My Insanity Results

For the last 60 days I’ve been going through what many people would call HELL – and I would not disagree with them.

That said, it was worth every single drop of sweat because now I can easily say that thanks to Insanity, I’m in the best shape of my life.

We did it!

60 days ago, I had written a post announcing that I was “going insane“, primarily because I was losing the great shape and high energy I once had after previously finishing P90X, a 90-day at home fitness program from the same company.

When I finished P90X nine months ago, I wrote a post sharing my results that inspired a lot of people to change their lives and give P90x a shot too. I even convinced one of my idols, Yaro Starak from Entrepreneur’s Journey, to finish his first 90 days too, as you can see here.

After my first round, I started over, and after 4 weeks I gave up.

A few weeks later, disappointed, I started over again – only to give up just 2 weeks after that.

I couldn’t believe it.

And not only was I letting myself down, I felt like I was letting all of you down too – everyone who followed me on my 90-day life changing journey that was slowly changing back to the way it used to be: minimal exercise (if any), making poor food decisions, and putting things off until tomorrow.

Thinking Positively

After a few months, I wanted to try again.

But, instead of thinking about why I had failed over and over again, I began to think about why I was so successful the first time through. (I’m pasting what I wrote in my “I’m Going Insane” post for you below, because these are extremely vital):

1. It was my first time going through the program, so it was always new and exciting to me.
2. I had clear goals that I was working towards, like specific body fat and weight loss, as well as numbers that I wanted to reach for particular exercises (e.g. 20 pull-ups).
3. I was writing down everything and tracking my progress every single day, which is recommended in the program.
4. I had a lot of people holding me accountable, since I mentioned it on the blog and to a number of my friends. I did not want to fail those who were watching me.

That’s when I got Insanity and started to take things seriously.

What Insanity is Like

The program is called Insanity for a reason.

All of the workouts are very cardio-based, which is the main difference between Insanity and P90X.

With P90x – some days you do a cardio workout, other days you might do weights, stretching, yoga, etc. With Insanity – all of the workouts are heavy on the cardio, and it’s a lot more intense in my opinion. After the warmups, I’m dripping sweat.

If you want more info on how these two products compare, feel free to ask me in the comments of this post.

Why I Like Insanity

I like Insanity a lot for a number of reasons:

First, the workouts feel relatively short. In the first 30-days, they range from 35 to 45 minutes per day, and in the last 60 days, a DVD never goes over an hour. Plus, because you’re moving so fast and hardly have any time to think, it goes by even quicker.

Secondly, you don’t need any equipment beyond what you would need to run around the block. No pull up bars, no weights – nothing. It’s all you and gravity – that’s it!

Thirdly, you can rest, and you don’t feel bad doing so. During the videos, you’re actually encouraged to rest if you feel the need to (and your form is going bad), and trust me – in the beginning, I took a lot of breaks. Plus, the people behind the instructor also take a lot of breaks too, which is very encouraging because it makes them seem like normal people who get tired, just like me.

And lastly, it gave me great results…

The Fit Test

With P90X, you take a fit test on day 1 and another on day 90 to see how much you’ve progressed. With Insanity, you take one every 2 weeks.

Here are the results of my bi-weekly fit test, which comprises of doing the following 8 exercises as many times as possible, for 60 seconds (with a 1 minute break in between each):

1. Switch Kicks

A front kick, alternating legs, above the waistline.

• Day 01: 119
• Day 15: 142
• Day 36: 145
• Day 50: 162
• Day 63: 166

2. Power Jacks

A jumping jack, except when your arms come down you include a squat.

• Day 01: 48
• Day 15: 65
• Day 36: 72
• Day 50: 77
• Day 63: 84

3. Power Knees

Start with your hands together over your head, and simultaneously bring your hands down while bringing one of your knees up to touch. Repeat as many times as you can.

• Day 01: 100
• Day 15: 126
• Day 36: 128
• Day 50: 150
• Day 63: 156

4. Power Jumps

I hate these! Jump in the air, bring your knees towards your chest and slap your hands to your knees. When you land, squat and repeat.

• Day 01: 30
• Day 15: 55
• Day 36: 100
• Day 50: 110
• Day 63: 105

5. Globe Jumps

Jump to the right reaching for the sky, then squat and touch the ground. Do the same backwards, to the left, and then forward to complete one rotation. One rotation counts for 1 rep.

• Day 01: 6
• Day 15: 11
• Day 36: 13
• Day 50: 14
• Day 63: 13

6. Suicide Jumps

From a standing position, put your hands on the floor in front of your feet, jump your feet back so you’re in a pushup position. Then, reverse. Bring your feet in, and jump from the bottom and reach for the sky.

• Day 01: 12
• Day 15: 20
• Day 36: 22
• Day 50: 23
• Day 63: 30

7. Push-Up Jacks

These, I love. In a push-up position, you simultaneously speak your feet wide while you go down for a push-up, and then reverse. It’s like you’re doing jumping jacks with your feet every time you do a push-up.

• Day 01: 25
• Day 15: 30
• Day 36: 35
• Day 50: 45
• Day 63: 45

8. Low Plank Obliques

In a push-up position (except with your elbows resting on the ground and hand clasped) you take one of your legs and lift it to the side and forward towards the shoulder on the same side. Repeat with other leg.

• Day 01: 51
• Day 15: 70
• Day 36: 90
• Day 50: 102
• Day 63: 121

Although I dreaded fit-test day, I always felt so great afterwards. Keeping track of your progress like this in anything is a great way to stay motivated.

My weight is virtually the same as it was before, which was my goal: to lose fat and gain muscle – but maintain the same weight.

As far as body fat percentage, I know I lost a lot, but I have yet to get a true reading because my at-home BF scale is very unreliable. I’m hoping to get a professional to measure for me in the next few days (at the local gym).

My Biggest Motivations

Besides trying to prove to myself that my first round of P90X was not a fluke, and wanting to get back into the shape I was in before, I had two major things that really kept me going throughout this entire 60-day journey, which I did want to quit several times.

First, there’s all of you, the fans of SPI. Some of you even emailed me and sent me tweets to check on my progress, which is just awesome.

Thank you for holding me accountable. I did not want to let you down!

Secondly, and most importantly, there’s my wife. My wife, April, participated in the 60 days of Insanity with me, the entire time, and she rocked it!

April even performed better than I did on several parts of the fit test. She was my biggest motivator and always picked me up when I was too lazy to workout, and she always encouraged me to keep going when all I wanted to do was stop.

She’s the most amazing wife and mother. I’m so blessed.

Diet

Diet is hugely important, and many say that it’s actually more important than any exercising that you do – and I agree. Generally speaking, if a person wants to lose weight, he or she must be smart about what they eat. If you want to bulk up – then you’ve got to also be smart about what you eat – but in a different way.

I’ve learned so much about diet since starting P90X, and both programs come with a nutritional guide that will definitely educate you if you need it.

I forgot where I learned this analogy from, but it helps me to remember to eat well, especially when I’m working out a lot. The analogy is that your body is like a car. If you have a high-performance vehicle (sports car, muscle car, etc.) and you want to take good care of it, you’re going to need to give it good, clean, and powerful fuel. Feed it crappy fuel, and the car isn’t going to perform like it should, or even perform at all.

I’ve been following the Slow Carb Diet outlined by Tim Ferriss in his latest book, The 4-Hour Body, which I won’t talk about in detail here in this post – but it works, and there is one thing about the diet I’d like to mention.

The coolest part about this particular diet is that one day a week (just one!), you can eat whatever you want. Like, seriously – anything you want.

Saturday was my “cheat day”, and during the 60 days, I ate/drank pizza, In-N-Out burgers, taco bell, lots of buffalo wings, chocolate shakes, flaming hot cheeto puffs, beer, donuts, frappe mochas, and a lot of other things you wouldn’t normally eat when on a diet.

It sounds like the dumbest thing in the world, but the science behind it in Tim’s book is great.

Insanity + 4 Hour Body = win

What’s Next?

Last time, I gave up on P90X the 2nd and 3rd time around because I was bored with it.

Insanity is faster-paced and I think I could go another round or two with it without getting bored, but luckily there’s a new program out there that I have already purchased.

It’s called Insanity Asylum, and it’s the next step for those who graduated Insanity and want more. It’s only a 30-day program, but it’s supposed to be the toughest at-home fitness program ever – and if you look up “Insanity Asylum” on YouTube, you’ll see why.

I was actually recently challenged by a good friend of mine, Tony DiLorenzo from FitMarriage.com, to a little competition. Tony is in week 4 of Insanity right now, but once he’s finished, we’re both going to do Asylum at the same time and at the end of the 30 days, we’re going hold a little fitness and strength competition at a local park or rec center.

We’re going to see if anyone else in the San Diego area would like to join us, and it might turn into this fun little social meetup / competition thing. I’m really pumped about it!

So Tony, if you’re reading this – it’s on buddy!

If You’re Interested…

I’m now signed up as a BeachBody coach, which means that I can help you if you’re interested in getting started with Insanity or P90X, or any other type of BeachBody product. I could have done that anyways, but really what this means is that now I earn a 25% commission from affiliate sales for these products, instead of 5-6% from Amazon.com’s affiliate program.

I just wanted to be honest about the links in this post, so feel free to go through my affiliate links for Insanity if you’re interested. I won’t hold it against you if you don’t, but of course I’d be forever thankful if you did.

If you do purchase through my link, let me know if you need some motivation to get started or someone to hold you accountable during your program, and I’ll do my best to make sure you get where you want to be.

Click Here to Get Insanity

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Tagged as: Insanity Results