RippedBody.org

People are always asking me, “Which one is better, the P90X or Insanity?” and I always tell them the same thing, “Neither is better than the other. It depends on what you want to accomplish with your body.”.

To start off with, what is great about both workout systems is that they really work AND they each come with an extremely detailed diet plan. Now, when I say detailed, these diet plans tell you what to eat for each meal of each day. The plans tell you exactly how many calories to consume and the makeup of each meal (fat, carbs, protein, fiber, etc.). The meals are filling, most are tasty, and best of all they are healthy. I was amazed how much my energy level shot up after 3-4 weeks on the diets.

The Insanity Home Workout System

Each program is designed around a different idea/methodology. Simply put, the Insanity workout is a pure cardiovascular workout system. Insanity is designed to take your cardiovascular health to a whole new level. Each Insanity workout is around 45 minutes long and you are moving for 35 of them. There are 10 DVD’s that come with the Insanity workout. Each DVD is different than the other. Depending on how hard you go in the workout you can expect to burn anywhere from 500 to 1000 calories per workout. Let it be said that to burn a 1000 calories you have to be moving as fast or faster than the leader in the video, Shaun-T. By the way, this is nearly impossible. I tried it for 10 minutes and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. What is also nice about the Insanity workout is that you do not need any extra workout items. Just you, a TV, and Shaun-T. That’s it.

Click Here to Check Out the Insanity Workout

The P90X Home Workout System

The P90X is a workout system that is built around resistance training. It was built around the idea of  burning off fat and building muscle at the same time. In the infomercials you may have heard the phrase “muscle confusion”. This is not a phrase that lacks substance. The workouts are designed and arranged in a fashion so that you are constantly challenging muscle groups with different types of workouts. I used to have a Gold’s Gym membership and I used it 5 days a week. I experienced some gains but plateaued after a couple of months. I plateaued because I wasn’t changing up my workouts.

What is also great about the P90X is that you have a world famous trainer, Tony Horton, talking you through each exercise. He tells you what to do if you are a beginner and want to start slowly and he also offers up advice on how to really challenge you muscles.

One final difference between the two workouts is that you need extra “workout toys” to complete the P90X workouts. All you need are dumbbells/stretch bands and a pull-up bar. I purchased stretch bands and a pull-up bar for around $50.

Before buying and completing a round of P90X I was a extreme skeptic of any home workout system. I convinced myself to buy it and totally committed myself to the program. The proof is in the pictures. I lost nearly 20 pounds and was honestly in the best shape of my life. By my standards I had the making of a ripped body!

Click Here to Check out the P90X Workout System

Conclusion:

Neither Insanity or the P90X are better than the other. It truly depends upon what you want to do with your body. If you want to burn off fat and are not too concerned about packing on the muscle, then Insanity is for you. If you want to burn off some fat and pack on the muscle than the P90X is for you. Both workouts will work and you will see extreme results if you commit yourself to either of the programs.

Today I began the rest portion of the P90X and I have to say that it was a well deserved low-impact workout. Today’s workout was yoga. I have learned to enjoy the calmness that yoga teaches/forces one to develop.  I find that through concentration I can complete the workout with no problem. I usually end up losing 2-3 pounds of water during the workout but I feel great afterwards.

Breakfast: 1 Cup of oatmeal  240 Calories

9 oz.  of Skim Milk 150 Calories

Snack:         1 Cup of Pretzels  100 Calories

Lunch :  Chocolate Shakeology 140 Calories

9 oz. of Skim Milk          150 Calories

Snack: Beachbody Protein Bar 240 Calories

Dinner:  Chicken/Rice/Whole Wheat Tortilla  700 Calories

Total Calories For the Day: 1720 Calories

Today’s workout was the P90X Chest/Back workout. Two new developments today: The first is that I did today’s workout without the video and it took me half the time. I went ahead and followed the workout sheets and it helped the workout go much quicker. I saved a lot of time between reps when Tony is usually showing us how strong he his or talking his face off. Unfortunately chest/back is one of the few workouts that has all of the exercises on the workout sheets.

The second development is that my push-up reps are increasing dramatically. Today’s workout has me doing normal, military, wide, diamond, decline, and dive-bomber push-ups 2x each. I ended up doing 175 push-ups in the 12 sets. Not too bad. The easiest push-ups are the normal ones of course and the toughest ones have got to be the dive-bomber push-ups. Whenever I do dive-bombers I think of Catherina Zeta Jones in this movie in which she played a burglar, opposite of Sean Connery, in which she is forced to contort herself through these lasers. I just can’t shake it. Oh well. To top off my workout I also did 20 minutes of an Insanity workout today. My wrestlers did it for 20 minutes so I decided to show them that a 33 year-old man can do it too.

Breakfast:

2 bowls of raisin bran with skim milk 500 Calories

Beachbody Vitamins

Snack:

An apple- 180 Calories

1 slice of colby cheese- 200 Calories

Lunch:

Cinnamon Oatmeal- 300 Calories

Low-Fat Vanilla Yogurt with flak seeds- 260 Calories

Snack:

None

Dinner:

BBQ Chicken 250 Calories

Chicken Flavored Rice 240 Calories

Wheat Thins- 300 Calories

Post Workout Recovery Drink- 240 Calories

Total Caloric Intake: 2470

Today’s workout was the Insanity Max Cardio workout! This has go to be one of the toughest Insanity workouts yet! This one is about 10 minutes longer than the rest of the Insanity workouts and is much more intense. There are only two water breaks and one of them is after the stretching piece.  This workout also had many new kinds of movements. The one that really made both my abs and chest burn was towards the end. I have no idea what Shawn T calls them put you get in a plank push-up position and hold it. Meanwhile you bring your right leg up to the side and touch your right elbow. Return your leg to the floor and then do the same with the other side. I think I did about 23 of these before my arms gave out. It hurt a ton but it was a good feeling to be challenged.  Tomorrow I am back to the P90X and I believe it is the Chest and Back workout. See you tomorrow!

Breakfast:

2 bowls of raisin bran with skim milk: 500 Calories
Beachbody Vitamins

Snack: Beachbody Protein Bar: 240 Calories

Lunch: Chocolate Shakeology: 140 Calories

Ritz Snack Pack: 100 Calories

1 Red Apple: 150 Calories

Dinner: Grilled salmon and brown rice: 400 Calories

Post Workout: Beachbody Recovery Drink: 240 Calories

Total Calories Consumed: 1770

Today was the P90X chest and back workout. Today I did a total of 125 push-ups and 52 pull-ups. I made it a point to exceed my previous chest/back workout numbers. I managed to beat them by at least 2-5 reps with every exercise. I feel that my push-ups are coming back quicker than my pull-ups are.

Breakfast- Bagel, egg-beater, and three pieces of turkey bacon  330 Calories

Beachbody Vitamins

Snack- Beachbody Protein Bar 240 Calories

Lunch- Beachbody Shakeology shake with frozen raspberries and 8 oz. of skim milk  270 Calories

Snack- Remnants of a steak burrito with no cheese/sour cream    425 Calories

Dinner- Spinach, mushroom ,and grilled chicken salad  230 Calories

Snack – Baked Lays chips- 120 Calories

Total Calories- 1615

Way too low!