Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Insanity workout is quite possibly the worst exercise fad to sweep across the nation. Not only does it not work, it can intimidate people to never work out again, it has a high risk for joint damage and injury, and aside from burning a few extra calories, it just doesn't do what a well designed exercise program can do for you. Let me start out by saying that I am an MMA fighter with a record of 8-0 professionally, 3-1 amateur. I was fat for the better part of my life, but through hard work and a good understanding of training and fitness, I was able to cut down and become the fighter I am today. I am 25 years old, so when I talk about joint damage and injuries know that it comes from a younger person and not a middle aged person with existing pains and problems. I have been to many gyms, many training centers, tried many diets, have had personal trainers and fitness experts in my life time. Insanity is based around interval training and plyometrics. For those that don't know either of these things, interval training is working at high intensity for a short time and taking small breaks in between. Plyometrics is the act of explosively using muscles, always leg muscles, through jumps and other highly active exercises. Both of these things are great in an exercise routine, don't get me wrong, but that is literally all that you end up with in these videos. I currently run a circuit training routine every other day for 2 1/2 hours that incorporates both interval and plyometrics into it, but it also works upper body endurance, full body fatigue, explosive power, core stability and muscle, grip training, and most importantly, it has weight lifting to build muscle. What makes Insanity so appealing is that they take interval training, doing short bursts of high intensity cardio with long intervals of rest or lower activity, and turn it around, long bursts of intense activity with very short rests. Gee, why didn't some fitness expert figure this out when interval training became popular in the 60's? Because it doesn't work! Interval training works for 2 reasons. 1)the long rests give your heart enough cool down time to burn extra calories bringing it back up to max speed. 2)You need enough rest between high intensity workouts to continue working at that intensity. In the Insanity workout your heart does not get a chance to cool down and you never achieve enough rest to work at full speed, meaning you are getting a good interval training in the first minute of the video followed by a slowly declining and less effect than jogging cardio workout for the rest. Now the problem with plyometrics is that it doesn't build muscle! AT ALL!!! Plyometrics is used to increase the muscles ability to act under stress and avoid injury in sports where constant explosive power is being used. Plyometrics are nearly useless to the average, non-professional sports player. I will give it credit for working your cardio, but aside from that these videos are absolutely useless! Plyometrics, the use of body weight only workouts, and many more factors behind this video means you workout almost exclusively the lower body, without weights, at high intensity. It has a very high risk for injury and shouldn't even be attempted by the average joe at home with no prior knowledge of exercise and fitness. Doing these routines every day will cause severe joint damage and deterioration. If you never exercise, and you weigh a lot more than average, and you change your eating habits while attempting this work out, you may lose weight. Expect absolutely no muscle gain whatsoever, expect to work so hard that you probably will never exercise again, and expect to wake up in a few months with bad knees and a slipped disc in your back. This workout isn't just a ripoff, it sends people to the hospital! To summarize a bit of what I just said, this workout gives you nothing but a basic cardio workout with a high probability for injury, no muscle gain, and will not change your body unless you have never exercised before. The workouts in this video are so basic that you could literally just do some split lunges and mountain climbers at high intensity for the same amount of time and get the same results from this workout. Heck, you could go sit on a stationary bike for 2 hours and lose more weight than you will with this video, and you won't even have injuries or bad joints when you are done. Seriously though guys, I know how tempting it is to try a workout that promises fast results with a little effort, but you are doing yourself a huge favor to avoid this fad. Have you ever wondered why marathon runners look so thin while fighters and athletes who also run look ripped? It's because runners work on muscle fatigue, endurance, and cardio...not muscle gain or power. Plyometrics and cardio are not designed to give you muscle or power. If you expect to look like the muscle guy in this video when you are done then prepare to be thoroughly disappointed. They can give out as many Marine looking T-shirts as they want, but you will never be or look like a Marine when you finish. Go to the gym, lift some weights, do some cardio and you will get far better results. My biggest concern is that people are picking up this video, doing the workout for a week max, telling people how difficult it is and that it "must work" because it was difficult when that is simply not true. The company in charge of marketing and sales for this video have also spent millions of their P90X money to make sure every fitness magazine and website will tell you just how great it is and try to sell it to you. When the key words used in these videos are 'Insanity' and 'confusion' you are always best to stay away.