [or variations there of] are done ad naseum throughout the 60 days.
This lack of alterability leads to Insanity’s other key shortcoming and that is it can be pretty exclusive. Tony Horton once said that in looking through copious before and after pics of those who had attempted and completed P90x, he was surprised at how out of shape or obese some of the people were. In his opinion, it might have been a more logical progression to have them start off on a less grueling program like Power 90 then move up to P90x when they had reached the recommended fitness level.
I don’t think this same scenario plays out as often with those who attempt Insanity. If you look at all the before and after pics of people on the infomercial, basically all of them are ALREADY slim and somewhat fit. What Insanity did for them was trim back some body fat % thereby allowing muscle definition to show through. The kind of intensity and relentless high-impact movement Shaun T. asks you to do is not, I think, something you can ask of someone who is severely out of shape. It will run them right into the ground if not outright injure them.
I hope I’m not sounding like Insanity is some kind of elitist program. It isn’t (as testimony to this fact *I* was able to complete it and I’m the farthest thing from being ‘elite’… I did, however, take a year to exercise and lose weight before attempting Insanity). I guess all I am saying is that you need a half-decent base of fitness already established in your life before attempting this program because IT IS so strenuous. Geez, I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way.
In any case, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them.
If you are interested, I dug up some of the Insanity infomercials listed on YouTube. They might better explain the product than I did.
PS Ariel is totally hawt.
Shaun T.’s Insanity Overall Review
Like a lot of people, I was introduced to Beachbody exercise routines via P90x.However, last year they released Shaun T.’s Insanity which they billed “as the hardest workout series” ever put on dvd (Shaun T. BTW is the same guy who did Hip Hop Abs).That kind of advertising seemed like a challenge and so I decided after completing round 1 of P90x I would give Insanity a go (looking around the interwebs and blogging community, this seems to be a very logical progression for a lot of people: P90x à Insanity).However, structurally and thematically, Insanity is a very different beast from P90x.
What is it?
Insanity is basically a 60 day cardio-intensive fitness bootcamp produced by Beachbody.The program is broken up into 2 four week phases set apart from one another by a recovery week after the first month. Since the bulk of the workouts in both months are cardio-centric, what differentiates them primarily is in duration and intensity.Phase 1 workouts are generally 35-45 minutes in length while phase 2 varies from 45-60 minutes.As well, during phase 2, it seemed to me that there were many more push up variations and plyometric / ‘explosive’ movements throughout the workouts (thereby resulting in greater ‘intensity’).As such, phase 1 workouts are seen as the ‘regular’ workouts while all the dvd titles in phase 2 are preceded by the “MAX” moniker.
The addition of an extra 10-15 minutes may not seem like a lot but in the world of Insanity, this is plenty of hurt.See, while P90x marketed the concept of ‘muscle confusion’, Shaun T.’s product pushes the notion of ‘max interval training’.A basic definition of interval training would simply be a period of intense physical exertion (say 90% -100 % effort) followed by a low intensity period of recovery (say maybe 20% effort or less or just complete rest altogether [0%]).In more traditional settings, the duration of the rest is often almost equal to or greater than the period of exertion.So, you might sprint for 1 minute then rest for a minute.In tabata intervals, the ratio is 20 seconds of hard work versus 10 seconds of rest.Insanity, as it points out in its infomercial, turns this concept on its head by asking you to exert yourself for far longer than usual intervals and rest for a much shorter period of time.The common ratio for most of the routines is 3 minutes of exercise followed by 30 seconds of rest (and in the both the regular and Max Cardio conditioning series, there’s no real rest at all… it’s 30 minutes of solid exercise interspersed with low impact moves maybe every 10 minutes or so).
All the workouts also follow the same general formula. Everything, including the 9 minute warm ups, is laid out in circuit formation.Meaning you bust your but for 3 minutes on approximately 4-5 exercise moves, rest for 30 seconds, then repeat twice more thereby completing the circuit 3 times in total.Once done, you move on to another circuit which is repeated 3 times.This continues until the cool down stretch found in the last 3-4 minutes of each video.
An Insanity week, like a P90x week is divided into 6 days of exercise followed by a day of rest.During the week, there is one day in Phase 1 dedicated to low intensity exercise or stretch work (dubbed a ‘recovery’ or ‘Max recovery workout’).This doubles in Phase 2 as most weeks have a recovery workout and a Core Cardio & Balance workout (stressing, you guessed it core exercises and balance work).However, unlike P90x where you could expect to do Yoga X every day 4 and Kenpo X every day 6, in Insanity, the order of the workouts change from week to week.As well, P90x had you doing Ab Ripper X to work the core 3 days a week after every weight training session.Well, in Insanity core work is emphasized in EVERY workout as Shaun T. is constantly reminding you to “keep your core tight” or “lift with your core” when doing running / jumping motions.There is a dedicated 15 minute video emphasizing pure core / abdominal work but this done only once per week, usually after a cardio endurance routine.
Lastly, unlike P90x where Tony’s always reminding you to write down your progress with regards to weights / reps, Insanity instead has a ‘Fit Test’ that you take every 2 weeks (by program’s end, you would have done the fit test 5 times).The fit test itself is 25 minutes long and you are given 1 minute to complete as many reps of a given exercise as possible.You write down how many reps you have accomplished for each and, as you progress through Insanity, the hope is that these numbers go up with each test completed.There are 8 exercises during the test and each is followed by a minute of rest.
Wow, that took much longer to explain than my P90x summary.Whew…
Equipment Needed:
None.Insanity is pure body work.No weights, no push up stands, no pull bars or chair needed.You don’t even need shoes.I did the entire program barefoot in my carpeted basement (I did, however, do all my running and jumping on a yoga).
Now onto the “Likes vs Dislikes” (Everything here is, of course, in my own humble opinion).
Liked: Instructor and crew.This one is contentious as I wasn’t a big fan of Tony Horton’s personality in P90x but I know that there are a lot of people who really dig his cornball sense of humor (it’s ok in small doses I guess… just not daily over the course of 3 months).Shaun T., on the other hand, I like very much.He’s all business in the sense that he doesn’t ham it up for the camera or tell side stories about his life or do bad impersonations of actors.He’s also very ‘minimalist’ in what he says.Rather than telling you how to do the moves, he sets up almost every exercise by doing a rep or two himself then counting down “3…2…1” for the start of the interval.The rest of the time he’s usually just yelling atyou several catch phrases like:
“FOCUS!!!” “Dig deep.” “Dig deeper!” “C’mon people!!” “Use the core!” “Lift with your core!” “Land softly, people.”“Get to your spots!” “C’mon and get there!” (These last two occur after water breaks and his some of his crew seems to be dawdling).
On a related note, I also like the crew that Insanity presents especially since I DON’T REALLY GET TO KNOW THEM!I think the most insightful pieces of information you get is that one of the participants is a Beachbody coach, another is a former marine, one is a b-boy, there’s a guy who does marathons while another was a spin class instructor.There’s no weird extended interviews with people about their lives and the people with him are pretty much silent through out the workouts (yeah they yell incoherent stuff in the background or say one or two things when Shaun T. goes beside them to showcase form… but you won’t see the same nattering types like Katie or Dreya here [thank God]).
Liked: Format.The Insanity looks to be a simple community basket ball court.Unlike P90x’s dungeon gym, this is a nice bright airy space. I don’t really have anything bad to say about it.I really like that you see more than the Instructor and 2 participants at a time when the camera pans out.Why? Well, because it’s a regular thing to see people doubled over in exhaustion throughout the videos (especially in Phase 2).I found this ‘communal’ sense of pain somewhat comforting as there were many times when I too found myself doubled over heaving for breath.Even Shaun T. gets wiped which is nice… he doesn’t attempt to keep up the same façade Tony tries so hard to maintain.
Added to this, I really dug the timer format they superimposed on the screen. Throughout the video, there is an animated bar with demarcations that moves slowly to the left alongside a timer counting down at the bottom of the screen.Both are visual cues that indicate when an exercise will and another begins.This was nice as I often found myself thinking while looking at the screen, “Ok, I just need to make it until this yellow bar is gone… just a little further… *collapse*”. Occasionally, helpful hints / reminders pop up on the bar such as “Go at your own pace” or “Land softly”.It’s a format I hope they use in future Beachbody products.
Liked: Difficulty / Intensity.This is probably the best thing about Insanity.As I said earlier, Beachbody has billed Insanity as the hardest workout put to DVD.I wouldn’t know how to even start testing a claim like that but I do know one thing: Insanity will kick your butt!The very nature of interval work asks you to give an exercise a 100% in controlled bursts.As such, I don’t think it’s possible to get through a video without feeling totally burned down.I remember feeling the same way about Plyo X when I first started doing that workout but by the end of P90x I actually found it quite manageable.I never once felt that way about any of the workouts in Insanity.Moreover, there was this level of fatigue and exhaustion I encountered throughout Insanity that was really only present for me at the start of P90x.In short, I love the intensity of this program (although, as a caveat, because of its intensity, I could not see myself doing this program over and over again the same way you could P90x.The high-impact nature of the moves (there is a tonne of jumping, running, squatting and lunging going on) will kill your legs (knees especially).
Liked: Simplicity.Insanity requires no workout equipment.As such, it’s a very portable system.Fly away on a business trip or on vacation, pack the DVDs in your suitcase and you’re still good to go workout in your hotel room (provided it has a TV and movie player).It also makes the initial purchase much cheaper than P90x as you won’t have to invest in weights, resistance bands or a pull up bar.You will probably want a full water bottle close by during the workouts as you’ll find yourself working in your own sweat once you’re into the routine.
Disliked: Lopsided development.This is the biggest strike against Insanity.Because it is cardio based, strength development seems to take a backseat to ramping up your body’s cardiovascular endurance.As a result, if you don’t supplement Insanity with some form of upper body conditioning, you will more than likely feel yourself weakening in the arms and back (at least, this was my experience coming from a total body conditioning program like P90x and some weight training prior to that).What limited upper body work Shaun T. does comes primarily in the form of push ups (and boy does he love push ups… in all shapes and sizes).And while push ups are great for the chest, core and triceps, your back, biceps and shoulders seem to be somewhat neglected.Oh sure he does one or two exercises here and there on a DVD to strengthen these latter regions, just not enough I don’t think to make much of a difference.For my part, I supplemented insanity with a grease-the-groove pull up system that you can learn more about here.
Your quads, hamstrings and calves sure do get a hell of a lot of punishment that’s for sure.
Things other people may dislike:No modification / Slightly exclusive. I had originally intended to do these as two separate points but realized they are interrelated.Unlike P90x where Tony is always showing you how to change a move if your abilities can’t match his, I think I can count on one hand the number of times Shaun T. downgrades an exercise.Granted, I wouldn’t even know how to start offering variations to the moves in the routines as many of them seem ‘unalterable’ (ex. How do you do a low impact version of a jump knee tuck or high knee runs? Those two moves [or variations there of] are done ad nasueum throughout the 60 days).
This lack of alterability leads to Insanity’s other key shortcoming and that is it can be pretty exclusive.Tony Horton once said that in looking through copious before and after pics of those who had attempted and completed P90x, he was surprised at how out of shape or obese some of the people were.In his opinion, it might have been a more logical progression to have them start off on a less grueling program like Power 90 then move up to P90x when they had reached the recommended fitness level.
I don’t think this same scenario plays out as often with those who attempt Insanity.If you look at all the before and after pics of people on the infomercial, basically all of them are ALREADY slim and are somewhat fit.What Insanity did for them was trim back some body fat % thereby allowing muscle and definition to show through.The kind of intensity and relentless high-impact movement Shaun T. asks you to do is not, I think, something you can ask of someone who is severely out of shape.It will run them right into the ground if not outright injure them.
I hope I’m not sounding like Insanity is some kind of elitist program.It isn’t (as testimony to this fact *I* was able to complete it and I’m the farthest thing from being ‘elite’… I did, however, take a year to exercise and lose weight before attempting Insanity).I guess all I am saying is that you need a half-decent base of fitness already established in your life before attempting this program because IT IS so strenuous.Geez, I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way.
In any case, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I’ll do my best to answer them.
If you are interested, I dug up some of the Insanity infomercials listed on YouTube.They might better explain the product than I did up top.
I figure since I did a mini-review of all the workouts, I’d sum up some final thoughts with regards to the program overall. First, I’ll go over the basics for anyone reading this and NOT familiar with the premise of P90x.
What is it?
P90x is basically a 90 day boot camp comprised of 12 DVDs. It comes with a fitness guide, a nutrition guide, calendar and workout tracking sheets. Over the period of 3 months, you’ll workout 6 times a week followed by a rest day (or optional “stretch routine”). The program itself allows for 3 variations depending on the goal you have set for yourself: lean, classic and doubles. Lean has a stronger focus on cardio routines and less on weight training (I guess for those more focused on ‘toning’ and losing weight rather than necessarily getting stronger). Doubles basically has you tacking on an extra cardio program 3 times a week in the second month and like 5-6 times a week in the last month.
I did the classic version which requires you do 3 days of different forms of strength / weight training along with 3 routines that focus on plyometrics (aka “jump training”), yoga and kenpo (think Tae Bo). The seventh day is a rest day. To further segment each of the three months, the first three weeks of any given month has you following this standard 7 day format while the final week is a designated “rest week” where you focus primarily on yoga, stretch and strengthening your core muscles (you’re low-mid torso and chest).
The big selling point on P90x is the whole idea of “muscle confusion”. Basically, because the routines are all quite varied from one another, not only from day to day but from month to month, your body never fully adapts to the regimen and thus does not plateau. This means you should see continual growth and improvement throughout the entire 3 months.
Required equipment:
-chair
-weights (I used an adjustable set of dumbbells called Powerblocks. Loved them).
-pull up bar
OR
-resistance bands and a method to hook them up so you can pull them downwards while you kneel on the floor. Tony provides variations for every move requiring either weights or a pull up through the use of a resistance band and hook up system.
Optional
-yoga mat and block (I personally really like using a mat).
-a good pair of cross-trainers (this is important for anyone who may have foot / ankle problems. Coupled with jumping on a yoga / foam mat, this really takes some of the impact out of a routine like plyometrics. For myself, I’ve moved to doing everything barefoot to try and strengthen muscles in my feet and improve my natural stability)
-a heart monitor to gauge whether or not you are exercising too vigorously or not enough.
-supplements (at the end of each dvd there are commercials for protein bars / powders, recovery drinks and vitamins that they claim will help enhance your total P90x results).
Now onto the “Likes vs Dislikes” (Everything here is, of course, in my own humble opinion).
Liked: The basics are explained and reinforced. Tony is always stressing proper form whether it’s lifting weights, doing explosive jumps or stretching and contorting your body. This is great especially if you are a) new to exercise or b) have been exercising for some time but have had a limited repertoire. Prior to this program, I had never done yoga before so it was a godsend to have him verbalize every move as sometimes because of the way you are bent over and stretching, you can’t look at the screen. You just have to listen and follow according to his verbal cues. I found it also helpful to keep hearing Tony’s directions for proper form even after having done the exercises several times as I’m the kind of person who sometimes slacks on form when I get tired or lackadaisical.
Liked: Variety… it’s beautiful. In order to promote muscle confusion P90x has many, many different exercises that you go through over the course of 3 months. This is great not only because it prevents plateaus but also because it staves off boredom and monotony. If you approach the program with a very open mind, you may learn to love exercise styles that you’ve never tried before or even scoffed at (in my case, this was yoga).
Liked: Everything is laid out for you. My own workout routine prior to P90x was something I had to concoct from several sources. P90x is great in that the dvds along with the fitness and nutrition guide spell out everything you need in order to get in shape. There’s not really a lot of guess work on when to do what and how you should eat. (Following through on all of it … is of course up to you…)
Liked: Modify, modify, modify. Although I would definitely not classify P90x as an entry level exercise program (it is, after all, the “extreme” version of the earlier Power 90 series), I do appreciate the fact Tony always has 3 people with him to show you different variations on any given move. This means that for those who feel they can’t keep up with an exercise as it’s done, there is almost always an easier variety on display you can follow along with (example: Pam’s low impact plyometric moves). Conversely, if after several weeks of doing a routine you think you could ramp things up a bit, there’s often a more difficult variation also on display (example: Phil’s elevated pike presses).
Liked: Intensity. This is something based solely on my own fitness level prior to P90x. However, I like that this routine really pushed me to go above and beyond what I normally did. Prior to P90x, rightly or wrongly, I would often just do 3 sets of 10 for any given exercise with 20-30 seconds in between them. Tony often has you pushing yourself to the point of muscle failure for anything requiring body weight (i.e. push ups and pull ups) or repeating ad nauseum to up your weights if you are going for the bulk range (8-10 reps) or up your reps (12-15) if you are going for “toning” or a slimmer build.
Not too many dislikes.
Disliked: This one is a bit contentious, but again it’s only my opinion. I know Tony has a lot of fans and I’ve seen him speaking outside the role of a fitness instructor and he seems like a pretty decent / cool guy. However, his “persona” as an instructor can really, really grate on your nerves especially as you have to watch him over and over and over again. What is it exactly that drives me nuts? His weird cornball sense of humour is one. He sometimes makes jokes that don’t make sense. He’ll quote movie lines then trail off in the middle of them. Other times he puts on a weird tonality to his voice and you’ll be like “WTF? Is this an exercise dvd or a personal audition for a film project?” Worse, he can come across as an arrogant SOB from what he says. I could never imagine saying the line “You should see my jump shot after a few months of plyometrics!” to anyone and NOT seem like I’m full of myself. On the other hand, sometimes you just have to laugh at his material BECAUSE it’s so out of place on an exercise dvd and you are left thinking “WTF?”.
Disliked: Kind of related to the previous point, but some of the extras Tony has working out with him can really grate on your nerves as well. In my case, it was Dreya and Katie. Dreya just comes across as that star student who you always hated in high school, or that co-worker who’s really in good with the boss. Katie’s crime is only that she has the most obnoxious voice and laugh in the entire series. Worse, Tony seems to have a thing for the ladies and can’t stop flirting with Dreya throughout any routine they share. Imagine it happening at your local fitness class every week. It’d be pretty damn awkward if your fitness instructor was blatantly putting the moves on one of the participants every time they worked out together. Now multiply that by several times a week (as you see Dreya in more than one workout).
Conversely, there are some personalities that, for some reason or another just seem to click with me. None of the extras really ever do much other than follow Tony’s instructions but I like them just because of the way they present themselves. Namely, I like Pam the Blam, Tony the ex-marine and, best of all, Phil the attorney as he actually has the balls to tell Tony off when he gets especially annoying during one routine.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I’m glad that I completed P90x and that I was able to stick with it regardless of all the other things that came up (i.e. my wife’s pregnancy and visiting the hospital 4 times a week, getting sick, etc.). The infomercials that promote this product are a wonderfully effective marketing tool. They show you the before and after pictures of dozens of people who have totally changed themselves via Tony and the program. But always remember, you only get as much out of the program as you give to it. And, the program, as it stands, asks for A LOT. 90 days might seem like a small time frame to exercise, but given that you do it for an hour or more a day (1.5 for yoga… ugh)… there are going to be many reasons that will come up for you NOT to press play on a daily basis. It’s ultimately up to you to see past those reasons and find a way to make it happen (or re-schedule so that you don’t lag too far behind)… to find a way to “bring it” time and time again if you will.
Lastly, even harder than the exercise (which is the entire focus of the dvds and informercials) but MORE crucial to you achieving the physique you ultimately want is personal nutrition. Speaking only for myself, I know I’ve gotten stronger over the past few months and gained muscle endurance and a bit of definition… however, I’m nowhere near where I want to be in terms of body fat percentage or “rippedness”. It may seem like a shallow motivator (as good health is the real reason why anyone should be wanting to exercise), but I figure any motivation that gets me pushing play and working out strenuously for an hour is a good thing. The shortcomings in results are due only to me and my own lack in discipline with regards to what I ate over the last 3 months. Thankfully, there are still several months more before beach season and time to improve in subsequent rounds!
Remember: There’s no shame in falling off the wagon. It’s only a problem if you quit chasing after it.
Oh… one more tip. I’ve found writing this blog has really helped me keep accountable to sticking with the program. There’s something about having to reflect daily on the exercise you’ve done and what you’ve eaten that’s self-motivating I find.
Spent another 3 hours at the hospital today. Wife had a stress test and ultrasound. Everything went well and the baby is still in her so… yeah. I hope he can stay in there until at least January… but his safety is first. So if he decides to come sooner, so be it.
My eating was pretty good today until I met my mom. She came with us to the hospital. Ugh… I love her to death but I honestly think part of the reason why I have such bad eating habits is due to her. I know, I know. It’s ultimately up to me as to what I put in my mouth but man… she always has snacks and treats with her. (Growing up in our house… there were always a tonne of snacks everywhere… interestingly, my brother and sister can eat whatever they basically want and stay super slim… I blow up just looking at food the wrong way). Like today, for instance. Right there in the middle of the hospital waiting room she started whipping out Lindt chocolate balls. I was like “WTH??” I, having no will power at this time of year, ate 3. My wife and I went then went to my mom’s place afterwards for lunch. We had eaten nothing thus far (except a small bowl of oatmeal and cup of juice for breakfast) and so when we arrived there around 1:30 we were famished. She had leftovers from Christmas (fish, rice and turkey soup) but worst of all… my mom had these specialty chocolate covered cookies available and I ate a tonne of them. UGH.
We got home around 4. I rested for a bit (still not sleeping well and I think my cold is acting up again… getting me congested and headachy) then tackled core synergistics. I got a terrific sweat-on and loved to be moving about after a eating so much today.
Of all the non-weight training routines, this is probably my favourite. It’s a real shame you only see it a grand total of 6 times during a standard run of P90x (twice during each recovery week). Why do I like it so much? It’s because core syn is all encompassing. It works out almost every single part of your body in some form or another. Like cardio X, it takes portions from other routines and amalgamates them into one while adding a whole bunch of other moves you don’t see anywhere else. As such, core syn incorporates some dumbbell work with bodyweight exercises and pairs cardio drills with isometric and anaerobic moves. And some of the moves are just killer in ways you wouldn’t expect. I’m still shocked at how hard plank to chataranga runs are despite how easy they look when someone else is doing them… after all, it’s just running in place while in a plank right? Killer! It’s great! I am always drenched in sweat after this dvd. Next time I do P90x, I will definitely find more reasons to put this routine amongst the regular weekly workouts.
For dinner I had a small bowl of mac n’ cheese with 1 hotdog. No dessert.
Oh man… woke up at 4 am as this cold is keeping me up. So damn hard to breathe. To make matters worse, my wife feels like she is getting sick! Not good for a lady on the verge of giving birth… I hope she escapes the brunt of it. Spent most of the day lying in bed or on the couch just sleeping and resting. After an afternoon nap, I decided to go for it and tackle my last session of legs & back this round.
Well, I’m glad that’s over. I was kinda slow moving through the routine. I cranked out about 80 unassisted pull ups and about 103 assisted all together during the entire session. It’s kinda depressing that my pull up count has kinda levelled out over the past little while and I think it has actually taken a hit over the last 2 weeks. Well, at least there’s always next round to go for more. As for the leg work, I upped my weights to 20 lbs whenever it was called for (I was using 10s and 15s prior). In any case, I felt sufficiently burnt down after the workout.
What to say about legs and back? Hmmm… I think of all the muscle / weight training focused videos, this one is right in the middle. The pull ups are the hardest part of the routine. The most difficult leg move is probably the first one (balance lunges [aka Bulgarian split squats]) especially if you use fairly heavy weights. Some of the moves, like sneaky lunges, I still don’t really understand how it works you out as I don’t feel any burn at all from it (and I make sure to follow proper form all throughout it).
Because legs and back is done basically every single week of P90x (barring rest weeks), you get familliar with the dvd fairly quickly. It would have been nice if they included an alternate leg work dvd to switch things up a bit but it’s also kinda moot point as legs are also worked out in all the non-weight training videos (plyo and yoga especially burn your lower muscles). Interestingly, because of your constant viewing of this dvd, all of Tony’s weird quirks during the routine become etched in your mind (like his flirty fixation on Dreya and the awkward situation that kinda arises when the two exchange a sweaty hug at the end of the routine while the two other participants just stare at one another… haha classic).
Ahhh yes… this is also the last day that I need to do Ab Ripper X for this round. AB RIPPER X… I HATE IT… BUT I LOVE IT. That tag line begins this pretty brutal core regimen. And it is total core.. not just abdominals. For anyone starting P90x and has excess flab they want to get rid of around the middle, this routine is absolute murder. It gets painful from all the reps (something like 324 by the end if I remember correctly) and there is a good chance you’ll have to pause between some sets. I know I did during the first month… and even to this day I struggle with completing a full set of fifer scissors. Almost without fail, my legs cave in around rep 14 or 16 and I have to do it in spurts. Also, for anyone with lower back issues, this is one routine that you will want to tread very carefully on as there are a lot of moves that will stress your muscles down there (i.e. pulse ups, v-up roll ups, the legs wide pulse up [forget the name]). Just be careful and take your time!
Food for today: breakfast was two pieces of toast with peanut butter and cup of juice, 1 granola bar (100), cup of pudding with 1/3 cup of granola (220), lunch was 10 McNuggets and cup of juice, small bag of chips (150), a cup of homemade bits and bytes (my wife makes these and they are fantastic… I make sure to just scoop a cup out and limit myself to that (basiclaly its a mix of shreddies, cheerios, pretzel sticks and hickory sticks with some crazy worcester / salt sauce mix). Dinner was another two pieces of toast with peanut butter and cup of juice.
I spent the better part of today just lying in bed, sleeping, drinking juice, taking medication and sleeping some more. I hope this all goes away by Christmas eve. It would suck to have all this great food ready to be eaten not be able to taste much of it because of a heavy head cold.
Later on in the day, I got up the will to do Yoga X. I did it very tenderly and without too many pushups. I also modified certain poses when needed into their easier version. I’m glad I got it done and it actually made me feel a little better afterwards (the long hot shower I took also helped I’m sure).
Food for today: breakfast was two pieces of toast with peanut butter and cup of juice, snack was granola with low fat yogurt (150), lunch was leftover chicken noodle soup with crackers, had 5 pieces of chocolate (250), dinner was mashed potatoes with a pork chop and some gravy, 1 granola bar for dessert.
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I wrote the following at 5 in the morning as I couldn’t sleep due to this stupid cold. AARGH.
Of all the workouts in the P90x program, this is probably the one that gets the most negative press. Seems like there’s a consensus (just from reading comments on blogs and public forums) that Yoga is the least liked dvd. I can understand this for several reasons. First, for anyone like me who had no prior experience with yoga, coming into this routine was like landing on an alien planet. Coming from a world of weight training, running and interval work, yoga’s slow as molasses, methodical and breath-focused regimen was a shock to the system. I remember the first time doing it wondering to myself “How in the world is this supposed to ‘work me out?’” But after a few times of pushing play on this dvd and following Tony’s instructions to the letter (meaning really getting low on all the warrior stance lunges, holding as still as possible during the poses, and throwing in pushups whenever possible [I do a total of 3 every time I transition from plank-upward-plank-downward dog]), this workout can be quite a killer.
And it’s a killer in a way most workout routines aren’t in that it’s anaerobic and isometric, the two styles that aren’t often stressed in most routines (quite the opposite actually). In addition, this dvd also puts a TONNE of emphasis on being flexible, stretching and balance, traits which, even if you have been exercising traditionally for a long time, may not be honed. So, in that sense, all your experience in running and weightlifting don’t really mean for much as you’ll start out at ground 0 again.
But Yoga’s quirks are also its strong points. It’s great BECAUSE it’s so different. I don’t know how to explain it other than this amazing mental damn that breaks once you finally get in the groove of breathing, stretching, contorting and balancing. You begin to sweat a little without even really noticing it and before long you are drenched from all this exertion you may not have even realized you were undergoing. It’s really “trance-like” once you get into it. In this sense, my biggest advice to people starting P90x is to, as Tony says, “expand the mind a little bit” and stick it out with the yoga.
Oh, one other thing. The other key gripe most people have about this routine (WHICH I TOTALLY AGREE WITH!!!) is the damn length. Yoga X is the longest routine in the entire P90x series clocking in at 1.5 hours. That is nuts when you consider all the other non-weight training routines are under an hour. And considering how often you do yoga X (it happens once a week and twice during rest week), that’s A LOT of time spent doing downward / upward dogs. Next round I will either sub in Tony’s One-on-One video called Yoga – Fountain of Youth which is a more reasonable 45 min. or use my own edited version of yoga X that runs 61 minutes.
Had another hard time sleeping last night. Throat was sore and dry and I felt like I was getting a small fever and cold. When I finally fell asleep it was probably around 2. Got up early to go to another ultrasound and stress test with the wife. It took over 2 hours as the hospital was packed with people. I’m amazed I haven’t gotten sicker sooner due to all the time I’ve been spending in the general waiting room. I’m just kinda bummed it had to happen now so close to the end of this fantastic first round. In any case, after this was all over, wife and I had to do some quick groceries for the coming holiday celebrations. Once we got home, we had a quick lunch then crashed. I went through my usual sickness ritual of bundling up like crazy and trying to sweat the damn thing out during a nap. Kinda nasty when you think about it, but it’s worked for me. Fell asleep for 2 hours or so and woke up drenched in my own sweat (ick).
I then debated for a long time whether or not to go through with Back and Biceps or switch it out for yoga X so I can do it later on in the week when I have more energy. I even looked up articles on google about it and found some common thread among most of them. 1) If you’re sick and go to the gym for a workout, don’t as you have fellow gym members to think of. 2) If you are congested and have a high fever, feeling achy and nauseous, don’t work out. Finally, 3) do a so called “neck-check”. If most of your ailments are above the neck (i.e. runny nose, slight headache) then it should be ok to work out so long as you keep an eye on your exertion level and make sure to be ready to dial back your intensity when needed. Also, have a lot of water on hand as sickness increases your propensity to become dehydrated on top of the water drain exercise already brings about. It was with this final thought in mind that I decided to buckle down and tackle Back & Biceps for the last time this round. I moved all the weights down 5 lbs so the bulk of the routine was carried out with 20s (I did do both lawnmower sets with 50s though). I also made sure not to go balls out with the pullups. As soon as I got “squirrelly” I went straight to assist-mode or just cut it out altogether (hence, most of my bar work hovered around 10 or so). Afterwards, I was again debating whether or not to go through with ARX. I figured what the heck and started. Worse comes to worst, I can just stop and try again another day. I finished it and I am glad I did. Whew.
This leads me to my mini review of Back & Biceps. I personally think this is the mother of all P90x workouts because of its concentrated nature on only two muscles and high pace / low rest time between sets. It doesn’t help that pull ups to failure are included in the routine, two versions of which I find absolutely killer (corn cob is probably the hardest move in all 12 dvds, followed by towel pull ups). One other drawback to this dvd is that includes Katie. I usually don’t rag on Tony and company very often, but of all the personalities across all the DVDs, I find her voice and laughter to be the most grating (thankfully, there are options on the disc to fix this). The upside to this routine is that it probably provides the best “pump” of any of the workouts. Your biceps are just bulging after this one.
Food for today: breakfast was oatmeal and cup of juice, lunch was a hamburger with cup of juice, dinner was two eggs boiled with lipton noodle soup and cup of juice. Dessert was 1/3 cup of granola with 1/3 cup of vanilla ice cream. Didn’t have much of an appetite, I guess.
I’m feeling pretty crappy, literally. I woke up this morning and my throat was sore. I didn’t sleep very well last night so I was pretty drained. I think I may be coming down with something. I hope to God not as I am almost finished P90x and I have gotten this far without any major disruptions. It would suck to have to work in delays at this point as I am scheduled to finish right on New Year’s Day. I’m taking all the measures I know how to get better (taking cold FX, drinking lots of orange juice and fluids, eating dry plain foods and fruit).
This afternoon my wife and I along with my sister and a nephew and his friend went to go see James Cameron’s new film Avatar in 3D. It was pretty good. The story was decent but nothing to write home about. However, the special effects were top notch and I would daresay the CG aliens were for the first time totally photorealistic and believeable. Only downside to the experience was that the 3D gave me a bit of a headache as I already wasn’t feeling 100% when I went.
Upon getting home, I decided to take a quick nap (about an hour) then jump right into plyometrics. Over the past few weeks, I feel my performance during plyo has continued to improve. Every time I’ve done it I feel like I’ve gotten stronger and stronger. Except today. That sucks as this is my last time doing plyo this first round and I really wanted to put everything out there and feel like I hit it out of the part. My body and energy level, however, stopped me from doing it. Still, it was a good workout and I was still drenched in sweat despite not being as “explosive” as I usually am during the sets.
Which brings me to my thoughts on Plyometrics. Tony mentions several times over the course of this dvd that plyo is the “mother of all the workouts”. I actually believed that for a while as it is definitely a tough workout and I could see how someone who isn’t already in some cardio-conditioned state to be completely burned by this. Of all the non-weight training videos, this is definitely the toughest routine. However, if you enter P90x with some cardio experience under your belt (either long distance running, cycling or doing intervals), I’d say that it’s fairly easy to adapt to the demands of the workout. Does that mean Plyo gets to the point where it’s as easy as Kenpo? No, I don’t think the two will ever be matched as they demand such different things from the participant.
Without doubt, the hardest thing about plyo is a) how high impact it is and b) it’s very quick circuit style format. Factor a) will be a sticking point for anyone with joint problems especially in the knees as the routine is basically 45 minutes of solid jumping (hence Tony explaining why plyo is also known as “jump training”). Thankfully, modifications are show to take some of the impact out of the exercises so that it’s alittle more accessible. Factor b) is something that’s going to trouble most people unless you’ve already got a pretty strong cardio base. You basically go all out for 5-6 minutes for most of the sets then get a 30 second waterbreak. In this sense, plyo is also an interval workout (there are exceptions to this as 1 or 2 of the moves are low impact thereby allowing you a bit of a longer rest period).
Hopefully, you have a fairly cushy carpet to do this routine on as it helps with the landings (Tony stresses throughout the 45 minutes to land softly “like a cat” in order to minimize the impact on joints). Good supportive cross trainers would also help. I’m doing the routine barefoot on carpet and haven’t found too many pressing issues yet. I do have to consciously think about landing in a stable manner though so I don’t roll my ankle.
Food for today: breakfast was oatmeal and a cup of juice (very watered down). I smuggled my own snacks into the movie so I wouldn’t gorge on buttered popcorn. I had a cup of mixed shreddies, almonds and raisins and 2 granola bars. I had about a cup of coke (took several sips of my wife’s drink). Maybe a cup of cooked popcorn (a couple of handfuls). Upon arriving at my sister-in-law’s place I had 4 chocolate chip cookies and 1 small chocolate piece. Lunch was 10 McNuggets and a cup of juice. Dinner was very simple. 1 Navel orange, 10 plain crackers and a large glass of orange juice.
Today was a bit of a whirlwind day. Went to downtown Toronto to take in some of the holiday spirit and crazy buzz of the city during Christmas. The Eaton Town Center was swarming with last minute shoppers. Treated myself to lunch down there: 6 inch roast beef Subway sub with baked lays chips (130) and a bottle of water. Then as a dessert I bought a small non-fat raspberry frozen yogurt for myself. These things are awesome! So filling and only 110 calories per serving. Man, I wish I could make these at home.
In any case, the trip home from the city was brutal! What was supposed to take 50 minutes spanned into 2 hours. Miscommunication between the train’s head office and the station we got stuck at resulted in transit buses being screwed up and at another station. Apparently, the reason the trains were delayed (then later cancelled) was due to an accidental death at one of the stations. What a horrible thing for a family to endure at any time of the year, but especially during the holidays.
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When I finally got back to my hometown there was an awesome dinner waiting for me at my sister-in-law’s place (my wife was there for a visit): roast beef with potatoes, carrots, corn and some Yorkshire pudding. For dessert I had 2 small cubes of chocolate fudge and 2 cookies. When I got home, I rested for a half an hour then decided to tackle Chest, Shoulders and Triceps.
Thoughts on Chest, Shoulders and Triceps: I really like this routine. The common theme through all the exercises is “push” as there are almost no pulling motions (one of the sets near the end adds a row during a sequence but that’s it). I guess what really stands out in my mind with this dvd is that Tony asks you to do some pretty crazy things which may seem impossible when you first view it. For instance, halfway through the routine Tony asks you to do one-handed pushups. Prior to doing P90x, I had never even attempted these. And today, I was able to do 4 of them on each arm when it came time to execute. When I first attempted them weeks ago, I could do a grand total of O as I was so burned down by that point in the routine. It’s this kind of concrete measurable progress that really helps motivate one to stick to P90x in the long term (and do multiple rounds). Currently, I’m still trying to get totally airborn on the plyo pushups (I can do the clap but have problems getting the feet off the air). There also seem to be a million variations on pushups to work both the chest and triceps during the routine (my favourite probably being the pike presses).
Anything else to add? Oh, this routine also has my favourite P90x personality in Phil the Attorney. Not only is the guy built like a truck and aa complete monster when doing all the sets, he also has the cahones to tell Tony off when he gets in his personal space.
Interesting note: I actually threw up a little from pushing myself so hard during the routine. Regurgitated roast beef doesn’t taste so good especially during side-to-side push-ups. At one point I freaked myself out during a tricep extension as I thought I popped my shoulder. The bone shifted in the socket and the weight almost came crashing down on me. Needless to say, I decreased the weight immediately after that.
Food for today: In addition to what was noted above, I had PB&J whole wheat toast with a cup of juice for breakfast.
