T25, Insanity, Body Beast, P90 etc - Your views and experiences?

Do some orthodox weightlifting program like SS or SL for few months. If you are not fit to begin with things like p90 or crossfit can injure you, hell if you aren't olympic lifter crossfit can injure you. Watch youtube videos on how to do excercises properly.
You don't really need to be in surplus. With newbie gains you can both burn fat and build muscle, stay at same weight building muscle, you will eat more though.
Then when you have some muscle and are really comfortable with gym start cutting. That's what I'm doing right now, and it's working great.

I lost weight with pure cardio. I want to stay lean though, but to get a more cut look... BB products seem to work for me in that sense.

I did T25 last year and then followed it with P90X3. They certainly leaned me out though I only lost ~10pounds; I lost more in inches. Since January I've started the cardio lifting program Les Mills Pump, and have continued on with Body Pump (the gym version of LMP) three times weekly while alternating days on the treadmill. I've found it's been very effective in getting me a lean cut look while barely losing any weight, so I'm certainly gaining muscle mass, albeit at a much slower rate than pure lifting would do.

I think the general consensus is that you can lose weight or bulk up, but not both simultaneously. I would suggest cardio based workouts (BB is great for this IMO) to lower your body fat first and then use your goal with those programs as a baseline for a bulk/cut cycle, and see how that works for you.

Mark

IsaackGMOON wrote: »

Unfortunately, you can't build muscle and lose fat the same time. So yes, you would have to lose weight and then do a bulk or whatever is desired after.

What??? This is so ridiculous, I expected Dr. Oz to be the one who posted this.

Yes, it is entirely possible to do both at the same time.......as a matter of fact, most experts recommend that the greatest way to lose fat is to increase the amount of muscle you have. Such a recommendation tends to mean that both are occurring at the same time. Actually, since you are putting on muscle, the muscle is actually doing the fat burning for you, so yes, in essence "YOU" are not doing both at the same time.......instead, you are outsourcing your fat burning to the muscle you just created.

I doubt fat and muscle are sitting at an intersection going "You first", "No, you first", "No, you first" and so on.

It depends on your definition of "manageable". Having done both, here are some of the finer points.

Focus T25 - Pros
- It's only 25 minutes long, easy to fit in any time of day, and a lot of activity is crammed into that 25 minutes.
- Minimal equipment required.......you can get away with a resistance band, but may want adjustable dumbbells to increase intensity as you progress.
- Decent mix of cardio and strength, but since it's Shaun T, there's a greater focus on the cardio element........and stuff starts getting real in Beta and Gamma phases (Gamma is an add-on.....costs extra, but might be worth it).

Focus T25 - Cons
- The first phase (Alpha) is a bit of a waste. Not bad for beginners, but if you are of an average fitness level, you'll get bored before you progress to the second phase (Beta).

Body Beast - Pros
- Good, intense, strength training workout. There is a cardio workout, but it seems like more of an afterthought.
- Decent pace, keeps you working out pretty well throughout.

Body Beast - Cons
- More diverse equipment needed to get the full effect.......dumbbells, curl bars, bench or stability ball, bands or pull-up bar.
- Longer workouts.......45-60 minutes

As far as the two, it is like comparing apples to oranges. If your intent is to build muscle and lose weight, I would suggest doing Body Beast and just integrating some jogging and/or treadmill workouts. If you aren't interested in buying additional equipment, you'll still be good with getting T25 and picking up a set of resistance bands (I got a Gold's Gym set from Walmart for about $15-20.......3 different bands included).

I've done a bunch of the BeachBody programs so I will just give my thoughts on the ones I feel like are worth investing in.

Insanity: Far and away my favorite. It's heavy on cardio but does hit body weight, core, plyometrics, and strength training. It's a brutal program and there is no modifier on screen like T25 has. You will struggle mightily at first but over the course of the program you will get better and better and the inches will come off quick. It's my go to for cardio. Pure Cardio is my favorite video. Vids are 45-60 minutes typically have a 9 minute warm up, 6 mins of stretch, circuits for 20-30 mins then a 4-5 min cool down stretch.

Body Beast: Amazing program for people looking to get lean, cut, and lose inches. But it does take some investing. Right now you can score the base package for $40 but you have to invest in dumbbells, a workout bench or stability ball. And the dumbbells aren't cheap. Typical you can score them on sale for about $1 per pound at places like Walmart... so when you start getting into the 40-75 pound weights it becomes quite expensive. My view is it's worth the investment. Weights don't wear out or break it's a once in a lifetime buy and you have them forever. Check Craigslist and usually there is someone selling dumbbells cheap to get rid of them. I wouldn't recommend dumbbell bars or universal weights because of the set structure in Beast you have to switch out weights quickly to keep up. With bars you are going to have to keep pausing to change your weights and you will lose the hypertrophy effect the program is designed to create. As for the program it's 45-60 minutes per video. A very brief warm up and then right into different sets. Videos are structured like Chest/Tris, Back/Bis, Shoulders, etc. First phase is a build, second is bulk, and beast is cardio and abs. There is an add on you can purchase that is called tempo. Basically everything you thought you knew about lifting weights was probably basic. This program taught me so much. Stuff like progressive sets, drop sets, and tempo timing really make a difference. Can't recommend this enough if you are willing to invest in the proper equipment. An Insanity/Body Beast hybrid is the perfect program and the weight has been falling off me since I have been doing it.

T25: It's a baby version of Insanity marketed to the more intermediate crowd. On screen modifier at all times. The Alpha phase is very lower body focused. Your legs will ache from the amount of jacks, lunges, squats etc. But it's building up your base, balance and support for the Beta phase which incorporates more upper body. You need dumbbells or bands for Beta. There is an add on phase called Gamma which is heavy on upper body and weights. Vids are obviously all 25 mins and the modifier makes it accessible for all fitness levels. Great all around starter program but at this point the videos are just to easy for me now.

P90X3: Alot like T25 this is a baby version of P90X. Vids are 30 mins and the program contains a wide range of workouts. Plyo, Agility, Isometrics, MMX, Upper, Lower, Dynamics, Yoga, Pilates. It really has a bit of everything. Tony Horton is hilarious and makes the workouts fun. But there just isn't enough cardio in it for me. I love working up a sweat and I found myself not achieving even a moderate sweat through most of these.

I've also done Insanity Asylum 1, Les Mills Combat, Tapout XT, and Insanity Max 30 so if you have questions about those let me know and I can give you a synopsis on them.

I love the BB products--If I had to leave the house to workout, it would never get done. I started with P90X about 3 years ago and I lost about 30 lbs. By the time I finished the 2nd round, I had surpassed my goal and lost about 50 lbs. P90X is still my favorite but I wanted something different, so I purchased Insanity, T25, and P90X3. I rotate through them and mix in some jogging when I travel. A lot of people enjoy the 30 minutes routines but I see much better results and feel better when I use the 60 minute versions. (P90X and Insanity)
Good luck!