Insanity Workout

[synonymous]

I live outside the west and in recent Facebook posts by family and friends they've been mentioning the Insanity Workout along with VP wannabe Paul Ryan's px90 workout...2 workouts I've never heard of.

I can't find a whole lot on these 2 workouts that show anything special other than the Insanity Workout being very much HIIT like, only harder and very difficult to actually continue on beyond the 2 months it proposes.

Can anyone comment on these from a very basic scientific POV. Not just "waste of time" but actually why it's not as good as being in the gym 3 days a week with a proper routine. I'm in the gym 3 days a week on doing HIIT up and down stairs at home, but wouldn't mind changing things up a bit if either of these are worth a look at.

[FearFactory]

It's insane dude.

[Alex.V]

Can anyone comment on these from a very basic scientific POV. Not just "waste of time" but actually why it's not as good as being in the gym 3 days a week with a proper routine.

Wrong question. Why it's not as good as being in the gym 3 days a week for WHAT?

NO routine is a total waste of time. It all depends on your objective. Granted, some poorly designed routines may only be good at getting you better at doing that one routine, but it still has a "purpose".

Is the goal to get stronger? If so, there are better ways to do that. Get faster? Also better ways to do that. Improve aerobic endurance? Better ways. Improve anaerobic endurance in movements that don't include running in place and doing pushups? Better ways to do that.

All depends on the goals. Define where you want to go before you evaluating ways to get there.

[r2473]

My mother-in-law apparantly taught aerobics in the late 80's early 90's. (She was also a powerlifter in the 114 lb. weight class, but that's not important right now). According to my wife, Insanity incorporates many of the EXACT SAME MOVES as 80's aerobics. They just "jazz it up" a little according to my wife in Insanity. She said it is for sure done at a higer intensity than she ever did it.

My wife and I watched one of the videos together. She said it's 80%-90% the same as aerobics she did in Jr. High with her mom. She was laughing at how they managed to repackage it, give it a 21st century look and feel, and sell these videos for $$$$$$$$. She was even telling me what they used to call some of the moves in the video in her mom's class ("OMG, thats the xxxxxxx. I did that 25 years ago").

Bottom line: Insanity is high intensity aerobics. It's a hell of a workout if that's what you want to do. Nothing wrong with it at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=...A&feature=fvwp

By the way, the main difference between Insanity and "old school aerobics" (besides the intensity I mentioned above) is the addition of plyometrics.

[r2473]

Is the goal to get stronger? If so, there are better ways to do that. Get faster? Also better ways to do that. Improve aerobic endurance? Better ways. Improve anaerobic endurance in movements that don't include running in place and doing pushups? Better ways to do that.

All depends on the goals. Define where you want to go before you evaluating ways to get there.

Exactly.

There is nothing "wrong" with these pre-packaged workout programs, but with even a slight bit of effort, you can come up with somethnig yourself that will better focus on your goals (assuming you have goals beyond "looking good and getting laid".....which aren't bad goals by the way. I'm sure everyone shares them. But it might be a good idea to think a bit beyond these goals from time to time).

[synonymous]

The goals being mentioned by fam and friends are weight loss. I believe the program is geared towards people who want to lose weight, from the commercial I saw. For myself it would be something I could do at home for those days when I couldn't get to the gym and my goals right now are to maintain as much muscle mass while dropping fat (Diet being the key here). Right now I'm doing HIIT at home on off days and on days when I can't get into the gym.