p90x or insanity?

cailinlowe

Alright friends, here's the deal, there is 17 weeks and 3 days until my spring break (3/11/13). I will be finishing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred next Thursday (11/15/12) and trying to decide which workout program to do next that will get me close to where I want to be for spring break.

What is your recommendation? p90x or insanity, and WHY?

Also, with whatever program, should I start right away, or rest a week or so? (If I start right away, that's starting the week of Thanksgiving and I"m not sure I can handle that)

Thanks for all your opinions and answers. Feel free to add me on here for motivation and support :]

start weight: 186
current weight: 175.4
goal weight: 130-145

psuLemon

P90X... weights are better for fat loss and you will get much stronger from p90x than you would from insanity. And i would take a week off and eat at maintenance. This way your hormones are regulated before you start. Also, follow he Beachbody calorie plan, not MFP. You will need a ton of calories for both of these programs.

Also, p90x2 is my favorite bb set right now. And i have done clx, insanity/p90x, and p90x2

cailinlowe

Also, I'm not actually buying the programs. i already have the videos so im finding the calendars online and just going to follow them. I am not able to buy the programs or the foodstuffs that come with it because i'm a poor college kid. However, I am eating fairly healthy and drinking tons of water. I understand that I will not get the ultimate results if i dont do the exact program, but it'll still be awesome.

wrevhn

I have p90x, its good. The dvds are longer though, alot 45 min +. Insanity is shorter I think. Both are good.

cailinlowe

bump

kelly_e_montana

When I finish my 30 DS, I would like to do Chalean Extreme. P90X just looks like it would take so long each day that i might not do it. Do you like weights or cardio better? I have a friend who is doing Turbo Fire who really likes it, too.

The other thing is that you will get results out of calorie deficit for weight loss no matter how you get that deficit, but if you build muscle, your metabolism will be higher overall all the time AND, for you, most importantly, you will look more toned in a bathing suit. I am a yo yo dieter unfortunately and have learned that people notice my weight loss as soon as I start adding heavier weights because I just seem more toned instead of getting skinny-fat.

mjterp

bumping because I want to know too!

mjterp

This is JUST gossip...I heard somewhere that P90X has better form and less risk for injury than Insanity (likely because of the higher impact factor?) But I also heard that using your own body weight for resistance (Insanity) shapes your body better.
So in my mind, that put them both on equal footing again. I know someone at work that is doing Insanity. She has lost over 100 pounds and likes that it doesn't use weights. I think she is on her second or maybe it is her third time through. BUT one user does NOT a valid survey make. SO...again I leave to eagerly await the responses of those that are truly "in the know."

cailinlowe

I've been looking around online, and i really can see the pros and cons of both. the reason i'm leaning more towards insanity, is the fact that the workouts are shorter, the whole program is shorter, and i need NO equipment. right now i really just need to lose a lot of fat. insanity is mostly cardio, which targets fat. and there will be some toning there. After i lose most of the fat is when i will start to be concerned with lifting weights and getting lots of muscle. I'll get some muscle and toning doing insanity, but right now i really need to get rid of fat. If i start the Sunday after thanksgiving (11/25), I would be done with insanity by January 23, which would leave me with 6.5 weeks to do weight and strength training before my spring break trip.

JenMcCrory

P90x is good and it works if you follow it BUT
-It is long. Each workout is at least an hour.
-It can get very repititive although you change the weight dvds each phase you don't change the cardio ones.
-The only really good cardio dvd is Plyo. The yoga dvd is so long!!!!!
-There are a lot of pull ups which I found hard even with a chair

I have it and I have started it about 4 times never finished it because of reasons above. The furthest I got was 6 weeks and I had great results but I just couldn't keep it up.

Never tried Insanity so can't comment. I'm doing Jillian Michaels Body Revolution at the moment and love it you could check that out. Good luck!!!

Blmarlborough

I personally like to do a hybrid of the two. Use P90x whenever I want to shake up my usual workout schedule. And I typically do Insanity for a Cardio session.

charelg

I've done some of p90, but that was before I got into working out. So,I don't recommend if you haven't been working out much, that being said you need a pull up bar and weights. One of the DVDs is a lot of strength training, I got discouraged bc I couldn't do a pull up then. Soooooo, now I'm on week four of insanity, you also need to be in somewhat shape for it. It requires no equipment. Workouts are 30-60 minutes, mostly cardio, lots of hard cardio. Where as p90 does arms one day, ply one day, legs one day, back...etc..so far Insanity has been cardio. But I've never sweated that much doing a workout as insanity, I'm going to finish it so hopefully be wend if this yr my Gw will be achieved. Then on to p 90, which is 90 days Vs 60. I recommend insanity if you can handle cardio, I think you will lose weight and tone up faster, then move on to p 90...IMO. Feel free to add me or message me

charelg

I've done some of p90, but that was before I got into working out. So,I don't recommend if you haven't been working out much, that being said you need a pull up bar and weights. One of the DVDs is a lot of strength training, I got discouraged bc I couldn't do a pull up then. Soooooo, now I'm on week four of insanity, you also need to be in somewhat shape for it. It requires no equipment. Workouts are 30-60 minutes, mostly cardio, lots of hard cardio. Where as p90 does arms one day, ply one day, legs one day, back...etc..so far Insanity has been cardio. But I've never sweated that much doing a workout as insanity, I'm going to finish it so hopefully be wend if this yr my Gw will be achieved. Then on to p 90, which is 90 days Vs 60. I recommend insanity if you can handle cardio, I think you will lose weight and tone up faster, then move on to p 90...IMO. Feel free to add me or message me

JatieKo621

I LOVE INSANITY! I am actually working back into shape to do it again, but when I did it I was in the BEST shape of my life (and I am not a coach or a spokesperson lol) It really got my body to a place where it hadn't been, and what I liked the most was that I didn't need weights. I always find reasons not to go to the gym-so with Insanity I had no excuses. I did it everyday before work (usually gave myself an hour to do it/recover before showering) and I am always pressed for time.

I have p90x but haven't done it yet-but I really loved Insanity. It burns fat and its also only 60 days instead of 90. I get discouraged easily but it kept me interested and since it wasn't 90 days, I felt like it was more "do-able" for me.


Good luck on whatever you choose! If you want to add me for some support feel free- its a tough program but SO worth it!!

psuLemon

I've been looking around online, and i really can see the pros and cons of both. the reason i'm leaning more towards insanity, is the fact that the workouts are shorter, the whole program is shorter, and i need NO equipment. right now i really just need to lose a lot of fat. insanity is mostly cardio, which targets fat. and there will be some toning there. After i lose most of the fat is when i will start to be concerned with lifting weights and getting lots of muscle. I'll get some muscle and toning doing insanity, but right now i really need to get rid of fat. If i start the Sunday after thanksgiving (11/25), I would be done with insanity by January 23, which would leave me with 6.5 weeks to do weight and strength training before my spring break trip.

Let me make some corrections. Cardio does NOT target fat. In fact, weight training is much more effective at cutting fat. Now where HIIT can help prevent lbm loss, you will still lose more muscle doing a program like insanity than you would would p90x. Also, even if you do P90X, it is extremely difficult to gain muscle. And the majority of people doing the program will NOT gain any lean muscle mass. The reason is people most people aren't eating a surplus of calories and if you aren't in a surplus, your body won't produce more muscle. Also, there really is no such thing as toning... toning actually is cutting body fat...

beccannes

I did Insanity in the past and lost about 25 lbs!

astheygrowup

When I finish my 30 DS, I would like to do Chalean Extreme. P90X just looks like it would take so long each day that i might not do it. Do you like weights or cardio better? I have a friend who is doing Turbo Fire who really likes it, too.

The other thing is that you will get results out of calorie deficit for weight loss no matter how you get that deficit, but if you build muscle, your metabolism will be higher overall all the time AND, for you, most importantly, you will look more toned in a bathing suit. I am a yo yo dieter unfortunately and have learned that people notice my weight loss as soon as I start adding heavier weights because I just seem more toned instead of getting skinny-fat.

ChaLean Extreme is awesome. I have both P90X and ChaLean Extreme and have yet to be able to finish P90. The workouts are just so long. I just finished my first round of ChaLean.

For the original poster what do you like best? Do you prefer weights or more cardio. That really is what it comes down to, or for me it does. You will get great results with P90..I have done it for a month just never been able to stick to it for the full length of the program. I prefer how I look and feel with more muscle and I will be honest here in that I can also eat more calories with more muscle. However if you prefer cardio I have seen amazing results with Insanity. I won't attempt that program because of all the jumping and I have bad knees.

KelliW_runner

I had great results using P90X (and I started it after 30DS). I also have the Insanity DVDs but I don't like the impact of that type of training so frequently. I do think Insanity cardio is very good - just not for 6 days/week.

I would suggest starting P90X. If at any point you feel the Plyo or Kenpo workouts are not getting your heart rate up enough, sub in an Insanity workout.

psuLemon

I had great results using P90X (and I started it after 30DS). I also have the Insanity DVDs but I don't like the impact of that type of training so frequently. I do think Insanity cardio is very good - just not for 6 days/week.

I would suggest starting P90X. If at any point you feel the Plyo or Kenpo workouts are not getting your heart rate up enough, sub in an Insanity workout.

I will note I have done the p90x/insanity hybrid and it's pretty awesome.. It gives you the strength gains and still gives you the crazy cardio.

ashfuse

Ive done both and I'd go with P90X. I also LOVE ChaLean Extreme. I just wouldn't follow the low calorie guidelines she gives on the nutrition plan. You are lifting heavy weights--gotta eat.

amikad

I have done both programs. I started with insanity and loved it. I wouldnt say I lost a lot through that program though. But I wasn't following their diet plan or drinking their recovery drink. I am in the last two weeks of P90x and I must say that I am not for sure if it has done much. The DVDs are soooo long and in order to get half the sweat I was getting with insanity, I was trying to do two DVDs a day. Cardio with P90x began to get boring. So what I have done now is started insanity again while doing p90x. So now insanity will be my cardio and P90x will be my strength training. I dislike the yoga DVD just because it is slow and is a hour and a half. On those days I do Pilates instead.

I feel smaller when I do insanity, but I was always soooo hungry, but according to my calorie burns, I wasn't burning more than 350 which I figured would be more with all the sweating I was doing.

My opinion, I love insanity and only like P90x

momar74

If you already have both of them, why not do a trial with both of them for 2-3 weeks. I have done two rounds of insanity, so can only speak about that. For the first month, it is 3 workouts plus 1 recovery repeated over for the month, I am sure p90x has a similar schedule. Once, you have exposure to both then you can decide what works the best for you.

For me, insanity was awesome but I had to work through shoulder & wrist pain due to all of the push-ups and knee pain from jumping around so much. I am getting the results I wanted, I did not follow their nutrition plan or get any of their products. I just made sure that calorie goals were met using mfp.

Lastly, measure yourself for either one you decide on. For parts of insanity, I did not loose weight but got smaller.

tomcat941

I would go with P90x, because it does so much mroe than just weight loss. It allows me to focus on fitness, and not just on eating and weight loss which was bordering on a disorder. I haven't tried insanity, btu for me, i don't consider 45 minutes enough to get a proper workout. I am fit, especially when it comes to cardio, and that is unlikely to do anything for me. Also i prefer weights. I am doing p90x now, and i really am enjoying. I find that a lot of people say that the cardio workouts aren't hard enough (like Kenpo x for example) but i have learnt that if you do it without correct form, than yes, it will be easy. Do it with correct form and you're at risk of drowning in sweat.
It does depend what your goals are. If i did insanity, i would have to add weights after the workout, but it feels like i would gain a lot more from P90x. You burn a lot of calories with P90x (i've checked this with a heart rate monitor, and tried an online calculator when i learnt that heart rate monitors might not be accurate with a exercise which involves a lot of strength) that on average (i added all the exercises together and divided it by 6, to get calories burnt in a week) i burn 420 calories. I know they say it burns 600 calories on average, but i'm 5ft 2 and a female, and i always make sure i say that i'm doing 10 minutes less than i am, to try and make sure it doesn't overestimate. With Insanity, it is meant to rbun 600 calories to, but from what i read online it only burns about 200-400 calories, depending on the exercise. If that is true you would probably burn less on Insanity than you would on P90x, not to mention your metabolism will lower a lot more if you don't add muscle. So, i would say that P90x would be moore beneficial, but seeing as all these are estimates, you'd probably lose the same, ti just depends on what your overall goal is. If you have more than 35 lbs to lose, i would start with Insanity, and than go with P90x. But otherwise i would stick with P90x, but my goal is as much strength and fitness as it is fat loss.

azwaa

I had a similar dilemma, what to do after 30 day shred. I chose to go with Jillian`s Total Body because it was basically the same idea and was only 30 minutes. After that, I tried P90x but just couldn`t get past the 35 minute mark psychologically. I would just give up. I switched to insanity which burns crazy calories for me and I could push myself those extra 10 minutes. Try a work out or two from both and see which one you like better and feel you can actually complete, because when it comes down to it, you are the one doing the work, and it won`t make a difference if you don`t do the videos, whichever one you choose.

cailinlowe

I did Insanity in the past and lost about 25 lbs!

you lost 25lbs in just one round? 60 days?

Stacyanne324

I am doing Insanity and chose it because of the shorter duration (60 days vs. 90) and because you don't need any equipment. I absolutely LOVE it! It is fun, goes by so fast, and I feel great after (not so much during..lol). I'm doing it with my husband and we are keeping each other motivated. I just started it Tuesday and did day 3 this morning and will do day 4 tonight (we are dealing with sick kids in the house so I'm playing catch up a little). I haven't done my official weigh in which is Monday but when I checked this morning I'm already down 2 pounds since Tuesday. I'm not following his diet but I am logging so I stay within calories (and honestly burning this much I can't keep up with the amount I'm burning so I'm generally under).

Good luck whatever you choose!

sarahc001

Here is a thorough comparison of both programs (and includes the lesser-known "rush-fit.") The review is done by a professional at the American Council on Exercise- ACE. "Founded in 1985, the American Council on Exercise® (ACE ®) is the largest nonprofit fitness certification, education and training organization in the world with nearly 50,000 certified professionals who hold more than 55,000 ACE certifications. Over the past 25 years, [they] have become an established resource for both fitness professionals and consumers, providing comprehensive, unbiased, scientific research impacting the fitness industry and validating ourselves as the country’s trusted authority on fitness. (from their web site)

Now for the review:

http://www.acefitness.org/certifiednewsarticle/1443/p90x-insanity-and-rushfit-a-side-by-side/

This review was the single reason I did not want to try Insanity. Comments such as "High plyometric volume, lack of biomechanical coaching and knowledge, lack of understanding of energy pathways (i.e., appropriate work-to-recovery ratios) mean this program increases the risk of excessive fatigue, compromised technique, muscle soreness and possible injury" are worrisome, especially considering the fact that keeping my body injury free is crucial to my ability to both work (I have coached figure skating full time for the past 22 years) and enjoy life. I plan to resume the strengthening DVDs in p90x in December- I'm training for a marathon, that covers the plyo/kenpo/cardio component, so I plan to skip those dvds.

Back to topic- they review is exhaustive and explores everything from "overall appeal" and "host delivery and style" to "physiological goals," "health-related parameters," "skill-related parameters," "program design and progression," "overall program safety- reducing potential for injury," "coaching cues and correctness," as well as a review of the dietary components of each of the plans. It's a good read....

clee369

Starting Strength

Rottiegirl06

I haven't tried P90x, but I did do the regular P90. The workouts stayed under an hour and only required simple weights (or resistance bands) which was great. You alternate cardio and weight / strength training each day. The cardio is the same every day but is different in each phase, but the "strength" training is different each day. I enjoyed it when I did it. I did one full round then stayed with Phase 2 for a while. I looked into P90x, but it required pull up bars and some other things and the workouts were long. I just finished my 5th week of Insanity and I have to say, I am LOVING it. There is no "formal" strength training but I can feel the results with how my body is changing. I'm excited to see the changes to come in Phase 2. With any exercise program, you need to eat properly to support the workout or your results will suffer.
If you order either one from BeachBody, they have a pretty good return policy. If for any reason you don't like it (within a specified time frame), simply return it for your money back. I haven't had to exercise this option, but I've heard they make it easy for you. You do still have to pay shipping both ways.
Good luck!

RoadsterGirlie

I'm glad I'm not the only weirdo who finds P90X too easy. I've been doing an hour a day of Jillian Michaels workouts 5 days a week for almost two years now, so perhaps my fitness level is higher than I thought.

I borrowed P90x a couple of weeks ago from my coworker to change up my routine. I have heard all kinds of things about how insanely hard the workouts from from many different people, so maybe I was expecting more.

I think the biggest difference is Tony Horton allows 30 second rests between the reps, while Jillian just keeps going and does not stop, whether it's weight training or cardio.

My friend asked me what I thought of it, and when I told him the truth he looked at me like I had two heads...

kelly_e_montana

Okay well i don't think we need to fight over words. It's stupid and unless you want to be a dictionary, it's not necessary.