Mixing Insanity and P90X: The Ultimate Workout

I recently completed the P90X program. In 13 weeks I lost nearly 25 pounds and got into the best shape of my life. I am looking to add a new challenge to my workouts.

I began by looking at the Insanity program by Beachbody. From my research, it sounds like Insanity is an intense cardio-based 60 day program. My only worry with the Insanity program is that it is all cardio workouts and contains no strength training. My good friend Brad who is a Diamond level coach completed the P90X and Insanity programs. He noted that the Insanity program was in fact an intense cardio based program, but he also mentioned the fact that he had lost much of the muscle mass that he built up while using the P90X. I recently ordered the Insanity program and I plan on incorporating it into my P90X workouts.

The P90X is a 6 day/week workout program. Three days a week are strength training and the other three are cardio workouts. I plan on substituting the Insanity workouts for the P90X cardio workout. The Insanity workouts should allow me to lose the remaining 5 pounds of fat around my waist and really make my abs “pop” out.

Come back soon to find out how my integration of P90X and Insanity is going.

Workouts for 11/2 through 11/7

11/2- P90X Yoga- Piece of cake

11/3 Insanity Fitness Test – 25 minutes of intense cardio workouts. the nice thing is that there is a minute break in between each of the 10 movements.

11/4- Plyo Circuit Training- From start to finish, this was a really tough workout. The entire workout is 45 minutes long and I lost 2.5 pounds of sweat during that time. The warm-up is 1o minutes long and I was dripping with sweat after the warm-up was through. I made it through about 25 minutes of the workout when I had to almost completely stop. I couldn’t catch my breath and my heart rate was over 160. I was seriously tired, my heart was racing, and I was dripping with sweat. This workout is truly living up to its name. I pushed through the rest of the workout although what I did in the remaining 5 minutes of the workout I wouldn’t usually consider “working out”. The cool down was a much welcomed part of the workout and even that was tough to get through. Insanity is much tougher than the P90X’s Plyos workout which I consider to be the toughest cardio workout in the P90X system.

11/5 – Cardio Power and Resistance- I am beginning to see a pattern here, toughness. The Insanity program is pure insanity! Today’s workout was only 40 minutes long but I had difficulty making it through. I was sweating like a madman after the warm-up (10 min.) and had lost over 2.5 pounds by the end of the workout. The one redeaming quality of the Insanity workout system is the younger women. They must have hired young and in-shape models for this system. They are much easier on the eyes than the P90X women, sorry Tony…

11/6 – Cardio Recovery- This seemed more like an intense Yoga class. There were a lot of holding of positions and stretching. There was a little bit of cardio that made my legs begin to scream numerous times.

Workouts for 11/16 through 11/21

11/16- After a t week hiatus I’m back at it. Today I did P90X Chest, Back, Triceps and the Ab Ripper. Being out of it for two weeks has set me back a bit but not too much. I was comparing my numbers for my first P90X round and they were very similar. Tomorrow is an Insanity workout with my workout group at work. They love the fact that the Insanity workouts are only 40 minutes long and you don’t need any “gadgets” for them. But man the Insanity workouts kick our BUTTS!

11/17 Insanity: Cardio Power and Resistance- This workout was only 38 minutes long but man was it a good one. Shawn T packs a lot into the relatively short amount of time. This was my second time doing this workout and it seemed a bit easier than the first time. There were also more water breaks in this one than others. This workout consisted of doing four sets of 4 different exercises and then 3 sets of 4 exercises. It was a great workout and my heart rate was between 140 and 160 for at least 30 minutes. Looking forward to the next one!

11/18- P90X workout; Biceps, Back and the Ab Ripper- Taking a two week leave from my workouts didn’t effect my ab workouts at all. I am still completing all of the reps and not comprising my form. I cannot say the same for my other workouts though. My numbers dropped a little in a few categories. They mainly dropped the most in the category that I had worked the hardest at to build up, pull-ups. My numbers didn’t drop off too much initially but as the workout progressed my reps dropped quite significantly. I could do only half of what I originally did. It will probably take me a week or two to regain my original numbers.

11/19 - Cardio Power and Resistance This is the second time that I did this workout and I have to say that I am already seeing a positive change. The workout is still very tough but I was able to power through the entire workout without stopping this time. This workout is the toughest one yet. It begins the same way that the other workouts do, the 10 minute warm up is intense followed by a 5 minute stretching period. However, the next 17 minutes is constant moving. There are 17 individual exercise moves that are each done for 1 minute. After 10 minutes of this you are sweating bullets and there is still 7 more to go. The last 5 minutes is a well deserved cool down period where my heart rate dropped from the 160 range to around 130.