Insanity workout.
Not sure what it is?
Never seen late night TV (or early morning Teleshopping ads) ??????
You can see a snippet here:
These adverts are hugely motivational (and clever)….and if you are already sold on it – you can buy INSANITY workout HERE .
Maybe you should just read the rest of this review first……
First things first
I’ ll point out first off that I have NEVER done an ‘Insanity workout.’
Therefore, I am not going to say “Don’t do it – because you actually might benefit …or even like it!
Hell, I even mentioned it HERE IN ONE OF MY MOST ‘SHARED’ ARTICLES on all of your OPTIONS TO LOSE WEIGHT. [CLICK] (It’s about a 3rd down the page)…..it’s another option that might just be for you.
Anyway – I borrowed it from a bootcamper – and reviewed it this weekend.
My initial thoughts……
They warm up – good start! The warm up is crucial to any workout. It sets the tone, wakes the body up, lubricates the joints (This workout is going to need it!) and most importantly – aims to prevent injury.
Even the warm up is hard! It is some low level jumping that gets faster and faster.
I then saw:
- Loads of bouncing
- High knees
- Heismans (side to side sprint)
- Butt kicks
- Mummy kicks? (These just looked odd)
- Jumping Jacks
– A Break for 30 seconds
– Stretching – 7 mins
Back to workout
- Suicides
- Power squats
- Vertical Mountain climbers
- Ski jumps
- Plyo ‘skip feet’
- Football wide sprints
- Press ups
- Press up position mountain climbers
All the DVD’s seemed to be a mish mash of all these exercises. They were just called something different.
It looked fairlytough though.
Those of you who are relatively accustomed to exercise may notice something that others have not.
PRETTY MUCH ALL THE EXERCISES ARE PLYOMETRIC!! (Bouncing Exercises)
I won’t go into why I don’t use many plyometrics – but you can quickly read about them HERE (Don’t forget to read page 2)
Go on.
I will wait for you. (It takes about 90 seconds)
Seriously.
Now that you have read that all-important link above……here is the one quote that stuck out in my mind like a sore thumb (or ankle or knee or calf – see what I did there?).
“High-intensity drills can subject a participant to forces up to seven times his or her Bodyweight”.
Do you think that sounds bad? I do.
It’s almost ironic – because people worry when they see someone with a barbell on their back doing squats or lunges…….but really, the forces on the joints does not compare to ground reaction forces when jumping…………………………….Like, a thousand times.
Whats worse…….this jumping goes on and on.
And on.
And on.
So what you have in the end – is a lot of jumping around, 1 footed or 2 footed , getting tired.
So what you have in the end – is a lot of OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE (who are heavy) – who are not strong enough to control the deceleration of their body- jumping around, 1 footed or 2 footed , getting tired – and increasing the risk of injury to the ankle/achilles, the knees, the hips and lower back.
A wiser move in my opinion would be to use strength training and use these plyometrics EXTREMELY SPARINGLY.
For plyometrics – you need to be lean, strong, and have pretty sound ‘body awareness’ (coordination).
Here’s my quick summary of Insanity Workout DVD
Here’s the good:
- If it gets people moving – then it’s a good thing. We need to move, and if this is what gets you moving (like if you hate the gym) – then by all means give it a go. (I would say if you ‘re really overweight, do not run and jump a lot)
- As it is a high intensity interval workout – you will more than likely get good results if your food is on track.
- Also, with a High intensity interval workout – you will get good results………AND WITH LESS TIME EXERCISING.
- The exercises are not inherrently bad………if you and your body are ready for them.
Here’s the bad:
- The risk of injuries is high. Simply because there’s like a gazillion jumps in each workout. This risk increases with more body weight, lower strength levels, and low body-awareness and coordination.
- It’s expensive? You might disagree but £106 for some DVD’s? Sounds like a lot to me.
- Could be time consuming? 40mins per day. However, I’m still not sure if this is meant to ‘only be for 90 days’………..so maybe you don’t mind that. Either way, 90 days of this amount of jumping is not what I recommend.
- Like all DVD workout programs……it will get old after several weeks. You know right when Shaun T is going to say ‘Go for the burn!’ (Or whatever he says).
- You might lose weight – but you won’t get a great deal stronger.
- It doesn’t really give you any easier options – this is why people get injured and then say that they cannot do an exercise because their back or knees are killing them. The whole product could be made easier with this alone. (Although then you wouldn’t have the INSANITY theme anymore would it?)
- Do you not think it’s weird that this guy can be so intense and ‘PRO-hardcore’ in one ‘fat loss DVD’ (Insanity) and then so camp and ‘anti-harcore’ in another? Click to see!
Actually, I do know why. It’s because people who think they are ‘hardcore’ will buy insanity……..and those that ‘do NOT DO hardcore’ will buy this tripe. (By the way, much like zumba – this dancey stuff CAN work…….but you need to do lots of it……not miss many sessions or you will lose the benefits…..and your diet better be 95% on it with real food and not go too high on calories).
I would like to be fair and point out that some of the exercises are great calorie-burners. If you’re an ex-athlete, and are only a little out of shape……..why not do the following?
- Do 20-40mins strength and muscle training (low or no impact)
- Finish with some of these exercises….and stop at the point that technique breaks down (to prevent injury)
In my sessions – I kind of have a ‘RULE’ (and I believe it should be a rule of every personal trainer)
“First rule of personal training….DO NO HARM”
People cannot improve if they are injured.
Once you really injure someone – they are changed for life. Both Physically – and psychologically (be it confidence etc)
Given all the evidence, here’s my thoughts in 1 paragraph?
Insanity should NOT be a long term solution. The plyometrics are just too much! By all means, use the exercises shown, but not all thrown together in the way they are here. When your joints are worn down – they are worn down. Use strength training as your main focus, and finish it with some moves like this if you are in relatively half-decent shape…..if you have more than a few stone to lose – then stay away from this and use something else – and as always, focus on the food.
I might get some flack for the above article – I am sure there are loads of people who have done well with INSANITY – and not got injured. You might be lucky. You might previously been involved in sports when you were young and so will be well-coordinated. Or, your joints might start to detereorate in a few years.
I just have to give the pros and cons as I see them for the long term success of you – the reader.
An After Thought
Insanity is one of these products that’s marketed to those that are desparate for a quick-fix.
” I need to lose 2 stone in 6 weeks.” etc.
You know what?
“An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure”
- It’s far easier to just do some basic exercise more days than not.
- It Doesn’t have to be fancy – press ups and climbing the stairs works.
- Insanity exercises work too – but you have to ‘earn’ the right to do them by being in fairly good shape already. If you want to do insanity exercise – why not start off with some beginner burpees – like this —-> CLICK HERE . Why not start at level 1 before jumping in at level 10?
- I know it’s not sensational or sexy to say: ‘stay more or less in good shape’ – but it makes more sense!
John
