He told us, "You work flat out in 3 to 5-minute blocks, and take breaks only long enough to gulp some air and get right back to work. It's called Max Interval Training, because it keeps your body working at maximum capacity through your entire workout.
A slick, well-marketed pitch, but does it work? We completed the Insanity workout below, which you can also try at home, then performed a strength and conditioning autopsy to see if there's any truth behind their claims of melted man boobs , solid six-packs and the general consensus that it's the greatest creation in sports nutrition and exercise conditioning since the invention of the dumbbell ancient Greece, if you're wondering.
The Insanity Workout is good, but not as great as their marketing literature would have you believe. A workout with the best weight training, plyometric, flexibility and endurance exercises?
A workout with the precise number of sets and repetitions? A workout that tells the athlete exactly how much weight to use? The answer is "No". Basically, there is no perfect workout plan. Of course the company behind the Insanity creation, the Beachbody Corporation, would beg to differ. With glowing testimonials and equally as impressive transformation stories, they claim it's, "Everything you need to get in the best shape of your life".
But research shows the use of the word, "Everything" might be a stretch. Here's why. On the Insanity website it's written, "Plyometrics for insane legs and glutes. Let's say that you simply go out running a few days per week at a moderate intensity or what I call "comfortably uncomfortable" without changing your intensity along the way.
As your body gets used to the intensity, you will quickly hit a plateau. Sure, you will get more efficient at running at that particular pace, but not much else will happen. Although working out in the "red zone" can have some advantages, it is really quite unnecessary for overall good health. Research has shown that exercising at a moderate intensity most days of the week results in benefits like lower blood pressure and cholesterol along with improved fitness. So unless you really enjoy that high level of intensity, this intensity of exercise is not a good bang for your buck.
Workouts range from 20 to 80 minutes. Many of the workouts follow the same basic template: including some type of high-intensity exercise for three minutes followed by 30 seconds of rest. I have to wonder if this is more of a mental workout than a physical one. The extremely limited recovery time after such high-intensity exercise makes for ridiculously hard workouts. And with workouts this challenging, I worry that the whole program will leave users unwilling or unable to live an active lifestyle outside of their dedicated insane exercise time.
Personally, I place a lot more importance on what you can accomplish during the other 23 hours of the day when you're not sweating in front of your TV. Beachbody meal plan The program also includes a basic meal plan, which will undoubtedly help participants reach their weight loss goals. Based on the marketing for the program, INSANITY seems to focus disproportionately on weight loss as a goal as opposed to other benefits of the workouts like added strength, mobility, and improved health.
Now, losing weight due to diet changes isn't uncommon for a program that incorporates both nutrition and exercise advice. Most weight loss especially the type that lasts comes from dietary changes and not from exercise alone.
This is why I spend so much of my time trying to separate the joy of movement from the number of calories you burn, and why I encourage my listeners to focus on the truly wonderful benefits of getting more movement into your day. The meal plan includes all the usual meal components: carbohydrates, vegetables, whole grains, fruits, and fats.
But it also includes their very own branded Shakeology meal replacement shakes. And while I am guilty of keeping a canister of whey protein powder in my pantry, I do not consume it daily or even weekly. Real-food nutrition is the best foundation for good health. And from what I can tell, the shakes in this plan are simply there to bulk up the calories, which could be achieved without a shake, by simply increasing the portion size of the meal itself.
Possibly because of some antiquated and unscientific idea that eating more meals per day helps keep your metabolism revved. And that's without any added shakes! Pros and cons The best part of any review is getting to list the pros and cons. So here we go! I place a lot more importance on what you can accomplish during the other 23 hours of the day when you're not sweating in front of your TV. Pros It's a zero-guesswork program.
Everything is laid out for you. They make it easy to get started. There are no fancy dance moves or tricky choreography. Cons It's a zero-guesswork program. The running mountain climbers just about killed my arms! There was a nice, long four-minute stretch at the end, for which I was grateful. I grunted my way through the workouts, but felt like a rock star afterward!
The program offers a well-rounded, full-body workout involving both cardio and strength training. All of the major muscle groups — abs , chest, glutes, legs, arms — are worked for an intense, yet satisfying routine.
With pre-planned workouts to follow every day at your own time, the Insanity program meets the needs of people working from home without access to the gym. And the intensity of the workout is definitely appealing to people who want to up their level of fitness from the comfort of home. I appreciate how the Insanity program understands when and where to insert recovery stretches, water breaks and longer cool downs at the end. The stretches still worked the muscles while simultaneously offering relief to the body parts that needed it most.
There are a lot of intense workout programs that fail to give its participants the break they need, but Insanity is not one of them. Speaking of beginners, I would say that the Insanity program is not for beginners. I think the risk for injury is just too high. Even as a fitness professional I could barely catch my breath at certain points, so starting with something a bit more low-key would be best.
Check with your health care provider before attempting the program. She is a certified personal trainer, yoga and Pilates instructor and weight-loss coach for women. Join her complimentary health and weight-loss challenge , and follow her on Instagram for daily inspiration. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Share this —.
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