It's INSANE!!!

by Darren
(San Jose, CA)

Hi Renee:

Thanks for stopping by my blog (www.darrengoesinsane.wordpress.com). Be happy to share with you and your readers my experiences with Beachbody programs. I am currently in my second round of P90X. Earlier this year, I completed Insanity. It took me longer than 60 days though. Insanity has got to be the most difficult physical challenge I have ever experienced. Couple of mistakes I made going into Insanity included: 1) fixating on that little timer at the bottom of the screen. When I first started, I would be dying for a break, and I would have my eyes glued to the timer counting down the seconds. I later learned to focus on one person in the video and just try to match them move for move; 2) I got into the habit of previewing the next day's workout the night before. So stepping out into my dungeon every morning, I knew exactly how hard it was going to be. And if I started to struggle during the warmup, I would just quit because I knew it was only going to get more intense from there. So through the first month or so of starting Insanity, I let myself get totally psyched out by this wicked program.

The turning point for me was when I realized that Insanity is just as much a psychological challenge as it is a physical one. It wasn't until I decided that I wasn't going to let this program beat me down that I turned the corner and pushed my way through the workouts. Yes, they are difficult. But if you apply the same mindset you learn from P90X (...do your best and forget the rest...) that you start to kick this program into the middle of next week! I can't say that every single workout was perfect or pretty. I do know, however, that I gave it my all, and I'm just so fricking proud of myself for getting through it.

One of my other keys to succeeding was the use of group workouts. I was talking to some friends of mine at work and was telling them what I was doing. I asked them if they wanted to join me in our gym for an Insanity Challenge. We had our first challenge this past December, and even though I've officially finished Insanity, we still get together one night a week after work to get our dose of Insanity. This has worked out great for me as I had decided to do another round of P90X after I completed Insanity. During the week after I finished Insanity, I decided to do Kenpo X. It used to be one of my favorites, and I vividly remember being covered in sweat by the time I got done. Not anymore. The next day, I did Plyometrics. That was a little more challenging but nowhere near the cardio intensity I'm now used to. So basically, Insanity has taken my cardio capacity to a whole new level. I never thought I would see the day where I said, Plyometrics isn't enough of a challenge!

So what I decided to do for my second round of P90X is to create my own hybrid schedule of P90X and Insanity. During Phase I, I have swapped out Kenpo X with an Insanity workout from month 1 of the program. Now that I'm in Phase 2, I'm also switching out Plyometrics with Plyometric Cardio Circuit. During Phase 3, I will be using the Max (month 2) workouts. So far, I'm having a blast.

I recently purchased the Insanity Deluxe dvd's. The Sports Training and Upper Body Weight workouts are great, and we've done these during the last few group Insanity Challenges at work. I've video taped most of the workouts and posted them on my blog. Please stop by and say hello (www.darrengoesinsane.wordpress.com). Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Darren

Stay Updated!