What happened with Insanity?
All that said, I suppose I owe at least a summarized update on the outcome of my Insanity experiment. I believe my blogging on the program was up to date up until Katie and I started the second 30 days. My intention was to write full reviews of each individual workout, but it's a bit late for that now! The second half of the program can be described safely as notably longer versions of the workouts from the first 30 days, with many more power moves to up the resistance training. However, at its core, Insanity remains throughout as a brutal cardio program, and I can honestly say that my entire body felt like it was starting to involuntarily shut down in the final days. There's simply not enough recovery focus in Insanity (both in terms of individualized recovery workouts as well as recovery segments of other Insanity workouts) relative to P90x or other fitness programs. And I feel confident that Shaun T's Max Interval philosophy has little science to back it up, effective though it may be in spite of itself! (i.e. Shaun T basically looked at scientifically grounded data on HIIT exercises--often based on a 2:1 philosophy where you spend maybe 30 seconds doing a high-intensity move followed by maybe a minute of active recovery--and said "screw it, let's try to do 5 minutes straight of high-intensity followed by a few seconds of recovery....just because!").
In the end, due to some travels in late October, Katie and I ended up quitting Insanity with only one week to go and shifted our workouts towards some 20 minute Jillian Michaels videos that we have. And I feel zero shame in that! First of all, as I mentioned, Insanity (while a nice addition to the workout regime very now and then) is too hard on my body to do 6 days a week...especially during the 2nd half of it. P90x is a cakewalk on your body in comparison yet it STILL gets you into tip-top shape! Plus, these Jillian workouts I'm talking about are absolutely AWESOME for getting in a great workout in the shortest amount of time possible (~20 minutes). They're really what Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer series tried to be (I always felt 10 Minute Trainer felt a tad awkward in that it was just too rushed!). I would also feel comfortable pitting Jillian against P90x, with the only real differentiator being the length of P90x workouts (which of course makes a big difference, but still!). Lastly, although my fitness definitely improved during Insanity, I would quickly argue that the aesthetic results you get from P90x trounce Insanity with little effort. Insanity left me slimmed down certainly (and arguably by too large a margin), but it lacked the tight, toned results that P90x produced. I apologize for not taking "after pics", but I promise they weren't as dramatic as my after-P90x photos (Insanity gave me more of a 6 pack, but that was probably just because I was wasting away from all the cardio!). Ready for P90X-2!
Once we've gotten ourselves back into at least moderate shape, I plan to start Tony Horton's latest adventure. Still 90 days just like P90x was, the new program promises only 5 days of working out per week, more synergistic and core work, and a simply more scientific approach to muscle confusion and recovery. Can't wait!
