T25 vs Insanity?

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Soon2bDDS
Soon2bDDS Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey all,

So I'm looking to get started in a fitness program and was seeking some opinions for people who have completed one or the other (maybe both?). I have access to both T25 and Insanity (also P90X, so that could also be an option). Basically I'm a full time student and am pretty busy outside of classes with clinic and research. I can carve out an hour, but obviously the t25 sounds a bit more appealing. However, I am hoping that if I do the T25 program to add in weight lifting a few days a week as well.

As far as my fitness goals, it's largely trimming up. I've got about 20-30 pounds to lose; maybe more or less - weight on a 5'1 frame can be distributed so oddly. I'd like to lose some weight and tighten and tone my body as well.

My limited knowledge leads me to think that my goals could be met with either program, I'm mostly interested in the experiences of people who have done one or both of the programs to give unbiased insight.

Replies

  • shedboy
    shedboy Posts: 25 Member
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    hey,

    ive completed both these programs and in my opinion they both work for different aspects of weight loss/toning/strength etc.

    i done insanity first and noticed a huge change in my body shape, weight loss, strength and cardio ability. i went from 182 to 160 pounds and lost 8 percent body fat going from 19 to 11 percent. insanity is as tough as it sounds though, although the more you progress i wouldnt say it gets any easier. as you should still push to your limits i just felt i got better at it. i enjoyed the intensity of it but like you say doing 45 mins to an hour a day can sometimes be hard to fit in.

    i started T25 two weeks after finsihing insanty and although i never noticed any serious results, ( which i wasnt really expecting anyway ) i was just hoping to maintain some shape within a 25 minute perioud of my day. depending how active you want to be and how hard you feel you can push yourself should really determinewhat to do first. T25 did maintain my weight, shape and cardio so i feel it was worth while doing but i preferred the high intensity of insanity that ive actually just restared it again today, a week after completing T25.

    both are great programs but id guess its more individual choice on what one to go for as both will get you fitter and help towards weight loss

    :-)
  • shedboy
    shedboy Posts: 25 Member
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    im not sure how to post pictures to a reply here but i have one of myself in my photos if youre able to access them of me at the start, middle and completion of insanity to give you some idea of the results it can give you.

    :-)
  • csheltra26
    csheltra26 Posts: 272 Member
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    I am doing T25 right now and did about 6 weeks of Insanity. I pulled a chest muscle and had to stop. I like that T25 has a modifier as I am getting back into it after a pregnancy. I also am fitting it in before work since its only 25 minutes. Insanity is more intense so I think I t would depend on how much time you have and how fit you are. Although I think the 2nd part of T25 is more intense but I g avent gotten that far yet.
  • billleach03
    billleach03 Posts: 2
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    I have P90X, Insanity, and T-25 all here with me. I'm 6'0" and started at 244lb, and down to 207lb, with goal of 185lbs. I was working out at the gym previously, but just started doing a hybrid of the home video programs above 3 weeks ago. Currently I am doing the 3 P90X lifting routines 3 days a week, and doing either insanity or T-25 3 days a week in between P90X.
    Here is some interesting information I took just a couple days ago from my HR monitor as I did each of these exercises over 3 consecutive days.

    1. Insanity Max Plyo... 40 min... 620 cal burned (15.5 cal/min)
    2. P90X Shoulders and Arms w/ Ab Ripper X...... 75 min......757 cal burned (10.1 cal/min)
    3. T-25 Beta Speed 1.0......25 min..... 442 cal burned (17.7 cal/min)

    T-25 will give you more efficient calorie burning than Insanity since you don't have the stretching routines in the middle. And while P90X lifting routines are the least efficient in term of cal burned/min... You want to do those. For every pound of muscle you build... you burn 30 more calories per day from your resting BMR.

    I highly recommend you get a HR monitor so you can keep track of your calories burned. I actually lost a lot of weight by just eating healthy and working out, but then I hit a plateau. No matter how hard I worked out and clean I ate, I couldn't lose weight for about 6 weeks. Then I started doing the home videos, used my HR monitor, and got a digital scale to weigh my food that I made at home. The problem was that I was not eating enough calories and my body went into starvation mode and tried to hang on the the fat I had. I lost 5 lbs the first week, and lose almost 1/2 lb every day now. I also changed my goals to 50% protein 30% carbs and 20% fat (recommended in Fat Shredder Phase in P90X nutrition plan). Once I hit my weight loss goal, I will up my carbs and fat and lower my protein to start building muscle. Carbs are what give your body and muscles their primary fuel. (I am also in grad school, med school, and this is simple biochemistry). But excess carbs also get stored as fat.

    So I make sure I do the 3 P90X lifting routines every week, and do either Insanity or T-25 depending on how I'm feeling or how much time I have. I then just adjust my calorie intake appropriately. I can do this since I use the HR monitor and scale, so I know exactly the difference in my calories consumed and burned.

    My BMR is 2450... and I try to NET 1350 - 1550 calories per day. (YES... YOU MUST EAT BACK ALL OF THE CALORIES YOU BURN FROM EXERCISE!!!!) If your NET falls below 1200 cal, you are in danger of your body trying to preserve your fat and thus preventing you lose weight. (of course this can not be the case if you are 5'0" and weigh 100 lbs).

    Hope this helps!
  • shedboy
    shedboy Posts: 25 Member
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    Just out of curiosity how do you find tony Horton while doing p90x?

    I gave it a try for a week and similar to yourself I enjoyed the lifting routines, and to a lesser extent plyo aswell but I couldn't get into the yoga or Kempo. Plus tony Horton was hard for me to listen too, he started to get on my nerves pretty much before the warm ups had even finished.

    I like your idea of cycling the work outs, I might give that a try after this round of insanity and see how I get on. Surely I can manage just three days listening to tony.....

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