Occasional Insanity?

Nottoobadyet
Nottoobadyet Posts: 4 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi guys,

Making my debut on the boards with a rather inane question :)

I have a pretty regular fitness regime at the gym - heavy lifting 3-4 times a week, occasional cardio. However I travel quite a bit for work and will be traveling even more over the next few months. Unfortunately this is exclusively to rural Uganda, where there isnt a gym equipped hotel for miles. So my fitness regime while on these trips consists essentially of having a few beers over tasteless, nutrient poor food in a shady guest house which may or may not have power / running water. Jogging isnt an option in most of these places. I'm usually away for 2-5 days at a time.

Since this will take up more and more of my time, I was considering a fitness option that would work on the road. Would it be advisable to take something like the Insanity DVDs, watch them on my laptop (when there is power) and do them at night / early morning? Would I be missing out on something major by not doing them all in a row like they are intended for? I suppose I could just continue them at home, but I'd miss my iron!

Any thoughts welcome!

Replies

  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Have you considered getting a TRX suspension system? As long as you have a sturdy door to hang it from you can get a pretty decent body weight workout and they pack easily in your luggage. (I just got mine but we use one at my tri club as part of the strength program)
  • djames92
    djames92 Posts: 990 Member
    as far as i know insanity is supposed to be done back to back because it targets different muscle groups every day so your body cant adapt. if you cant do them all in a row doing them randomly is better then nothing but not as good as all in a row
  • ShiraDarling
    ShiraDarling Posts: 232 Member
    Great question, I am wondering the same thing. I'm going to start training for a half marathon soon and it would be too much to do both insanity and running 2+ hours some days, plus the weight training that I already do daily... but I would like to incorporate insanity maybe once or twice a week.. just to switch things up.
  • peridot1383
    peridot1383 Posts: 49 Member
    Insanity is used as a cardio element in hybrid workouts with other Beachbody programs like P90x and TurbeFire, etc. I think that you could definitely do it as an occasional workout. Maybe look up one of the hybrid schedules and aim to target other similar muscle groups via TRX workouts as recommended above or even workout using furniture sliders (Jennifer Garner's trainer Valerie Waters came up with a lot of exercises on her version of them called ValSlides. You don't need to spend the money on her fancy version though.. just go to bed, bath and beyond and buy furniture sliders for 20 bucks). And honestly, if you just get a jump rope you can do a killer workout quickly: Jump 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 80, 60, 40, 20 and in between each set of jumping do 30 seconds to a minute of some kind of explosive move (mountain climbers, push ups, toe taps, jumping jacks, dips, med ball rotations) etc. Its quick and its killer.
  • meaty1one
    meaty1one Posts: 1
    Insanity takes the effort out of making you do it. You can just follow. I workout on my own in the garage and agree with your sentiment. you can do it on your own.
  • Nottoobadyet
    Nottoobadyet Posts: 4 Member
    thanks for the great replys so far. I should have mentioned that I have little / no access to equipment like a suspension system, as even when Im not in the field I live in Kampala, Uganda. There is a guy here that makes dumbells using welded together iron bars and gears from old truck gearboxes, but thats about as portable as the get.

    Love the jump rope idea - will have to get a ground floor room to keep from waking the neighbors!
  • Siekobilly
    Siekobilly Posts: 401 Member
    I'm going to give Insanity a shot about 3 times a week, starting today. I guess we'll find out if it works doing it intermittently :D
  • soccerlady80
    soccerlady80 Posts: 11 Member
    I think that Insanity is a great idea, because it requires no equipment. You must be aware that these videos will push your cardio level...in case you are someone who isn't really looking for that. I went through the whole set of videos, but not every day, because I still wanted to do my running, and was nervous about cutting weights completely to commit fully to Insanity. I did continue to lose weight and look more tone but the greatest benefit was my cardio as every time I ran, I was faster than the last with no extra effort. I just started Insanity again this week and plan to try to do the strict schedule of the videos and just supplement with weight training in addition and see what happens. I can say that it will give you an awesome cardio workout and you will get a full body workout. I still think some form of weight training is needed, at least a little, in whatever form you could get it in.

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