P90X vs. Insanity

                 

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Having done P90X and Insanity, a question a lot of my friends bug me with is “hey, I want to get in shape. Which ones better?”. The best answer to this question is another question, what are your goals? P90X and Insanity are two very different beasts, comparing them is like comparing Mitt Romney to Obama- they’ll both get the job done if elected, but in completely different ways. But people still like to compare them anyway, just like they will continue to compare P90X and Insanity, so I will do my best to compare them accurately.

 

Time- How long each workout will generally take

                       One of the most common excuses people come up with as to why they do not work out is “I don’t have enough time in the day!”… I could go on for a while about how untrue this statement is, but that’s another article. Time wise, Each P90X workout is about a little over an hour long, and Yoga X is a whopping hour and a half. Doing this program takes up about a total of 7-8 hours a week if you follow it to a t, which is a substantial time commitment for anyone.

Insanity workouts are generally between 30 and 60 minutes, with no workout going over an hour. The first month has shorter workouts while the second has the long 60 minute ones. From a time commitment stand, insanity is better. It is much easier to squeeze a half hour workout in your schedule then an hour or longer one.

 

Equipment-What you need to bring to each workout

                  Once again, P90X loses on convenience big time in this category, let me tell you. In order to do P90X correctly, you absolutely need a pull up bar that attaches to one of your doorframes, and a wide variety of free weights. Weight bands and a yoga mat are optional, but imo, very important. Go ahead and see how your body feels after doing yoga on a concrete, or even wooden floor! Overall, the equipment adds about a hundred dollars to the cost of P90X, or more, unless you already have it.

Insanity, on the other hand, is all body weight exercises. This means you do not need a single free weight or band- The only equipment you need to bring to each workout is your own body. ‘nuff said.

 

Motivation-How Tony/Shaun T keep you going

                     This is another area where I would crown insanity as the clear winner- Tony Horton, the P90X trainer, while obviously very well built and educated in the art of body building, is just well, kind of goofy. He makes dumb jokes every couple minutes, and although some of them are actually pretty damn funny, they are far from motivational. If you want to see what I’m talking about, just go to youtube.com and type in Tony Horton P90X. His commentary also tends to get boring fairly fast. After I learned all the cds, I generally just blasted my own music through every P90X workout rather than listening to Tony’s commentary. The background music in P90X also leaves much to be desired.

Shaun T from Insanity is the opposite. He motivates you by screaming at you every couple seconds. The style in Insanity is more like a bootcamp, which is great for motivation. The music in Insanity is also very compelling- I would describe it as rock. It gets more intense/motivational as the workout gets harder, and dips out as the intensity starts to fade. In short, the music is designed perfectly to keep you going when you feel like stopping, and it does. I have never felt the need to put In my own music when doing an insanity workout.

 

Toughness

                 Although a lot of people seem to be under the impression that Insanity is the “next step up” of P90X, that is not really the case. They are both equally difficult, in different ways. Insanity is entirely cardio based, while P90X has more of a focus on weight training. When it comes down to it, you can put as much or as little into every workout you go through in each of these programs. How hard you push yourself is entirely up to you.

 

Results

                          Although both of these programs are meant more to trim your body down than bulk up, you get different results out of them for sure. While you will never get huge doing P90X, you will gain some muscle mass, as well as tone up any muscle you previously had. You will also lose a considerable amount of weight, if that is your goal. With Insanity, You most likely will not gain that much muscle at all, but you will lose a crap load of weight as well as completely toning up your entire body. Once again, rather than comparing these two routines, it is better to ask yourself what you want out of working out and then choose accordingly. In my honest opinion, neither program is better, just different. Although I am pretty obviously biased towards one of the options… I firmly believe that they are both excellent programs, and if followed correctly, both will get you in the best shape of your life. And with roughly 2-3 months to go before summer… you better pick one fast!