P90X® versus Insanity®

(The video above has nothing to do with Insanity or P90X. I just came across it while looking for Insanity clips and loved this guy so much!)

My workout schedule for last night called for P90X's Chest & Back and Insanity's Cardio Power & Resistence. Yeah, I know I was supposed to take a break from double work-outs, but I feel like a slacker when I only do one.

Several months ago I suffered from serious gym burnout. After going to the gym regularly for a year, I couldn't stand it anymore. I hated the smell, I hated seeing all the same machines and equipment, I hated seeing the same ol' people. But I knew I still had to strength train. So P90X it was! I started doing it with the husband. Tony Horton cracked us up. That guy is pretty entertaining. The workouts were challenging and left me feeling sweaty and accomplished. However, since I was still running, I eventually phased P90X back out and started going back to the gym. It was just easier to hit the weights and then hop straight on the treadmill.

Then I hurt my foot around August or September (bursitis according to the doc). The podiatrist told me to lay off of running until it felt better. I tried the elliptical at the gym, but I freakin hate that machine. It's sooooooo boring. I think I lasted 20 minutes the first time. The next time I hopped on it, I didn't even last 3 minutes. I was watching a guy run in front of me on the treadmill, and I just got angry and jealous and left. I was going to go back to P90X, but a running friend recommended I try Insanity. He said he did it while his foot was injured. It didn't hurt his foot, and when he returned to running he was still as fast as before.

So I looked into it. I remember one person saying Insanity was like doing P90X's plyometric workout at six times the intensity every day for six days a week. Haha! Sold! Sounds like the challenge I needed. I showed the husband that review and he told me to have fun. Heh.

Insanity has you doing the Fit Test for the first day. Okay, tiring, but not so bad. You do several exercises and record how many reps you can do. I thought this was pretty neat as it has you do the Fit Test every two weeks so you can see how much you've improved. The second day called for Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Oh. My. Freakin. God. I was panting from the get-go. Sweat was spewing from every single pore of my body. I wanted to die. Intense would be an understatement in describing this workout. Every short 30 second water break was like mana from heaven. And well, except for Cardio Recovery, every single other Insanity workout was just as intense. You know the workouts are pretty damn hard-core when even the folks in the work-out and Shaun T, the host, himself, needs to take a break.

Insanity has you working out 6 days a week for a total of 9 weeks. The first 4 weeks cycles through five different workouts:

1) Fit Test
2) Plyometric Cardio Circuit
3) Cardio Power & Resistence
4) Cardio Recovery
5) Pure Cardio

Some days also incorporate a Cardio Abs workout in addition to whatever is scheduled for the day.

After the 4 weeks, you then do 1 week of Core Cardio & Balance to recover. You do this 6 days for the recovery week. This was slower, but had some killer shoulder endurance exercises.

Then it's on to the final 4 weeks. This phase cycles through four different workouts:

1) Max Interval Circuit
2) Max Interval Plyo
3) Max Cardio Conditioning
4) Max Recovery

It also incorporates the Fit Test and Cardio abs with some of the workouts. I only made it through the first 3 workouts listed above. I got really sick (super bad cold and cough) and had problems breathing. Plus, the cold had me super tired to be begin with.

When I finished the first four weeks of Insanity, I was feeling pretty damn good about myself. I was able to almost (hehe) keep up with the workouts. And then came Month 2. Jeez. I felt like a complete and utter weakling. If I thought the first month of Insanity was crazy hard, the second month was like three times more intense!

Anyway, like I said, I only made it 3 days into Month 2 of Insanity. I'm trying again, but right now I'm only two weeks into the first Month.

Where Insanity only takes 9 weeks to finish, P90X takes 13. P90X has you cycle through 6 different workouts for the first 3 weeks, then there's a recovery week with the "easier" workouts. Then it kinds of repeats that for the rest of the schedule.

Last night after I did P90X's Chest & Back workout, I didn't even break a sweat. Now don't get me wrong. It's a great workout! I so welcomed Tony Horton's workout. You get breaks galore and never do you feel like you want to die. I love P90X's strength workouts. They're great and Tony Horton makes me laugh.

When I did P90X's Legs & Back workout for the first time, I did it with the husband. He had to quit after the first half. I pressed on and he was amazed asking me how come I didn't feel like dying. Hehe. Keep in mind that I was regularly hitting the gym 3 times a week to strength train, running 20 - 30 miles a week, and taking a couple of group exercise classes. But even with that base, Insanity had me feeling like an exercise newbie.

P90X is great if you want to get strong. I could never keep up with its Ab Ripper X. And Yoga X made me sweat big time. I know! Yoga!

However, for me, cardio and endurance is my priority, hence, I'm following the Insanity schedule. However, because I do want to maintain my strength, I'm also incorporating the P90X strength training workouts into my schedule. They're fun and a nice breather before the Insanity workouts. And I like the eye-candy on Insanity. Shaun T is fine as hell (I could give a damn if he's gay). And there's another cutie named Jimmy who is in some of the workouts. Yum. Wait, what were we talking about again?