INSANITY® FAQs

 

Who is it for?
INSANITY is for anyone with a good fitness base who is looking for an extreme fitness challenge. It’s incredibly challenging. If you are unsure about your ability to do this program, perhaps consider FOCUS T25 instead.

What equipment does it require?
None, although a mat is nice. And you’ll definitely want a towel. Or two.

How do I build muscle?
Though you don’t use weights, INSANITY is a high-intensity interval program that uses gravity (plyometric) and bodyweight exercises to great effect for creating lean body mass.

Can I follow the 21 Day Fix Eating Plan while on INSANITY?
As long as you follow the calorie levels determined by the INSANITY nutrition guide, yes.

I missed a week due to vacation/work travel/sickness. Where do I start from today?
Missing a few days is no big deal. Just jump back into your program where you left off. After about five or six days off, your body is fully recovered and very strong, and you actually have the ability to hurt yourself by breaking down your fast-twitch muscle fibers. This can make you too sore to work out for over a week. If you’ve missed more than five days, start slow on your first day back, maybe doing a third to a half of your normal workout and ramp up little by little, taking about a week to get back to where you left off.

How do I build more muscle on INSANITY?
There is an Upper Body Weight Training workout in the Deluxe Upgrade Kit, which you can add up to twice to your weekly rotation. Another option is an INSANITY/P90X hybrid.

INSANITY is all cardio—I want more weight training.
Answered above. Cardio only means heart training and should not be mixed up with aerobic training, which INSANITY only has in its recovery workouts. INSANITY is high-intensity interval training that utilizes many strength exercises. In fact, it’s far more strength-oriented than cardio, according to how many workout programs define themselves.

The nutrition plan doesn’t seem like enough calories.
Remember, just because you’re hungry, it doesn’t mean you should eat more. However, if you continue to feel miserable and/or your performance and sleep suffer, try increasing your calories in 100–200 calorie blocks, as explained on page 58 of the Elite Nutrition Guide.

How long should I rest before I start another round?
INSANITY should not be done indefinitely. Its systematic overload is intended only to be done for a limited time, when a break is needed to allow your connective tissue and central nervous system to recover. If you are feeling amazing at the end, you can extend the final block up to two weeks, after which you should take at least a two-week break and, in a perfect world, do another workout program next.

What’s the perfect next step?
This depends upon your goals. INSANITY: THE ASYLUM or P90X/P90X2 are natural extensions, but you’ll be fit enough after INSANITY to tackle many different fitness options. We recommend that you take a short break consisting of maintenance work before moving into your next hard program.

What is maintenance work?
It’s much harder to get into shape than it is to maintain that shape once you get there. You can generally maintain a level pretty close to peak fitness with about half the volume of your program. To maintain, you can utilize many different forms of training but the easiest is often 3–4 days per week of the program you just finished. It will decline slowly over time, but you’ll probably start another program or activity to pick up the slack after awhile.