P90X v.s. INSANITY


        Today one of my Facebook friends asked me which program is better for him and his wife to try at home, P90x or Insanity. 

What is the difference between both programs?

      P90X is a 90 day workout program that is based on the principle of muscle confusion. (never doing the same workout everyday that way you keep the body guessing and not used to the same workouts) When a person does the same workout at the gym or at home, after a while you stop seeing dramatic results and you tend to hit a plateau.

      Insanity is a 60 day program that is based of Interval Training. The philosophy of this principle is to do bursts of high intensity exercises followed by short rest periods that can range from a couple of seconds to a couple of minutes. By doing this your metabolism is sped up throughout the day. (Crossfit uses this principle)

Which one is more intense?

       They are equally challenging. Through my experience Insanity is harder because its non-stop pace and then you only rest for a couple of seconds. 

How long are the workouts?

Insanity during the first month the workouts are 40 minutes long, cardio abs is 20 minutes. during the second month of the program the routines are from 50-60 minutes.
P90x in average the routines are 55 minutes long with the Ab Ripper being 16 minutes long and the yoga routine is 92 minutes long. 

Which one is better to do at home?

With p90X you are required to get extra equipment like a pull-up bar and resistance bands. 
Insanity all you need to do is move some couches out of the way and you are set to go!

Supplements?

        I have seen the P90X and Insanity supplements and they are very good in quality. the only bad thing is that they might have alot of sugar specially the recovery drinks. i know that you need it to help you recover, but i have never been a big fan of high carb or high sugar anything! i would suggest to just get a regular Protein supplement that you can find and a supplement store, a multi-vitamin, and a fat burner. Anything else that you take is an added bonus, but the minimal is what is listed above. Some of my friends take digestive enzymes, fish oil, CLA, L-Carnitine, etc and its fine i am just very bad with taking supplements i tend to forget to take them. 

Conclusion and my Opinion
       In my opinion i like P90X so much better than Insanity. What i like about P90X is that you use resistance bands, weights, and pull-up bars. so not only will you lose weight but your body will look tight and firm. With Insanity I think you will just lose weight and get some definition. I read on the internet how some people would do a combination of the two. That is a great idea! Combine the cardio of insanity twice a week with the muscle building workouts of P90X the other days is a formula for success. 

Here at New You we use both Principles in our personal training. we like to include high interval boxing or cardio between our workouts that Insanity is famous for, by doing this your metabolism will be sped up throughout the whole day. We use weights and resistance bands the rest of the workout and we try not to do the same workout twice, that way we use the muscle confusion principle.