What is your favorite - Insanity, p90x or an alternative

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Hi all - For those of you that faithfully completed insanity, p90x or a program like that can you please give your opinions of both the good and the not so good. What did you like most and what did you like least? Is it going to challenge someone who has been doing daily cross fit for a while ?

One thing I do not want is to spend more than 90 minutes a day working out. 45 minutes would be ideal. And I cannot spend a ton of money, but can invest in something that costs as much as p90x if it is truly going to help me achieve my fitness goals.

I have also been looking closely at this MMA fighter inspired program:

http://www.amazon.com/Rushfit-Georges-St-Pierre-Ultimate-Training/dp/B005OL8NHW/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1393285226&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=Crossfit+dvd

Looks pretty decent and costs much less than insanity or p90x. Who knows, maybe I will enjoy mma type exercises and mma will be my new passion.

I am looking into a structured program that will push and challenge me to achieve even greater fitness in terms of cardio and strength, but not cripple me. That is important and must hold true when working out 6 days a week. Cross fit kept crippling me when doing it 6 days in a row for months, but got me in absolutely fantastic fitness shape. Sort of a love hate relationship with it so I decided I need to break up with it for awhile. And it was super expensive not only in terms of monthly dues, but also in terms of equipment, clothing, etc.

The last structured DVD set I did before cross fit was called "you are you own gym" and I enjoyed doing that. It was pure body weight exercises, but done in a Tabata manner. This last week, I have been doing bob harpers "inside out " method (pure burn, super strength, and bobs workout) and it has been great. I get an excellent strength based conditioning program of 60 m and feel alive afterwards. Really alive. And i did it every day with nothing but strength gains and an excellent fat burn. No soreness. No aches. No pains. The problem is that it is the same DVD every day. No sense of progression except if I increase the weights which I can not do often enough.

I want to try something new that I can do out of my home with limited strength equipment. I have a few dumbbells (up to 55#) and a few kettle bells (20, 30 and 45#), but that is about it. It looks like most of these programs can be done with that. I could make up my own program of cross fit type conditioning and isolation lifts (have the knowledge), but I would rather leverage structure from a DVD program that is known to be effective. I would hope the DVD program takes no more than 12 weeks.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[scubachick 58]

My family of 4 did insanity together. We have a love/hate relationship with it. LOVED the results, LOVED the challenge it gave us every single day. Will the day 1 fitness test make you puke? More than likely....unless you are super hydrated and are prepared to get your butt kicked. I wasn't hydrated. I puked. Hubby needs to lose no weight, ended up toned and even more fit. I lost about 35lbs and tons of inches and was running 3 miles in 27mins at the end of the program. I couldn't jog 30 secs at day 1. Teen daughter 1---cheerleader--lost her love handle she is blessed with and got super fit and strong Pre-teen daughter2---on the heavier side, lost weight and a ton of inches and got a lot more agile and quick. After trying other Beachbody programs, I end up quitting early into them because they just did not deliver the same intensity and fun as Insanity did. Insanity uses your own body weight. Your ankles will not like you for about 10-14 days. Month 1 all vids are about 30ish mins. Month 2 they are all about 60ish mins. By the end of month 1, you are completing the drills at a comfortable speed, day 1 of month 2, you are dying like day 1 of month 1. It's crazy. P90X has longer workouts. I hear the ab workout is better with it than insanity. Idk, push-ups are a great ab workout, which are flooded in insanity in a million different ways. Also p90x requires equipment here and there. Insanity was designed as the graduate program to p90X....but I don't like the guy on p90x much, I am a Shaun T fan through and through. He is VERY motivating.

Oh and adding that Insanity is like 63 days, not 60 like the commercial says.

Edited February 25, 2014 by scubachick

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Thank you for your comments on Insanity. They are really helpful. Question: if you could do it again, would you do t25 or insanity? The one negative I keep reading about on insanity is people get injured. I do not want injury, but do not mind discomfort if it is going to result in a gain. I am a fairly fit guy that does not need to lose any weight. Furthermore, I have pretty decent fat percentage (18% currently) and good muscle definition. However, I want to build an even more awesome athletic male physique. Will Shaun T help me with this? Thanks.

[abetterme4.2 268]

Hi all - For those of you that faithfully completed insanity, p90x or a program like that can you please give your opinions of both the good and the not so good. What did you like most and what did you like least? Is it going to challenge someone who has been doing daily cross fit for a while ?

One thing I do not want is to spend more than 90 minutes a day working out. 45 minutes would be ideal. And I cannot spend a ton of money, but can invest in something that costs as much as p90x if it is truly going to help me achieve my fitness goals.

I have also been looking closely at this MMA fighter inspired program:

http://www.amazon.com/Rushfit-Georges-St-Pierre-Ultimate-Training/dp/B005OL8NHW/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1393285226&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=Crossfit+dvd

Looks pretty decent and costs much less than insanity or p90x. Who knows, maybe I will enjoy mma type exercises and mma will be my new passion.

I am looking into a structured program that will push and challenge me to achieve even greater fitness in terms of cardio and strength, but not cripple me. That is important and must hold true when working out 6 days a week. Cross fit kept crippling me when doing it 6 days in a row for months, but got me in absolutely fantastic fitness shape. Sort of a love hate relationship with it so I decided I need to break up with it for awhile. And it was super expensive not only in terms of monthly dues, but also in terms of equipment, clothing, etc.

The last structured DVD set I did before cross fit was called "you are you own gym" and I enjoyed doing that. It was pure body weight exercises, but done in a Tabata manner. This last week, I have been doing bob harpers "inside out " method (pure burn, super strength, and bobs workout) and it has been great. I get an excellent strength based conditioning program of 60 m and feel alive afterwards. Really alive. And i did it every day with nothing but strength gains and an excellent fat burn. No soreness. No aches. No pains. The problem is that it is the same DVD every day. No sense of progression except if I increase the weights which I can not do often enough.

I want to try something new that I can do out of my home with limited strength equipment. I have a few dumbbells (up to 55#) and a few kettle bells (20, 30 and 45#), but that is about it. It looks like most of these programs can be done with that. I could make up my own program of cross fit type conditioning and isolation lifts (have the knowledge), but I would rather leverage structure from a DVD program that is known to be effective. I would hope the DVD program takes no more than 12 weeks.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Ok. So I've done all of the above and here is my 2 cents:

If you want to invest 45 mins per day - cross p90x off of the list. If you were to do p90x3, that is more do-able. A lot of the workouts in p90x is well over 1 hour and as long as 1 hour & 20 mins. BUT, the results are awesome and well worth it.

Insanity is definitely more cardio based if you want to strengthen that area. It is made to shed fat with some muscle building. I did enjoy the program and it was definitely a challenge for me.

Now...here is a tried and true method: A hybrid of the two. Yes, that's an ass kicker. LOVED it. I LOVE crossfit and love the challenge that the hybrid schedule of both of those 2 offered me.

Hope this helps. ????

[scubachick 58]

I bought T25 and did day 1 only (cause I was in 10 day pre-op diet and it drained me)

I am gonna give t-25 a run for its money once I am released (feb 14th was my surgery)

The thing I asked my experienced Beachbody friends (Facebook group) was 'please tell me there are push-ups in T25'....and the response was yes, there is, just wait. Day 1 didn't have them. I feel like push-ups really built my strength up in so many ways....if I end up disliking t-25 after a month, I will go back to Insanity for sure.

Like the other poster said, a hybrid between the 2 programs is great, but that would be kind of expensive to do at once, at least at first. P90x3 does have the shorter workouts.

[Globetrotter 1,340]

Hey Fiddle, you already know my opinion, I think, on Insanity. For me personally, it did nothing. I saw no measurable gains in strength or stamina and certainly no rewards on the scale, and I did it faithfully 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Lifting on the other hand, yielded results after just one week, both in change of shape and the scale. Were I to participate in another specific program, I think I would do P90X or something that focused more on strength training.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Hey Fiddle, you already know my opinion, I think, on Insanity. For me personally, it did nothing. I saw no measurable gains in strength or stamina and certainly no rewards on the scale, and I did it faithfully 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Lifting on the other hand, yielded results after just one week, both in change of shape and the scale. Were I to participate in another specific program, I think I would do P90X or something that focused more on strength training.

I remember your insanity posts. It was perplexing why the program caused weight gain for you; however, I can see why it causes injury. Lots of people have commented on insanity leading to injury based on Amazon reviews. I have spent the time reading through 100s of these reviews, to try and really educate myself on the finer details that can only be revealed by empirical evidence. Even though p90x biggest flaw is the time commitment, it is not that far off from the time I have spend in my box over the last 6 months (average 90 minutes).

I think p90x is going to be the winner for now, but I like the idea of going p90x/insanity hybrid in the future. I want to focus on building up more strength and I think, for me, p90x is going to help with that. I also want the beach body. I do not need to lose any weight and have a very good cardio response (from cross fit metabolic conditioning), so that is not going to be my focus for fitness improvement at this time.

[Globetrotter 1,340]

Those are the same reasons why I will try P90X, strength training. From my non-fitness professional standpoint, I believe that Insanity is meant for the actual professional, to mainbtain their edge or come back from time off, but not for the person actually looking to lose weight or build muscle. It seems like a maintenance thing.

As for me Fiddle, you know how much I adore lifting but I am actually purposefully stopping my fitness routine. The more I researched, the more I came to understand that you can build muscle, and eat more, or you can lose weight and eat less, but you can't do both at the same time. Since I am still so far from goal, I am making the choice to lose weight rather than gain muscle at this time. I will continue to do squats and push ups in my room at night but that is it. Weight loss happens in the kitchen and I am going to be my own guinea pig.

[scubachick 58]

I don't know how you gained on insanity either, unless your eating was not properly done. I was 220ish when I started and I had to consume about 3200 GOOD calories a day when doing insanity. Plus it's a 6 day a week program, not 5....not sure why you did only 5. I dropped 35lbs with the program and like over 40 inches overall.

Not saying it isn't possible, just crazy that it happened.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Scuba chick, a better me- how does one do a hybrid of p90x and insanity. Aside from cost, wouldn't that require potentially 3+ hours a day and wouldn't you need to be concerned about burnout and/or overtraining? A question that has been floating around in my mind : if one follows p90x with insanity, could it potentially undo some of the gains from p90x? Would you want to supplement your insanity program with 2-3 days of pure lifting days to keep up the muscles or is straight insanity enough for this? I am just trying to think about the next steps after p90x.

[scubachick 58]

Scuba chick, a better me- how does one do a hybrid of p90x and insanity. Aside from cost, wouldn't that require potentially 3+ hours a day and wouldn't you need to be concerned about burnout and/or overtraining? A question that has been floating around in my mind : if one follows p90x with insanity, could it potentially undo some of the gains from p90x? Would you want to supplement your insanity program with 2-3 days of pure lifting days to keep up the muscles or is straight insanity enough for this? I am just trying to think about the next steps after p90x.

There is actually a calendar that Beachbody has created that mixes up the discs on different days in a specific pattern for you to get the most gain from them. It's not double a day.

[scubachick 58]

A person who is building muscle will have a different diet plan than one that is wanting to 'cut' and show ripped muscles.

Body beast by Beachbody is a program that is strictly designed for weight gains. The food program bulks you up then at end of program you go on a 'cut' diet plan to define the muscles you have been building up.

It's a science.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

There is actually a calendar that Beachbody has created that mixes up the discs on different days in a specific pattern for you to get the most gain from them. It's not double a day.

I mean to say if you did the p90x/insanity hybrid...

[scubachick 58]

I mean to say if you did the p90x/insanity hybrid...

That is what I am talking about. They have already figured out a schedule that incorporates both programs into a hybrid program. You have to own each complete program first.

Edited February 25, 2014 by scubachick

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful responses. It means a lot to me. Cheers!