Insanity Review and Results

I wrapped up my final day of Insanity on Monday.  I’m proud to say I did every single workout.

Short story:

I feel like I’m in much better shape than when I started the program.  I haven’t felt so challenged, both physically and mentally, in a long time.  But I’m very happy to be done.

Pros:

• Not thinking or planning your workouts
• Can be done in the comfort of your own home
• No equipment necessary, except a mat
• Shawn T. (the trainer) is funny and nice on the eyes
• Most workouts are 40-60 minutes, with a few days longer than that
• You constantly see your fitness improve through regular fitness tests and being able to do more each time you do a video

Cons:

• Doing the same few videos for an entire month
• Keeping up motivation to do a DVD six days a week for 9 weeks

(The Very) Long story:

Why I did it - I decided to try Insanity after seeing some infomercials and reading about it on some blogs.  I purchased it off craig’s list for $70, $90 cheaper than the retail price.  I was interested in Insanity because it is only 60 days.  Think about where you were 60 days ago.  It doesn’t seem that long ago, right?  I thought to myself, in 60 short days I could still be frustrated with the same 5 pounds, or I could push myself for a short period of time and see real results.  I was also dealing with an IT band injury so I had to take time off from running anyways.  I found the workouts did not irritate my IT band, but there is a warning at the beginning of the video for people with knee, and back problems, so proceed with caution if you are injured.

How it works – Insanity provides a calendar of workouts, with a workout every day but Sunday.  Every two weeks on Monday, there is a 25 minute fit test to measure your progress.  The fit test consists of doing as many reps as possible in one minute of 8 different exercises, with a one minute break in between.  Each workout in the entire collection has a warm-up, pre-stretch, the main workout and a post-stretch.  It has a timer along the bottom of the screen to keep track of the total time, as well as the time in each section (I LOVED this).

How it is broken up – Insanity is broken up into month 1, recovery week and month 2.    Recovery week is in between months 1 and 2, and is the same video each day.  Months 1 and 2 have three main videos to rotate through, plus a recovery video each Thursday and an additional ab video.  Two of those main videos are high interval training, which consist of a circuit of tough exercises, repeated three times.  There is a one minute rest between each circuit.  The last video is an endurance video that has all different exercises with minimal rest for the entire length of the video.

What to expect in the workouts – There is a lot of jumping around in Insanity.  Think jump tucks, burpees, and high knees.  There is a big focus on leg work with variations of squats and lunges, but also upper body work through different types of push-ups.  Because of all the jumping, this might not be a good workout if you have people living below you.  I actually did the first month entirely barefoot to keep the noise level down and because running shoes hurt my feet.  In month 2, I bought some cheap cross-trainers because I had a bruise on the top of my foot and jumping around hurt it more.  I did the workout in our office, with a fan pointed on me (no central AC!) and a towel nearby because I was always dripping in sweat.

Month 1 workouts – I was sore after the first day fit test, so I knew Insanity was going to be a challenge.  And indeed I was sore the entire first week of workouts.  Each circuit starts out at a lower intensity, and increases gradually until maximum intensity in the third run through.  The videos were only 40 minutes long, but I felt like I pushed myself to the brink by the end of each workout.  Plus I was working on muscle groups that had been ignored by running and lifting.  By the second week the workouts had gotten  much more manageable, and by the third week, the videos were easy and I was starting to get sick of the same videos. 

Recovery week – I had read a lot of reviews online about the intensity of month 2, so I welcomed recovery week with open arms.  While doing the same video every day could seem boring, I liked seeing immediate progress in the two toughest sections of the workout (hip flexor burners and shoulder burners). 

Month 2 workouts – The reviews were right.  Month 2 is MUCH tougher than month 1.  While there is no way I could have gotten through a workout without having month 1 as a base, I felt like it was a very significant increase in intensity.  The workouts are 50-60 minutes long, and instead of gradually increasing in intensity, the first circuit is also completed at full speed.  The first two weeks I felt demolished after each workout.  But I also started getting excited as my fitness improved and I could gradually do those seemingly impossible workouts.

The diet – Insanity provides a nutrition plan along with the workouts.  It helps you calculate a calorie goal.  The plan itself is focused on healthy carbs, high protein, and healthy fats through 5 small meals a day.  I followed the plan at the beginning, but honestly five meals a day takes a lot of planning and packing for this working woman.  I still used the nutrition plan to tweak my meals and incorporated a lot more protein (through eggs, beans and tofu) than I usually do.  I consider myself someone who generally eats healthy 80% of the time, and indulges 20% of the time on drinks, meals at restaurants, and snacks.  But this summer, it has probably been closer to 70%/30% because I’ve been exploring restaurants and CO beers.  I know that following the meal plan to a T is an important factor in getting results, but for now, getting the best results isn’t as important to me as having fun.

How I stayed motivated – First of all, I’m a sucker for a calendar training plan because I love checking off the boxes and seeing the progress everyday (OCD much?).  Secondly, I broke up the months in my mind.  When I first pinned up the calendar, I folded it over so I could only see month 1 and the recovery week.  I only focused on getting through month 1.  The hardest week in month 1 was the third week – the workouts had started feeling easy and I was getting bored of the same videos.  Reaching the fourth week and seeing the end in sight kept me going.  Again, this happened in the beginning week 2 of month 2 (or week 7 overall).  Except this time I was struggling because the month 2 workouts were so hard and I still had 3 full weeks left.  Once I got through that week and only had two weeks left, I knew I could push it until the end.  Another key element for me was doing the workout immediately when I woke up.  There were only two occasions I didn’t do this (one was after we went camping, and one was after Lauren’s bachelorette party when I was too hungover to keep down solid food until 3 pm).  I didn’t have to think about NOT wanting to do the workout, I just popped the DVD in and went for it. 

Running with Insanity – I would not recommend doing Insanity while you are training for a big event.  Like I said, there is a lot of focus on lower body work, and my legs usually felt shot.  I started incorporating running back into my workouts in month 2 (only because I have a few races coming up), and it was not easy or enjoyable.  The Insanity videos the day after a trail run SUCKED because my legs were fatigued.  Plus I only motivated myself to do my weekly long on a Saturday once – because I signed up for a race – meaning there were a few weeks when I had no rest days at all. 

The results -  There is good news and bad news here.  Good news – my fit test results went up across the board.  Especially those push-up jacks!

I feel stronger and in better shape than I have in a while.  I also can tell my legs and abs look more toned, and some of my slightly-muffin-top-pants fit better.  I noticed when I was at the gym this week, I could do much more push-ups and in better form than ever before.

The bad news is that I only lost about a pound.  I know that I would have lost weight if I ate better, but for me following such an intense workout plan and an intense diet plan is too much.  Especially since I only want to lose 5 pounds.  It’s hard to feel motivated to be PERFECT when it is only 5 pounds!  I also know that I probably gained muscle, but unfortunately I’m still disappointed and frustrated.  I should have taken before/after measurements and pictures (which the program recommends) and I highly recommend anyone doing this program does so to take focus off the scale. 

Bottom line: I would recommend this program if you want to push yourself and feel fitter than ever.  Be sure you can commit yourself 100% because it takes a lot of motivation to stick through all 9 weeks.