ARE YOU READY TO DIG DEEP!?
This is the modest motto of the INSANITY workout by fitness company (and infomercial giant) Beachbody.com. The motto is extremely accurate for this workout program. The "hardcore" fitness regimen promises "the most insane body in 60 days." I'm not sure what constitutes an "insane body," but I'm under the impression that it's a good thing.
The INSANITY set contains an impressive 10 workout dvds averaging about 45 minutes of INSANITY. With the dvds you also get miscellaneous materials to help you on your muscle quest. There's a nutrition guide, a snazzy workout calendar, and a fitness guide. The calendar just relays the order in which to use the dvds. The fitness guide is a booklet of warnings, introductions to and explanations of interval training, and useless drivel. The nutrition guide is a drawn out explanation of eating right, with some lame recipes which are supposed to constitute all of the food you ever eat. A more effective supplment would have been a temporary tattoo that reads, "EAT GOOD CARBS, PROTEIN, AND SOME FIBER. DON'T EAT SUGAR AND FAT, DUMMY!" That way at least you'd have a fun constant reminder when you're about to buy McDonald's again, instead of an oversized coaster mocking you with, "INSANE Nutrition Guide" on the front. In addition to the practically useless print materials there is an online support agent, which I am not allowed to participate in because I'm not INSANE.
The actual workouts are based on interval training, which is a fantastic workout structure that I'll gladly swear by. The INSANITY spin is pumping up the intervals to outrageous proportions. You are meant to preform each exercise throughout the workouts at your "MAX" ability. One of the warnings repeated a few times is to check with your doctor before starting the program. I actually heeded this advice and got the okay to proceed based on the fact that I cycle and walk regularly and appear to be in average physical shape. Nowhere on the INSANITY materials does it say anything about having a professional athlete fitness level before starting.
My beef with the program, starting right from the first workout dvd, is that you are constantly encouraged to push yourself. On occasion your INSANE instructor, Shaun T., will tell you to rest if you're dying or to never compromise your form, but then he'll encourage you to dig deeper and assure you know that he knows you can do it. It may be a fault of hubris, but I cannot reasonably back down from such encouragement until I'm literally falling off of my feet.
Within the first week I woke up feeling like I had pulled a groin muscle. Sure enough, I had over-exerted myself and "shocked" my muscles a bit (according to a PT friend of mine, thanks again btw). I know all about warming up, stretching, and cooling down, but I had simply over done it, and at the encouragement of INSANITY. After more than a week off and another week of conditioning I tried to get back on the INSANITY bandwagon. Again, after less than a week I blew out my lower back by over exerting myself. With no limit being drawn on exertion, and only occasional "don't push yourself too hard" messages I found it impossible to achieve the correct amount of workout. Either this workout program really is meant for professional athletes only, or there needs to be a more stringent set of guidelines for newbies and fatties to get into the program safely.
I will say that the workouts are good, and fun. There is a good amount of variation from day to day, with most of the explanations on the fly, wasting minimal time with unnecessary instructions. The exercises are individually easy to get the hang of. There are only bodyweight and cardio exercises as well, so no additional equipment is needed. I had no problem settling into the pace of the workouts, at times feeling like a lump compared to the desired pace of Shaun T. Fortunately, the seemingly fit backup people on the screen appeared to be having as much trouble as me keeping up at times, so I didn't feel like a total lump. Any workout that has the trainer declaring "This s*** is BANANAS" should be an indication of it's difficulty. Also, I found the stretching sections to be insufficient to really warm me up or cool me down, but a quick pause is easy enough to manage.
I'm certain that you would get "the most insane body in 60 days" if you followed the program and the nutrition guide to a t, however, that's basically impossible for any human being. The workouts are outrageous if you take Shaun T's encouragement to heart, and the meal plan is unrealistic for anyone to follow every day.
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The skinny:
* Pros: fun interval workouts, no equipment required, actually challenging
* Cons: too expensive, frivolous supplemental materials, INSANITY
Make an Assessment:
I neither attempted to follow the meal plan, or finish the full 60 day program. I'm not INSANE enough I guess. I will continue using the workout program, as I see fit, to continue the obviously beneficial interval training. I would not recommend that anybody expect to achieve any specific results of the "insane body" variety. I wouldn't even recommend that anybody spend their hard earned money on this product. While I can see obvious benefits of this type of program, the product just doesn't support the amount of money you have to shell out to purchase it. I believe the going rate is something like $140. For a program with minimal hand-holding, that actually caused me to injure myself, there isn't any valid justification for that price tag.
Overall Review Score:
* Grade: C-
* Score: 65%
* If it were a movie: ★★½
* My Feelings: "I want an exercise that doesn't break my crotch, kthx."
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