This blog is devoted to answering the questions that people have with Beachbody programs, like P90X and Insanity, that go beyond what is in the program guides.
Someone posted to the P90X Discussion Group asking for someone to simplify the P90X Nutrition Plan. I responded and received good comments, so I thought I would post my answer for everyone.
The Response
Here is the essence of the P90X Nutrition Plan. The first thing you have to do is figure out how many calories you need to eat. There is a formula in the book, but there is a Caloric Needs Calculator on teambeachbody.com that is more accurate and doesnt require you to do all the math. It is under Eat Smart > Nutrition Tools. If you need an account there, here is a link for a free one:
Then based upon the calories you are supposed to eat, you look at the Level of the nutrition plan. If you are supposed to eat 2400 calories or less, use Level 1. If you need 2400-3000 calories, use Level II. More than 3000 calories, use Level III.
Then within the Levels are Phases. Generally you do Phase I in Month 1, Phase II in Month 2, Phase III in Month 3. The phases all have you eat the same amount of calories. What they change is the ratio of carbs and proteins.
Fat Shredder is Phase I and has you eating 50% of your calories from protein and 30% calories from carbs. The other 20% of your calories is fat. In Phase II the ratio is 40/40/20 and in Phase III it is 30% protein, 50% carbs, and 20% fat.
Generally the higher protein diets help to burn off fat more effectively. And I recommend that as long as you 1) Have enough energy to make it through your workouts, 2) Have enough energy throughout the day, 3) Like what you eat, and MOST IMPORTANTLY 4) Continue to get results, you can stick with the Phase that you like best.
If You Still Have Problems
Generally I recommend that people follow the sample menus in the plan for the appropriate Level and Phase. That makes it simple for me. However frequently people want a simpler plan. In that case, I recommend that you consider the nutrition plan out of the Body for Life book. The Body for Life Plan is generally similar to Phase II from the P90X Nutrition Plan, and should give you the right amount of calories.
The Beachbody Coach Summit took place from June 17-19, 2011, and as expected there were A Lot of announcements to share with everyone. I normally mail updates to my customers, however a message with all the information would be overwhelming, so I thought I would send everyone a message referring them to this blog post if they want more info on the subjects. So, enjoy!
P90X2
P90X2 is supposed to be available for the 2011 Christmas/Holiday season. Preordering will hopefully become available in August, and you should take advantage of it, as Beachbody is trying to balance out the projected orders, and only does a limited run for new programs until they see the demand, so there is strong potential that it might go out of stock early.
As far as the program itself goes, P90X2 will be a 90 day program that you do 5 days a week. Yes I wrote 5 days a week. There will be 14 workouts that are part of the program, which will have 3 distinct phases; Learning, Strength and Performance, and it appears that you will do different workouts in the different phases.
Tony Horton and his advisors describe P90X2 as the most advanced program ever put on DVD. Note that they did not say the most intense. While it will not be as theoretically extreme or intense as Insanity or Asylum, the entire P90X2 program was scientifically designed to provide maximum gains in all areas of fitness.
P90X2 is not however a program for beginners. Doing pushups while your hands and feet are on balls requires very significant core strength for example. It is designed to improve all areas of athleticism, but needs a good base to build on.
The above also touched upon the need for some extra equipment. While there will be alternatives for people who don’t have the equipment, P90X2 will use medicine balls, stability balls, a weighted bar, and a foam roller.
One major change that you might or might not notice is that there will be no traditional cardio in P90X2. As all the work is essentially intervals, you are improving your cardio vascular fitness enough for functional health as Tony stresses. Tony and the people he works with believe that intervals provide more effective improvements, and you also don’t see a functional reason for the normal person to just keep their heart rate in an aerobic range for extended periods of time.
Just to answer another question you might have, yes there will still be yoga, but it will only be about 65 minutes long.
For those of you that care, it might be available in Blue Ray format.
There will be multiple nutrition plans available to accommodate the most common dietary styles, including vegetarians and vegans. Shakeology will also be integrated into the plans.
I will provide more info and videos later, but please let me know if you have specific questions on this.
P90X iPhone App
The long awaited P90X iPhone app should be available in August. This was the most secretive part of the whole summit, where they wanted all recording stopped. While it is still unclear as to what can tell you now, I will say that it has the workout tracking that you all wanted, and so much more. You will definitely be able to take P90X to the gym. From the little bit that we saw, I can tell you that the P90X app is AWESOME!
To answer other questions, you should be able to run the app on iPads, as well. There was however no information about Droid or other pending smart phone versions.
Active Duty Military Coach Fees Waived
As many of you know Beachbody actively supports the military and their families. To further that support, people who have an active duty military person in their family will be able to sign up to be a Beachbody Coach for free, which saves $39, and the later monthly fees ($15) will also be waived. This means it is essentially free for you to be a coach.
While this is clearly an outstanding opportunity for military families to create a second income with no money out of pocket, it is also a great way to get all Beachbody products at a wholesale cost. For example, Shakeology will be $90 per order for military families. You get all programs, including Insanity and TurboFire for the coach prices of $90, and it costs you nothing.
The new Shakeology flavor was formally debuted at the summit, and is named, Tropical. They describe it as based primarily on Banana, Pineapple, and Papaya, and was designed to be a light flavor that is there to enhance the flavors of what you add to it. It was designed to be versatile. For the summit, they were blending it with pineapple, strawberries, yogurt, and milk, and the closest thing I could describe it as was somewhat of a bubblegum flavor. I don’t however believe that that description does it justice.
Many coaches were mixing the Tropical with Chocolate flavors and loved the combination. Personally, I love chocolate, and prefer the chocolate, but I definitely liked Tropical more than Greenberry.
While it is pretty much ready to go, Beachbody is a major stickler for all around quality, especially with regard to Shakeology, and they are still making sure that the formula will have significant shelf life and will not be impacted by adverse shipping conditions. They intend for the flavor to be ready to ship by the end of the year.
Vegan Shakeology and Other Flavors
Very ironically, all of the people who designed Shakeology are vegans, and given that Shakeology uses whey protein, it is not technically a vegan product. They all drink it though. Given the market, they are continuing to work on Vegan Shakeology, and have the product ready during the first quarter of 2012. While I realize this is not the news you want to hear, I get enough questions about this, so I wanted to give you a status that Beachbody knows of your concerns, and is actively addressing them. Apparently the holdup is that they have had difficulties finding a formula that has a flavor and consistency that will meet all standards of quality, which includes taste and consistency.
While there was no detail about this subject, there is also at least one additional flavor in the works that they hope to also have ready in the first quarter of 2012. It will not however be Vanilla, as many people hope, as that flavor was nixed last year as it was being ready to be shipped. Again, they could not get enough quality vanilla that was not chemically treated to have a good flavor as a lead flavor. They will not compromise their core beliefs even when the demand for the product is huge.
New Tai Chi Program
The only new program announced, besides P90X2, is a Tai Chi based program. I will have more information on that later in the year. For those of you not familiar with Tai Chi, it is a martial art that is essentially a slow movement of Kung Fu sequences. The program is designed for people of all ages, but is probably going to be more popular with people who have flexibility issues, difficulty with the harder programs, or just want an easier program for a change that strives for mental clarity.
The New $100,000 Beachbody Challenge
Beachbody has completed renovated what was previously known as the Million Dollar Body Challenge, and renamed it simply, The Beachbody Challenge. Now you can win up to $100,000. Everyone who enters gets a T-shirt for just submitting their story. While a huge transformation is outstanding, for just signing up and submitting your Success Story, you will get a T-shirt. The only requirement is that you have an account on teambeachbody.com. If you are my customer, or have a coach, you already have an account. If you dont have an account yet, please click here for a free one. If you want more information, please e-mail me.
If you are interested in this in any way, please contact me so I can help you. My e-mail is ira@xcompanionguide.com. I have helped many people make it through their respective program, and have decades of experience in fitness and nutrition, and I am more than happy to help you find the right program for your needs, and make it through the program with the best possible results.
Beachbody Continues to Grow and Improve
As you can tell, Beachbody continues to grow and expand their product lines to better serve you. They also have a special concern to supporting members of the military and will continue to support them and their families however they can.
I have clearly thrown a lot out here, so please feel free to personally contact me if you want details on anything mentioned here, or anything else related to fitness, nutrition, or Beachbody in general. I can again be reached at ira@xcompanionguide.com.
For good reason, people do think that Shakeology is expensive. The fact is that you have to pay for a 30 day supply at one time, and I get that. However, when you break it down on a per meal basis, it is actually pretty cheap, and there are a variety of ways to get it that make the price as low as $3 per serving.
Why I Think Shakeology is Actually Cheap
When you do buy a one month supply at a time, I do understand that costs $89-$119. That is a given. However if you divide it into 30 separate meals, it works out to $3-$4 per serving. My Egg McMuffin with an iced mocha cost me $5+ the other day. Even making a reasonably healthy meal at home is going to cost more than $3 per serving.
I tend to eat out a lot and using Shakeology, instead of eating out and taking my family with me, has saved me hundreds of dollars a month. So, while I understand that laying out the money all at once seems expensive, to me it saves me a lot of money. Again though, stop and calculate what you personally spend on a healthy meal.
Spending As Little As Possible on Shakeology
Monthly Auto-Ship for Free Shipping
There are a couple of ways to save money with Shakeology. Fundamentally, you can start by ordering Shakeology with the Monthly Auto-Ship option, AKA Home Direct. If you use this option, you save the shipping fee, which is around $10 or more.
While the policy states that if you order with Home Direct, you have to order for at least two months, if you are not happy with the product, Beachbody will cancel your order at any time. You can also put your order on hold indefinitely. The risk most people are afraid of is that they will order with Home Direct and forget to cancel or hold the second order if they are not interested. There is however Beachbody’s 30 day unconditional money back guarantee, so at the worst case you are out the cost to return an empty bag of Shakeology.
The Preferred Customer Option
A Preferred Customer is the term that I use to describe a person who signs up to be a coach specifically for the discounts. Beachbody Coaches get just about everything Beachbody sells at 25% off, which means that you can buy Shakeology for $89. That is a $30 savings per order.
The fee to be a coach is $15 per month, so if you order nothing else, you have a net savings of $15 per month, or about $180 per year. This is in addition to saving $10 per order by ordering Home Direct. It must however be noted that there is an additional $24 fee when you sign up. For this reason, it is only worth becoming a coach if you intend to order Shakeology for more than one month.
Again, you also save 25% on just about all other products, including the upcoming P90X2 and any other product. Additionally, if any of your friends are impressed by your results and want to follow the same programs as you, they can purchase the products through you and you can earn a 25% commission.
Active Duty Military and Spouses Have NO Fees
Beachbody just started a program that waives coach fees for Active-Duty Military or their spouse. This way Shakeology can be a flat $89. Period. The sign up fee and monthly fee will be waived, so if you want just about any Beachbody product at 25% off, it pays to sign up to be a coach if you qualify. You need to fill out the right coach application to qualify for this. Please e-mail me at ira@xcompanionguide.comfor the forms.
No, You Don’t Have To Buy Anything
The one hesitation people have is that they are afraid they will be forced to buy products or make sales. To be very clear, the only requirement is the $14.95 monthly fee. Here is an excerpt from the Beachbody Coach FAQ.
Will I have to purchase products for resale?
Unlike marketing programs that require you to buy a lot of products in order to participate, the Coach Opportunity has no inventory requirements.
Just like all Beachbody products, coaching and Shakeology comes with a money back guarantee. You can cancel Shakeology at any time, and return any for a full refund (minus shipping). You can cancel coaching at any time.
What I Tell My Friends and Family
Even if you only intend to order once, I recommend ordering with Home Direct/Monthly Auto-Ship. Again, you can put future shipments on hold and send it back if you are not interested. If you think Shakeology is something that you want to use on an ongoing basis, in my opinion, it only makes sense to sign up to be a Preferred Customer. You are otherwise throwing away money.
If You Are Interested, Please Talk To Your Coach
If a coach sent you to this page, please go back to them for help in deciding the best way to order. If you don’t have a coach already, or prefer to talk to me, you can email me at ira@xcompanionguide.com. If you just want to order Shakeology via Home Direct, you can just click here.
Day 3 of Asylum is Strength. I have to admit it isnt necessarily what I was expecting, but it was an Asylum workout. I was definitely slowly getting worn away throughout the workout.
I guess I was expecting a P90X style workout, where you do sets of a defined exercise to exhaustion. The strength work was much more like Core Synergistics type of strength workout (to the extreme), where you are doing moves for a period of time, as opposed to a point that you are burned out. Also, similar to Core Synergistics, the exercises dont isolate a single muscle group, but combine multiple muscle groups.
The warm up is about 10 minutes, and uses dumbbells in a dynamic way. For example, holding a dumbbell, you do a squat, and then rotate it around your head. You also lunge to a side holding a dumbbell and then do a couple of rows. In this workout, you do repeat sequences of events. However as opposed to doing an exercise harder in the second and third sequence (as you would in Insanity), Shaun T makes the moves more complicated. This is how it is throughout the workout.
Again, there is a short stretch, and you go into the strength training. The exercises get progressively more intense. Again, as the time goes on, you get worn down. There aren't any max rep exercises. While a pull up bar is desireable, there is only one set of real pull ups. There is also a mountain climber set of pull ups, where you dont necessarily pull yourself up, but you hold yourself in position with your chin above your bar, and then you attempt to switch your hands into different positions. This is really hard.
While a pull up bar is desirable, there are non-pull up options for all exercises, so you really dont need a pull up bar.
I am assuming that there is some more strength work in the other exercises. At this point, I would describe this strength work as much more like P90X+ than P90X. If you are not familiar with P90X+, then consider it a much harder version of Core Synergistics. I know it will create much more muscle endurance, and to say I was profusely sweating is an understatement. Whatever you want to call it, it is a very serious workout that does work your whole body. However I want people to be aware of what to expect.
The first official day of Asylum is the Speed and Agility DVD. As with all Insanity workouts, you never know what to expect. However, the Fit Test did give you a feel for what to expect. So, here is the first impression review of what to expect in the workout and review of the workout.
The warm up was actually a series of primarily jump rope exercises about a minute each. These include jumping rope with high knees, criss crossing, etc. Every set was about a minute each and it ended up being about 10 minutes long. There is no repeating of the exercises multiple times. There is no bar graph on the bottom of the page about the level of difficulty, like there is in Insanity. I guess the philosphy is that you are always supposed to push yourself. Stretching was less than 5 minutes.
I have to admit that the early part of the actual workout was more difficult mentally than physically. It was a lot of concentration to do the quick feet through the agility ladder. For the first section of the workout, I really didnt feel like I was being worked that hard, and probably could have got a more effective workout if I wasnt worried about fast feet stepping in the right places. I assume that over the next 30 days, it will get better.
However the workout did become progressively harder. You can see the value of the agility ladder, as In and Outs are now measured and you are pushed to bring your feet in tight. That takes a lot of work after awhile, and Shaun T keeps coming back to Ins and Outs. There are a few moving push ups. I lot of hops on one and two legs that begin to wear you out. Also, I was surprisingly hurting doing Bear Crawls, which you end up doing several variations of throughout the last 15 minutes.
I dont intend to go exercise by exercise through the program, but in general, you do a move for a minute and then move on. You do come back to In and Outs, and do variation of some of the moves you did before. Again, Asylum is emerging to be much more like a Pure Cardio workout, where you dont go through multiple sets that you do with more effort in the progressive sets. It is go all out on every set. I did this workout in a hotel room with the air conditioning on very high, and yet despite my early comments about the workout being more mentally than physically hard, I was drenched in sweat. So far it appears that Insanity is meant to make you a better athlete, who needs agility as much as they need to build up endurace. I am not sure if I can say that this workout was harder than lets say, Max Plyo, but if I stick with it, I know I will be quicker and possibly as fit.
This is however Day 2 and there are 6 more DVDs to try out. There is however a theme that seems to be emerging that Asylum is definitely more in tune to make you a better athlete, rather than just getting you in better shape. Strength is tonight when I get back home.
As I received Asylum today, I just had to do something. You are supposed to do the Athletic Performance Assessment, also known is Insanity lingo as the Fit Test, before beginning Asylum. Unlike doing Insanity, there is no time to waste with a Fit Test within the 30 days. Frankly, I dont even think there are more than 2 Rest Days in the program. As I intend to go through all the DVDs as soon as possible, I thought I would throw this review up asap for everyone else so that they know what to expect. If you want to read my future reviews, please feel free to Like this page.
Surprisingly, the Asylum Fit Test was not as strenuous as the Insanity Fit Test. There is more focus on functional fitness, like agility, as opposed to just cranking out numbers like in Insanity. Don't get me wrong. It isn't easy by any means. Most of the exercises involve the agility ladder in one way or another. There are a few fast feet exercises, where you zig zag in and out of the ladder. There is the Bear Crawl, where you crawl back and forth on the floor over the ladder. There are X Jumps, similar to P90X X Jumps, but deeper. There is also a set of pull ups or push ups at your descretion.
Again though, I wont dread doing this Fit Test as much as I do the Insanity Fit Test. Maybe I am in better shape, but the tests didn't seem to wear me down. I was sweating. I was somewhat winded at times. But, I look at it as more of a sign as what is to come. There will be a big focus on quick feet. There will be a bigger focus on moving exercises...and there will be pull ups.
Now that Asylum is out, there are a lot of people who want to know how it differs from the other programs. Is it worth it? Which program should you pick? Etc? In short, Asylum is the most extreme program that Beachbody produces, and could easily be the most intense home fitness program ever. However, that by itself doesn't adequately describe the program.
What is INSANITY: THE ASYLUM™?
INSANITY: THE ASYLUM is the first in-home sports-specific training program based on drills used by pro athletes. During this intense 30-day program, you’ll practice moving like a football running back, serve aces like a tennis pro, score points like an all-star guard, and more. Your instructor, Shaun T, creator of successful programs like INSANITY® and Hip Hop Abs®, will help you spike your speed, coordination, agility, strength, and power to an elite athlete level.
That is the Beachbody description of the program. In short, it is intense sports condition that will take anyone to the next level of athletic performance.
The Basics
Asylum is a 30 day DVD based home fitness program. It includes 8 DVDs. The 6 main DVDs are generally 45 minutes each, with the stretch DVD being 25 minutes, and a longer workout being 60 minutes. There is also the equivalent of a Fit Test for 25 minutes and an Overtime workout being 15 minutes that you can do at the end of any other workout to add more intensity.
Unlike Insanity, Asylum is definitely a full body workout and requires a pull up bar and dumbbells, or bands. The Asylum Base Set contains the DVDs, an agility ladder, a jump rope and the supporting books and charts. There is a Deluxe Set that includes bands and a pull up bar. The sets are $89 and $179 respectively.
Why is it effective?
Shaun T built INSANITY: THE ASYLUM on three cross-training cycles. During Cycle 1, he’ll push you to master a series of core sports exercises. Once you’ve gotten those under control, the real fun begins. As you step up to Cycle 2 and Cycle 3, Shaun T challenges you to dig even deeper with more complicated sports moves and progressively tougher drills. This combination pushes you to use more muscles and develop skills that give you a measurable competitive edge.
What makes INSANITY: THE ASYLUM unique?
Elite athletes use proven sports training drills to sharpen their game-day skills and get into astonishing shape. Now with INSANITY: THE ASYLUM, you can too. With its included Agility Ladder and Speed Rope, you’ll train with more focus, concentration, and skill—just like an elite pro athlete. After 30 days, you’ll get faster, stronger, and more agile than you ever imagined—enabling you to perform any sport or activity with eye-popping speed and skill.
How does it work?
INSANITY: THE ASYLUM combines MAX Interval Training with progressive sports drills to push you to Dig Deeper® than ever. Shaun T will lead you through sports-based exercises that get progressively harder. So you’ll burn calories, build muscle, and unleash your inner world-class athlete. In just 30 days, you’ll be ready to compete, with dramatic, measurable improvements in your athletic ability.
Who Should Do Asylum?
Beachbody tells coaches that the ideal Asylum user has already completed P90X, Insanity, or another extreme program. It is also described as being for current or former athletes who want to take their performance to the next level. Shaun T basically told a group of us that it is basically for someone who is already an athlete at some level.
Who Shouldn't Do Asylum?
Here is the exact quote from Beachbody as to who shouldn't do Asylum:
Beginners; pregnant women; children; people who aren’t willing to work hard; people with back, neck, joint, or other injuries; or people who don’t consistently do high-impact exercise.
I have to admit that it is a peeve of mine when I hear people tell other people with pain or who are clearly beginners that they should take on an extreme workout. In my opinion, even assuming the person doesn't injure themself, it is unlikely that they will complete an extreme program and just waste their money. Please just accept that if Beachbody says you shouldn't buy their program, you shouldn't buy their program.
If You're Not Ready For Asylum
If you are hesitant to do Asylum, there is nothing wrong with doing P90X or Insanity to establish a base. P90X is a more forgiving workout that is great preparation for Insanity and Asylum. However, you will have a big wake up call, if you haven't done Insanity before Asylum.
Asylum Will Get You To The Next Level
Shaun T told a small group of coaches that he added 6" to his vertical leap after going through Asylum. If it can give Shaun T that level of improvement, just imagine what it can do for the average person. If you are ready for the challenge, then take it.
The Weight Watchers diet plan is really common, and many people who do P90X, Insanity, or the other Beachbody programs want to continue using the diet as they are already familiar with it. There is no reason that you can’t use the diet plan with these workouts. This information can be used for the Points Plus system.
The Problem With the Weight Watchers Diet
The problem with the Weight Watchers diet program is that the goal is to lose weight through a calorie restricted diet. It assigns people points to optimize fat loss, by taking people down to about 1,000 calories a day below their Maintenance Level. This gives people an average loss of 2 lbs of fat a week, which is the supposed maximum safe fat loss level. Any more than that and your body can go into starvation mode, where your body tries to save itself by hoarding fat and burning muscle. That is obviously bad.
However, when you add an extreme fitness program like Insanity or P90X, you increase your daily calorie burn dramatically. If you don’t add calories to your diet, you move from the safe fat loss level to starvation mode. While Weight Watchers assumes some light activity in their point calculation, they don’t anticipate P90X level activity. So if you are already on Weight Watchers, you have to add extra points/calories to your diet to maintain a safe level of weight loss.
What is a Point?
To write this column, I researched Weight Watchers’ patents to come up with an answer. A Point is essentially 50 calories. However not all calories are the same. For example, 50 calories of food high in fat is worth more points, while 50 calories of food high in fiber is less than a full point. So I can’t just tell people to figure out how many calories they burn and then add the appropriate number of calories. However you can roughly estimate that you should add 2 points for every 100 calories of exercise.
How To Calculate Extra Points To Add To Your Day
In reviewing the Weight Watchers patent, there is a formula for points to allocate to your exercise. Unfortunately, Weight Watchers even states that they underestimate the Points you might need, as they believe people overestimate their exertion. However, few people would describe Insanity, P90X or TurboFire as less than Intense. For that reason, I will modify the Weight Watchers’ formula to be in the middle.
.1783 x (your weight in pounds / 2.2) x minutes of your workout / 75
So, if I am doing P90X and I weigh 154 lbs, I generally estimate that P90X averages about 70 min a day (with ARX). That means that it is:
.1783 * (154/2.2) * 70 / 75 or 11.6 points.
I round that to 12 points to add per day on average.
Simplified Math for P90X and Insanity
If you are willing to trust me, here is the overly simplified math for estimates for Insanity and P90X:
For P90X: Multiply your weight in pounds by .07564
For Insanity Month 1 and Recovery Week: Multiply your weight by .04214
For Insanity Month 2: Multiply your weight by .05943
Less Intense Workouts
While I don’t intend to downplay the level of effort involved in Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Abs, Slim in 6 and other programs, they are not at the intensity level of P90X and Insanity. There is a slight modification to the formula for these programs as follows:
.0711 x (your weight in pounds / 2.2) x minutes of your workout / 75
The other programs vary to much in length of workouts to give a more simplified number. Again, you can average the length of the workouts, so that you are not using different points every day.
Let Me Know If You Are Stuck
I realize that this can seem complicated. If you get lost in the math, feel free to send me a message at ira@irawinkler.com.
These Are Estimates
As I said, these are estimates. You need to watch your results and modify as appropriate. Ironically, I will say that if you stop losing weight, I recommend that you add points. Again, on Weight Watchers, you are already bordering on starvation mode. If you stop getting results, you very possibly put yourself firmly into starvation mode, so you should probably add about an extra 1/3 of the points you added for exercise.
Weight Watchers is a very established nutrition plan, but again it does focus on calorie restriction. P90X and other Beachbody programs focus on a holistic combination of exercise and nutrition. It can however be safely modified for the Beachbody programs.
Since Beachbody offers a lot of great home fitness programs, I am frequently asked, “Which is the best program?” I don’t know why people are surprised when I answer, “There is no single best program.” The reason is that every program has its own unique benefits. Some people would prefer one trainer over another. Some people hate Tony Horton, while others love him. Some people want an extreme workout, like Insanity, while others haven’t worked out for a decade and need a program, like Project You: Type 2. Some people run frequently and want to improve their upper body. In short, the best program depends on you.
Factors to Consider
There are a variety of issues to consider when choosing a fitness program. These factors include the program goals, trainers, program focus, program philosophy, length of program, your current condition, among other factors. Too many people go for a program that is the most popular, or listen to success stories, and that is how they make their decisions. All too often, the person will give up on the program and just waste their money. So, stop listening to the infomercials and let’s take a logical look at what to consider.
Program Difficulty
P90X and Insanity are the most popular programs out there, specifically because they are extreme. The infomercials promise that they will push you to your limits, and people think the fat melts away. They want to make the radical change in life that these programs can deliver. If that works for you, that is great. However, I contend that if you are not in good condition to start, it is probably better to be able to do 80% of an easier program like Power 90, than 40% of a harder program like P90X.
Similarly, if you want a cardio based program, Insanity is the extreme program, but you might find it easier to get through a comparatively easier program like TurboFire. It is not just that you can physically get through more of the program, and therefore burn more calories, it is probably psychologically better as well. You are more likely to continue with a workout that doesn’t make you feel like a failure if you can’t do most of it.
So in short, yes, you can get through a harder workout, but getting the most out of the process is more important than stumbling through a harder program.
Trainers
The style of a trainer can make or break a program for most people. If the trainer annoys you, then you are much less likely to finish the program. Personally, Shaun T’s style in Hip Hop Abs was hard for me to take when I did that workout. However, he is awesome, to me, in Insanity. While most people love Tony Horton’s sense of humor, there are many who hate it. Chalene Johnson is definitely the iconic aerobics instructor with all of her energy and constant smile during the hardest workouts. Many women love that style, while some men despise it on principle. Look at the sample videos and see if you appreciate the trainer’s style.
While P90X is possibly the most effective program out there, it does take the largest time commitment. P90X takes an average of 75 minutes a day and runs from 60-90 minutes 6 days a week. Then you have the other extreme of 10 Minute Trainer. With workouts that are 10 minutes long, you really have no excuses not to workout. The other programs fit somewhere within that range. The best fitness program for you is clearly one that you have time to do. Just keep in mind that the longer the workout, the better your results will be.
Making Your Choice
You need to chose the program that is best for you. If you choose a program you don't stick with, I contend that it is the program's fault, and not your's. Take advantage of Beachbody's return policy, and exchange it for a program that better matches your needs.
I'm Here To Help
I realize that this can all be overwhelming. However if you want help making your decision, or to return a program and get another one, please feel free to send me a message. I have tried all of the popular programs, and can help you make a better decision. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me at ira@xcompanionguide.com.
Recently, I was asked by a Facebook friend to compare and contrast P90X and Insanity. I believe the person was a P90Xer who was considering Insanity, but the answer can be generalized to someone who is considering one or the other program. I hope you find it useful as well.
My Answer
P90X is generally the best all around fitness program you will find. It works out the whole body and seems to be best for overall slimming. It is about 65/35 Upper/Lower Body.
Insanity is great for legs, speed, endurance, and agility. It is about 20/80 Upper/Lower body. If you have ever done P90X, it is easiest to describe it as Plyo XXX 6 days a week, with some Core Synergistics floor work thrown in.
The weakness of Insanity is that you wont see a lot of upper body gains from a strength perspective, unless you potentially add the v Upper Body Workout from the Insanity Deluxe edition. Also, as you go through P90X, you generally get stronger and feel better. This is primarily due to the yoga and stretch work and periodicity of P90X. Periodicity means that you are getting rest of your body parts throughout the program, so you can continue the program indefinitely. Insanity is pretty much all out for the length of the program, save a week in the middle of it, and you can get burned out towards the end.
Insanity however has its own benefits. Again, your leg strength and endurance will explode. The program is only 63 days vice 90, so you have a quicker deadline. Insanity workouts are generally shorter. You generally need to allocate 60-90 minutes a day with P90X, but only 30-60 minutes a day with Insanity.
While Insanity is definitely a full out exercise for most of the workout, P90X is definitely not easy. While full out circuit training, which is really what P90X is, provides periods of rest between sets, doing weightlifting sets to exhaustion should be as hard as Insanity. You just get the rest between sets.
The big potential drawback for Insanity is that it is non-forgiving, and can cause injury. Many people are forced to stop Insanity because of shin splints, knee pain, or similar issues. If you have good leg constitution, you will be ok.
What It Really Means
In the end, there is no better program. The best program is the one that best meets your goals. I personally cycle between the programs and generally do a hybrid. Again, I think I get the best overall gains with P90X, but after doing Insanity, P90X cardio can be weak.
